St. Amelie of Ilvia - Lady of the poor
An excerpt from monk Adalwulf's letter to Bishop Lucius II of Veluca, with the inquiry of Amelie of Ilvia's official canonization.
Dated 4th of December, 517
"The manifestation of faith unlike anything that has ever been witnessed before. A truly pure and unsullied soul, with her inner light being so strong and bright, that it manages to enkindle those of others around her, convincing them of the true path, that of which is the one of our Maker. I urge your reverence to consider my proposal to embed the virtues of this truly pious person into the teachings of our Church."
A segment, taken from monk Faust's book "Saintly teachings for the faithful".
Dated roughly in the year of 630
"What could be considered the grace of our Maker? Is it to be born of noble blood and rule over the common man? Is it to retain power to do with them as you wish? Or is it, despite the nature of the world that we live in, filled with strife and ambition, to find it in oneself to remain humble and to be gifted with our Maker's divine compassion, being granted the joy of relaying it to others through one's deeds? Our Maker tests us all in mysterious ways, unbeknownst to ourselves, yet each day we must strive to attain his blessing.
I shall tell you of a young girl, unsullied by the faults of our society, untouched by greed and ambition, yet a girl, who paid the ultimate price, strictly due to these ailments being present in others. This girl, Amelie being her name, resided in the castle of a local lord, working as a simple maid, cleaning the chambers or carrying food and other items at her superiors' whim. Yet unbeknownst to many and, of course, especially her lord, this pious girl was also the savior of tens if not hundreds of ailing, starving, hurting or otherwise afflicted, poor and deficient people across the local villages surrounding their ruler's keep. Indeed this girl, a simple and humble servant, has gotten quite keen on taking food and other supplies from lord's abundant storerooms in secret, with the intent of distributing them among the needy and neglected people, even convincing a few of the keep's guardsmen to help her, easing her burden and making it possible to carry over even more supplies to the ones most in need of them.
Now, Dear reader, I am most sure that a thought has crossed your mind at least once, concerning theft. Surely you and me both know the turns that our Maker has relayed upon us, one of them specifically being "Take not from your fellow man". That is true, but now, Dear reader, take into consideration in what context the aforementioned turn has been broken and why, for you would surely know more examples of the turns, the very foundation of our pious existence, being broken in the name of our Maker himself, such as holy wars being waged against those who would oppose our Maker, condoned by the Church, yet in the turns relayed upon us it is clearly written: "Spread not the blood of fellow man". Such are the trials of our Maker, bestowed upon us, for he wishes to test our faith and see whether we would go out of our way to do what is right in his eyes, even though the worldly laws would, at times, forbid it.
And the humble girl had done so. She cared little for the wrongdoing she made upon her lord, as it was the very wrongdoing and greed of this tyrannical ruler that has left his people in need of help. She knew the consequences that her actions might bring upon her, yet still persisted onward - such was the strength of her unwavering faith in our Maker, as well as the simple determination to help her common man in any way she was able to. Despite trying her best to keep everything that she had been doing a secret, rumors, such as they are, have a tendency to slip out, even by accident and thus word had gone out about a virtuous girl, a true "Lady of the poor". She was fully aware of what would happen to her if her endeavors would have been uncovered by her superiors, perhaps it is because of that she was rumored to stand face to face with her fate, being as calm as the sea that has never seen a storm before. And such, blinded by greed and a lack of compassion, was the lord's abrupt decision to have the poor and truly virtuous girl executed, upon finding out about her secret strife.
Some say, that on the day of her execution, the sun shone brightly with such vigor, as if the Maker itself was gazing upon the world, perhaps enraged by the lord's doing, or mayhap appeased by the humble girl's endeavors. Others talk about a glistening light coming out of the maid's body itself, as she drew her last breaths, symbolizing her immense faith as well as the overwhelming strength of her inner flame.
However, one thing is certain, the accomplishments of this humble maid will forever be embedded in the teachings of our faith, as she is a fine example of a person, truly devoted to our Maker, not fearing the judgment of her fellow man as it is only up to the Maker to judge us in the end. As well as of a person who does not fear to do what they consider right, even if it means their own ultimate demise."
A fragment of a personal journal, belonging to Oswald Schwarz, presumably the steward of the keep, in which Amelie of Ilvia resided and served in.
2nd of March, 516
Yesterday our lord, tipped off by local rumors and gossip, led an investigation among the castle's garrison and staff, of which I was also a part of. It was discovered that one of the maids had been taking food and common supplies from castle's storerooms without authorization and, assuming the role of some sort of charitable "deity" distributing it among the people in the villages within our lord's jurisdiction. The currently missing items shall be accounted for and the seriousness of her crimes and if she is indeed guilty at all, will be determined in the following days.
4th of March, 516
The maid in question has been proven guilty, as some of the common folk from surrounding villages, perhaps swayed by the reward our lord had put up in exchange for proof or information, approached the lord and confirmed the rumors, claiming to have witnessed her distributing food and other items among the beggars and the otherwise afflicted.
16th of March, 516
It has been 10 days since her execution. I have never felt this odd during one, I cannot stop thinking about whether it was truly the right thing to do. While clearing her chamber, one of the servants found her journal. I have given a few coins to the boy to keep his blabber shut and give the journal to me. In it, I found how full of joy the maid in question was, writing about how grateful to the Maker she felt, to be able to help those people. She even wrote about acknowledging the rumors about her and her plan to confess to our lord of the things she had been doing. It's a damn shame.
Written by Aart