HOW A MAN BELIEVED TO HAVE DIED CAME TO TESTIFY IN A LAND CASE INVOLVING A BISHOP
Perhaps the most spectacular of the visits was that of
Peter Miles. His visit confirmed the belief that the souls in
purgatory, although in terrible suffering, are happy that
heaven is assured and thus take their sufferings the same
way a sick person accepts any painful treatment being
administered to him in order to cure him of his ailment.
If a sick person requires an injection to be cured, he
desires it, and even begs for it, even though he knows it
will cause him some pain. This is because he knows that it
is necessary. for him to go through it in order to get
cured. In the same way, the souls in purgatory are
grateful at being given the opportunity to be purged of
their sins in order to enter eternal glory. In the year 1070, when Boleslas II was the Duke of
Poland, there was a Bishop by name Stanislaus (now a
saint) who then was the Bishop of Cracow, Poland. He
never failed to remind the Duke of his just duties
whenever the latter was seen to engage in acts likely to
scandalize his subjects. The Duke was not happy with this
and sought ways to take revenge on the prelate who was
merely exercising his holy duties towards all to ensure
their salvation.
Peter Miles, owned a piece of land near the church of
Cracow. He sold this piece of land to the Bishop in the
presence of some witnesses; and the land became, part
of the church compound thereafter. Peter Miles later
died and three years after his death, Duke Boleslas II
came up with his planned revenge on the Bishop.
He incited the children of Peter Miles to claim that the
Bishop usurped their father’s land without paying for it.
He went further to bribe all the witnesses, and used his
position as the Duke of Poland to intimidate them.
When the case was brought up for hearing, the
witnesses, to the surprise of the Bishop denied ever
being present when the land was sold to the church. The
Bishop was therefore disgraced, and denounced as a
usurper of the property of another, and ordered by the
court to make restitution. With a sorrowful heart the
Bishop raised his heart to God and prayed silently, and he
received a sudden divine inspiration, which made him speak thus: “Since I have been painted a liar and usurper,
and no longer have any witness to testify to the truth of
my claim, may I humbly ask for a delay of three days to
enable me bring in person, the-man who sold the piece
of land to me to testify”. The court granted his request,
with scorn. Those among the crowd in the court who
knew that Peter Miles had died some three years ago,
thought that the Bishop was going to make a desperate
effort to bring one other witness who would not
denounce him like the other witnesses. St. Stanislaus
then fasted; watched and prayed God to take up the
defence of his cause, since he had no other person alive
to defend him. He continued praying and fasting, and on
the third day, after having celebrated Holy Mass in his
church, he went out to the place where Peter Miles was
buried three years before. He was accompanied by all
the reverend fathers, reverend sisters and many of the
faithful in his diocese.
On arrival at the burial ground, the crowd moved
towards Peter Mile’s grave. The Bishop ordered that the
grave be opened. The workman started work and
opened up the grave. It contained nothing but bones of
the dead man. He touched these bones with his Crosier,
and in the name of Jesus, who is the Resurrection and the
life, he commanded the dead man to arise, following the
instructions and directives of the divine urge inside him.
Suddenly, and in the presence of the whole people who
had gathered there, the bones moved and reunited, each
staying in its normal position when alive. Next, they saw human flesh forming over the bones, and being covered
with clothing as it formed. Moments later, and before the
stupefied crowd, some of whom fled with fear, there
arose from the grave Mr. Peter Miles. He stretched forth
his hand and held that of the Bishop who led him to the
tribunal.
As both men approached the court, followed by the
crowd which was now singing praise to God, there was a
stampede among the huge crowd that had gathered.
This case had received a great amount of publicity since it
began and many people came to the court that day. The
Duke and the judges who did not know Peter Miles in
person stood their ground along with many others in the
court, while those who knew him fled in fear .
Those among the crowd who knew that Peter Miles had
died, could not believe their eyes as they beheld another
Peter Miles approaching the court. Upon entering the
court, the Bishop turned to the Duke and said: “Behold
Peter; he comes, prince, to give testimony before you.
Interrogate him; he will answer you.’.’
It is impossible to depict the stupefaction of the Parish
councillors and other citizens of Cracow who were able
to recognize the Peter Miles they had buried three years
before. The Duke and the Judge were told that the man
they were looking at died 3 years ago. Without anyone
having any more courage left to open his mouth to
question him, Peter spoke up. He affirmed that he sold the land to the Bishop and that he was paid by him for it.
Then turning to his children who stood trembling with
fear, the dead man reproached them for having accused
the pious prelate against all rights of justice; then he
warned them to do penance for so grievous a sin.
Wishing to complete this great miracle for the greater
glory of God, the bishop proposed to the deceased that if
he desired to live a few more years on earth, now that he
was back to life, he would be able to obtain such a favour
for him from God. At this, Peter replied that he had no
such desire. He said that he was in Purgatory, but that he
would prefer to return there immediately to continue his
suffering rather than take the risk of living in this world
again because he was not sure he would be lucky to
escape eternal damnation if he lived again as a human
being. He begged the bishop to only beg God to shorten
the time of his suffering in Purgatory so that he might be
delivered.
After that, the bishop again led him back to the grave in
the company of a big crowd of people. When they
arrived at his grave, Peter waved at the crowd, shook the
bishop’s hand and laid himself down in his grave.
Suddenly, before all eyes, his body fell to pieces, and his
bones resumed the same state in which they had first
been found, and the grave covered again.
Soon afterwards, several people including the Bishop
engaged themselves in prayers and offering of holy masses for the repose of the soul of Mr. Miles. Although
he did not make any apparition to announce his
deliverance from purgatory, yet there was reason to
believe that Peter Miles was soon delivered from those
purgatorial flames by the prayers of the Bishop and
several other people.
