The Virgin plays an even more important part in the miracle (No. 323) which happened when Aben Yussef crossed the straits of Algeciras and made damaging raids into the territory of Seville. A poor man’s only son died, and, as the Moors were already in sight, all the father could do was to commend the body and his worldly possessions to the Blessed Mother as he hastily fled before the enemy. When the land was recaptured the old man, to his great astonishment, found his son alive and all his possessions safe. The boy told him that a lady had come to accompany him and for some reason the Moors had respected her.
Very close akin to these are those of life miraculously sustained when according to all laws of nature death was inevitable, as was the case (No. 131) when Emperor Alexius of Constantinople, while on a tour of inspection, was imprisoned in a caving mine along with many workers. All were killed except the emperor who was saved by a large rock which formed a protection for him. The empress and all at court gave him up for lost and spent much time in Masses for his soul. At the end of one year the Patriarch of the city dreamed the emperor was still alive and immediately took workmen and had the mine opened. Thereupon they found the emperor unharmed and learned that he had been fed and solaced by angels during the entire interval.
Even more dramatic is the experience of a German and his son on a pilgrimage to the shrine of Santiago, who while lodging in the house of a heretic fall victims unawares to the old trick of having silver put in the boy’s bag in order to accuse him of theft. The boy is hanged, and the heart-broken father, still faithful, continues on his way and fulfills his vow. On his return he is impelled to pass by the gallows. To his surprise he finds his son still alive, having been sustained by the Virgin for three months. Hastening to the bailiff, the father secures the release of his boy and has the heretic duly burned (No. 175).
There are no new elements presented in the various miracles in this group dealing with the curing of bodily ailments, beyond those already indicted on page 35. No 206 however describes the interesting spectacle of Pope Leo, very devout and austere, who became so much perturbed at being kissed on the hand by a beautiful woman at Mass that he could not forget the sensation nor concentrate on his work until he had his hand cut off. This did not give him peace because he was no longer qualified to say Mass. The Virgin, seeing his grief and having mercy on him, descended from heaven and applied a marvelous ointment to the stump with the result that the hand was restored.
In the methods by which the Blessed Mother prevents harm from befalling her devotees there is nothing new. The only difference being that here the act is performed more as tho it were the reward for faithful service while previously it was in answer to prayer.
As is to be expected the idea of bargaining is almost entirely absent from this group. The bargain idea found its birth on the part of man and not of the Deity. One legend only in the entire collection represents the Virgin as taking the initiative in a bargain (No. 307). This is when she appears to a virtuous man after an eruption of Mount Etna which had caused great damage and had lasted forty days. She told him if he wanted the eruption to cease to compose a hymn to her. This he did with the desired effect.
The number of the unmoral, in fact in some cases distinctly immoral, miracles here is greater than before. We must not forget, however, that, as mentioned above, often there was no very close connection between religious observances and morals in Medieval Europe.
On one occasion (No. 24) we are told that a very wicked man, a robber and a gambler, died and was refused a Christian burial, but during his life he had been devoted to the Virgin, so she appeared to the priest and demanded that his body be taken up and buried in sacred ground. When they opened the grave they found a rose in the mouth of the corpse[45]. No. 11 is the story of a licentious monk who was drowned one night while crossing a river on the way to visit his amour. The Devil appeared for his soul but two angels contested his claim. He convinced them of his right and they were about to retire when the Virgin arrived, routed the Devil, and ordered the soul to return to the body in order that the monk might repent and do penance. In this instance, it will be noted, the soul is simply restored to the body and given another chance, while in No. 24 above, the indication is that the soul of the evil doer is saved.
Then there are five quite similar, Nos. 55, 58, 59, 94 and 285, tho the moral lesson differs somewhat. In the first a young nun elopes with a monk to Lisbon where when she finds herself about to become a mother she is cruelly deserted. Not knowing what else to do she returns penitent to the convent. Angels attend her at the birth of the son during the night and no one suspects her. None had missed her during the absence because the Virgin had taken her place and it is not until one day in her old age when her son, now a handsome young man, appears in the choir singing “Salve Regina” that all is discovered because the worthy nun recognizes him publicly. No. 94 is apparently the same legend more fully developed. The nun, the treasurer of the convent, falls in love with a knight and on leaving the convent gives the keys into the keeping of the Virgin. She and her husband live together happily for years, being blessed with many children, and it is only in later years that she repents and returns to the convent, confessing all. To her astonishment, she found that the Virgin had taken her place during her absence and no one had ever known the difference. When it is learned that the Blessed Mother had performed such an act of kindness, all burst into a hymn of praise to her. In No. 285 we have the same setting of a young nun falling in love, this time with the nephew of the abbess, but the actions of the Virgin are quite different. On the first attempt to leave the convent Saint Mary stopped her. The next day she sent word to her lover that she had failed to keep her appointment because she had been ill but promised to meet him the next night, which she did, and the two made their escape successfully. They married and had children but even then she was not able to get away from the Holy Mother, who appeared to her in a dream and severely reprimanded her. This was too much. She at last told her husband and in repentance they both decided to enter the monastic life. In this legend the immoral element has disappeared, the Virgin no longer protecting the guilty. No. 59 is still another story with the same theme, but the punishment is still more severe. As the young girl was about to depart she went to take leave of the Saint. At the parting her image began to shed tears. The girl then drew near the crucifix, which, loosing one of its hands from the cross, struck her in the face, leaving the mark of the nail as a stigma. In No. 58 the girl concerned was about to elope, but two dreams of Hell and of eternal punishment were sufficient to make the heroine send for her lover and tell him that their union would be impossible.
Of the three instances in which the sacred breast or milk of the Virgin play a part, all involve an answer to direct appeals. [See page 45].