148 Ulisse Aldrovandi

Furthermore, a more miraculous prodigy occurred in the village of Dullefelt in the year 1125. A boy was suffering from a swelling near his right knee; when the tumor was lanced, it was not pus that emerged, but grains of rye and barley. At that same time, as Lycosthenes reports, a great famine afflicted the neighboring regions in a wondrous way. However, it is possible that as matter putrefies within tumors, something resembling grains of barley or wheat might be produced without it being a prodigy; the illustration on the previous page shows this phenomenon.

According to the same Lycosthenes, in the year 3868 of the World, a woman in Arezzo vomited ears of spelt, and they also emerged from her nose. At that same time, King Ptolemy of Egypt died in Cyrene and named the Roman Senate and People as his heirs. An illustration of this prodigy is also provided.

Additionally, Dinoth records in his *Adversaria* that in the year 823, in the territory of Toul, a twelve-year-old girl abstained from all food for a period of ten months. Julius Obsequens adds that in the year 619 from the founding of Rome, a child was born without an anus, and crops grew upon trees on the Capitoline Hill—a prodigy which led them to predict that the Roman army would suffer heavy losses from the Numantines. The same author left a record that in the year 607 from the founding of the city, a child was born with three feet and only one hand, along with many other such things which we will recount later in the chapter on Monsters.

MIRACLES

The miracles that the supreme Architect of all things and His Saints have performed—not only in parts of the human body but throughout the whole body—beyond the power of nature are so numerous that days would fail us before we could list every miracle of this kind. Nevertheless, we have decided to recount only a few examples of them. Regarding hair, Theodoret relates in his *Philotheus* that when Jacob, the Bishop of Nisibis, was traveling down into Persia, certain girls lingering by a fountain cast off their modesty; with heads uncovered and garments tucked up, they stared at the holy man with impudent eyes. The just man, taking this poorly, cursed the fountain, which immediately dried up. He also cursed the girls, and straightway punished their impudent youth with premature grey hair; indeed, the blackness of their hair was transformed into white, defiling their beauty thereafter.

The virgin Lucilla, daughter of the Tribune of the Plebs Nemesius, regained her sight through the intercession of Pope Stephen, after which, according to Volaterranus, she suffered martyrdom under Valerian. Likewise, Nautulphus, a boy blind from birth, obtained his sight through the prayers of Saint Enoch, as recorded by Gregory of Tours.

Regarding the tongue, Egnatio tells us, following Procopius, that the Libyan bishops were deprived of their tongues by the Arians; nonetheless, as they made their way to Constantinople, Procopius heard them speaking clearly. Nicephorus writes that the same thing happened to several Christians living among the Persians, who, having lost their tongues through tyrannical violence, spoke beyond the power of nature.

Even infants of only twenty days have uttered clear words, according to Sophronius. For when Abbot Daniel had removed a certain matron’s sterility through his prayers and petitions, and she had consequently borne an offspring, he was accused of adultery by his adversaries. He went to the infant, who was only twenty-five days old, and asked who its father was; the infant then spoke openly and identified its true father. Zoe, the wife of Nicostratus the martyr, who had been mute for many years due to a severe illness, finally regained her former speech through the help of Saint Sebastian.

Regarding the hand, Lycosthenes records that during the reign of Pope Leo VI, a man’s hand was cut off with a blade; then, as the year turned, it was restored to him while he slept, beyond the natural order. He asserts that the sign of the miracle was a line