Swiss Holy and Wise One – Niklaus von Flüe – The fear of God teaches how often the children become like their father
Brother Niklaus died on March 21, 1487. Around 1493 the Obwalden government gave the Bernese Magister Heinrich Wölflin commissioned the first official biography of the great confederates.
HEINRICH WÖLFLIN, born June 30, 1470, was a citizen of Bern. He had the title of one "Masters of the Liberal Arts". On April 9, 1493 he was appointed school elected master, the call of the highly learned young man penetrated the Brünig to Ob- walden. It was during this time that the Obwalden government was given the honorable task of describing the Brother Klausen “life. For years, Wölflin collected oral reports from eyewitnesses, written notes, sworn statements and carefully studied the <Sachsler-Kirchenbuch>.
Around 1501 the biography was available in Latin manuscript. It is to be made accessible here in concise, documentary language to the people whom Brother Klaus venerates.
FROM WÖLFLIN'S FOREWORD
Men of Unterwalden! I have complied with your request and have collected and compiled your credible testimonials so that a picture of the life and the praiseworthy customs of Niklaus von Flüe emerges in a clear order. I have not included anything in it that has not been established as proven by oath certificates, which you have already included after your caution. THE UNTERWALDNER The Unterwaldner form one of the eight federal locations. You are surrounded by extensive forests, which is why they call themselves "Silvani", in German forest people. The land is adorable: has fountains, lush meadows, lush pastures.
There is no viticulture, because this valley is located between narrow, steep, rocky slopes, on which the snow hardly melts even in summer. Agriculture is sparse. But what is lacking here is easily acquired by the neighboring towns. There are large and small cattle in abundance; it is the country's main source of income. There is an abundance of fish because the upper valley is cut through by three lakes; Because of this situation, the state system of the Unterwalden is divided into two parts: in Unterwalden Whether and not the forest.
The upper part consists of six parishes: Sarnen, Kerns, Sachseln, Alpnach, Lungern and Giswil; the bottom of four: Stans, Buochs, Wolfenschiessen and Emmetten. The dense core forest separates the two parts of Unterwaldens. By popular resolutions and laws, it is stipulated that Nid makes up one third of the forest, Ob the forest two thirds of the Unterwaldner in rights and votes. The annual government is elected in both parts by popular vote, as various other confederates do. The chief officer is the governor. Even if he is the head of the state, he still does nothing without the consent of the popular assembly.
THE VON FLÜE
In the upper part of Unterwaldens there was a family that to this day is named after the mountain on which it lives and grazes its flocks: the Flüher or Von-Flüe. It was considered more respected and more religious than all the others and shone for more than four centuries, more through its customs than through its wealth. This family cultivated and raised livestock, and their way of life was simple and economical. It was a habit to do good, and it has always been faithful to worship and prayer. Our parents Heinrich von Flüe and Hemma Rubert grew out of this line in 1417, our Niklaus, of whom we report here.
MIRACLE ABOVE THE CRADLE
When Niklaus was still in his mother's lap, he saw a star in the sky that outshone all the others. The whole world was illuminated by him. He later said that in his loneliness he had seen the same star again, so that he believed it was the same one he saw in the womb. At that time he also saw a mighty rock and that holy oil with which Christians are designated in baptism. Later, as a hermit, he revealed all this in simple speech to a trusted priest; and without boasting, he said that these visions portended his own life. Then he added that immediately after his birth he had recognized the mother and the midwife and that rocky gorge through which he had been carried to Kerns to be baptized.
In this same part he now ends his life. All of this is as clear in his mind as if he had experienced it in ripe manhood. He had also known the priest who baptized him and the two godparents, an old man was only a stranger to the bystanders. At this baptism he was given the name Nicholas by divine providence, which means "defeating the people": because he was supposed to overcome the terrible world and its love.
YOUTH ON FLÜELI
From early youth he was the best boy, adorned with morality and virtues. He respected the teachings of his ancestors, faithfully preserved the paternal inheritance. In everything he loved the truth, and he was good and noble to all. Carelessness and arrogance were not to be found in him, as is usually the case with many boys. He honored the elderly by obedience.
