{ "meta": { "schema_version": "1.1", "endpoint": "/api/sources/rhineland-mystics/suso/vol-1-17-chapter-xviil.json" }, "work": { "slug": "suso", "name": "Heinrich Suso" }, "parents": [ { "slug": "rhineland-mystics", "name": "Rhineland Mystics", "url": "/sources/rhineland-mystics/" } ], "chapter": { "num": 18, "slug": "vol-1-17-chapter-xviil", "title": "Chapter XVIIL", "of": 51, "words": 1588, "text": "## Chapter XVIIL\n\nOf the sharp cross which he bore upon his back. \n\nAbove all his other exercises, he had a long- \ning desire to bear upon his body something \nwhich might betoken a sensible sympathy with \nthe painful sufferings of his crucified Lord. To \nthis end he made for himself a wooden cross, in \nlength about a man's span, and of corresponding \nbreadth, and he drove into it thirty iron nails, \nintending to represent by them all his Lord's \nwounds and love-tokens. He placed this cross \nupon his bare back between his shoulders on \nthe flesh, and he bore it continually day and \nnight in honour of his crucified Lord. After- \nwards, in the last year, he drove into it besides \nseven needles, so that their points passed a long \nway through the cross, and remained sticking \nin it, while the other ends were broken off close \nto the wood. He bore the wounds made by \nthese pointed needles in honour of the piercing \nanguish of God's pure Mother, by which her \nheart and soul were wounded through and \nthrough so utterly at the hour of her Son's \nagonising death. The first time that he stretched \nout this cross upon his back his tender frame \n\n\n62 LIFE OF BLESSED HEKEtY SUSO. \n\nwas struck with terror at it, and he blunted the \nsharp nails very slightly upon a stone. But very- \nsoon repenting of this unmanly cowardice, he \npointed and sharpened them all again with a \nfile, and placed the cross once more upon him. \nIt furrowed his back, where the bones are, and \nmade it bloody and seared. Whenever he sat \ndown or stood up, it was as if a hedgehog-skin \nlay upon him. If any one touched him un- \nawares, or pushed against his clothes, it tore \nhim. To make this painful cross more bear- \nable, he chiselled on the back of it the saving \nName of Jesus. For a long time he took two \ndisciplines every day with this cross, in the fol- \nlowing manner. He struck behind him with \nhis fist upon the cross, and thus drove the nails \ninto his flesh, and made them stick in it, so that \nhe had to take off his clothes to get them out \nagain. He used to strike these blows upon the \ncross so secretly that no one could have observed \nit. He took the first discipline on arriving in \nhis contemplation at the pillar where our beau- \ntiful Lord was so barbarously scourged, and he \nprayed our Lord to heal His servant's wounds \nwith His own. He took the second discipline \nwhen he had come in contemplation beneath \nthe cross, and the Lord had been nailed to it, \n\n\nTHE SHARP CROSS UPON HIS BACK. 63 \n\nand then he nailed himself to his Lord, never \nmore to part from Him. He did not take the \nthird discipline every day, but only when he \nhad been too indulgent with himself, or had \ngiven way to inordinate pleasure in eating and \ndrinking, or such like. \n\nOnce upon a time he had been so much off \nhis guard as to take into his hands the hands of \ntwo maidens, who were sitting beside him in a \npublic assembly, though without any bad inten- \ntion. He soon repented of this unguardedness, \nand he considered that this inordinate pleasure \nmust be atoned for by penance. As soon as he \nleft the maidens, and had come into his chapel \nto his place of privacy, he struck himself upon \nthe cross for this misdeed, so that the pointed \nnails stuck into his back. He moreover laid \nhimself under an interdict for this fault, and \nwould not allow himself to go after matins into \nthe chapter-room, his usual place of prayer, to \nmeet the heavenly spirits, who were wont to \nappear to him there during his contemplation. \nAt length, desiring to atone completely for the \nmisdeed, he summoned courage, and fell at the \nJudge's feet, and took a discipline in His pre- \nsence with the cross ; and then going round and \nround on every side before the saints, he took \n\n\n64 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nthirty disciplines, till the blood ran down his \nback. In this way he atoned very bitterly for \nthe inordinate pleasure which he had allowed \nhimself. \n\nAfter matins had been sung, he went into \nthe chapter-room, to his place of privacy, and \nkissed the ground a hundred times prostrate \nwith outstretched arms, and a hundred times \nkneeling; each time with a special object of \ncontemplation. This caused him very great \npain on account of the cross. For as it was \nfastened tightly upon him, and driven closer to \nhis body than a hoop is to a cask — such being \nhis custom at this period — each time that he \nflung himself on the ground in making the \nhundred prostrations the nails stuck into him \nthrough the fall. When he got up again he \nwrithed them out of him. But at the next fall \nthey stuck into fresh holes, and this was a sore \npain to him. If, however, they stuck into the \nsame holes it was endurable. \n\nThere was another penitential exercise which \nhe had previously practised. It was this : He \nmade for himself a scourge out of a leather \nthong, and had it fitted with pointed brass tacks \nas sharp as a style, in such a way that the ends \nof each tack stood out on either side of the thong, \n\n\nHIS SCOURGE. 65 \n\nand each of the ends had a triple point, which \ncaused wounds in whatever part of the body \nthey struck. Such was the kind of scourge \nwhich he made for himself ; and he used to get \nup before matins, and go into the choir in front \nof the Blessed Sacrament, and there discipline \nhimself with it severely. He practised this \npenance for a long time, until at last the bro- \nthers became aware of it, upon which he dis- \ncontinued it. \n\nOnce, on St. Clement's day, at the beginning \nof winter, he made a general confession, and \nthat same evening, when it became dusk, he \nshut himself up in his cell, and stripping him- \nself naked to his horsehair under-garment, he \ntook out the scourge with the pointed tacks, and \nstruck himself with it over the body and about \nthe arms, till the blood ran down just as when \none is cupped. The chief cause of this was a \nbent tack on the scourge, in shape like a little \nhook, which tore away all the flesh on which it \ncaught. He struck himself so hard, that the \nscourge broke into three pieces, and while one \nlittle piece remained in his hand, the rest with \nthe points flew against the walls. As he stood \nthere all covered with blood, and looked at him- \nself, the spectacle which he presented was a \n\n\n66 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO. \n\nmost miserable one, and lie resembled in some \ndegree Christ, our Lord, when He was bar- \nbarously scourged. Thereupon, being moved \nto pity for himself, he began to weep from liis \nvery heart, and kneeling down all naked and \nbleeding in the frosty cold, he besought God so \nto blot out all his sins that His merciful eyes \nmight no more behold them. \n\nAnother time, on Quinquagesima Sunday, he \nwent, as he had done before, into his cell, when \nthe brothers were at table; and after having \nstripped himself naked, he gave himself very \ncruel blows, so that the blood streamed down \nhis body. But just as he was about to strike \nhimself still harder, there came thither a bro- \nther, who had heard the noise, so that he was \nobliged to leave off. Then he took vinegar and \nsalt, and rubbed them into his wounds, that \"the \npain might be rendered greater. \n\nOn St. Benedict's feast, the day on which \nhe was born into this miserable world, he went at \nbreakfast-time into his chapel, and making fast \nthe door, stripped himself as before, and taking \nout the scourge, began to strike himself with it. \nA blow fell on his left arm, and hit the vein \ncalled mediana, or another vein near it. And \nas the stroke was a very severe one, the blood \n\n\nHIS SCOURGE. 67 \n\nburst forth, and ran down in a stream upon his \nfoot between the toes, and lay in a pool upon \nthe pavement. His arm immediately swelled \nup to a great size, and turned blue ; and this so \nfrightened him, that he did not dare to go on \nstriking. Now at this very time, and at the \nselfsame hour in which he thus struck himself, \nthere was at another place in a certain castle a \nholy maiden, named Anna, praying, who seemed \nto herself to be carried in a vision to the spot \nwhere he was taking the discipline. And when \nshe saw the hard blows which he was giving \nhimself, it so moved her to compassion that, \ngoing up to him just as he had raised his arm, \nand was on the point of striking, she intercepted \nthe blow, and received it on her own arm, as it \nseemed to her in the vision. When she came \nto herself again, she found the mark of the blow \non her arm in black wales, as if she had been \nhit by a scourge. These marks remained visible \nupon her for a long time, and they were accom- \npanied with great pain. \n\n\n68 LIFE OF BLESSED HENRY SUSO.", "project_translation": false, "text_trust": "verbatim", "quote_safe": true, "license": null, "methodology_url": null } }