and bewailing my misfortune, I spoke with them, saying: I adjure you by Almighty God, and by the day of judgment to be feared by all the guilty, that you consent to what I ask. Do not desist from the journey begun; and if I deserve to see the basilica of holy Martin, I give thanks to my God; but if otherwise, then, carrying my lifeless body, bury it there, for my resolve is not to return home if I have not merited to be presented at his tomb. Then, weeping together as one, we set out upon the journey we had begun. And so, the protection of the glorious lord going before us, we came to his basilica. CHAPTER XXXIII. Of our cleric the madman.
At that time one of my clerics, Armentarius by name, well learned in the spiritual Scriptures, to whom it was so easy to grasp the modulations of melodies that you would not think he was studying this but writing it, very vigorous in service and faithful in what was committed to him. He, however, the poison infecting him, had lost all sense from the malignant pustules, and had been so reduced that he could utterly neither understand nor do anything. On the third night after we had come to the holy basilica, we resolved to keep vigil, which we also did. But when morning had come, the signal being sounded for matins, we returned to our lodging [in the edition: to sleep]; and resting on our little beds, we slept until nearly the second hour.
Awaking, then, with all the bitterness of languor and heart removed, I felt that I had recovered my former health; and rejoicing, I called the household servant boy who should serve me. But Armentarius, rising up, swiftly stood before me and said: Lord, I will prepare what you command. But I, thinking him still out of his senses, said: Go, if you can, call the boy. And he said: I will fulfill whatever you command. Astonished, I asked what this was. He said: I perceive that I am quite well, but one bewilderment is in my mind, that I do not know from what direction I came hither. And beginning, he rendered me service just as he was wont before his affliction.
Then I, exulting and weeping for joy, gave thanks to Almighty God both for myself and for him, that by the intercession of the patron he had rendered me unharmed in body and him in mind, and that one and the same encounter had bestowed health by faith even on the other madman, who knew not how even to ask. But I shall not pass over this either, that after forty days, on that same day, I delighted to drink wine for the first time, whereas through my ailment I had until then held it in loathing. CHAPTER XXXIV. That his power kept the storm from our field. But we, returning, carried three small candles as a blessing from the blessed tomb: of which wax how many miracles were wrought upon the fever-stricken and other infirm, it would be long to relate.
But I shall set forth one out of many miracles. A certain field of our possession the hail was wont to lay waste every single year, and it raged so grievously that when it came it left nothing there. Then I, choosing among those vines one tree which was taller than the rest, placed some of the holy wax upon it. But from that day until the present time no storm has ever fallen there, but coming, it passed by that place as though in fear. CHAPTER XXXV. Of the wood of the blessed railing brought to us. Faith admonishing him, a certain one of our people had, without my knowledge, carried off a venerable piece of wood from the railing of the little couch which is at the monastery of holy Domnus, which he kept in his little lodging for his preservation.
But, I believe, because it was not honored or cherished as was fitting for it, his household began grievously to sicken. And when it was utterly unknown what this was, nor was anything remedied, but day by day it was carried on worse, he saw in a vision of the night a terrible person, saying to him: Why is it thus dealt with you? He said: I am altogether ignorant whence this has come. The person says to him: The wood which you took from the couch of lord Martin, you negligently keep here with you; therefore you have incurred these things. But go now, and bring it to Gregory the deacon, and let him keep it with himself. And he, delaying not at all, presented it to me. Which I, gathered with the utmost veneration, laid up in a worthy place.
And thus all the household in his house was healed, so that no one there thereafter suffered any evil. CHAPTER XXXVI. That his power held back enemies from us. Now it happened at a certain time that out of zeal for visitation I was traveling to my venerable mother in Burgundy. But when I was passing through those woods which are across the river Bèbre, we fell among robbers. They, surrounding us, wished to despoil and slay us. Then I, fleeing to my accustomed help, implored the protection of holy Martin. Which, presently and graciously standing by me, so terrified them that they could do nothing against us. But, the case being reversed, those who had come to be feared began themselves to fear, and to flee with most swift course.
But I, not unmindful of the Apostle who says that our enemies ought to be satisfied with drink and food (Rom. 12:20), commanded drink to be offered to them. They, by no means waiting, fled as fast as they could. You would have believed them to be driven with clubs, or compelled against the strength of their horses to run unwillingly; and thus, the Lord granting and the patron helping, we came whither we were directing our course. From how many tribulations and hardships he rescued me, in how many necessities his mercy stood by me, or how many bitternesses in me his power restrained, it would be too long not only to write but even to recount. CHAPTER XXXVII. Of the dysenteric.
