As they discussed their dilemma with many salutary speeches, going over every aspect appropriately, they found no other sure way out of such a crisis, nothing more profitable, than postponement and delay. If they had these, they hoped that the corrupt favour of the king might easily be extracted by wealth of argument and thereby quash thoroughly the case brought against them. And so, after most of the day passed in consultation, a message was sent to the bishop that the requested delay be granted in one way or another. When their requests were rejected, the angry sheriff left with the Jews, without obtaining the necessary permission, as is the custom. Since it was unsafe for them to remain at large, he protected them within the fortification of the castle, until they could be restored to safety and peace for the future by the royal peace issued in a writ and confirmed to them. When it was reported to the bishop and others who were with him that they had left, because he feared to confront the king and his officials openly, the bishop kept silent for the time being and reserved his judgement – interrupted, but by no means abandoned – to be used afresh at some favourable opportunity at a future time.
[XVII] HOW AIMAR, PRIOR OF ST PANCRAS, SOUGHT A LICENCE TO TAKE THE BODY OF THE HOLY MARTYR AWAY WITH HIM
After seeing, hearing and taking note of what had happened, touched by an inner devotion of the spirit, Aimar, the aforementioned prior of St Pancras, drew the priest aside and endeavoured to find out, fully and carefully, how much could be known from him about the affair. He found out about the manner of the death, both according to the type of torture and the shape and number of the wounds; he considered these details: how else could this most holy boy have been killed except by the Jews in an affront to Christ? Hence, impelled by some inner zeal of piety, he approached the bishop at once and urgently demanded – with many prayers – that he be allowed to take the aforementioned boy away with him. When he did not succeed in his request, it is said that he answered that if the boy had been kept at St Pancras he would not have allowed him to be taken away for any sum of gold or silver, but rather would have guarded him with the greatest care, as the most precious of treasures, as one who had been rightly exalted for his merits and celebrated by a constant cult of veneration. The prior’s words moved Bishop Everard’s spirit so much as arguments in favour of a cult, that they ministered to the holy boy an increase of devotion. Compelled by this, and inspired by the advice of many, he arranged to have the body of the most blessed boy brought to the cathedral and buried it in the monks’ cemetery.
[XVIII] HOW HE WAS CARRIED AND WASHED AND FOUND TO BE UNCORRUPTED
And so the bishop chose some of the monks, together with some members of the clergy, to lay him [William] out; and he directed those chosen to execute the assignment on the eighth calends of May [24 April 1144]. As they fulfilled his orders and were already on their way back, so great was the multitude of people that you would think that only a few had remained in the city. And so, that precious and desired treasure was carried, to the greatest delight of clergy and people, was received by the venerable chapter of monks in a procession, was led into the church of the episcopal see, and was placed with its bier70 in front of the altar of the Holy Cross.71 The bier was covered by a cloth72 and at each of the four corners stood a candelabrum on which wax candles burned. A Requiem Mass for the faithful was sung solemnly by the monks and the whole church was full, back and front, with a crowd of townspeople. Finally, after the celebration of the Mass, he was placed – after deliberation – between the choir screen73 and the monks’ choir, lest the crowd pressing to kiss the bier – indeed, pushing with the desire to see the body if possible – would be more of an impediment than a help to the brothers at work conducting the required funerary ritual of washing.74 To be part of such a spectacle was the greatest joy; to stand by, good fortune.75
Why say more? Some of the brothers were chosen to wash the body and, once he was washed, to wrap him in an alb76 and blessed linen, and so wrapped, to put him onto the bier as before. And so, when they gathered to conduct the service enjoined upon them, they undressed the body of its tunic, removed the shoes from the feet and prepared him according to the custom of washing the dead. While they washed, a wonder occurred, more admirable than any wonder. Although thirty-two days had already passed since his death, he was found whole and intact in all his parts. In the hands of those carrying him, he appeared so supple in his fingers, arms and other parts that you would believe him to be asleep rather than dead.
