Algunos castigos y milagros que ha hecho Dios contra los excomulgados.

The Peril of Royal Rebellion

History records the tragic ends of princes who defied the Church's censures and authority.

Lothair, son of the emperor Lothair, led astray by his base passion, first falsely accused his lawful wife Teutberga, had certain bishops condemn her, left her, and married Waldrada; but Pope Nicholas I of that name, a most holy man of great courage, excommunicated him and stripped of their sees Theutgaud, archbishop of Trier, and Gunther, archbishop of Cologne, because they had consented to King Lothair's crime; and when Lothair had gone to Rome to Pope Adrian, Nicholas's successor, to obtain absolution, he was ordered that he and the leading lords of his court, whom he offered as witnesses of his innocence to prove it, should receive Communion, and so they did; but they all died within a year, and the king himself died on the way back from Rome, on the road to Piacenza.¹² Some historians write that because Philip the Fair, king of France, scorned the Church's censures and persecuted Pope Boniface VIII, he met a disastrous end and was killed by a wild boar. They also note that none of his three sons, who reigned after him, saw the succession continue in his house, and that their three wives—Philip's daughters-in-law—were accused of adultery, with two of them convicted, to the great infamy of his bloodline. Among other examples, the most notable is that of Emperor Frederick II, his father, and his sons Conrad, Manfred, Conradin, and Enzo—all rebels and persecutors of the Church—in whom the serpentine stock and house of Frederick came to an end.³ And of them Saint Antoninus, archb., says⁴ «Let all the faithful take careful note here of the end God gives to the persecutors of the Church: it is miserable in soul and in body. Since these excommunicated princes have died, how could they have gone to heaven?»⁵ For the same reason, they were judged unworthy of ecclesiastical burial. Stripped of the kingdom of Sicily, the Roman Empire, and their boundless riches, they went down to hell.»⁶ This is what Saint Antoninus says, because all these princes came to a bad end. Conradin, king of Sicily and the last duke of Swabia, was defeated by Charles, duke of Provence and king of Sicily, and taken prisoner. Although he was a great prince, young, and a very fine gentleman, they publicly cut off his head. He had been excommunicated by Pope Clement IV, who, when Conradin was passing near Viterbo with...⁷ his army, very powerful and victorious, foreseeing what was to happen, he was moved with pity and wept, and said that it grieved him deeply that that young man should be led like a beast to the slaughter.^✦⁸

Signs and Wonders of the Keys

God uses miracles and signs to demonstrate the gravity of excommunication and the necessity of reconciliation.

In his Dialogues, Pope Saint Gregory writes that when the glorious father Saint Benedict ordered two noble nuns to correct a coarse and insulting way of speaking they were in the habit of using, threatening them with excommunication if they didn't change, the nuns neither mended their ways nor paid any heed to those threats. Within a few days, they died and were buried in a church where Masses were held. When the faithful were about to receive Communion at those Masses, and the deacon would say, "Those who are not receiving Communion, make way," a good woman who prayed there for the dead nuns would see their souls come out of their grave and leave the church. After she had seen and noted this many times, she remembered the command Saint Benedict had given them in life and told him what was happening. The Saint then gave an offering with his own hand to be presented for their souls and said, "With this offering, they will be absolved from the excommunication." And so it was, because they were never again seen leaving the church.⁹¹⁰ Saint Eligius, a bishop, excommunicated a man who tried to seize Church property, and the man dropped dead on the spot. The same thing happened to another wicked cleric who, mocking the excommunication, went to say Mass and suddenly expired, as is recorded in his Life. When some bishops asked Saint Albinus, the bishop of Angers, to bless a loaf of bread—which they called eulogiae and had already blessed themselves to send to an excommunicated person—he replied, "I will do it because you command it; but since you have no regard for God's cause, He is powerful enough to punish him." Before the blessed bread reached the excommunicated man, he died.¹¹ The miracle of the consecrated host of Frómista is well known in Spain. The host stuck to the paten and could not be lifted to give Communion to a poor, sick man who had been excommunicated over a debt. Although he had later paid the money, he thought that settled the matter and had not asked for absolution from the excommunication.¹² What is said to have happened in Valladolid is also remarkable: a thief stole a silver jug and hid it in the hollow trunk of a large, ancient poplar near the Magdalena. After a sentence of excommunication was issued against whoever had taken or was holding the jug, the poplar immediately began to wither. When the jug was found by chance and returned to its owner, the tree turned green again and regained its former life and beauty, to the astonishment of the people.¹³ Father Fray Hernando del Castillo writes, in the first part of his History, that Saint Gonzalo of Amarante, a friar of the Order of Saint Dominic, in order to make plain to those rough peoples—¹⁴ In Roquien, while he was preaching on the harm that excommunication does to the soul, he once excommunicated, on behalf of God and the Church, a basket of fine white bread that a woman was carrying. The loaves immediately turned blacker than coal, but when a little holy water was sprinkled on them and they were blessed and absolved, they returned to their original whiteness.¹⁵ Another example like this is recorded about Saint Antoninus, the archbishop of Florence, who was also a Dominican friar. And elsewhere we see that God our Lord works wonders even in animals and other insensible things by means of excommunication—not because such things are capable of it, but to teach people what they ought to fear and hold in esteem, and that no temporal harm a Christian can suffer equals being cut off from the communion of the faithful and from participation in the holy Sacraments of the Church; and for this reason Saint Augustine says that excommunication is the greatest penalty the Church has—a sentence God confirms, as Saint Jerome says; because, as Saint John Chrysostom writes, it is not a man who binds, but God, who gave him the power.¹⁶

