History of the Franks 2 part 1/10

BOOK ONE. CHAPTER ONE. That Severus wrote the Life of saint Martin. Many there are who have written the miracles of saint Martin, whether in verse or in prose style. Among whom the first was that Severus Sulpicius, whose ardor of love for the Saint of God was so great that, while the Saint was yet living in the world, he wrote one book on the Wonders of his life; thereafter, after the passing of the blessed man, he wrote two books which he wished to call Dialogues. In these he inserted some things concerning the virtues of the hermits and anchorites, on the report of Postumianus.

But in nothing could he find our Martin inferior; whom he set on a level with the apostles and the holy men of old, so that he even said: «Greece is indeed fortunate, which was counted worthy to hear the Apostle preaching; but neither have the Gauls been forsaken by Christ, to whom the Lord granted to have Martin.» CHAPTER 2. That the blessed Paulinus composed the same Life in verse. The blessed Paulinus also, bishop of the city of Nola, after the verses written about his virtues—those which Severus had set forth in prose—comprehended in five books those miracles which were done after his passing, that is, in the sixth book of his work. For he says:

When those possessed by demons were being carried through the lattices of the basilica in an aerial flight, and were often, by the impulse of the demon, dragged away and cast into the well that is in that very basilica, they were thereupon, unharmed, with the people looking on, drawn up again. And this we have seen done in that same well even in our own times. Another demon also drove a possessed little vessel (a possessed man) headlong to the river, as though about to drown the prey which it had seized. But the help of the blessed Confessor was not lacking to the one about to perish. For having entered the river and seeking the farther bank, he received no harm, but even came out with his garments dry; and when he had reached the cell of Marmoutier, he appeared cleansed.

He testifies also that this man was wont to utter many voices, and very often to speak in the tongue of unknown nations, and to confess his trials and to acknowledge his crimes. But, as we have said, after he touched the threshold of the Saint, he departed whole. Egidius also, when he was besieged by enemies, and, cut off from any solace, was being assailed in confusion, was delivered, the enemies being put to flight, through the invocation of the blessed Man. And this a man possessed by a demon, in the midst of the basilica, at the very hour in which it had been done, professed to have been granted through the intercession of saint Martin. A certain girl, weighed down by the humor of paralysis, and—what is worse—involved in the error of fanatical worship, sought the Blessed one's tomb, and, the vigils being celebrated, was restored to health.

But being again recalled to the vomit of idolatry, she once more incurred the languor from which, by the protection of the blessed Pontiff, she had been freed. A certain rabid Hun, instigated by the prompting of a demon, violently seized the crown of the tomb which declared the Saint's merit. Soon deprived of sight, compelled by pain, he restored the plunder, and received again the sight which he had lost. But a certain man, stirred up by the tempter, having drawn his sword, when he tried to strike a certain man in the atrium of the Confessor, his wrath being immediately turned back upon himself, the swift judgment of God following, pierced himself through with that very blade.

Finally, when the people, rejoicing, desired to carry columns for the adornment of the Blessed one's temple, a certain man, who was envious of and hostile to this work, made many threats by the riverbed there shut off, because he would not furnish any help with carts to those who asked for it. And when, in his pride, he struck his horse, being cast headlong into the small stream, in the bosom of the waters of the eddy, suffocated by his own blows, he perished. Then, a youth leading the way, the columns were brought all the way to the blessed temple. Also, whenever oil had been placed at the blessed tomb, they report that they have seen it increased. And the holy bishop Perpetuus, worthy to be proclaimed a disciple of the Blessed one by his merit, brought an ampulla with oil to the holy tomb, that

the virtue of the just one, infused into it, might sanctify it. And from the marble by which the holy members are covered, dust having been scraped off and mixed with the liquid, from this the oil so overflowed that the garment of the priest, fragrant with a nectar-like odor, was drenched with the oily wave. And many from this experienced healing of their infirmities. But storms also were often warded off from the fields purified with this liquid. Now when a certain man, full of devout faith, had approached the holy shrine, and, thirsting for the grace of the Saint, was pondering what he might take from the blessed sanctuary for his salvation, drawing near the tomb, he begged the sacristan to grant him for a little while some blessed wax from the tomb. Receiving it, he departed joyful; and trusting in it, he placed it on the field in which he had sown his crop.

