Being sent by his superiors to undertake the office of guardian to Limiges in France, in order to the conversion of the heretics in that place, it happened at one time, that his business as a preacher required him to be in one place, and his office of guardian in another: and this was the occasion of the first of the many miracles that his historian ascribes to him, and it was of a very singular kind: for it is asserted that he was actually in both places at the same time. After an earnest prayer for this purpose, he without leaving the pulpit in which he was preaching on a Good Friday, appeared in the choir, and sung the lesson which was his part of the service there. At Montpellier also, he once preached in the dome at the same time that he was singing hallelujah in the choir of the church. After this his whole life seems to have consisted of little more than a series of miracles, and many of them of quite an original and extraordinary kind; so that it must have required much ingenuity to devise them. [522]—Some of them may be here inserted by way of sample, and to enable the reader to judge of the probable effect or consequence of the settlement of Anthony’s disciples, the friars de Penitentia, in this town.
When Anthony was at one time preaching in a temporary building, constructed of wood, he apprised his audience that the devil was about to terrify and hurt them, but that no harm would eventually happen to any of them. Accordingly while he was preaching, the devil untied the ropes by which the boards were held together, so that the whole erection came down. But when it might have been expected that many of the persons assembled would have been crushed to death, or at least maimed, not one of them was found to have received the smallest hurt!—Another time a pious woman, much attached to Anthony, who had a son of a reprobate character, when she was attending one of his sermons the devil came in the form of a courier, and delivering a letter informed her that her son was dead. This news threw her, and the audience in general, into such disorder, that the congregation was breaking up; when Anthony cried out that the news was not true, that it was the devil that had brought it, and that the young man was alive, as they would soon be convinced; accordingly, while he was speaking he entered the place, and the devil absconded.
Something more extraordinary than any of the preceding miracles, was exhibited at Rome. For being required by the pope to preach to a congregation, consisting of people of very different countries, assembled for a crusade, they all heard him speak in their different languages, though he spoke in Italian only.—But the astonishing miracle exhibited at Rimini, contributed more to the fame of Anthony than all his other miracles. Preaching in that city, which abounded with heretics, and the people refusing to hear him, he went to the sea side, followed by a great crowd; when, the sea being remarkably calm, he addressed himself to the fishes; saying, “Since men will not hear me, come you and hearken to what God will tell you by me.” Immediately on this the sea was covered with the heads of fishes, which with open mouths fixed their eyes on him; and notwithstanding their hostility to each other, they mildly and humbly (as it is said) without moving their fins, or making the least motion in the water, attended to him. After a discourse of some length, he exhorted them to praise God; and since they could not do it in words shew some visible signs of reverence. On this they all bowed their heads, moving them very gently, and with gestures expressive of humility and devotion, acknowledged their obligation to God, and signified their apt probation of what had been addressed to them. The spectators greatly amazed (and well they might: for who could avoid it?) looked sometimes on the fishes, and sometimes on the preacher; and being reproved by him for their infidelity, thus upbraided by the mute fishes, they fell on their knees, asking his pardon, and promising to live and die in the catholic faith. He then pronounced a blessing, both on the men and the fishes, and they departed with great joy. [524]
Such were some of the numerous miracles which Anthony is said to have worked in his lifetime, exclusive of others said to have been wrought afterwards at his grave, and which were perhaps no fewer. Of those who have heard of these mighty and wonderful works of Anthony, the far greater part in all ages, even to the present day, have believed the report, and admitted the reality of the miracles: which, however, will not establish the fact, that they were actually performed, any more than the faith of the mahometans in the alleged miracles of their pretended prophet will establish that fact, or prove that the miracles ascribed to him did really take place. In each case we have a sad specimen of that easy and miserable credulity by which poor human nature has often most wretchedly disgraced herself, and unintentionally aided the cause and triumphs of imposture. Nor will it follow from the abundance of false miracles that have been heard of, or because the world has been so often imposed upon by them, that there never have been any real ones; on the contrary, all counterfeits seem invariably to imply the existence of what is real and genuine; and that, it is presumed, may be proved to be the case here. But this is not a place to enter largely upon this subject.
