In those days when these things were related to us, one of our clerics fell into a flux of the bowels with fever, and an excessive weakness of the stomach; and what he cast out through the lower part was for the most part blood. And this matter had afflicted him the more because the food he took he at once threw up, the nausea growing strong: but immediately, as soon as he drank of the dust from the tomb, the infirmity being removed, he was made firm. CHAPTER LIII. Concerning one hanged who was set free; likewise concerning another. But I have thought that neither should this be passed over in silence: that he often, by the outstretched right hand of his mercy, raised up those rushing headlong toward death. Indeed, the slave of Genitor, a citizen of ours, seized by the judge for the crime of theft, was condemned to the gibbet.
As he was being led away, he kept invoking the name of the blessed Bishop, saying: 'Free me, holy confessor Martin, from the impending peril.' So when he had been hanged and left alone, a wind suddenly stirring, he heard a voice saying: 'Let us free him.' And behold, the stake which supported the man, shaken from the four quarters of heaven, was torn from the earth with an immense clod of turf, like a tree uprooted; and so the man, delivered to death, was raised up alive again. Another also, who had committed many crimes and, pricked by God, was doing penance for the evils he had wrought, being seized without cause, was condemned to a like death, ever invoking the aid of the holy Confessor. And when he had been hanged, his bonds being burst, he fell unharmed to the ground.
But the evil mind of men hanged again the one whom God had snatched away. Hearing this, the abbot of a monastery from a nearby place ran to the count to plead for him; for it was a long way off, about three miles, and having obtained from him the man's life in this matter, he returned and found him alive. Having taken him down from the gallows, he led him to the monastery, the man entreating and saying: 'For I have felt the power of holy Martin, who snatched me away.' CHAPTER LIV. Concerning a mute who was healed. There was a man within the bounds of that same city of Tours, from the village of Mount Loudun; and that man was simple by nature, bound in the bond of marriage.
As he was resting with his wife at midnight, terror arose in him; and terrified, leaping from his bed, while he wandered trembling through his little dwelling, he lost the service of his voice. Without delay, he indicated by a nod to his wife that she should bring him to the Saint's basilica. Coming there, while he lay continually in prayer before the blessed tomb for six months, his tongue was loosed, and he merited to recover speech as he had had it before, by the power of the blessed Bishop. CHAPTER LV. Concerning a woman whose hand had drawn together. A woman from beyond the Loire, while on the Lord's Day she was plying the work which the authority of the Fathers forbids to be done on that day, her hand drew together and stiffened, and her fingers were fixed into the palm.
While she was tormented with pains, she approached the holy shrine of the Confessor; and she vowed that, if she were healed of this infirmity, she would thenceforth do no work on this day of the Lord's resurrection that was unbefitting that day: and at once, the fingers being released from the palm and the hand straightened, she departed. CHAPTER LVI. Concerning a woman drawn together and blind. For great is the mercy of the Confessor, which thus restrains the foolish, that, setting their fault before their eyes, it may render them amended for the future. For this cause another woman was crippled. For when on the Sabbath day after sunset—which adjoins the night of the Lord's resurrection—she was placing bread in the oven, her arm was shaken with pain.
After she had put in a second and a third loaf, her hand began against her will to clench upon the wood it held: and the woman, understanding that she was being condemned by the judgment of the divine power, quickly cast away the baker's peel she was holding; nevertheless she could not escape the penalty. For her hands were so contracted with grievous pain that the nails were driven into the very palm. From this, believing she could be healed by no physician's poultice, she sought out the Blessed one's basilica; and praying there faithfully, with her hands straightened, she departed healed; and she vowed that, coming each month for one week to the holy temple, she ought to serve God and the blessed Bishop. And it was most clearly known that she observed this for one year.
But after a year, having omitted one month's week, she did not come to the holy basilica. As she sat in her little dwelling, an eye was pierced through with pain; and pressing it, she lost it, and the other also at once began to ache. Thus in the space of a single hour she was made blind in both eyes. Without delay, confessing her fault, she fled to the known refuge; and there, pouring out prayer in supplication, and doing penance for her negligence with contrition, on the eighth day, blood flowing from her eyes, she was given light. CHAPTER LVII. Concerning a blind man given light. A certain man's eyes, covered by a thick cloud of darkness, had been sealed by a kind of glue with the eyelids joined together, and what remained to the man was held by great pains. What more?