But when a most savage tempest came on, which in the preceding years had often laid waste the neighborhood, it was warded off from this field by that blessing, nor did it any longer harm there as it had been wont. Now when the magnificent and longed-for Paschal festivity drew near, the people came devoutly to the Blessed one's cell, in which, while dwelling there, he had often kept company with the angels. And kissing each place, or wetting it with tears—the place where the blessed man had formerly sat, or prayed, or where he had taken food, or granted rest to his body after many labors—a fleet of ships being prepared, the people made ready to cross the river, that they might reach the blessed tomb, and, with weeping imploring pardon, might prostrate themselves before the Confessor.

But as they were sailing, the wind being stirred up by the impulse of the tempter, the fleet was sunk in the deep, and both sexes were dragged about by the river. And when they were being whirled among the storms of the waves, and all hope of escaping had perished, one voice of all was uttered in a cry, saying: «Merciful Martin, snatch your menservants and your maidservants from the present destruction!» When these words had been said, behold, a gentle breath of breeze, lifting the limbs of the submerged ones unharmed from the waves, restored them all to the shore which they desired, the wave serving them; nor did anyone perish; but all, being saved, completed the paschal feasts with the highest exultation.

For that virtue was not lacking which, parting the Jordan, led the people across under the masses of the waters on a dry margin, when Joshua, eager for apostolic signs, consecrated to the shore at which he had arrived the twelve stones taken from the bottom of the river; or that which, embracing the perishing Peter with its loving right hand, snatched him away lest he perish; or that which drew up from the depth of the sea to the shore which he longed for the sailor of the submerged ones who invoked Martin's Lord. A certain man, demanding to take something from the holy shrine for a blessing, received some wax from the Saint's tomb, and within the inner chambers of his house laid it up as a heavenly treasure.

Now it came to pass that, by the envy of the tempter, a fire being sent in, the house was encircled by a devouring flame, and, scattered through the dry boards, was laying everything waste. Meanwhile a cry was raised to heaven, and the help of blessed Martin was implored. That man remembered also the particle of wax brought from the Saint's temple. Which, being found and cast into the fire, immediately extinguished the whole conflagration, and by a new miracle the wax, which was wont to feed fire, by the power of holiness crushed the violence of the fire. These things Paulinus wrote in verse in the sixth book of his work, having received from the holy bishop Perpetuus a brief account of them. But when the document of this account had come to him, his grandson was held by a grave malady. But he, trusting in the virtue of the Saint:

«If it please you, blessed Martin, that I should write something in your praise, let it appear upon this sick one.» And the document being placed upon his breast, immediately, the fever receding, he who was sick was healed. But Fortunatus the presbyter also wrote the whole work of his Life in four books in verse. Drawn on by these examples, we too, though unskilled, will nevertheless attempt to recall to memory some things concerning the virtues of the holy and most blessed Martin which were done after his death, as much as we are able to find: for this will be the aim of our writing, which is not found inserted in that work of Severus or of Paulinus. CHAPTER III. On the ordination and passing of blessed Martin.

The radiant lord Martin, glorious and shining throughout the whole world, was sent forth—now that the world was already declining, like a new sun rising—to the salvation of the Gauls, by the help of God; for, as the earlier History relates, he was born at Sabaria in Pannonia. Illuminating those lands with his virtues and signs, he received in the city of Tours the honor of the episcopate against his will, the people compelling him; and therein, leading a glorious and almost inimitable life, after five times five years, with two further pairs of months and ten days besides, in the eighty-first year of his age, in the consulship of Caesarius and Atticus, at midnight he rested in peace.

It is most manifest, then, that his glorious passing, praiseworthy to the whole world, took place on the Lord's Day; and this we shall prove in what follows by sure testimonies. It is reckoned to have been of no small merit that the Lord should receive him into paradise on that very day on which the same Lord and Redeemer had risen victorious from the dead; and that he who had always celebrated the Lord's solemnities undefiled should, after the pressures of the world, be placed in rest on the Lord's Day. CHAPTER IV.

How his passing was revealed to the holy bishop Severinus by those chanting psalms. Now the blessed Severinus, bishop of the city of Cologne, a man of upright life and praiseworthy in all things, while on the Lord's Day, according to his custom, he was going about the holy places with his clergy after the morning hymns, at that very hour in which the Blessed One died, heard a choir of singers on high. And calling the archdeacon, he asked whether his ears were struck by the voices which he himself was attentively hearing. He answered: 'By no means.' Then he said: 'Listen more carefully.' So the archdeacon began to stretch his neck upward, to prick up his ears, and to stand upon the very tips of his toes, supported by his staff.

