_TALE XXII_.
_Sister Marie Heroet, being unchastely solicited by a Prior of Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields, was by the grace of God enabled to overcome his great temptations, to the Prior's exceeding confusion and her own glory_. (1)
1 This story is historical, and though M. Frank indicates points of similarity between it and No. xxvii. of St. Denis' _Comptes du Monde Adventureux_, and No. vi. of Masuccio de Solerac's _Novellino_, these are of little account when one remembers that the works in question were written posterior to the _Heptameron_. The incidents related in the tale must have occurred between 1530 and 1535. The Abbey of Saint- Martin-in-the-Fields stood on the site of the present Conservatoire des Arts et Metiers, Paris.--Ed.
In the city of Paris there was a Prior of Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields,whose name I will keep secret for the sake of the friendship I bore him.Until he reached the age of fifty years, his life was so austere thatthe fame of his holiness was spread throughout the entire kingdom, andthere was not a prince or princess but showed him high honour when hecame to visit them. There was further no monkish reform that was notwrought by his hand, so that people called him the "father of truemonasticism." (2)
He was chosen visitor to the illustrious order of the "Ladies ofFontevrault," (3) by whom he was held in such awe that, when he visitedany of their convents, the nuns shook with very fear, and to soften hisharshness towards them would treat him as though he had been the Kinghimself in person. At first he would not have them do this, but at last,when he was nearly fifty-five years old, he began to find the treatmenthe had formerly contemned very pleasant; and reckoning himself themainstay of all monasticism, he gave more care to the preservation ofhis health than had heretofore been his wont. Although the rules ofhis order forbade him ever to partake of flesh, he granted himself adispensation (which was more than he ever did for another), declaringthat the whole burden of conventual affairs rested upon him; for whichreason he feasted himself so well that, from being a very lean monk hebecame a very fat one.
2 This prior was Stephen Gentil, who succeeded Philip Bourgoin on December 15, 1508, and died November 6, 1536. The _Gallia Christiana_ states that in 1524 he reformed an abbey of the diocese of Soissons, but makes no mention of his appointment as visitor to the abbey of Fontevrault. Various particulars concerning him will be found in Manor's _Monasterii Regalis S. Martini de Campis, &c. Parisiis_, 1636, and in _Gallia Christiana_, vol. vii. col. 539.--L.
3 The abbey of Fontevrault, near Saumur, Maine-et-Loire, was founded in 1100 by Robert d'Arbrissel, and comprised two conventual establishments, one for men and the other for women. Prior to his death, d'Arbrissel abdicated his authority in favour of Petronilla de Chemille, and from her time forward monks and nuns alike were always under the sway of an abbess--this being the only instance of the kind in the history of the Roman Catholic Church. Fourteen of the abbesses were princesses, and several of these were of the blood royal of France. In the abbey church were buried our Henry II., Eleanor of Guienne, Richard Coeur-de-Lion, and Isabella of Angouleme; their tombs are still shown, though the abbey has become a prison, and its church a refectory.-- Ed.
Together with this change of life there was wrought also a great changeof heart, so that he now began to cast glances upon countenances whichaforetime he had looked at only as a duty; and, contemplating charmswhich were rendered even more desirable by the veil, he began to hankerafter them. Then, to satisfy this longing, he sought out such cunningdevices that at last from being a shepherd he became a wolf, so that inmany a convent, where there chanced to be a simple maiden, he failednot to beguile her. But after he had continued this evil life for along time, the Divine Goodness took compassion upon the poor, wanderingsheep, and would no longer suffer this villain's triumph to endure, asyou shall hear.
One day he went to visit the convent of Gif, (4) not far from Paris,and while he was confessing all the nuns, it happened that there was oneamong them called Marie Heroet, whose speech was so gentle and pleasingthat it gave promise of a countenance and heart to match.
4 Gif, an abbey of the Benedictine order, was situated at five leagues from Paris, in the valley of Chevreuse, on the bank of the little river Yvette. A few ruins of it still remain. It appears to have been founded in the eleventh century.--See Le Beuf s _Histoire du Diocese de Paris_, vol. viii. part viii. p. 106, and _Gallia Christiana_, vol. vii. col. 596.--L. and D.