He exhorted his peers to divine service and lived in heartfelt peace with his brothers and sisters. It was only annoying and hateful to those who did wrong. When it was over and you returned home from the tired day's work in the fields and meadows, Niklaus usually followed behind: he walked away from the rest of the house on his own so that the others shouldn't notice and looked for a secret place to pray. Only when he had thanked his Creator did he go home. During the years of his growth he began to practice more and more.
Since he was still a boy, he fasted every Friday. But soon he took it upon himself to kill the senses by fasting four times a week. He secretly kept the forty-day fasting period so strict that during the day he only ate a small bite of bread and a few dried pomegranates, which those people used to keep as delicacies. When he is reprimanded by others for such great severity became that it harms the youth, he said it was pleasing to the divine will.
NIKLAUS THE FAMILY FATHER
After he had grown up from adolescence into the years of maturity, he was married to an honorable virgin Dorothea through the sacrament of marriage. This did not happen accidentally or to satisfy sensual inclinations, but out of a clearly recognized divine arrangement. Since the two never violated their marital fidelity, not even with a disrespectful word, they received ten children, that is, five boys and as many girls. With this new fruit from “the ancient trunk, they increased the family of Christ believers in God. Educated in all kindness in the fear of God, sought the children to become like their father as much as possible.
AT THE SERVICE OF HOME
Niklaus only took part in wars on the orders of the authorities. He was the greatest freedom of peace. But where there was a fight for the fatherland, he did not want the enemy to boast of his inaction. As soon as the enemy had been overcome, however, he urged them to be careful. He fled the worldly honors as much as he could, considering them vain and worthless. He made urgent requests to his community not to burden him with the burden of public law and council.
Most of all, he shrank from the highest honorary position in the country, the Landamann: it would have been given to him often, and from a young age, with a unanimous popular vote, if he had not rejected it with all his might. All the more, however, did he cultivate prayer. He had made it a habit, at night, when the family had gone to rest, when everyone was asleep, to interrupt his sleep alone, and to spend the break of the night secretly awake with pious contemplation and persistent prayer.
NIKLAUS AND THE FIGHT WITH THE DEVIL
The evil enemy of all human salvation looked enviously at such piety in which the Man of God spent his time praying, fasting and giving alms. The devil feared that such an example and such teaching would snatch many from the hellish fire. Therefore he harassed the friend of God with his deceit wherever he could. One day Niklaus, accompanied by his son Johannes, went through the Melchtal, which lies between high, sloping rocks and takes its name from the winding Melchaa, to his mountain estate to inspect his cattle.
While the son was collecting fodder and the father, as a prudent farmer, wanted to spread the thorns from the meadow, the evil enemy appeared, grabbed him unseen and threw him backwards, probably thirty paces, into a wild thorn bush. When the son noticed this, he went to see his father: he found him unconscious and torn from spines all over his body, and carried him on his own shoulders up to the stable by the warm fire. When Niklaus gradually regained his strength there, he spoke patiently as he awoke: “Well then, in God's name! The devil grabbed me hard and threw me down. But God's will is also fulfilled in such a way! ›
MYSTERIOUS FACES
At another time Niklaus came to the meadow to see the cattle. He sat down on the earth and began to pray from the bottom of his heart in his own way and to contemplate heavenly things. Suddenly he saw a white lily of a wonderful fragrance grow up to the sky from his own mouth. Soon afterwards the cattle, from whose crops he fed his family, passed him by. He only lowered his gaze for a while and looked with pleasure at his horse, which was more beautiful than the others. Then he noticed how the lily from his mouth bowed over that horse and was devoured by the animal.
Taught by this vision, he realized that one cannot attain heavenly goods as long as one longs for earthly happiness. And he understood that gifts from heaven must suffocate as soon as they cope with the worries and business of earthly life, like that seed of the word of God in the gospel that fell under domes.