Devout, he sought out the festival of the Saint with the rest, earnestly praying that he might merit to be visited by the power of the blessed Bishop on the day of the solemnity. But the might of the Confessor anticipated the sacred solemnities, showing himself present to the people when he drove away the darkness and poured back the light. Therefore, before the third day of the festival, in this courtyard which surrounds the apse of the body, as he was praying, suddenly his eyes were opened, and looking up he merited to see the light. When he was relating this to those who were present with thanksgiving, it was said to him that he should rather pour out a silent prayer, that the blessed Bishop might more swiftly complete the power he had begun. Then, prostrate on the earth, when he had burst into tears, his eyes being made firm, he rose up sound from the ground. CHAPTER LVIII.
Concerning a paralytic and two blind men cleansed and healed, and two possessed. After the third day of this solemnity, there was a certain paralytic praying in this place, to whom the disability had come about for this cause, as he himself related: that while he was a small boy and keeping watch in the field with the rest of the shepherds of the flocks, he fell asleep over a certain spring; and when the others withdrew at midday, he alone remained. And at length, abandoned by sleep, while he strove to rise, he was gripped by pains. Soon, contracted in all his limbs, his arms twisted outward, the sinews drawn together at the back of the knee, his heels brought up to his legs, with no power of walking, immense tears with great cries poured from him.
When his companions returned to look after the flocks, he was found there wailing. Thereupon, carried in the arms of his parents, he was restored to his home. But after a few days, when he was a little relieved of his pains, he was assigned to certain beggars, with whom for ten years or more, traveling round regions and cities, he came also to this festival, and was made solid in all his limbs. On the same day two blind men were given light, and two possessed were cleansed at the tomb of the Bishop. CHAPTER LIX. Concerning a feverish boy. A certain youth of ours was vexed with nightly fevers to such a degree that from the eighth hour of the day until the second hour of the next day he could obtain no rest from his burning.
For all food was loathsome to him, and he took nothing by which he might be strengthened. A savage pain too shook all his limbs, and pallor besieged his cheeks. And while he was thus carried in his parents' arms as a sick man, I scarcely managed to obtain that he be brought to the tomb of the blessed Bishop. At last, when he had been brought and had taken a drink from the dust of the most sacred mound diluted, soon by this blessing, all the pain being put to flight, the fever was extinguished. Without delay, the boy sought the secret places of digestion; he was led into a corner for the sake of purging his belly. And when, the wind driving it on, he discharged what he wished, immediately two worms came forth from him in the manner of serpents:
and they seemed so to move before the eyes of men that they were thought to be alive. When these therefore had been discharged from him, he was at once fully healed, and took food and drink as he was accustomed; and the ruddiness was restored to his cheeks, the pallor being driven off, and he was made solid in all his limbs. CHAPTER LX. Concerning the things which were done on my journey. It happened recently, as occasion required, that I should go to visit my mother in the territory of the city of Chalon. But fearing the infirmities that might come upon me, I presumed to take away from this dust—that is, of the tomb of the blessed Bishop—and carry it with me, namely, so that if any sickness should attack one of our people, the power of the Saint might come to aid in its accustomed way.
When therefore I had come to my mother, immediately a fever with dysentery seized one of the boys, wore him down and consumed him, so that, the use of eating being denied, he was nourished by fevers alone. On the third day, while these things were happening and it had been reported to me, I offered the moistened dust to drink to the dying boy, and at once, the fever put to flight and the pain assuaged, he recovered. In those days I heard from Bishop Veranus that at some time, when he was burning with the heat of a quartan ague, having sought out the basilica of blessed Martin which was in that place, the vigil being celebrated, he was healed. But we, coming to Auvergne from this journey, found Bishop Avitus so gravely shaken by a tertian ague that even if he took any food, he at once threw it up:
but when a drink had been taken from this relic, the fever being trodden down, he was strengthened. A fever of the sick-bed had attacked two of our boys, and all the joints of their limbs, as it had settled: but having been given this blessing to drink, they were healed. I myself on this journey, when I was gravely suffering pain of the teeth—and now not only the teeth themselves, but the whole head was pierced by the throbbing of the veins and the darts of pains, and the temples leapt violently—I sought this safeguard, and soon, the pain suppressed, I recovered. O unspeakable theriac! O ineffable balm! O praiseworthy antidote!
O heavenly purgative, so to speak, which surpasses the subtleties of physicians, exceeds the sweetness of aromatics, and grows beyond the strength of all ointments! which cleanses the belly like cassia, the lung like hyssop, and purges the very head like pyrethrum. And not only does it make firm the weakened limbs, but, what is greater than all these, it wipes away and smooths the very stains of consciences. Let these things, then, which have been inserted into this little book, suffice for it. Yet if we are still found worthy to behold miracles, it is fitting that they be set into another little book, so that the things which are shown may not be hidden, but rather ought to be proclaimed with voices.
