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In a city, there was a corrupt, vain, and arrogant man who had grown rich through usury. He had no time for religion or the soul. In this same place, there was an old widow who had nothing at all. Although she lived in a straw hut, she was very happy and was devoted to the Virgin.
Both the rich man and the widow caught a fever and lay on their deathbeds. News of the rich man’s illness reached a greedy chaplain who hurried to his bedside. He encouraged him to make a will, leaving a hundred silver marks to the church. The rich man’s wife objected and told him to leave, but he refused to go.
While the chaplain was attending the rich man, a servant girl came running. She told him that the old widow lay dying and wished to receive the sacrament. The chaplain brushed off her request, insisting that he stay with the rich man.
The servant girl returned to the widow. She was very sad and prayed to the Virgin to help her. A priest, who had heard the chaplain refuse to visit the old woman, decided to go in his place. He went to the church, fetched the host and chalice, and took it to the woman’s hut.
When he arrived there, he saw the Virgin with six maidens dressed in white. The Virgin instructed him to give the widow communion and said that she would soon be in Paradise. The priest did as he had been instructed and then returned to the rich man’s house, which was filled with devils. He went back to the widow’s hut and saw the Virgin once again. This time she took the old widow’s soul. The Virgin commended the priest for acting properly and told him that she would help him through a great trial.
When the priest went back to the rich man’s house, it was entirely surrounded by devils. Larger ones, black as Moors, were inside. They were taking the soul from the rich man’s body to a place of perpetual punishment. When the priest saw this, he was consumed by fear, but the Virgin seized him by the finger and pulled him out of there. She advised him to tell the people what he had seen. He obeyed her and lived a saintly life. When he died, the Virgin took his soul.