Anthony had been some years among the Franciscans before he instituted the order de Penitantia, which was in 1221, when he also fixed at Padua, where he sometimes preached in the open air to 30,000 persons, who came to hear him from all the neighbouring towns. His discourses, it is said, had a wonderful effect in converting prostitutes, delivering prisoners, reconciling enemies, procuring restitution of usury, remission of debts, &c. He was indefatigable, and preached every day. Many persons expressing a desire to embrace the order, he was unwilling to dissolve so many regular marriages, and dispeople the country: he therefore gave them a rule, according to which they might serve God in a similar manner in their houses, living in some measure like monks, but without austerity.—This is the substance of what we have learnt about this order. He died in the year above mentioned at the age of 36, and was canonized the next year. We are told that he was ten years among the Franciscans, if indeed it can be said that he afterwards properly quitted them for the friars de Penitentia are accounted a 3rd order of Franciscans. [525a] We are told that they settled at Lynn before the 5th of Edward I. and that their house here was dissolved by Henry VIII. [525b] but where it stood cannot now be ascertained. Parkin seemed inclined to indentify it with the well known convent of the Grey Friars, but that idea or supposition seems not at all admissible, as our apparently most accurate accounts of the religious houses dissolved here represent that of the friars of this order as quite distinct from the said convent, and this seems corroborated by Parkin’s own assertion, that “in 1307, Roger Flegg was vicar general of the order of friars de Penitentia in England at Lenne.” [526a] From the peculiar constitution of this order it seems rather probable that its houses or convents might be neither so large nor yet so numerous as those of most of the other orders. As that at Lynn might be but small, there may not be much reason to wonder that its site is not now discoverable; that being also the case with some others of our smaller religious houses.—With all its profound and extravagant reverence for its founder, St. Anthony, and its unlimited credulity, or faith in his pretended miracles, this does not appear to be the worst of the popish orders, but rather one of the better sort of them, as it seemed earnestly to set its face against many of the prevailing vices of the times, which must have somewhat checked the progress of immorality and licentiousness.—These friars might therefore be of some use here: but if they were so, and did some good, in partially checking the progress of vice and immorality, is it not also to be feared, on the other hand, that they did no less, or rather much more harm, in checking likewise the progress of virtue and true religion, and promoting to the utmost of their power an intolerant, persecuting, and antichristian spirit? [526b] That such was really the fact seems unquestionable; so that these friars had little room to boast of their good doings. But we will now quit them, and proceed to
The College. This edifice stands near the Town Hall, and is now inhabited by Mr. Toosey, a respectable merchant. It is by far the most entire, and best preserved of all the religious houses that were here dissolved; and were popery again to become predominant among us, this fabrick might be very easily converted or restored to its original use.—Parkin gives of it a very odd and confused account, as if it had been a part of the Priory, though somewhat detached from it—“The cell, or college of priests (says he) was near the Guildhall, and the prior’s house was somewhat remote from it, by St. Margaret’s Church.” It does not seem, however, that it had in fact any connection with the said priory: and it is certainly a place of much later erection; probably by no less than 3 or 400 years.—Mackerell also takes some slight notice of it, and says, “Not far from the church was a certain college, founded by Mr. Thomas Thorisby, as by the inscription carved upon the door still remain . . . Magistri Thome Thorisby, Fundatoris hujus loci.” This Thomas Thorisby, the munificent founder of this college, was one of the great men of Lynn in the latter part of the 15th century, and for sometime after, as appears from our lists of Mayors, among whom his name occurs three different times; 1st in 1477, again in 1482, and lastly in 1502. That he was a magistrate of a serious and religious character, seems to admit of no doubt; but how many of his successors, including those of the present day, have thought the better of him for that, is a question that appears involved in no small uncertainty. The College is said to have been founded about the year 1500, and it was dissolved about 30 years after, so that it was not long appropriated to the use for which it was designed by the founder. It does not appear to whom it went at the dissolution, nor do we know through how many hands, or how many different families it has passed, from that to the present time. Latterly, and for many years, it has been the residence successively of some of our principal mercantile families, without any material change in its external appearance. Of its original constitution we have not obtained any particular information, and the above being the substance of what we have learnt concerning it, our account of it must be here closed.
Another House, suppressed here at the general dissolution, was St. John’s Hospital: of which the information we have been able to obtain is very imperfect and scanty. Its very site, like that of the friars de Penitentia, seems no longer discoverable; and yet it was evidently, in its day, a place of some note and consequence here, and had a chapel, or church, as it is usually called, attached to it. Fox, the martyrologist, mentions St. John’s church, or the church of the Hospital of St. John, in this town, as one of the places where the memorable Sir William Sautre, parish priest of St. Margaret’s, when taken up for heresy in the reign of Henry IV. was obliged to read his recantation. Parkin takes very little notice of it, except quoting what Fox had said: and the same is the case with Mackerell, with this slight difference, that he in one place hazards a conjecture, that the site of this church was the same with that of the old grammar school, which was taken down some years ago. But if the church stood there, the hospital itself must also, in all probability, have stood close by, if not contiguous; and that seems not very likely, in so confined a situation. We know of no existing record that any way corroborates this conjecture, unless it be a hint in our tables of memorable events, “That in the year 1506, St. Margaret’s church was suspended, and the christenings were performed in the charnel belonging to St. John’s chapel:” but it seems too vague and obscure to establish the point. It is indeed very clear and certain that there did exist here formerly the Hospital and church of St. John, and that they were suppressed at the general dissolution, but as we know no more about them, we must here dismiss the subject.
Section VII.
Account of St. Mary Magdalen’s Hospital, the Lazar Houses, St. Lawrence’s Hospital, &c.
The Hospital of St. Mary Magdalen was one of the most ancient of those religious houses that were suppressed here by Henry VIII. It is said to have been founded by Petrus Capellanus, in the reign of King Stephen, in honour of St. Mary Magdalen. It consisted of a prior and twelve brethren and sisters; of whom ten, including the prior were sound, and three unsound, or leprous; some ecclesiastical, and some secular; who were bound to perform rites and prayers for the souls of certain men who had departed this life, viz. for the soul of Petrus Capellanus their founder, the souls of popes, bishops, abbots, priors, kings, queens, and others, their benefactors; as appears by their ancient book of obiits and Orisons, and by the ancient instrument of articles, which the brethren and sisters were bound to observe: and all, or most of the lands given to the said hospital were for the maintaining of prayers for the dead, as appears by divers deeds and charters, without date, of the first donations of those lands. [531]