The mere sound of her voice moved him with a passion exceeding any thathe had ever felt for other nuns, and, while speaking to her, he bentlow to look at her, and perceiving her rosy, winsome mouth, could notrefrain from lifting her veil to see whether her eyes were in keepingtherewith. He found that they were, and his heart was filled with soardent a passion that, although he sought to conceal it, his countenancebecame changed, and he could no longer eat or drink. When he returnedto his priory, he could find no rest, but passed his days and nights indeep disquiet, seeking to devise a means whereby he might accomplish hisdesire, and make of this nun what he had already made of many others.But this, he feared, would be difficult, seeing that he had found herto be prudent of speech and shrewd of understanding; moreover, he knewhimself to be old and ugly, and therefore resolved not to employ wordsbut to seek to win her by fear.
Accordingly, not long afterwards, he returned to the convent of Gifaforesaid, where he showed more austerity than he had ever done before,and spoke wrathfully to all the nuns, telling one that her veil was notlow enough, another that she carried her head too high, and anotherthat she did not do him reverence as a nun should do. So harsh was he inrespect of all these trifles, that they feared him as though he had beena god sitting on the throne of judgment.
Being gouty, he grew very weary in visiting all the usual parts of theconvent, and it thus came to pass that about the hour for vespers, anhour which he had himself fixed upon, he found himself in the dormitory,when the Abbess said to him--
"Reverend father, it is time to go to vespers."
"Go, mother," he replied, "do you go to vespers. I am so weary that Iwill remain here, yet not to rest but to speak to Sister Marie, ofwhom I have had a very bad report, for I am told that she prates like aworldly-minded woman."
The Abbess, who was aunt to the maiden's mother, begged him toreprove her soundly, and left her alone with him and a young monk whoaccompanied him.
When he found himself alone with Sister Marie, he began to lift up herveil, and to tell her to look at him. She answered that the rule of herorder forbade her to look at men.
"It is well said, my daughter," he replied, "but you must not considerus monks as men."
Then Sister Marie, fearing to sin by disobedience, looked him in theface; but he was so ugly that she though it rather a penance than a sinto look at him.
The good father, after telling her at length of his goodwill towardsher, sought to lay his hand upon her breasts; but she repulsed him, aswas her duty; whereupon, in great wrath, he said to her--
"Should a nun know that she has breasts?"
"I know that I have," she replied, "and certes neither you nor any othershall ever touch them. I am not so young and ignorant that I do not knowthe difference between what is sin and what is not."
When he saw that such talk would not prevail upon her, he adopted adifferent plan, and said--
"Alas, my daughter, I must make known to you my extreme need. I have aninfirmity which all the physicians hold to be incurable unless I havepleasure with some woman whom I greatly love. For my part, I wouldrather die than commit a mortal sin; but, when it comes to that, I knowthat simple fornication is in no wise to be compared with the sin ofhomicide. So, if you love my life, you will preserve it for me, as wellas your own conscience from cruelty."
She asked him what manner of pleasure he desired to have. He repliedthat she might safely surrender her conscience to his own, and that
hewould do nothing that could be a burden to either.
Then, to let her see the beginning of the pastime that he sought, hetook her in his arms and tried to throw her upon a bed. She, recognisinghis evil purpose, defended herself so well with arms and voice that hecould only touch her garments. Then, when he saw that all his devicesand efforts were being brought to naught, he behaved like a madman andone devoid not only of conscience but of natural reason, for, thrustinghis hand under her dress, he scratched wherever his nails could reachwith such fury that the poor girl shrieked out, and fell swooning atfull length upon the floor.
Hearing this cry, the Abbess came into the dormitory; for while atvespers she had remembered that she had left her niece's daughter alonewith the good father, and feeling some scruples of conscience, she hadleft the chapel and repaired to the door of the dormitory in order tolearn what was going on. On hearing her niece's voice, she pushed openthe door, which was being held by the young monk.
And when the Prior saw the Abbess coming, he pointed to her niece as shelay in a swoon, and said--
"Assuredly, mother, you are greatly to blame that you did not inform meof Sister Marie's condition. Knowing nothing of her weakness, I causedher to stand before me, and, while I was reproving her, she swooned awayas you see."
