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How Brother John of Alvernia, as he was saying Mass, fell down as one dead
To the same Brother John in the aforesaid House of Moliano, according as was told by the brothers that were there present, there befell on a time this marvellous case. On the first night after the octave of S. Lawrence, and within the octave of the
Assumption of Our Lady, having said Matins in the church with the other brothers, and feeling the unction of the divine grace coming upon him, he went into the garden for to meditate on the Passion of Christ, and prepare himself devoutly to celebrate Mass, which it fell to him to sing that morning. And as he was meditating on the words of consecration of the Body of Christ, to wit, thinking upon the infinite love of Christ, whereby He willed not only to redeem us through His precious blood, but also to leave us for the food of our souls His most venerable Body and Blood, the love of the sweet Jesu began to grow in him with such fervour and such tenderness, that his soul might no more endure, for the sweetness that it felt; but he cried aloud, and as if drunken in spirit, ceased not to say within himself: ” Hoc est corpus meum; '* for as he spake these words he seemed to behold Christ, the blessed One, with the Virgin Mary and a great host of Angels, and was enlightened by the Holy Spirit in all the deep and lofty mysteries of that most high Sacrament. And when it was dawn, he entered into the church with that same fervour of spirit and anxious thought, and the selfsame words upon his lips, not wotting that he was heard or seen of any man; but in the choir there was a certain brother at prayer, that saw and heard all. And in this fervour not being able to contain himself by reason of the fulness of the divine grace, he cried with a loud voice, and so continued until it was time to say the Mass; wherefore he went to make himself ready for the altar. And when he had begun the Mass, the further he proceeded, the more did the love of Christ increase in him, and the fervour of devotion, wherewith was given unto him an unspeakable feeling of God, such as he himself knew not of, nor could thereafter tell forth with his tongue. Whereat fearing lest that fervour and feeling of God should so much increase that he needs must leave the Mass, he fell into much perplexity, and knew not what course to take, or to go on with the Mass, or to stand and wait. But for that the like case had befallen him on some other time, and the Lord had so tempered that fervour that there had been no need for him to leave the Mass; and trusting that this time too he might be able to do the same, with great fear he set himself to go on with the Mass, and went as far as the Preface of Our Lady, when the divine illumination and the gracious sweetness of the love of God began so much to grow within him, that coming to the Qui pridie, he could scarce endure such utter sweetness. Having come at length to the act of consecration, and having said one half he could by no means proceed further, but only repeated the same words, to wit: " Hoc est enim And the reason wherefore he could proceed no further, was this, that he felt and saw the presence of Christ with a great company of Angels, whose majesty he was not able to endure; and he saw that Christ entered not into the Host, or that the Host was not changed into the body of Christ, until he should utter the other half of the words, to wit: " corpus meum. Wherefore as he abode in this anxiety and could proceed no further, the guardian and the other brothers, and likewise many lay folk that were in the church for to hear Mass, drew near unto the altar: and were astonished to behold and see what things Brother John did: and many of them were weeping out of devotion. At the last, after long space, to wit, when so it pleased God, Brother John uttered the words: " enim corpus meum " in a loud voice; and straightway the form of the bread vanished, and in the Host appeared Jesu Christ, the blessed One, incarnate and glorified, and showed forth to him the humility and love which made Him to become incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and which makes Him every day to come into the hands of the priest when he consecrates the Host: for the which cause he was the more lifted up in sweetness of contemplation. Wherefore when he had elevated the Host and the consecrated chalice, he was rapt out of himself: and his soul being lifted up above all bodily feelings, his body fell backwards; and if he had not been supported by the guardian, who stood behind him, he would have fallen on his back upon the ground. Whereat the brothers running up to him, and the lay folk, men and women, that were in the church, he was carried into the sacristy, as one dead, for his body was cold and the fingers of his hands were so tightly clenched that scarce could they at all be opened or moved. And in this manner he lay as one half dead, or rapt away, even until Tierce, and it was summer time. And because I, who was there present, desired much to know what God had wrought in him, so soon as he had returned to himself again, I went to him and prayed him, for the love of God, to tell me all: wherefore, seeing that he trusted much in me, he told all unto me in order; and among other things, he said, that as he was contemplating the body and blood of Jesu Christ present before him, his heart was melted like wax before the fire, and his flesh seemed to be without bones, in such fashion that he scarce could lift his arms or hands for to make the sign of the cross over the Host or the chalice. Likewise he told me that or ever he was made priest, it had been revealed him of God that he would faint away during the Mass, but seeing that he had said many Masses, and this had not befallen him, he deemed that the revelation had not been of God. Nevertheless about fifty days before the Assumption of Our Lady, whereon the aforesaid hap befell him, it had been again revealed to him by God that this needs must come to pass about the said feast of the Assumption; but that he did not afterwards bear in mind the said vision, or revelation, made to him by our Lord.