For the rest, we beseech his power, that he who bestows such things from his tomb may deign now to raise us up to God, dead to our sins, from the sepulchre of this death, so that at that time of the resurrection of our flesh he may obtain indulgence for us, when he himself shall be advanced to the crown. Here ends the third book. PROLOGUE. The Prophet, with most salutary exhortation, says also in another psalm: 'Those who, fearing the Lord, magnify Him' (Psalm 138:17). Likewise also in another psalm: 'Those who, fearing the Lord, magnify Him' (Psalm 14:4) are joined to the blessedness of the eternal house. Therefore it is plainly evident to human understanding that all are admonished—not only we who are free of guilt, but even those given over to the evil of a deadly crime—to render reverent worship to the friends of God.
Which thing not only confers benefit in the present age, but also affords refreshment in the age to come. For since we often see the tokens of miracles issue from the tombs of the blessed, we are not unworthily admonished to render to them the due reverence of honor, from whom we do not cease to beg the remedies of our infirmities. By whose prayers we do not doubt to obtain even the very remission of our sins: and not only to merit this, but to be saved by their intercession from infernal torments. For we trust that, just as here they cut away kinds of diseases, so there they avert the savage punishments of torments; and just as here they mitigate bodily fevers, so there they extinguish the eternal ones;
and as here they raise the corpses of the dead to life, so there they obtain, by their intercession, that the stains of our offenses be cleansed; and just as here they cleanse the foul, livid sores of leprosy, so there may they restore to eternal life those buried in sin, snatched by their hand laid upon them from the Acherontic pools. Wherefore, while each one rejoices in his own joy under his patron, then he renders the more abundantly the honor due, when he has felt himself cleansed by his power from the infirmity by which he was held: even as now both we and countless peoples have experienced concerning the blessed Martin the Bishop, the special patron of the whole world:
and would that the sloth of our mind permitted us to venerate him as befits a friend of God, who has for the most part restored us, oppressed by such great kinds of diseases, to health. CHAPTER ONE. Concerning the pain of my belly. Most recently I incurred a pain of the belly. And although it did not at all give a loosening, yet the evil of the pain wandered about in those winding recesses of the intestines. I applied, I confess, baths frequently, and I had hot things bound over those very torments of the bowels, but they could in no way heal the infirmity. For the sixth day had dawned, on which the pain grew more and more strong, when there came into my memory that, a few years before, as is contained written in the second book of this work (Chapter 1),
I had been healed of this pain by the power of the Saint. I went boldly to the place of the tomb, and casting myself on the ground, I poured out a prayer, and more secretly drew from the hanging veils a thread thrown in under my garment, and traced with it the sign of the cross upon my belly: immediately, the pain being assuaged, I departed sound. CHAPTER II. Concerning my tongue and lips. At a certain time my tongue had grievously swollen, so that for the most part, when I wished to speak, it made me stammer, which was not without reproach to me. So I went to the tomb of the Saint, and drew my impeded tongue through the wood of the lattice: immediately, the swelling being suppressed, I recovered. For it had swelled greatly, and filled the whole cavity of the palate.
Then after the third day my lip began to throb grievously. I went again to the tomb to seek health; and the lip being touched by the hanging veils, immediately the pulsing of the vein stopped. And I believe these things befell me from an abundance of blood: yet I did not take care to diminish the blood, on account of the power of the Saint. And this matter caused me no further trouble. CHAPTER III. Concerning a boy healed of a fever. Finally, a small little boy was burdened by a fever, and his limbs being consumed, since he took no food, he was at the point of breathing out his spirit. His father ran to me with tears: and I directed him that, the boy being brought to the basilica, he should keep vigil over him the whole night.
When he had done this, he immediately received his boy healthy through the power of the holy Bishop. CHAPTER IV. Concerning a cripple, a blind woman, and three possessed. To the festival which is celebrated in the fifth month, there came a certain man whose fingers had contracted into the palm; the prayer being made and the fingers straightened, he departed. A blind woman too, after eight years, prostrate on the ground before the Saint's tomb, her eyes being given light, went back to her own place. Then three possessed were cleansed by the power of the Saint. CHAPTER V. Concerning the slave of Theodulf. In that year (A.D. 588),
that is, of King Childebert, to the festival which is celebrated for his blessed passing, there came the slave of Theodulf, a citizen of Tours, a keeper of swine, who, while by night he was keeping watch around the flock entrusted to him, lest a beast should seize anything from it or the fraud of a thief carry it off, his eyes being suddenly suffused with darkness, lost his sight. Remaining in blindness for six years, he came to this festival; and after the third day, given light by the power of the Saint, he was dismissed by his master as a freeman. CHAPTER VI. Concerning many infirmities healed. Also in the year of the aforesaid reign (A.D. 589), at the coming of the solemnity of the Saint, twelve paralytics were straightened, three blind given light, five possessed were cleansed.