They revived her with vinegar and other remedies, and found that she hadwounded her head in her fall. When she was recovered, the Prior, fearingthat she would tell her aunt the reason of her indisposition, took heraside and said to her--
"I charge you, my daughter, if you would be obedient and hope forsalvation, never to speak of what I said to you just now. You must knowthat it was my exceeding love for you that constrained me, but sinceI see that you do not wish to love me, I will never speak of it to youagain. However, if you be willing, I promise to have you chosen Abbessof one of the three best convents in the kingdom."
She replied that she would rather die in perpetual imprisonment thanhave any lover save Him who had died for her on the cross, for shewould rather suffer with Him all the evils the world could inflict thanpossess without Him all its blessings. And she added that he must neveragain speak to her in such a manner, or she would inform the Abbess;whereas, if he kept silence, so would she.
Thereupon this evil shepherd left her, and in order to make himselfappear quite other than he was, and to again have the pleasure oflooking upon her he loved, he turned to the Abbess and said--
"I beg, mother, that you will cause all your nuns to sing a _SalveRegina_ in honour of that virgin in whom I rest my hope."
While this was being done, the old fox did nothing but shed tears, notof devotion, but of grief at his lack of success. All the nuns, thinkingthat it was for love of the Virgin Mary, held him for a holy man, butSister Marie, who knew his wickedness, prayed in her heart that onehaving so little reverence for virginity might be brought to confusion.
And so this hypocrite departed to St. Martin's, where the evil fire thatwas in his heart did not cease burning night and day alike, promptinghim to all manner of devices in order to compass his ends. As he aboveall things feared the Abbess, who was a virtuous woman, he hit upon aplan to withdraw her from the convent, and betook himself to Madame deVendome, who was at that time living at La Fere, where she had foundedand built a convent of the Benedictine order called Mount Olivet. (5)
5 This is Mary of Luxemburg, Countess of St. Paul-de- Conversan, Marie and Soissons, who married, first, James of Savoy, and secondly, Francis de Bourbon, Count of Vendome. The latter, who accompanied Charles VIII. to Italy, was killed at Vercelli in October 1495, when but twenty-five years old. His widow did not marry again, but retired to her chateau of La Fere near Laon (Aisne), where late in 1518 she founded a convent of Benedictine nuns, which, according to the _Gallia Christiana_, she called the convent of Mount Calvary. This must be the establishment alluded to by Queen Margaret, who by mistake has called it Mount Olivet, i.e., the Mount of Olives. Madame de Vendome died at a very advanced age on April 1, 1546.--See Anselme's _Histoire Genealogique_, vol. i. p. 326.--L.
Speaking in the quality of a prince of reformers, he gave her tounderstand that the Abbess of the aforesaid Mount Olivet lacked thecapacity to govern such a community. The worthy lady begged him togive her another that should be worthy of the office, and he, who askednothing better, counselled her to have the Abbess of Gif, as being themost capable in France. Madame de Vendome sent for her forthwith, andset her over the convent of Mount Olivet.
As the Prior of St. Martin's had every monastic vote at his disposal, hecaused one who was devoted to him to be chosen Abbess of Gif, and thisbeing accomplished, he went to Gif to try once more whether he might winSister Marie Heroet by prayers or honied words. Finding that he couldnot succeed, he returned in despair to his priory of St. Martin's, andin order to achieve his purpose, to revenge himself on her who was socruel to him, and further to prevent the affair from becoming known, hecaused the relics of the aforesaid convent of Gif to be secretly stolenat night, and accusing the confessor of the convent, a virtuous andvery aged man, of having stolen them, he cast him into prison at St.Martin's.
Whilst he held him captive there, he stirred up two witnesses who inignorance signed what the Prior commanded them, which was a statementthat they had seen the confessor in a garden with Sister Marie, engagedin a foul and wicked act; and this the Prior sought to make the old monkconfess. But he, who knew all the Prior's misdoings, entreated him tobring him before the Chapter, saying that there, in presence of all themonks, he would tell the truth of all that he knew. The Prior, fearingthat the confessor's justification would be his own condemnation, wouldin no wise grant this request; and, finding him firm of purpose, hetreated him so ill in prison that some say he brought about his death,and others that he forced him to lay aside his robe and betake himselfout of the kingdom of France. Be that as it may, the confessor was neverseen again.
