 Section 16 of Selections of the History of the Franks. Selections of the History of the Franks by Gregory of Ture, translated by Ernest Gryat, Book X, chapters 15 to 31. Chapter 15. The scandal which by the help of the devil had arisen in the monastery at Poitiers was growing worse every day and crawled, footnote, daughter of King Harrybert. She had seceded from the monastery with a large following of nuns and was at this time at St. Hilary's Church at Poitiers, and a footnote, was sitting all prepared for strife, having gathered to herself, as I have said above, murderers, sorcerers, adulterers, runaway slaves, and men guilty of all other crimes. And so she gave orders to them to break into the monastery at night and drag the abbess from it, but the latter heard the uproar coming and asked to be carried to the chest containing the relics of the Holy Cross, footnote, the monastery was called the monastery of the Holy Cross, and a footnote, for she was painfully troubled with gout, thinking that she would be kept safe by their aid. Accordingly, when the men had entered and lit the candles, and were hurrying with weapons ready, here and there through the monastery looking for her, they went into the oratory and found her lying on the ground before the chest of the Holy Cross. Thereupon, one who was fiercer than the rest, having come on purpose to commit this crime, namely to cleave the abbess in two with a sword, was given a knife-step by another, the divine providence aiding in this, I suppose. The blood gushed out, and he fell to the ground without fulfilling the vow he had foolishly made. Meanwhile, Justina, footnote, Gregory's niece, and a footnote, the priorus, and the other sisters had taken the cloth of the altar which was before the Lord's Cross, and covered the abbess with it, putting the lights out at the same time. But the men came with drawn swords and spears, and tore the nun's clothes, and almost crushed their hands, and seized the priorus instead of the abbess since it was dark, and pulled her robes off, and tore her hair down, and dragged her out, and carried her off to place her under guard at St. Hilary's Church. But as the dawn was coming on, they perceived when near the church that it was not the abbess, and presently they told the woman to return to the monastery. They returned to, and seized the abbess, and dragged her away, and confined her near St. Hilary's Church in a place where Basina lodged, footnote, one of Crodeal's faction, daughter of King Hilperich, and a footnote, setting guards at the door so that no one should give aid to the captive. At the next twilight they entered the monastery, and when they found no candles to light, they took a cask from the storehouse which had been pitched and left to dry, and set fire to it, and there was a great light while it burned, and they made plunder of all the furniture in the monastery, leaving only what they were unable to carry off. This happened seven days before Easter, and as the bishop was distressed at all this, and could not calm the strife of the devil, he sent to Crodeal saying, Let the abbess go, so that she shall not be kept in prison during these days, otherwise I will not celebrate the Lord's Easter festival, nor shall any catechumen receive baptism in the city unless you order the abbess to be set free from the confinement in which she is held, and if you refuse to let her go, I will call the citizens together and rescue her. When he said this, Crodeal appointed assassins, saying, If anyone tries to carry her off by violence, give her a thrust with the sword at once. Now Flavian came in those days. He had lately been appointed domesticus, and by his aid the abbess entered St. Hilary's church and was free. Meantime, murders were being committed at the holy Radigundas tomb, footnote, daughter of Berthar, a Thuringian king, and the wife of Clothor I, and of footnote. And certain persons were hacked to death in a disturbance before the very chest that contained the relics of the holy cross, and since this madness increased daily because of Crodeal's pride, and continual murders and other deeds of violence, such as I have mentioned above, were being done by her faction, and she had become so swollen up with boastfulness that she looked down with lofty contempt upon her own cousin Basina. The latter began to repent and say, I have done wrong in supporting haughty Crodeal. Behold, I am an object of contempt to her, and I am made to appear a rebel against my abbess. She changed her course and humbled herself before the abbess, and asked for peace with her, and they were equally of one thought and purpose. Then, when the outrages broke out again, the men who were with the abbess while resisting an attack which Crodeal's followers had made wounded one of Basina's men who fell dead. But the abbess's men took refuge behind the abbess in the church of the confessor, and on this account Basina left the abbess and departed. But the men fled a second time, and the abbess and Basina entered again into friendly relations as before. Afterward many feuds arose between these factions, and who could ever set forth in words such wounds, such killings, and such wrongdoings, where scarcely a day passed without a murder, or an hour without a quarrel, or a moment without tears. King Hildebert heard of this, and sent an embassy to King Guntherham to propose that bishops of both kingdoms should meet and punish these actions in accordance with the cannons. And King Hildebert ordered my humble self to sit on this case, together with Abergysel of Colonia, and Marovius himself, Bishop of Poitiers. And King Guntherham sent Gunthikezil of Bordeaux with his provincials, since he was the Metropolitan of this city. But I began to object, saying, I will not go to this place unless the rebellion which has arisen because of Crodeal is forcibly put down by the judge. For this reason a command was sent to Makko, who was then count, in which he was ordered to put the rebellion down by force if they should resist. Crodeal heard of this, and ordered her assassins to stand armed before the door of the oratory, thinking they would fight against the judge, and if he wished to use force they would resist with equal force. So it was necessary for this count to go there with armed men, and to beat some with clubs, and pierce others with spears, and when they resisted fiercely he had to attack and overwhelm them with the sword. When Crodeal saw this, she took the Lord's cross, the miraculous power of which she had before despised, and came out to meet them, saying, Do no violence to me, I beg of you, for I am a queen, daughter of one king, and cousin of another. Don't do it, lest a time may come for me to take vengeance on you. But the throng paid little heed to what she said, but rushed, as I have said, upon those who were resisting, and bound them, and dragged them from the monastery, and tied them to stakes, and beat them fiercely, and cut of the hair of some the hands of others, and in a good many cases the ears and nose, and the rebellion was crushed, and there was peace. Then the bishops who were present sat on the tribunal of the church, and Crodeal appeared, and gave vent to much abuse of the abbess, and many charges, asserting that she had a man in the monastery who wore woman's clothes, and