POTTER United Families

then with Jan De Passer, or with Trijntje Willems, Sasbout van der
Dussen or Willem Aeriens.
He was once chased by the Bailiff while he was disguised with a cloth
merchant. It remained unknown how he could get away. I was told
that he laid a piece of cloth over his shoulders with a red apron from
a dry-shovel servant, and passed the guard of the Beguinage with the
help of Neeltje Jacobs, the sister of Father Duyst. He also managed
to escape disguised like a woman!
During official celebrations, it was always risky to help people.
Roeland was also hiding with Mr. Dassegny. Aafje van der Velde's
parents also helped him in trouble. He often preached at night and
early in the morning. In a difficult period, on an Ash Wednesday, he
gave the holy ashes for a hundred people who came and quickly went
away.
I don’t know how many sick people, suffering from the terrible
“black disease”, he helped but is was enormous. Roeland suffered as
well but always treated them kindly. He was not allowed to baptize,
not to marry or to administer the Holy Oliesel, but he did it.
It all happened well because of his modesty and the fact that he
showed himself the least possible. He even replaced other priests
while their hoirs had the plague! In Voorburg, for example, a whole
family died of 'the disease': 7 people. In another house an old woman
died of 'the black disease': she had been abandoned by all her friends.
A mass by Roeland was held at Wateringen for example. Many people
gathered, both at the butter farmer, and at the honey farmer. Those
were tragic times, but Roeland was never caught by a Bailiff nor the
sickness. In the Rietveld, during the great illness period, a man and a
woman received Roeland’s confession at night, just in time. The next
morning they were both dead.
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