De Laudibus Sanctissimae Matris Annae

A very useful treatise on the praises of the most holy mother Anne, by Lord Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, of the Order of the divine Father Benedict.

The Most Elegant Book of Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, on the Praises of the Most Holy Mother Anne.

The opening of the book treats of the praises of Saint Anne in general. Chapter 1.

The author’s invocation of divine help, to God and the saints. Chapter 2.

An exhortation to all the faithful that they should honor Saint Anne. Chapter 3.

Against those who assail the memory of Saint Anne. Chapter 4.

Why God chose Saint Anne from eternity to be a parent. Chapter 5.

How holy and pleasing to God her life always was. Chapter 6.

Why Anne conceived her daughter without sin. Chapter 7.

How mother Anne offered her daughter to God. Chapter 8.

Why the holy mother Anne is held in great honor with God. Chapter 9.

Why she has power to come to the aid of our miseries. Chapter 10.

Why she must be held by us in the greatest reverence. Chapter 13.

On the celebration of the feast of the mother Saint Anne. Chapter 14.

With what exercises we ought to honor her. Chapter 15.

Briefly, on the many miracles of Saint Anne. Chapter 16.

Final conclusion, with an exhortation of the fraternity. Chapter 16.

Letter of Lord Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Sponheim, concerning the book on the praises of the most holy Anne.

To the venerable and most religious father, Lord Rumold Laupach, prior of the Frankfurt convent of the Order of the Brothers of Blessed Mary ever Virgin of Mount Carmel, Johannes of Trittenheim, abbot of the monastery of Saint Martin in Sponheim, of the Order of the divine Father Benedict: greeting and charity.

Desiring, excellent father, to satisfy our own wish and your requests, we have written, with sincere devotion, a book on the praises of the most holy mother Anne, which we dedicate to your name, since you seemed to us worthy before others, as being a very great worshipper and most devoted lover of the same venerable Anne. From the history, however, which is sufficiently widespread, we have taken nothing, or little, because it seemed to us less approved, and in very many places apocryphal. Yet we did not wish to refute it, lest we give simple people occasion for murmuring if, as they themselves think, we were to attack with new presumption what has been approved by antiquity. Therefore we left the history untouched, and those things that had been known by most evident faith, truth, and reason, by the gift of God, we have brought together for the honor of the holy mother Anne. We have also excluded the miracles of Saint Anne from this volume, lest we make our treatise suspect to learned men, who do not readily give credence to these things. Therefore, if it should happen that you hesitate about anything, write back: you will find us ready, who will demonstrate to you and to all men the reason for each of the things we have written. After the end of this work we have added certain poems on the praises of the saint, which were sent to us at Basel by learned men on the other side. From Sponheim, on the Kalends of July, in the year [unclear].

Here begins the treatise of Lord Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, of the Order of Saint Benedict, on the praises of the venerable and most blessed Anne, mother of the Mother of God.

Necessity compels me, and devotion of mind presses me, to write, according to the powers of my talent, the praises of the most blessed Anne, mother of the Mother of God, for the edification of the faithful, and to proclaim in truthful narration with how great compassion she has been accustomed to aid the wretched. But when I consider the poverty of my talent, unclean as I am I fear to speak of the most holy one. For with how great praise is she worthy, who bore the Mother of God? What discourse will unfold it? Therefore I wish to fashion something in honor of so great a mother, and I am afraid, because whatever I shall say is less than her praises; whatever I shall write is far beneath the majesty of the matter. Indeed, when I recall to memory her benefits toward the wretched, I cannot be silent from her praises, even if I wish to be. Hence her very great compassion has brought forth my vow, stirred devotion, and requires the offering of honor. A devout also, lest I say importunate, request of friends impelled me no less to dare it; from their faith and prayer our weakness has received confidence. Therefore, although I know myself to be a sinner, although I am not sufficient worthily to praise the most holy parent of the Queen of Heaven, nevertheless I ought by no means to withdraw from the proposed praise, lest I seem to have incurred the vice of ingratitude.

I shall attempt, according to my devotion, what I can, for no one is required by God to do what he cannot; no one before the eternal Judge is judged empty of good will. Therefore I, a man, shall praise the goddess; a servant, the lady; a sinner, the most holy one. For he did not restrain sinners from the praise of God who said in the Psalm: Praise the Lord, all nations; praise him, all peoples. Indeed, when he urges the nations to praise the Lord, what else does he do but call sinners? For they were far from justice, because they worshiped not God but idols. Therefore no one is permitted to be silent from the praises of God, since even idolatrous nations are called to repentance. Let all, therefore, who receive his mercy praise the Lord; let all who live in the flesh praise him, because he himself is the one who created all, he himself who gave life. Let the righteous and the sinner praise together: the former because he has been preserved by the Lord’s mercy, lest he fall; the latter because even after [unclear], lest he perish eternally, he has been raised up.

And if praise is not beautiful in the mouth of sinners, nevertheless a guilty conscience excuses no one from the praises of God, since by his mercy all are reserved for repentance. Let the righteous man bear praise, the sinner confession. Let the former praise because, with grace preserving him, he stood bravely; let the latter confess that, with mercy following after, he rose again. Praise the Lord, my soul; I shall praise my God in my life; I shall sing psalms to the Lord as long as I shall be. I shall open my mouth to confess to the Lord; likewise I shall prepare my mind and my pen:

With what devotion I can, I shall sing the praises of the most blessed mother Anne. For if we are commanded to praise God generally in his saints, we are without doubt urged to honor his parents more especially. For he who commanded us to honor our parents by no means excludes his own according to the flesh. Therefore, dearest brothers, it is holy to offer the diligent praises of devotion to those from whose blood we believe the Son of God took flesh. Among them the most blessed Mother of God rightly holds the first place; so great are the merits of her holiness that she has been exalted in heaven above the choirs of angels. After her, the most holy Anne, her mother, of whom we have undertaken to speak, just as she is nearest in the flesh to the Son of God, so by the merits of her virtues she is believed to be acceptable before the other saints. Nor may it be permitted us to doubt her holiness, since we believe that she bore the Mother of God without the stain of original guilt. For she could not have been the mother of so great a virgin unless she was holy, through whose virginal birth we received the remedies of eternal salvation. Anne is the holy root; Mary the Virgin, the most holy tree; the fruit is the Son of God, the medicine of souls. A good tree, a holy tree, a tree most fruitful without human cultivation, which took its beginning from a holy root and its growth from the richness of the heavenly rain. Never does a good root produce a bad tree; never does a good tree bear bad fruits. A good tree cannot stand without a root, nor bear good fruit unless it is good. As a tree is known from its fruit, so what sort the mother is is declared in the daughter. In the most holy Mother of God we understand what we ought to think about the holiness of her mother. A birth free from the guilt of original stain did not befit any mother except a holy one; to conceive and bear the Mother of God was fitting for none except one most pleasing to God and, above all then living in Israel, devout. For that she loved God above all things is shown by the first instruction of her daughter. As a little child, she is read to have been entrusted to the Lord; she is recorded to have served God in the temple; conceived without any guilt, she is believed always to have lived holy in the world. What more do you require? Is such an excellent life of the daughter from infancy not sufficient to declare the merits of the mother? If Anne had not been most holy, she would never have instructed her daughter so carefully and devoutly for the honor of God. We know that such as mothers are, such also are their daughters as instructed by them. But the most blessed mother Anne, just as in merit and holiness she surpasses all women, so she took care to instruct her daughter from youth, more diligently than all the saints, in the love of God. If, therefore, we love the Son of God, if we honor his most pure Mother, why do we grow lukewarm and keep silence from the praise of his most holy grandmother and mother Anne? If we seek the honor of the highest king, why do we not love his parents? He who despises the lineage of the emperor does injury to the king. If we love Jesus Christ, the emperor of all, if we fear his divine majesty, it is fitting that we honor his venerable grandmother, from whose

from [unclear] womb, without the seed of a man, we believe without doubt that he came forth. Whatever praise we bestow upon her veneration, let us firmly believe pertains to the honor of the highest King. For the honor of the most holy mother Anne, let all the faithful come together. Render praises to the most high Lord in memory of her; for reverence of her, rejoice with religious devotion. I, who have experienced many of her benefits, [say that] you will have her as a ready advocate in every tribulation, if you celebrate her memory with faithful devotion. Therefore she is to be honored by all, by whose merits the Son of God grants all things at her nod; whose honorable name the court of the heavenly citizens honors with the greatest reverence; whom the queen of heaven, the mother of God, observes as her sweetest parent. Whoever has chosen her as patroness, whoever has persevered devoutly in her service, he shall be saved both now and forever. For all the benefits that the Son of God is accustomed to grant to mortals through his beloved mother, he cannot deny to the merits of his grandmother; indeed, at times he bestows greater things through her, so that he may draw us, as if by gifts, to the memory of her, long neglected. Nor can the Son of God ever despise his own parents, who commanded us so earnestly to honor the parents of others.

The author’s invocation to God and Saint Anne and all the heavenly ones, that they may bring the grace of writing. Chapter 2.

God, true light, who illuminates every man coming into this world; God, who justifies the impious and calls sinners to repentance; God, who gives wisdom to little ones and makes eloquent the tongues of those who stammer: grant me, I beseech you, forgiveness for my sins; grant me wisdom for your praise; grant me light by which I may understand, know, and love you, and be so conquered by love for most blessed Anne that I may worthily embrace her praises in this work. God, who for the thirsty people in the desert brought forth water from the hardest rock, soften the hardness of my heart, so that I may be able to praise you in your saints, in the grandmother of your Son, in the parents of your only-begotten, with such devotion of mind that, through your mercy and her intercession, it may profit unto devotion not only for me but also for all who read this little night-work of ours. God, who opened the mouth of a beast so that it uttered human words against an unwise man, graciously water the dryness of my tongue by the infusion of your grace; strengthen my trembling hand with the Holy Spirit, so that concerning most holy Anne I may write nothing except what is right, persuade nothing except what is holy, and utter nothing except what is worthy. Grant me, I ask, almighty and eternal God, the aid of heavenly grace in this work, you who gave me the resolve to will it. For I am a worm and not a man, wretched and unhappy, sold under sin.

I, who am not worthy to lift up my face to the heavens because of the multitude of my iniquity, how much less should I dare to touch the praises of most blessed Anne with impure lips. Yet by your grace I am what I am, and all the good that I will and am able to do. For you, Lord, enlighten the will by your grace, that it may will good things and be made good. You also are he who grants us to work for a good will. In all things we acknowledge your grace going before our will, and in the good things that we will and do we proclaim your gifts, without any merits of ours. Nothing comes from us except evil; nothing proceeds from you except good.

Since, therefore, I can do nothing good of myself without your grace, I devoutly flee to you; I appeal to you in humble subjection, that what my merits impede, you may mercifully bestow by the gift of your grace. Give me, Lord, wisdom, the attendant of your seats, that she may be with me and labor with me at all times, and especially in this work in which, with slender powers, I have resolved to praise your name in holy mother Anne.

You also, Anne, most holy mother, whose memory is being treated, deign in your wonted kindness to be present with me, that I may be made fit to set forth your praises, and may be found a faithful herald of your merits. My lady, my hope, my advocate in every tribulation, now mercifully be present to one who desires to praise you; and since by manifold kindness you have stirred up the will to write, obtain by your merits ability for my poor talent, that it may be sufficient to praise you worthily. I seek nothing except your honor. I desire nothing except to please you. I intend to write nothing about your praises except what is right and true. Therefore, I pray, bring help; give the hand of assistance; obtain grace.

You also, immaculate Mother of God, who taught your servants to honor Anne, your venerable mother, be present to me, who desire to set forth her praises, by your merits, so that the devotion of your servant may obtain in the work the due effect which the grace of God conceived in the mind. You also, blessed spirits of the heavenly fatherland, who exult in the most sacred fruit of mother and daughter, the virgin, our Lord Jesus Christ, make me by your prayers a worthy praiser of Anne, and obtain for me the grace of the Holy Spirit. If you honor mother and daughter in heavenly joy, it is fitting that you assist their praisers in this pilgrimage.

You also, most blessed Anne’s devoted worshippers, do not detract from our pious studies, but if in anything we have failed through weakness, excuse it through charity. Nothing is written by me through contention or vain glory. Nothing of apocryphal doubtful character is alleged; nothing is assumed except what has been approved. I receive nothing that opposes the divine ordinances. I write nothing that stains the Christian faith. I introduce nothing that does not accord with holy morals.