Read the original Latin

Lotario, hijo de Lotario, emperador, engañado de su torpe aficion, acusando primero falsamente á su legitima mujer Teoberga, y haciéndola condenar de ciertos obispos, la dejó, y se casó con Valdrada; mas el papa Nicolas I deste nombre, varon santisimo y de gran valor, le excomulgó, y privó de sus sillas á Teogaldo, arzobispo de Tréveris, y á Guntario, arzobispo de Colonia, porque habian consentido en el delito del rey Lotario; el cual, habiendo ido á Roma, á Adriano, papa, sucesor de Nicolas, para impetrar la absolucion, le fué mandado que él y los señores principales de su córte, que él daba por testigos de su innocencia para comprobarla, se comulgasen, y así lo hicieron; pero todos murieron dentro de un año, y el mismo Rey murió, volviendo de Roma, camino de Plasencla.

Algunos historiadores escriben que por haber Felipe el Hermoso, rey de Francia, menospreciado las censuras de la Iglesia y perseguido al papa Bonifacio VITI, tuvo desastrado fin y fué muerto de un jabalí, y que ninguno de sus tres hijos, que reinaron despues del, vió sucesion en su casa, y las tres mujeres dellos, y nueras de Felipe, fueron acusadas de adulterio, y dos dellas convencidas, con grande infamia de su sangre; pero entre los otros ejemplos, es notable el de Federico II, emperador, y de su padre, y de sus hijos Conrado, Maufredo, Corradino y Encio, rebeldes y perseguidores de la Iglesia, en los cuales se acabó la cepa y casa serpentina de Federico. Y dellos dice san Antonino, arzob. spu de Florencia, estas palabras: «Adviertan bien aquí todos los fieles el fin que da Dios á lus perseguidores de la Iglesia, que es miserable en el ánima y en el cuerpo; porque, habiendo muerto estos príncipes excomulgados, ¿Cónio pudieron ir al cielo? Y por la misma causa fueron juzgados por indignos de la sepultura eclesiástica; y sienllo privados del reino de Sicilia y del imperio romano y de infinitas riquezas, descendicron al infierno.» Esto dice san Antonino porque todos estos príncipes acabaron mal; y Corradino, rey de Sicilia y postrer duque de Suevia, fué vencido de Cárlos, duque de Provenza y rey de Sicilia, y preso, públicamente le cortaron la cabeza, siendo tan grande principe y mozo y muy gentil hombre, pero excomulgado del papa Clemente 1V, el cual, pasando Corradino cerca de Viterbo, con a A =.

su ejército, muy pujante y vencedor, pronosticando lo que habia de suceder, se enterneció y lloró, y diJo que le pesaba mucho que aquel mozo fuese llevado como una res al matadero.

San Gregorio, papa, escribe, en sus Diálogos, que habiendo el glorioso padre san Benito mandado á dos monjas nobles que se emendasen de cierta mancra de hablar descompuesta é injuriosa, de que solian usar, amenazándolas con la excomunion si no se emendaban, las monjas no se emendaron ni hicieron caso de aquellas amenazas, pero murieron dentro de pocos dias, y fueron enterradas en cierta iglesia, en la cual se decian misas; y que al tiempo que querian comulgar en ellas los fieles, y el diácono solia decir: «Loa que no se comulgan, den lugar», una buena mujer, que solia allí rezar por las monjas difuntas, veia salir de su sepultura las ánimas dellas é irse fuera de la iglesia; y como lo hubiese visto y notado muchas veces, acordóse del mandato que en vida les habia hecho san Benito, y avisóle de lo que pasaba; y el Santo dió de su mano cierta ofrenda para que se ofreciese por sus ánimas, y dijo: «Con esta ofrenda serán absueltas de la excomunion»; y así fué, porque no se vieron más salir de la iglesia.

