Mastidia the Virgin
Acta Sanctorum, May 7
Source text: Public Domain. English translation/apparatus/encoding: CC BY-NC 4.0, Wroot Press.
https://actasanctorum.org/may/day-07/mastidia-the-virgin.html
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ON S. MASTIDIA THE VIRGIN

AT TROYES IN GALLIC CAMPANIA.

[Preface]

Mastidia Virgo, at Troyes in Gaul (S.)

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

[1] Among the women illustrious for sanctity, who several
among the Tricassini or Trecenses in Gallic
Campania flourished, ought to be reckoned
Maura and Mastidia: she lived about
the year eight hundred and fortieth,
and had as the writer of her Life Prudentius the Bishop,
an author plainly coeval, who S. Maura's devotion
toward S. Mastidia thus expounds: Not yet, brother
Mauritius, has it slipped from my memory, what with you ministering
by ocular faith I knew. [The body on the altar in the 9th century.] For the matins
synaxis being completed, you nodded to me to behold Maura,
more closely embracing and more sweetly kissing the altar,
where the body of the blessed Virgin Mastidia rests: but
also the sixth hour being chanted by the Brothers, at the foot of the same
altar you showed the little stream of her tears. Thus there.
S. Maura is venerated on September XXI, but S. Mastidia on this
VII of May. From the adduced words we know that her body was exposed to public
veneration in the IX century on the altar of the Cathedral church,
[the time of her life uncertain.] but how many centuries before she lived is not established. Nicolaus
Des-Guerrois, in De Sanctis Trecensibus, transfers her to the first century,
and establishes that she died a Martyr: but he does not prove it.

[2] [History of the finding of the body.] The author of the History deplores that her deeds do not exist,
of the finding of the body and of the miracles, which he asserts before his
own eyes in the month of April of the year one thousand and seventh were
wrought. This history published Nicolaus Camuzatus in his Promptuarium
of the sacred Antiquities of the Tricassine diocese, which we taken from
him give. The same Finding mentions a Monk
of Auxerre, Robert by name, in his Chronology
in these words: [under Milo the Bishop,] At the city of Troyes, Milo
being Prelate, in the foundation of the church of the same
See, was found the venerable body of a certain elect Virgin of God,
wrapped in whole purple: they found
also her name, Mastidia. The body therefore
of this S. Mastidia the Virgin was placed, and
in the See of Troyes is venerably kept. Thus there.
The Sammarthani in the Bishops of Troyes concerning the said Milo Bishop
XLVI have these things: Milo at the blessing of the church of S.
Stephen of Sens, [about the year 983] made by Seguinus the Archprelate
in the year DCCCCLXXXVIII, is present with Roclenus of Nevers
and Heribertus of Auxerre, in Odorannus
in his Chronicle. At which time D. Mastidia's body
was found in the church of Troyes, which fallen down with age
he restored, with which similar things has the monk
of Auxerre, called Robert, as afterward from his supplement
appeared. To Milo succeeded Manasses, who in the year DCCCCXCIII
is said to have completed his last day. But the Cathedral
church being restored in these Acts a monastery
is called by Camuzatus; because still at that time
the Canons with their Prelate, [the Canons living in common.] as asserters
of the monastic life, in common according to the old institution
lived; and this he adds was done until the times
of Philip, who undertook the Episcopal Chair to be ruled
in the year MLXXXII, where many things are heaped together to that effect,
which can there be read.

[3] The feast of the finding is venerated in the aforesaid church
of Troyes on the VII day of the month of May, with a frequent concourse both of citizens
and of those, who inhabit the neighboring places of the city, flowing together
from everywhere, [Feast of the finding May 7.] celebrating it with exceptional fervor
of devotion, who also in the same
church watch the whole night: so that very many
by assiduous prayers, what by the help of physicians they could not,
obtain health of body, the Virgin
intermediating and reconciling. These and other things the said Camuzatus.
There is celebrated at the said VII of May the memory of S. Mastidia
in the Martyrologies of Troyes and of the MS. of the Carmelite Order,
which took its cultus in its Breviaries and Martyrologies from the custom
chiefly of these dominions through B. Albert the Patriarch
of Jerusalem, as we have shown elsewhere. There is mentioned
also S. Mastidia in Greven and Molanus in the
Auctary of Usuard, Ferrarius in his General Catalogue, Canisius
in the German Martyrology, and Saussay in the Gallican Martyrology.
Ferrarius again citing Renatus Benedictus on the Lives
of the Saints of Gaul, refers the same to the fifth day of May.

