Valperga (24 page)

"Have you never heard of a heretic and most dangerous
impostor, of the name of Wilhelmina of Bohemia? This woman appeared
first in Italy in the year 1289: she took up her residence at
Milan, with a female companion, called Magfreda. Outwardly
professing the Catholic religion, and conforming in the strictest
manner to its rules, she secretly formed a sect, founded on the
absurd and damnable belief, that she was the Holy Ghost incarnate
upon earth for the salvation of the female sex. She gave out that
she was the daughter of Constance, queen of Bohemia; that, as the
angel Gabriel had descended to announce the divine conception to
the blessed Virgin, so the angel Raphael announced to her mother
the incarnation of the Holy Spirit in favour of the female sex; and
that she was born twelve months after this heavenly annunciation.
Her tenets were intended entirely to supersede those of our beloved
Lord Jesus, and her friend Magfreda was to be papess, and to
succeed to all the power and privileges of the Roman pontiff.
Wilhelmina died in the year 1302 in the odour of sanctity, and was
buried in the church of St. Peter at Milan: she had led so holy a
life, and kept her heresy so profound a secret, except from her own
sect, that she was followed as a saint, and even priests and
dignitaries wrote homilies in praise of her piety, her abstinence,
and modesty.

"I was at Milan two years after, when the Dominican
inquisitors first discovered this lurking pestilence; and the
terror and abomination of the discovery filled the town with
horror. Magfreda, and her principal follower, Andrea Saramita, were
led to prison; the other disciples who threw themselves on the
mercy of the priests, being commanded to perform several
pilgrimages, and give large alms to the church, were absolved. I
had just then become a Padre, and filled the confessor's chair:
I was young, full of zeal, eloquent in the cause of truth, and
tainted by an enthusiastic bigotry against heretics and
schismatics. I preached with animation against this new heresy; it
appeared to me so impious, so absurd, so terrifically wicked, that
I was touched by an holy impulse as I declaimed against its
followers. Having thus distinguished myself, the father inquisitors
intreated me to use my fervid arguments to persuade the obstinate
Magfreda to recant. They had exhausted every reason, and had had
recourse even to torture, to convert this woman from her damnable
impieties; but she with haughty insolence declared that she was in
readiness to perish in the flames, but that her last breath should
be spent in the praise of her divine mistress, and an exhortation
to her tormentors to repent and believe.

"I was filled with worldly vanity, and fancied that my
learned sentences, my anathemas, and eloquent exorcisms could not
fail of their desired effect, and that by the aid of God and truth
I should be covered with the glory of success in this holy warfare.
Thus secure, I entered the dungeon of the heretic: it was a low,
damp vault, where she had been confined for several weeks without
even straw for her bed. She was kneeling in one corner, praying
fervently, and for a moment I stopped to contemplate a heretic, a
monster I had never before seen. She was an aged, respectable
woman, in the dress of a nun, and with an appearance of sanctity
and modesty that astounded me. When she perceived me, she rose, and
said with a faint smile: `Is my condemnation passed? or is a new
scene of torture prepared?'

"`Daughter,' I replied, `I come indeed to torture, not
your body, but your mind; to torture it with a knowledge of itself;
to hold a mirror before it, wherein you will contemplate its blots
and deformities, of which by the grace of the Virgin you may repent
and be purified.'

"`Father, you are the master, I a slave, and I am willing
to listen. But your benevolent countenance, so different from those
to which I have been long accustomed, fills me with such
confidence, that I dare hope for your indulgence, when I intreat
you to spare yourself a useless labour, and to leave in peace the
last hours of my life. I know that I must die; and God and She know
how willing I am to expire for Her justification, even in pain and
burning: but my spirit is worn, my patience, which I have cherished
with determined zeal, as the sacred flame of my religion and the
life of my heart, now begins to wane; do not bring on my soul the
sins of anger and intolerance;-- leave me to prayer, to repentance,
and to my hopes of again seeing my beloved mistress, there where
there is no sorrow.'