The Prior, thinking that he had now a sure hold upon Sister Marie,repaired to the convent, where the Abbess, chosen for this purpose,gainsaid him in nothing. There he began to exercise his authority asvisitor, and caused all the nuns to come one after the other into a roomthat he might hear them, as is the fashion at a visitation. When theturn of Sister Marie, who had now lost her good aunt, had come, he beganspeaking to her in this wise--
"Sister Marie, you know of what crime you are accused, and that yourpretence of chastity has availed you nothing, since you are well knownto be the very contrary of chaste."
"Bring here my accuser," replied Sister Marie, with steadfastcountenance, "and you will see whether in my presence he will abide byhis evil declaration."
"No further proof is needed," he said, "since the confessor has beenfound guilty."
"I hold him for too honourable a man," said Sister Marie, "to haveconfessed so great a lie; but even should he have done so, bring himhere before me, and I will prove the contrary of what he says."
The Prior, finding that he could in no wise move her, thereupon said--
"I am your father, and seek to save your honour. For this reason I willleave the truth of the matter to your own conscience, and will believewhatever it bids you say. I ask you and conjure you on pain of mortalsin to tell me truly whether you were indeed a virgin when you wereplaced in this house?"
"My father," she replied, "I was then but five years old, and that agemust in itself testify to my virginity."
"Well, my daughter," said the Prior, "have you not since that time lostthis flower?"
She swore that she had kept it, and that she had had no hindrance indoing so except from himself. Whereto he replied that he could notbelieve it, and that the matter required proof.
"What proof," she asked, "would you have?"
"The same as from the others," said the Prior; "for as I am visitor ofsouls, even so am I visitor of bodies also. Your abbesses and prioresseshave all passed through my hands, and you need have no fear if I visityour virginity. Wherefore throw yours
elf upon the bed, and lift theforepart of your garments over your face."
"You have told me so much of your wicked love for me," Sister Mariereplied in wrath, "that I think you seek rather to rob me of myvirginity than to visit it. So understand that I shall never consent."
Thereupon he said to her that she was excommunicated for refusing himthe obedience which Holy Church commanded, and that, if she did notconsent, he would dishonour her before the whole Chapter by declaringthe evil that he knew of between herself and the confessor.
But with fearless countenance she replied--
"He that knows the hearts of His servants shall give me as much honourin His presence as you can give me shame in the presence of men; andsince your wickedness goes so far, I would rather it wreaked its crueltyupon me than its evil passion; for I know that God is a just judge."
Then the Prior departed and assembled the whole Chapter, and, causingSister Marie to appear on her knees before him, he said to her withwondrous malignity--
"Sister Marie, it grieves me to see that the good counsels I have givenyou have been of no effect, and to find you fallen into such evil waysthat, contrary to my wont, I must needs lay a penance upon you. I haveexamined your confessor concerning certain crimes with which he ischarged, and he has confessed to me that he has abused your person inthe place where the witnesses say that they saw him. And so I commandthat, whereas I had formerly raised you to honourable rank as Mistressof the Novices, you shall now be the lowest placed of all, and further,shall eat only bread and water on the ground, and in presence of allthe Sisters, until you have shown sufficient penitence to receiveforgiveness."
Sister Marie had been warned by one of her companions, who wasacquainted with the whole matter, that if she made any reply displeasingto the Prior, he would put her _in pace_--that is, in perpetualimprisonment--and she therefore submitted to this sentence, raising hereyes to heaven, and praying Him who had enabled her to withstand sin,to grant her patience for the endurance of tribulation. The Prior of St.Martin's further commanded that for the space of three years she shouldneither speak with her mother or kinsfolk when they came to see her, norsend any letters save such as were written in community.
The miscreant then went away and returned no more, and for a long timethe unhappy maiden continued in the tribulation that I have described.But her mother, who loved her best of all her children, was muchastonished at receiving no tidings from her; and told one of her sons,who was a prudent and honourable gentleman, (6) that she thought herdaughter was dead, and that the nuns were hiding it from her in orderthat they might receive the yearly payment. She, therefore, begged himto devise some means of seeing his sister.