Let no one, therefore, more learned detract from me as I praise you, Anne; let no equal disparage me; let no inferior mock me. What is true prevails, and what proceeds from the true does not fail. Let no one think me contemptible on my own account as I write about this most holy woman. Let no one [unclear] my devotion. Let no one murmur against the praises of the holy mother Anne. I do not fear the barking of dogs; I do not fear the censures of the ignorant; I do not dread the torches of envy. For I write for the devout, not for the wicked; for the studious, not for the ignorant; for the humble, not for the proud. May the present work please those for whom it is written; may it profit those to whom it is offered; may it be of use to those to whom it is presented. What have I to do with those who are outside? What is it to me if they do not think rightly? What is it to me if they gnaw at holy things contrary to reason? I do not fear displeasing those whose censures and rash judgments I know.

General exhortation to all the faithful.

Hear me, you who love what is good and seek the Lord. I perform an embassy; I am led by devotion; I am driven by charity. The mother of the Mother of God has sent me, that I may proclaim her most holy merits. And now I come to you not with lofty speech, but as a simple man to the simple, as a devout man to the devout. If you are Christians, if you are good, if you love the grace of the Lord’s incarnation, why do you not love his ministers, that is, his parents? For they are those from whom the Son of God was born according to the flesh; if their way of life had not been most holy, it would by no means have been so acceptable to God. But when he willed his only-begotten Son to be born from them, he showed openly how holy and pleasing to himself they were. From these, one woman, most pleasing to God above all, chosen as the mother of the unique father, ever-virgin Mary, shone forth; she was borne without stain by the most blessed Anne, wife of Joachim, and was brought up by her most chastely in the fear of the Lord. The son of this most sacred Virgin is God, who redeemed us by his most holy passion. If you love the daughter, why do you not honor her mother? If there had been no mother, you would not have the daughter. To you, therefore, my discourse is now directed, you who dwell in the valley of tears. I address you, O sons of Adam, who are exiles from your homeland. I write to you who have been redeemed by the precious blood of the Son of God. I address you; I warn and exhort you that, if you love the Son of God, you should devoutly honor his kinsfolk according to the flesh. Among them, after his most holy mother, holy Anne is set before you as first of all to be honored; her holy merits are shown daily to the human race through many miracles. Take her as your patron; celebrate her memory more devoutly.

if you wish to please God, the supreme ruler. Believe me, brothers, for I am about to speak the truth. If you love and honor the venerable mother with all your heart, you will know by experience how much the heavenly Emperor defers to her. She has such power with God that whatever she has asked of him, she is able to obtain without delay. Just as the King of heaven is believed to honor his own mother above all, so after her he venerates mother Anne before all the saints. And very often Anne obtains for her faithful ones what the daughter denies: not because she does not know how to grant what is asked, but so that, deferring to her mother, she may seem to call us to veneration of her. Thus also the supreme Emperor is moved to mercy by the prayers of the saints: not because he begins to will what before he did not will, but so that, deferring to his elect, he might instruct us in honoring them. For God is not moved in the human manner, nor is he ever stirred to anger from disturbance, but, always steadfast, wills what he wills; when he shows mercy at the prayers of the saints, he does not change his counsel, but mitigates the sentence. Therefore, to obtain God’s mercy, since our merits are not sufficient, the intercessions of the saints must be implored by us, so that what we cannot do by our own merits, [unclear] by theirs. Yet the citizens of the heavenly fatherland, even if they are unlike in the quality of their merits, nevertheless, in coming to the aid of our wretched condition, according to the variety of those who supplicate, if devotion demands it, are believed to be concordant in act and will; because, when the faith of the petitioner aids the advocate, it renders the merit for obtaining doubled. This, moreover, we attain not by conjecture but by experience. But when two blind men approach in supplication to some heavenly patron’s merit, one is given sight, the other is left in his blindness. No contempt of the saint is believed to be present, but the distrust of the suppliant is charged. Without faith devotion merits nothing. I have set these things forth with sure consideration, so that if anyone should not feel most blessed Anne to be present to him with as much readiness as we promise, he should not accuse us of falsehood, but recognize his own culpable distrust. For the greatest confidence before God and the saints is constant faith in their aid. Moreover, no Christian doubts that those who are more excellent in merits can do more before God. Therefore the most blessed mother of God, ever-virgin Mary, just as she surpasses all the saints in merits and holiness, so in power and majesty, as queen of heaven, she is rightly believed to excel them all. At her right hand, so to speak, we trust that her most blessed mother stands, whose life we know was most holy. There was not in Israel another holier than she, who in the conception of the mother of God constructed for the Holy Spirit a vessel without stain. Finally, if Elizabeth, the mother of the Lord’s forerunner, is believed to have been filled with the Holy Spirit and ineffable joy, how great an exultation, joy, and grace must have been fitting for the most holy mother of the parent of God, one is compelled [to say]. As much as a king differs from a soldier, so much, in its own way, [belongs] to Anne

The merits are rightly preferred to the gifts of Elizabeth. Saint Elizabeth bore a soldier; Anna, the mother of God. There is no comparison where there is no likeness. If Elizabeth was full of grace because of John, much more do I believe that Anna obtained grace because of Mary. Anna was holy before she conceived the mother of God, yet in the conception she was more fully sanctified, since she deserved to become the tabernacle of her who, above all creatures, was full of grace. We call a casket or ark in which the pledges of the saints are kept sanctified and honorable; how much more ought we to venerate as venerable Anna, in whom the mother of God lay without stain, honored and sanctifying. Truly holy is she who bore that one without the fault of original stain, than whom [unclear] of the saints will be confessed, because no one was ever holier. Truly holy is she who was chosen to be the mother of the mother of God before she was born. O womb never to be named without honor, in which the ark of God deserved to be fashioned without stain. Blessed the belly that carried the lady of heaven; happy the breasts that deserved to nurse the mother of God. Run, peoples, from every side, and from the merits of so great a patroness receive blessing. For indeed, if the holy devotion of the faithful is directed toward her, we believe that almighty God bestows great gifts upon mortals, and not less than he has been accustomed to give through daughters. Therefore you, O faithful peoples, who believe the daughter of Saint Anna to be the mother of God, who rest beneath the shadow of the holiness of both, if you desire to advance in the love of God, if you wish to come to the heavenly fatherland, do not neglect the memory of the most holy mother. For after the queen herself she is the most powerful in the hall of the heavenly emperor, because from her blood the Son of God took flesh from the virgin. From whatever tribulation you cry to her, you will find help. She has power to grant you all things that you can ask in faith. She heals the sick, cleanses crimes, gladdens the hearts of the sorrowful with holy exultation, calms sad things, smooths rough things, drives away the phantasms of demons. As ice is dissolved by fire, so by the merit of the most holy mother Anna the ancient enemy, fleeing, is thrown into confusion. Anna, ark of piety, drives away disgrace, preserves fair fame, and marvelously removes base love from the minds of her faithful. Therefore honor Anna, you who lead the toilsome life of this world. Anna obtains pardon for sinners, roots out vices, plants virtues. Anna cures illnesses, heals wounds, exterminates pestilence. Therefore honor this mother, O children, who is powerful to bring you into the sight of God; whoever has her as advocate before God will fear no adversities of this world. Whoever, therefore, desires to lead a tranquil and holy life on earth, whoever earnestly asks pardon for his sins, should never depart from the service of this most holy mother. For she rewards her worshippers in many ways even in this life, and prepares eternal gifts for them if they persevere. I was younger than I am, and I have never seen a servant devoted to Saint Anna abandoned by God, nor his reputation stained by shameful reproach.

Accordingly I urge you, O men distinguished by learning and knowledge of letters, not to despise the devotion of the simple, nor to criticize the cult of the most holy mother Anna as something new, but rather to imitate it as far as you can. For I was not persuaded in vain to say these things. For there are among you, if I may say so with the peace of good men, some who, swollen with the stamp of pride, despise all the devotional exercises of the simple, scorn the miracles and examples of the saints as ravings, and think that nothing holy should be admitted which they do not prove by the arguments of the philosophers. All revelations shown by God to devout people they regard as lies or women’s dreams; they call the legends of the saints fables; and while they rashly proclaim their own learning, they shamelessly attack the great works of God. They also reject the treatises of the holy fathers and of devout people, because they do not bear Ciceronian eloquence in their defense, as though they were lacking in learning, and they despise the words of heavenly instruction because of the instruction of the simple. O fools and subverters, why do you deceive yourselves? Why, though you are Christians, do you despise ecclesiastical simplicity? The grace of God is not known in eloquence, but is acquired in holy simplicity. At the final judgment of God, Quintilian eloquence will not be required of you, but Christian life. Ornate speech is not rewarded by God, but humble devotion. There sophistical arguments will cease, when the secrets of hearts will be manifest. Then the simple and devout will appear in glory, and the learned proud in punishment. Behold, the unlearned simple arise and receive the kingdom of God in their devout simplicity, and you with your doctrines descend in pride and arrogance to hell. You believe that the reputation of your learning is enough for you, by which, after the example of the ancients, [unclear] immortality among posterity

may acquire [unclear]. But let it be so: let what you seek come to pass; let your name and fame be proclaimed with praise in the world for as long as it shall stand. What will it profit you? Truly a foolish consolation, if you are praised where you will never be, and are tormented where you will remain always, without end. Therefore I admonish and counsel you: put away haughtiness, drive out madness, cast aside fear, so that you may be able to escape the torments of hell. For God resists the proud; he regards not learning, but humble devotion; he rewards not words, but deeds; not knowledge, but life; not doctrine, but conscience. Rather, change your purpose, and do not despise the devotion of the simple, but imitate it. No one understands the house of God except him who receives it. What, then, you do not understand, with what rashness do you tear apart? The gift of God is not enclosed under the reasoning of philosophy. Devotion is rare among the learned, because, while they trust in the profundity of their acquired doctrine, they withdraw farther from simple devotion.

For the grace of God is not well received when it is examined by human curiosity. While savor is sought in speech, inward sweetness is lost. The Holy Spirit despises a proud dwelling. Therefore shut your rash mouths, restrain your badly eloquent tongues, and do not speak falsehood against the Lord. Do not tear apart the devotion of the simple, lest it be counted against you as a grave scandal. Let no one think me, as I say these things, an enemy of the good arts; let no one believe me a slanderer of the learned, since I have always cultivated and loved letters, have always been accustomed to honor learned men, and have sometimes defended them even to the point of hatred and persecution by the unskilled. But let those who seem learned in their own eyes beware, lest, by despising the devotion of the simple, they think that they ought to be called back from reverence for Saint Anne. But if any such men are to exist, I would believe no learned man to be among their number, since true learning is accustomed to assist devotion, not to rebuke it. Many very learned men also, still living today, exercising their talents magnificently in verse and prose, have dedicated them to the merits of Saint Anne.

Chapter Four.

Against those who tear apart, deride, and attack the feast and memory of Saint Anne.

