on the holy altar we placed: in which church very often
the power of the Lord is manifested through the blessed Bishop. March 11.
But very recently certain women vexed
by a demon, coming from the border of Bourges, three possessed women are freed.
three in number, while they were being led to the basilica of St. Martin,
entered this church: & striking their palms
together, while they confessed they were tortured by the powers
of St. Nicetius, casting from their mouths I know not what purulent matter
with blood, from the besieging spirits straightway
they were cleansed.
[22] Dado, one of these villagers, when in that hostility,
which is at c Convenae, he had gone, not paying his vow is rebuked by the Saint. &
often he rushed into dangers of death, vowed, that if to his house
he should return whole, to the aforesaid church
to be adorned in honor of B. Nicetius some of these things, which
he had acquired, he would bestow. Returning therefore,
he brought two silver cups; & vowed again on the journey,
that these he would confer on the church, if to his own home he should
come safely. Coming therefore home, only one
he gave, & sought to defraud the Saint of the other,
giving a Sarmatic covering, with which the Lord's altar
with its offerings might be covered. But there appeared
to him the blessed man through a dream, saying: How long do you doubt,
& delay to fulfill the vow? Go, he said, &
the other cup, which you vowed, restore to the church, lest
you perish & your house. But the covering, because it is
thin, let it not be placed on the gifts of the altar: because
from that the mystery of the Body & Blood of the Lord
is not fully covered. But he terrified, without delay,
the vow which he had vowed quickly fulfilled.
[23] contemning to come to the Vigils, This man's brother came to the vigils of the Lord's
Nativity, & admonished the Presbyter, saying:
Let us watch with one accord at the church of God, & let us entreat
devoutly the power of B. Nicetius, that with him obtaining,
we may pass the course of this year with peace. Which
the Presbyter hearing, joyful ordered the sign for the vigils
to be stirred. Which being moved, with the Presbyter coming
with Clerics & the rest of the people, this one gaping after the gullet,
was weaving delays of coming: & when more often
the Presbyter sent to summon him, he answered:
Wait a little, & I will come. What more? With
the vigils accomplished & light given, this one, who before had admonished,
did not come to the vigils. he is punished by sudden death. But the Presbyter
having fulfilled the office, moved against the man,
to his dwelling hastens, as if to suspend him from communion.
But he seized by a fever, as
with wine, so with a divine burning was being burned. Without delay, seeing
the Presbyter, with voices given with tears, he supplicated
that penance be given him. And when the Presbyter
rebuked him, saying, Rightly by the power of St. Nicetius are you being burned,
to whose church you neglected to come to the vigils:
amid the conversations of those speaking he breathed out
his spirit. The third hour also came, when the people
were gathering for the solemnities of Masses, this dead man
into the church was borne. Which was done by the power of the holy
Bishop no one can doubt. But these things to us himself
explained the Presbyter.
[24] Very many more of these things either we ourselves have experienced,
or through the relation of the faithful we have known, which
we have thought long to indicate. To the little book therefore we will give closure,
when one more wonderful thing from the book
of his life, which above was written by a certain one as we prefaced,
I will remember the miracle; about which divine
power coming forth, did not leave it inglorious, but to
prove the power of the things said, made it to many
glorious. For the Deacon of Autun,
troubled by grave blindness of the eyes, [a blind man with the book on the Life of St. Nicetius placed on his eyes is illumined.] heard these things,
which the glorifier of his Saints God at the tomb
of the Saint was exercising, & said to his own: If I should go to
his sepulcher, or should take some of the holy pledges:
or certainly if the pall, with which the Saint's limbs are covered,
I should merit to touch, I would become whole. And when
these things & the like he was conferring with his own, stood
there suddenly a certain Cleric saying: Well, he says,
you believe, but if you wish to strengthen your mind from the same
powers, here is the paper volume, which about these things is held
written, that you may more easily believe those, which to
the hearing of your ears have come. But he before
he commanded it to be read, inspired by the regard of divine piety,
said: I believe that God is powerful through his servants
to work excellent things. And at once he placed the volume over
his eyes. Straightway with pain put to flight,
& darkness burst, the use of sight he deserved to receive from
the power of the volume: & in such brightness was placed,
that himself with his own eyes reading the deeds of the powers he knew.
But these things works one & the same Lord,
who is glorified in his Saints, that those who
with illustrious miracles published he makes glorious. To him be glory
& empire forever and ever. Amen.
ANNOTATIONS.