Yet another vision was given to his god-seeking spirit. From a far-off region he saw a venerable old man in solemn garb walking towards him. He sang a wonderful song: first in unison, then artfully divided into three voices, finally fading away in one voice of wondrous harmony. In his mind he recognized that the undivided deity had wanted to reveal himself to him in three mysteriously different people in this picture.
The old man came closer and asked for a gift. Niklaus gave him an alms, which he accepted with great gratitude and awe. Then he suddenly disappeared. So Niklaus was taught that alms ranks first among all works of piety. Niklaus continued on his journey of vision and came to a place that consisted of only a few houses. A beautiful palace protruded from it. He entered the palace and came to one inside Go up ten steps. Beneath it he saw a well flowing, made of oil and wine and honey.
He heard a voice which called out: "Whoever is thirsty should draw from this well". He was amazed and dismayed and wanted to know where this unfamiliar source came from. He climbed the steps and found a large container full of the same liquid. He could not tell from which sources the brunettes came. In this way the Man of God was initiated even more deeply into the mystery of the divine Trinity. He realized that without the stairs of the ten commandments one cannot attain the slightest wisdom of divine things.
How little human beings care for the divine is shown by the small amount of access to this source. When he had lingered in the palace for a short time, he went into a wide field. This was occupied by innumerable people, all busily striving like ants for profit and earthly wealth. Some made a fence and would not let anyone through without customs duties, others built a bridge over the river and demanded a bridge fee from the passers-by.
Still others stood ready with flutes, timpani and other musical instruments: but they did not play until their wages had been paid in advance. He realized that this meant people's vanity: they all want advantage and business in this world and are thus discouraged from visiting the sacred springs and so go to perdition.
Once while Niklaus was busy with domestic work, three well-formed men, who in their garb and demeanor betrayed aristocratic rank, came to see him. The first said: "Niklaus, do you want to give yourself body and soul into our power?" they turned away and nodded gently. And turning to him again, the first said: “If you have surrendered yourself to the eternal bondage of God, I promise you that the wicked God will deliver you from all hardship and hardship when you have reached the seventieth year.
Until then, be patient, so I will give you the flag of victory with the bear's claw in eternal life. But the cross, which is to remind you of us, is left behind for you: carry it! ”Then they disappeared. From these words he knew that if he valiantly overcame the tribulation of all temptation, he would enter the glory of the eternal hosts. The following event is also considered to be reliably guaranteed.
Klaus once went to his meadow to hay. As he walked, he piously called on God's grace for assistance. Then a cloud let itself down over him and said to him: It was useless for him to rely only on his own strength and only to be forced to submit to the divine will. Because nothing “is more pleasant before God than voluntary obedience. Warned by this voice, he now began to disregard the domestic business, which he had so far taken care of with great diligence, and to be all the more vigilant with obscure things.
Farewell to house and yard So the piety of his heart grew from day to day. Divine grace drove him so strongly that the whole earth no longer seemed to suffice as a dwelling place for the called friends of God. So he communicated the plan to his beloved wife, who was his most loyal advisor: he would like to renounce the joys of this world according to the urge of his heart and choose a quiet place in solitude, where he could completely devote himself to spiritual contemplation.
He knew that this would require his wife's consent. So he tried very hard to convince her of the call to God. For a long time it seemed in vain to completely free oneself from domestic worries. From this he felt clearly that his current state of life as a householder was difficult to match his desire to turn away from the world. He penetrated his wife so much that she finally gave up pleading in vain and agreed with her husband. Happy about his wife's agreement, Klaus looked for a place that seemed to him favorable for his project.
He thought to himself: if he was in the Would remain home, the evil word of resentment could call his plan hypocritical boasting. He said goodbye to his wife and children and all his household and set out on a long journey. He did not just want to look for a home outside of his closer home, but far from the borders of the Swiss country in distant foreign places.
