Pastoral Rule, Dialogues & Letters 76

Of this venerable man, the bishop Venantius, I have learned yet another miracle by report, which is said to have taken place in the city of Placentia. That most truthful man John also, who now holds the office of the prefects here in the city of Rome, and who was himself born and reared in that same city of Placentia, attests, just as the bishop relates, that it was in fact so done. For they affirm that in that city there was a bishop of wondrous power, Sabinus by name. When on a certain day his deacon reported to him that the river Po, having overrun its bed in its course, had seized the fields of the Church, and that the water of that river was covering all the places there that were of use for nourishing men, Sabinus, the bishop of venerable life, answered, saying: 'Go, and say to it:'

'The bishop commands you to restrain yourself and to return to your own bed.' When his deacon heard this, he despised and derided it. Then the man of God, having summoned a notary, dictated, saying: 'Sabinus, servant of the Lord Jesus Christ, an admonition to the Po: I command you in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord that you go forth no further out of your bed into these places, and that you presume not to harm the lands of the Church.' And to that same notary he added, saying: 'Go, write this, and cast it into the water of that river.' When this was done, the river, receiving the command of the holy man, at once withdrew its water from the lands of the Church, and returning to its own bed, presumed no further to go forth into those same places.

In this matter, Peter, what else is confounded but the hardness of disobedient men, when, by the power of Jesus, even an irrational element obeyed the commands of the holy man?