CANTIGA VII

This is how Holy Mary protected a pregnant abbess who fell asleep in front of her altar weeping.

Holy May we should greatly love,
and beg her that with her grace
she might cover us,
so that the shameless Devil
may not make us go astray or sin.
Therefore I shall tell you
of a miracle which happened,
which on behalf of an abbess,
the Mother of God performed.
For, as I have since learned
she was there herself.
But the Devil deceived her
so that she became pregnant
by a man from Bologna,
a man who should have received
and kept secret her deed
and her wrong-doing.

Holy Mary we should greatly love...

We learn that the nuns
were delighted
by the abbess' predicament
because she had
treated them so strictly.
They told the bishop,
and he came from Cologne
and summoned the abbess.
Holy Mary we should greatly love...

The Bishop spoke to her thus
"Lady, from what I have heard,
you have behaved very badly
and I have come here for this,
that in front of me
you may repent and reform.
" But the lady, without waiting,
went to entreat the Mother of God; and, while she slept,
Holy Mary delivered her of the child and sent it to be raised in Soissons.

Holy Mary we should greatly love...

We learn that the abbess
awoke without child
went before the bishop
who examined her naked.
On seeing her
he praised God and
castigated the nuns,
declaring the abbess
innocent of all their accusations.

Holy Mary we should greatly love...