WHEN RETURNING TO LIFE WAS TO RISK HELL
It stands to reason that if a man is raised from the dead, there needs to be some key witnesses to attest to his resurrection. In the following case, the witnesses to a man being raised from the dead had no reason to admit the miracle. They had put lies in a dead man's mouth, and were put to shame when he came back from the dead and testified in court as to their deception.
This happened in Poland in the year 1070. Poland was under the rule of the unruly King Boleslas II who often clashed with his saintly bishop, St Stanislaus, the shepherd of Cracow. At this time, King Boleslas had been monarch for 12 years, and was from the first ruling royal family of Poland, the Piast dynasty. During that time, Boleslas's lived an amoral life and was negligent in his duties towards the Polish people. St Stanislaus defended his people and never failed to reprimand his prince and even had cause to criticize him in public. Modern historians tend to give Boleslas a pat on the back because he was so often at odds with the Catholic bishops and he was thought a pest (at best) by other rulers in the Holy Roman Empire. Yet King Boleslas II was more than a bit of a rogue. He was a malevolent liar and he hatched a plot to ruin St Stanislaus.
There was a man who was dead in the grave by the name of Peter Miles. In life, Peter had sold land to St Stanislaus. But when he died, Peter's heirs fell under the control of Boleslas who forced them to lie that St Stanislaus had taken hold of the land without paying for it. St Stanislaus stood accused of being a thief by his prince and his puppets: the heirs of Peter Miles. In their hubris, they thought the Saint would be condemned because the only man who could testify that he'd been paid was turning to ash.
Stanislaus tried to protest his innocence, but he knew that the witnesses had been paid-off or coerced into perjury. So, he begged for a recess of three days. During these days, Stanislaus prayed, fasted and went with a throng of his followers to the grave of Peter Miles. He gave orders that the grave be opened. A jumble of bones lay in the pit. But Stanislaus was moved to touch Peter's bones with his crosier and in the name of Jesus, he bade the dead man to resurrect.
The faithful who gathered around the grave saw Peter's bones reassemble and flesh clothe the skeleton and they saw Peter give his arm to his bishop who led him back to the tribunal. "Behold Peter," said St Stanislaus to Boleslas, "he comes, to give testimony before you. Interrogate him, he will answer you." Peter assured all present that he had been paid for the land, and that his heirs were lying at the request of a bad king.
Duke Boleslas was embarrassed to his marrow and disgraced before his ministers of state. Next, Boleslas saw Stanislaus offer Peter a reward. He would obtain from Almighty God the grace for Peter to come back to life and live a few more years. Peter was not tempted for one second. He said he would not risk going back to this life and risking eternal hellfire, and that he wanted to go back to Purgatory instead. But he pleaded with Stanislaus for his prayers that his passage through purgatorial flames be as swift as possible. Stanislaus gave him his word and Peter was soon in Heaven.
Not long after, St Stanislaus joined Peter. 9 years after the tribunal that had ruined Boleslas's reputation, the King sliced Saint Stanislaus with his sword when the bishop was offering Holy Mass.
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Classic painting of Saint Stanislaus leading Peter before the royal tribunal was executed by Tommaso Dolabella. This post was informed by Schouppe's Purgatory which you may buy in The Spirit Daily Store.
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