To this festival there was present also Aredius, abbot of the city of Limoges, of whom I have made mention in earlier little books, through whom the Lord restored one paralytic woman—who for eight years had lain on a cart in the courtyard of the blessed Confessor—with her steps straightened. For the man of God himself asserted that he had felt, as it were, the hand of blessed Martin, when, the sign of the cross having been set upon her, he touched the limbs of the sick woman with a saving touch. There had come also to this festival Florentianus the mayor, with Romulf the count of the palace. To whom there was no small wonder at the glory of the Confessor, through whom the Lord deigned now to work such miracles. CHAPTER VII. Concerning a grape-cluster in Galicia.
And since we have made mention of Florentianus the mayor, I think it wrong to be silent about what I learned from him. At a certain time, for the cause of an embassy, he went to Galicia, and coming into the presence of King Miro, he laid open the business enjoined upon him. For at that time King Miro was in that city in which his predecessor had built a basilica of holy Martin, as we set forth in the first book of this work. Before the porch of this shrine, a vine with its chamber extended over trellises, with the clusters hanging down, flourished as if painted. For under it was a path which led the foot-traveler to the doors of the sacred shrine. And when the king, passing under it for the sake of prayer, approached this temple, he said to his men:
'Beware lest you touch one of these clusters, lest perchance you incur the offense of the holy Bishop. For all things that are held in this courtyard are consecrated to him.' Hearing this, one of the boys said within himself: 'Whether these things are consecrated to this Saint or not, I do not know. One thing I know: that the resolve of my mind is to eat of them.' And at once, thrusting in his hand, he began to cut the stem of the cluster, and immediately his right hand, sticking to the chamber, the arm withering, stiffened. For he was the king's jester, who was accustomed to rouse merriment for him with jesting words. But no laughter helped him, nor the deception of his art; but compelled by pain, he began to cry out and say:
'Help a wretched man, you men; come to the aid of one oppressed; bring relief to one hanging; and entreat for me the power of the holy Bishop Martin, I who am tortured by such an end, afflicted by such a wound, severed by such a cutting.' The king too, having gone out, when he had learned the matter which had been done, was inflamed with such fury against the boy that he wished to cut off his hand, had he not been prevented by his men. Yet the servants saying besides: 'Do not, O king, join your own vengeance to the judgment of God, lest perchance the injury you threaten to the boy you turn back upon yourself.' Then he, pricked in heart, entering the basilica, prostrate before the holy altar, with tears poured out prayers to the Lord:
nor did he rise from the pavement before the river of his eyes had blotted out this page of the sin. When the boy was loosed from the bond by which he had been bound, and entered the basilica, the king is raised up from the ground, and so, receiving his servant sound, he sought again the palace. Now the aforesaid mayor testified that he had learned these things from the account of the king himself, just as we have narrated it done. For thus the glorious Pontiff illustrates his own city with miracles, in such a way that he is not felt to be wanting to foreign ones. CHAPTER VIII. Concerning the basilica of the Saint at the city of Saintes. In the present year, Palladius, bishop of the city of Saintes, sought relics of this holy Confessor.
For he had built in his honour a basilica, which he consecrated with these relics, and there he was found worthy to receive the miracles which the city itself has often experienced. For after the passing of two or three months, I received his letter, in which he reported that three paralytics with contracted feet had come; and as soon as they entered the basilica and poured out their prayer, their steps were set straight and they were restored to health. Two blind men in that place, after prayer was made, were found worthy to receive their sight, and more than twelve who were held by a shivering fever recovered once the trembling was driven away. CHAPTER IX. Concerning two who suffered from dysentery. Two of our servants, namely the cleric Dagobardus and the layman Theodorus, were suffering from dysentery together with fever;
and they were so worn down by the disease that they could not be raised from their beds except by the hands of others when the necessity of relieving themselves came upon them. But once they had drunk dust taken from the tomb, they immediately recovered. CHAPTER X. Concerning the patens which the Saint provided. There is among us a paten of sapphire colour, which the Saint is said to have brought from the treasury of the emperor Maximus, from which power often goes forth upon those afflicted with shivering fever. For whoever is set in the onset of fevers and is wont to grow chilled with trembling, if he comes and draws water from it, is soon healed. There is also at the village of Condat another paten provided by the Saint, made of rock crystal, which bestows a like benefit upon the sick, if it is sought in faith.