Hear and understand, whoever you are, who disparage the festive memory of the most holy mother Anne, who attack her honor with impious talkativeness, who blaspheme her devotees with rash presumption. What displeases you in the most holy mother of the Mother of God? Do you prove her degenerate? She is holy; she is beloved by God. Foolish and unwise man, who blame as faults the good in the servants of God which you ought to imitate; who withhold the honor owed to the saints; who persecute the devotees of most blessed Anne without cause. For you reproach them and say: Why do you take up new feasts, you who do not celebrate the ancient ones? Listen, profane man. Does the feast of Saint Anne seem new to you, which is proved from the ancient monuments of the old to be most ancient? If it is new, how could the holy fathers have celebrated it in antiquity? It is not new, in whose honor Saint Augustine is said to have composed an elegant sermon a thousand years ago. That cannot be new about which very ancient songs exist. Or how will that be able to be new whose golden name is found inserted in the most ancient calendars? But to you it is both new and rare, you who have never celebrated her memory. Nor can the memory of the most blessed mother Anne be new, whose house, in which she had been accustomed to live in antiquity, is read to have been consecrated as a church under her name not long after the Passion of the Lord. Near Lyon there is a monastery of our order on the Île Barbe, where in a certain very ancient chapel the body of blessed

[unclear] of the most holy mother Anne rests with great reverence from the people, which Saint Longinus, soldier of Christ, is said first to have founded, and, bringing with him from Jerusalem those most precious relics, to have placed them in the same place. Very ancient records of this matter are found in the said monastery. Do these things seem new to you? Cease, then, to disparage the feast of the most holy mother; cease to tear with impious tooth at her most worthy cult. Do not spread personal hatred against all; do not, because of displeasure with a few, be angry with everyone; do not carry an injury from a man up against the heavenly ones. Why, perhaps injured by a man, do you call the saints of God into blame? Cease, I beseech you, cease wishing to exact vengeance for one man or a few from the most holy mother Anne. I do not want you to revile her sanctity; I do not want you to deprive her of her honor; I do not want you to assail the devotion of her servants. If a man sins against a man, God will be able to appease him; but he who sins against the saints of God, against the parents and son of God, against the mother of the mother of God, who will pray for him? How can he hope to have him propitious, who has offended his saints, and indeed the most holy? For Saint Anne is worthy of every honor, she who deserved to bear the Mother of God without stain of guilt; whoever lessens her honor does injury to God. Therefore rather, if you are wise, if you understand, withdraw from this folly of yours, flee from this false madness, turn aside from this most wicked blasphemy, and undertake repentance for your former error, so that through tears of compunction you may wash away so unspeakable a fault. But if you do not do this, if you persevere in your obstinacy, you will not hinder the will of God, but you will have a share in the lot of the devil. God has resolved to honor Saint Anne in his Church; who will prevent him? Behold, kings and princes celebrate the memory of Saint Anne with religious devotion; behold, faithful peoples everywhere invoke her name, and you with the devil waste away, are confounded, and rave in your envy. Monks and religious of both sexes, the whole clergy of the churches of God, celebrate the feast and memory of the holy mother Anne with singular devotion; and you, envious dog, presume to bark against all. Why do you bark impiously? Why do you mutter wickedly? Be silent, go away, withdraw; not without grave chastisement will this impiety of yours be punished. For whoever disparages the honor and sanctity of the most blessed mother Anne, whoever blasphemes her worshippers, will not depart from this life without confusion. He will be confounded with evil confusion before God and men; reproaches and the worst ignominies will cover his head; he will be wretched and pitiable, and there will be no one to grieve over his calamity, all the days that he shall be upon the earth. That Almighty God [unclear] Saint [unclear]

... he chose Anna as the mother of his mother before the foundation of the world. Chapter 5.

Just as almighty God, before the foundation of the world, appointed the time at which he would be born in the flesh, so too from eternity he preordained the parents from whom he would be born. For the Son of God did not find his parents, but sent them before: he who, without time, ordained them for time did not come upon them by chance accident, but by a wondrous dispensation chose them beforehand from eternity. Therefore most blessed Anna could confidently say that which is written of the eternal wisdom of God: “The Lord possessed me at the beginning of his ways, before he made anything from the beginning. From eternity I was ordained, and from ancient times.” Before the foundation of the world she existed in the divine mind, made not by nature but by grace pre-[unclear].

Worthy to be [unclear] and honored is she whom the grace of God, by going before, appointed as [unclear] of the mother, and by always preserving made most holy [unclear]. Truly holy and most worthy of every honor is the parent who provided for us a rule of holier life and brought forth from her own breast the fountain of inexhaustible piety. She could not have been anything but most holy, who bore so precious a treasure in her womb. She was the most noble ark of the covenant, shining with the adornment of all virtues, in which was hidden that vessel which was the true manna, the virgin who was to give birth. With how great honor must Anna’s womb be judged worthy, which, made God’s treasury, carried a treasure of inestimable price.

There must be no doubting, dearest brothers, but it must be believed with firm devotion, that blessed Anna was then filled with ineffable joy, when she bore in her most blessed womb for nine months the future mother of God, made worthy by the Holy Spirit from her conception and preserved clean from every stain. O who can narrate the joys of that most holy mother Anna, which she sensibly perceived in her breast from the presence of the Holy Spirit? What voice can express, what tongue relate, what mortal mind of a wayfarer comprehend, with how much gladness and exultation the inmost parts of most blessed Anna were filled, when she merited to feel the grace of the Holy Spirit in the heart of her daughter not yet born?

If Elizabeth is said to have been filled with the Holy Spirit at the presence of the soldier, that this happened more abundantly in venerable Anna is proved by many arguments. For the former bore in her womb the herald of the highest king; the latter, the mother. The former had conceived the soldier; the latter, the queen. John, conceived in the womb, was sanctified; Mary also, in conception, was preserved. Finally, the Holy Spirit, choosing Mary from the hour of conception as his most pure bride and dwelling in her, never afterward abandoned her, not even for a moment; but, always guarding and directing her, he illuminated her with a special gift above all mortals. We believe that the most blessed mother of this virgin shared in this most sacred illumination, not only when she was bearing the virgin still enclosed in her womb, but also at all times afterward [unclear].

in the days in which she lived in the world. For truly, her whom the Holy Spirit had made a worthy parent for God he possessed not without the very greatest gifts of his grace. Therefore, dearest brothers, let us choose as our advocate her whom we have known from eternity always to have pleased holy God, and, venerating her daily, let us honor her with fitting praises. Let married people honor her, because by her most holy childbirth she consecrated marriage to the Lord, for whom she bore a mother without stain. Let widows and the continent praise her, because she prefigured the rule of that continence. Let virgins love her, because she bore a virgin of such holiness that no one holier ever shone forth. Let the righteous honor her, because by her own most holy manner of life she showed them the rule of righteousness. Let sinners venerate her, because she bore the mother of him who makes the righteous from sinners. Let all venerate her with the greatest love, because she brought forth the mother of him who came as redeemer for all. Let no one grow sluggish in her praises; let no one fail in love for her; let no one become lukewarm in her worship. Let all love her as a common mother; let all honor her as a public advocate. By her gift all received the common Savior. For she will obtain for us pardon of sins, from whose blood the fountain of mercy flowed forth bodily. Rise up before her, brothers, because she does not abandon those who hope in her; she relieves the oppressed; she sustains those who have been relieved; she protects widows; she mercifully [defends?] orphans and wards; she [unclear] the weak; she raises and heals the feeble; she confirms those raised up in virtue. It is impossible that she, praying for her devotees, should not be heard, who built from her own breast so precious a bridal chamber for almighty God.

How just, holy, and acceptable to God was the life and conduct of the most blessed mother Anne. Chapter VI.

Whoever has read through the memorials of the holy fathers with diligent devotion can discover with how great holiness the life of the most blessed mother Anne shone. Concerning her, the holy prelate Epiphanius composed certain things; he records that her life shone with such righteousness, innocence, and purity that she had no equal in Israel. Honorius too, priest of Autun, a holy and learned man, published in the Speculum Ecclesiae certain things in a lucid discourse on the praises of the holy mother Anne, and showed in brief summary how holy she always lived. Saint Cyril, bishop of Alexandria, once a cultivator of Mount Carmel and of the Carmelite order, when he wrote to Pope Celestine I concerning the birth of the blessed Mother of God, Mary ever virgin, inserted many proclamations of praise concerning the life and conduct of Saint Anne. But what need is there for me to cite many unknown doctors, when blessed Jerome the priest, named throughout the whole world, is said to have written certain praiseworthy things on this very matter, which are held by many?

Therefore the most blessed Anne, so far as her generation according to the flesh was concerned, was sprung from the tribe of David, from Bethlehem, with Stolanus as her father and Emerentia as her mother, parents religious and devout according to the decrees of the law, who nourished her, together with her sister Esmeria, in the fear of the Lord from infancy. Moreover Esmeria, her sister, bore Elizabeth, the mother of John the Baptist. Joachim of Nazareth, of the tribe of Judah, took Anne as wife; she bore a daughter, Mary, afterwards Mother of God and ever virgin. O Joachim and Anne, parents worthy of eternal memory, who, serving the Lord God in simplicity, offered an inestimable treasure. Who could suffice to praise these parents worthily? For truly, unless their life had been most holy, they would never have brought forth offspring so pleasing to the Lord.

They were of moderate but sufficient substance, obtaining what was necessary from the pasturing of sheep and from agriculture. From these things they are said to have made three equal portions: one they gave to the temple, another to the poor, and the third they kept for themselves for domestic uses. As for their character, they were most diligent in the observance of the law, approved in the fear of the Lord, perfect in love of God and neighbor. They adorned the marriage-bed with the fullest virtues, in which they advanced so far that they pleased God and men. In concord, innocence, and piety they were of one mind, and rich in every virtue. Both derived their origin from the house of David; both were perfect before the Lord; both awaited the redemption of Israel with longing. Both from their earliest age had been instructed in the fear of the Lord; both were dear to God; both were chosen to be the parents of the Mother of God. Anne, however, is believed to have been filled with greater grace, without disparagement to her husband, in whose venerable womb the most holy Mother of God was being formed without any stain. In her breast the love of God found for itself a gracious dwelling; from her blood the Holy Spirit built for the Son of God a most pure tabernacle. Worthy parent of the worthiest parent, who first of all [unclear] of our Savior's

[unclear] the coming. To her, O brothers, direct the eyes of your mind; listen to the pattern of her life, and imprint your conduct with her footsteps. Do you wish to know what sort of woman she was? Turn over the writings of the aforesaid fathers. She was dignified in gait, calm with a countenance of shining grace, mature in counsel, composed in speech, most holy in worship and deed. On the law of the Lord she meditated day and night, firm in faith, strong in hope, filled with twofold charity. She had learned always to persist in prayers, and with the greatest longing she awaited the coming of the Lord. She was honorable in deed, sober in conduct, humble in mind. No one ever found her running about through streets and squares; no one heard her chattering uselessly in the houses of neighboring women; no one ever found that she had stood by at dances and spectacles. She learned from her youth to remain at home. She was accustomed to work at something with her hands. She did not seek to be seen outside by men. She strove to keep concord in good and peace with her neighbors. She did wrong to no one; by word or deed she disturbed no one. She was rarely seen in public. She did not sit in the squares with little women chattering, and she did not stand in the conversation of slanderers. For that most prudent woman knew that sin is not absent from much speaking; therefore with all watchfulness she guarded her heart, lest she ever offend in speech. Thus, intent upon holy studies and exercises, from being barren she deserved to become a mother, just as almighty God had ordained from the beginning. Therefore the holy woman conceived by a holy husband; she conceived without original stain; she gave birth without fault. O holy and formerly unheard-of conception. She conceived by a man, but this conception was never liable to any crime. She conceived according to the order of nature, but beyond the custom of nature. Holy conception, to be celebrated with continual praises, which prepares a mother [for the Son?], over which the choir of angels rejoices, and the whole world throughout the earth exults. Truly an ever-honored conception, which was pleasing to almighty God before it was fulfilled. Truly worthy conception, which, with the Holy Spirit preserving it, took its beginning in such purity that it was disposed to conceive and bear God. Therefore Anne, the most holy parent, is to be revered by us with the highest devotion, she who conceived the mother of God without stain. What a worthy offering she offered to God when she presented her most holy daughter in the temple. Finally, it pertains to declaring the merits of the holy mother that the daughter whom she conceived and bore she consecrated to the Lord immediately from infancy. As was the mother’s way of life, so was the daughter’s training. No one can teach another what he himself has not learned; no one badly trained trains children well. Often children advance according to the habits of their parents, and what they have seen practiced by them they embrace more willingly. A mother worthy of the most holy daughter: so that from her from whom she had drawn the material of her flesh, from her she might suck the teachings of piety. The grace of God had anticipated both and had filled both; but it was earlier in the mother, more abundant in the daughter. The holy mother taught the daughter what she herself had first learned from her parents, although she had no need of human instruction, whom the Holy Spirit filled at conception. Nor indeed did she need maternal instruction, since she was full of heavenly grace. Learn, all of you, to train your daughters for the honor of God: not to love the pomps of the world, to flee public sight, to remain at home. For the holy bridegroom hates publicity and loves the secrecy of a pure mind. Why do you run about through streets and squares, if you love modesty, virgins? The archangel came to Mary not in public but in secret; not to her speaking in the street, but to her silent in her chamber. The apostles received the Spirit not in the forum, but shut up in the house.

[unclear] the most blessed virgin learned from her mother, indeed from the Holy Spirit. She carefully kept it. She was accustomed to avoid wandering excursions; Mary remained in a solitary house. Look to both: mothers to the mother, virgins to the virgin. Believe me, it does not befit your honor to delight in public; it is not expedient for virgins to be greeted in the marketplace, because he who frequently goes into public diminishes the reverence of honor. When virginity is modest, it flees the public. Without modesty there is no sincere virginity, nor can one who is too public remain pure.

That holy mother Anne conceived her daughter, the most blessed Mother of God, without original stain. Chapter 7.