"She spoke with dignity and mildness, so that I felt my
spirit subdued; and, although almost angry at the stubbornness of
her impiety, I followed her example in speaking with gentleness.
Our conversation was long; and the more it continued, the more my
animation in the cause of truth, and zeal for the conversion of the
heretic, increased. For her manner was so sweet and winning, her
words so soft yet firm, that it lay like a sin on my heart that I
could not save her from eternal condemnation.

"`You did not know Her,' she cried, `you never saw my
Wilhelmina. Ask those who have seen her, even the vulgar, whose
eyes are horn, and whose hearts are stone, whether they were not
moved to love and charity, when she passed like an angel among
them. She was more beautiful than aught human could be; more
gentle, modest and pious than any woman ever was, though she were a
saint. Then her words possessed a persuasion that could not be
resisted, and her eyes a fire, that betrayed even to the unknowing
that the Holy Spirit lived within her.

"`Father, you know not what you ask, when you desire me to
leave my faith in her Divinity. I have felt my soul prostrate
itself before her; the very blood that vivifies my heart has cried
to me, so that, if I had been deaf, I must have heard, that she was
more than human. In my dreams I have seen her arrayed in divine
light; and even now the sacred radiance that announces her presence
fills my dungeon, and bids me for her sake submit with patience to
all that ye, her enemies, can inflict.'

"I repeat to you the mad words of Magfreda, that you may
judge of the excess of insanity that possessed this unfortunate
woman. I combated with the evil spirit within her for eight hours,
but in vain; at length I was retiring in despair, when she called
me back. I returned with a look of hope, and saw that she was
weeping violently and bitterly. As I approached, she seized my
hand, and kissed it, and pressed it to her heart, and continued
pouring forth, as it were, a fountain of tears. I believed that she
was now touched by true repentance, and began to thank divine
mercy, when she waved her hand impatiently, beckoning me to be
silent. By degrees she calmed her tears; but she was still agitated
by passion, as she said: `Kneel, father, kneel, I intreat you, and
by the cross you wear swear secrecy. Alas! if I die, another must
perish with me, one whom I have vowed to protect, one whom I love
far,--far beyond my own life.'

"She paused, endeavouring to overcome the tears, that, in
spite of herself, she shed: I comforted her, and pronounced the
desired oath, when she became calmer. `Father, you are good, benign
and charitable; and I do believe that She has manifested Her will
in sending you to me in my distress; you, who are so unlike the
wolves and harpies that have of late beset me. There is a
child--Her child:--but, father, before I reveal further, promise
me, swear to me, that she shall be educated in my faith and not in
yours.'

"I was indignant at this proposal, and said angrily:
`Woman, think you that I will sacrifice the soul of an infant to
your monstrous unbelief and vicious obstinacy? I am a servant of
the Lord Jesus, and, believe me, I will never discredit my holy
calling.'

"`Must it be so?' she cried; `yet grant me a few
moments to resolve.'

"She knelt down, and prayed fervently for a long time; and
then arose with a smiling aspect, saying: `Father, you wish to
convert me; methinks at this moment I could convert you, if indeed
faith did not come from God, and not from the human will. She has
revealed Her will to me, and by Her command I now confide to you
the treasure of my soul.

"`Two years before the death of Wilhelmina, she had a
child. I cannot tell you who was the father of this child; for,
although I believed that her conception partook of the divinity,
she never confirmed my faith, or said aught against it: but with
her heavenly smile bade me wait until the hour of knowledge should
arrive. I alone knew of the birth of this infant; and it has ever
been under my care: it was brought up in a cottage five miles hence
by a good woman, who knew not to whom it belonged; and I visited it
daily, gazing with wonder on its beauty and intelligence.

"`After its birth Wilhelmina never saw it. She always
refused to visit the cottage, or to have it brought to her, but
would sit for yours, and listen to my descriptions and praises. I
have ever believed that this separation, whatever was its cause,
shortened the life of my divine mistress; for she pined, and wept,
and faded like a flower unwatered by the dews of heaven. The last
words she uttered, were to recommend her infant to my care. I have
fulfilled my task, and now, by her command, deliver up my charge to
you.

