" [Part xii. Serm. ii. On
the twenty-second excellence, p. 825.]
The only remaining author, to whom I will at present refer you, is a
canonized saint, Bernardinus Senensis. A full account of his life, his
miracles, and his enrolment among the saints in heaven, is found in the
Acta Sanctorum, vol. v. under the 20th of May, the day especially
dedicated to his honour. Eugenius IV. died before the canonization of
Bernardine could be completed: the next pope, Nicholas V. on Whitsunday
1450, in full conclave, enrolled him among the saints, to the joy, we
are told, of all Italy. In 1461, Pius the Second said that Bernardine
was taken for a saint even in his lifetime; and, in 1472, Sixtus IV.
issued a bull, in which he extols the saint, and authorizes the
translation of his body into a new church, dedicated, as others had
been, to his honour.
This Bernardine is equally explicit with others, in maintaining, that
all the blessings which Christians can receive on earth are dispensed by
Mary; that her princedom equals the princedom of the Eternal Father;
that all are her servants and subjects, who are the subjects and
servants of the Most High; that all who adore the Son of God should
adore his virgin-mother, and that the Virgin has repaid the Almighty for
all that He has done for the human race. Some of these doctrines were to
me quite startling; I was not prepared for them; but I have been assured
they find an echo in the pulpits in many parts of the continent.
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