Diatribe de Prodigiosis Crucibus

or was not possessed of such [a character]: or amidst military license, you taught the soldiers sanctity. It is not, therefore, a wonder if the Teutonic Cross, a token of piety and victory, has peculiarly fallen in love with You, which, shining upon a white garment, expresses the lovable brightness of Your life, and by its own color, the pallor of Your enemies: [a cross] due to You alone above all other mortals, whether on account of the Imperial splendor of Your birth, in which You shine; or on account of the heroic glory of war, with which You flash; or on account of the Austrian piety, in which You flourish; or finally, on account of the prudence in which You excel, which is altogether singular to You above the rest of the Princes of Your time. The Cross, accustomed today to shine among the stars of gems upon the brow of Kings, has preferred Your garment to jeweled crowns, where, as a noble Hieroglyphic, it more holily [expresses] the religion of LEOPOLD, more generously his strength of mind, more spiritedly his tolerance of labors, and more happily his zeal for the faith.