At the close of the year, 1481, on S. Thomas's Eve, the deputies of the Cantons met at Stanz, in Unterwalden, for deliberation on matters of the highest importance connected with the welfare of the Confederacy. The minds of the delegates had been already so warped by jealousy and selfishness, that the members of the assembly of Stanz could come to no mutual understanding, and were unceasingly embittered against each other. There were two parties in the assembly at variance with each other; that of the towns, and that of the country. The peasants of Uri, of Schwytz, and Unterwalden desired peace, and distrusted the ambition of the citizens, who would draw them needlessly into war. They sought to maintain the Swiss Confederation within its ancient limits, and were not disposed to strengthen the opposite party by the admission of new towns. On the contrary, the towns of Lucerne, of Berne, and of Zurich exerted themselves to obtain admittance into the Confederation for Soleure and Friebourg; because they themselves lay exposed to the attacks of the enemy, Switzerland not having as yet any natural frontier; and these towns had fought faithfully for Switzerland in the wars against Charles, and the Confederates in the hour of danger had promised to admit them into the league.
To this source of discord was added the envy excited by the division of the Burgundian booty. It was in vain that the cantons of Glarus and Zug sought to interpose their mediation, and that meetings were held in various places to reconcile differences. And now the Confederates were assembled for consultation for the last time at Stanz. The animosity of party, however, was so great, that after three sessions of angry debates, the members rose with agitated countenances, and separated without taking leave of one another, to meet again, perhaps, only in the conflict of civil war. That which neither the power of Austria, nor the fury of Charles of Burgundy had ever been able to accomplish, the Swiss were themselves in danger of bringing about by their own internal dissensions; and the liberty and happiness of their country stood in jeopardy.
These considerations filled all good citizens with sorrow and alarm, and, amongst others, a curé of Stanz, named Henry Im Grand, a man full of zeal for the good of his country. As he reflected on the danger which threatened her, his thoughts turned to Brother Nicolas. "This man," said he to himself, "is, perhaps, the only one whose voice will command attention now," and, taking his staff, he went in quest of him. Brother Nicolas replied to his entreaty to come to Stanz with his usual gravity: "Return," said he, "tell the envoys of the Confederation that Brother Klaus has something to propose to them."
The priest, full of hope, resumed his journey with all possible speed; he hastened to the inns where the deputies were preparing for departure, and conjured them to be again reconciled, and to listen for the last time to the counsels and proposition of the pious hermit. They consented; and some hours after, the brother appeared in the midst of the assembly.
Notwithstanding his great age, Nicolas had performed this long and difficult journey without resting; his fine majestic figure—which time had scarcely bent, was seen advancing across the market-place of Stanz to the town-hall. He wore, according to custom, his simple, dark-coloured dress, which descended to his feet; he carried his chaplet in one hand, and grasped his staff with the other; he was, as usual, barefoot and bareheaded; and his long hair, a little touched by the snows of age, fell upon his shoulders. When the holy man entered the hall before all the Confederates, they rose with one accord to greet him. After a few moments, silence was broken by the sonorous voice of the hermit, who addressed them with earnest words, and God gave such grace to his words that in one hour all difficulties were smoothed away, and base passions were silent through shame before the severe counsel of a man who appeared before this assembly with hands raised towards heaven, as a prophet sent from God.
The Confederates, in accordance with Nicolas's advice, received into their league the towns of Freibourg and Soleure; the ancient treaties of alliance were confirmed, and further consolidated by being established on the basis of new laws unanimously enacted. The pacification of all the Swiss cantons, the maintenance of public order, and of the authority of the magistrates against disturbers of the peace, the division of booty according to the rule given by Nicolas,—such were the points upon which the Confederates, who had so long contended with so much animosity, came this same day to an entire agreement.
The brother returned the same evening to his peaceful hermitage. At Stanz the bells were rung, and sounds of rejoicing floated across the lakes and through the valleys to all the villages and towns of Switzerland, from the snowy heights of S. Gothard to the smiling plains of Thurgau. There was as much joy and gladness everywhere as after the victories of Granson and Morat, and with as just cause; for there the Confederates had delivered their country from foreign enemies; here they saved it from their own passions. Their true deliverer, who had obtained from them this victory over themselves, was the poor Brother Nicolas, and as such he was everywhere recognised and extolled.
The towns and countries of the Confederation, and above all, Soleure and Freibourg, satisfied with the happy termination of their dissensions, testified their gratitude to the brother by sending him letters of thanks and precious gifts. He accepted the latter only when they were destined to adorn his chapel. Berne sent a courier with a letter of thanksgiving and a handsome present. The answer which the brother returned, through the medium of his son John, exists to this day in the archives of Soleure, to which city it was presented by Berne. From this time the general veneration for Brother Klaus increased continually.
Nicolas lived six years longer in his peaceful retreat, rich in benedictions. At length the time arrived when God would call His faithful servant from the miseries of the world to eternal joy.
Before his death, God sent him a sharp sickness, in which he suffered indescribable pain. In this condition of suffering he turned from side to side, writhing upon his couch like a worm trodden under foot. These frightful pains lasted eight days. He bore them with perfect resignation, and continued to exhort those who surrounded his bed of death so to conduct themselves in this life as to leave it with a peaceful conscience. "Death," said he, "is terrible; but it is still more terrible to fall into the hands of the living God." When his pains were a little relieved, and the moment of death drew near, Nicolas desired with all the ardour of devotion to receive the sacred Body of the Saviour, and to be strengthened by the Sacrament of Extreme Unction. Near the dying man stood his faithful companion, Brother Ulrich, his old friend Henry Im Grand, and the pious anchorite, Cecil, who after his death led for seventy years the same solitary life in a neighbouring cell; his faithful wife and children also gathered round him. In their presence he received the holy Sacraments with tokens of deep humility; then he thanked God anew for all the benefits He had dispensed to him, prostrated himself, and died the death of the just.