“Do you wish to have counsel of your Saints to know if you ought to take woman’s garments?”
“May I not then,” she said, “be permitted to hear Mass in the state in which I am? I desire it ardently! As to changing my dress, I cannot: it is not in my power.”
All the Assessors then joined themselves with Us, and each exhorted her, for so great a benefit, and to satisfy the feeling of devotion with which she seemed animated, to consent to take the only garment which was suitable to her sex.
“That,” she declared, “is not in my power: if it were, it would soon be done!”
“Speak of it to your Voices,” said the Assessors, “to know if you may again take your woman’s dress, in order that at Easter you may receive the Viaticum.”
“I cannot change my dress: I cannot therefore receive the Viaticum. I beg of you, my Lords, permit me to hear Mass in man’s dress; this dress does not weigh upon my soul, and is not contrary to the laws of the Church.”
Of all the preceding, Master Jean d’Estivet, Promoter, hath asked that there may be delivered to him a Public Instrument, in the presence of the Lords and Masters, Adam Hillet, William Brolbster, and Pierre Orient, of the Clergy of Rouen, London and Châlons, respectively.
THE TRIAL IN ORDINARY
Here begins the Trial in Ordinary, after the Trial Ex-Officio.
Monday after Palm Sunday, 26th day of March, in Bishop’s House. Present: The Bishop and Brother Jean Lemaître, assisted by 12 Assessors.