6 It is conjectured by M. Lacroix that this "prudent and honourable gentleman," Mary Heroet's brother, was Antoine Heroet or Herouet, alias La Maisonneuve, who at one time was a valet and secretary to Queen Margaret, and so advanced himself in life that he died Bishop of Digne in 1544. He was the author of _La Parfaite Amie, L'Androgyne, and De n'aimer point sans etre aime_, poems of a semi-metaphysical, semi- amorous character such as might have come from Margaret's own pen. Whether he was Mary Heroet's brother or not, it is at least probable that he was her relative.-B. J. and L.
He went forthwith to the convent, where he met with the wonted excuses,being told that for three years his sister had not stirred from her bed.But this did not satisfy him, and he swore that, if he did not seeher, he would climb over the walls and force his way into the convent.Thereupon, being in great fear, they brought his sister to him at thegrating, though the Abbess stood so near that she could not tell herbrother aught that was not heard. But she had prudently set down inwriting all that I have told you, together with a thousand others of thePrior's devices to deceive her, which 'twould take too long to relate.
Yet I must not omit to mention that at the time when her aunt wasAbbess, the Prior, thinking that his ugliness was the cause of herrefusal, had caused Sister Marie to be tempted by a handsome young monk,in the hope that if she yielded to this man through love, he himselfmight afterwards obtain her through fear. The young monk aforesaid spoketo her in a garden with gestures too shameful to be mentioned, whereatthe poor maiden ran to the Abbess, who was talking with the Prior, andcried out--
"Mother, they are not monks, but devils, who visit us here!"
Thereupon the Prior, in great fear of discovery, began to laugh, andsaid--
"Assuredly, mother, Sister Marie is right."
Then, taking Sister Marie by the hand, he said to her in presence of theAbbess--
"I had heard that Sister Marie spoke very well, and so constantly thatshe was deemed to be worldly-minded. For this reason I constrainedmyself, contrary to my natural inclination, to speak to her in the waythat worldly men speak to women--at least in books, for in pointof experience I am as ignorant as I was on the day when I was born.Thinking, however, that only my years and ugliness led her to discoursein so virtuous a fashion, I commanded my young monk to speak to her asI myself had done, and, as you see, she has virtuously resisted him.So highly, therefore, do I think of her prudence and virtue, thathenceforward she shall rank next after you and shall be Mistress of theNovices, to the intent that her excellent disposition may ever increasein virtue."
This act, with many others, was done by this worthy monk during thethree years that he was in love with the nun. She, however, as I havesaid, gave her brother in writing, through the grating, the whole storyof her pitiful fortunes; and this her brother brought to her mother, whocame, overwhelmed with despair, to Paris. Here she found the Queen ofNavarre, only sister to the King, and showing her the piteous story,said--
"Madam, trust no more in these hypocrites. I thought that I had placedmy daughter within the precincts of Paradise, or on the high roadthither, whereas I have placed her in the precincts of Hell, and in thehands of the vilest devils imaginable. The devils, indeed, do not temptus unless temptation be our pleasure, but these men will take by forcewhen they cannot win by love."
The Queen of Navarre was in great concern, for she trusted wholly inthe Prior of St. Martin's, to whose care she had committed hersisters-inlaw, the Abbesses of Montivilliers and Caen. (7) On theother hand, the enormity of the crime so horrified her and made herso desirous of avenging the innocence of this unhappy maiden, that shecommunicated the matter to the King's Chancellor, who happened also tobe Legate in France. (8)
7 The abbess of Montivilliers was Catherine d'Albret, daughter of John d'Albret, King of Navarre and sister of Queen Margaret's husband, Henry. At first a nun at the abbey of St. Magdalen at Orleans, she became twenty-eighth abbess of Montivilliers near Havre. She was still living in 1536. (_Gallia Christ_., vol. xi. col. 285). The abbess of Caen was Magdalen d'Albret, Catherine's sister. She took the veil at Fontevrault in 1527, subsequently became thirty-third abbess of the Trinity at Caen, and died in November 1532. (_Gallia Christ_., vol. xi. col. 436).--L.