But I believe that he was not of equal merit, by whom these things did not deserve to be heard. Then prostrate upon the ground, both he himself and the blessed bishop alike, they besought the Lord that His divine mercy might permit the archdeacon to hear this. And when they had risen again, the elder asked once more: 'What did you hear?' He said: 'I hear voices of those chanting psalms as though in heaven, but what it is I am utterly ignorant.' To him the bishop said: 'I will tell you what it is. My lord Martin the bishop has passed from this world; and now the angels with their singing are bearing him on high. And that there should be a little delay, so that these things might be heard, the devil with his wicked angels attempted to hold him back; but finding nothing of his own in him, he withdrew in confusion.'

'What then shall become of us sinners, if the hostile party wished to harm so great a priest?' As the bishop spoke these things, the archdeacon noted the time, and swiftly sent men to Tours to inquire carefully into these matters. When the messenger came, he learned most plainly that the blessed Martin had passed on that very day and hour in which the holy Severinus had heard the choir chanting psalms. And indeed, if we turn again to the History of Severus, he wrote that at that very hour it had been revealed to him in the book of his life. CHAPTER V. How the same passing was shown to the blessed Ambrose. For at that very time the blessed Ambrose, whose flowers of eloquence are fragrant today throughout the whole Church, was presiding as bishop over the city of Milan.

It was his custom in celebrating the feast of the Lord's Day that, when the reader came with his book, he should not presume to read before the holy man had given the signal by a nod. Now it happened that on that Lord's Day, when the prophetic lesson had been recited and the reader was already standing before the altar who was to deliver the lesson of the blessed Paul, the most blessed prelate Ambrose fell asleep over the holy altar. Seeing this, many—since none at all dared to rouse him—after almost two or three hours had passed, woke him, saying: 'The hour is now passing. Let the lord bid the reader read the lesson; for the people, already greatly wearied, are waiting.' But the blessed Ambrose answered: 'Do not,' he said, 'be troubled.'

'For it has greatly profited me to have slept thus, to whom the Lord has deigned to show such a miracle. For know that my brother Martin the priest has departed from the body, and that I rendered the service of obsequies at his funeral; and when the service was completed according to custom, only the closing versicle, while you were rousing me, I had not finished.' Then they, astonished and likewise marveling, noted the day and the time, carefully inquiring. And they found that very day and time of the Saint's passing which the blessed Confessor had said he had attended at his funeral rites. O blessed man, at whose passing the company of saints sings, the choir of angels exults, and the army of all the heavenly powers comes forth to meet him!

The devil is confounded in his presumption, the Church is strengthened by his power, the priests are glorified by revelation; him Michael took up with the angels, Mary received with the choirs of virgins, paradise holds joyful among the saints! But why do we attempt to praise him, when we are insufficient to accomplish it? For his praise is He whose praise never departed from his mouth. Yet would that we might unfold even the simple narrative! CHAPTER VI. Of the translation of the blessed body of holy Martin. For it is worth the effort to insert this also into our reading: how his holy little body was translated, at an angel's bidding, to the place where it is now venerated.

In the sixty-fourth year after the passing of the glorious lord Martin, the blessed Perpetuus obtained the chair of the dignity of the see of Tours. And having attained this summit, with the great consent of the devout, he resolved to lay foundations of a temple larger than they had been over the blessed members; and persisting in this with shrewd zeal, he wonderfully brought it to effect. Of which building there would be much for us to say; but because it is present before us, we judged it better thereupon to keep silent.

When therefore the time desired by the priest had come for the temple to be dedicated and the holy little body to be transferred from the place where it had been buried, the blessed Perpetuus summoned to the feast-day the neighboring bishops, and also no small multitude of abbots and various clergy. And because he wished to do this on the Kalends of July, after one night had been kept in vigil, when morning came, taking a mattock, they began to dig up the earth that was over the holy tomb. When it was uncovered, they laid hands upon it to move it; and there the whole multitude, laboring, accomplished nothing at all the whole day. At last, another night having been kept in vigil, attempting in the morning, they were able to do nothing whatever. Then, disturbed and terrified, they knew not what to do.

One of the clergy said to them: 'You know that after three days from now used to be the anniversary of his episcopate; and perhaps he is admonishing you that he ought to be transferred on that day.' Then, persisting in fasting and prayers and continual chanting of psalms by day and by night, they passed those three days continuously. But on the fourth day, approaching and laying on their hands, they could not move the sepulcher at all. Then all, terrified with dread, while they stood at this point—that they should cover again with earth the little vessel which they had uncovered—there appeared to them an old man of venerable hoariness, displaying a whiteness like snow, saying that he was an abbot, and he said to them: 'How long are you troubled and delay?'