was treated as a woman, although he had been very clearly shown to be a man, and that he was in constant attendance on the abbess herself, and she pointed her finger at him, and said, There he is himself. And when this man had taken the stand before all in woman's clothes, as I have stated, he said that he was impotent, and therefore had put these clothes on. But he did not know the abbess except by name, and he asserted that he had never seen her or spoken with her, as he lived more than forty miles from the city of Poitiers. Then, as she had not proved the abbess guilty of this crime, she added, What holiness is there in this abbess who makes man eunuchs, and orders them to live with her as if she were an empress? The abbess, being questioned, replied that she knew nothing of this matter. Meantime, when Crodeal had given the name of the man who was a eunuch, Ryoval, the chief physician, appeared and said, This man, when he was a child, was diseased in the thigh, and was so ill that his life was disbared of. His mother went to the holy radigunda to request that he should have some attention. But she called me and bade me give what assistance I could. Then I castrated him in the way I had once seen physicians do in Constantinople, and restored the boy in good health to his serving mother. I am sure the abbess knows nothing of this matter. Now, when Crodeal had failed to prove the abbess guilty of this charge also, she began fiercely to make others. But I have decided that it is better to insert the charges and the rebuttals of each in my narrative just as they are contained in the decision which was given as regards the same persons. Chapter 16 Copy of the Decision To the most glorious kings, the bishops who are present send greetings. By God's favor, religion properly discloses her causes to the pious and orthodox kings who are given to the people and to whom the country is granted, knowing well that through the mediation of the Holy Spirit, she is made a partner in the decree of the rulers and is supported by it. And whereas, in accordance with the command of your majesties, we are assembled at Poitiers on account of the situation in the monastery of Radigunda of Holy Memory, in order to take cognizance at first hand of the disputes between the abbess of the said monastery and the nuns who left the flock for no sound reason. We summoned the parties and interrogated Crowdilt and Bazena as to why they had so boldly departed contrary to the rule, breaking the doors of the monastery, and why the United Congregation had at this time been broken in two. In answer, they asserted that they could not endure any longer the risk of starvation, nakedness, and above all of beating, and they added also that several men had bathed in their bath contrary to decency, and that the abbess played games, and that worldly persons dined with her, and that a betrothal had actually taken place in the monastery, that she had impiously made a dress for her knees out of a silk altar cloth, and that she had frivolously taken the golden leaves which were on the border of the altar cloth and sinfully hung them about her knees' neck, and she had made a fillet with gold ornaments for her knees without any need for it, and that she had a masquerade in the monastery. We asked the abbess what she had to answer to this, and she said that, as to the complaints about starvation, they had never endured too great privation considering the poverty of the time, and as to clothes, she said that if one were to examine their boxes, he would find that they had more than necessary. And as to the charge about the bath, she related that the bath had been built in the time of Lent, and that on account of the disagreeable smell of the limestone, in order that the newness of the building might not do harm to the bathers, Lady Radagunda had given orders for the servants of the monastery to use it as a common thing until all harmful odor had disappeared. It had been in common use by the servants through Lent and until Pentecost. To this, Crowdeald answered, and later on in the same way many men bathed at different times. The abbess replied that she did not approve of what they reported, but she did not know whether it was true. Moreover, she found fault with them for not informing the abbess if they had seen it. As to the games she played, she answered that she had played when Lady Radagunda was alive and it was not regarded as a sin, and she said that neither in the rule nor the cannons was there any reference in writing to their prohibition. However, at the order of the bishops, she promised that she would bow her head and do whatever penance should be demanded. As to the dinners, she said that she had introduced no new custom, but had merely offered the blessed bread to Orthodox Christians as had been done under Lady Radagunda, and it could not be proved against her that she had ever dined with them. As to the betrothal, she said that she had received the earnest money in behalf of her niece, an orphan girl, in the presence of the bishop, the clergy, and the leading men, and if this was a sin, she would ask for pardon in the presence of all. However, not even on that occasion had she made a feast in the monastery. In answer to the charge about the altar cloth, she brought forward a nun of noble family who had given her as a gift a silk robe she had received from her relatives, and she had cut off a part of this to do what she wished with it, and from the rest, which was sufficient, she had made a suitable cloth to adorn the altar, and she used the scraps left over from the altar cloth to trim her niece's tunic with purple. Then she said she gave this to her niece when she was serving in the monastery. All this was confirmed by Dedimea, who had given the robe. As to the leaves of gold and the fillet adorned with gold, she offered Mako, your servant, who is here, as a witness, since it was by his hand that she received twenty pieces of gold from the betrothed of the sad girl her niece, from which she had purchased these articles openly, and the property of the monastery was not involved in it at all. Krodil and Bazena were asked whether perchance they imputed adultery to the Abbas, which God forbid, or whether they could say she had committed a murder or a sorcery or a capital crime for which she should be punished. They replied that they had nothing to say to this. They only asserted that she had acted contrary to the rule in the matters they had mentioned. Finally, they said that none whom we believe to be innocent were with child because of these faults, namely that the doors were broken open and the wretched women were at liberty to do what they would for many months without discipline from their Abbas. When we had discussed these charges in order, and had found no wrongdoing for which to degrade the Abbas, we gave her a fatherly admonition for the pardonable faults she had committed and urged her not to incur any reproof later. Then we inquired into the case of the opposing party who had committed greater crimes, that is to say, who, when within the monastery, had despised the warning of their bishop not to go forth in despite of their bishop, and had left him in the monastery under the greatest contempt, and had broken the bars and doors and foolishly departed involving other nuns