And then something even more astonishing happened, because while he was being washed fresh blood suddenly gushed from his nostrils, and this truly astounded the throng of bystanders. Those who were attending the ritual removed the flowing blood, drop by drop, with linen cloths, and when it ceased they cleaned the face once more. And those who were present at this wondrous event later affirmed to us that when the body was being washed, and above all when the blood flowed, so remarkable a waft of smell reached their noses that that very sweetness clearly caused one to understand that the Author of this sweetness had truly been present at the funeral of the sacred body. What else did the sweetness of divine presence want to indicate to us, but to declare by it how great was William’s merit in heaven?
And we have also learned from the reports of those people that they understood there to be sure and public signs of martyrdom in him. For one thing, once the head was washed, when they studied it carefully between the palms of their hands, among the multitude of thorn pricks some of the thorns had been pressed into the head and had stuck to it. When they found the thorns they extracted them and took care to keep them as far as possible with the greatest zeal of devotion. For another thing, furthermore, when they had looked over each and every part of the holy body, they identified telling signs of martyrdom committed on the palms, feet and side.77 Additionally, from several of the marks that appeared to them, they found that he had been immersed in very hot and boiling water. Finally, after the body had been washed, they dressed him in a white robe and then put him back onto the bier, wrapped in linen cloths.
Meanwhile, while they were doing this, a coffin in which the most holy blessed martyr might be buried was sought throughout the city, but none was found. So in the cemetery, under the wall of the chapterhouse, a ditch was dug where a coffin might be found and the body laid in it. And while they were digging, wonderful to tell, they found a coffin lying on top of another one. Each of these was clean and spotless, because no corpse had ever been put in either. So this was rightly taken to be a miracle, since among the leaders of the church and its first founders78 not one was found who could remember such a coffin, nor by whom it had been brought or when it had been buried there. And in consequence we conjecture that divine providence had kept it intact and unharmed all that time for Saint William.
[XIX] ON HIS BURIAL IN THE MONKS’ CEMETERY
After all these events were completed, as we have recounted, and after the commendation of the soul was done, as is the custom with the dead, the community of brothers led the procession with psalms and chants of praise; the illustrious martyr followed, to be buried in the inner cemetery.79 The cemetery was filled with thousands of people entering from the other side by the gate and there was hardly enough space there for all the entrants. On this side, the monks and clergy celebrated the solemn burial service with praise of psalmody, and on the other, the laypeople stood by there with the greatest of joy. Those who were present, however different they may have been in lifestyle or sex, were nevertheless all as one as they watched.
After the funeral rite was celebrated and the tomb at the entrance to the cemetery on the side of the cloister was properly arranged, the body of the most blessed martyr was taken down from the bier and placed inside. Once he was put in the grave, it was possible for the eyes of all to see that he was wrapped in a robe, and they stayed on to watch for the space of about an hour. But those who happened to stand closest, as I later learned from the reports of some of them, happened to smell there a sweetness of fragrance. In the end, beca
use they did not have one, they put on top a slab from the other tomb, which was concave in the middle, and one stone was stuck to the other with cement. That being finished, and God remaining there as guardian, the convent of monks returned to the church, chanting psalms; others indeed returned to their own homes glorifying God’s great deeds.
Here ends the first book.
Book Two
Here begin the chapters of the second book. [i] An answer to those who disparage his sanctity. [ii] Commendation of his innocent and illustrious sanctity. [iii] Of the rose which bloomed again at his tomb in wintertime. [iv] Of the wondrous vision of a certain sick person and his cure. [v] Of a similar vision of a certain little girl. [vi] Of a pregnant woman amazingly freed [from pain]. [vii] Of a certain virgin of Dunwich who was freed from the harassment of a devil’s incubus. [viii] A warning to those who disparage the miracles of Saint William and who deny and doubt that he was killed by the Jews. [ix] First proof. Second proof. [x] Third proof. Fourth proof. [xi] Fifth proof. Sixth proof. [xii] Seventh proof. Conclusion. [xiii] How then divine vengeance overthrew the Jews of Norwich as Christian-killers. [xiv] The Jews’ accusation against the Christians and the transfer of the crime to them. [xv] How the judgement of divine vengeance also appeared with regard to John the Sheriff. Here end the chapters.