'Do you not see lord Martin standing ready to help you, if you put your hands to it?' Then casting off the cloak which he was wearing, he put his hand to the sarcophagus together with the rest of the priests; and with crosses made ready and candles, and the antiphon begun, all gave forth the voices of those chanting psalms on high. Then at the old man's effort the sarcophagus was at once moved with the greatest lightness, and—with the Lord's assent—was brought to the place where it is now venerated. When it had been set in order according to the priest's will, and Mass had also been said, when they came to the feast, anxiously seeking the old man, they could not find him at all. Nor indeed was there any man who had seen him go out of the basilica.

I believe it was some angelic power, which both declared that it had seen the blessed man, and thereafter appeared to no one. In this place, from that day, many miracles were wrought, which through negligence have not been written down. But we have been unable to keep silent about as many as in our own time we either saw happen or certainly knew to have happened. CHAPTER VII. Of the mute Theodemund. A certain young man named Theodemund, the passage of hearing and speaking being blocked, used to come daily to the holy basilica, and bending himself in prayer, he moved only his lips. For he could utter no sound, though his understanding was whole; but he had been deprived of the function of speech.

He seemed to pray so readily that he was often seen to weep amid those very silent words. If anyone, with a view to reward, bestowed on him any alms, he immediately distributed this to other poor people like himself; and begging alms from others by a nod, he handed out the doles to the needy. And when he had stayed in that holy place in this devotion for the span of three years, on a certain day, admonished by the divine mercy, he came before the holy altar; and standing with his eyes and hands lifted to heaven, there burst from his mouth a stream of blood with corruption.

And spitting upon the ground, he began to groan heavily and to cough up I know not what portions together with blood, so that it was thought as if someone were cutting his throat with an iron tool. And gore hung from his mouth like threads of blood. Then, the bindings of his ears and throat being burst asunder, raising himself and lifting again his eyes and hands to heaven, with his mouth still bloody he broke forth first into this utterance: 'Great thanks I render to you, most blessed lord Martin, that by opening my mouth you have made me, after a long time, loose words in your praises.' And while all the people marveled and were astonished at such a miracle, they asked whether he had likewise recovered his hearing. He answered, with the people bearing witness, that he heard all things freely.

Being thus restored to health, he was taken up by Queen Chrodechild on account of the power and reverence of holy Martin, and placed in school, and committed the whole sequence of the psalms to memory. And God, making him a perfect clerk, permitted him to remain in the service of the Church for many years thereafter. CHAPTER VIII. Of the blind woman Chainemunda. A certain woman, named Chainemunda, deprived of the light of her eyes, unable to keep to the road by sight unless led by another, very devout and full of faith, came to the venerable temple of the blessed bishop Martin. Now she was not only blind, as we have said, but also full of sores over her whole body.

For corruption with pustules had beset all her members, and she was of a wretched countenance and horrible to behold, so that she was thought by the people to be, as it were, a leper. And when day by day she would hasten by groping to the house of the glorious Prelate, after nearly three years, while she stood before the sepulcher, her eyes were opened, so that she beheld all things clearly. And when all the languor of her members had been removed, and the humor that flowed from her body had been dried up, with new skin coming over her, she was so restored to her former health that not even a trace of her infirmity remained in her body. Living many years thereafter, she rendered thanks to almighty God assiduously, because through His blessed Confessor He had thus restored her sound.

CHAPTER IX. Of the blessed bishop Baudinus. How the present invocation of his name calmed a stormy sea, I shall not omit. When the blessed Baudinus, bishop of the city of Tours, was crossing to an estate borne by a ship, suddenly, a most fearsome storm-cloud coming on with the violence of the wind, the calm sea was stirred up by the blast's onset, and the ship was tossed by the mass of the waves. The prow is first lifted up into the surges, then sinks down between the gaping waves. Now they hang on the scene of a watery mountain, now they plunge into the depths through the parted waters; nor did the yardarm stay still, which bore the sign of the blessed cross.

Then, their limbs unstrung with fear and all now prepared to die without hope of life, the elder prostrated himself in prayer with tears, and stretching his twin palms to the stars, besought the help of the blessed Martin, and cried aloud that he would deign to be present quickly. But one of the faithless said: 'That Martin whom you invoke has already abandoned you, nor does he come to your aid in this need.' Truly I believe this voice was uttered by the deceiver, to disturb the blessed priest from his prayer. But he, repelling this dart with the breastplate of faith, more and more entreated the protection of the holy man, and at the same time exhorted that all should pray.

