Pope Sixtus was very assiduous in the reparations of the city of Rome, and restored a bridge over the Tiber, anciently called Pons Judæus, but since called the Sixtine Bridge. He re-established the hospital of the Holy Ghost, where great alms are daily distributed to sick persons and poor orphans. He was zealous for the salvation of souls, and not sparing of his pardons and indulgences to devout Christians in various parts of the world, and did many acts worthy of remembrance.
During the reign of this pope, a young virgin, called Stine, in the town of Hame[37], in Westphalia, who had lately been converted to the Christian faith, was marked on the hands, feet, and side, with the wounds of our Saviour. About fifteen weeks after her conversion, on the feast of the holy sacrament, (Corpus-Christi-day) she displayed these wounds in the presence of twelve witnesses, and foretold, that within two hours afterward they would be no more seen, which was verified,—for at that precise time the wounds were all perfectly healed.
FOOTNOTES:
[36] Pope Sixtus IV.—Francis Albescola de Rovere was the son of a fisherman of Celles, five leagues from Savona.
[37] Hame. Probably Hamela, in Westphalia, 28 miles south-west from Hanover. Hamela seems to have been the scene of more miracles than one. In 1284, this town was so much infested with rats that every method was tried in vain to extirpate them. One day, a man of prodigious size came thither, dressed in a curiously-coloured robe, and offered, on certain terms, to extirpate them; which being agreed to, he drew out of his sleeve a small flute, and, as he was playing on it, the rats left their holes and followed him to the river Weser, and were all drowned. When he came to receive his recompence, the townsmen laughed at him. On the morrow, while the inhabitants were at church, it being a feast-day, he again played on his flute, and was followed by all the children under fourteen years to the number of one hundred and thirty, to the mountain of Kopferberg, where they all disappeared with him, as was seen by a young girl who had followed and watched them. Martiniere's Geographical Dictionary.
[A.D. 1472.]
CHAP. XIV.
THE KING OF FRANCE OBTAINS INDULGENCES FOR THOSE WHO SHALL SAY AVE MARIA THREE TIMES.—THE DEATH OF THE BISHOP OF PARIS.—OF THE DUKE OF CALABRIA.—THE ROOF OF NÔTRE DAME OF CLERY BURNT.—THE DEATH OF THE DUKE OF GUIENNE.—A TRUCE WITH THE DUKE OF BURGUNDY.—OF THE SIEGE AND ATTACK OF BEAUVAIS.—THE TOWNSMEN OF AUXERRE DEFEATED.—DIFFERENT EDICTS PUBLISHED AT PARIS.—ACCUSATIONS MADE AGAINST THE CONSTABLE.—PARIS AND ORLEANS SEND SUPPLIES TO BEAUVAIS.
On the first of May, in this year, a general procession was made to the church of Nôtre Dame in Paris, where a solemn sermon was preached by a doctor in divinity, called master Peter Brete, a native of Tours, who declared, among other things, the king's singular confidence in the blessed Virgin; and he entreated his audience, and the inhabitants of Paris, in his majesty's name, that henceforward, when they should hear the great bell of the church toll at midday, they would fall on their knees, and repeat three Ave Marias for the welfare of the kingdom of France.
Not long after this procession, master John Chartier, bishop of Paris, was taken suddenly ill and died the same day. His loss was much regretted, for he was a devout and good man, and very learned. The episcopal palace was crowded with the populace of Paris, to see his body, which lay in state in the great hall, where they piteously lamented him, and prayed for the salvation of his soul; on going away, the greater part kissed his hands and feet, firmly believing him to be a saint and well beloved by God. On the 15th of May, the king sent letters to the provost and sheriffs, to declare, that the bishop, during his life-time, had been his enemy, and kept up an intelligence with the duke of Burgundy and the confederate princes when before Paris, and had practised with the inhabitants to favour them. For these causes, he willed, that an epitaph be placed on his tomb, declaratory of his conduct toward his king, which the aforementioned officers ordered to be written for the purpose of being thereon affixed.