Here begins the second book.
[I] AN ANSWER TO THOSE WHO DISPARAGE HIS SANCTITY
In the book above we put forth the account of the childhood and death of the most blessed martyr William, as much as the report of reliable men allows. But before we go on to his miracles and translation I would like to confront some of those whom I know not what malice or jealousy leads to verbose chatter. Since for some while I cannot bear the shamelessness of their insolence and the insolence of their shamelessness, I attempt to pierce it through with the spear of satire,1 and curb it with the reins of reason. These are those who, rejoicing in the misfortunes of others, applaud, and who always wither at the successes of others. They are prompt and quick to vituperate and are sad when the stuff of slander is missing. They are most eager to detract and unwilling to praise. And if by chance a little while before they had praised something for some reasons, they soon find fault with the same thing for other reasons by turning the page of their tongue. Just as if virtue and vice were not present in things, but change according to who is responsible. They exhaust the air with tedious barking and with whipping lashes of the tongue, and with dog-like bites are in the habit of attacking honesty, and are disdainful of heavenly gifts; also they carry great weight when they either dare to destroy the mighty works of piety or diminish or even corrupt them altogether under the pretence of religion. Again, truly, burning with the zeal for truth I shall never stop opposing these and such men by whom the true truth of God is opposed. I have come to fight against their insolent rashness in the arena of this page and to defend innocence.
A second David, I hasten to strike down the reproachful Philistines,2 rushing ahead from my ranks; I pick out from the satchel of my mind some spiritual claims of reason like stones. And so let one Goliath,3 upbraiding me, engage me in battle on behalf of the Philistines. And so, already spinning and casting, I shall crush by the sling of my lips the offending forehead with the smoothest stone of the word, and I shall pierce the malevolent chest with the sword of his own tongue. And so, let anyone who blames us for the sin of presumption, and whoever has attributed rashness to us, let him come forth, I say, let him come forth and tell me the gibberish he used to utter. He has been saying: ‘Is it not exceedingly presumptuous to accept so boldly what the universal Church does not, and to hold as a saint one who is not? It also seems rash to venerate so magnificently on earth someone whom it is not clear that God glorifies in the heavens?’
Let him hear the argument against, this hard Philistine, who thus objects, though the channels of his brain are obstructed by a stony hardness. Let him also take note that this is how a blind person usually strikes out, he who does not see who or what or how he strikes. If indeed those who worship the memory of those saints whom the whole world does not recognize are to be accused of presumption, then you would find few or none who would not incur that blame. And I would assert as true that, apart from the glorious Virgin Mother of God and John the Baptist and the Apostles, it can be said of few saints that knowledge of them is widespread in all the lands where the religion of the Christian name flourishes. Truly, is it possible that all those whom Rome herself venerates, Gaul and Britain accept for worship too? Is it true that the name of the most blessed king and martyr Edmund and the glorious confessor Cuthbert, famed in all parts of England,4 is known to the people of Greece and Palestine?5 Briefly to conclude, is it true that the whole of Europe also is used to celebrate all those which Asia or Africa hold as famous? If it were so, or rather because it is firmly so, what sort of blame is incurred by those who celebrate with fitting veneration someone whom the Church does not know or worship universally? What they call presumption – to hold as a saint one who is not – we assert the same without a shadow of a doubt and agree in attesting to it.