IN A FOREIGN COUNTRY
When he had crossed the Jura chain, which separates the Helvetii from the Sequani, he came to Liestal, the first small Sequan town near the Rhine and not far from the city of Basel (which in these days, namely in 1501, the Swiss people forever as ninth place of the Confederation, no less for their own rhum and for the benefit of all confederates, as their mighty bulwark it now stands splendidly). Klaus turned to a neighboring village. There he entered into a conversation with a farmer and told him the reason for his pilgrimage.
The farmer called the project fair and pious, but did not think twice about how it would be carried out. And the farmer knew a weighty reason for this: the pilgrim came from the Swiss Confederation, which was feared and hated by foreign nations. It is much better for him and safer to look for a place in his home country than to wander around like a refugee in a foreign country. Moved by these good reasons, he left the farmer that evening and stayed at a nearby one Field near a hedge.
As soon as he fell asleep, a sudden beam from the sky shone around him. At the same time he felt a pain, as if his body was being cut with a knife, and as if pulled by a rope it was painful for him to return home. At dawn he wandered the way he had come from. But he did not return to his house business, which he had left for all time, but went straight to his alp deep in the Melchtal and stayed there in a dense thorn bush for eight days without food or drink. Nobody knew about his stay.
GOD SHOWS THE HOME
Klaus was finally discovered by hunters following a game trail and reported to his brother. The latter, who was very dear to him, implored him heartily not to kill himself by hunger. Niklaus replied: “Oh, by no means, by then I haven't died of hunger either.” The country folk never made a pilgrimage to that place in large numbers. He felt more and more annoyed by the noise and restlessness and therefore sought more distant and impassable solitude in the same valley.
He wandered through many ravines and gruesome ravines. Suddenly he saw four rays of light descending like burning candles into that part of the valley called Ranft. So he was taught that there was the place which heaven had chosen as his home to praise God. In the Ranft he started to build a little wooden house with the help of the neighbors.
He lived there for almost a year. Then the Unterwaldner recognized that he had become a friend of God not out of hypocrisy, but out of noble, holy enthusiasm, and they decided to pay at the country's expense and to build a chapel there in honor of the virgin Theotokos through serf labor.
On the back wall of this chapel they added a hermitage made of fir wood, timbered in the local style. From this cell he could see the altar of his chapel unseen. All this happened with the contradiction of his blood relatives, who said: after a harder test and after long perseverance, there would still have been time for such arduous and great tasks. But the work that had been started was completed and unconditionally handed over to Niklaus as an apartment.
THE WONDERFAST
After the venerable father had moved into this place, he completely surrendered himself to divine care. There is no description of how he tormented his body through mortification, fasting, night watch and prayer day and night for the rest of his life. But let's keep order. It should be added here that when he returned home from Liestal he secretly received a trusted priest and told him in confidence that by God's grace he was now living for the eleventh day without human nourishment.
He feels neither thirsty nor hungry. He should advise him faithfully what he thought was good to do. Amazed by such an event, the priest touched his hands and feet and looked closely at the whole figure.
When he saw his face pale, his cheeks sunken, his lips parched, his body emaciated and covered with bare skin, he knew clearly that this was not a vain undertaking, but a divine inspiration. He advised him, with God's help, to keep practicing the wonderful zıı fast. He did it with brave courage and carried it on until the end of his life, for nearly twenty years. When the rumor of this unusual fast spread among his compatriots, people began to argue about it in the most varied of opinions.
Some saw God's miraculous guidance and immediately believed. Others, however, hated gullibility and asked whether food might not be secretly brought to him. The rest of them thought he was a fraud.
So guards were set up by a council resolution. The whole Ranft Gorge was painstakingly surveyed so that no one could get to him or from the servant of God unseen. For a whole month the watch was carried out with the greatest rigor: there was not even the smallest thing to be found that would have betrayed vain boasting or religious hypocrisy. But so that the Unterwalden estate could not be shamefully suspected by foreign envious people, that it was boasting false glory for such a divine gift.
Auxiliary Bishop Thomas, the suffragan of the Bishop of Constance (whose diocesary power is subject to a large part of the federal territory) was called as a witness .