[4] The same Camuzatus writes, that the shrine, in which the sacred
body of the Virgin is enclosed and kept, was once with silver
plates skillfully and with subtler workmanship elaborated, [The body exposed in the year 1606]
and with chasing of gold engraved, on the outside overlaid…
which by the Bishop of Troyes in the year MDCVI on the day XX
of May was unsealed, and the said body from it drawn out,
upon the greater altar of the aforesaid church with the highest
veneration was placed, and forthwith into a casket put back.
But because the body itself whole, with the members in right
order connected and compacted among themselves,
only the head torn from the shoulders, was found; thence
many seized a handle of suspecting, that the said
Virgin punished by beheading, obtained the palm of martyrdom.
Thus there. Saussay for the same cause writes, that the body
by an indication of martyrdom, namely a purple tunic, conspicuous
was found; which he repeats at the day XX of May, on account of the unsealing
of the shrine done on that day. There was then Bishop Renatus
Breslaeus, who was stirred up by an illustrious miracle, [on occasion of a paralytic suddenly healed.] which in the said
year MDCVI on the feast of S. Mastidia had happened. There was a boy
chorister of the church of S. Stephen, with paralysis and with obstruction of all the members
for more than four months miserably vexed,
and carried to the body of S. Mastidia he suddenly obtained his former
health. Which miracle was lawfully examined and
approved: of which and of the unsealing of the shrine, the elevation and
replacing of the body, a public instrument or verbal process
the said Bishop Renatus caused to be drawn up in his name,
and it is, with the Life of S. Helena and of this Mastidia,
printed in French at Troyes in the year MDCXXV.

[5] [A girl with inflamed legs is healed in the year 1613] There are added in the same little book three other miracles lawfully
approved, of which the first happened in the year MDCXIII, in
an honest girl Loisa Leger, who had her left leg
with the foot so inflamed, that after various remedies applied in vain,
in the judgment of the physicians and surgeons the leg ought to have been
cut off. Which the said girl refusing to permit, fled
to the patronage of S. Mastidia, and on the night before the feast of S. Mastidia
watching in her Chapel, suddenly was healed, and on that very
day when the sacred body of S. Mastidia was carried through the city in solemn
procession, the said girl without any supports briskly
accompanied it. Two other miracles were wrought in the following year
MDCXIV, when two lame women were healed, of whom
one, Edmera le Cleroq a widow, for two years from a certain
discharge into the legs could not without supports walk,
[and two lame women in the year 1614.] was healed on the sixth of May on the vigil of the feast of S. Mastidia: the other
a married woman, by name Francisca Patrois, who from an affliction
of the kidneys, and a contusion of the nerves also for two years without
supports could not move herself, recovered her health
on the day VIII of May the day after the feast of S. Mastidia. Of these
miracles the verbal process is kept in the Archive of the Bishop
of Troyes.

[6] [foundation of 2 Chaplains] In the Register of benefices of the diocese of Troyes there
in the year MDCXII printed are assigned two Chaplains of the altar
of S. Mastidia, of whose constituting the collation pertains to
the Bishop, but the foundation is referred to the year MCCXXXV in
Nicolaus Des-Guerrois: who toward the end of the book adds,
that in the year MDCXXX Louis XIII the most Christian King
with the Queen his consort, the Queen mother and the rest of the Court, was present
at Troyes, and to them then other relics of the Saints were
shown, and among these the shrine being opened the sacred body of S.
Mastidia, of which some part was given to the Queen.

HISTORY OF THE FINDING OF THE BODY

Drawn from MSS. by Nic. Camuzatus.

Mastidia Virgo, at Troyes in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 5676

FROM CAMUZATUS.

[1] To describe the admirable deeds of the Saints, we believe to be of the highest
profit: for unlike
minds of men, demand unlike modulations.
For some, for instruction, the honeyed
eloquence alone of the Fathers suffices, [Prologue of the Author] but for some
also the relation of the wonders wrought through the Saints becomes necessary,
whose manners not to be repudiated, but
according to their own measure we believe each is to be treated.
Whence we endeavor to commit to letters the acts of S. Mastidia
the Virgin dedicated to God, which we think will profit
many. For this blessed Virgin, with how great merits she avails before
God, to those visiting her, by effects most wonderful
she shows. [of things seen by the narrator] But her life, which
from present things we understand to have shone full of an abundance of virtues,
since it is lacking, either through the carelessness of those before not
described, or in some way we believe to have perished though written;
therefore passing over doubtful things, we shall report only
those things, which were subjected to our own sight.