What shall I say of the dysenteric, where the remedy is found as swiftly as it has been faithfully sought? For I saw a woman grievously laboring with dysentery for five months, so that when necessity moved her, she was carried in others' hands to the necessary places, and who had at once lost both the strengthening of food and the vigor of her little body by digesting to excess; with myself as informant, I know that she kept vigil at the basilica. But when the day was restored after the nocturnal darkness, having scraped the dust of the blessed tomb, she both drank her remedy and her cup; and she who, coming, had been supported by others, returned home by her own steps. CHAPTER XXXVIII. Of the possessed and the fever-stricken.
Or what shall I relate of the possessed or the fever-stricken, in whom, if abstinence and faith are truly joined, presently, the patron aiding, all the snares are removed? Thus many of the fever-stricken, while they are most grievously shaken by the force of the fever, lying all day between the altar and the holy tomb, but toward evening, having drunk of the dust of the blessed tomb, straightway merit to receive health. For Paulus, a possessed man, who was said to have a legion of demons, the enemy pressing him, climbing the engine that was near the holy chamber, is said to have spoken: Let the little vessel perish, which I, burned up, inhabit.
And boiling with fury and hurling himself down, by the power of the blessed one he was set down upon the pavement so gently that he bruised no member of his condemned little body. CHAPTER XXXIX. Of Leomeria the blind. A certain Leomeria [in the Beccensis: Deomena], blind and contracted, living miserably for a long time, while she traversed that road by the hands of others with frequent stumbling, by which one goes to the blessed basilica, at length regarded by his mercy, lying at the holy door, recovered both her sight and her gait alike.
O if all were brought forth into public which each and every one, while they faithfully ask, secretly receives, and the conscience of many keeps hidden, that health was obtained, faithfully asking, in things secretly sought! But if all these things, as we have said, were made public, not only the books, but not even the world itself, as the evangelist says concerning the Lord, I think could contain them (John 21:25). CHAPTER XL. Of Securus the cripple. And since the discourse demands its conclusion, I shall yet relate to you one illustrious miracle before the book reaches its end.
A certain youth, named Securus, coming forth from his mother's womb, had brought forth a withered hand and foot, and so with the framework of all his members dried up he was stiff, so that he simulated some monster: he was also bound by the yoke of servitude. When his masters saw that for seven years now he could profit absolutely nothing, carrying him by their hands they placed him before the blessed tomb, that he might at least be fed by the passers-by, who could not be nourished by his own labor. But as he lay in that place for many days, his foot which had been disabled was straightened, and his withered hand, the veins being infused with blood, was healed:
and thus in his whole body, having received the aid of the blessed Confessor, he was formed [in the edition: healed], so that you would think him to have been born anew. This little boy, redeemed by Justinus the count, was set free as a freeman; and afterwards, having obtained baptism, he persists to this day unharmed under the patronage of holy Church. Who could ever so investigate or recount these things in order, that he might suffice to praise them as they deserve? Yet we, as much as we were able to investigate, have studied to write faithfully, hoping to receive this recompense of reward: that while these things are read in praise of the most holy Priest, refreshment for our offenses may perhaps be granted to us, as the poet says: Perhaps one day it will be a joy to remember even these things. Here ends the first book. Prologue.
Since, having recorded the miracles of holy Martin which we have seen, or were able to find from faithful men concerning past time, burning greatly in this thirst, that what the Lord deigned to perform in praise of his bishop should not be handed over to oblivion, we have finished the first little book; we desire also to narrate those things which we marvel are being done in our own time, leaving no small material to the more eloquent, but taking up the great deeds of his powers in our own works, so that what skill does not spread out upon the pages, the multitude of miracles may extend in heaps. CHAPTER ONE. How I was rescued from fever and dysentery.
In the 572nd year after the passing of the blessed bishop Martin, the most glorious King Sigibert reigning in his twelfth year, after the death of holy bishop Euphronius, not by my own merit, since I am most foul in conscience and wrapped up in sins, but by the gift of the faithful God, who calls those things which are not, as though they were, I, unworthy, received the burden of the episcopate. But in the second month of my ordination, when I was in a country estate, I incurred dysentery with a strong fever, and began to be so afflicted that, death drawing near, I despaired of living in every way. I was constantly emitting the functions of digestion, which could not receive what was unconsumed, and there was a loathing of food;
and when the strength of my stomach was failing from lack of food, the fever alone was the conqueror of my body. For no nourishing comfort came at all; and there was also a grievous pain penetrating the whole belly and descending to the flanks, consuming me with its torture no less than the fever had demanded. And when it was thus dealt with me, so that no hope of life remained, but all things were reckoned for the funeral, nor did the antidote of the physician avail at all for one whom death had handed over to destruction, I myself, despairing of myself, called Armentarius the chief physician, and said to him: You have expended all the ingenuity of your art, you have already tried the force of all your unguents, but the things of this world profit nothing for one about to perish. One thing remains that I shall do: I shall show you a great theriac.
