While there is only one account of possessions being restored without request (No. 228, which contains no new elements) there are several which tell of rare materials, or of materials delayed by storms at sea, etc., being miraculously supplied; or perhaps, as in the case of Emperor Constantine (No. 231), Santa María would help in the erection of buildings. The emperor had brought huge blocks of marble from Roumania for the altar and columns of a church to be dedicated to her. When they arrived they were so large no means could be found to hoist them into position. At last she appeared to the architect and told him to do away with all apparatus and use only three small boys to do the work. He did as he was bidden and they placed the blocks in position with ease.
These, however, do not give us as intimate a picture of the life of the common people as do other accounts, such as No. 273. In it we get a glimpse of the privations of the home life of the peasants and at the same time an idea of their innate pride in their local church. At Ayamonte there was a small and poor church erected to Santa María but in spite of the poverty of its communicants the altar decorations were rich. So great were their privations that even the Host was scarce. At the feast of the Virgen de Agosto some of the altar cloths needed mending and one of the devout men of the congregation offered to do it. He had a needle but no thread, and no one could provide him with it. While before the altar considering what he should do, he glanced up and saw two threads on his shoulder obviously supplied by the Saint. It is in such apparently incidental allusions as this—and the one, No. 211, where bees come into the church of their own accord and supply the wax for the candles because the congregation could not furnish any—that we can, from time to time, form an idea of how “the other half,” which did not consist of knights and nobles, really lived.
Following the same order as in the first group we now come to those accounts in which the Virgin comes to the aid of the enemies of the faith. Quite modern in tone is the story (No. 335) of a poor man who, altho entirely ignorant of Christianity and its teachings, gave even the little he had to the poor. The Holy Mother, knowing of his goodness, appeared to him as a poor woman with her child in her arms and asked him for a morsel of bread. Fearing he had none he went, nevertheless, to see if he could not scrape out just a little more flour from the barrel. When he returned with the last of his flour made into bread for her, she had gone. He made inquiry thruout the neighborhood describing her, and was finally advised to go and inquire of the Christians. There he recognized the Virgin and Child from her image and became a Christian. From the day she appeared to him the flour never failed in the bin.
Not only was mercy extended to those good at heart and living model lives and to those who did not believe simply because of ignorance, but opportunities for proselyting were quickly taken advantage of. A certain Jewess, (No. 89) dangerously ill at childbirth, was about to despair. Naturally she did not believe in the Virgin but she heard a mysterious voice bidding her call on Santa María, which she did. When those attending her heard this awful name they fled, calling her a heretic and a renegade, but she was cured. The mother and child both became Christians.
The Blessed Mother, however, knew mankind and did not use the same method with every one. With some, more persuasion was necessary than with others, and so when dealing with one hardened Jew, who had been robbed and beaten by Christians and was still being kept on a diet of bread and water in the hope of extorting even more from him, it was not enough that she should merely appear to him and bid him forsake his religion; she tells him that altho he is of the evil race she will show him what his people have missed. With that she takes him from prison to a high mountain where she shows him how the Jews are being tortured and then to another from where he can see the Christians surrounded with angels, and thence to a monastery, where, taking the hint, he gladly becomes a Christian (No. 85).[46]
The Christians themselves used rather persuasive methods of proselyting at times if we may trust the account of a Christian of Consuegra who disputed much with a Moorish captive of his concerning the Virgin. When he could not make the man believe by arguing he put him in prison, where his efforts were supplemented by the intervention of supernatural beings. The Devil tormented him for two nights and on the third the Virgin appeared to him and told him if he wished to be free from the Devil he would have to forsake the “dog” Mohammed. He told this vision to his master, was baptised, and from that time on was a faithful believer (No. 192).
In another (No. 205) we again find both human and divine persons interested in the unbeliever, but this time it is physical safety they are concerned about. The miracle was witnessed by two nobles mentioned by name, Don Alfonso Tellez and Don Gonzalo Eanes, Maestre de Cala, and their followers. They were attacking a Moorish castle and had set fire to it. On one of the towers they saw a Moorish woman with her child who by her pose reminded them of the Virgin and Child. The sight filled them with pity and inspired them to pray for the safety of the two. In answer the flames respected them, while the tower fell gently to the ground, allowing them alone of all those in the castle to escape unharmed. The mother out of gratitude asked for baptism for herself and her child.
After examining these classes, which coincide more or less with similar ones of the first group, there still remain a number of other miracles which present entirely new elements. First we shall examine those in which Saint Mary aids her devotees in acts of worship or in restraining evil passions which prevent their undivided service.
A person sincerely trying to do his religious duty could always count upon aid from heaven when his temptations were becoming too great for him or when worldly cares caused him temporarily to neglect his regular worship. A very devout woman (No. 246) used to pray every Saturday evening at the shrine of Santa María de Mártires. Once she forgot, owing to household duties, until very late. On her arrival, altho the church doors were already closed they opened of their own accord, after she had begun her devotions before the portal. She entered and deposited her gift, and as she left the doors closed of themselves. Astonished, she returned to the city where the closed gates of the wall opened without the touch of a human hand. Just then a beautiful woman appeared and when the peasant asked her who she was she acknowledged herself to be the Virgin. The poor wretch tried to kiss her feet, but as she did so the Holy One disappeared.
Again, we learn (No. 156) of a clerk who persisted in chanting Mass in honor of the Virgin, thereby angering some heretics who cut out his tongue. Some time later the good man entered the church of Santa María de Cunnegro while the congregation were singing vespers. As he attempted to join in the song a new tongue was given him.[47]