Pastoral Rule, Dialogues & Letters 77

The man of venerable life, Cerbonius, bishop of Populonia, likewise gave in our own days a great proof of his sanctity. For, since he was most intent upon the practice of hospitality, on a certain day he received into his lodging some soldiers who were passing by; and when the Goths came upon them, he hid them, and by hiding them preserved their life from the wickedness of those men. When this had been reported to Totila, the treacherous king of the Goths, kindled with the frenzy of most monstrous cruelty, he ordered him to be led to the place called Merulae at the eighth milestone from this city, where he himself was then encamped with his army, and to be thrown to bears to be devoured in the sight of the people.

And when that treacherous king had himself taken his seat at that very spectacle to watch the bishop's death, a great crowd of people flowed together. Then the bishop was led into the midst, and a most monstrous bear was sought out for his death, one that, while cruelly tearing the human limbs, might satisfy the savage king's mind. So the bear was let loose from its cage; and, roused and provoked, it made for the bishop, but suddenly, forgetting its own ferocity, with bent neck and head humbly lowered, it began to lick the bishop's feet, so that it was given plainly to all to understand that toward that man of God even the hearts of beasts were, as it were, human, and the hearts of men, as it were, bestial.

Then the people who had come to the spectacle of death were turned, with a great outcry, into wonder and veneration. Then the king himself was moved to pay reverence to him; inasmuch as by heavenly judgment it had been brought about with him, that he who at first would not follow God in preserving the bishop's life should at least follow the beast in gentleness. Of this matter not a few who were then present still survive, and testify that they, together with all the people there, saw it. Concerning this same man I have also learned another miracle, related to me by Venantius, bishop of Luna. For in that church of Populonia over which he presided he prepared a tomb for himself. But when the nation of the Lombards, coming into Italy, had laid all things waste, he withdrew to the island of Elba.

When, as sickness came upon him, he drew near to death, he charged his clergy who were attending upon him and himself, saying: 'Lay me in the tomb which I prepared for myself at Populonia.' When we said to him: 'How can we carry your body back thither, since we know that those places are held by the Lombards and that they range everywhere there?' he answered: 'Carry me back with you, do not fear, but see that you bury me in haste; and as soon as my body has been buried, withdraw from that place with all speed.' So they placed the body of the dead man in a ship; and as they were making for Populonia, the air gathered into clouds and a great, exceedingly heavy rain broke forth.

But, that it might be made plain to all whose man's body that ship was carrying, along both sides of the ship a very stormy rain came down over that whole stretch of sea which lies between the island of Elba and Populonia, a distance of twelve miles, and yet upon that same ship not one drop of rain fell. So the clergy arrived at the place and committed the body of their priest to burial. Keeping his commands, they returned in haste to the ship. As soon as they were able to board it, into that very place where the man of the Lord had been buried came Gummarith, a most cruel leader of the Lombards. From his coming it became clear that the man of God had possessed the spirit of prophecy, since he had commanded his ministers to depart in haste from the place of his burial.

Now this miracle which I have related concerning the divided rain was also shown forth in the veneration of another bishop. For a certain aged cleric, who still survives, testifies that he was present at that very event, saying: Fulgentius, the bishop who presided over the Church of Otriculum, had in every way the most cruel king Totila as his enemy. And when he had drawn near to those parts with his army, the bishop took care to send him gifts by his clergy, and to soften, if he could, the madness of his fury by presents. When Totila saw them, he forthwith spurned them, and, enraged, ordered his men to bind that same bishop with all harshness and to keep him for his judgment.

When the fierce Goths, the ministers of his cruelty, had seized him, they surrounded him and ordered him to stand in one spot, and they drew a circle for him on the ground beyond which he might on no account dare to set his foot. And when the man of God was sweltering in the excessive sun, surrounded by those same Goths and shut in by the marking of the circle, suddenly lightnings and thunders and so great a force of rain broke forth that those who had taken him into custody could not bear the immensity of the rain. And while an exceedingly great flood was occurring, within that same marking of the circle in which the man of the Lord, Fulgentius, stood, not even one drop of rain fell.

When this was reported to the most cruel king, that savage mind was turned to great reverence for the man whose punishment it had before thirsted for with insatiable fury. Thus almighty God works the miracles of His power through the despised, against the puffed-up minds of carnal men; that those who proudly raise themselves against the precepts of truth may have their necks pressed down by truth through the humble.