Since it greatly contributes to declaring the merits of the sanctity of the most blessed mother Anne, that she bore the Mother of God without the stain of original guilt, the prerogative of so great an honor must by no means be passed over by us in silence. And indeed we know that this most pure conception was set as a sign, against which many contradict down to the present day; while they wish to defend the custom of nature, they are not afraid to attack the grace of God. Why do the foolish bark? Why do the unlearned murmur? Is it not permitted to God to do what he wills? Behold, the Church venerates the conception of the Mother of God as pure, without stain; behold, it celebrates the feast with annual devotion, and contentious men labor to stain it with rash presumption. Holy and most learned men, past and present, in various kinds of writing, proclaim in their lucubrations that this conception was never subject to original stain; and still the sons of Adam rashly attack it. Almost all religious orders of diverse kinds confess, believe, and preach that she always existed most pure; to wish to condemn them as erring is extreme madness. Behold, secular men, religious, monks, devout and learned, celebrate in verse and prose the ever most pure conception; and lukewarm and unlearned men, for whom it seems enough to know the name of philosophy, strive to besmirch the holiness of the Mother of God. Many, I say, most learned men have published various treatises in its defense. What learned man has ever written the contrary? But you, indeed unworthy of your name, [Nicator?], who, setting your mouth against heaven, have impiously blasphemed against the most pure Mother of God, will not have done this without God’s grave notice, since you were moved to write not by piety but by impiety. Finally, we know that more than enough answer has been made to your foolish rashness by learned men in various styles of writing. And you depart confounded not by our arms, but by the power of God. Nor do I condemn your error, but your arrogance, your rashness, your presumption. For I know that to hesitate about the conception of the Virgin Mary is not a sin, since God wished it to be hidden; but her

to attack, and rashly to define what you do not know, is an unheard-of crime. If we are instructed to interpret in the better sense those things whose intention we do not know, how much more ought we to receive with piety the hidden works of God, whose reasons we do not know? None of us was present at the counsel of God; no one has known the manner of the conception. But, induced by many reasons, we, from pious belief, believe that she always existed most pure; the adversaries, led astray by consideration of nature, defend the contrary opinion with rash presumption. But it is better to render an account for piety toward the Mother of God than for rashness.

If we err, piety, indeed God himself, is the cause; but if you err, O adversaries, say for what cause. What consideration moves you to say so boldly that the most pure conception of the Mother of God was subject to original guilt? You will answer, I know: love of truth. But show that your opinion is true, and I shall believe that you are lovers of truth. Yet you will not show it, because you do not understand. You do not understand because you do not believe. You do not defend the truth, which you do not know; for no one properly defends what he does not know.

Consideration of human nature deceives you; while you carefully turn over its custom, you do not consider that God is the establisher of nature. He who made nature is above nature. God, the maker of the law, does not confine himself under the condition of human law; but he who willed that a virgin should give birth also preserved her from sin beyond the order of nature. Therefore the cause of the opposing opinion takes its beginning from rashness, and for this reason it does not so much deserve reward as punishment. For just as punishment does not make a martyr, but the cause does, so the error concerning the conception does not condemn [unclear].

One must believe the examples and testimonies of the ancients. We read that very many have most miserably perished who attacked the purity of the glorious conception; but we find that no defender of it was ever struck by God. For the supreme dignity of the Mother of God, when considered, urges us to the defense of the most holy conception; it shone forth such and so great that it was most worthy of every honor.

If we are mistaken, we are excused by holy piety. But if you err, who will defend you? Truth? But you do not know it. Justice? But it condemns errors; it does not excuse them. Mercy? But you do not have the bowels of mercy. Who, then, will free you? The Virgin Mary? But you despise her honor. The Son of God? But you do not love his mother. The prayers of the saints? But you detract from their queen. Therefore you will have no excuse, because you offend God and all his saints. You arm yourselves with scholastic arguments, and you are naked of piety. Whatever you bring forward in defense of your opinion is alien to the fear of God; for you do not seek the honor of God, you who attack the purity of his mother. But hear

my counsel, and change your purpose. Return at last to yourselves, for it is time, and do not presumptuously defend an uncertain opinion, which, without examining it, you can pass over without sin. If you love God, if you love Jesus Christ, the Savior of all, [do not] do so great an injury to his most holy Mother, concerning whom no one is permitted to think [anything but] most holy things. To believe that her conception was always most pure belongs not to necessity but to piety; not to believe it belongs to human slowness. But, by not believing, to attack it, and to wish to defend the contrary opinion, is not only not without fault, but is also a matter of great rashness and folly. For indeed rashness is rightly reproved where piety is rewarded. Let no one think that sin a small thing which is committed against God and his Mother. But he who loves the Son of God does not open his mouth against the honor of his Mother; he does not detract from her purity; he does not stubbornly defend an uncertain opinion. And because where the devotion of the humble receives a reward, the presumption of the proud will find torment. For the Mother of God is believed to have been worthy to be conceived without the original stain, she who, as a virgin, was to bear him who would wipe away the sins of the whole world. Blessed Mother Anna too was worthy of such a conception, whose renowned way of life was most pleasing to God. I do not wish you to wonder that the Mother of God, contrary to the custom of nature, was preserved from original sin, she whom God, the infuser of grace, had prepared as a dwelling for himself. Consider the one born as Mother of God, and you will not wonder at a conception without stain. Great are the things that are said, but true, but holy, but fitting for the Mother of God, whose conception grace anticipated; and at this nature marvels. We too marvel, because we faithfully believe. But the adversaries, not believing, do not marvel, but are confounded. If you can grasp these things, believe; if you do not grasp them, do not examine them, if you do not wish to sin. For it is better to keep reverent silence concerning the purity of the most blessed Mother of God than to speak unworthy things. Take care, therefore, always to honor with humble silence those things which you cannot understand.

How the most blessed mother Anna presented her sweetest daughter to the Lord in the temple.

Chapter 8.

In the beginning of the book of Kings we read that Anna, the wife of Elkanah, offered her son Samuel, whom she had asked from the Lord, to God’s service at the temple after the years of weaning. Indeed, she became so pleasing to God by the offering of Samuel that he not only chose him as priest, after Eli had been rejected, but also filled him with the spirit of prophecy and wisdom. What, brothers, is presented to us by Samuel’s offering by his mother? O how pleasing to almighty God was that offering, in which already then a most worthy dwelling was being prepared for the Only-begotten.

God had chosen her before the foundation of the world and had pre-elected her, and what he had ordained without time he fulfilled in this presentation. How great, we think, was the joy then in heaven, when Mary, a young virgin, was joined to the heavenly bridegroom. The most holy virgin is led by her mother into the temple, she who was to bear the Lord of the temple; and now, as a little child of three years, she is made ready for divine nuptials. Who will be able to recount your joy then, O mother Anna, when you devoutly handed over to the temple, to serve there, your daughter received from the Lord, indeed the one who was to bear the Lord of the temple? No one ever offered so pleasing a gift to God; no one ever presented to the temple a treasure of so great a price. The holy parents marvel in their daughter at qualities beyond her age; they marvel at her grace; they marvel at her eagerness. For she was full of grace from the womb, nor was she ever subject to any stain, however slight, she who was the temple of God. Why do you marvel at your daughter, mother? The grace of God is not enclosed under the law of nature; the power of the Holy Spirit does not require age to accomplish what it wishes; the gift and will of the Most High is not constrained under many years. The Most High sanctified his tabernacle, and the ark in which he had resolved to place the true manna he most beautifully adorned within and without with the purest gold of virtues. How perfect the mother was in the love of God she declared in this offering of her sweetest daughter. For unless she had been steadfast in the fear of the Lord, she would never have allowed her daughter, beloved as her own life, tender and noble, to be torn from her. But love of the Creator overcame a mother’s heart, and the pledge most dear above all created things she offered with cheerful countenance to the Lord, to be consecrated. Nothing here is done by chance; custom works nothing; all things without time were ordained by the Most High; all things by the counsel of God were foreordained from eternity. O Joachim and Anna, most blessed parents, who were worthy to bring forth her who, without male seed, deserved to beget the Son of God. Truly an offering always to be honored with fitting praises, which provided a mother for God, a queen for the angels, and a savior for the world long lost. Moreover we believe this offering to have been adorned with such purity that under God no earlier one could exist; for she was made queen of the angels, mother of God, lady of the world. In the greatest glory before God, too, these most blessed parents must be believed to be, who begot a mother for the Son of God. Learn, O parents, to set the fear of God before your children; learn to form them when young in the love of God, lest, if you neglect them as little ones, you later find them obstinate. Anna offered her sweetest three-year-old daughter to the Lord; she taught the little child to fear God; she presented her to the temple to be instructed in the fear of the Lord. But you do not do so. You instruct your daughters for dances and the love of worldly vanities; you tell them nothing of the fear of the Lord; you persuade them of nothing concerning eternal life, since indeed you have learned nothing good from your parents. Let not a woman glory in the multitude of her children if she has neglected to instruct them properly in the charity of God, for it is not multitude of children but uprightness that commends women. To God [unclear] your last life. Anna words. [unclear]. [unclear]. [unclear]. [unclear]. Pomona. Concerning Lord. He now. That great woman. That great woman. That great woman. That great woman. I

That the holy mother Anne is held in the greatest honor with God and all the saints. Chapter IX. We return, however, and hold without any hesitation that holy Anne, the parent of the Mother of God, is of singular merit and honor before God; by this she is not only sufficient for her own glory, but also becomes fit and powerful to bring us aid. For if we trust that the apostles and the other saints are powerful with God, we must necessarily believe that the parents of God are most powerful. For Anne, a most holy woman, pleased almighty God to such a degree that he wished the mother of his Only-begotten to be born from her; he would never have dedicated a womb for his mother unless he had found in it the merit of great holiness. For Scripture says: “The holy Spirit of discipline will flee deceit, nor will it dwell in a body subject to sins.” In the most blessed mother Anne there was nothing deceitful, nothing that could have offended God, but all things were upright, clean, and holy, and worthy of the dwelling of the Holy Spirit. Therefore she is rightly believed to be next after her daughter in glory before God, since she was able to please him so greatly in this life. Let no foolish disputant object to me that the saints of the Old Testament were of lesser merit than those of the New, since time does not bestow holiness, but the grace of faith. I except Anne, whom I acknowledge as a lover not so much of the Old Testament as of the New. For she herself established the ark of the New Testament, and carried it for nine months in her womb. Nor does time diminish the holiness that God’s special grace has granted. So great a grace had gone before the most blessed Anne that in Israel in her time she had no equal in virtue and holiness. Accordingly it seems fitting that she should prevail before God in glory more than the rest, she who shone before others in life. Indeed, just as the Son of God surpasses his mother [unclear] where virtue abounds, affection does not cease where love is continued; the love of kinship does not perish where glory is owed to merits. Carnal affection ceases where there is no generation of the flesh. But love never ceases where it loves; affection, where love is continued, does not perish; the love of kinship does not perish where glory is owed to merit. I confess that in the blessed carnal affection ceases, and the generation of the flesh also ceases; but the love of kinship does not cease, since among them all it is common. For no one ever hated his own flesh. Nor is the Son of God so harsh that he does not love his holy parents, his own flesh, his own bowels. Or how would he not love his own parents, who loves all his saints and servants? For he says: “I love those who love me.” Who could ever love God according to the flesh more than his parents? From their blood he was incarnate without stain, fed with milk, nourished with care. Far be it, then, that we should think the most blessed Anne of God

the Son's grandmother [to be] without the greatest honor in the fatherland, she who on earth stood so close to God. If the Lord Jesus, king of heaven, loves those who love him, it is rightly to be believed that he loves his own parents before all others; nor can they be in the heavenly fatherland without special glory, whom almighty God on earth had filled with such extraordinary grace. Therefore we believe Anna, after the Virgin Mother, to be nearest to the Son of God, and a powerful advocate for the wretched, to whom the king of heaven denies nothing, but in all things for which she asks honors her face as that of a most beloved parent. The whole Trinity also loves her; the angelic choir honors her; all the citizens of the heavenly fatherland venerate her with the greatest reverence as the honorable mother of their queen; and not undeservedly. For if they love the king, they rightly venerate his grandmother. The honor that is paid to parents is shown to the children. But he proves that he loves the king less who does not venerate his father and mother and his whole lineage. We are also accustomed to grieve more over injuries done to our parents than over our own. Why is this, unless because an insult inflicted on them groans within us? For we believe that not only our parents but also we ourselves are marked by grave injury in the same way; just as we believe an insult to our parents to be our own, so we reckon the honor shown to them as ours. Whatever honor, therefore, we pay to the divine mother Anna, let us believe without doubt to be shown to God. For the Lord says to us in the Gospel: Whatever you have done to one of the least of mine, you have done to me. If he asserts that everything paid to the least who believe in Christ has been done to himself, how much more must it be believed to be done in those who are not merely least with him, but greatest and most powerful? His parents are not last with the Son of God, not least but greatest, not small but most powerful. Whatever veneration, therefore, we pay to them, let us by no means doubt that it is doubled before God. And if revelations are to be believed, the most blessed Virgin appeared to a certain devout man and, among other things, said to him: If you love me, honor my mother, and whatever reverence you pay to her will be doubly pleasing to me. Now therefore, brothers, if we love the Mother of God, if we desire to please the queen of heaven, let us honor her venerable mother with diligent devotion, and we shall find them both pious helpers in every tribulation. Behold, the angels of God and all the saints venerate and love Anna, and shall we be silent and mute from her honor? The intercessions of the saints are necessary for us, not for those who already exult in the fatherland; and therefore it is fitting that we should always be devoted in their veneration. We, I say, who still live in the flesh and are pilgrims away from the Lord, must honor those citizens of the fatherland above with especial devotion, so that, aided by their suffrages, we may be able to come to the joys which they inhabit. But among all the saints we believe the Mother of God to stand preeminent, and Anna, her venerable parent; if we are devoted to them and their worshippers, no adversities will harm us.