8 This is the famous Antony Duprat, Francis I.'s favourite minister. Born in 1463, he became Chancellor in 1515, and his wife dying soon afterwards, he took orders, with the result that he was made Archbishop of Sens and Cardinal. It was in 1530 that he was appointed Papal Legate in France, so that the incidents related in this tale cannot have occurred at an earlier date. Duprat died in July 1535, of grief, it is said, because Francis I. would not support him in his ambitious scheme to secure possession of the papal see, as successor to Clement VII.-B. J. and Ed.
The Prior was sent for, but could find nothing to plead except that hewas seventy years of age, and addressing himself to the Queen of Navarrehe begged that, for all the good she had ever wished to do him, and intoken of all the services he had rendered or had desired to render her,she would be pleased to bring these proceedings to a close, and he wouldacknowledge that Sister Marie was a pearl of honour and chastity.
On hearing this, the Queen of Navarre was so astonished th
at she couldmake no reply, but went off and left him there. The unhappy man thenwithdrew in great confusion to his monastery, where he would suffernone to see him, and where he lived only one year afterwards. And SisterMarie Heroet, now reputed as highly as she deserved to be, by reason ofthe virtues that God had given her, was withdrawn from the convent ofGif, where she had endured so much evil, and was by the King made Abbessof the the convent of Giy (9) near Montargis.
9 Giy-les-Nonains, a little village on the river Ouanne, at two leagues and a half from Montargis, department of the Loiret.--L.
This convent she reformed, and there she lived like one filled with theSpirit of God, whom all her life long she ever praised for having of Hisgood grace restored to her both honour and repose.
"There, ladies, you have a story which clearly proves the words of theGospel, that 'God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confoundthe things which are mighty, and things which are despised of men hathGod chosen to bring to nought the glory of those who think themselvessomething but are in truth nothing.' (10) And remember, ladies, thatwithout the grace of God there is no good at all in man, just as thereis no temptation that with His assistance may not be overcome. Thisis shown by the abasement of the man who was accounted just, and theexaltation of her whom men were willing to deem a wicked sinner. Thusare verified Our Lord's words, 'Whosoever exalteth himself shall beabased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.'" (11)
10 I Corinthians i. 27, 28, slightly modified.
11 St. Luke xiv. 11 and xviii. 14.
"Alas," said Oisille, "how many virtuous persons did that Prior deceive!For I saw people put more trust in him than even in God."
"_I_ should not have done so," said Nomerfide, "for such is my horror ofmonks that I could not confess to one. I believe they are worse thanall other men, and never frequent a house without leaving disgrace ordissension behind them."
"There are good ones among them," said Oisille, "and they ought notto be judged by the bad alone; but the best are those that least oftenvisit laymen's houses and women."
"You are right," said Ennasuite. "The less they are seen, the lessthey are known, and therefore the more highly are they esteemed; forcompanionship with them shows what they really are."
"Let us say no more about them," said Nomerfide, "and see to whomGeburon will give his vote."
"I shall give it," said he, "to Madame Oisille, that she may tell ussomething to the credit of Holy Church." (12)
12 In lieu of this phrase, the De Thou MS. of the _Heptameron_ gives the following: "To make amends for his fault, if fault there were in laying bare the wretched and abominable life of a wicked Churchman, so as to put others on their guard against the hypocrisy of those resembling him, Geburon, who held Madame Oysille in high esteem, as one should hold a lady of discretion, who was no less reluctant to speak evil than prompt to praise and publish the worth which she knew to exist in others, gave her his vote, begging her to tell something to the honour of our holy religion."--L.
"We have sworn," said Oisille, "to speak the truth, and I cannottherefore undertake such a task. Moreover, in telling your tale you havereminded me of a very pitiful story which I feel constrained to relate,seeing that I am not far from the place where, in my own time, thething came to pass. I shall tell it also, ladies, to the end that thehypocrisy of those who account themselves more religious than theirneighbours, may not so beguile your understanding as to turn your faithout of the right path, and lead you to hope for salvation from any otherthan Him who has chosen to stand alone in the work of our creation andredemption. He is all powerful to save us unto life eternal, and,in this temporal life, to comfort us and deliver us from all ourtribulations. And knowing that Satan often transforms himself into anangel of light so that the outward eye, blinded by the semblance ofholiness and devotion, cannot apprehend that from which we ought toflee, I think it well to tell you this tale, which came to pass in ourown time."
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The Tales Of The Heptameron, Vol. III. (of V.) Page 6
