April 9. casilda of toledo, transformer of bread and roses
experiment: |
Lived 950 to 1050
Casilda "served her creator well while practicing two faiths on Earth." The daughter of a Muslim king of Toledo, she studied the Koran as a little girl. Even so, a particular hagiographical story marked Casilda: that of a king's daughter who ran away from her kingdom to live an ascetic life. FROM BREAD TO ROSES AND BACK AGAIN @>--{---- Against her father's orders, Casilda showed great compassion for Christian captives by smuggling bread into the prison, hidden her skirt folds, to feed them. Once she was stopped by Muslim soldiers (and/or by her own father) and was asked to reveal what she was carrying in her skirt. When she offered these tormentors a peek, the bread had become a bouquet. When she arrived at the jail, the roses became bread again. SPOOKY DEMONS AND HEALING WATERS As a young woman, Casilda fell ill, likely from a hemorrhagic fever (or something called a 'flux of blood') for which there was no cure. Refusing help from the best local doctors, she instead made a pilgrimage to Northern Iberia to partake of the healing waters of the shrine of San Vicente. Casilda's father had to get permission for her to "pass safely to the pool," agreeing in return to free some Christian captives he'd been cooping up. Casilda rode on horseback to the spring, and along the way, a demon spooked her steed. She fell into the water and an angel came and rescued her. "When Casilda touched this water, her illness disappeared." "ANGELICAL HANDS" MAKE LIGHT WORK Once cured, Casilda was baptized. Thereafter, she lived as an anchoress in penance and solitude, contemplating the wonder of God and praying for those on earth. Loved by the people of her village, they decided to build her a home. By day, the villagers constructed her home on solid ground, and "angelical hands" moved their handwork to a mountain's peak at night. The townspeople commemorated this miracle by building a chapel. As they labored, a passing lioness ran away without attacking anyone. Casilda lived to be 100. |