[2] Milo, a reverend man, while he ruled the Prelacy of the city of Troyes,
introduced the monastery of S. Peter Prince
of the Apostles to be enlarged with greater walls,
and a certain altar of the older church destroying,
which he knew to cover the sacrosanct Body of Mastidia the Virgin,
first he found the tombs of Prelates famous for their merits and name: hence searching
more deeply the soil of the earth, he found at length the venerable
sarcophagus of the aforesaid Virgin, in which one
of the aforesaid had laid up the treasure of so great a body, [the body found whole,]
and as if brooding kept it buried. Opening
therefore the shrine, he found the gem of the holy body,
wrapped in purple, so namely whole in its whole body,
as if on the preceding day she had entered the same cave:
which the numerous people lifting with the highest
honor, upon a certain altar of the same church
they laid down, where the Virgin incomparable, had a seat
for the courses of various years. But at length
the altars of the greater temple being dedicated to God, in the
northern part was consecrated an altar in honor of B.
John the Baptist, [she is placed beside the altar of S. John the Baptist] beside which, with the great honorific
attendance of innumerable people, the most prudent Virgin
Mastidia is placed: where with how great a splendor of virtues she shines,
to none of the rhetoricians at all explicable, in
so great a measure does the heap of virtues now exalt itself daily.

[3] [In the year 1007, Friday of Easter week] At length in the year from the Lord's Incarnation one thousand
and seventh, when the nation of Christ-worshippers possessed
the joy of the Lord's Resurrection, and the solemnity of the Paschal
feast with a most devout heart celebrated, joys
upon joys the blessed Virgin heaped on ours, which by such
indications she made known. On the Friday of the Paschal week,
when the sun fiery-tressed had poured forth its rosy beam on the earth,
and had illumined the lands with shining rays; a certain
woman, whose withered left hand was numb with a heavy torpor,
came from the village of Ternodorum; and as by an oracle she had learned, [a woman crippled is healed]
she went under the casket of the Virgin, and with the palm in which she had vigor
beating her breast, began to send forth tearful voices to the stars,
For the moisture had deserted her arm,
and with all the fingers fixed in the middle of the palm, the withered
fist clung to the breast, nor by any force could it be torn from the breast
torn away. She therefore drawing long sighs from her breast,
redoubles "Mastidia" with continual voice.
Nor delay: the moisture mingled with heat began to warm
the limbs, and with the fingers growing warm the fist began to be torn from the breast,
and the joints of the fingers began to raise themselves up, and to its former
health the whole arm was restored.

[4] Hence when the golden sun raised itself to higher things,
and the third hour of the same day had already grown bright, in the wonted
manner the Brothers of the church of S. Peter go to the suburban temples
of S. Remigius, to celebrate there the solemnities of the Masses:
where when for some time they wove delays, it happened
that the parents of a certain infant from the city of Sens
returning entered the walls of Troyes. But the boy, who
now seemed three years old, [a bent and crawling boy,] from infirmity of body could
not imitate the gait of a man, but rather seemed
to crawl in the manner of a quadruped or serpent; toward the height
of heaven scarcely so much could he raise his head, for
the rest of the part clung to the earth, and long stretches with his body
in straining he gave, and like a lame serpent wounded
he folded himself into his own members. Him therefore when his parents
brought before the presence of S. Mastidia, by the merits of the holy Virgin
they soon felt the divine clemency present to them;
for leaving his long cradles the little child,
with new soles treads the ground made upright. There is bound
into a solid what before had flowed in the nerves, and miracles
he offers to the little eyes of all the bystanders.

[5] Meanwhile a certain father with his son, deprived of the light
of his forehead, with the Clerics had gone to the suburban temple: [and another blind boy.]
and anticipating the return of the Clerics, with revived
step revisited the place of the oft-said Virgin, soon
using the wonted clemency of the Lord: for the holy virgin interceding,
from the blinded forehead of the boy the clouds of darkness departed,
and the windows being unsealed the dawns of light entered;
the fame of which traversed the places of the whole city,
and stirred the mind of the Clerics to return
to the thresholds of the Prince of the Apostles.