When he came to the consecration of the Mother of God Chapel, he entered the cell of Niklaus and spent a large part of the day in spiritual conversations with him. Among other things, he asked him: what is the greatest virtue and one that is most pleasing to God. Niklaus replied: obedience.
Then Bishop Thomas immediately took bread and wine, which he carried with him to test him. He broke the bread into three pieces and, by virtue of holy obedience, commanded him to eat them. Niklaus did not want to withstand the order of the church prince, but he feared the burden of his long weaning. At his request he obtained permission from him to only have to eat one of the pieces, divided into three small parts.
He could only enjoy it with the greatest effort and he could hardly swallow the sip of wine without breaking it. Startled about this, the tall one said The prelate had proven the man to be perfect and also told him that he had not asked for this test out of personal doubts, but solely on the orders of the true chief shepherd. And so that these things can be given even greater credibility, it should be added: shortly afterwards Bishop Hermann died, and Bishop Otto was placed before the Bishopric of Constance. He had heard so great things from Brother Klaus that he wanted to get to know the truth for himself.
He came to the blessed man in his hermitage. After long conversations with him, he vividly extolled his life and manners and declared publicly that he felt blessed and happy because the merciful God had raised up in his diocese such a hermit who gave him grace in all his worries become.
FASTING IS NOT EVERYONE'S BUSINESS
It constitutes one of the greatest and most unquestionable proofs of the abstinence of Nicholas, which we take as an incident with a certain brother Ulrich. And that is credibly passed down. At the time when Niklaus was still burdened with domestic worries, the end of his life was revealed to him. He had already moved into the wilderness when that Ulrich visited him often.
Brother Klaus talked to him about himself and also revealed to him the hour of his death as it was indicated to him. Silently he carried all this in his heart and kept it for many years with himself. When the last year of that particular time of life had come, the man was seized with the desire to be able to experience the truth of this strange divine revelation.
He went to Brother Klaus in the wilderness and, after asking for a long time, received permission from him to stay in a nearby hermitage settle down. He promised to obey all of his warnings and orders. When both of them had confirmed the conditions, he reached the prayer of Nicholas so far that he could spend thirteen days without food and drink and was not plagued by hunger or thirst. Then Nicholas broke a piece of bread that he had obtained for this purpose in half. He handed Ulrich one of the pieces and ordered them to be dipped into the milk drain and then to eat.
The latter obeyed immediately, took the offered bite and ate it on command, but reluctantly, by overcoming his eagerness to eat. The next day, when the same thing happened to the other half of the bread, the man was so hungry that he thought it impossible to eat ever to be full again.
Niklaus had foreseen this and in the meantime made sure that his wife brought enough food. The man who had eaten enough now asked the friend of God why he had not allowed him to persist in fasting any longer. He replied that this one test was sufficient because it was so ordered according to God's will. The pious man stayed in that place from then on, but from then on ate the usual food and was robbed of his dear Nicholas at the time that was foretold for him.
NURTURED ON THE BREAD OF ANGELS
All who heard the news of these things were astonished that Brother Klaus could live without food and drink completely contrary to nature. After long requests, Klaus trusted the already mentioned priest, who often came to him: if he witnesses the holy mass offering and sees the priest of Christ enjoy the flesh and blood there, he will feel and receive a wonderful strengthening from it. To some very confidants who pressed into him, he said: the contemplation of the passion of Christ, especially at the moment when the soul of Christ is separated from the body, fills his heart with inexpressible refreshment.
This consideration strengthens him so that he can easily do without ordinary human nourishment. Nevertheless, there is a suspicion that from time to time he was nourished by a mysterious heavenly raven, and that he did not talk about such things just to avoid a stir. Initially, Brother Klaus confessed his sins to his pastor on high feast days and later, after ten years, to his own chaplain every month and received the holy flesh and blood of the Lord. (He had given this chaplain an honorable benefice through the alms of the pilgrims at his home.)