'Bring dust from the most sacred tomb of the house of Martin, and from it prepare me a draught. But if this avails nothing, then all means of escape are lost.' Then, a deacon having been sent to the aforesaid tomb of the blessed Prelate, he brought of the most holy dust, and they mixed it and handed it to me to drink. When I had drunk it, all pain was at once stilled and I recovered my health from the tomb. In this the benefit was so immediate that, although it was done at the third hour, I went sound to the banquet that very day at the sixth hour. It has seemed good to insert this also into the narrative: how God reproved me, lest I should henceforth allow foolish and frivolous men to disparage the blessed solemnities.
On the morrow, after I had recovered, coming on the Lord's Day to Mass, and not wishing to weary myself, I bade one of the presbyters celebrate the glorious solemnities. But when that presbyter, I know not how, brought forth certain rustic and festive words, many of our people began to mock and rebuke him, saying: 'It would have been better to keep silent than to speak so uncouthly.' But on the following night I saw a man saying to me: 'Concerning the mysteries of God there must be no disputing. For I call God to witness that this was not composed by me, but the very words which I heard I have set forth to you. Wherefore, most beloved, let no one concerning this mystery [or ministry]...'
...let anyone presume to dispute, even though it seem rudely spoken; for in the eyes of God's majesty pure simplicity prevails more than the subtlety of philosophers. CHAPTER II. On the infirmity of Justinus. I have thought it pleasing not to omit this also, which slipped from me in the earlier book. For when I had related concerning those little candles which I took from the tomb of the blessed Bishop, by which I said tempests were stilled and other infirmities warded off, while I was keeping these by me, Justinus, my sister's husband, fell into sickness. For, the fever growing strong, with pains in all his limbs, he began to be brought to the last extremity.
A messenger, bringing this news to me, reported it, earnestly begging that if I could find any remedy I would send it to the dying man, lest he should perish. But I, trusting in the power of the blessed Bishop, sent one of the little candles by a boy, saying: 'Light it before him, and in the contemplation of the light let him pour out a prayer to the Lord, and let him implore the omnipotence [or power] of the Bishop, that He may succour him.' The boy, being sent, carried what I had given. When it had been lit before the bed of the sick man, they scraped with a knife the ash of the rush which the fire had already consumed, and, dissolving it in water, gave it to the sick man to drink. And he, as soon as he had drunk, immediately recovered his health and was restored sound.
Afterward he explained to us how the power of the blessed Bishop came to his aid. For he was wont to relate that, as soon as the radiance of the light proceeding from the candle drove the darkness of night from his eyes, immediately, in the contemplation of the flame, the fever departed from his body; and his stomach, which had long languished from fasting, demanded the food of comfort; and he who had been accustomed only to draw pure water to quench the burning of the fever now desired wine. This the power of the Bishop accomplishes, which often grants help to the wretched with overflowing compassion, and bestows remedies upon the infirm. CHAPTER III. On Maurusa, afflicted with gout of the hands. I fear lest, presuming to advance too far, my too rustic speech may sully the page.
A certain woman named Maurusa the pain of a grievous gouty humour had afflicted, so that, her feet being twisted back toward her shins, she could in no way raise herself up. She was also deprived of the light of her eyes; and, suffering grievously for a long time, though surviving she was thought as one dead, nor was there any hope of sustenance for her unless someone should stretch out to her a hand of mercy. Daily, looking to the regard of the devout, she demanded the necessities of food. But it came to pass that at a certain time she was afflicted more grievously than was usual, nor could she control any of her limbs, save only that the breath of life moved within her breast. She, now well-nigh lifeless, begged that they should carry her to the feet of Saint Martin.