San Eligio, obispo, excomulgó á un hombre que queria usurpar los bienes de la Iglesia, y luégo cayó muerto; y lo mesmo acaeció á otro mal clérigo, que burlándose de la excomunion, fué á decir misa, y súbitamente espiró, como se escribe en su Vida. San Albino, obispo de Angiu, siendo rogado de algunos obispos que bendijese un pan, que llamaban culogias, y ellos habian bendito, y enviaban á cierta persona que estaba excomulgada, respondió el Santo: «Yo, por mandarlo vosotros, lo haré; pero, pues vos no teneis cuenta con la causa de Dios, El es poderoso para castigarle»; y ántes que llegase el pan bendito al excomulgado, espiró. Bien sabido es en España el milagro de la hostia consagrada de Frómesta, que se pegó á la patena, y no se pudo despegar para comulgar á un pobre enfermo, que habia sido excomulgado por ciertos dincros que debia, y por haberlos despues pagado, pensaba que habia cumplido, y no habia pedido la absolucion de la excomunion. Y lo que dicen que aconteció en Valladolid, si es verdad, tambien es cosa notable; y es, que habiendo un ladron hurtado un jarro ó taza de plata, y escondidole en el hueco del tronco de un álamo grande y antiguo, junto á la Madalena, y habiéndose fulminado sentencia de excomunion contra el que hubiese tomado 6 tuviese el dicho jarro, luégo se comenzó á secar el álamo; y habiéndose hallado acaso el jarro y restituidose á su dueño, reverdeció y tornó á su sér y antigua belleza, con espanto de la gente. El padre fray Hernando del Castillo escribe, en la primera parte de su Historia, que san Gonzalo de Amarante, fraile de la órden de Santo Domingo, para declarar á aquellos pueblos rudos á % cerdotes, como lo escribe Julio César. En Roquien predicaba, los daños que hace en el ánima la excomunion, excomulgó una vez, de parte do Dios y de la Iglesia, una cesta de pan blanco y regalado que traia una mujer, y luégo los panes se pararon más negros que un carbon, y echándoles un poco de agua bendita, y tornándolos á bendecir y absolver, se volvieron como ántes á su blancura.

Y otro ejemplo semejante á éste se escribe de san Antonino, arzobispo de Florencia, que fué tambien fraile de Santo Domingo. Y en otras partes se ve que Dios, nuestro Señor, áun en los animales y otras cosas insensibles obra maravillas por medio de la excomunion, no porque las tales cosas sean capaces della, sino para enseñar á los hombres lo que se debe temer y estimar, y que ningun daño temporal puede recebir el cristiano, que se iguale con el ser apartado de la comunion de los fieles y de la participacion de los santos sacramentos de la Iglesia; y por esto dice san Agustin que la excomunion es la mayor pena que tiene la Iglesia; cnya sentencia confirma Dios, como lo dice san Jerónimo; porque, como escribe san Juan Crisóstomo, no es hombre el que ata, sino Dios, que le dió la potestad.

Scripture echoes

↩Isa.53.7;Acts.8.32 — He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he did not open his mouth; like a lamb led to slaughter, and like a sheep silent before its shearers, so he did not open his mouth. Acts.8.32 — The passage of Scripture he was reading was this: "Like a sheep led to slaughter, and like a lamb silent before its shearer, so he does not open his mouth.

Notes

1 ↩Source place-name «Plasencla» is rendered as Piacenza (It. Piacenza), where historical accounts place Lothair II's death returning from Rome; Spanish Plasencia is a different city.
2 ↩«torpe aficion» rendered as base passion (disordered attachment/affection); not mere fondness.
3 ↩Source reads «Bonifacio VITI»; almost certainly a print/OCR corruption of Boniface VIII (the pope opposed by Philip the Fair).
4 ↩Sentence is truncated at the abbreviation «arzob.»; the next sentence continues as «[obi]spo de Florencia…» (archbishop of Florence).
5 ↩Opening «spu» is the broken continuation of «arzobispo»; «lus» corrected as «los»; «Cónio» corrected as «Cómo».
6 ↩«sienllo» read as «siendo»; «descendicron» as «descendieron».
7 ↩«Clemente 1V» read as Clement IV. Sentence ends in corrupt truncation («con a A =.»); neighboring next section begins «su ejército…», so the intended continuation is almost certainly «with his army…».
8 ↩Source surface reads «diJo»; translated as «dijo» (“said”), a clear OCR/print error.
9 ↩Reading 'mancra' as 'manera' (manner/way of speaking); the printed form looks like a typo or OCR error.
10 ↩Reading 'Loa' as 'Los' for the deacon's dismissal formula: 'Those who are not receiving Communion, make way' (cf. Latin 'Si quis non communicat, det locum').
11 ↩Source "culogias" is almost certainly eulogias/eulogiae (blessed bread shared as a sacramental). "Angiu" rendered as Angers (Anjou).
12 ↩"dincros" read as dineros (money); "Frómesta" rendered as Frómista, the usual Spanish place-name.
13 ↩Source "tomado 6 tuviese" read as "tomado ó tuviese" (taken or held). "Madalena" rendered as the Magdalena (church/site).
14 ↩Source ends in unintelligible corruption: "á % cerdotes, como lo escribe Julio César." The clear clause introduces San Gonzalo's purpose of instruction; the tail cannot be restored without inventing sense. The following sentence continues his Roquien preaching miracle.
15 ↩"de parte do Dios" read as "de parte de Dios." Place-name "Roquien" left as in the source; identity uncertain.
16 ↩Source reading «cnya sentencia» is treated as corrupted OCR for «cuya sentencia» (“whose sentence” / “a judgment that…”).

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