Weil dieſer zeit bey vns alhie nichts newes zuſchreiben / will ich euch etwas altes / welches doch bey vielen mit verwunderung / für etwas newes gehalten wirdt: erzehlen / welches ſich volgender geſtalt verhaltet.
ES hat Paulus von Eitzen der H: Schrifft Doctor vnd Biſchoff zu Schleßwig / dann er von J. F. Gn: Hertzog Adolff von Holſtein zum Biſchoff er⸗ wöhlet vnd beſtättigt iſt / ſo nit allein bey meñig⸗ lichen in anſehen vnd glaubwirdig / ſondern auch durch ſein in truck gegeben Schrifften ein be⸗ rümbter Mann iſt / mir vnd andern Studioſis / etlich mahl erzelet / das als er in ſeiner Jugendt zu Wittenberg ſtudiert / vnd einmal im Winter in Anno 1542. zu ſeinen Eltern gen Ham⸗ burg gereyſet: hab er den nechſten Sontag her⸗ nacher in der Kirchen / vnder der Predigt einen Mann welcher ein ſehr lange Perſon / mit einem langen vber die Achſel abhangenden Haar / ge⸗ weſen / gegen der Cantzel vber auff bloßen ſtei⸗ nen barfüſſig ſtehn ſehen: welcher mit ſolcher Andacht die Predigt gehört / das man an jm eini⸗ ge bewegung nicht ſpüren können; auſſenthalb wenn
Because there is nothing new for us to write about here at this time, I want to tell you something old, which many nevertheless regard with wonder as something new. It happened in the following manner.
Paul von Eitzen, doctor of Holy Scripture and bishop at Schleswig—having been elected and confirmed as bishop by His Princely Grace Duke Adolf of Holstein—was not only respected and considered trustworthy by everyone, but was also a celebrated man through his writings published in print. He told me and other students on several occasions that, when he studied at Wittenberg in his youth and once traveled to his parents in Hamburg in the winter of 1542, on the following Sunday he saw in church during the sermon a very tall man with long hair hanging over his shoulders, standing barefoot on the bare stones opposite the pulpit. The man listened to the sermon with such devotion that no movement could be perceived in him, except when—
The anonymous narrator says Paul von Eitzen told students about seeing a barefoot man in a Hamburg church in 1542. The report builds authority through Eitzen’s office and reputation. It establishes how the pamphlet presents the story, not that Eitzen witnessed this man. The description of the man’s behavior continues on image 7.