# 15 - A SERIOUS REPORT ON BLESSED CASTELLO, O.P.

 # 15 - A SERIOUS REPORT ON BLESSED CASTELLO, O.P.

JUSTICE IS TRUTH IN ACTION - HTTP://WWW.CINOPSBEGONEBLOGSPOT.COM. - MON. FEB 23, 2021

THE LIFE OF BLESSED MARGARET CASTELLO,O.P.

 

Father William R. Bonneville O.P. Tan Books, Carolina, 2016, Chapter 4, p.26-29

 

Chapter VI --- The German Pilgrims

    ...But this wonderful news would soon be rivaled by the news five German pilgrims would bring to Mercatello. It was near noon when the guards at the south gate saw a group of five men approaching the town. Their gray robes with gray mantles, their round felt hats, the staves they carried and the scrip or small leather bag slung over the shoulder of each man proclaimed they were pilgrims. Such men were always welcome, since they brought news from different cities.The people in the plazza began to draw near the city gate, when someone noticed the loden emblems sewn to the hats of the pilgrims.Excitedly he shouted.

 

"The cross keys and the vernacle! the pilgrims are from Rome!"

    At this, everybody rushed towards the pilgrims, who were now close, and began to deluge them with questions about the Pope, Clement V. As everybody was shouting his questions at the same time, the uproar prevented the replies of the pilgrims from being heard. Then a stentorian voice was heard from the fringe of the crowd. "Silence! Silence! Everybody, science!"

 

    The speaker was a tall, burly man,strikingly dressed. He wore a long gown of yellow silk over which was a scarlet cloak, while the red cape with the hood thrown back covered his shoulders..Indeed, he was none other than Messer Rainaldo, magistrate of Mercatello. When he had obtained silence, he said to the pilgrims:

   "While you were at the Eternal City, did you learn when the Pope will leave France and return to Rome?"

    The chief pilgrim sadly replied: When we left Rome ten days ago, there was an official statement to the effect that Clement V intends to reside permanently at Avignon."

 

    A stunned silence followed this information. Men gazed at one another in utter disbelief, wondering if they heard right. A Pope live elsewhere than at Rome. The very thought was preposterous! The silence was broken by a Franciscan friar shouting up as he threw out his arms:""There must be a curse on all Italy! Wars are breaking out everywhere from Sicily to the Alps - there is bloodshed and crime on all sides! And now even the Pope has abandoned us! God is angry with us because of our sins!"

 

    "A son of St. Francis should not say that," answered the pilgrim mildly. "In view of what one Franciscan is doing near here, it is evident God is not angry with everybody in Italy!" "What do you mean?" asked the friar, obviously surprised. "Have you not heard of Fra Giacomo of Castello? No? He as a lay member of your Order - tertiary. I say 'was' because he recently died and many people claim miracles have been performed at his tomb."

 

    "Miracles at Castello?" protested one tradesman who believed anything might happen in far-off places, but not close at hand. "What is so strange about that?" indignantly demanded Messer Rainaldo. "Didn't the Poverello himself worked miracles at Castello? "Yes" jubilantly shouted the friar. "And now we have another Franciscan wonder-worker nearby!"

 

    The servant who brought Margaret her meals told her that the was was over. Trabaria was safe, and in short time her father would be returning. The news filled the girl with a happiness she had rarely known. What more can one desire? Bloodshed was ended, her country free again, her father unharmed! She fell to her knees to thank God for that triple blessing. Had she been able to look into the future, her joy would have quickly come to an end. For tragedy, a grim tragedy, was patiently waiting for her. And it would not have to wait long. 

 

George H. Kubeck