Examples.
At Caesarea Philippi, which the Phoenicians call Paneas, it is said that at a certain Festival of the Heathen a woman was solemnly sacrificed and thrown into the spring which there arises from the base of Mount Paneus, from which the Jordan is said to flow: and this woman, through the potent might of the demon, vanished in a wonderful manner from their eyes so that they thought that a memorable miracle had been performed. On one occasion Astirius chanced to be present while this was being done and, seeing so many people dumbfounded with wonder at this thing, he had pity on their ignorance and, raising his eyes to heaven, prayed God the Ruler of all through the mediation of Christ to restrain from his deception that demon who had so blinded the people with error, and to prevent him from those illusions with which he used to mock them. When he had thus prayed to God, the victim suddenly appeared floating on the water; and this matter which had caused so great wonder came to nothing, so that thereafter the like was no more practised in that place.
Michael Sicidites looked from a high place in the Palace of Constantinople and saw a ship laden with pots and dishes; and by a magic spell he caused the captain to rise and start beating those dishes until they were reduced to powder. Soon, when his blindness had passed, the wretched man tore his beard and began to utter loud lamentations: and when he was asked why he had treated his merchandise in that manner, he sorrowfully answered that, while he was intent upon his oars, he saw a horrible serpent stretched upon the dishes and glaring at him as if it were about to devour him, and that it had not ceased from its twistings and contortions until all the dishes were broken.
Hear another example which is so well told and instructive that I cannot refrain from relating it.
In the time of Sigismund I,[1] King of Poland, Jacob Melstinch, the Mayor of the town of Brezinium, was induced by some lightness of the mind to take upon himself the authority and name of Christ. He chose Peter Zacorski of Cracow and eleven other robbers like him, and gave them the names of the Apostles; but himself he called Jesus Christ. They visited the towns doing miracles after the manner of conjurers; they suborned other rogues and robbers to feign death and raised them to life; they planted fish in muddy marshes where they could not naturally be, and then in the name of Christ caught them in their hands; they hid loaves in ovens, and then in the name of their Christ brought them out as if they had not been there before, to the great wonder of the simple vulgar people. At one time he came with his disciples to Czenstochowa,[2] a monastery famous for its picture of the Blessed Virgin Mary; and staying there some days incited one of their number to behave as if he were possessed of the devil, and by means of this man they obtained food: for he went among the guest rooms, and snatched meat from the kitchen and threw it to his comrades, who blessed the meat with the cross and ate it. And when there was a great gathering of people before the Holy Image, these rogues led their possessed companion to the altar wearing a two-fold robe within which he could secrete what was required. They put stones within his garment. As he was being led to the altar, he
- ↑ “Sigismund I.” 1506–1548.
- ↑ “Czenstochowa.” Our Lady of Czenstochowa, Królowa Korony Polskiej. Czenstochowa is a small town in the palatinate of Kalisz, near the Silesian frontier. The most Holy and Miraculous Picture of Our Lady, the work of S. Luke, is painted on cypress, and, says an old author, “has a majesty which passes the conception of art.”
