The Book of Margery Kempe (12 page)

When this creature with her companions came to the grave where our Lord was buried, then, as she entered that holy place, she fell down with her candle in her hand, as if she would have died for sorrow. And later she rose up again with great weeping and sobbing, as though she had seen our Lord buried right in front of her. Then she thought she saw our Lady in her soul: how she mourned and how she wept for her son's death, and then was our Lady's sorrow her sorrow.

And so wherever the friars led them in that holy place, she always wept and sobbed astonishingly, and specially when she came to where our Lord was nailed on the cross. There she cried out and wept without control, and could not restrain herself. They also came to a marble stone that our Lord was laid on when he was taken down from the cross, and there she wept with great compassion, remembering our Lord's Passion.

Afterwards she received communion on the Mount of Calvary, and then she wept, she sobbed, she cried out so loudly that it was amazing to hear it. She was so full of holy thoughts and meditations, and holy contemplations in the Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ, and holy conversation in which our Lord conversed with her soul, that she could never express them later, so high and so holy they were. Great was the grace that our Lord showed to this creature for the three weeks that she was in Jerusalem.

Another day, early in the morning, they visited the great hills,
and her guides told where our Lord bore the cross on his back, and where his mother met with him, and how she swooned, and how she fell down and he fell down also.
¹
And so they went on all the morning until they came to Mount Zion, and all the time this creature wept abundantly for compassion of our Lord's Passion. On Mount Zion is a place where our Lord washed his disciples' feet, and a little way from there he celebrated the Last Supper with his disciples.
²

And therefore this creature had a great desire to receive communion in that holy place where our merciful Lord Christ Jesus first consecrated his precious body in the form of bread, and gave it to his disciples. And so she was with great devotion, with plenteous tears, and with violent sobbings, for in this place there is plenary remission, and so there is in four other places in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. One is on the Mount of Calvary; another at the grave where our Lord was buried; the third is at the marble stone that his precious body was laid on when it was taken from the cross; the fourth is where the holy cross was buried; and in many other places of Jerusalem.

And when this creature came to the place where the apostles received the Holy Ghost, our Lord gave her great devotion. Afterwards she went to the place where our Lady was buried,
³
and as she knelt on her knees during the hearing of two masses, our Lord Jesus Christ said to her, ‘You do not come here, daughter, for any need except merit and reward, for your sins were forgiven you before you came here, and therefore you come here for the increasing of your reward and merit. And I am well pleased with you, daughter, because you are obedient to Holy Church, and you obey your confessor and follow his counsel, who, by authority of Holy Church, has absolved you of your sins and dispensed you, so that you need not go to Rome or to St James at Compostela, unless you wish to yourself. Notwithstanding all this, I command you in the name of Jesus, daughter, that you go to visit these holy places and do as I bid you, for I am above Holy Church, and I shall go with you and keep you safe.'

Then our Lady spoke to her soul in this way, saying, ‘Daughter,
you are greatly blessed, for my son Jesus will infuse so much grace into you that the whole world will marvel at you. Don't be ashamed, my beloved daughter, to receive the gifts which my son will give you, for I tell you truly they will be great gifts that he will give you. And therefore, dear daughter, don't be ashamed of him who is your God, your Lord and your love, any more than I was ashamed when I saw him hang on the cross – my sweet son Jesus – to cry and to weep for the pain of my sweet son, Jesus Christ. Nor was Mary Magdalene ashamed to cry and weep for my son's love. And therefore, daughter, if you will be a partaker in our joy, you must be a partaker in our sorrow.'

Such was the sweet conversation that this creature had at our Lady's grave, and a great deal more than she could ever repeat.

Afterwards she rode on an ass to Bethlehem, and when she came to the church and to the crib where our Lord was born,
⁴
she had great devotion, much conversing in her soul, and high spiritual comfort, with much weeping and sobbing, so that her fellow pilgrims would not let her eat in their company. And so she ate her meals alone by herself.

And then the Grey Friars
⁵
who had led her from place to place took her in with them and seated her with them at meals, so that she should not eat alone. And one of the friars asked one of her party if that was the Englishwoman who, they had heard tell, spoke with God. And when this came to her knowledge, she knew that it was the truth that our Lord said to her before she left England: ‘Daughter, I shall make the whole world wonder at you, and many men and women shall speak of me for love of you, and honour me in you.'

Another time this creature's companions wanted to go to the River Jordan and would not let her go with them. Then this creature prayed our Lord that she might go with them, and he bade that she should go with them whether they wanted her to or not. And then she set forth by the grace of God and didn't ask their permission. When she came to the River Jordan the weather was so hot that she thought her feet would be burnt because of the heat that she felt.