in their sin. Moreover, when the archbishop Contiguesil with his provincials had received notice of this case and come to Poitiers by order of the king, and had summoned them to a hearing at the monastery, they disregarded his summons, and when the bishop went to them at the Church of St. Hilary the Confessor, where there was staying, going to them as is seemly for anxious pastors to do. While there were receiving the admonition of the bishops, a disturbance arose, and they attacked the bishops and their attendants with clubs, and even shed the blood of deacons within the church. Then, when the venerable priest Telfar by command of the princess came to judge this case, and the time for rendering the judgment had been fixed, they did not wait for it, but attacked the monastery like rebels, setting fire to casks in the courtyard, and breaking the doors with crowbars and axes, and setting fire, and beating and wounding nuns in the very oratories within the walls, and plundering the monastery, and stripping the clothes off the abbess, and tearing her hair, and dragging her violently through the streets in derision, and thrusting her into a place where, although not in fetters, she was not free. And when the festival of Easter came, which is always honored, the bishop offered a ransom for the prisoner so that she could aid in baptism, but his entreaty could not secure this for any consideration. Crowdill answered that she had neither known of such a crime nor ordered it, adding further that it was at a sign from her that the abbess was not killed by her people, from which we may be confident in inferring that they were becoming more cruel, and they had killed a slave of their own monastery who was fleeing to the blessed Radigunda's tomb, and instead of improving had gone deeper into crime, and later they entered the monastery and took possession of it, and at the order of the kings to produce the rebels in public, they refused to obey, and rather took up arms against the king's command, and wickedly rose with arrows and lances against the count and the people. Then, lately, when they appeared for a public hearing, they took the holy and most sacred cross secretly and wrongfully, which they were later forced to restore to the church. Having taken cognizance of so many capital crimes, and of a wickedness that was not restrained but continually increased, we told them that they should beg the abbess for pardon for their sin and restore what they had wrongfully taken, but they were unwilling to do this, but talked rather of killing her, a design they admitted in public. Then we opened and read the cannons, and it seemed most just that until they made a suitable repentance, they should be excommunicated, and the abbess should continue permanently in her place. This is what we suggest should be done in accordance with your command, as far as the interests of the church are concerned, having read the cannons and having made no distinction of persons. For the rest, as to the property of the monastery, and the deeds given by the kings, your kinsmen, which have been stolen, and which they say they have, but disregard our orders and fail to return, it belongs to your piety, your power, and royal authority to compel them to be returned to their place in order that your reward and that of the previous kings may continue forever. Do not permit them to return, or think of returning again to the place which they so impiously and sacrilegiously destroyed, lest worse may come. With the aid of the Lord, let all be wholly restored, and return to God under the Catholic kings. Let religion lose nothing. Let the decision of the fathers and the cannons be maintained, and be of profit to us for worship and bring you gain. May Christ the Lord support and guide you. May He bestow on you a long reign and the blessed life. CHAPTER 17 After this, when the decision was made known, and they were excommunicated, and the Abbas restored to the monastery, they went to King Hildebert, adding crime to crime, naming forsooth certain persons to the king who not only lived in adultery with the Abbas, but also sent messengers daily to his enemy Fredegunda. On hearing this, the king sent men to bring them in chains, but when they were examined and no wrongdoing was found, they were let go. CHAPTER 18 CHAPTER 19 Bishop Egidius is removed from office. CHAPTER 20 Pazina and Crudild are pardoned. CHAPTER 21 Wado's sons are punished. CHAPTER 22 Death of Hilderick CHAPTER 23 In this year, there was such a light shed over the earth in the night that one would think it midday. Moreover, balls of fire were frequently noticed at night speeding across the sky and lighting the world. There was doubt about Easter, for the reason that Victor wrote in his cycle that Easter came on the fifteenth day of the moon. But to prevent Christians from celebrating this festival at the same time of the moon as the Jews, he added, But the Latins placed it on the twenty-second of the moon. For this reason, many in Gaul celebrated on the fifteenth of the moon, but we celebrated on the twenty-second. We made careful inquiry, but the springs in Spain which are filled by a divine power were filled at our Easter. There was a great earthquake on the eighteenth day before the calends of the fifth month, being the fourth day of the week, early in the morning when the dawn was coming. The sun was eclipsed in the middle of the eighth month, and its light was so diminished that it scarcely gave as much light as the horns of the moon on the fifth day. There were heavy rains, loud thunders in the autumn, and the streams were very full. The bubonic plague cruelly destroyed the people of Vivier and Avignon. Chapter 24 An Armenian bishop visits tour and tells the story of the destruction of Antioch. Chapter 25 Now in the Gauls, the disease I have mentioned attacked the province of Marseille, and a great famine oppressed Angers, Nantes, and Mons. These are the beginning of sorrows according to what the Lord says in the Gospel. There shall be pestilence and famines and earthquakes in different places, and false cries and false prophets shall arise and give signs and prodigies in the heavens so as to put the elect astray, as is true at the present time. For a certain man of Bourges, as he himself told later, went into the deep woods to cut logs which he needed for a certain work, and a swarm of flies surrounded him, as a result of which he was considered crazy for two years, once it may be believed that they were a wickedness sent by the devil. Then he passed through the neighboring cities and went to the province of Arles, and there wore skins and prayed like one of the devout, and to make a fool of him, the enemy gave him the power of divination. After this, he rose from his place and left the province mentioned in order to become more expert in wickedness, and entered the territory of Jevaudin, conducting himself as a great man and not afraid to say that he was Christ. He took with him a woman who passed as his sister and to whom he gave the name of Mary, a multitude of people flocked to him, bringing the sick whom he touched and restored to health. They who came to him brought him also gold and silver and garments. These he distributed among the poor to deceive them the more easily, and throwing himself on the ground and praying