TWO POPES CANONIZED, BUT NO HALO FOR CARDINAL CISNEROS IN 1653.

Two popes have been canonized.  John XXIII was a saintly man, but John Paul II? If standing up to communism is a miracle, maybe Cardinal Cisneros, Inquisitor General and Regent of Spain, should have qualified as well. He stood up to the Moors after all. He personally led an army against Algeria, or whatever it was called then.

AND he worked 450 miracles. Here’s the short-list:

• To begin with, Cisneros didn’t sail to North Africa on ordinary breezes. He had the wind in his sleeves.
• When he addressed his troops and prayed fervently on their behalf, he didn’t just work up an ordinary sweat. A supernatural sweat appeared on his brow.
• During the battle, he had a little help from heavenly crows pecking out the eyes of his Moorish enemies. The day wasn’t long enough to allow the Cardinal to win a decisive victory. Luckily he was able to stop the sun from setting. The sun stopped, the winds dropped, the clouds moved, birds descended – the Servant of God ruled them by divine dispensation.
• When he finally conquered Oran, a cross appeared in the sky.

Not enough to be canonized? Okay, folks, here is more:

• He produced bread from heaven and a sparkling stream of water in the desert.
• He levitated from time to time.

Nope, not good enough. The application for his canonization was rejected.
Maybe the applicants should have quoted the historian Jacques Marsollier:
Cisneros was a politician of integrity, an incorruptible man who loved the people.
Now that’s what I call a miracle!

(Source: Pedro de Quintanilla, Archetypo de Virtudes, Espexo de Prelados…1653. Image mgar.net)

 

 

 

CONSPICUOUS CONSUMPTION? BRING BACK SUMPTUARY LAWS

A Senate decree passed in Venice 1515 noted:

·         There is such gross and unnecessary expenditure on meals and banquets, on the adornment of women, and on the decoration of houses, that fortunes are squandered and a bad example is set to those who seek to live modestly.

·         To correct that trend, the Venetians passed laws to limit conspicuous consumption. at WEDDING BANQUETS, for example, no more than three kinds of meat could be served. Wild birds and animals, Indian cocks and hens, and doves are strictly forbidden. Oysters may be served only at private meals for up to twenty persons.

·         To control personal adornment, women wanting to wear pearls must register them, declaring the number, weight and quality.

·         In Florence anyone wanting to wear gold, silver, pearls, precious stones..or cloth of silk brocade had to pay an annual tax. Married women could wear two rings tax-free.

·        The rationale of sumptuary legislation in Florence: to restrain the barbarous and irrepressible bestiality of women who force men to spend money on them. On account of these unbearable expenses, men are avoiding matrimony. 

I think we need laws like that men aren’t force into unbearable expenses and avoid dates, or maybe just to put brakes on NICK PATERAS, whose second date went like this.

·         He needed something to make the blood rush to his heart. No, not falling in love. Something more exciting. So he and date drove to the airport, where they sprinted from desk to desk to find a flight to -- somewhere. They ended up spending the weekend in Port of Spain.

·         When they got back, they looked at each other in awe. Right. Isn’t conspicuous consumption an awesome thing?

·         Now www.blog.westjet.com invites your comments. I suggest sentencing the couple to 40 hours of community service, but I doubt that’s what West Jet has in mind.

(Info on Renaissance sumptuary laws comes from The Society of Renaissance Florence and Venice: A Documentary History.)

RACIAL PROFILING, 1509: The Jewish pawnbroker.

From a nasty diatribe against the Jews by the convert Johann Pfefferkorn:

When someone comes to a Jew with an article to be pawned, the Jew knows that that person is under duress.

• The Christian shows him a ring, expecting a certain amount of money for it. The Jew inspects it all round and replies: No, I cannot lend you that much. The Christian is in desperate need for money and says: How much then will you lend me? Then the Jew turns the pawn back and forth, inspecting it closely and, after a long examination, says: A ring, of all things! And he names a small sum he is willing to lend on it, say, one gulden.
• The Christian takes the gulden in the hope that he will soon be able to redeem his pawn, but he becomes poorer by the day, and when one year is over and the Christian does not redeem his pawn, which is worth much more than the loan, it has passed by default to the Jew for the small sum he lent for it.
•  If the Christian comes before the year is over to settle his account, interest has accrued on it and his debt now amounts to 1 gulden, 34 pence, and 8 hellers. The Christian cannot pay and begs the Jew to let the interest accrue together with the initial loan at the usual rate. Then the Jew replies: With pleasure, but you need to bring me more collateral. And that is what the Christian does. 
• The second year, the original loan plus the interest amounts to 2 gulden and 46 pence and 4 hellers. The Christian cannot pay it and begs the Jews, as before, to let the interest accrue. But if he cannot bring him more collateral, the Jew takes the pawn into the city and publicly offers it for sale. Thus the Christian is embarrassed before a number of people, and so he brings everything he has in his house and privately hands it over to the Jew. Now that the Jew has for one gulden goods valued at a hundred gulden or more, the poor Christian has nothing left to pawn and runs away and must live in poverty for the rest of his life. This happens a great deal and often.

(Image from The Calculation of Ruprecht Kolperger, 1491)

HAVING FUN IN RESIDENCE. Alcala, 1510.

More from the regulations of Idelfonso College.

• When leaving the residence and going into town, members are to wear the regulation-issue hooded cloak.
• No resident shall grow a beard or long hair. Rather, they should resemble respectable secular priests in their appearance.
• None is permitted to go into a tavern and have a meal in town, unless by permission of the rector.
• Let no one presume to bear arms either openly or concealed, or have arms in his room on penalty of being deprived of his meals for a month and having the weapon confiscated.
• No one is allowed to play dice or cards.
• We strictly forbid the playing of any kind of musical instrument in College, except the monochord and the cembalo.
• On feast days college member are allowed to play ball and engage in other physical exercises, provided these activities are carried on in the inner courtyard, where they cannot be observed from the outside. And let the rector not grant such permission lightly, but only when he sees that the work must be lightened with these kinds of respectable pastimes.
• We furthermore forbid that any women be given access to the College at any time, except by permission of the rector. He will appoint a person of integrity to accompany the visitor and show her the buildings of the College. Just the buildings, I take it. The men, I hope, were hidden away so as not to corrupt her chaste eyes.

       (Image from www.junkyardsports.com)

DINING IN RESIDENCE, Alcala 1510.

From the rules of Ildefonso College:

• No one is to be served food outside the dining hall.
• Members of the college will drink from silver cups (donated to Ildefonso by the founder), so that beverages may be served in a becoming fashion.
• Each person will also be supplied with a knife, a saltshaker, and a jar of water.
• Each person will eat the same quantity of food, prepared in the same manner.
• During lunch and dinner spiritual reading shall not be neglected. Ordinarily the Bible shall be read at lunch. At dinner, other books of saints or doctors may be read, as long as they are approved by the church.
• If the reader mispronounces words or mumbles, he shall be corrected by a senior lecturer in theology. If no theologian is present, a professor in the faculty of Arts will do the correcting.
• Let everyone listen attentively to the reader and beware of seditious and scandalous talk, on threat of a harsh penalty proportionate to the seriousness of the offense and the status of the person.
• Only those whose business it is to prepare and season food are allowed to enter the kitchen or the cellar. Any resident found on the premises will be deprived of his portion of wine for the day.