A confession and letter of consolation of Maeyken Boosers, imprisoned at Doornick, where she sealed her faith with her death.
The eternal, unfathomable grace of God, and the power of the Holy Ghost, be with you all, my beloved friends and brethren. I let you know that I am well according to the flesh; but according to the spirit I might be better, for I find weakness in me; but my hope is fixed upon God, who strengthens the feeble, and comforts the afflicted. My heart constantly longs to be fit in his sight, that I might finish to his praise that which he has commenced in me. Therefore I pray you, my beloved brethren, not to forget me, even as I well perceive that you do not, for which I thank you very much, and hope that the Lord will preserve you in his holy truth. I further inform you that the lords wanted to know of me, who were baptized with me, and whether none were in the city, and what were their names and surnames. I said: “What I do not know I cannot tell.” But it was all of no avail. They ordered the executioner to strip me. I felt very much ashamed, and I pleasantly entreated them to believe me; but it was of no avail. I then said: “Your will be done,” and undressed myself. They led me to the rack and bound me to draw and rack me. The commissary said that I should name them. I told him that I could not do it: whereupon they loosed me, without my having named any one, for which God on high be praised. However of Pieter and George they had knowledge already; hence I had to name them too, but their surnames I did not know. Herewith I will commend you to the Lord, and to the word of his grace. May the Lord keep us all in one faith to the end of our lives. Amen.
Another letter from Maeyken Boosers to her parents.
I greet you from my inmost heart, my beloved father and my much beloved mother, with all that are in your house. Please know that I am well and unchanged in purpose, the Lord be praised forever, as I trust through the goodness of God it is also with you. Further, I thank you heartily for the kind greeting you wrote me, on account of which I greatly rejoiced, learning your feelings and affection for me; and for remembrance’ sake I will write you something about my imprisonment.
In the first place the commissary asked me how old I was when I was baptized. I replied: “About twenty-three or four years.” They asked me why I had it done. I said: “Because God had commanded it.” They asked me whether I did not know that I had been baptized previously. I said: “I know nothing of it; neither has God commanded it.” They asked me whether I did not have sponsors. I replied: “It may be;—they may have died.” They then said that they should send me learned men. I said: “You ought to be wise enough to talk with me;” but no, they would send learned men. They then sent the parish priest of Our lady’s church, who came and asked me why I had not been in his church so long, and that he had not known of me. I told him that I had quietly kept at home. They asked me where my church was. I answered: “My church is not known to you; for if you knew her, you would not let her in peace very long.”
We had many words about baptism. I said that Christ sent out his apostles into all the world, and that they first taught all nations to observe all things whatsoever he had commanded them, baptizing them in the name of the Father, of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Infants cannot learn; but he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved. Then they said that the apostles had baptized whole households. I said: “Yes, then they rejoiced that they were become believers in God; this children cannot do. Acts 16:34. Christ called the children to him and said that to such belonged the kingdom of heaven, but he did not command that they should be baptized.” They then brought forward Adam’s sin, saying that they were born in it. I replied that Christ had died for them. I asked them whether they meant to remove sin by baptism; since infants can have no sin, therefore they cannot die unto sin, and rise through baptism into a new life. Then the lords said: “Your doctrine is: He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, is it not?” I said: “Yes.” They then asked whether Christ was not of Mary’s flesh. I said that Mary had conceived him of the Holy Ghost, even as the angel said to her: “The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.” Luke 1:35. They asked once more whether he did not assume flesh from her, since he had not brought it from above. I replied that I believed the testimony of John, where he says: “The Word became flesh, and dwelt among us.” John 1:14. They asked whether I did not believe that he is Mary’s son according to the flesh, and the Son of God according to the spirit. I replied that he was God’s own begotten and only begotten Son, without beginning of days, nor end of life, and was now at the last born of Mary, through the power of the Holy Ghost. Heb. 7:3. Hence he is not of the earth, earthy, like Adam, nor will he return to earth [dust]; for he is the Lord from heaven. 1 Cor. 15:47. Now if he had flesh of our flesh, he would have to see corruption, for God said: “Dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return”; but this was not spoken of Adam alone, but of all his descendants. Gen. 3:19.
They then asked me whether I did not believe that in the sacrament there were Christ’s flesh and blood. I said: “No; he is ascended, and sits on the right hand of God his Father.” They then asked me whether I would not believe that all the saints are in heaven. I said: “What I have not read I cannot answer; but this much I have read; The souls of the righteous are in the hand of God, and the torment of death shall not touch them.” Wisdom 3:1. To this they did not say much, but asked what I held with regard to Mary. I replied that she was a pure and holy vessel, and blessed above all women, since she was worthy to conceive and give birth to the Son of God.
They asked whether I did not confess that there is a purgatory. I said: “I find two ways on record, the one very broad and leading to damnation, the other very narrow and leading to eternal life.” They also asked what I held in regard to the Pope. I said: “The Pope I do not know; but if this is his doctrine, which is observed here, I hold him to be like his doctrine.” Much more was spoken, but I only write this to while away time. Farewell.
Another letter from Maeyken Boosers, to the brethren.
My dearest and much beloved brethren in the Lord, I let you know that my heart is of good cheer and courage, the Lord be forever praised, for he preserves us by his right hand, and delivers us out of the midst of our enemies, for without him I would be lost, since they, both spirituals and seculars, come to assail me in manifold ways, as could be seen this Sunday, when Mr. Massaert, with a judge and a secular, a learned man, held me to be the vilest sect that ever was under heaven. But when I told them my faith, I moved them all to tears, so that they could scarcely speak, and ultimately left me in a friendly manner.