CHAP. XXI.
A remarkable instance of a flagellation performed in honour of the Virgin Mary.
SO well established was the opinion that Saints, and especially the Virgin Mary, were to be appeased by flagellations, and such was, in general, the fondness of people during a certain period of time, for that pious mode of correction, that a Franciscan Monk, who wore a hood, and was girt with a cord, did not scruple, under the Pontificate of Sixtus IV, to expose to the open day, in the public market-place, the bare rump of a Professor in Divinity, and lashed him with his hand, in sight of a croud of astonished spectators, because he had preached against the immaculate conception of the blessed Virgin. The fact is related in a Sermon written by Bernardinus de Bustis, which, together with his whole Work in honour of the Virgin (Opus Mariale) he dedicated to Pope Alexander VI, and seems therefore to be a fact well enough authenticated: the following is the manner in which Bernardinus gives the account.
‘He laid hold of him, and threw him upon his knees; for he was very strong. Having then taken up his gown; because this Minister had spoken against the holy Tabernacle of God, he began to lash him with the palm of his hand upon his huge breech, (the Author’s expression is, upon his square tabernacles) which was bare; for he wore neither drawers nor breeches: and because he had attempted to slander the blessed Virgin, by quoting perhaps Aristotle in the book of Priors, this Preacher confuted him by reading in the book of his Posteriors; which greatly diverted the Bystanders. Then a certain female Devotee exclaimed, saying, Mr. Preacher, give him four more slaps for my sake: another presently after said, Give him also four more for me; and so did a number of others: so that if he had attempted to grant all their requests, he would have had nothing else to do for the whole day[109].’
Nay, so proper did Bernardinus de Bustis think the above correction to have been, so well calculated did he judge it, to appease the holy Virgin’s wrath, that he did not scruple to declare, in the sequel of his Sermon, that the Monk who inflicted it, had possibly been actuated by an inspiration from the Virgin herself. ‘Perhaps (says he) was it the Virgin herself, who induced him so to do, moreover granting him an exemption from the censures incurred, according to the Laws of the Church, by those who strike an Ecclesiastic, and relaxing the rigour of these laws in his favour[110].’