[6] These things meanwhile being done, the Lord's day came on,
which was entitled the Octave of Easter; [Sunday in Albis] under
whose cock-crow, when now the morning-star deserted the ocean,
and the Brothers of the church of S. Peter had celebrated part
of the Matins; a certain woman, who had passed the same
night sleepless, felt so great a propitiation of the Virgin toward
herself. For her shins had clung to her hips; [another crippled woman,]
and with the ham bent, so had the nerves of both
been compacted together, that, the use being reversed, with her knees,
not her soles, she trod the ground: nor otherwise than propped on her hands
overcoming the ground by a leap, she was carried by alien
footsteps, that is, she leaned in going on certain
little stools. She therefore persevering in prayers,
when the first act of the nocturns was now being celebrated,
felt the gift of divine piety thus present to her. First
the flesh began to be separated from the flesh, and the wrinkle of the nerves
to be unknotted into length, and soon growing pale in wondrous ways (and as
even now she testifies) struck with an inestimable straitness of pain,
she fills the whole place with tearful voices, which
compelled diverse persons from diverse places to flow together thither; and with all
seeing she seized the casket of the holy Body with her own
hands, and as if she were raised by the hand of the holy
Virgin she stood up erect with all her limbs. Thus in the hour of the Lord's
Resurrection, the woman felt the gifts of her own raising.
These things being thus done:

Now first the dawn was sprinkling the lands with new light,
leaving the saffron couch of Tithonus;

[7] When thus the oft-said virgin the Lord renewed
by His power. [likewise a paralytic,] A certain man, for now almost thrice ten
years had been held under the walls of the city, who with all his limbs
loosened, always clung at the doors of the Virgin, and
of those entering the temple, begged that he, lying numb in the dunghill,
might be cherished with alms: for his left
hand was held exhausted of vital heat, and so withered
in the manner of a bow it was bent to the bend of the elbow: also the whole
left part of the body was numb with a heavy paralysis,
and was deprived of all sense, and through the flowing limbs,
the languid bonds hung from the loosened nerves:
nay also the nerves of his legs and shins were held drawn together
into a wrinkle, nor could he mark the ground with any step
however light. Him therefore, as a corpse now almost
to be buried, on a doubled-doubled neck certain men carrying,
as he had begged, under the tomb of the holy Virgin they place.
Then persevering for some while in tearful prayer,
forthwith he felt the gift of God's medicine present to him.
First the left hand, which both with dryness and with curvature we said
to be condemned, though struck with heavy pain, he began
to raise. Hence with no long interval interposed, the rest
part began to revive. The corpse of long time
raises to life its extinct limbs, and proceeding by a new path
the old person, with frequently moved steps
beat the ground, hence running joyful he praises the Lord.
With such miracles therefore the Lord heaped up the joys
of His resurrection. Nor, I beseech, let the foolish page
deter the reader, which though it bristle with the harshness of words
ill-composed, yet wholly with a wonderful fragrance
of sense it shines; for we are certain that in things so great we
rather detract honor, than heap great things on great;
but meanwhile let the frivolous excuse cease, when
the things which are to be explained the whole page cannot explain.

[8] These things being transacted, the third weekday of the same
week coming on, which on the XVII of the Kalends of May in that
year fixed its seats, [April 15 a mute woman] of which when now with the horses
the sun was reaching the second hour, a certain woman, born
in the fatherland of the Tricassini, returning from the parts of Sens,
went to the walls of the city of Troyes: and she was so in her ears
obstructed, and so the receptacles of her ears were held
stopped up, that she could drink in no words of anyone however clearest.
But when she came before the presence of the holy Virgin,
by chance a certain Priest at her altar
was chanting Mass. Nor long had she been free for tearful
prayers, behold she now began to hear the blind voices
of the Priest: hence the ear very long deaf, also began
to drink in the silent speeches, and the inner parts being broken
all the doors were opened. But on the morrow a certain
woman, whose windows of the forehead the blind night had occupied,
[April 16 a blind woman,] by the guidance of her son performed, from the fatherland of the Wauracenses,
came to visit the temples of S. Mastidia; where when for some time
she poured the libations of prayers, and the second hour of the day
had already grown bright, the nocturnal clouds began to recede,
the perspicuous light putting them to flight. The entering light
made the twilights of the night depart, and long
closed under the forehead the windows are unsealed.

