I wondering what the Major Surrounding Tithing Miracles Boon (Cov 22) brings for a Covenant given that the Dominion will most likely earlier or later will increasing from it, what should be something bad for most mages. It appears to have no effect on the income or loyalty of the covenant otherwise something would have be mentioned about this boon at a later point of the book. So all I can see at moment is that Holy Mage profit from it because they can use the Dominion like it is a magic aura, and even for that it should be better to use the minor boon to raise the magic aura the covenant have.
I'm guessing the main advantage of the boon would be financial in nature, as the covenant is likely to profit from stories about how their land and businesses profit. I would tend to treat the boon as both generating positive stories and giving a bonus to any rolls on the Income modification chart of p.57, as long as the covenant is pious to some degree.
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While a somewhat niche situation, imagine a devout covenant full of nothing but holy mages.
Any enemy magi attacking them not only has to deal with the standard aegis, but an aura causing huge penalties.
Reminder, dominion auras come from buildings devoted to god for the most part, not merely believers believing so as long as you keep the churches outside of the aura it should be fine… even any church inside the aura should be fine if the resulting dominion aura would be less than the current magic one. Anyway, the tithing miracle should little to no effect on the aura at the covenant.
I suspect that if a wonder happen over and over again then pilgrims from the surrounding area will show up earlier or later even if it is just a small wonder. Sites of Pilgrimage raise the Dominion and I'm not even sure if sites of pilgrimage even need a concentrated ground to start a dominion.
I don’t see a tithing miracle as a miracle in the same sense as a flash of light and those 4 fish and 3 loaves feed an army. YMMV, but what is the noticeable short-term miraculous effect here that will draw the crowds? More likely folks interested in benefiting in the booming economy will come rather than devout folks.
nullsettings: have you read the example of this miracle? One pot of oil becomes many pots of oil. Isn't that about the same then your 4 fish and 3 loaves feed an army? And such miracle happen regular in that area!
That depends on the magi. Do they like a pious, stable and prosperous environment?
The Tithing Miracle just means, that the area is blessed enough to benefit economically from its inhabitants' religion. By paying their tithe (1/10 of its produce) to the Church, they find, that their produce actually comes out 10/9 of the planned/expected one.
That does further bolster wealth, piety and the power of the Church, but it does not draw pilgrims coming to see a repeating miracle.
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The miracle is usually noticed when the goods are sold, and found to be heavier than the owner expects, up to the weight of the untithed material.
Doesn’t sound like something folks would believe is a miracle rather than poor accounting in the favor of the seller.
The first time it happens, sure. The twentieth time it happens, after people have started checking carefully, then a miracle starts to become a likely explanation.
Believable for that person maybe but I don't think generally most people believe others saying "I experienced a miracle!" Especially when they say it was an effect that was so mundane. Like a vision while praying under a bleeding Jesus on a crucifix seems more believable as a miracle to me for your average peasant telling the merchant they're selling their goods to.
As an example from the 12th century that would be familiar in the Iberian tribunal, look at Isidore the Laborer (or farmer) - various miracles occur to help Isidore, and after he dies his corpse is found in a state of incorruptibility in 1212.
Are tithing miracles believable? Well, I've heard a priest claim in church on a Sunday morning the truth of a story about a farmer setting aside land for God, and how the whole farm prospered. I don't know how believable it would be to a medieval peasant, but a 21st century preacher seemed to think a congregation of 21st century British christians would find it the sort of "good luck or miracle?" story that would be believable and people would repeat. That may say more about what stories circulate among modern believers.
Thinking of other tithing miracles, you can tie it into local festivals or superstitions (such as St David's day or St Chad's day being lucky to plant beans.)
Even if it is believed it is attached to tithing and not something that will incite people to move there but but will incite people to set aside a tithe themselves.
The fact is a tithing "miracle" can follow any number of explanations, especially in an ars magica environment where it could be an actual miracle to a simple accounting error to especially fertile ground to a magical or faerie effect- even the nightwalkers having several years of success in their fertility battles. The only thing that isn't a possibility is the infernal (unless it turns out the wealth is illusory or being stolen from someone else)
When I thought about it, I wondered if such a blunt duplication happening many times wouldn't actual make some of the magic of the mages less obvious.
Also I agree with silveroak that the source could very likely also be a faerie who guise as trader. A normal trader would get out of his job if such errors happen multiple time.
Yep.
Think about Max Weber*s "spirit of capitalism" originating from Protestant work ethic. 
Couldn't the people in the 'miraculated' area just work harder to keep their parish running well, all without the typical schemes for financing cathedrals, and thereby continually achieve more than the lazy steward of the magi expects?
They could, but at least within Catholicism (of the period) it would be seen as a sin.
To "just work harder to keep their parish running well" isn't exactly a sin, is it?
It is just devotion to parish and Church - though even without the Church, later protestants can relate to it.
The problem is that "work hard to keep the parish running" doesn't actually make sense- the tithe is expected whether or not there is a tithing miracle, and it comes from your personal income- the tithing miracle is the idea that you essentially have more income to make up for the tithe, and benefits the individuals, not the parish. So it is seen as a sin of greed if you are working harder to manufacture a tithing miracle, because you benefit, not the parish. If you are working hard as a contribution to the parish (contributing labor points in game terms) this wouldn't be seen as a sin, but neither would it be seen as a tithing miracle.
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Or would it?
There were many rural medieval communities organized around their parish church, which was not only their religious center, but also their living room, the place of their assemblies and record keeping. Tithing to maintain their priest and church was also a community tax - and usually did benefit most individuals of the community.
Some more famous examples of communities organized around their parish church, which do not require local research:
(1) The wealthy community of Mons Rittena at the Via Raetia.
(2) The itsy bitsy republic of Cospaia (1440-1826) at the border between the Papal state and Florence.
(3) The Pieve di San Gervasio in the Val di Chiana, whose priest and later archpriest remained the leader of the local Church instead of a bishop, even when the place got walled in and became a town as Città della Pieve.
Manifold civil functions of parish priest and church are indeed typical in the middle ages. If a community around a parish prospers, legends of tithing miracles may just arise.