But because the tongue of evil intent has slipped this in among the other things that we attack afterwards, and it proceeds from the root of envy, we strive to meet the cunning bite in our reply. Let those hear, who impress upon our innocence a canine tooth, who injure the reputation of the most glorious martyr William by belittling the enhancement of his praise as praise unworthy of holiness and so persecute him by diminishing him. Let them hear, I say, the truth of the matter, those who reckon we are mad, and, looking at it with the eye of innocence, stop at once detracting from the glory of the saints.6 We truly venerate as a saint him whom we know truly to be a saint; we do not then hold as a saint one who is not. Indeed, the text of the previous book bears testimony to his sanctity of which we speak, and that is also attested by evident signs which prove it and by daily miracles. Had these not been caused by divine will, they would not have lasted for so long, because those things which are not of God swiftly disappear of their own accord.
And then, of the other objection that follows, that it is rash to venerate so magnificently him who has not as yet been established – as they say – to be glorified, I ask: let those respond who do not cease from twisting acts of innocence and pure conscience. If, indeed, they refuse to answer, let the attentiveness of the good hear what the cunning malice of the jealous refuses to hear. I ask that he answer, that the cunning objector respond: when did he ascend into the third heaven, so that the secrets of heaven be revealed to him and he become another Paul or equal to Paul?7 Of his mighty revelation, he should either reveal to us whom he had seen glorified in heaven or whom he had seen excluded from there. Because, indeed, it is known clearly even to the blind and to the barbers,8 and no doubt he had no experience of all these things, with what audacity of malice does this defiant person so boldly presume to assert that which he could himself never know? And so those who deny the devotion of our innocence and the pious deference of our devotion, whether out of presumption or rashness, should quickly be silent and realize the guilt of their error and their own presumption and rashness. Now, finally, because we think that we have responded fully to the reckless objections, and in responding have truly exceeded the boundary of a prologue, having digressed too much from the course of the narration, we bring back the tip of our tongue to it, with a freshly sharpened quill.
[II] A COMMENDATION OF THE VIRGINITY OF THE INNOCENT MARTYR AND HIS ILLUSTRIOUS SANCTITY
Since the Gospel assures us – with a mighty trumpet blast – that no one whosoever is crowned without a lawful struggle, it appears without doubt that only those who strive lawfully have been guaranteed the crown of heavenly reward, yet each is rewarded according to that person’s individual merits. And since in the house of the heavenly father there are many mansions,9 what else would we think but that surely those diverse habitations of the mansions are assigned according to the diverse merits of these different people? Peter, the key-bearer
of heaven, presides with his most eminent fellow apostles seated together on twelve thrones to judge the world. Protomartyr and standard-bearer Stephen occupies the place of middle rank, with a numerous host of holy martyrs, who struggled valiantly to protect the faith of Christ against tyrants and enemies of the Christian name, in sufferings and shedding of blood for Christ’s faith, passing the transitory death of the flesh to the life of infinite duration. Then, at the third rank, there is a numerous and joyful multitude of saint confessors, who, scrupulous of life, adorned by good habits, full of virtues, shone with rays of merit, leaving a model of good living to the world and resting in the peace of the Church.
What then? All those who exist in the highest seats together enjoy endless joys, reign together in infinite glory and – like the sun – shine without end for ever and ever. There indeed the joys are true, there life, peace and calm are co-eternal; there everything is good and it is only evil which is absent.10 In this truly inestimable glory that lamb of the Lord,11 who grazes among the lilies,12 is followed by a choir of virgins wherever He may go. To them alone is given the special privilege to celebrate in song the chanting of the most excellent novelty that is His alone,13 because they preserve, pure and unblemished, the stole14 of their virginity, and have offered to the Lord a pure and undefiled celibacy. We are confident that the glorious martyr William lives among their holy communities, marked by a triple stole and counted among the illustrious. He deserves indeed the badge of the triple stole, he, who already had two stoles, that is of innocence and of virginity, so that he should claim the third, painted red by the blood of the martyr.
The Life and Passion of William of Norwich (Penguin Classics) Page 11