[9] On the following day when the sun touched the center of heaven,
behold the Lord added a miracle to a miracle:
for a certain little boy walking bent in the manner of a quadruped, [April 17 in the lower part as if dead:]
and yet now almost seven years old, at the side of his parents
in their arms before the sepulcher was placed of the sacrosanct
Virgin. For from the groin downward so in all his members
he was dead, that like a half-living corpse
he made tortuous bendings; nor did he imitate human
gaits, but to glide or crawl, like a serpent he seemed
creeping. He therefore before the presence of the excellent Virgin
laid down, soon felt the medicine of his whole body
divinely infused into him. First the vital heat
revisited the foul groin, and hence glides down to the lower parts;
and so unhurt he stands below, as before he had been
above. Scarcely yet for such things had the canticles of praises
been silent, and behold thus the Lord redoubles a miracle.

[10] A young man, as I think, of fifteen years one
was there of the bystanders, whose right hand the dryness had exhausted;
nor only had the fist withered, [a young man having a withered hand] but
also the top of the fingers so had clung to the middle of the palm,
that with the nails fixed into the flesh, with the fist always armed
he seemed to be, with the fingers projecting. He, as we set before,
when for the said things he heaped up the applause of songs,
suddenly divinely perceived the reward of an unhoped-for
recompense. For the dryness, which had so parched
his torpid right hand, the vital heat putting it to flight, took
swift flight; the nails are torn from the known joint,
and of the long-desired raising the fingers obtain the gift; and so
by the merit of the holy Virgin from immovable is rendered
the hand movable, and felt the gift present to him, which
he scarcely yet dared to hope. Summarily touching all things
we run through, since of this journey, as is believed,
no end could be had; and most ample in sense we abbreviate
in words, lest the futile page generate weariness for the reader.
Nor yet let anyone believe us to have feigned new things
craftily, which is not so. We speak with Christ as witness.
For we know that with the unwise there is a place for deceits,
but with the wise it is nothing other than a game.

[11] Scarcely had the seventh weekday of the same week come on,
which from the day of Easter was held the fifteenth, [April 19]
and certain ones cited by the fame of such great virtues, from diverse parts
convening, go to the tomb of the excellent Virgin: among
whom some of the Tricassini migrating, two girls,
as I hope of five years, bring with them:
of whom one, as the authority of the parents testifies, from the womb
of an ill-pregnant parent slipped into the light, without
light fell, [two blind girls:] and to her the first day gave the beginnings of the life of her members
with ruin: the other also similarly of light,
though not from birth, yet long deprived was
of the gift, and as much herself as her parents had transfixed with unheard-of
pain: the parents loving her uniquely,
before the presence of the kindly Virgin bring her. Nor with long
prayers did they burden the pious ears, when suddenly at the third
hour that greatest pain, which had bound their cold limbs,
was the measure of joy. For the unfailing light filling the heavenly
things with light, appeased by the merits of the most beloved
Virgin, completed the begun work by the right of the Creator, the windows
of the foreheads long closed laid open, and the unknown beam
bade be present. The eyesight gleams in their clear faces, and
restored their faces shone with their own lamps. Both refuse
the guidance of their parents, and cry out that the surrounding things
they penetrate with clear sight. Which voices while the parents'

ears conceived, for joy they strike the golden stars
with cries, the applause of joy through the throngs of the common people and
of the parents is redoubled, and especially in the hearts of the parents
it is increased.

[12] Hence with no long interval interposed, the heap
above the Lord heaped up with such a miracle.
A certain man already four times ten years old, namely from the parts
of Toul sprung, was so in a certain part of his body
contracted in the nerves, and frustrated of its power,
that he leaned wholly on another. For the nerves
had so constricted his leg and shin into a wrinkle, [contracted,] that the one shin being shorter
could mark the ground with no footprint: hence with the column of his foot
in sustaining he was carried, on the other side he leaned on a staff.
He therefore first hearing miracles quite
new, which through His saints the Lord worked in the city
of Sens (for at that time with sublime, as was
just, fame they were spread abroad) leaving his native
borders, the walls of that city as he could he approached. Where
when for some while he wove delays, nor did he feel the medicine
of the Lord, who through others indeed had predestined this
to be done; compelled by the fame of the incomparable
Virtues of the Virgin, he was eager to go to her presence with most
swift endeavors. Nor delay when he stretched part of the day in prayers,
and from a deep breast drawing sighs
he redoubled his groan, at the ninth hour he knew himself to be looked upon
from heaven, and by whose merits it was done he weighed. For before
the altar reclining of the aforesaid Virgin, the vital heat
he felt poured back into his dead members: the mortification
of the nerves began to be driven out, and to be brought back into its former power:
and so continuously vigorous in all his members he appeared,
as if he had never at any time felt the traces of any infirmity.