That the blessed mother Anne is powerful before God to aid those who devoutly call upon her. Chapter X.

Since the holy and most blessed mother of the Mother of God is, in the kingdom of heaven, very near to the Son of God and to his mother in merits and charity, there is no doubt that she is able to obtain help for our miseries, provided that the devotion of our mind is earnestly directed toward her. She cannot fail to be most merciful, who bore the mother of mercy in her womb. How pious, how powerful, how ready she is to repel human miseries, there are almost as many witnesses as there are devout worshippers found for her. For she is powerful in the palace of the highest emperor, whom God hears as she supplicates, out of reverence for her, and whatever she has asked he grants without delay. Let him doubt her authority and power who does not know that she gave birth to the Queen of Angels. Let him hesitate over the piety of the most blessed mother who is ignorant that the Savior of the world came forth from her most noble blood.

She is powerful and very near to God; she is pious and inclined toward our necessities; she is accustomed to grant benefits to human beings, so that they may learn continually to hold her many merits in memory and honor. Therefore approach the pious patroness confidently; knock upon her with assiduous prayers, because she is able to obtain pardon for you; she is able to lead you to eternal life. Nothing is lacking to her that can profit our necessities; she has everything that can help us, since the capacity to be able and the piety to be willing are always present in her. Therefore, brothers, let us doubt nothing, let us hesitate at nothing, since sure intercessions will be at hand for us, if firm faith is not lacking. In whatever tribulation we shall cry out to her, we shall find ready help, if we devote faithful service to her name. Do you desire to know, brothers, what this most holy woman is able to provide for you? Listen. Anne drives away sadness, expels the lust of the flesh, relieves poverty, cures infirmities, mitigates adversities, calms oppositions, eliminates vices, plants virtues, enlightens the understanding, purifies affection, remits sins. Therefore, whoever you are who, in good pursuits, have fortune contrary to you; whoever you are who feel the adverse storm of this pilgrimage, call upon Saint Anne with devout and assiduous prayers, knock upon the mother with supplications, and you will find remedies of unexpected consolation. For she herself is a safe refuge for the wretched, a sure remedy for the sick, an unfailing solace for the desolate. Why do you hesitate to approach her, since she is both powerful and willing to help you? Nothing earthly is required of you, not gold, not silver, but only a heart extended in devotion toward God and Saint Anne. Why then are you afraid? Why do you waver:

Believe me: there is no tribulation, no distress, no necessity that can stand before Anne’s prayers. Whatever weighs upon you, whatever troubles you, whatever is opposed to a good will, refer it to Anne, and [without doubt?] she will deliver you. It is impossible for her not to obtain everything she wishes. The King of heaven is her grandson; he will not be able to deny anything to his most sweet grandmother. The Mother of God is her daughter; she cannot pour out prayers to God in vain. The whole court of the heavenly fatherland loves Anne as a mother, venerates her as a lady. If she asks anything from God, the prayers and vows of all the saints will concur. Blessed is the person who, with continual devotion and assiduous prayers, shall have had Anne as advocate.

That holy mother Anne, as a most pious advocate, is to be held by us in the greatest honor. Chapter 11.

With how great honor and how great reverence the most blessed Anne is to be honored by us, we have sufficiently considered from what has already been said, since in the heavenly fatherland she is honored by the supreme God himself and by all the saints with such, and indeed ineffable, proclamations of praise. For if the citizens of that fatherland above, already established in the highest tranquillity, venerate and love her as a most powerful lady, how much more ought we, wretched people still placed amid many tribulations, to invoke and honor her as a pious patroness. Indeed she must be revered by us with the greatest reverence, through whose patronage we can safely escape all the evils of this fleeting world. And truly the mother who bore beneath her breast, enclosed by her womb, the origin of our redemption is ever to be venerated with worthy praises.

She is rightly, I say, to be honored, because she bore for us the Mother of God without stain, through whom the Son of God, the Savior, came to the world. Therefore, just as we venerate and revere the most blessed parent of God because, an immaculate virgin, she bore the Redeemer for us, so too it is fitting that we honor Anne because she brought forth the mother of our Savior without fault. Unless we had had a mother, whence would the daughter have come? Let no one doubt, let no one waver, let no one seethe with wicked thoughts, because if Anne had not been most holy, she would not have been chosen as mother of the Mother of God. For it was fitting that she who was to give birth to the Mother of God should be adorned with the radiance of every holiness, since she was to become the mother not of just any virgin, but of her than whom, among God’s pure human creatures, none purer or holier could be found.

Most blessed Anne, therefore, was worthy of this office by God’s gift; she was worthy by the merit of her life; she was also worthy by the testimony of the law. Worthy, I say, was she to bear the Mother of God, because she knew how to love God above all things, because she had learned to keep his law without offense. There was no holier woman in Israel, who may be believed to have been honored by God with such great gifts. Though barren, she conceived from seed, but without stain of seed. She conceived, I say, without the stain of fault, and bore Mary, the devout, most holy, blessed Mother of God.

Who loves the king and does not honor his parents? Who loves Mary and does not venerate Anne? Let the arguments of vanity be silent; let words of excuse withdraw far away. He is shown to love the Son of God less who does not venerate Saint Anne. Let the person with hardened heart blush, reprobate in regard to piety, who says that he loves the Mother of God and is shown not to love Anne, her mother. It is a foolish and ruinous presumption to take confidence in the daughter’s patronage while scorning to honor her venerable mother. For whoever has the mother hostile will not be able to find the daughter appeased. For the daughter loves the mother, and the whole host of the heavenly court venerates Anne. If anyone has Anne as advocate, he will have all the saints in heaven as patrons. Let us therefore love the mother, dearest brothers, who can bring us into the sight of God. For she is both pleasing and very near to God.

On the feast and commemoration of most holy Anne, always to be held by us in honor. Chapter 12.

Finally, if we love Anne, the most fortunate parent of the Mother of God, if we wish to pursue her with fitting honor, it is necessary that we celebrate with yearly devotion her honorable feast, which is on the seventh day before the Kalends of August. Nor should we believe this to be enough for us in accordance with our devotion, unless we hasten to frequent her commemoration more often, as that of a most singular patroness. But if the adversary should falsely wish to object to us the novelty of this feast

let us reply. We are in no way introducing new feasts, but renewing ancient ones. And I believe I have argued sufficiently about this above; by these arguments I do not doubt that satisfaction has been given to the devout worshippers of Anna. Moreover, to wish to satisfy the curious and the proud is superfluous, since piety does not move them, devotion does not stir them, charity does not inflame them. Therefore let the devout worshippers of blessed Anna believe, and hold without any hesitation, that her feast is ancient and was customarily celebrated by the ancients with the greatest reverence, as befitted the mother of the most holy Mother of God. For in Judea and the regions overseas her commemoration was very famous among faithful Christians, until at length, when the land was occupied by unbelievers, it was for a long time too much neglected. But in the regions of Europe her feast was not so celebrated, because many of these came to the faith later. Yet in certain places of Europe there was always a solemn remembrance of Anna, which had been instituted by the faithful coming from Palestine. This is proved by the altars erected in her honor in various churches from ancient times. This is proved also by very ancient oratories and by various treatises of the fathers on the praises of Anna. But why do we try to defend the antiquity of this feast, which no good and devout person will wish to attack? Against the rebellious we are not at present to dispute, since we shall never be able to persuade them by words to the worship of most holy Anna. Therefore, whether the commemoration of so great a woman is judged by them to be new or ancient matters little; this alone must be labored for by us, that it be celebrated by faithful and devout Christians with all reverence. For if we honor with due devotion the feasts of other saints of Christ, why should we not celebrate the feast of Anna, most beloved by God? For you know that she is inferior to the rest neither in merits nor in glory, since she was of such dignity while still mortal that she bore the mother of him who, immortal, lives forever in heaven. And just as we make some commemoration daily of our special patrons, so also concerning Saint Anna, as right devotion shall suggest, let us offer something of praise to God every day. And if devout worshippers ought always to be ready for her honor, nevertheless on her birthday especially they ought to be solicitous, since her commemoration is observed not only on earth but is also honored in heaven by the votive praises of the saints. It also agrees with devotion and befits piety that, just as the Sabbath day is observed by clergy and people with masses and prayers in honor of the most holy Mother of God, so the commemoration of her mother should be celebrated at least once a week. For by solicitude for household affairs we are quickly distracted from devotion, to which it is necessary that we return at least once a week, lest, if we put off the honor of venerable Anna too long, in our lukewarmness we lose her patronage. For celebrating this weekly remembrance, Tuesday seems sufficiently fitting, on which she is read to have been both born and to have died. Finally, in many places a laudable custom has prevailed that, with no less reverence, the commemoration of Saint Anna is celebrated every Tuesday than the Sabbath day is observed in memory of the Mother of God in the church of the faithful. For we have seen among the Sicambri and [Grunes?] that every Tuesday masses are sung in honor of blessed Anna, lamps are lit, offerings are made, and the poor are more abundantly refreshed. We have also known among them certain devout worshippers of the blessed woman who, in honor of Jesus, Mary, and Anna, every Tuesday lit three candles on her altar, gave three special alms, and received as many acts of pardon or disciplines. This custom took its origin from a miracle of Saint Anna that happened in Pannonia, where she advanced a desolate and very poor young man to great honors and riches. If anyone desires to have knowledge of this matter, let him read the said miracle, which is now so widely known among the worshippers of blessed Anna that it can be hidden from no one. And we have recognized that these things are done by many not only on Tuesday, but every day, as the devotion of each person requires. Therefore priests of the Lord who desire to be devout worshippers of the most holy mother should take care to celebrate devoutly for her commemoration at least once a week. Whoever has adopted that devotion as his custom, we believe that he will have Anna as a pious advocate in every necessity. Therefore let no one be silent from the praise of so great a patroness, let no one grow sluggish in devotion to her, let no one [unclear] her commemoration

[unclear]. For Anna is interpreted as “grace” or “gift.” It is a name fitting so great a parent, which we believe was given to her at birth not by chance, but preordained by God. For rightly is she interpreted as “grace,” since she was to give birth to the mother of grace. Rightly “grace,” through whose intercession the grace of God is obtained for the faithful. She is also interpreted as “giving” or “gift,” because those whom she finds devoted in her honor she makes rich with many gifts of grace. Rightly “gift,” through whom remission of sins is given. Whoever, therefore, is weighed down by the burden of sins, whoever is struck by the darts of temptations, let him flee trustingly to the aid of mother Anna; let him offer prayers and gifts of devotion, and there will be nothing that can prevail against him for evil. For Anna is called “grace”; according to her name she does not cease to obtain the grace requested, if she is found with devout faith. Therefore, faithful people, celebrate most devoutly the feasts of so great a mother; rejoice in her commemoration, and pour out diligent prayers to her, because she is able to free you from every tribulation. Rejoice in the Lord our God, all you who love Saint Anna. Praise the name of the Lord, all faithful peoples, who love the mother of the God-bearer and Virgin. Take Anna as your patroness, honor her with devout prayers, and you will always find her a faithful advocate.

With what exercises and devotions we ought to honor the most blessed mother Anna. Chapter 13.

