Chapter IV: Miracles Performed by Images

Since the image of the Virgin was intended to be a representation of the Divine Mother, it often, especially in the mind of the peasant, attracted to itself all her attributes. The result was that in a number of cases it was the image and not the Virgin that performed the deed. Often, also when the miracle was attributed to Santa María it was not simply to the saint, Mary the mother of Jesus, who lived in the distant past, far away in the Holy Land, nor to Mary, the most powerful of all the saints in heaven, but it was to the very present, and very local saint, Santa María de Salas, or Santa María del Puerto, as the case might be. There is little doubt that in the mind of the common folk there were as many different Saints Mary as there were shrines, and yet, at the same time, these all had a definite connection with the Mother of Christ in some mysterious way which the plain people did not trouble themselves to explain. Just as the mystery of the Trinity did not perturb them nearly as much as it did the Anglo-Saxons of the North, so this particular problem caused them little concern.

As might be expected, most of the miracles attributed to the image of the Virgin are of the same nature as those performed by the saint herself. The image cures the diseased (No. 349), it bows over a man and thanks him for a hymn of praise he has composed (No. 202), saves a naughty child from punishment (No. 303), protects a man’s property from threatened storm (No. 161), restores to health queen Beatriz, mother of Alfonso el Sabio, when the doctors had pronounced her illness incurable (No. 256), restrains a rich libertine knight of Catalonia from committing an immoral act in its presence (No. 312), protects a city from capture by the Moors even after the latter had learned from a prisoner that there were but fifteen men remaining to defend it (No. 185), protects its altar from fire by removing a veil from its head and spreading it over the fire, thereby instantly extinguishing the flames (No. 332), and lastly even pours milk from its sacred breasts as a final argument to convince and convert a Moor (No. 44). The story of No. 321 differs somewhat from this, reminding us of a similar cure attributed to the Child Jesus while on the flight into Egypt.[58] A child was suffering from a swelling in the neck and was pronounced incurable. A friend advised that the patient be taken to the king, adding that all Christian kings had the power of healing. This was done, but the king told them to take it before the image of the Virgin, wash the image in pure water, and then give the child this water to drink for as many days as there are letters in the name _M-a-r-í-a_. On the fourth day the child was healed. In two instances the power is extended a little farther and in No. 123 a young friar on dying turned black and ugly. His brethren took a candle from the altar and put it in his hand, which caused his natural color to be restored. Later he returned and appearing to the two friars told them that the reason he became black at death was that he saw Devils, but that the light of the Virgin drove them promptly away. In No. 209 Alfonso was very ill and when the doctors could not give him relief he called for the unfinished manuscript[59] of _Las Cantigas_ and by applying it to the affected part of his body he was healed.

Because of the very high esteem in which the Virgin was held it is common to find instances in which a person swears by her or by her name or image, while she on her part is rightly conscientious in seeing that such oaths are not taken lightly. One young shepherd developed the habit of stealing and was finally caught, but cleared himself by swearing by God _and the Virgin_ that he was innocent. A little later he was caught again, and convicted. This time the Virgin allowed him to be hanged, because he had sworn by her falsely (No. 392). Another man (No. 239) perjured himself before her image by adjuring that he had never received a certain article in trust. Even before leaving the church he was overtaken by a severe illness which caused his death within three days. So high and so sacred was this oath before the image of the Virgin held to be, that in one instance a wife, being accused of unfaithfulness by her jealous husband, offered to submit to the ordeal by fire to prove her innocence, but her husband demanded instead that she swear before the altar of Nuestra Señora. Then he added that she could further clear herself by jumping from a high rock. She passed both tests safely and her husband, penitent, begged forgiveness on his knees (No. 341). In other cases the image of the Virgin _speaks_, as, for example, when called upon to bear witness in a difference between a Jew and a Christian over the payment of a debt (No. 25).

The very name of María was one to conjure with.[60] Two miracles (Nos. 194 and 254) are attributed to the power of the mere sound of the name; and once (No. 195) a girl is saved because her name is María. In No. 194 a villainous host sends in pursuit of his departing guests some thugs to rob them, but the bandits, on hearing their intended victims call on the name of Santa María for help, become powerless and speechless. In No. 254, the image of the Virgin saves some monks who, while recuperating on the banks of a river from the rigors of convent life, transgress the bounds of what is proper for men of their order. Seeing some devils in the form of men, coming down the river in a boat, the monks, terrified, call on the Virgin for aid. “She alone has saved you,” shout the devils as they continue on their way. A girl (No. 195) who had been sold by her father to a knight on his way to a tournament was saved from harm when she told him her name was Mary and that that particular day was one especially consecrated to the Saint’s worship. On learning that, the knight sent her for safekeeping to an abbey, while he continued on his journey. At the tournament he was killed and buried in the open prairie.[61] The Virgin appeared to the girl and told her of his fate demanding that she and the abbess go and give the man a worthy burial, telling them they would be able easily to identify the body, for it would have a rose in its mouth.

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There now remains a group of fifteen poems that do not seem to have any particular purpose other than to produce an atmosphere of mystery; but this very sentiment of the mystical played an important part in the religious worship of the time. The very architecture of the churches tended to produce it, the processions, the ritual, all inspired the same feeling. Herewith are summarized only four poems of this group, which will give a sufficient idea of the emotions aroused by them.

A young girl, a religious fanatic, died very early in life as the result of self-imposed hardships. Her parents, suspecting poison, ordered an autopsy, and on the heart of the dead girl was found an image of the Virgin (No. 188). In No. 361, Alfonso is said to have given a beautiful image of the Virgin to the monastery of Las Huelgas de Burgos. On Christmas night the strange idea of putting the image to bed occurred to the pious nuns. Almost immediately they saw it change color and turn from side to side. No. 79, of the codex of Toledo (a poem which does not appear in the codex of the Escorial), relates an incident that took place weekly in the church at Constantinople. In this church was a beautiful image of the Holy Mother, covered with a veil. Every Friday an angel descended from heaven to lift the veil, which remained suspended in the air until Saturday evening, (the day on which the faithful came to worship), when the angel would return and lower the veil again. Cantiga No. 226 narrates a legend entirely foreign to Spanish thought and one which must have caused some surprise in its unwonted environment. The incident is said to have happened in “Gran Britaña”. The account runs briefly as follows: A company of friars were in their convent saying Mass on Easter morning, when the entire monastery was swallowed up by the earth--the ground closing above it and leaving no trace whatever. For just a year the monks continued in this enforced seclusion, without lack of anything needful; they were even lighted by a marvellous sun. On the next Easter morning all was restored to its former natural state. It can be seen at a glance that this legend is entirely different from anything that has been mentioned in this collection; and I have found no parallel to it in anything else of the period.

In closing this chapter attention should be called to two miracles which emphasize the great importance attached to confession.[62] No. 124 is the story of a man condemned to be stoned because he had broken a law of the Moors in whose land he was living. While undergoing this punishment, he begged permission of the Virgin to make his confession; from that moment his executioners could not harm him. Astonished that their missiles suddenly ceased to have any effect they allowed him to confess, after which he died praising the Blessed Mother. In No. 96 a sinner was unwilling to do penance, altho devoted to Santa María. He was beheaded by robbers, without opportunity for confession. Four days later two friars, on arriving at the spot, were surprised to hear the head plead for the privilege of confession. They summoned a crowd; the head attached itself to the body, confessed, and then became separated again from the body.[63]