Bodillo, one of our notaries, when he was troubled in mind by a weariness of the stomach, so that he could neither write according to his custom nor take dictation, and could scarcely read over what was dictated to him, then, when he was being often rebuked with words, poured water upon this paten of the blessed man—which I said is kept with us—and put it to his mouth. Soon, restored to his senses, he discharged the work of his office more keenly than he had been accustomed. CHAPTER XI. Concerning Blidericus, to whom no children had been given. But what wonder is it, if He restores to men a mind troubled by adversity, who has so often turned barrenness into fruitfulness?
A certain Blidericus, a citizen of the territory of Chartres, having taken a wife, prayed that by the gift of God he might be enriched with offspring of his own begetting; but he deserved to receive no fruit of the womb from her. For the thirtieth year had run its course while his wife remained barren, when the man, dealing most wholesomely with the welfare of his soul, said to his wife: 'Behold, the world which we use is passing away, and no offspring is begotten between us who, when we fail, ought to possess the accumulation of our labour. I will go,' he said, 'to the basilica of Saint Martin, and make it my heir, so that, children being denied, I may at least possess together with it in the future whatever I am able to have.' The woman consented to the prudent counsel of her wise husband.
Without delay, he proceeded to the basilica of the Saint, and having poured out a prayer, invited the abbot to come home with him. When he had come, he handed over to him all his possession, saying: 'Let all these things which I appear to have be under the dominion of Saint Martin, and let me only use them so far that I may be sustained from them while I live.' And when the goods had been signed over, he compelled the abbot to remain there. Wonderful to tell! After the passing of thirty years, as we have said, on the very night on which he handed over his goods to the basilica, he knew his wife, who conceiving bore a son. And afterwards he had others as well. This therefore was clearly bestowed upon this man by the power of the Saint.
Yet that man, having received his sons, did not go back on his promise, but, granting them other places, he confirmed what he had first bestowed upon the Saint. CHAPTER XII. Concerning the blind woman at the village of Tournai. At a village of Tournai in the territory of Le Mans, which is now retained among the possessions of that holy basilica, a certain woman, held by long-standing blindness and weighed down by old age, sitting at the oratory of that very village, while she sought alms and unceasingly invoked the name of Saint Martin, on a certain Lord's Day night her eyes began to be pricked with pain. Then she, prostrate before the holy altar, with blood bursting forth, received her sight.
Yet in that very place are kept relics of the most blessed apostles, namely of Peter and Paul; but she asserted that she had been healed by the power of the holy Bishop. Nevertheless our faith holds that in the powers of many saints one Lord works; and that He has not parted in their powers those whom the Lord, equal in heaven, renders equal in miracles on earth. CHAPTER XIII. Concerning a withered hand restored. At that festival, however, at which Aunacharius, bishop of the city of Auxerre, was present, a certain man brought a withered and contracted hand, but after the third day of the festival he carried it home restored. CHAPTER XIV. Concerning Baudegisilus the disabled.
A certain Baudegisilus from the territory of the city of Angers, son of Baudolfus, an inhabitant of the village of Gennes, while he was wounded by the dart of a savage humour, was struck down disabled. And since he was fed by his poor father without the benefit of work, he begged his father with welling tears that he might kiss the threshold of the basilica of Saint Martin. Without delay, the father, having placed him in a boat—since he could not be carried by any other conveyance—devoutly laid his son before the feet of the Saint, that is, outside the tomb. He, devoting himself to prayer for several days and seeking the help of the Saint, had his disability removed and was restored to health, and thus, restored unharmed, he returned home with his father. CHAPTER XV. Concerning the man who sent wax.
In the territory of Auch also there was a man named Caelestis, who had many beehives; and when a swarm came forth from them and, soaring high, sought to fly far away, and he, following, obtained no result at all in catching it, he prostrated himself on the ground and invoked the name of Saint Martin, saying: 'If your power, most blessed Confessor, will hold back this swarm and restore it to my possession, whatever is hereafter bred from it, I will take the honey for my own use, but the wax I will send with all integrity for the lights of your basilica.' Having said this, while he still lay upon the earth, immediately the swarm of bees settled down upon a little tree that was near the man and rested there; and having gathered it and stored it in a hive, he carried it home;