We have heard how greatly the most blessed mother Anna, by her merits, has power with almighty God for those who pray; we know how worthy she is of honor. It remains now that we briefly say how she is to be honored by us. And although, because of the diversity of devotion, no general rule concerning the manner of veneration can be set down by us, nevertheless we shall try, as far as we can, to persuade everyone, so that no one may be able to excuse himself through ignorance from the praise of so great a mother. And indeed, first of all, devotion will establish for each person the manner of praising her; the greater that devotion is, the more useful the manner will be. Just as we are accustomed to venerate the other saints with diverse ceremonies, so also we honor her, but more abundantly. You have the manner: apply your desire. If perhaps I seem too brief to you, receive a fuller manner. If kings, princes, and bishops of churches honor blessed Anna, let them erect chapels and oratories in her memory, institute prebends, and found monasteries. Let them also make diligent prayers to her, celebrate her memory, and feed the poor and needy out of reverence for her. With whatever zeal the faithful venerate the other special saints, let them know that the divine mother Anna is to be honored not with less, but with more abundant zeal. Likewise, let the prelates of the faithful themselves have the same manner of veneration, and let them institute that the feast of the most holy mother Anna be celebrated by all in their dioceses. Let them confer indulgences upon the faithful for the worship of Anna; let them confirm confraternities in her honor, the offerings of prayers in her name

let abbots also, and the other rulers of monks in their monasteries, devoutly celebrate the memory of Anne; let them build chapels and altars; let them pour forth continual prayers to her. Likewise let the leaders and brothers of the other religious orders do the same as far as they can, and let them never at any time grow lukewarm in the worship of so great a mother. But you, O professors of the Carmelite order, who by the most ancient privilege are specially distinguished by the title of the most blessed mother of God and Virgin Mary: you ought to venerate and embrace most holy Anne with singular devotion, from whose daughter you are called venerable. Take care, therefore, that you never be lukewarm in the worship of the mother, you who from her daughter have obtained the name of so great an honor. You also, all others chosen into the lot of the Lord, extend your souls to the honor of the most holy mother of the mother of God; bestow on her whatever praises you can, and instruct those subject to you, as far as possible, to do the same. You too, O men distinguished by learning in letters, in whom the vein of composition abounds: dedicate your talents to the divine mother Anne; play in verse in her honor, and, as much as you are able, praise her also in prose. But the simpler, whose abilities are slower and not sufficiently suited for composing, should copy out with devotion the things that have been published by others; they should read them more often, and for the edification also of others should affix them to the altars of the holy mother. Let them read prayers suited to her honor; let them read due praises; let them read hymns, songs, and proses. Let no one be free from the praises of Anne; let no one be silent; let no one grow lukewarm. Let all nations redeemed by the blood of Christ celebrate the memory of Anne, from whose merits a great hope of salvation is promised to us. But lest matter for prayer be lacking to the devout worshippers of Anne, three years ago we made, in her honor, a brief prayer in the form of the angelic salutation, which is now both had and read by many. And it seems to us sufficiently fitting that, just as in the rosary of the mother of God we pay five Lord’s Prayers and fifty angelic salutations, so also we should do in honor of Saint Anne, yet in such a way that in place of Ave Maria our prayer which follows should be said.

Prayer.

O venerable Anne, mother of the mother of God, most pleasing to the Holy Trinity, honored above all women: blessed are you in the Lord, and blessed is the offspring of your womb, and the virgin-born son of that offspring, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Many appoint this prayer in honor of Saint Anne in place of the angelic salutation in the rosary, because it is both brief and by no means useless. But if our prayer for the rosary of Saint Anne does not please someone, let him read the salutation, as is the custom, angelic; and at the end, after he has said “Jesus Christ,” let him add this clause: And blessed be your most honorable mother, Saint Anne, from whom your virgin flesh proceeded without stain. Amen.

The holy mother of God is said to have revealed this clause to a certain recluse devoted to her. If this too does not please someone, let him make, according to his devotion, some other prayer suited to the honors of the most blessed mother Anne, as best he can.

There are also many other practices of holy exercise, which are placed in each person’s discretion and devotion. A devout mind will always find a way to honor the most holy Anne with due praises. In fasts and tears, in alms and prayers, in genuflections and disciplines, in song and readings, the most blessed mother is to be honored by us. Yet it offends us no little that we find no suitable history of the holy mother, one that would in all respects befit her honor and feast. For the history that is already in use among many, in various forms, is variable and, as it seems to many, not sufficiently elegant; I pass over the fact that it is less worthy of such merits, and in very many places seems apocryphal. Nor is there only one, but several are found, as each person has seen fit, with additions that are less approved. What shall I say of the office of the Mass, which we see confused in many places by similar variety? An office is sung by very many which some devotee drew out from the Saturday office of blessed Mary, changing the meanings of the words but retaining the melody; this seems less conducive to devotion, since hearers, deceived by the similarity of the melody, think that the celebration is not of Saint Anne but of the Mother of God. If the matter is pleasing, let at least the melody be changed. Yet all these things could easily be corrected if the authority of some pontiff intervened; relying on it, men learned in these matters might compose a history and office, regulated in reading and melody and approved by the Scriptures.

[unclear] rewards her worshippers manifoldly in this life and in the life to come. Chapter 14.

The frequent display of miracles merits reverence for the saints. Blessed Anne is most worthy of the greatest honor, since she bestows daily so many and such great benefits upon her devout worshippers that there is no one who could recount them all. We indeed know many miracles of Saint Anne, both new and old, but it is not our purpose now to direct the mind to these things, which we have learned are called into doubt by many: not because they contain any falsehood in themselves, but because modern men, most of whom seem learned to themselves, do not believe miracles but disparage them. We therefore do not wish to give an occasion for disparagement, nor to expose the present treatise to suspicion, lest they say that we write not true things but apocrypha. For no one understands, no one believes, no one grasps how great are the benefits that God daily bestows upon the lovers of Saint Anne, unless devout experience instructs him. We know, however, that through the invocation of Saint Anne many powerful, learned, noble, and ignoble men, virgins and women, young people and old, have often been delivered from very great tribulations, rescued from dangers, and wonderfully aided in necessities; also many religious persons of either sex

and secular persons too, we have very often found to have been delivered, by Anne’s merits, from the gravest temptations of flesh and spirit; others, placed in need and poverty, to have been unexpectedly and abundantly provided for through Anne’s intercessions; others to have been cured of grave calamity. Who could enumerate how many have been healed, by the aid of the most dutiful mother Anne, from destructive sadness of mind and melancholy? How many also have escaped secure amid adversities, fearless amid enemies and robbers, safe amid the dangers of the sea? The most holy mother Anne has been accustomed to rescue many devoted to her from various [unclear], to free them from the contagion of pestilence, and also to cure them of various infirmities. Who could tell how many she has brought back from the worst despair to the hope of mercy; how many she has recalled from the hardest habit of sin to the paths of penitence; how many, living lukewarmly in religion and outside it, she has inflamed with the fire of divine love? By her merits and intercessions women in childbirth, otherwise near to death, have been delivered, and many have even been snatched, as we read, from the sentence of eternal damnation. Finally, it is said that she has guarded some of her worshippers from the reproach of infamy; she is remembered to have delivered others from a desperate illness, some from chains and prisons, and certain others from the dangers of imminent death. We also read that by her merits some have been recalled from death to life; others, at the point of death, have been most mercifully visited through her, and before they left the world were already made secure concerning heaven. Often, too, she is said to have illuminated the dulled wits of some, so that those who before had been despised for lack of learning afterward became an object of admiration to many. Orators also, often faltering in speaking, she is said, when invoked, to have strengthened so greatly that they found themselves made not only steadfast but also readier in delivering a speech. Thus, finally, the [unclear] through Anne is immense. For if I had a voice of iron and a hundred tongues, I could not run through all Anne’s benefits by which she is accustomed to aid her worshippers. Indeed, as many are her benefits as there are hardships of human life. In whatever tribulation anyone cries to her with devotion, he can obtain help. She extinguishes the flames of carnal desire; she turns destructive sadness of mind into saving joy; she grants what is necessary for life; she preserves a good and fair reputation. She delivers women in danger in childbirth, mitigates pains, drives away demons. In tribulation it is permitted for a person to seek [her]. Only let devout faith commend the one who prays. But concerning all the things which, in recalling them by category, we have merely touched on, we have at hand particular examples of deeds done, by which we could write not uncertain things, but relate deeds in truth. Yet it is not our purpose to weave a history, but, as much as we can, the praises of the divine mother Anne—

[unclear] to declare with simplicity. For I would not have said that she is to be venerated on account of miracles, but because of piety toward God. So many and so great miracles concerning our blessed Anne have become known to me that, if I wished to write them all, it would compel me to enlarge this treatise too much. The greatest of divine miracles is this: if by her merits we may deserve to receive compunction and pardon for our sins; if to overcome an evil habit; if to attain eternal life. For this end, and no other, she is to be venerated by us.

Chapter XV

On the brotherhood of the most blessed mother, how useful and necessary it is, especially in our times.

For in these last days, as charity grows cold among many, iniquity abounds. It is very necessary for us, my brothers, that just as we fall almost daily by sinning, so also through frequent devoted exercises of holy practice we may be renewed every day in every good will. For there has never been any institution so holy among human customs that it has not, with time, grown lukewarm from its first fervor. Thus all the orders of religious, declining with the passage of time, have departed from their first institution; unless by the diligence of their superiors they had often been reformed to the paths of regular life, they would always have remained in their deformity. The same thing is also done among Christians, who today are found to have fallen far away from the first institution of the faith.

Where now is the former [unclear] of our faith? Charity has grown cold, and all the pursuits of religion have likewise perished along with it from among people, for the most part. Who would believe how great a loss evil morals have brought upon the Christian faith? Behold, with God permitting it because of the crimes of men, the unbelieving Saracens, Turks, Tartars, and the other enemies of the Catholic faith, after slaughtering Christians, have brought Asia, Africa, Greece, the Hellespont, and a great part of Europe under their power, so that a twentieth part of the world which once was Christian is not Christian today. And truly, unless the compassion of almighty God preserves the remnants left in Europe, there will soon be an end of the Christian name.

Since, therefore, weighed down by our sins, we are not sufficient to obtain God’s mercy, the intercessions of the saints must be implored for us with diligent prayers, so that, appeased by their merits, the eternal judge may grant us pardon and peace, which we do not deserve. And lest devotion fail in time, as is customary, we must work with great care so that through the mutual exhortation of the brothers it may attain perseverance.

Hence a praiseworthy custom has grown up in the Church of God: that the faithful establish congregations in honor of certain saints, which, for the increase of devotion, they call brotherhoods. Thus knights act in honor of Saint George; archers, of Sebastian the martyr; pilgrims, of James the Apostle from Galicia.

Now therefore, if we believe that these and similar confraternities of the saints are useful for obtaining God’s mercy for the people, we trust that those which are instituted in memory of the most blessed Mother of God and of Anne, her most holy mother, are incomparably better. For as much as the Mother of God, together with her venerable mother, surpasses the other saints in heaven in merits and holiness, so much the more eminent a place does a confraternity dedicated to her name hold. Hence the faithful, moved by pious devotion, in order that they might deserve to have her as a ready advocate before God, instituted in her honor a confraternity under the name of the Rosary; and this has now become so widespread through the various regions of the world that there is scarcely any province in which they do not have several.

But devout worshippers of the most blessed Anne, considering that from these confraternities the devotion of the faithful could profit, thought to establish, after the example of the Rosary, a praiseworthy congregation in honor of the holy mother, so that the name and praises of so great a patroness might be able to come to the knowledge of many. Accordingly this holy confraternity began in the diocese of Osnabrück, and, confirmed by Conrad, bishop of the said church, almost ten years before this under Frederick III, and, as is reported, approved by miracles, it greatly multiplied. Then Rumold of Laupach, prior of the Carmelite convent of Frankfurt, a very great worshipper and lover of the divine mother Anne, at the urging of certain [unclear], instituted the same confraternity in his aforesaid convent; Berthold of Henneberg, most reverend archbishop of the church of Mainz, confirmed it, and the supreme pontiff Innocent, in the eighth year of his pontificate, approved it by apostolic authority.

And indeed it is a worthy institution, that the Carmelite brothers, who are especially distinguished by the title of the most blessed Mother of God, should also be more ready in the praises of her mother. Today there is a great and abundant number of persons of both sexes in this confraternity, who daily do and expend many remarkable things for the honor of Saint Anne. But in various places this same venerable confraternity is established by the faithful and celebrated with fitting devotion. Yet there are found good detractors, who tear it with impious teeth and attack it with wicked presumption. What displeases you in this most holy confraternity, O profane detractors? What do you have against it? Bring it forward, so that I may hear.

