been no mark in his palm, he now saw a wound in mid-hand, like that from the shot of an arrow. So much heat was coming from it that he thought he would pass out because of it. What a wonder! There was no mark on the glove, so the pain of the hidden wound inflicted on him corresponded to the hidden wound of his heart.  ⁷He cried out and roared, afflicted with severe pain for two days, and unveiled his unbelieving heart to all. He declared that he believed that the sacred stigmata were truly in Saint Francis, and swore to affirm that all shadow of doubt was gone. He humbly prayed the holy one of God ^{Mk 1:24} to come to his aid through his sacred stigmata, and he seasoned his many prayers with an abundance of tears. Amazing! His unbelief discarded, bodily healing followed the healing of the spirit: all the pain calmed, the fever cooled, and no sign of the wound remained. Everything worked in such a way that the hidden illness of the spirit was by God's mercy healed by means of a manifest cautery of the flesh and, as the spirit was healed, the flesh was at the same time also cured. He became a man humble before God, devoted to the saint, and subject in lasting friendship to the brothers of the Order. The miraculous nature of this incident was attested by a signed oath, fully corroborated by a document bearing the seal of the bishop, by which the news of it has come to us.

Concerning the sacred stigmata
let there be no room for ambiguity;
let no one's eye ^{Mt 20:15} be clouded
because God is good;
as if the granting of such a gift
were incompatible with the outpouring of everlasting goodness!
If only the many members were joined
in that same seraphic love to Christ their head!
If only they were to be found worthy of such armor in a similar battle,
and be raised to the same glory in the Kingdom!
No one of sane mind would not attribute this to the glory of Christ.^a

Chapter II
THE DEAD RAISED TO LIFE

¹There was a woman in Monte Marano near Benevento who clung to Saint Francis with special devotion, and she went the way of

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in palma sinistrae manus sub chirotheca graviter se sensit esse percussum, sonitum audiens percussurae, veluti cum spiculum prosilit de ballista. ⁴Moxque tam vulnere saucius quam sonitu stupefactus, chirothecam de manu traxit, ut visu dignosceret, quod tactu perceperat et auditu. ⁵Cumque nulla fuisset prius in palma percussio, conspexit in medio manus plagam quasi sagittae percussione inflictam, ex qua tanta vis procedebat ardoris, ut videretur ex illo deficere. ⁶Mirabile dictu! Nullum in chirotheca vestigium apparebat, ut latenti plagae cordis latenter inflicti poena vulneris responderet. ⁷Clamat exinde per duos dies et rugit, dolore gravissimo stimulatus, et increduli cordis velamen explicat universis. ⁸Credere se veraciter sacra stigmata in sancto fuisse Francisco fatetur et iurat, contestans omnis dubitationis abscessise phantasmata. ⁹Orat suppliciter Sanctum Dei per sacra sibi stigmata subvenire et multas cordis preces multo impinguat profluvio lacrimarum. ¹⁰Mirum certe! Incredulitate proiecta, sanationem mentis sanatio sequitur corporalis. ¹¹Omnis quiescit dolor, frigescit ardor, nullum remanet vestigium percussurae, sicque factum est, ut latens mentis infirmitas per patens carnis cauterium superna providente clementia curaretur, menteque sanata, et ipsa caro pariter sanaretur. ¹²Fit homo humilis, Deo devotus, sancto et fratrum Ordini perpetua familiaritate subiectus. ¹³Huius rei tam solemne miraculum iuramentis firmatum fuit, et litteris sigilli episcopi munimine roboratis ipsius ad nos notitia delata pervenit.

¹⁴De sacris ergo stigmatibus
nulli sit ambiguitati locus,
nullius in hoc,
quia Deus bonus est,
nequam sit oculus quasi huiusmodi doni
largitio sempiternae bonitati non congruat.
¹⁵Si enim illo amore seraphico multa membra
capiti cohaererent Christo,
ut et in bello simili armatura invenirentur condigna
et in regno ad similem forent gloriam subvehenda,
nullus hoc sanae mentis nisi ad Christi gloriam diceret pertinere.

II
De mortuis suscitatis.

1 ¹In castro Montis Marani prope Beneventum mulier quaedam sancto Francisco peculiari devotione cohaerens, viam universae carnis intravit.