with the woman I have mentioned and rising, he would give orders to bystanders to worship him in turn. He foretold the future and announced that disease would come to some, to others' losses, and to others' health, but all this he did by some arts and trickery of the devil. A great multitude of people was led astray by him, not only the common folk, but bishops of the church. More than three thousand people followed him. Meanwhile, he began to spoil and plunder those he met on the road. The booty, however, he gave to those who had nothing. He threatened with death, bishops and citizens, because they disdained to worship him. He entered Lavellé and went to the place called Puy, and halted with all his host at the churches near there, marshalling his line of battle to make war on Aurelius, who was then bishop, and sending messengers forward, naked men who danced and played and announced his coming. The bishop was amazed at this, and sent strong men to ask what his doings meant. One of these, the leader, bent down as if to embrace his knees and check his passage, and the imposter ordered him to be seized and spoiled. But the other at once drew his sword and cut him into bits, and that Christ, who ought rather to be named Antichrist, fell dead, and all who were with him dispersed. Mary was tortured and revealed all his imposters and deceits, but the men whom he had excited to a belief in him by the trickery of the devil never returned to their sound senses. But they always said that this man was Christ in a sense, and that Mary had a share in his divine nature. Moreover, through all the galls, many appeared who attracted poor women to themselves by trickery, and influenced them to rave and declare their leaders holy, and they made a great show before the people. I have seen some of them, and have rebuked them and endeavored to recall them from error. Chapter 26 A Syrian trader, Eusebius, becomes Bishop of Paris. Chapter 27 Among the Franks of Tournai, a great feud arose, because the son of one often angrily rebuked the son of another who had married his sister for leading his wife and visiting a prostitute. And when reform on the part of the guilty men did not follow, the anger of the youth became so great that he rushed upon his brother-in-law and killed him and his men, and was himself killed by his opponents, and there was only one left from both parties who lacked a slayer. Upon this, the kinsmen on both sides raged at one another, but were frequently urged by Queen Fredigunda to give up their enmity and become friends, lest their persistence in the quarrel might cause a greater disturbance. But when she failed to reconcile them with gentle words, she tamed them on both sides with the ex. For she invited many to a feast, and caused these three to sit on the same bench, and when the dinner had been prolonged until night covered the earth, the table was taken away according to the custom of the Franks, and they sat on the bench in their places. Much wine had been drunk, and there were so overcome by it that the slaves were intoxicated and were lying asleep in the corners of the house, each where he fell. Then, by the woman's orders, three men with axes stood behind these three, and while they were talking together, the hands of the men flashed in a single blow, so to speak, and there were struck down and the banquet ended. Their names were Harryvald, Leodovald, and Walden. When this was told to their kinsmen, they began to watch Fredigunda closely and sent messengers to King Hildebert to seize her and put her to death. The people of Champagne were angry because of this matter, but while Hildebert was interposing delay, she was saved by the help of her people and hastened to another place. Chapter 28. Baptism of Clothar Chapter 29. Miracles of the Abbot Aridius Chapter 30. The Plague Chapter 31. The Bishops of Tour from the Beginning to Gregory Chapter 31. The Nineteenth was I, unworthy Gregory, who found the Church of Tour in which the Blessed Martin and the other bishops of the Lord were consecrated in the Pontifical office, shattered and ruined by fire. I rebuilt it larger and higher and dedicated it in the seventeenth year after being ordained, and in it, as I learned from the old priests, the relics of the blessed Maurice and his companions had been placed by the ancients. I found the very box in the treasury of the Church of Saint Martin and in it the relics, greatly decayed, which had been brought because of their miraculous power. And while vigils were being kept in their honor, I wished to visit them again by the light of a torch, and I was examining them intently when the keeper of the Church said to me, Here is a stone with a cover, but I don't know what it has in it, and I haven't been able to learn from my predecessors who have had charge here. Let me bring it, and you look carefully to see what it contains. I took it and opened it, of course, and found a silver box containing relics of the witnesses of the Blessed Legion, as well as of many saints, both martyrs and confessors. We also found other stones hollow like this one, containing relics of the Holy Apostles and the rest of the martyrs. I wandered at this bounty, divinely given, and after giving thanks, keeping vigil, and saying mass, I placed them in the cathedral. I placed the relics of the Holy Martyrs Kosmas and Damien in Saint Martin cell close to the cathedral. I found the walls of the Holy Church consumed by fire and ordered skillful workmen to repaint and adorn them with their former splendor. I had a baptistery built close by the church, where I placed the relics of the Holy Martyrs John and Sergius, and in what had been the baptistery, I placed the relics of the martyr Beninius. And in many localities in the territory of Tours, I dedicated churches and oratories and glorified them with relics of the saints, but I think it tiresome to speak of them in order. I wrote ten books of histories, seven of miracles, one on the lives of the fathers, a commentary in one book on Psalms, one book also on the services of the church. And though I have written these books in a style somewhat rude, I nevertheless conjure you all, God's bishops who are destined to rule the lowly church of Tours after me, by the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ and the judgment day feared by the guilty, if you will not be condemned with the devil and depart in confusion from the judgment, never cause these books to be destroyed or rewritten, selecting some passages and omitting others, but let them all continue in your time complete and undiminished as they were left by us. And Bishop of God, whoever you may be, if our Martianus has trained you in the seven disciplines, that is, if he has taught you by means of grammar to read, by dialectic to apprehend the arguments in disputes, by rhetoric to recognize the different meters, by geometry to comprehend the measurement of the earth and of lines, by astrology to contemplate the paths of the heavenly bodies, by arithmetic to understand the parts of numbers, by harmony to fit the modulated voice to the sweet accents of the verse. If in all this you are practiced so that my style will seem rude, even so, I beg of you, do not efface what I have written, but if anything in these books pleases you, I do not forbid your writing it in verse, provided my work is left safe. I am finishing this work in the 21st year after my ordination. Although in what I have just written of the bishops of tour, I have told their years, still, this calculation does not agree with the total number of years, because I have not been able to learn accurately the length of time between the different ordinations. Now the grand total of years of the world is as follows. From the beginning to the flood, 2,242 years. From the flood to the crossing of the Red Sea by the children of Israel, 1,404 years. From the crossing of this sea to the resurrection of the Lord, 1,538 years. From the resurrection of the Lord to the death of Saint Martin, 412 years. From the death of Saint Martin to the year mentioned above, namely the 21st year after my ordination, which is also the 5th of Gregory Pope of Rome, the 31st of King Guntherham, and the 19th of Hildebert II, 197 years. The grand total of which is 5,792 years. Here ends, in Christ's name, the 10th book of the Histories. End of section 16. Section 17 of Selections of the History of the Franks. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by B. Tuten. Selections of the History of the Franks by Gregory of Tour, translated by Ernest Breho. Selections from the Eight Books of Miracles. Selections from the Eight Books of Miracles. Attitude towards Secular Learning. Preface, Book in Honor of the Martyrs. The priest Jerome, next to the Apostle Paul, the best teacher of the church, tells us that he was brought before the judgment seat of the internal judge and subjected to torture and severely punished because he was in the habit of reading Cicero's clevernesses and Virgil's lies, and that he said, in the presence of the holy angels and the very ruler of all, that he would never thereafter read these, but would occupy himself in future only with substritings as would be judged worthy of God and suited to the edification of the church. Moreover, the Apostle Paul says, Let us follow after things which make for peace and things whereby we may edify one another. And elsewhere, let no corrupt speech proceed out of your mouth, but such as is good for edifying that it may give grace to them that hear. Therefore we ought to follow after, to write, and to speak the things that edify the church of God and by holy instruction bring weak minds to a knowledge of the perfect faith. And we ought not to relate lying tales, nor to pursue the wisdom of philosophers that is hateful to God, lest by God's judgment we fall under sentence of eternal death. Observance of the Lord's Day. Ibed Chapter 15 In the territory of this city, Tours, at Langer, a woman who lived there moistened flower on the Lord's Day and shaped a loaf. And drawing the coals aside, she covered it over with hot ashes to bake. When she did this, her right hand was miraculously set on fire and began to burn. She screamed and wept and hastened to the village church in which relics of the blessed John are kept. And she prayed and made a vow that on this day sacred to the divine name she would do no work but only pray. The next night she made a candle as tall as herself. Then she spent the whole night in prayer holding the candle in her hand all the time and the flame went out and she returned home safe and sound. Relics handed down in Gregory's Family. Ibed Chapter 83 I shall now describe what was brought to pass through the relics which my father carried with him in former times. When Theoderburt gave orders that sons of men in Auverne should be taken as hostages, my father, at that time lately married, wished to be protected by relics of the saints, and he asked a certain bishop kindly to give him some, thinking he would be kept safe by such protection when absent on his distant journey. Then he enclosed the holy ashes in a gold case, the shape of a peepod, and placed them around his neck. But the man did not know the blessed names. He was accustomed to relate that he was saved by them from many dangers, for he bore witness that by their miraculous power he had often escaped attacks of high women and dangers on rivers and the furies of civil war and thrusts of the sword. And I shall not fail to tell what I saw of these with my own eyes. After my father's death, my mother always wore these precious things on her person. Now the grain harvest had come, and great grain stacks were gathered at the threshing places. And in those days, when the threshing was going on, a cold spell came on, and seeing that Liman has no forests being all covered with crops, the threshers made themselves fire of straw since there was nothing else to make a fire of. Meanwhile all went away to eat, and behold the fire gradually increased and began to spread slowly straw by straw. Then the piles suddenly caught, with the south wind blowing. It was a great conflagration, and there began a shouting of men and shrieking of women and crying of children. Now this was happening on our own land. My mother, who wore these relics hanging on her neck, learned to this, and sprang from the table and lifted up the holy relics against the masses of flame. And all the fire went out in a moment so that scarcely a spark of fire could be found among the burnt piles of straw, and it did no harm to the grain which it had just caught. Many years later, I received these relics from my mother. And when we were going from Burgundy to Avern, a great storm came upon us, and the sky flashed with many lightnings and roared with heavy crashes of thunder. Then I drew the blessed relics from my bosom and raised my hand against the cloud. It immediately divided into two parts and passed on the right and left and did no harm to us or anyone else thereafter. But being a young man of ardent temperament, I began to be puffed up with vainglory and to think silently that this had been granted not so much to the merits of the saints as to me personally, and I openly boasted to my comrades on the journey that I had merited by my blamelessness what God had bestowed. At once my horse suddenly shied beneath me and dashed me to the ground. And I was so severely shaken up by the fall I could hardly get up. I perceived that this had come of vanity and it was enough to put me on guard thenceforth against being moved by the spur of vainglory. For whenever it happened after that that I had the merit to behold any of the miracles of the saints, I loudly proclaimed that they were wrought by God's gift through faith in the saints. Comparative merit of Gregory and his mother. Ibbid, Chapter 85. On this matter I recall what I heard told in my youth. It was the day of the suffering of the great martyr Polycarp and his festival was being observed at Riome, a village of Auvergne. The reading of the martyrdom had been finished and the other readings which the priestly canon requires and the time came for offering the sacrifice. The deacon having received the tower in which the mystery of the Lord's body was contained started with it to the door and when he entered the church to place it on the altar it slipped from his hand and floated along in the air and thus came to the altar and the deacon was never able to lay hands on it and I believe this happened for no other reason than that he was defiled in his conscience for it was often told that he had committed adultery. It was granted only