You say: “These confraternities are superstitious, because they make the Catholic faith weak, withdraw the worship owed to God, and despise obedience to parish churches. Moreover,” they say, “they deny the customary and due offerings to their priests, offer abundant gifts to monks and their confraternities, and leave their mother churches empty and ruinous.” These are the heads of the opposing party, the charges of an unjust accusation, the objections of wicked detraction. To these we shall reply briefly in order.

This fraternity of the most blessed mother Anne is not superstitious, as you say, O impious slanderers, but it is true, upright, holy; in it the worship of God is not diminished but increased, obedience is not despised but commended. Nor is the Catholic faith weakened through this holy fraternity, as you think, but renewed and defended, while through the exercises of holy charity it is illumined as being formed.

But as for your lament that parish churches are deserted, this is to be imputed in no small measure to your own offenses: you exact milk and wool from the sheep of the Lord, yet you do not feed the sheep themselves as you especially ought, nor do you guard them. Why do you pretend that offerings are denied to you, when you abound in many riches? Christ is the vicar of all pastors; if he has wished the faithful to be free in hearing masses, there is no one who can prevent him. You have not seen all the privileges of the monks, nor will you see them. Who does not know that you wage war against holy fraternities for the sake of your purses, and that you tear at monks not from love of God but of gold?

Behold, the supreme pontiff has confirmed this fraternity; behold, Berthold, archbishop of Mainz, than whom there is no other more excellent, has approved it by ordinary authority; and you foolish men still murmur. Cease, I beg you, cease from this folly, and do not censure what you know such great pontiffs to have approved. Believe me, it is not good to wish to forbid so greatly the devotion of men toward holy Anne. He approaches the greatest confusion who opens his mouth against holy Anne. If you do not believe my words, observe those who are such, and by experience you will know that I have spoken truly.

It is rash to censure a good that is seen to redound to salvation for many. Many good things come to devout men from the celebration of this most blessed fraternity, of which those who are strangers to it are for the most part empty. It also draws its worshipers to love of God and neighbor; it creates concord of brotherly love; it calls back from vices and sins; it inflames desire for the love of heavenly happiness. I pass over how many masses, how many prayers, how many alms, how many [unclear] it kindles in the minds of all, with how great devotion, how great peace and how great concord might redound in the Catholic Church. For indeed, if all were to come together into this fraternity, it could happen that, for love of holy Anne, they would desist from mutual injuries and be made more ready in observance of the commandments of God. For true fraternity cultivates and nourishes brotherly love, nor does devotion allow those to be unlike whom the observance of so great a congregation has made concordant in the love of most holy Anne. O who would grant that this holy fraternity be spread and celebrated throughout the whole Christian world, so that all the faithful in

may be seized by love of blessed Anne, and while in holy unity they [unclear], may they rest from wars and mutual insults out of reverence for so great a patroness. Clearly useful and always to be honored is the brotherhood, which gives form to faith by works, raises up hope, stirs charity, inflames devotion. For through it sluggishness is shaken from the minds of the faithful, and the fervor of holy renewal is inspired. Whoever attacks it is mad; whoever speaks against it is more demented than the demented; whoever strives to destroy it envies Christian salvation. And much still remained to be said, had not the occupation of my household affairs claimed me for itself. Whatever I have said against its adversaries has been brought forward not in a spirit of invective, but with the intention of correcting and amending. Yet I trust that there are few who set themselves against the holy mother and her brotherhood.

Conclusion of this work and excuse for the author's insufficiency, with exhortation of the brotherhood. Chapter XVI.

Although at the beginning I had proposed to describe more things concerning the praises of the most holy mother Anne, nevertheless from this point it has now pleased me to cease, lest, if I extended the treatise to an immense length, I should choke the reader's devotion by excessive prolixity. For those who wish to persuade others ought to be found brief in speech and abundant in the majesty of their thoughts. From the first I am by no means confident that I have strayed; but how I have fared in the second will be judged by those who are going to read this poor lucubration of ours, such as it is. I have satisfied my promise; I have also satisfied my friends; but neither my devotion nor the dignity of the subject has been satisfied. I wished more than I could, and I did less than I wished. Finally, who can adequately venerate with worthy praises Anne, parent of the most blessed mother of God? Therefore I confess myself unworthy to speak of the most holy mother, since I am a sinful man and entangled in offenses from my youth. Yet I could not be silent from her praise, because necessity lay upon me, and devotion, strongly hemmed in by the prayers of friends, pressed me. But after I had come thus far, the excellence of the subject matter oppressed me, impatient of the heat of summer, so that henceforth I ought to honor with silence her whom I am not able to praise. Whatever, however, has been said and written by me in this work, I submit to the holy Roman Church and to all Catholic learned men, from whose definitive judgment I never intend to dissent. Whatever the sacrosanct Roman Church determines must be believed will be for me the firmest faith. Lastly, we turn our discourse to you, friends, devotees, brothers and sisters of the most holy mother Anne, asking that, receiving in good part those things which have been written by us out of great devotion to the praise of so great a mother, you assail the holy patroness with devout prayers, so that with her accustomed kindness she may come to our aid, wash away our faults, obtain virtues, and win eternal life. We also exhort you to take care to persevere in the love and brotherhood of the most holy mother, honoring her with continual praises, so that, absolved from your faults by her merits, you may lead a tranquil life here and, after this life, an eternal one.

Here ends the book of lord Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, of the order of the divine father Benedict, on the praises of Saint Anne.

There follows a tetrastich on the most holy mother Anne.

[unclear]

Tetrastich of Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, on the most holy mother Anne.

Anne, venerable mother of the kindly Virgin, excellent in merits and powerful in piety, no one departs sorrowful who honors and venerates you; for you bring to all the gentle aid of salvation.

Distich of the same, which he placed at the image of Saint Anne.

Whoever in adversities has assailed holy Anne with devout prayers, he will be well protected.

Tetrastich of Conrad Celtis Protucius, poet laureate, on Saint Anne.

Anne has never dismissed anyone's prayers empty, but, radiant, has always brought the desired aid. Therefore let us heap great honor upon the loving mother, who permits no one's prayers to be empty.

Tetrastich of Theodoric Gresemund the Younger of Mainz to Saint Anne.

Anne, parent of the Virgin Mary, hail, auspicious one, worthy to begin the work of our salvation. Since human redemption was begun through you, I pray, continue, covering our crimes with your prayers.

Distich of Rodolphus Langius, canon of Munster, on Saint Anne.

Great parent Anne of the second Virgin, hear the pregnant women who bring vows to you with the womb.

Tetrastich of Jodocus Badius of Ghent on Saint Anne.

Anne, glory of the world, mother of the mother of Jesus, may your grandson, for the merits of his mother, grant you the stars. Holy Anne, bringing forth the first fruits of our salvation, help us with your offspring and with your grandson.

Rodolphus Agricola, in his poem on Saint Anne, among other things, says thus.

Di

Anne, parent, venerable mother of the highest parent, you who first open for peoples the path of salvation: from you all diseases flee, and pallor and pain, and all harmful things that settle in soul and body. Whatever there is among human beings that wearies cares and hearts flees you, as clouds driven by the winds are wont to do. Rutgerus [Venrai?], regular canon of [Hayn?], to the image of Saint Anne.

Here pour out deep prayers, devoutly, with knee bent, where Anne the parent sits with her blessed offspring. Do not doubt: you will obtain whatever you ask of her, for Anne continually shines, powerful in prayers.

Distich of the same author on Saint Anne

Hail, Anne, mother of the mother of Jesus Christ, and, we ask, drive every wickedness from us.

The rosary of Jodocus Beissel, patrician of Aachen, on Saint Anne, to the Reverend Father Lord Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, of the order of the divine father Benedict.

Whoever wishes to read this rosary out of devotion in honor of the most blessed mother Anne should place before it the Lord's Prayer with the salutation of Saint Anne, which he should always repeat after two verses. That salutation is as follows.

O venerable Anne, mother of the Mother of God, most pleasing to the Holy Trinity, honored above all women: blessed are you by the Lord, and blessed is the offspring of your womb, and Jesus Christ, born of the offspring of the Virgin. Amen.

Our Father. Hail, [mother] of God.

Anne, may I, wretched as I am, be allowed to utter your praises, for to you, if you permit it, I shall bring garlands and roses. Anne, you shine, venerable offspring of the kings of Judah, and also renowned through your pious husband Joachim, the sole glory of married women, and their one honor. Pious Anne, you seek offspring not for vain uses, but so that with holy posterity she may worship God. "Rejoice," he says; "behold, exulting mother, you shall have offspring." Anne, you will bear offspring blessed with such great virtue that, though a mother, she will gleam with virginal honor. Hail. Hail. [unclear]. Hail.

Anne, you will [bear?] the gracious one whom the world does not contain; God himself willingly enters the chaste womb. Hail. Anne, at last from your blood will arise that blood which, when poured out, will bring hope forever to wretched sinners. Hail. Anne, so great an expectation befitted your childbearing; it is by no means easy to be held the mother of the mother of God. Anne, the praises of your offspring will fly above the stars, and all ages will proclaim you happy also.

Our Father. Hail, [mother] of God.

Anne, you are believed to have conceived Mary pure from evil, and soon to have had her holy for God. Hail. Anne, in your womb you carry her whom figures marked as coming, whom the holy fathers sang of. Hail. Anne, you carry the enclosed paradise, the happy tree of life, and one sacred with all the honor of the field. Hail. A burning cherub guards it night and day. Anne, you carry a flower that surpasses white lilies, and lowly violets, and the crimson rose. And the golden urn of heavenly bread lies there. Hail. Anne, you carry the bride of the true Solomon, adorned with every jewel, within and without the house. Anne, you carry the temple whose inner chambers sweet sounds and all rejoicing music have filled. Hail. Anne, you carry the veil under a beautiful image, holding in itself the deeds of the fathers, which covers the deep things of God. Hail. Anne, you carry the offspring whose head Phoebus' golden flame clothes, and whose snowy feet the shining moon clothes. Hail.

Our Father. Hail, [mother] of God.

Anne, now made possessor of longed-for Mary, you scarcely contain in your whole breast the joys that have sprung up. Hail. Anne, all the stars applauded Mary newly born, and an unwonted radiance flowed from the pole. Anne, it is right to believe that angelic choirs around you celebrated the birthday of your child. Hail. Anne, why do you fear to handle the heavenly girl? She smiles on her mother; she does nothing sorrowful. Hail,

Anne, take courage; behold, your daughter stretches toward your milky breasts. Hail. Your daughter seeks your tender hands and your neck. Hail. Anne, you break off delays; baring breast and bosom, Hail, you receive her tender little limbs in your tender lap. Hail. Anne, you cherish your daughter, and from your breast the sweet juices, Hail, she draws with rosy mouth, sounding pleasing murmurs. Hail. Anne, if you knew what great sorrows your daughter will bear, Hail, and how many deaths she will bear, you would now be no more. Hail. Our Father. Hail of God.

Anne, it is dear to your heart to adorn your daughter with approved, Hail, virtues, and to fit her for the highest God. Hail. Anne, you prepare to carry your daughter into the lofty shrine, Hail, but the kindly girl of her own will reached the upper step. Hail. Anne, with slow step and effort you follow the swift girl, Hail, and the eager little virgin consoles her weary mother. Hail. Anne, why do you marvel at strength in the tender virgin? Hail, you see not human things, but holy signs of God. Hail. Anne, you are accustomed to give gifts to the needy and to sacred temples. Hail. Now you give that than which no woman has given more. Hail. Anne, where you wished your consecrated daughter to dwell, Hail, she gladly entered the cloisters and the virginal house. Hail. Anne, about to send away the holy one, your cheeks and eyes with weeping, Hail, you consume; deep love holds you unmoved. Hail. Anne, return home; send your daughter to the Thunderer. Hail. [unclear]. Hail. Anne, let your daughter fly through the ethereal retreats. Hail. Let love, sent from the highest summit, possess her for love. Hail. Anne, it is enough for you that two Marys serve you. Hail. They too will honor you with no small piety. Hail. Our Father. Hail of God.

Anne, by your own weeping you have learned to aid one who weeps. Hail. Hence you too readily favor the wretched man with prayers. Hail. Anne, you are accustomed to overturn the fixed laws of nature, Hail, and so you will: let the barren woman now be a joyful mother. Hail. [unclear]. Hail. Anne, you drive away disgrace; you give the gifts of fair fame. Hail. You relieve grief, and love yields to you. Hail. The savage chains of a dark prison hold fast. Hail. Anne, be present as a star of relief to suffering mortals. Hail. With you as guide, lost life returns to the languishing. Hail.