"`A year ago the nurse of the child died; and I took her
secretly to my own home, and tended her, and preserved her as her
mother had commanded. No love can equal mine for the divinity, her
mother: it was a burning affection, an adoration, which no words
can express:--I shall never see her more, until we meet in heaven,
but I submit with patience to the will of God.

"`When I heard that Andrea Saramita and our other disciples
were taken, I was transported with terror for the fate of this
infant. I expected every moment to hear the steps of the
blood--hounds on the stairs, to seize me, and discover this flower
of paradise, which I cherished thus secretly. When suddenly a
thought, an inspiration, came over me, and I cried aloud, Better
are the wild beast of the forest, and the tempests of heaven, even
when they shake us most; better are plague and famine, than man
hunting after prey! So I took the infant in my arms, a small purse
of gold, and a bag of such provisions as I had in the house; and,
it being already dark, I hastened from Milan to the forest that
skirts the road to Como: I walked fast, and in two hours arrived at
my goal. I knew that one afflicted with leprosy lived in the depth
of the forest, a miserable wretch, who with his wooden spoon and
platter, collected alms at the road side. Thither I went
fearlessly;--mistake me not; this man is not my disciple, he had
never seen me before; but though I knew not whether the
blood-hunters were acquainted with the existence of the divine
child, this I knew, that they would not dare seek her in a
leper's dwelling. I dreaded not the contagion; for is not her
mother above all the saints in heaven?

"`I wandered long among the tangled paths of the wood, ere
I could discover his hut; the babe slept, cherished near my heart,
which bled with anguish. To me in all the world there existed but
this little creature; the earth seemed to reel under me; yet still
I felt her warm breath upon my bosom, and heard the regular heaving
of her gentle breast. At length I found the cavern of the leper: it
was half-built in the earthy hill against which it rested, and half
of the boughs of trees plastered with mud, which was hardened in
the sun; black, dilapidated, and filthy, it was worse than a manger
for the reception of my poor innocent.

"`The wretched possessor of this sty slept on his miserable
straw as I entered. I roused him, put gold into his hand, and,
placing food before him, I said--Protect this child, and God will
reward you. Feed it, wash it, and above all keep it from the sight
of man: deliver it not except to one who may come to ask for it in
the name of the Holy Wilhelmina. In one month I hope to return for
it, and will reward you as you have obeyed my charge.--I then, with
a heart bursting with agony, embraced the daughter of my Wilhelmina
for the last time: I blessed her, and tore myself away.

"`I have now been five weeks imprisoned, and I dread lest
the leper should have thrust her from his abode. Will you not,
father, preserve and love this child?'

"The discourse of Magfreda moved me strangely. I felt a
wonder, a pity, an excess of commiseration, I could not express:
but kissing the cross I wore, I said: `Listen to me, unhappy woman,
while I swear never to desert this innocent; and may God so help
me, as I keep my faith!'

"Magfreda poured forth warm and joyful thanks; then, with a
heavy heart, I recommended her to the mercy of God, and left her
dungeon.

"As soon as I could tear myself from the questions and
childish curiosity of the inquisitors, I hastened to the place that
Magfreda had indicated. In the tumult of my soul, I only thought of
the danger of the lovely babe in the hands of this outcast of man
and nature. I was possessed with a passionate sense of pity, which
I cannot now explain, but for which I do not reproach myself; at
length, about four miles from the town, I heard the sound of the
beggar as he struck his platter with his spoon in token of his
wants, and I turned aside from the road to seek him. At that moment
the spirit of God almost deserted me, and I was overcome by
fear--the fear of disease, and a nameless horror at the expectation
of meeting one whom all wholesome life had deserted: but I made the
sign of the cross, and approached. The wretch was seated under a
tree eating some crusts of bread; miserable, filthy, deformed, his
matted hair hung over his eyes and his ragged beard half concealed
the lower part of his visage; yet there was to be seen a savage
eye, and an appearance of brutal ferocity, that almost staggered
me. I made a sign that he should not approach, and he dropped on
his knees, and began to gabble pater-nosters, so that the word that
God himself had spoken seemed the jargon of the devil. I stopped at
some distance from him: `Bring me,' I cried, `to the child who
was confided to you in the name of Wilhelmina of Bohemia.'