Page:The Mediaeval Mind Vol 1.djvu/513

491 a horrid howl, exclaiming: "See! Mary is coming with the woman, holding her hand." And in a fetid whirlwind he disappeared. "And thus," says Jacques of Vitry, "the widow was set free through confession and the Virgin's aid, and afterwards persevered in the service of God more cautiously."

Such a tale sounds immoral; yet there is some good in saving any soul from hell; and here there was repentance. Caesar of Heisterbach has another, of the Virgin taking the place of a sinning nun in the convent until she repented and returned. Again repentance and forgiveness make the sinner whole.

The Miracles de Nostre Dame are an interesting repertory of the Virgin's interventions. These "Mysteries" or miracle plays in Old French verse are naïve enough in their kindly stratagems, by which the votary is saved from punishment in this life and his soul from torment in the next. The first "Miracle" in this collection runs thus: A pious dame and her knightly husband, from devotion to the Virgin Mary took the not unusual vow of married continence. But under diabolic incitement, the knight overpersuaded his lady, who in her chagrin at the broken vow devoted the offspring to the devil. A son was born, and in due time the devil came to claim it. Thereupon a huge machinery, of pope and cardinals, hermits and archangels, is set in motion. At last the case is brought before God, where the devils show cause on one side, and "Nostre Dame" pleads on the other. Our Lady wins on the ground that the mother could not devote her offspring to the devil without the father's consent, which was not shown.

There is surely no harm in this pleasant drama; for the devil ought not to have had the boy. But there follow quite different "Miracles" of Our Lady. The next one is typical. An abbess sins with her clerk. Her condition is