A public notary by the name of Desiderius, when for a long time he was so strongly beset by quartan fevers that he even lost the vigour of his strong youth, drank a little of the water with which that holy body had been washed, and was so healed that not only did the fever itself no longer recur in the young man, but even his former strength and vigour returned in him, with the Lord's assent. And the son of the illustrious man Salvius, when he was rather gravely afflicted with tertian fevers, and, as is the concern of such a man, his father strove with frequent draughts suited to this malady to heal him, he could be helped not at all. Then, as a Christian:
'Run, my son,' he said, 'and seek the water with which the lord bishop was washed, or at least wash the relics from his garment, and drink, and the Lord will grant health.' As soon as it was done, all the fever, and whatever ailed him, departed from him. The son too of the illustrious man, the late Martianus, was so grievously tormented by troublesome fevers that he was even despaired of by the physicians. But he, as God graciously inspires those whom He wills to heal, with faith and eagerness began to ask that something from the garments of the Lord's servant be washed and given him to drink. Then they run to me, or to the others who were absent, who had kept back for themselves something from thence;
sought from someone, found, and given, was a piece of the garment which was produced; he took that water, and was made whole, and stands as witness to this miracle in his own person. On another occasion, moreover, as I was going through the marketplace, a certain Frank, already wholly bent over and trembling with the cold of a quartan fever, was walking ahead of me. And when I was preparing to go swiftly whither I had set out, he began to cry out after me: 'Blessed one, if you have any, give me some of the cloth of holy Caesarius on account of the chills, which avails for many things; I wish to drink.' I, who wanted to hurry swiftly whither I had set out, said: 'If you wait for me, tomorrow I will give you what you ask.' But he said: 'Today I have my day of fever, and already I am all a-tremble; how am I to wait for you?'
Then I, considering that he had so often been set before me in the marketplace and not to offend him, said to him: 'Come, young man, I will give you what you ask.' At once we both went back; and when we had entered my cell and both of us had washed our hands, I brought forth the linen cloth with which the holy body of my sweet master had been wiped. I took a small part, that I might give it to him; and that Frank, in great agitation, said to me: 'Take it away, man, why do you lie? I have heard that Blessed Caesarius did not use linen, but rags for his use, which I wish to wash, and of the water I desire to drink.' Then I with tears said: 'You speak rightly, you have heard the truth. But with this—that is, this linen—the body of the holy man himself was wiped when he passed away.' And he:
'Give it, then,' he said, 'in the hope that I may be made well.' And so, having received the linen, at that very hour he felt health from the Lord. But because the benefits of the prayers of the Lord's servant, which Christ bestowed through him upon bodies and souls, no tongue at all is able to set forth as is fitting—though the rusticity of my eloquence resound as if foolishly, since I am not skilled in speech—yet, with the wise, discourse is even in a few testimonies a great gain of profit; those who receive true sayings with a faithful mind have their own perceptions for a testimony. Yet I shall not pass over that which recently happened in his cell, where his little body lay, from which he migrated to the things above. As the holy brothers there were singing the little chapters, they providing [or: those present being there],
one of the chamberlains whom he had had in his service, while he was trimming a lamp, it slipped from his hands upon a stone: yet it was neither overturned, nor broken, nor extinguished. While therefore this evangelist, as we said, was carrying on the excellent and highest work of the word, in season and out of season, and while he was fulfilling the sacred office, by the will of God there is present—not through his own handing over, as the Arians falsely charged, but rather through his ceaseless prayer for all—with tranquillity and quiet, in the city of Arles, the most Catholic reign in the name of Christ of the most glorious Childebert: gentle with power, common with severity, conspicuous with humility, not shaking the priests of the Lord with terror, but binding them with reverence,
more eminent than all in the Gauls, in all the Churches equalized in privilege, recognizing the city with an elevation, humanely. Therefore this man of God, refreshed and gladdened alike, despised the Arian-minded threats and frequent accusations, the false speeches, the feigned pretences. He saw, then, and was glad, and was gathered to his fathers in a good old age in the name of Christ, full of days. When therefore infirmity often rendered him half-alive before our eyes, and among these things he was passing the seventy-third year of the whole course of his life, of which the circling wheel was turning the fortieth in the episcopate;
he perceived through the spirit that the day of his passing was drawing near, and amid the no small pains which he was suffering, he inquired how near at hand was the day of the deposition of the most blessed Augustine. And when he had learned that the commemoration of him was drawing near, 'I trust,' he said, 'in the Lord, that He will not divide my passing far from his; for, as you yourselves know, as much as I loved his most Catholic mind, so much—though I differ from him in merits—do I nevertheless least of all suppose that the day of my deposition is set apart by any longer interval from the time of his death: meanwhile there grows and is added the going forth of Israel from the land of Egypt, that is, of a holy soul from this world the migration of the corporeal life.'
He orders, therefore, that he be carried by the hand of his attendants in a chair to the monastery of virgins which he himself had founded, as though to comfort the anxious women, from whom the suspicion of his passing had taken away sleep, and forgetfulness their food. At the sound of the psalms too, cut short by tears, they rendered a lowing instead of a chant, and a groan instead of Alleluia. When the daughters, therefore, had been comforted and addressed, he brought them no cheerfulness, but heaped up their grief. For it was plain to recognize that the pious Father was now about to migrate to the divine fatherland. And so he addresses first, as was his manner and sweetness, the venerable mother Caesaria, revered above two hundred maidens, and comforts her, and exhorts her to press on toward the palm of the heavenly calling;
and he admonishes them to keep the rule which he himself had instituted some years before; and so likewise by his testament he commends them—to the bishops who would succeed him, and to the rest of the clergy of the prefecture, and to the counts, and to the citizens through his letters—that in the time to come they should by no means suffer distress. The constitution of his monastery at that time was of full thirty years. He gives them, therefore, prayer and blessing, saying a last farewell, and, as they wail, returns to the church.
For on the third day after the feast of holy Genesius, that is, on the sixth day before the Kalends of September, before the day of the deposition of the holy bishop Augustine, and after the day of the dedication of his own monastery, when he had already bidden farewell the day before to all, at the approach of the first hour, amid the hands of the bishops, presbyters, and deacons who were present, he joyfully sent forth his blessed soul to Christ. The garments too of the holy body were snatched with pious violence by various lamenting and faithful peoples, so that they could scarcely be recalled from the patience of those receiving the relics, we presbyters and ministers standing by. From these, with God granting it, as I said above, the healings of the sick are very frequently celebrated.
He wrought, indeed, admirable joy in heaven, but on earth he left intolerable mourning; which mourning not only the good, but even any wicked who saw it, shared alike. For who among those funeral rites, holy man or stranger, could sing a psalm for tears? But absolutely all, good or bad, just and unjust, Christians or Jews, going before or following after, gave voice: 'Woe, woe, and daily more woe, for the world was not worthy to have such a herald and intercessor any longer.' And so he was buried in the basilica of Holy Mary ever Virgin, which he himself had built, where the sacred bodies of the virgins from his monastery are laid to rest.
Let us too, with faithful devotion and the diligence that is owed, venerate on earth him whose soul we trust, rejoice, and glory shines forth in heaven, to the praise and honour of Jesus Christ our Lord, who with the eternal Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, through the boundless ages of ages. Amen.