Afterwards she went on with her fellow pilgrims to Mount Quarentyne,
¹
where our Lord fasted for forty days. And there she asked her companions to help her up the mountain, and they said ‘no,' because they could scarcely help themselves up. Then she was very miserable because she could not get up the mountain. And just then a Saracen, a good-looking man, happened to come by her, and she put a groat into his hand, making signs to him to take her up the mountain. And quickly the Saracen took her under his arm and led her up the high mountain where our Lord fasted forty days. Then she was dreadfully thirsty and got no sympathy from her fellow pilgrims, but then God, of his high goodness, moved the Grey Friars with compassion, and they comforted her, when her fellow countrymen would not acknowledge her.

And so she was ever more strengthened in the love of our Lord and the more bold to suffer shame and rebukes for his sake in every place she went, because of the grace that God wrought in her of weeping, sobbing and crying out, which grace she could not withstand when God would send it. And always she proved her feelings to be true, and those promises that God had made her while she was in England, and in other places also, came to her in effect just as she had sensed before, and therefore she dared the better receive such speeches and conversation, and act the more boldly in consequence.

Afterwards, when this creature had come down from the
Mount, as God willed, she went on to the place where St John the Baptist was born.
²
And later she went to Bethany, where Mary and Martha lived, and to the grave where Lazarus was buried and raised from death to life. And she visited the chapel where our blessed Lord appeared to his blessed mother before all others on the morning of Easter Day.
³
And she stood in the same place where Mary Magdalene stood when Christ said to her, ‘Mary, why are you weeping?'
⁴
And so she was in many more places than are written here, for she was three weeks in Jerusalem and in places thereabouts. And she always had great devotion as long as she was in that country.

And the friars of the Church of the Holy Sepulchre were very welcoming to her and gave her many great relics, wanting her to remain among them if she had wished, because of the belief they had in her. The Saracens also made much of her, and conveyed and escorted her about the country wherever she wanted to go.
⁵
And she found all people good and gentle to her, except her own countrymen.

And as she went from Jerusalem to Ramleh, she would have liked to return again to Jerusalem, because of the great grace and spiritual comfort that she felt when she was there, and to gain herself more pardon. And then our Lord commanded her to go to Rome, and so on home to England, and said to her, ‘Daughter, as often as you say or think “Worshipped be all those holy places in Jerusalem that Christ suffered bitter pain and passion in,” you shall have the same pardon as if you were there with your bodily presence, both for yourself and for all those that you will give it to.'

And as she travelled to Venice, many of her companions were very ill, and all the time our Lord said to her, ‘Don't be afraid, daughter, no one will die in the ship that you are in.'

And she found her feelings completely true. And when our Lord had brought them all to Venice again in safety, her fellow countrymen abandoned her and went off, leaving her alone. And some of them said that they would not go with her for a hundred pounds.

When they had gone away from her, then our Lord Jesus Christ – who always helps in need and never forsakes his servant who truly trusts in his mercy – said to his creature, ‘Don't be afraid, daughter, because I shall provide for you very well, and bring you in safety to Rome and home again to England without any disgrace to your body, if you will be clad in white clothes, and wear them as I said to you while you were in England.'

Then this creature, being in great unhappiness and doubt, answered in her mind, ‘If you are the spirit of God that speaks in my soul, and I may prove you to be a true spirit through counsel of the church, I shall obey your will; and if you bring me to Rome in safety, I shall wear white clothes, even though all the world should wonder at me, for your love.'

‘Go forth, daughter, in the name of Jesus, for I am the spirit of God, which shall help you in your every need, go with you, and support you in every place – and therefore, do not mistrust me. You never found me deceiving, nor did I ever bid you do anything except what is worship of God and profit to your soul if you will obey; and I shall infuse into you great abundance of grace.'

Just then, as she looked to one side, she saw a poor man sitting there, who had a great hump on his back. His clothes were all very much patched, and he seemed a man of about fifty. Then she went up to him and said, ‘Good man, what's wrong with your back?'

He said, ‘It was broken in an illness, ma'am.'

She asked what his name was, and where he was from. He said his name was Richard, and he was from Ireland. Then she thought of her confessor's words, who was a holy anchorite, as is written before, who spoke to her while she was in England in this way: ‘Daughter, when your own companions have abandoned you, God will provide a broken-backed man to escort you wherever you want to go.'

Then she with a glad spirit said to him, ‘Good Richard, guide me to Rome, and you shall be rewarded for your labour.'

‘No, ma'am,' he said, ‘I know very well that your countrymen have abandoned you, and therefore it would be difficult for me to escort you. Your fellow countrymen have both bows and arrows
with which they can defend both you and themselves, and I have no weapon except a cloak full of patches. And yet I fear that my enemies will rob me, and perhaps take you away from me and rape you; and therefore I dare not escort you, for I would not, for a hundred pounds, have you suffer any disgrace while you were with me.'

And then she replied, ‘Richard, don't be afraid. God will look after both of us very well, and I shall give you two nobles for your trouble.'

Then he agreed and set off with her. Soon after, there came two Grey Friars and a woman that came with them from Jerusalem, and she had with her an ass, which was bearing a chest containing an image of our Lord.