AGENDA OF A SAINT
Brother Klaus covered his naked body all year round with a simple, long dress made of wool (a brown robe that reached down to the ankles). And he didn't use shoes or headgear. To sleep he lay stretched out on the bare wooden floor. He pushed a block of wood (or stone) under his head as a pillow, and when it was very cold he covered himself in a bad blanket.
It was the custom of his day's work that he spent the first part of the day from sunrise to noon in solitary holy contemplation and prayers. In the afternoon, when the sky was clear, he sat a little in the sun. When it seemed useful to him, he climbed the opposite high up to visit that pious Ulrich. He, seized by the holiness of Brother Klaus, had sought his abode in the same solitude. He had a high reputation for heartfelt godliness. After the two had talked about divine things together, Niklaus returned to his cell alone.
HELL ENTERS THE SANCTUARY
Despite his severe penance, Brother Klaus could not avoid the devil's stalking. The evil enemy tirelessly plagued the friend of God and harassed him with rudeness and abuse. Often he stormed the hermitage with such violence that the hut almost threatened to collapse. Occasionally he would enter the cell in a hideous form, grab hold of his hair and pull the reluctant man out the door.
But when Satan saw that Klaus was not in the least shaken by such insults, he began to be smarter. As best he could, he dressed himself in the form of a richly adorned nobleman, appeared on a high horse and tried to persuade the hermit: it was useless for him and forbidden to lead such a lonely and far too strict life apart from everyone else ; in such a way he could never attain the glory of Paradise. If he really seeks heaven, it is wiser to conform to the mores of the rest of the people. But Klaus recognized the ruse of the filth and conquered the danger with the grace of the Almighty God and with the assistance of the Immaculate Theotokos.
THE LONELY
Brother Klaus often thanked God in front of his trusted friends that from now on, after he had given up domestic worries and business with his wife's consent, he had never again been plagued by the longing to return to his house. Sometimes he did allow his wife and children to come to him in the wilderness to hear his fatherly and salutary advice: they should be instructed by the wisdom of old age and humbly devote their lives to divine service. Not all pilgrims were allowed access to the servant of God, for Klaus said that many would like to seek out the Pharisees, not for edification, but rather to the detriment of their lives.
Hence he escaped from those whose inner vanity he had seen through. But he greeted the others who were admitted to the interview in a friendly manner and instructed them with awe. Everyone who came to him was terrified at the first sight. He himself stated the reason for this horror: once in the vision he saw a human face surrounded by radiant shine of light, at the sight of which his heart shuddered with horror, as if it wanted to be broken into small pieces shatter. Completely dazed and covering his gaze, he fell to the ground. For this reason, the sight of himself may seem terrible to other people.
THE WISE
Although Nikolaus had no knowledge of the letters, he knew from the wisdom that was poured into him from above how to free learned people from ignorance and to introduce them to secret things. But when simple people came to him and asked him about divine law, he answered graciously: Everyone should seriously keep the evangelical teachings of his pastor and try to implement them to the best of his ability.
It was not uncommon for him to be advised on burning questions that affected the entire Swiss Confederation. All his advice warned about peace in the fatherland, unity with neighbors, praising God and obedience to his commandments. From those who came from far away, he often said in front of those present that they would arrive at this or that hour. To their great astonishment, many were able to see the fulfillment of such predictions with their own eyes.
THE MIRACLE WORKER
You really have to be amazed at what a student from Paris told me about his own experience. He had received two letters from Niklaus, brother Klausen's youngest son (who was studying liberal arts at the French university), to bring them to his father back home. But on the long, arduous journey he lost a letter to the Sequanem out of carelessness. He therefore feared that the good man would be a little angry with him and it was only with a trembling heart that he decided to visit him. But when he was approaching the Ranft Chapel in courageous courage, lo and behold, Nicholas came down from the slope, carrying the lost letter in his hands.