And while these things were being done, suddenly there came upon the ship a most sweet fragrance as of balsam, and as though someone were going about with a censer, the odor of incense was wafted abroad. At which fragrance the cruel violence of the winds, having drawn near, gave way; and the masses of waters standing about being beaten down, the sea was restored to tranquillity. All, now given over to death, marveled at the peace of the waves; and immediately, serenity being granted, they were restored to the shore. Let no one doubt that this tempest was calmed by the coming of the blessed man. Then all in common rendered thanks to the Lord, because through the invocation of their bishop He had deigned to free them from this peril. CHAPTER X. Of him who carried the Saint's relics to Cambrai.

In his time a certain man from the church of Cambrai sought relics of the blessed Martin. Having received them now toward evening, when he set out chanting psalms, and while he had crossed the river Loire, it grew late; and suddenly the sky was darkened, and behold, great lightnings and great thunders came down. While these things were happening, two boys' lances, sending forth flaming beacons, gave light to those going on their way. And the lances went flashing, presenting to the travelers no less of a miracle than of a benefit, and showing forth the power of the blessed bishop. CHAPTER XI. Of the king of Galicia and his people converted; or, Of the Suevi. The barren tongue fails, desiring to recount such great virtues.

The son of a certain Charraric, king of Galicia, was gravely ill, and had fallen into such a wasting sickness that he palpitated with breath alone. Now his father had subjected himself, together with the inhabitants of that place, to the foul sect of Arius. And indeed that region was more sullied than the other provinces with the customary leprosy. And when the king saw his son pressed to extremity, he said to his men: 'That Martin, whom they say shines in Gaul with many virtues—of what religion, I ask, was the man? Tell me.' They said to him: 'While placed in the body, he governed with pastoral care a people of the Catholic faith, asserting that the Son is to be venerated with the Father and the Holy Spirit in equal substance and omnipotence;'

'but even now, placed in his heavenly seat, he does not cease by constant benefits to provide for his own people.' He said: 'If these things which you set forth are true, let my faithful friends run all the way to his temple, carrying many gifts; and if they obtain healing for my little child, having inquired into the Catholic faith, I will believe what he believed.' Having therefore weighed out gold and silver to the weight of his son, he sent it to the venerable place of the sepulcher. When these had been carried thither, they entreated at the Blessed One's tomb on behalf of the sick boy, the gifts being offered. But because the sect still resided in his father's breast, the boy did not immediately deserve to receive complete healing. And the messengers, returning, told the king that they had seen many miracles at the Blessed One's tomb, saying:

'Why your son was not healed, we do not know.' But he, understanding that his son could not be healed before he should believe Christ to be equal with the Father, built a church in honor of the blessed Martin; and when it had been completed with wondrous workmanship, he proclaimed: 'If I deserve to receive the relics of the just man, whatever the priests preach, I will believe.' And thus again he sent his men with a greater gift; and they, coming to the blessed place, asked for relics. And when these were offered to them according to custom, they said: 'We will not do so, but we ask that license be granted us to place down something, which we may thereafter take up again.' Then they placed a portion of silken cloth, weighed, upon the blessed sepulcher, saying:

'If we have found grace before the patron we have sought, what we have placed shall weigh more in the following, and they shall be set as a blessing for us, sought through faith.' Therefore, one night having been kept in vigil, when morning came, they weighed what they had placed. Into these such great grace of the blessed man had been infused that for a long while they lifted the brazen balance on high as much as the momentary counterweight had power to make it rise. And when the relics had been raised up with great triumph, those who in the city had been thrust into prison heard the voices of those chanting psalms, and marveling at the sweetness of the sounds, they asked the guards what this might be. They said: 'The relics of lord Martin are being sent into Galicia, and that is why the psalms are thus sung.'

Then those men, weeping, called upon holy Martin, that he by his visitation might free them from the dungeon of the prison. And the guards being terrified and put to flight, the bars of their fetters being burst asunder, the people rose up free from their bonds; and thus they came all the way to the holy pledges, while the people looked on, kissing with weeping the blessed relics, and at the same time rendering thanks to the blessed Martin for their release, because he had deigned by his mercy to save them. Then, their faults having been obtained from the judge through the priest, they were sent away unharmed. Seeing this, the bearers of the relics rejoiced greatly, saying: 'Now we have known that the blessed bishop deigns to show himself favorable to us sinners.'