No. 63 is especially interesting, not only because of its contents but also of its similarity to the story found in the second part of La Primera Crónica General (p. 426). A knight, the constant companion of the Count D. García in his campaigns against the Moors, was extremely conscientious in his devotions and always stayed until Mass was entirely over before leaving. One day, due to this, he was late in arriving on the field of battle, tho no one had missed him. As he rode up the Count met and embraced him and bade him have his wounds dressed, congratulating him at the same time, saying that it had been his skill and valor that had saved the day. Shamefacedly the knight glanced at his armor and was surprised beyond words to see it full of holes and bloody. He then realized that some divine messenger had taken his place; and all rejoiced in the miracle.[52]
In another instance (No. 105) the reward is the gift of healing, tho this time it is not, as is so often the case, by means of a mantle. The Blessed Virgin appeared to a young girl early in life and told her if she wished to gain heaven she must remain a virgin. The child promised, but her parents married her against her will. She repelled her husband for over a year until, beside himself, he wounded her with a knife. About this time the people of the community began to fall ill with leprosy. She too took the disease and, still suffering from her wound, went to the altar of Santa María. While there, asleep from exhaustion, she was visited in a dream by the Holy Mother who appeared in her dream, cured her, and gave her the power of healing all lepers with her kiss.
There are also a few accounts of the faithful being taken to heaven when life has become intolerable (Nos. 384, 56, etc.).
Just as Santa María, when answering prayer, is not limited in her power to curing bodily ills but may also protect from harm, so in bestowing rewards she does not confine her mercies to those who are suffering. In fact she much more frequently protects them from such harm. Naturally, miracles of this type, all in return for faithful service, cover a large variety of cases such as: the congregation miraculously saved from harm when a heavy beam fell during a sermon (No. 266), a pilgrim saved on falling into the sea (No. 33), a wife saved from an angry husband because she spent too much time at devotions (No. 314), a boy freed after capture by the Moors (No. 359), a clerk who lost his position because he could say only one Mass ordered reenstated (No. 32), and one that reminds us of Coleridge’s “Ancient Mariner,” the story of a hermit captured by pirates after they had sacked the surrounding country and were ready to sail away. They started with him on board but each night some mysterious power brought their ships back to where they had been the day before. At last the admiral decided to release the hermit, Count Abran of Germany, and in addition offered him great riches of which he selected only one glass to keep as a reminder of the favor he had received at divine hands (No. 95).
Quite often Saint Mary protects her own from unjust punishment. A confidential adviser of a certain lord was falsely accused by his enemies. Because of his devotion to Santa María she caused the truth to be brought out at the trial so that he was freed while his maligner was burned. She proves equal to the occasion when her followers are submitted to the ordeal of trial by fire[53]. A married woman’s mother-in-law accused her before her husband of unfaithfulness. The wife and the Moor with whom she was accused and who had agreed to act as an accomplice of the mother-in-law were taken to the public square to be burned. The Moor perished immediately but the woman was unharmed, and furthermore the Virgin was seen beside her in the fire (No. 186).
The motherly characteristic of Santa María again comes to the front in No. 47 when she rewards a good priest who has always been punctual in his duties but gives way once and, yielding to temptation, becomes thoroly drunk. This she does by caring for him on his way home, when the Devil in the form of a bull, a frightful black man, and a lion torments him. She protects him even to the point of striking the lion with a stick, then she tells him to go and sin no more.[54] At another time she rewards a faithful servant by keeping his wife from harm while he is away in the wars. During his absence a gallant courts her and sends her a pair of shoes. She puts one on to try it and to her dismay is unable to remove it. In fact no one could do so until her husband returned, when he took it off with ease (No. 64).
Santa María is particular about vows that have been made to her and is careful to see that they are conscientiously fulfilled. A woman (No. 117) promised never to work on Saturday, that day being dedicated to the Mother of Christ. When she forgot her vow she was stricken with paralysis. Another mother who forgot her vow made while praying that she might have a child, was punished by having it die before reaching maturity (No. 347).
The conception of “The Bride of Christ” on taking the vows of a nun remains even to the present time. In the Middle Ages, when the cult of the Virgin was at its zenith, the vow of celibacy on the part of men seems to have had a similar appeal with respect to consecration to the worship and love of the Virgin while she is constantly represented as being extremely jealous of those who have thus dedicated themselves to her. One young man made the vow either under the inspiration of the moment or perhaps even partly in jest, but this did not make it any the less binding. As he was about to begin to play ball he removed the ring of his fiancée from his finger for fear of damaging it, and as he happened to be standing near an image of the Virgin he slipped it on its finger saying as he did so that he would never love another woman. To his surprise and great fear the image bent its finger so the ring could not be removed. His friends advised a monastic life but he did not heed them, shortly afterwards forgetting all about the incident and preparing to marry. But the Virgin appeared to him in two successive dreams and in her anger so disturbed the youth that he wandered aimlessly for a month and then entered a monastery (No. 42). She was a little more lenient at times with young nuns who violated their promise. In fact nearly all those miracles termed unmoral are cases where the Blessed Mother out of pity shielded these same girls from what was considered their just punishment.
As well as being jealous of those who have consecrated themselves to her, the Virgin guards with the greatest care her shrines, her own images and those of her Son, her feast days, and the special customs, etc., that grew up around her individual sanctuaries. She protected her church of Monsarás (Portugal) from an avalanche (No. 113), and the one in Murcia from the political wiles of man by making it impossible to remove as much as one nail (No. 169). Later she saved this same church when even Alfonso X himself consented to its destruction, and still later against the ravages of the Moors. During this period of constant war she frequently had occasion to guard her images against the Mohammedans (Nos. 99, 183, etc.), or against sacrilegious acts of supposed Christians (Nos. 136, 293, etc.). This might be accomplished by causing the images to remain intact amid general destruction of all other objects (No. 99), or to pass thru a severe fire unharmed (No. 39). The occupation of the offenders might be brought to a standstill (No. 183), the offender himself might be physically harmed (No. 293), or the image might put up its arm to protect itself (No. 136). Santa María de Ribila would allow nothing but olive oil to be burned before her shrine (No. 304).
Neither will she tolerate the making and maltreatment of effigies of her Son.[55] A heavenly voice at Mass warns the congregation, “The Jews who are killing my Son do not desire to be at peace with Him”. The Christians rush to the Jewish quarter and find the Jews engaged in beating and spitting upon an effigy of Jesus which they are preparing to crucify. All the Jews perish on the rack for the deed (No. 12). In No. 215 in a little town near Martos a Moor attempts to stab an image but wounds himself instead; stones it but it remains unharmed; puts it in the fire for two days but it is not affected; ties a stone around its neck and then throws it in the river but it does not sink. The King of Granada then sends it to the king of Castile, who is at Segovia; he receives it with great joy and orders it put in his chapel.[56]