He greeted the mail carrier in a friendly manner, told him that, on behalf of his son Nikolaus, he was the bearer of the letter that got lost in Sequanerland and is now in his hand had been found again. Through this miracle the messenger was filled with joy and admiration. One must not forget the event that happened to a man from the Bern area. He suffered from severe foot problems and was unable to rest from the pain. In order to gain healing, he vowed to donate a waxy foot to Our Lady of Ranft and her servant Nikolaus as a votive offering.
He got well, but did not keep his promise, but left it unfulfilled for years. Then the same ailment came back much stronger. The man remembered his neglected vow and hurried to fulfill it as soon as possible. After placing the wax offering on the altar of the helpful Virgin, he humbly accepted the intercession of Brother Klaus. The latter prayed fervently over him, and the sick person was completely freed from his suffering.
HOLY DYING
When the time was fulfilled when the merciful God wanted to lead his faithful servant from the hardships of this life to the eternal joys, he decreed that he should first suffer from a serious illness. This took hold of the whole body. Nikolaus complained from a fearful soul about the inner pain in his bones and sinews.
His flesh was almost eaten and dead. He twisted back and forth and found nowhere to rest. When he had endured this great suffering up to the eighth day in human poverty but with brave patience, he longed ardently for the removal of the wholesome body and blood of Christ. After receiving her with the utmost awe (he lay stretched out on the bare ground according to his custom) he breathed out his soul with thanksgiving and in great pain, on March 21, 1487 after the birth of Christ, seventy years old.
TRANSLATED TOMB
As is the custom in the country, the dead body was loaded onto a stretcher and carried (as he had ordered during his lifetime) to the church of the holy Valais bishop Theodul in Sachseln. There, in the presence not only of his wife and children and relatives, but with the participation of an enormous number of priests and compatriots from all over Unterwalden with numerous mass offerings and solemn corpses, he was honored, generally mourned and mourned by very many.
The day after the blessed father passed away, Dorothea, the wife, came to the crypt to pray there. A messenger hurried after her and comforted her with brief words by saying that he had the late Nicholas over that rock (which we said gave the family its name) in radiant transfiguration seen, the flag with the bear paw in hand. All hostile powers are defeated by the steadfastness of that brave man.
Even during their lifetime, the Christian people cherished the teachings and conversations of the servant of God as true stars of virtue. Now that he was dead and withdrawn from his people, God did not want to leave his people deprived of strengthening consolation in daily lamentation. So to this day he has not ceased to console his people through many and varied miracles at Brother Klaus's intercession. (Thirty miracles now follow in the work, precisely described by name and type of disease.
Wölflin closes his catalog of miracles with the following words) to sum it up briefly: when listening, it seems almost unbelievable how great and how many miracles that blessed Father Nicholas shines from day to day. There is almost no disease that his intercession does not cure. Most of the people with fever are heard there and give votive offerings after they have recovered. This is evidently known not only to the pastor there, but to all pious members of the church in Sachseln.
WÖLFLINS FINAL WORD TO UNTERWALDEN
This, you men of Unterwalden, was communicated to me through your blessed father and compatriot Niklaus for the description of my life. If all these things are also true, they should not induce you to praise yourselves in a rash, but rather to grasp the Christian religion all the more deeply and to increase it.
What could the Most High God give your country better than that he led your state, which was under the protection of the blessed hermit, peacefully and unscathed through such dangerous times. Everyone knows that his intercession has often not only helped his compatriots, but also the whole Swiss Confederation. You should therefore do everything possible to use the benefits of such an advocate for the glory of God and for your own edification.
In doing so, you will never have to complain of being deprived of his assistance. I wrote this work with an open mind and with heartfelt affection towards all Unterwaldners. It is now up to you to spread it further, so that Brother Klaus' departures can more easily meet the accusations of jealous opponents (if there are still any) and keep the example of his piety in mind - many for the following of Christ and the May inflame imitation of his faithful servant. I ask the willing reader not to be angry with me if he comes across an inappropriate or insufficiently finely thought-out word. I tried more than the style and polished words about holding on to the truth.
Heinrich Wölflin