And then Richard said to this creature, ‘You shall go along with these two men and this woman, and I will meet you morning and evening, for I must get on with my occupation and beg my living.'

And so she followed his advice and went along with the friars and the woman. None of them could understand her language, yet they provided her every day with food, drink and lodgings as well as they did for themselves and rather better, so that she was always much obliged to pray for them. And every evening and morning, Richard with the broken back came and cheered her up as he had promised.

The woman who had the image in the chest, when they came into fine cities, took the image out of her chest and set it in the laps of respectable wives. And they would dress it up in shirts and kiss it as though it had been God himself. And when the creature saw the worship and the reverence that they accorded the image, she was seized with sweet devotion and sweet meditations, so that she wept with great sobbing and loud crying. And she was so much the more moved because, while she was in England, she had high meditations on the birth and the childhood of Christ, and she thanked God because she saw each of these creatures have as great faith in what she saw with her bodily eye as
she
had before with her inward eye.

When these good women saw this creature weeping, sobbing and crying out so astonishingly and so powerfully that she was nearly overcome by it, then they arranged a good soft bed and laid her upon it, and comforted her as much as they could for our Lord's love – blessed may he be.

The said creature had a ring, which our Lord had commanded her to have made while she was at home in England, and to have engraved on it
Jesus est amor meus
.
¹
She had much thought how she should keep this ring from being stolen on her travels, for she thought she would not have lost the ring for a thousand pounds and much more, because she had it made at God's command; and also she wore it by his command, for she previously intended, before she had the revelation, never to wear a ring.

And as it happened, she was lodged in a good man's house, and many neighbours came in to welcome her for her perfection and her holiness, and she gave them the measurements of Christ's grave,
²
which they received very devoutly, deriving great joy from it and thanking her very much. Afterwards this creature went to her room and let her ring hang by her purse-string which she carried at her breast. On the morning of the next day, when she would have taken her ring, it was gone – she could not find it. Then she was terribly unhappy, and complained to the good wife of the house in this way: ‘Ma'am, my good wedding ring to Jesus Christ – you could call it – is gone!'

The good wife, understanding what she meant, prayed her to pray for her, and her face and expression changed strangely, as though she had been guilty. Then this creature took a candle in her hand and searched all about her bed where she had lain all night, and the good wife of the house took another candle in her
hand and also busied herself to look round the bed. And at last she found the ring under the bed on the boards, and with great joy she told the good wife that she had found her ring. Then the good wife very submissively asked this creature for forgiveness as best she could: ‘
Bone Christian, prey per me.
'
³

Afterwards this creature came to Assisi, and there she met a Friar Minor,
⁴
an Englishman, and he was held to be a serious cleric. She told him about her manner of life, her feelings, her revelations, and the grace that God wrought in her soul by holy inspirations and high contemplations, and how our Lord talked to her soul in a kind of conversation. Then the worthy cleric said that she was much beholden to God, for he said he had never heard of anyone living in this world who was on such homely terms with God by love and homely conversation as she was -God be thanked for his gifts, for it is his goodness and no man's merit.

On one occasion, as this creature was in church at Assisi, there was exhibited our Lady's kerchief
⁵
– which she wore here on earth – with many lights and great reverence. Then this creature had great devotion. She wept, she sobbed, she cried, with great abundance of tears and many holy thoughts.
⁶
She was there also on Lammas Day,
⁷
when there is great pardon with plenary remission,
⁸
in order to obtain grace, mercy and forgiveness for herself, for all her friends, for all her enemies, and for all the souls in purgatory.

And there was a lady who had come from Rome to obtain her pardon. Her name was Margaret Florentyne, and she had with her many Knights of Rhodes, many gentlewomen, and a very fine equipage.

Then Richard, the broken-backed man, went to her, asking her if this creature could go with her to Rome – and himself too - so as to be kept safe from the danger of thieves. And then that worthy lady received them into her party and let them go with her to Rome, as God willed. When this creature came to Rome, those who were her fellow pilgrims before and excluded her from their company were also in Rome, and when they heard tell that
such a woman had arrived they were greatly surprised at how she came there safely.

And then she went and got her white clothes and was clad all in white, just as she was commanded to do years before in her soul by revelation, and now it was fulfilled in effect.

Then this creature was taken in at the Hospital of St Thomas of Canterbury in Rome,
⁹
and there she received communion every Sunday with great weeping, violent sobbing and loud crying, and was highly beloved by the Master of the Hospital and all his brethren.

And then, through the stirring of her spiritual enemy, there came a priest, who was held to be a holy man in the Hospital and also in other places in Rome, and who was one of her companions and one of her own countrymen. And notwithstanding his holiness, he spoke so badly of this creature and slandered her name so much in the Hospital that, through his evil tongue, she was put out of the Hospital, so that she could no longer be shriven or receive communion there.