Anne, mother, the sailor calls on you amid the fearful wave, Hail, if winds and water toss his shattered ship. Hail. Anne, mother, you are ever to be feared by the black tyrant. Hail. As ice flees fire, that harmful one flees you. Hail. Anne, mortal hearts cannot ask anything of you in vain; Hail, whatever you will, your daughter and God will will. Hail. Anne, therefore, blessed in merits and in so great an offspring, Hail, great mother Anne, look upon our prayers. Hail.

Prayer to be said after the rosary

Almighty and most loving God, who deigned to choose blessed Anne as mother of the mother of your Son, graciously grant that we who honor her memory with faithful devotion may, by her merits and prayers, obtain the helps of eternal life. Through [the same].

Here ends the rosary of Jodocus Beisselius, professor of both laws and patrician of Aachen, addressed to the reverend father and lord Johannes Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim of the Order of Saint Benedict. From Aachen, on the third day before the Ides of April, in the year 1493.

Poem of Adam Wernher of Themar on the most holy Anne, addressed to the reverend father and lord Johannes Trithemius, abbot

In praise of the illustrious grandmother we compose; dear Jesus, grandson, move the plectra of the heart, nor you, daughter, chaste mother, be absent from the singing choir.

Anne, offspring of kings, long remains barren to her husband; weeping, she laments herself as fruitless; weeping, she prays for offspring.

Heavenly messengers promise a child; pregnant, joined to her husband, then as a woman in childbed, she is proved a mother by the offspring through whom our salvation comes.

Thus the venerable stock of Jesse grew green; he becomes worthy, removing the reproaches of the priest. Thus, Anne, prepare us to carry pure prayers to your grandson.

Commend [us] to the boy whom holy chastity bore of his mother; we ask in prayer, O blessed matron. Christ denies you nothing. To Christ, who, sharing rule with the Father and the Spirit, reigns, be glory through all ages; whom your prayers, O Anna, make reconciled to us. Amen.

This hymn is sung to the tune of that one which, on the Nativity of Saint Mary, is used in many churches, and begins, “Rejoice, mother, in your inmost heart,” etc. From the castle of Heidelberg, 3 days before the Kalends of February, 1493.

The Poem or Hymn of John of [unclear] on Saint Anna, to the reverend lord father John Trithemius, abbot.

Rejoice, Anna, refuge for the wretched. We run to you, we sing, we bring forth songs. On the feast, be gracious with your offspring; now we speak praises to you.

Rejoice, earth shining, fertile with grass, and wet with rain, with divine dew, from which was born, purer than the ether, the Virgin innocent of sin.

Rejoice, you who had been of royal seed, now conceived, given to a husband, you had led a chaste marriage, long without offspring, made a mother by vow.

Rejoice, you who, reddened by the priest’s reproach, are confounded; you call upon God with tears. Heard, you receive your husband coming to meet you at the gate called Golden.

Rejoice, you who, joyful, embraced Joachim, your husband coming to meet you, and taught by the heavenly deity; and thus the mother of your Jesus is conceived in your little womb.

Rejoice, wise angelic simplicity, you who, praised by the choir and [unclear] threefold, divide your goods among the temple and the poor, and a part among your servants.

Rejoice; the people of the faithful celebrate your feasts, so that, as their patroness, you may render the Spirit with the Father, and Christ the Son, by your prayers, propitious, Anna. Amen.

This hymn takes the melody of the one sung for the Ascension of the Lord, namely “Now the celebrated feast,” etc., and of that one for martyrs, “The illustrious merits of the saints,” etc. From Heidelberg, the third day before the Nones of February, in the year 1493.

An elegiac poem on Saint Anna by Rutger of Venray, canon regular in Heinau, of the diocese of Worms.

Hail, splendid mother of the Virgin Mother, of the Father’s splendor, of the brightness of untouched light. You, holy one, bore for the Lord the divine maiden, from whom came forth Jesus, the kindly light of the world.

Constantly tell your daughter’s son to [unclear] the groaning, although he himself made the heavens and the earth. Your grandson in the flesh, Jesus himself, joined highest divinity to flesh, for he is God and man.

Therefore, although Jesus always existed, nevertheless he desires and deigns to be called your grandson. Do not hesitate to strike such a grandson with prayers; Anna, we ask, you who will obtain all things asked.

If he has not bent easy ears to the first requests, Anna, quickly turn again to your daughter. Let your daughter show her breasts to Christ her son; at once the kindly parent will grant what is desired.

If the matter is very difficult to obtain by prayer, let the daughter with her mother seek help. My faith is firm, nor do I doubt that immediately the Lord will hear both as they pray with gracious ear.

Therefore, brothers, with continual prayers one must seek the help of Anna and Mary together. It is certain: if you honor the mother of the Lord’s mother, you yourself cherish the titles of the Virgin Mother.

Again, if you venerate the mother of the Lord, it is clear [unclear]. Let praise, virtue, and honor be to the daughter, to the son, and to Anna, and to the highest Father and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

A Sapphic poem of John Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim, on the day of Saint Anna.

Let us celebrate the feasts of holy Anna, of the exalted mother, renowned for merits, who brought forth for the world the parent of God the Father’s Son.

Her life, ever to be venerated by us, is deservedly praised as blessed; by the gift of signs she increases relief for wretched minds.

She heals the languid, purges all evils, brightens the hearts of the sorrowful with joy, sets right what is apt, rules and governs, levels rough things.

Sitting in the palace of the all-powerful highest King, she wipes away stains, sins; she confers grace, and leads faithful souls to the stars.

We brothers, here frequenting your feasts, bringing vows, praying good things from you: help your servants, refresh, govern us, renowned mother.

May honor and virtue be to the thundering one above, who, God simple and likewise threefold, granted the crown of great glory to Anna forever. Amen.

This Sapphic hymn is sung to the melody “with loosened...” etc.; “Life, offspring of the holy Virgin”; “Because the choirs of bards”; “This confessor,” and similar hymns which are Sapphic only. From Sponheim, in the Nones of July, in the year of the Lord 1493.

An elegiac poem on Saint Mother Anna by John Trithemius, abbot of Sponheim.

How great the rewards are that Anna gives back to her worshippers, no one grasps in mind nor can speak with the mouth. She drives away hardships, obtains pardon, increases the ornaments of honor for her own, and makes them be in heaven.

By contrast, many very bitter things accompany the scorners of Mother Anna; look out for yourself, wicked one. She crushes the proud, casts down the powerful from honor, and permits them often to suffer great scandals.

This is clear and remains firm: Anna offers joyful things to those who worship her, but brings back many sad things to her enemies.

Therefore, men, I advise you: serve so great a patroness, and let the women’s choir likewise be present together in love. What we write is clearly established by examples. Let open ears receive what delights pious hearts.

From Spanheim, on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of August, 1494.

A Sapphic Poem by Rutger Sicambrius, for a Hymn in Praise of Saint Anne

We sing your praises, venerable Anne; favor the measures of those who praise you, obtaining pardon for all, granting the rewards of salvation.

You, Anne, parent of Christ’s mother, shining in the highest citadel of heaven, obtain whatever you ask of the offspring of the omnipotent one.

You heal the sick; you wipe away stains; you make faithful servants attain their vow; at last you grant them to climb to the heavenly kingdom.

By your approved morals you moved the highest Lord, Anne, and by many prayers, that he should grant you to become the parent of so great an offspring in the world.

To the highest Father, to the heavenly Son, to the Holy Spirit be honor and power, brightness, virtue, devotion, and strength through all ages.

Another by the Same

Let us all resound the diligent praises of Anne, mother of the Virgin Mother, with all our powers, from the marrow of the soul, with sonorous voice.

She brought forth for the wretched race, stained by the blemish of Eve our mother, a noble offspring, the radiant beam that she gave to the world.

This light of the world drove out the darkness of the blackening world, shining on all with heavenly light, as holy John resounds in the sacred book.

Anne, mother of the divine maiden, whose grandson you call the groaning one, only according to the flesh: do not spurn the people who pray.

Virgin, favor us by the intent prayers of Anne, your mother, who entreats for us; you, grandson Jesus, graciously fulfill her prayer.

To the Son born of Anne’s daughter, together with God, be the highest honor and power; to the blessed Spirit let equal honor be given for all time.

Another Iambic Dimeter Poem by the Same, Which Is Sung to the Melody of the Hymns of Ambrose

Bent low, let us honor the feast of blessed Anne, singing due thanks with our voices and with our inmost hearts.

She is the mother of the nurturing Virgin, who brought forth the light of the world; she is the one who by her virtues made herself most pleasing to God.

She drives away delays; she confers grace by her prayers; she relieves the most dreadful diseases, both of body and of spirit.

In praise of her, O King of heaven, to you with sonorous songs, and to the Son and likewise to the Spirit, we pour forth pious praises. Amen.

An Alcinian Poem by the Same, Which Is Sung to the Melody “Crux fidelis” or “Pange lingua”

With harmonious voice, with vows and with pious hearts, this feast of Anne the mother, so illustrious, grows eager to set forth. We beg that you be gently present to those who praise you.

You are the parent of Mary’s mother; you are most pleasing to God. You preserved the ordinances of the law which Moses once delivered to the fathers of old and to the Hebrew peoples.

Wondrous, gracious gifts you obtain for the faithful, by prayer pleasing before the Son of the high Father. You heal the sick, and grant that hearts be chaste.

We ask you, Father, and the Son with the Spirit, that you grant joyful things to us who sing together the praises of the renowned, most sweet Anne, the mother of the nurturing Virgin. Amen.

A Poem by Rutger Venray, a German Regular Canon of Heinsberg, on the Book Concerning the Praises of Saint Anne

Whoever you may be, reader of this excellent book, put aside empty fear; no frivolous things hold it. This book, pregnant with wondrous meaning and sweet with charm, Abbot Trithemius brought forth by his art, watching over books, guardian of the sheep of Spanheim, who cultivates the sacred writings of the threefold tongue.

Here you will find the titles of Anne, full of reason and art; only turn them over in a pious heart. He does not follow vain and doubtful little tales everywhere; he teaches the clear streams of sacred eloquence. Therefore, I pray, read lovingly the worthy praises of venerable Anne, which the learned man has brought forth for you.

Johannes Trithemius, Abbot of Spanheim, to the Reader: Greeting.

When recently, at the insistence of friends, I had resolved to write something concerning the praises of the most holy mother Anne, certain fathers of the Order of the Brothers of the Blessed Mary, ever Virgin, of Mount Carmel, asked that I not omit a defense of the most pure Marian conception. And so, persuaded by their prayers and otherwise by just reason, the seventh chapter of this work, concerning the conception

I have noted beforehand concerning the mother of God and virgin, so that no one may take it otherwise than my intention has it; I thought the reader should be warned. For I know, and it does not escape me, how many most holy and most learned men once wrote that the Mother of God was subject to the stain of original sin, men who flourished long before the Council of Basel. Their opinion, making allowance for the time, I pass over wholly untouched, and I in no way intend to say or write anything against them. Indeed, if anything spoken by me seems rather harsh, let it be referred not to those who think otherwise than we do, but only to the obstinate, who, prattling without learning, do not hesitate to call the defenders of the other opinion heretics. And my words indicate this, since they denote the present time and not the past. For when I say what the foolish bark, what the unlearned mutter, that belongs to the present time, not the past, and today it reproves the obstinate, not those of old who held a different opinion. But when I ask what learned man has ever written the contrary, I am not speaking of the ancient fathers, but I mean those who, after the determination of the aforesaid council, hold a different opinion. Thus I censure only the obstinacy of certain unlearned men of this time, not the opinion of any learned men whatsoever who think differently, since I am not ignorant of the declaration of Sixtus IV, supreme pontiff. But it has seemed to me in no way alien to the holy Roman Church to hold the faith of the most pure conception, which she believes and venerates, as is shown today by many proofs. Finally, together with the doctors of the universities of Paris, Cologne, Heidelberg, Erfurt, Vienna, Tübingen, Ingolstadt, Basel, Mainz, and many others, and with almost all orders and the faithful of Christ spread throughout the whole Christian world, I do not fear to venerate as pure the conception of the Mother of God and Virgin Mary. Yet I do not admit obstinacy, but I wish in all things to obey the Roman Church as the most reverend mother of all churches. This is the pure and sincere intention of my aforesaid chapter, in which I think no one who holds an opinion soberly and without obstinacy is disparaged. Farewell, reader.

This letter of the aforesaid lord Johannes, abbot, is lacking in certain copies through carelessness and negligence; nevertheless he ordered it to be appended to all copies, and decreed that it be regarded as appended to each.

Printed at Leipzig by Melchior Lotter.