When she had been carried to that place by the hands of the faithful, with pain compelling her, crying out for the help of the blessed Man, she prayed that he would have mercy on her. At last that loving-kindness, which never was wont to send the poor away empty, looking upon her, on his festival the threads of her withered sinews were loosed; and so, with the right hand which for six years she had not been able to control, making the sign of the holy cross to her mouth, she was restored in her feet, so that she returned to her little lodging using no one's aid, though she had not yet recovered the light of her eyes. But after two years, coming again to the tomb of the blessed patron, she began to pray more attentively, as the occasion was fitting: at once, her eyes being opened, she rose up in renewed light.
This miracle we have here written for this reason, that it was after we came hither that she was given her sight. For previously she had been healed of her infirmity. CHAPTER IV. On Veranus, the servant of the presbyter Simon. The servant of Simon, a most faithful fellow-presbyter of ours, Veranus by name, who had been proved trustworthy in the duties committed to him as a steward, while he was sitting at the guard-post assigned to him, was deprived of the use of his feet by a sudden onset of a gouty humour. When for a whole year he was tormented by such pains that he even disturbed the neighbourhood nearby, his sinews being suddenly contracted, he was utterly disabled. Seeing this, his master, grieving at the failing of his faithful servant, ordered him to be carried to the feet of the blessed Bishop, making a vow and saying:
'If thou restore him to health, most holy lord Martin, on that day, being released from the bond of my service, with his hair humbly cut [or shorn], let him be assigned to thy service.' Being therefore set at the feet of the most precious Lord, when he had lain there immovable for five days, on the sixth day he was overcome by sleep; and to him as he slumbered it seemed as though a man, when lying in his little bed, is accustomed to stretch out his foot. Being awakened, he rose up healthy of every infirmity. He, his head tonsured and his liberty received, now serves there for the uses of the blessed Lord. O the admirable redemption of the blessed man! Who ever redeemed with a thousand talents as he did, our present advocate for our crimes?
who with one blow, in one moment, without coin of gold, both freed the body from disability and released the man's condition from its burden. CHAPTER V. On the paralytic of Auxerre. A certain man from the town of Auxerre, Manlulfus by name, was cast down by the hands of those bearing him at the tomb of the blessed Martin. He, applying himself to continual prayer and fasting, brought back the feet which he had presented twisted, suddenly restored to health, directed to their accustomed use; and so by the Saint's power he was in a measure refashioned, so that he who was carried in the hands of others, being made firm on his own feet, rose up sound in our presence. CHAPTER VI. On the paralytic of Orléans. Another paralytic, conveyed by cart from the territory of Orléans, came to the holy basilica:
who, lying for many days at that door which beside the baptistery opens an exit toward midday [i.e. the south], implored the help of the blessed Bishop. But it came to pass that on one day, lying there, he was tormented more grievously than usual, so that the neighbours from nearby ran together at his cries. The ligatures of his sinews were being loosed and straightened, and on this account the pain was intolerable; and so, with the patron granting it, raised upon his soles, weeping for joy, with the people as witness he rose up. He, immediately being made a cleric and established in soundness, returned to his home. CHAPTER VII. On the paralytic from Bourges.
But also another, disabled in his gait, by name Leuboveus, already a cleric, arriving and dragging himself along the ground, because, poverty causing it, he had no one to carry him, day by day sought the threshold of the blessed Martin. When on a certain day he was weeping outside at the Saint's feet, his knees and feet being straightened, with the people looking on, he received health. These three miracles are agreed to have been done on the very day on which the most glorious king Sigibert, crossing the Seine, without a clash of armies made peace with his brothers (A.D. 574). Let no one doubt that this also was a victory of the blessed Bishop. CHAPTER VIII. On a blind man enlightened.
At that time also a certain blind man, begging alms from the almsgivers, who had nothing for his sustenance unless someone stretched out a hand to him out of pity, nor had any support at home save the compassion of the devout, on one day, while he stood with fixed steps before the holy tomb, a pain suddenly seized him in his eyes; and when he was being grievously consumed by this pain, his eyes began to emit foam. And so, blood bursting forth from his eyelids, being reborn into renewed light, he was found worthy to see the light which he had once lost. CHAPTER IX. On another blind woman. A certain Gunthedrudis, from the territory of Vermandois, had lost the light of her eyes:
who, leaving her home and country, at faith's prompting, came to the holy basilica, and there, serving for many days, merited to recover the sight of one eye. She, soon forgetting husband and sons, and changing her garment, at the Lord's inspiration passed over to the ecclesiastical religious life. CHAPTER X. On a woman freed from a flow of blood. But neither will I keep silent on this: how, as it were from the garment of our Redeemer, at the blessed tomb a flow of blood was dried up. A certain woman, coming from Auvergne with her husband, from the district of Thiers, was sick with a flow of blood, and had her lodging beside the courtyard of the basilica. She, lying each day prostrate at the threshold of the holy Confessor, sought the help of healing.
