Sprengerum Ord. Praedic. Inquisitores,[1] which has run into many editions (see the notice of Fr. Henry Kramer). This book was translated into French as Le Maillet des Sorcières, Lyons, Stephanus Gueynard, 4to.[2] See the Bibliothèque Françoise du Verdier.
3. The institution and approbation of the Society or Confraternity of the Most Holy Rosary which was first erected at Cologne on 8 September in the year 1475, with an account of many graces and Miracles, as also of the indulgences which have been granted to this said Confraternity. I am uncertain whether he wrote and issued this book in Latin or in German, since I have never seen it, and it was certainly composed for the instruction and edification of the people. Moreover, it is reported that the following circumstances were the occasion of the founding of this Society. In the year 1475, when Nuess was being besieged by Charles, Duke of Burgundy,[3] with a vast army, and the town was on the very point of surrender, the magistrates and chief burghers of Cologne, fearing the danger which threatened their city, resorted in a body to Fr. James, who was then Prior of the Convent, and besought him that if he knew of any plan or device which might haply ward off this disaster, he would inform them of it and instruct them what was best to be done. Fr. James, having seriously debated the matter with the senior members of the house, replied that all were agreed there could be no more unfailing and present remedy than to fly to the help of the Blessed Virgin, and that the very best way of effecting this would be if they were not only to honour the Immaculate Mother of God by means of the Holy Rosary which had been propagated several years ago by Blessed Alan de la Roche,[4] but that they should also institute and erect a Society and Confraternity, in which every man should enrol himself with the firm resolve of thenceforth zealously and exactly fulfilling with a devout mind the obligations that might be required by the rules of membership. This excellent plan recommended itself to all. On the feast of the Nativity of Our Lady (8 September) the Society was inaugurated and High Mass was sung; there was a solemn procession throughout the city; all enrolled themselves and were inscribed on the Register; they fulfilled their duties continually with the utmost fervour, and before long the reward of their devotion was granted to them, since peace was made between the Emperor Frederick IV and Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy. In the following year, 1476, Alexander Nanni de Maltesta, Bishop of Forli and legatus a latere[5] from Sixtus IV, who was then residing at Cologne,[6] solemnly approved the Confraternity and on 10 March enriched it with many indulgences. And this is the first of those societies which are known as the Rosary Confraternity[7] to be erected and approved by the Apostolic authority. For in a short time, being
- ↑ “The Hammer of Witches which destroyeth Witches and their heresy as with a two-edged sword,” by Fr. Henry Kramer and Fr. James Sprenger, of the Order of Preachers, Inquisitors.
- ↑ An edition which cannot be traced. See the Note upon the Bibliography.
- ↑ 1433–77. In 1467 he succeeded to the Dukedom of Burgundy on the death of his father, Philip the Good.
- ↑ Alanus de Rupe, born about 1428; died at Zwolle in Holland, 8 September, 1475. Early in life he entered the Dominican Order, and after a distinguished academic career, preached throughout Northern France, Flanders, and the Netherlands with intensest enthusiasm, his special mission being the re-establishment everywhere of the Holy Rosary. His vision of the Rosary is generally assigned to the year 1460. The “Petite Année Dominicaine” (Rome, 1911, p. 309) says: “Il fut le grand prédicateur des vertus de la T.-Ste-Vierge au XVe siècle et le restaurateur du St. Rosaire. Car … une dévotion si rationnelle, si facile, si attrayante, si utile, inaugurée par un aussi grand saint que Dominique était tombée presque partout dans l’oubli. Alain se mit à l’œuvre … faisant renaître avec la culture du Rosaire, les fruits de grâce. … Sa mort était celle d’un saint, et son tombeau devint glorieux par de nombreux miracles. Un autel lui était dédié dans le couvent de Dinan, et le B. Grignon de Montefort aimait à y dire la messe.”
- ↑ The legati a latere are cardinals sent by the Pope on extraordinary missions or as temporary representatives.
- ↑ The Archbishop Rupprecht von der Pfalz (1463–80) was forcibly pressing his rights as temporal lord, an action which gave rise to considerable violence and much fighting throughout the territory.
- ↑ The Devotion itself was revealed by Our Lady to S. Dominic. Although perhaps no actual Confraternities had been granted indulgences before 1475–6, yet there were Dominican Guilds and Fraternities which fostered this Crown of Prayers.