to one priest and three women of whom my mother was one to see this. The rest did not see it. I was present I confess at this festival at the time but I had not the merit to see this miracle. A fly might be a demon. Ibbid, Chapter 103. Panicius, a priest of Poitot when sitting at dinner with some friends he had invited asked for a drink. When it was served a very troublesome fly kept flying about the cup and trying to soil it. The priest waved it off with his hand a number of times but it would go off a little and then try to get back and he perceived that it was a crafty device of the enemy. He changed the cup to his left hand and made a cross with his right. Then he divided the liquor in the cup into four parts and lifted it up high and poured it on the ground for it was very plain that it was a device of the enemy. Miracles in Gregory's Family Book of the Miracles of St. Julian, Chapter 23 and 24. At that time my father's brother Gallus was Bishop of Auverne and I do not think I should fail to tell how he was aided in his youth by a miracle of the saint. Now I have often described the ruin King Theodoric brought upon Auverne when none of their property was left to either old or young except the bare land which the barbarians were unable to carry off. In those days then my uncle of glorious memory who afterwards as I have told governed the church of Auverne in the high office of Bishop was a ward and his property was so plundered by the soldiers that there was nothing at all left that was available and he himself used to often to go on foot with only one attendant to the village of Briode. It happened once when he was trudging along on this journey that he took his shoes off on account of the heat and as he walked in his bare feet he stepped on a sharp thorn. This by chance had been cut but was still lying on the ground and was concealed point upward in the green grass. It entered his foot and went clear through and then broke off and could not be drawn out. The blood ran in streams and as he could not walk he begged the blessed martyrs aid and after the pain had grown a little less he went on his way limping. But the third night the wound began to gather and there was great pain. Then he turned to the source from which he had already obtained help and threw himself down before the glorious tomb. When the watch was finished he returned to bed and was overcome by sleep while awaiting the miraculous help of the martyr. On a rising later he felt no pain and examining his foot he could not see the thorn which had entered it and he perceived it had been drawn from his foot. He looked carefully for it and found it in his bed and saw with wonder how it had come out. When bishop he used to exhibit the place where a great hollow was still to be seen and to testify that this had been a miracle of the blessed martyr. A long time after when the festival of the blessed martyr came my father with all his household made haste to attend the joyful celebration. As we were on the way my older brother Peter was seized by a fever and became so ill that he could not move about or take food. We journeyed on in great grief and it was doubtful whether he would recover or die. In this state of distress we at length arrived. We entered the church and worshipped at the holy martyr's tomb. The sick boy cast himself down on the pavement praying for a cure by the glorious martyr. Finishing his prayer he returned to his lodging and the fever went down a little. When night came we hastened to keep watch and he asked to be carried along and lying before the tomb he begged the martyr's favor all night long. When the watch was over he asked them to gather dust from the blessed tomb and give it to him in a drink and hang it about his neck. This was done and the heat of the fever went down so that on the very same day he took food without suffering and walked about wherever his fancy took him. Gregory's modesty preface the four books on the miracles of Saint Martin. The miracles which the Lord our God deigned to work through the blessed Martin, his bishop, when living in the body, he still deigns to confirm daily in order to strengthen the faith of believers. He who worked miracles through him when he was in the world now honors his tomb with miracles and he who at that time sent him to save the perishing heathen now bestows through him blessings on the Christians. Therefore let no one have doubt about the miracles worked in former time when he sees the bounty of the present wonders bestowed. When he looks upon the lame being raised up the blind receiving sight demons being driven out and every other kind of disease being cured through his healing power. As for me I will establish belief in the book written about his life by earlier writers by relating for posterity at God's command his present day miracles as far as I can recall them. This I would not presume to do if I had not been born twice or thrice in a vision. I call all powerful God to witness that I once saw in a dream at midday many who were crippled and overwhelmed by various diseases being cured in Saint Martin's church and I saw this in the presence of my mother who said to me why are you so sluggish about writing of these things that you see? I replied, you know well enough that I am unskilled in letters and that simple and untrained as I am I would not dare to describe such wonderful miracles I wish Severus or Paulinus were alive or that Fortunatus at the least were here to describe them I have no skill for such a task and I should be blamed if I undertook it. But she said don't you know that nowadays on account of the people's ignorance one who speaks as you can is more clearly understood therefore do not hesitate or delay for you will be guilty if you pass this over in silence so I wish to follow her advice and was doubly tortured with grief and fear grief that miracles as great as were done under our predecessors should not be recorded fear of undertaking so noble a task ignorant as I am however led on by the hope of divine mercy I am going to attempt the task thus urged upon me for as I suppose he who produced water in the desert from a dry rock and cooled the thirsty people is able to set these matters forth in my words and it will be surely proved that he has again opened the asses mouth if he deigns to open my lips and make known those miracles through an untaught person like me but why should I fear my ignorance when the Lord our God and Redeemer chose not orators but fishermen not philosophers but countrymen to destroy the vanity of worldly wisdom I have confidence then thanks to your prayers that even if my rude speech cannot adorn the page the great bishop will give its fame by his glorious miracles remarkable exercise of virtue by saint martin ibbid book one chapter holy since I have told two or three times how miracles were performed and dangers averted by the mere invocation of the glorious name I shall now describe how the blessed bishop was called upon and brought help to one who was falling headlong to death Amonius an officer of the holy church arose from dinner somewhat under the influence of wine and the enemy giving him a push he fell headlong over a lofty cliff that bordered the road there was a drop of about 200 feet while he was whirling about as he fell headlong and was flying