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Anonym (XIV c.)
Anonym - About the Life and Miracles of Saint Kinga
ABOUT THE LIFE AND MIRACLES OF SAINT KINGA
(selections)
About reprimanding and castigating those who went astray
At the time when she ruled together with the duke, her husband, she attempted to lead the whole crude population from error to the recognition of truth, from licentiousness to decency. The case of a knight, Sir Piotr, may serve as an example here. He had abandoned his wife and loved a lecherous woman. He inflicted many pains and wounds on his lawful wife and locked her up among servant girls so that she, knowing nothing but despair, was just waiting for death. When the servant of God learned about it, she came immediately with her retinue to the knight's court, looking for the confined lady. Having called her courtiers, she ordered them to enter the house of the said knight. But they, both on account of friendship and aware of his severity and cruelty, excused themselves, because they saw him in the courtyard with his sword drawn. Seeing this, the servant of God entered the house courageously, in person, inquired about the lady, and finding her among the servant girls, she consoled her with good words. And she pulled the harlot by the legs from behind a stove with her own hands and dragged her across the whole courtyard to her wagon. When she did not want to get in the wagon, Kinga took her in her arms and put her in the wagon, which could not in any way happen without God's help, because the duchess was quite slender and the harlot was stout and so strong that she could break a hoop weighing a half quarter of the gold mark in her hand. When the evening came, nobody saw that woman any more, and when the servant of God was asked what had become of that woman, she stated that she did not suffer any harm to her body, but that by God's will she was located in a place where from then on, serving God, she would never sin.
A similar thing happened with Klara Charonowa, whose husband, as if bereft of reason, neglected her greatly. So that woman, desirous of lust, defiled her bed, giving herself to lewdness as a harlot. When the blessed servant of God learned about it, she took her to her court. And there the woman became better, reformed and supported by teachings and prayers of the servant of God, until fortified in holy faith and serving God, she became exceptionally pious.
About wine sent from heaven
At the time when the blessed Kinga stayed in the said castle,
1
she could not obtain wine to strengthen herself because of the Tartar threat, and since she did not like any other beverage, she drank, quite rarely, wine diluted with water. And when on account of those dangers there was no wine at all, a local man faithful to the blessed Kinga offered to walk many miles through the wilderness to Hungary to bring wine. He was just about ready to set off on this journey, when suddenly two men of comely looks appeared, carrying a jug of longed-for wine, which they offered to the sisters.
The sisters accepted the jug and took it with joy to their abbess, but they did not ask those men who they were and where they came from. The blessed lady told them to look for the men, but they could not be found anywhere. There is no doubt that Christ sent this wine, because Kinga, the servant of God, sacrificed herself together with the virgins, in the words of her own confession: "Only my Lord Jesus Christ cares for me in such a great need."
Miracle of sister Klara's reading
Sister Klara, the daughter of Jakub, admitted to the convent when she was six years old, was learning the alphabet. When she was reading the Credo, she came to the blessed lady, where she lived. Seeing her, the blessed lady handed her her own book and said: "Read in this book, daughter." And when she made a sign of the cross over her, the little girl began to read all by herself that psalm: "O praise the Lord, all ye nations",
2
even though she had never learned it.
About saving the said Klara from the jaws of death
So once when Klara, who was very frail, lost her balance by accident and fell down, a big nail pierced her throat and got wedged there. They carried her already dead to the lady, who made the sign of the cross over her with a wooden cross of the Lord and brought her back to life.
Translated by Michael J. Mikoś
Notes
1
The castle was located near the convent, in the Pieniny rock formation region.
2
Psalm 117.
This work about the life and miracles of the blessed duchess Kinga was written by Franciscan brothers in the first half of the fourteenth century. Kinga (1224-1292) was the daughter of King Bela IV of Hungary and the wife of Bolesław the Chaste. After her husband's death in 1279, she went to live in the Convent of the Nuns of the Order of Saint Clare, which she had founded in Stary Sącz. She was beatified in 1690.