But it came to pass that on a certain day, approaching the holy tomb, praying and kissing it, she touched her ears and eyes with the pall which is placed over it. Immediately the stream of blood was dried up, and she was so healed that she thought she had touched the hem of the Redeemer's garment. Her husband, falling into sickness, being laid down by the hands of others at the door of the basilica, faithfully praying, his fever being quenched, recovered. And so both alike, this man from his ailment, this woman from her flow, magnifying God, returned to their own home. CHAPTER XI. On a lame woman. The wife of Animus the tribune, Mummola by name, terrified in the night by fright, had lost the use of one foot;
and she had so fallen into disability that she was held upright by the hands of others, wherever she meant to go. Being laid down at the feet of the blessed Martin, she held a candle in her hand all night long for her vow, while we kept vigil in the basilica. But when morning came, and the signal had been given for matins, she stood upon her disabled foot, so that, all disability being stilled, she returned free to her lodging by her own steps, with no one supporting her. CHAPTER XII. On a man cured of dysentery. At a certain time, when the blessed Germanus, bishop of the city of Paris, was coming to the festival of the glorious Bishop, Hagnimodus, then a deacon, now a bishop, came into his service, gravely suffering from dysentery.
But the blessed Germanus came first to a villa of his church, which is situated in this territory. Therefore, when before the night of the vigils of his solemnity he had begun to approach Tours, he bade the deacon stay behind at the villa, saying: 'Lest perchance thou be wearied by the journey, and something worse befall thee.' But he said: 'It is the power of God which bids us suffer according to our desert; for I will go no otherwise than that I may go to the basilica of the blessed Bishop; for I trust that, if I touch his tomb, I shall be made whole.' And straightway, mounting his horse, he came to the basilica. In the morning, having received a draught from the dust of the tomb, his infirmity being at once stilled, he recovered. CHAPTER XIII. On a blind man enlightened.
A certain Ursulfus from the city of Tours, from the district across the Loire, being blind, devoutly sought the aid of the blessed Martin. He, serving assiduously at his temple for two months, persevered in fastings and prayers. But it came to pass on one day of the Lord's resurrection, while he was at the feet of the Lord, and was following the solemnities of the Mass with the rest of the people, suddenly his eyes were opened and he began to perceive all things clearly, so that he came to the holy altar for the grace of communion with no one leading him. But what was the cause of his blindness, I will tell. On the first day of Easter he was ordered by his master to go round the field and to bar the opening he found by which the cattle were entering. While he tried to close it, he was struck blind.
Then, as we have said, coming to the tomb, weeping and wailing, he begged for the sight which he had lost. But on that day, while the grace of the Lord's body was being delivered to the people, the blessed Bishop deigned to restore his sight to him, and, with the sun shining, the stars of his eyes shone again. Who, I ask, could ever be found such a physician, who in one infirmity should bestow two medicines? Behold, in one blind man two miracles were shown, to whom He first opened the bodily eyes to contemplate earthly things, and now enlightened the eyes of his heart that he might not covet them; and He deigned to dedicate to His service him whom, so to speak, He caused to be born anew into the world. CHAPTER XIV. On a paralytic girl.
But neither will I be silent on what this patron wrought on his own festival. A certain girl of the palace, smitten with the humour of paralysis, had badly lost the use of her steps, so that, the sinews being contracted in her hams, she joined her heels to her thighs. Her father, bringing her to Tours, devoutly set her before the feet of the blessed Martin, and there, lying for three months, she begged alms from the passers-by. But it came to pass on the day of the renowned solemnity of the blessed Man that she, while we were saying Mass, faithfully prayed in the place which we named above.
And when we, duly celebrating the most sacred solemnities, were recounting the testimony of the holy lord's mighty works, suddenly she began to cry out and to weep, signifying that she was being tormented. But when, the testimony being completed, all the holy people cried out in praise of the Lord, immediately the sinews which had been bound were loosed, and she stood upon her feet, with all the people looking on; and so, with the Lord showing favour, she came as far as the holy altar to communicate by her own steps, with no one supporting her: she remains sound to this day. CHAPTER XV. On a blind man enlightened. A certain Merobaudes from the district of Poitiers, while he was labouring at work, was struck with a most grievous blindness, the malicious enemy sending it.