Messina

Accidit ergo, quod de mense Octobris anno dominice Incarnationis MCCCXLVII. circa principium mensis Octobris prime Indictionis, duodecim galee Januensium, divinam fugientes ulcionem, quam Dominus noster pro eorum iniquitatibus desuper eis transmiserat, applicuerunt in portum civitatis Messane, talem secum morbum ossibus infixum deferentes, quod si quis cum aliquo ipsorum locutus fuisset, erat infirmitate effectus letali, quam mortem nullatenus evadere poterat inmediate.

In the year of the Lord’s Incarnation 1347, at the beginning of October, in the first indiction, twelve Genoese galleys put in at the port of the city of Messina. They were fleeing the vengeance of God, which our Lord had sent down on them for their sins. They brought with them a disease so fixed in their bones that anyone who had spoken with one of them caught a deadly sickness at once. He could in no way escape death.

Messanenses vero cognoscentes dictam eorum repentinam mortem eis incurrere propter Januensium galearum adventum, eos de portu & civitate predicta cum festinantia maxima expulerunt. Remansitque dicta infirmitas in civitate predicta, ex qua sequuta extitit immensa mortalitas.

When the people of Messina realized that this sudden death had come on them because of the Genoese galleys, they drove the Genoese out of the port and the city as fast as they could. But the sickness stayed in the city, and a great mortality followed.

Inclita Regina Helisabeth Regina Sicilie, existens in civitate Catanie, don Fridericum filium suum, qui in civitate Messane tunc temporis aderat, ad se festinanter jussit venire; qui cum galeis Venetorum Cataniam festinanter applicuit.

Queen Elisabeth of Sicily was in the city of Catania. She sent for her son Don Frederick, who was in Messina at the time, to come to her at once. He hurried to Catania on Venetian galleys.

Existentibus vero quampluribus Messanensibus in civitate Catanie, piis porrectis petitionibus ad dominum Patriarcham predictum, ipsum unanimiter exorarunt, ut cum reliquiis aliquibus Agathe virginis supradicte ipse personaliter, devotionis causa, sicut decet honorifice, Messanam se conferret. Credimus enim, inquiunt, quod propter adventum reliquiarum predictarum, Messana civitas erit ex tali penitus infirmitate liberata.

Many of the people of Messina who were now in Catania presented a devout petition to the lord Patriarch. With one voice they begged him to go to Messina himself, out of devotion and with fitting honor, taking some of the relics of the virgin Agatha. “For we believe,” they said, “that when these relics come, the city of Messina will be wholly freed from this sickness.”

Populus Messanensium talia miracula intuentes, ululando cum mestis suspiriis, & crebris lacrimis, beatam Virginem deprecarunt, ut ab eis de commissis eorum peccatis recentem non sumeret ulcionem; ad quorum preces Virgo, Christi sacra sponsa, humilibus eorum precibus sacras domino porrexit petitiones. Quapropter tellurem clausam, que primitus aperta extiterat, equus incedit: & dum pervenisset ad portam civitatis, sacra Dei mater omnimode recusabat ingredi in eadem. Tandem piis orationibus sibi porrectis, ad Ecclesiam majorem civitatis Messane, videlicet ad beatam Mariam la nova ingressa extitit. Quam ymaginem mulieres Messanenses pannis sericis, & jocalibus pretiosis obruunt.

When the people of Messina saw these miracles, they wailed and sighed and wept. They begged the blessed Virgin not to take fresh vengeance on them for the sins they had committed. Moved by their humble prayers, the Virgin, holy bride of Christ, carried their petitions to the Lord. The earth that had opened closed again, and the horse walked on. But when it reached the city gate, the holy Mother of God still refused to go in. At last, after many devout prayers to her, she entered the great church of Messina, Saint Mary la Nova. The women of Messina covered the image with silk cloths and precious jewels.

Quid ultra? adeo fuerunt abominabiles & timorosi, quod nemo cum eis loquebatur, nec conversabant, sed fugiebant velociter eorum visionem, eorum anelitus penitus recusantes, & quasi in derisione omnibus Cataniensibus sunt effecti. Et si aliquis eorum cum aliquo loquebatur, respondebatur sibi vulgariter, non mi parlari ca si Missinisi, & nemo eos hospitabatur. Domos pro eorum habitaculis ad conducendum penitus non inveniebant. Et nisi quod Messanenses aliqui in civitate Catanie cum eorum familia habitantes eos clam hospitabantur, fuissent quasi omni auxilio destituti.

What more is there to say? People found them so loathsome and so frightening that no one would speak to them or keep company with them. Everyone ran from the sight of them and would not breathe their breath. They became a laughingstock to all of Catania. If one of them spoke to anyone, the answer came back in the common speech: Non mi parlari, ca si Missinisi. No one would give them lodging. They could find no house to rent anywhere. Some people from Messina who lived in Catania with their families took them in secretly. Without them, they would have had almost no help at all.