[13] These things being thus composed, the following day the solar
orbit brought back: [a paralytic.] on which day a certain young man, from his very childhood
weak, coming from the parts of Langres, the tomb
of the incomparable Virgin approached. He therefore in the part
left of his body so enervated, and so through the paralysis
of the contraction of the nerves was held deprived, that not even
any power of moving was present: and when now
the black night was setting over the Ocean, wrapping both earth
and pole with great shadow, and now the placid
sleep the weary bodies would seize, to the deep sighs of the groaning man
the Lord looked back. For when with his groin with a long
groan he stretched, and "Mastidia" with frequent voices
redoubled; by the prayers of the holy Virgin, as we believe,
the Lord being appeased imparted to the sick man the gift of health.
There returns a foreign power into his deserted members, the wrinkle
of the nerves is dissolved, and with new walking he marks new
footprints: and so from that hour all in his body
both the nerves and the members appear made solid, so that of that
loosening no signs further remained.

VISITATION OF THE CASKET AND MORE RECENT MIRACLES

From the verbal Processes printed in French.

Mastidia Virgo, at Troyes in Gaul (S.)

FROM THE FRENCH.

[1] [The Bishop of Troyes Renatus in the year 1606] Renatus de Breslay, by God's permission and of the holy
Apostolic See Bishop of Troyes in
Champagne, Counselor and Almoner of the King,
to all who shall see the present letters Greeting. We make
known that in the year I of our Episcopate, on the day of Saturday
on the Vigil of the Most Holy Trinity, XX of May, from
the Incarnation of the Lord in the year MDCVI, moved by singular
devotion, we made the opening of the casket or chest in
which rests the body of S. Mastidia, by the sentence and
counsel of the Chapter of our church, for placing
there the present verbal Process to the memory of posterity
and as an argument for praising and exalting the divine
Name, on account of the miracle which happened in
our church, and is such.

[2] When in the aforesaid year MDCVI, on the day VII of May, the feast
of S. Mastidia herself we were present at Matins, [while on May 7 he is present at Matins]
we heard in our said church a great commotion,
as of a people vehemently exulting,
who in great number had flowed together: of which novelty the cause
diligently inquired, we understood the people to cry out
for joy, on account of a miracle recently done
in the person of a boy youth, a chorister in the church
of S. Stephen, by name Natalis, son of Nicolaus Brenaudat,
of about nine or ten years, [he hears that a paralytic boy was healed,] sprung
from the town of S. Basolus, commonly Droup Saint Basle:
who already already had been suddenly cured from the paralysis and obstruction
of his members, with which he had for four months
been detained. These things understood, desiring to be made
more certain of the truth of the matter, I commanded the aforesaid boy to be led to me: who
being interrogated asserted, that for four months he could not
use his feet or stand upon them: and that having heard
the miracles which are done in single years through the merits of S.
Mastidia, he had asked his instructor in the art of music
Master Claudius Herluison, to cause himself to be carried
to the church of S. Peter, within the chapel of the Saviour,
where rests the body of S. Mastidia; so that there under
her chest placed, he might pass the night in prayers and praises
with the people.

[3] [testifying concerning his miraculous cure,] To this his petition when the aforenamed precentor had assented,
he said he had been carried into the said chapel
by the handmaid of his mistress, and there had begged his mother
that she should seek for him a Priest, to whom of his sins
he might confess. Who when she had brought Master Ludovicus
Dugard, the Vicar of the chapel itself, and he had confessed
to him; he said he had felt about the middle of the night
first an intense cold, then so great a heat poured
through all the members of his body, that he seemed to himself to burn:
after which he felt himself wholly relieved and healed.
Which by him being thus understood, immediately we sent
those who should ask the Provost and Subdean and various
Canons of the church of S. Stephen, with the aforesaid
precentor Herluison instructor of the choral boys,
that they should present themselves to us: who being interrogated by us as a
certainty asserted, that the aforesaid boy, chorister of their church, [and others conscious of the disease,]
from the time of four months and more until
now had been obstructed in his members.

