The PurveyProject

De sancta Maria Magdalena
Homilies for Saints

Par Alina MIHOC
Publication en ligne le 05 octobre 2013

1/f. 62r/ Frendys, ȝe shal haue a solempne feste in Holy Chirche of an holy womman, Mary Mawdelen, the whiche sum tyme in here leuynge was a vicius womman of her body. But forƿermore we redyn of here that she was the first womman that sawe Criste himself after that he ros from deth on Ester day, and therefore she is first seyde in the letany before al uirgyns outtake oure lady seynt Mary. And whanne oure Lord was comyn into Galile he went him into a Sarzin hous, and his name was called Symon. And Mary Mawdelen was enspired with the Holy Goste, and cam into the same hous that he was inne. And anon she fel on kneis before him and asked penaunce for her giltes, and for that she hath leued wele in here lyf in lecherye. And there she knewleched al her giltes and she wepid faste before him, Crist Ihesu, for her trespass, and with water of her ien she wisshe his feet. And after she brout a boyste with oynement in her honde. And therewith she anoynted his woundes there as he had bled on the rode tre. And this was a signe of gret loue that she had to God. Than this Sarzin, Symeon, had gret indignacioun that Crist wolde suffre seche a synful womman as she

2/f. 62v/ was to comyn to him and so wasshed his legges and anoynte him after. Our Lord answerd him ayen and seyde to him that ilke Symon: ‘Ne she had not yeven me in kyssinge, ne she had not wassh my feet, ne nere she had not wassh my woundes syn that I cam into this hous, the whiche this womman hath don al theise thinges’, seyde he. ‘Wherefore, womman’, seyde he, ‘thi synnes ben forgeue the; so go forthe in pes, for thi beleue hath made the saf’. And thanne furtheremore of her lyf a gret clerke Iosaphus tellith that Mary Mawdelen, after that Crist was ascended up to heuene, for the benynge loue that she had to Cryste Ihesu oure sauioure, and also for the repreve and vilony that she had of her synne and also of herseluen that she had ben seche a synful womman of her flessh, she made a vow to God that she wolde neuere se man after with her bodily ien after tyme that she was out of his sight. And anon after she went here into wildernesse and there she duelled in a kaue vnder the erthe xxx^ti yere, and no man wist where she was becomyn. And in al that tyme she neuere ete mannes mete. And alsoitfel after that xxx^ti yere was gon, that a preste come be the same wey where Mary Mawdelen was hidde. And so it happened his

3/f. 63r/ wey fel evene thereto and he saw a preue denwithinne the erthe and gret lyȝt thereinne. And it had a wondere gret saueras he loked inward, but nout he sawe. And anon this prest kneled doun before the den and seyde theise wordes: Adiuro te per patrem et filium et spiritum1 sanctum ut si homosis in ista spelunca mecum loquaris et si spiritus sis respondias michi. And that is to seyn : ‘I coniurethe be the uertu of the Fader and the Sone and the Holy Goste, ƿat if ƿu be a man that art here in this den, that ƿu speke to me, and if ƿu be a spiryte answere me’. And anon there cam a voys out of the den and seyde: ‘I shal answere the for ƿu hast coniured me be the holy Trinite, and I shal tell the what I am’, seyde the voys. ‘Ne herdest ƿu neuere telle ne raddest ƿu neuere in holy gospel of a wreched synful womman that hite Mary Mawdelen, the whiche the Lord Ihesu Criste cast out vii deuels?’, seyde the voys. And he answerd ayen and seyde: ‘I haue herde it and I haue rad it in the holy gospel’, he seyde. And she answerd ayen and seyde: ‘I am the same womman, Mary Mawdelen, of whome it is so [seyde]2 of in Holy Chirche’, seyde the voys. ‘And for the loue that I had to my Lord Ihesu Criste,

4/f. 63v/ I haue duelled here xxx^tiyere, that neuere saw man ne neuere herde voys of man but angelys of my Lord hau led me up and shewed me’, seyde she, ‘the kyngdome of heuene. And thei hau brout me ayen to this spelonke and heuenly swetnesse. And for the feyrsight of angels that I haue sen I couet neuere met ne drynke, ne neuere was for hungerd ne thristy this xxx^ti yer. But sothely I knowe wele that my day nyeth ny, that I shal depart out of this worlde and with Cryst duellyn withoutyn ende’, seyde she3. ‘And therefore I prey the that ƿu woldest brynge to me mannes clothinge and after the vii^e day I shal ende my lif with men’, seyde she. And after the vii^e day was past, he cam ayen to here with certyn men with him. And so thei brout here forthe and led here to the chirche, and there she shroue here of alle here mysdedys and after she receyued Goddes body. And whanne she had so don, she kneled stille beforn the autere. And anon she made her preyers to almyty God, and right there in her preyers she yelde up the goste. And Cristes angels comyn anon and beryn up the soule to euerelastynge blisse, etcetera.

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