down without wings he kept crying for aid from saint martin at every instant of his fall then he felt as if he were tossed from a saddle by someone and he landed among the trees that were in the valley and thus coming down slowly limb by limb he reached the ground without danger of death however that the plotters undertaking might not seem to have been completely in vain he suffered a slight injury in one foot but he went to the glorious master's church and prayed and was relieved of all pain miracles worked on Gregory ibbid book one chapter 32 and 33 having related the miracles performed for others I shall tell what the miraculous power of this protector has done for my unworthy self in the hundred and sixtieth year after that holy and praiseworthy man the blessed bishop martin was taken up to heaven when the holy bishop euphronius was governing the church of tour in his seventh year and in the second year of the glorious king sygbert I became ill with malignant pimples and fever and being unable to eat or drink I was reduced to such a state that I lost all hope of the present life and thought of nothing but of the details for death was constantly raging at me eager to separate my soul from my body then when I was almost dead I called on the name of the blessed champion martin and made some improvement and began slowly and painfully to prepare for my journey but I had made my mind up that I ought to visit his venerable tomb and my desire was so great that I did not even wish to live if I was to be delayed and going although I had scarcely escaped from a dangerous fever I began to be on fire again with the fever of desire and so although not yet strong I hastened to go with my people after two or three stages on entering the forest I fell ill of the fever again and was in such a serious condition that they all said I was dying then my friends came to me and saw I was very weak and said let us return home and if God you will die in your own home and if you recover you will make this journey you evolved more easily for it is better to return home than to die in the wilderness on hearing this I wept bitterly and bewailed my ill luck and said I adjure you by all powerful God and the day of judgment which all fear who have to make answer there that you agree to my request don't give up the journey we have begun and if I dare to see the holy martins church I shall thank God but if not carry my dead body there and buried because I am determined not to return home if I have not the merit to appear at his tomb then we all wept together and went on and guarded by the glorious master we arrived at his church the third night after arriving at the holy church we planned to keep watch and did so in the morning when the bell for we returned to our lodging and going to bed we slept until nearly the second hour then I woke up and found that all weakness and pain were gone and I had recovered my former health and I gladly called my usual attendant to wait on me and I shall not forget to say that after 40 days that one was the first on which I took pleasure in drinking wine since because of my illness I had detested it until then Ibed book 2 chapter 1 in the second month after my ordination when I was at a country place I suffered from dysentery and high fever and began to be so ill that I altogether disparate of living everything that I could eat was always vomited before it had been digested and I loathed food and when my stomach had no more strength as a result of no food the fever was the only thing that gave me strength I could in no way take anything substantial and strengthening I had severe pain too that darted all through my stomach and went down into my bowels exhausting me by its pain no less than the fever had done and when I was in such a condition that no hope of life was left and everything was being made ready for my death and the physician's medicine could do nothing for one whom death had laying claim to I was in despair and called the chief physician Armentarius and said to him you have used every trick of your profession you have tried the power of all your remedies but secular means are of no avail to the perishing there is only one thing left for me to do I will show you a great remedy let them bring dust from the holy master's tomb and make a potion for me from it and if this does not cure me every means of escape is lost then the deacon was sent to the tomb of the holy bishop just mentioned and he brought the sacred dust and put it in water and gave me a drink of it when I had drunk soon all the pain was gone and I received health from the tomb and the benefit was so immediate that although this happened in the third hour I became quite well and went to dinner that very day at the sixth hour Ibbid, book three preface and chapter one whenever headache comes on or a throbbing in the temples or a dullness of hearing or a dimness of sight or a pain attacks some other part I am cured at once when I have touched the affected part on the tomb or the curtain hanging before it and I wonder within myself that at the very touch the pain is immediately gone I shall place first in this book a miracle that I experienced recently we were sitting at dinner after a fast and eating when a fish was served the sign of the cross of the lord was made over it but as we ate a bone from this very fish stuck in my throat most painfully it caused me great distress for the point was fastened in my throat and its length blocked the passage it prevented my speaking and kept the saliva which comes frequently from the palate from passing on the third day when I could get rid of it neither by coughing or hawking I resorted to my usual resource I went to the tomb and myself on the pavement and wept abundantly and groaned and begged the confessor's aid then I rose and touched the full length of my throat and all my head with the curtain I was immediately cured and before leaving the holy threshold I was rid of all uneasiness what became of the unlucky bone I do not know I did not cough it up nor feel it go down into my stomach one thing only I know I immediately perceived that I was cured that I thought that someone had put in his hand and pulled out bone that hurt my throat a phantom attacks a woman ibbid book 3 chapter 37 at this time when a certain woman remained alone at the loom when the others had gone a most frightful phantom appeared as she sat and laid a hold of the woman and began to drag her off she screamed and wept she saw there was no one to help but still tried to make a courageous resistance after two or three hours the other women returned and found her lying on the ground half dead and unable to speak still she made signs with her hand but they did not understand and she continued speechless the phantom which had appeared to her attacked so many persons in that house that they left it and went elsewhere in two or three months time the woman came to the church and had the merit to recover her speech and so she told with her own lips what she had endured procedure in case of a miracle ibbid book 3 chapter 45 the facts that I relate ought not to seem to anyone unworthy of belief because the names of individuals are not mentioned in the account the cause of it is this when they are restored to health by the saint of god they leave immediately and they