[4] [likewise the physicians ascribing the deed to a miracle] By such an attestation and certitude in no way
content, we heard also Master Claudius Belin
Doctor of medicine, Nicolaus Vivien Master
barber and surgeon, and Petrus Gentil Master
apothecary of the city of Troyes; who as
had been related to us, had bestowed care on the aforesaid
boy. And they affirmed before us in truth, that
before the health so promptly and unexpectedly restored,
they had known and from the prescripts of their art had judged,
the said Natalis Bernaudat to have been touched with paralysis; and to it
brought, that they altogether believed it impossible
that without divine operation he should be healed, so quickly and
in time so small, through whatever could to him have been
applied human medicaments.

[5] [and he imposes its approbation upon the chest] Seeing him therefore so perfectly and promptly
healed from the aforesaid infirmity, we can certainly judge,
and to a great miracle ascribe such a case. Wherefore
we have given and commanded to be given thanks to God: and concerning all things
we commanded to be written this verbal Process, to
the glory of God and the honor of S. Mastidia: and we took
the occasion of opening the present casket or chest,
in which the body of the aforesaid Saint rests; which
we found whole, wrapped in three shrouds, [for 180 years not unsealed.] of
linen quite white one, two of silk,
the first red then black, and upon it on parchment
paper the writing of our predecessor of good memory
Stephen de Givriaco Bishop of Troyes, with
the subscriptions of others: which writing in its
place we left, since we had understood that from the memory
of men the aforesaid casket had not been unsealed.
But that Stephen sat from the year MCCCXCV until the year
MCCCCXXVI, so that for the whole CLXXX years that chest
remained closed, or at least is not known to have been reopened. Another
miracle, attested by a similar Process, thus to be read in Latin
receive.

[6] In the year MDCXIII on the day XXVII of May, about the first
hour after noon, We Renatus de Breslay, [The same in the year 1613]
Counselor and ordinary Almoner of the King,
Bishop of Troyes, returning into this city from our house
at Aix-en-Othe, dependent on our Episcopate,
on account of the relation made to us by notable
persons of this city, both ecclesiastical and
lay, concerning a certain miracle which S. Mastidia had done
on the vigil of her feast, about the person of Ludovica
Leger, daughter of the late Claudius Leger and Francisca d'Aubeterre,
born eleven years; and on account of the zeal
which we have for promoting the glory of God and
the augmentation of the cultus to be paid to the same, wishing that
the miracle itself should become known to all, and that of it
a verbal Process should be formed, we caused for a more certain
proof to be summoned the noble men Blasius d'Aubeterre,
of LIII years; Jacobus Senocq, of years
LVIII, citizen merchants dwelling in this city;
and Joannes Gautherot, Comptroller in the house
of the Lord de Guise, of about XLVIII years; and likewise
honest matrons, Bonaventura Bruyer,
wife of Thomas Charpentier the Sergeant likewise
dwelling at Troyes, [he hears witnesses concerning the crippled girl,] of LXX years; Claudia Hue,
wife of the said Senocq of XLVIII years great-aunt
of the said Ludovica Leger, Francisca Senocq wife
of the said Gautherot of XXIX years, Joanna Bardot
wife of the said d'Aubeterre, of XLV years; Francisca
d'Aubeterre, widow of the late Claudius Leger, and
mother of the aforesaid Ludovica and daughter of the said Blasius d'Aubeterre
of XXXIV years, and Barbara Coüillaude wife
of Andreas Montagne, otherwise called Parvi-Flandri
of LXV years.

[7] [whose leg, cured in vain, a physician had judged should be cut off,] These moreover and all these, after the oath in such
a case wont to be required, and severally rendered,
unanimously said and declared, that
about one year ago there had come to the said Ludovica a certain discharge
into the leg and left foot: which taking increase
made the said Ludovica so weak
that erect she could not stand, and the leg itself and the foot to her
clinging through the contraction of the nerves was so curved,
that the said Ludovica could in no way extend it.
But although the said Ludovica had been presented
to several surgeons, and namely to Masters Michael
Michelin, Nicolaus Vivien the younger, Jacobus
Baubey, and Nicolaus Bourgeois apothecary, by
whose judgment to her were applied various medicaments,
yet no solace was reported from them:
wherefore one of them, seeing all things to be in vain,
judged it expedient that that leg be amputated: which
Ludovica in no way would permit; but from God
and His Saints, in whom she had confidence, the remedy
of her disease she said she wished to await.

