The Monk Turned Murderer

Narrated by Belluacensis (Vincent of Beauvais); set in the city of Ridolio in England, in the year 1430.

A young nobleman named Ernest gave all his inheritance to the poor and entered a monastery, where he lived so holy a life that his superiors held him in high regard, above all for his devotion to the Blessed Virgin. When a plague struck the city, the people came to the monastery begging for prayers, and the abbot sent Ernest to pray before Our Lady's altar and not to leave until he had an answer.

After three days he came away with certain prayers that were to be said. They were said, and the plague stopped. In time, though, his devotion cooled. The devil attacked him with fierce temptations, especially to impurity and to abandon the monastery. Having neglected to call on Mary, he decided to escape by throwing himself from the monastery wall. But as he passed an image of the Virgin in the corridor, she spoke to him: "My son, why do you leave me?" Overcome, he fell to the ground and admitted he had no strength to resist, asking why she had not helped him. She answered that he had not asked her, and told him that from that day he should commend himself to her with confidence. He went back to his cell, but the temptations returned, and again he failed to call on her. This time he fled for good.

He fell from sin to sin until he became a murderer, running an inn where he killed and robbed travelers in the night. One night he murdered the governor's own cousin, and was caught, tried, and condemned. But while the trial was going on, a young traveler came to the inn, and when Ernest entered the room to kill him, he found not the young man but a figure of Christ on the cross, covered with wounds, who looked at him with pity and said, "Is it not enough that I died once for you? Do you wish to kill me again? Do it, then. Lift your hand and kill me." Ernest broke down in tears, repented, and set out to return to the monastery to do penance.

The police caught him on the road, brought him before the judge, and there he confessed all his murders. He was condemned to die at once, without even being given time for confession. He commended himself to Mary. He was hanged, but the Virgin held off his death, freed him herself, and told him to return to the monastery, do penance, and that when he saw in her hand a paper bearing the pardon of his sins, he should prepare to die. He returned, told the abbot everything, and did great penance. After many years he saw the paper of pardon in Mary's hand, made himself ready, and died a holy death.

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Source:

Simplified retellings of the "example" stories that St. Alphonsus Liguori placed at the end of each section of The Glories of Mary. These are paraphrased in plain modern prose, faithful to the substance of the 1888 English translation. Liguori himself, in his author's "Protest," noted that the miracles and apparitions in the book are offered on human authority only, not as articles of faith.