sometimes go so secretly that so to speak they are noticed by no one and when the report has spread that a miracle has been done by the blessed bishop I summon those who have charge of the church and inquire into what happened but I do not always learn the names from them I generally tell by name of those I have been able to see or examine personally minor miracles worked on Gregory ibbid book 4 chapter 2 at one time my tongue became uncomfortably swelled up so that when I wished to speak it usually made me stutter which was somewhat unseemly I went to the saint's tomb and drew my awkward tongue along the wooden lattice the swelling went down at once and I became well it was a serious swelling and filled the cavity where the pallet is then three days later my lip began to have a painful beating in it I went again to the tomb to get help and when I had touched my lip to the hanging curtain the pulsation stopped at once and I suppose this came from an overabundance of blood still trusting to the saint's power I did not try to lessen the amount of blood and this matter caused me no further trouble Gregory's uncle Saint Gaul the lives of the fathers Saint Gaul was a servant of God from his youth up loving the lord his whole heart and he loved what he knew to be beloved by God his father was named Georges and his mother Leocadia a descendant of Vectius Epigatus who as the history of Eusebius relates was a martyr at Lyon they belonged among the leading senators so that no family could be found in the Gauls better born or nobler and although Gauls father wished to ask for a certain senator's daughter for him he was an attendant and went to the monastery at Cournot six miles from Clermont and besought the abbot to consent to give him the tonsure the abbot noticed the good sense and fine bearing of the youth and inquired his name, his family and native place he replied that he was called Gaul and was a citizen of Auvern a son of the senator Georges when the abbot learned that he belonged to one of the first families so that you wish is good but you must first bring it to your father's attention and if he gets you consent I will do what you ask then the abbot sent messengers in regard to this matter to his father asking what he wished to be done with the youth the father was a little disappointed but said he is my oldest son and I therefore wished him to marry but if the lord deigns to receive him into his service let his will rather than mine be done and he added consent to the child's request which he had made by God's inspiration two the abbot on receiving this message made him a clerk he was very chaste and as if already old he had no wicked desires he refrained from a young man's mirth he had a voice wonderfully sweet and melodious he devoted himself constantly to reading he took pleasure in fasting he was very emious when the blessed bishop Quintian came to this monastery and heard him sing he did not allow him to stay there any longer but took him to the city and like the heavenly father fed him on the sweetness of the spirit on his father's death when his voice was improving day by day and he was a great favorite among the people they reported this to King Theodoric who had once sent for him and showed him such affection more than his own son he was loved by the queen with a similar love not only for his beautiful voice but also for his chastity at that time King Theodoric had taken many clerks from Overn whom he ordered to serve God in the church at Trev but he never allowed the blessed Gaul to be separated from him so it came that when the king went to Cologne he went with him there was there a heathen temple full of various articles of worship where the neighboring barbarians used to make offerings and stuff themselves with food and drink until they vomited there also they worshiped images as God and carved limbs in wood each one the limb in which he had suffered pain when the holy Gaul heard of this he hastened to the place with only one clerk when none of the benighted pagans was present and set it on fire and they saw the smoke of the fire rolling up to the sky and searched for the one who had set it and found him and pursued him sword in hand he fled and took refuge in the king's court but when the king had learned from the pagans threats what had been done he pacified them with agreeable words and so calmed their furious rage the blessed man would often weep in telling this story and say unhappy me that I did not stand my ground and let my life be ended in this affair he was deacon at the time three later when the blessed bishop Quintian passed from this world by God's command the holy Gaul was living in Clermont and the people of the city assembled at the house of the priest impetratus Gaul's uncle on his mother's side lamenting at the bishop's death and asking who should be appointed in his place after long debate they returned each to his own house on their departure the holy Gaul clurled one of the clerks and said the spirit rushing into him what are these people muttering about why are they running to and fro what are they debating they are wasting their time said he I am going to be bishop the lord will deign to bestow this honor on me now when you hear that I am returning from the king's presence take my predecessors horse with the saddle on him and come and bring him to me if you refuse to obey me take care you are not sorry for it later as he said this he was lying on his bed the clerk was angry at him and abused him and struck him on the side breaking the bed at the same time and went off in a rage on his departure the priest impetratus said to the blessed Gaul my son hear my advice don't waste a minute but go to the king and tell him what has happened here and if the lord inspires him to bestow this holy office on you I shall give thanks to god otherwise you can at least recommend yourself to the man who is appointed he went and reported to the king what had happened and the clerks of Clermont with the choice of the foolish went to the king with many gifts even then that seed of iniquity had begun to germinate that bishoprics were sold by kings and bought by the clerks then they heard from the king that they were going to have saint Gaul as bishop he was ordained priest and the king gave orders to invite the citizens to a feast at the expense of the treasury and to make merry over the promotion of Gaul the future bishop this was done he was in the habit of telling that he had given no more for the office of bishop than a third of a gold piece which he had given to the cook who prepared the feast then the king appointed two bishops to accompany him to Clermont and the clerk viventius by name who had struck him on the side when he was in bed hastened to meet the bishop according to his command but not without great shame and he presented himself and the horse which Gaul had ordered when they had gone into the bath together Gaul gently reproached him for the pain in his side which he had incurred from the contemptuous violence of the clerk and he caused him great shame not in a spirit of anger however but only delighting in a pious joke after that he was received into the city with much singing and was ordained bishop in his own church end of section 17 recording by B. 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