[8] Therefore two days before the feast of S. Mastidia,
Ludovica herself presented herself to a venerable and discreet man
Master Dionysius Latrecey, [but when at the chest of S. Mastidia she keeps vigil] Doctor of Theology, Canon
of our church of Troyes and Curate of S. Magdalene
of Troyes, who her, as she was asked, confession
received. But on the sixth day of the aforesaid month
the girl declared the purpose of her mind to her mother,
and asked her to lead her to keep the vigil
in the chapel of S. Mastidia, founded in our said church,
where her body whole rests. To which
end her mother joined to her as companion Siretta Leger her
sister, and to them added himself the aforesaid Senocq the great-uncle,
in the temple met by them. But the
girl had armpit crutches, about to support herself by the same
that night in the said chapel, as are wont yearly
several afflicted with various ills: which same Senocq said to us,
that he had commended his aforesaid great-niece to the said
Barbara Coüillaude, who was in the said chapel with her aforenamed husband, a man wholly impotent, to
pass the night likewise there.

[9] But about the second hour after the
middle of the night there is said to have come to the said Ludovica a great weakness, [after a swoon suddenly cured.]
on account of which she began to cry out. Which hearing,
the aforesaid Barbara and Siretta, more closely beheld
her, and saw the said Ludovica wholly faint away;
to whom that they might succor her and recall her from the swoon
they asked wine of the bystanders: which
after some time taken the girl being restored to herself, began to cry out
that she was being very ill tormented: immediately
but afterward freed from all sense of pain, she said, that she was
now well: just as in truth they saw
the said Ludovica stand upon her own feet, extended
as before and brought back to their natural state. Wherefore
as many as were there cried out "A Miracle, [and afterward followed the procession with sound feet.]
A Miracle," pouring forth into the praise of God and of the Saint and the giving of
thanks. But on the next day in the procession,
which is led by the venerable Canons of our church,
and in which is carried about the chest of S. Mastidia, there was seen
Ludovica conveniently walking, the crutches cast away,
just as even now. All which things affirmed
and by subscribing signed the aforesaid deponents
Jacobus Senocq, Blasius d'Aubeterre, Claudia
Hue, Gautherot, Joanna Bardot, Francisca
d'Aubeterre, Francisca Senocq, and Bonaventura
Bruyer.

[10] [a woman deprived of walking is cured,] On the day VI of May MDCXIV, was done a miracle
through S. Mastidia in the person of Adamata le Clerc, widow
of the late Nicolaus Courtois, Sergeant and Notary
in the Bailiwick of Isles, of XLII years: who was healed
through the merits and intercessions of the said Saint from a flux
which had descended into her legs, so that she could not help herself
except by armpit crutches: and in that state
she had remained for the space of two years, all means
humanly possible attempting to recover her health,
but in vain. The miracle moreover done in her
attested Claudius Bourgeois Apothecary dwelling at Troyes,
Joannes Corneveu surgeon dwelling
at Clariac, Bonaventura Courtois Sergeant
in the Marquisate of Isles, Joannes Brunet miller,
Anna Courtois, Joanna David wife of Claudius Large
day-laborer, Babella Tassin widow of the late Collinus
Millon day-laborer, all dwelling in the said
place Isles.

[11] On the day VIII of the same month another miracle
happened in the person of Francisca Patrois, [likewise another.] wife of Tossanus
Marchant, tailor, dwelling at Troyes, of years
about fifty, healed from a malady of the kidneys
with a contusion of the nerves, caused by excesses
committed on her person: which infirmity for two
whole years suffering, and finding no remedy for it,
she was forced to walk upon crutches. The witnesses
of the miracle were the aforesaid Marchant, Claudius
Aubry shoemaker, Jacobus Benoit merchant, Dionysius
Berthier cook, the honest matron Joanna le
Bey, daughter of Petrus le Bey, Petrus Marchand tailor
brother-in-law of the said Francisca, Maria Comefer wife of Stephen
Prieur tailor, Catharina Goguet, wife of Guilielmus
Bourdon tapestry-maker, and Joannes Marchand tailor,
all dwelling at Troyes. Thus far the little book printed
in French, adding that the verbal Processes concerning these two
last miracles are found in the archives of the church
of Troyes: accordingly thither we have written, prepared then both these,
and any other monuments whatsoever of miracles wrought thereafter
hitherto to give in the appendix of this volume, if these
we shall in good time obtain from those whose interest it is to promote the honor
of this Saint.