Gundobald, was burned & destroyed, & from its ruins
the town of St. Bertrand was built, as more broadly for his Life on October 15
will have to be said. The city of the Convenae is, in the vernacular Comminges, situated at the roots
of the Pyrenees mountains & sources of the river Garonne.
MORE ANCIENT LIFE
from the Jura MS. brought out by Peter Francis Chifflet S. J.
Nicetius, Bishop of Lyon, in Gaul (St.)
BHL Number: 6088
FROM MS.
[1] As often as the deeds of holy men, the relation
of reading manifests,
& to those, Prologue. whose solemnity the gathering
of peoples seeks, due
honor is paid, & the devotion of hearers to
the zeal of doing good is aroused.
[2] St. Nicetius honored with annual feast Therefore holy Nicetius Bishop of the city of Lyon,
whose festivity of deposition year by year
the love of the people with faithful devotion celebrates, from infancy
the worship of religion preserved no less in mind, than
received in habit: in which, according as to the love of virtue
the increase of years broadened through times gave,
so the more the reward of holiness God the author infused.
Whom the most blessed man a Agricola, Bishop of the city of Chalon,
advanced to the office of the Presbytery. Whose
fame while in rivalry adorned with good works grew, ordained Priest by St. Agricola at Chalon,
& the Sacerdotal dignity in him with the splendor of merits
flourished, by the holy & venerable Pontiff of Lyon,
by name or work Sacerdos, to the Pastoral
degree is known to have been pre-elected: that
when he with the end of life fulfilled should receive his passing,
he ought to be his successor. Which by divine arrangement
with time succeeding the consent of the whole people
willingly sought, & the benevolence of b the Prince with the divine nod
with congratulation granted. Who while in all things
he committed himself to the command of the divine King, is constituted Bishop. that dignity
itself he dared not to flee into hiding, nor wished
to purchase with bribes. In which having been constituted, both the serpent's
shrewdness he kept & the dove's simplicity
he fulfilled.
[3] But as often as men of honest conversation
came to his city, he receives pilgrims, he commanded lodgings for them
in the vicinity of his bedroom with studious solicitude to
be prepared: to whom, with all the services withdrawing,
more secretly in nocturnal hours approaching, he washes their feet: their feet
with faithful service he diligently took care to wash, that the Apostolic
precepts he might fulfill, nor in lesser things be negligent
to whom the power to fulfill greater things divine grace
had granted, which by his works continually he showed.
The courses of night or day, he is present at Ecclesiastical office by day & night: which
in the divine Offices the ancient institution of sacred religion
with fixed limits by a certain law established, he so always doubled
with the zeal of continual psalm-singing, that never from mouth or
from heart of his the meditation of the divine law was absent: & if perhaps
while he was discharging those very duties, on account of the assiduity
of those coming, or by the occupation arising any one came upon him;
as if from a surplus, the answer, whence he was called,
he rendered, so that inwardly the office which he was doing
he performed. Whence sometimes by some ignorant ones
he was thought tepid in sense, who was
inflamed with spiritual fervor. So even undoubtedly
& ambitiously to rise continually for Matins
he studied, that the beginnings of that very Office he himself
always began. So with alms, most generous
in prompt will, he distributed with cheerful
bestowal; as whatever he conferred on the poor,
he judged he was acquiring for himself. As often
as in summer time a despair of fruits happened
by the coming of drought, he distributes alms. with such compunction unanimously
with the people favoring he took care to celebrate the Litanies, with litanies announced he obtains rain: that
straightway an abundance of rain came to their aid.
[4] But when in winter time, the said holy
Bishop the estates committed to him likewise of the holy Church
in the parts of Provence was going to visit;
it happened to him in a villa of a certain illustrious man, Flavius by name,
which was then for temporary lodging Alacarnum, with the sun now into evening
declining, as opportunity had brought, to arrive,
& there in the silence of the night to resume rest by sleeping.
Who when after the refection of divine prayer, evening
sacrifice he had performed; there was brought before his feet
in a chair, having a demon: whose fame through
the most holy men Cataphronius & Eustasius Presbyters
we learned, by prayer, holy oil & the sign of the Cross he frees: so that they said they saw so
great bondage of the demons that boy having been constrained,
so was he acted upon, that with neck wholly with shoulders twisted back,
& miserable spinal backbone, with sad face together, bent over
he clung. Whom the holy man when he saw before his knees
cast with the great lament of the parents,
& accustomed prayer within the enclosures of the sacred oratory done,
& blessing with the liquor of holy oil the sign of the Cross
with the name of Christ invoked having anointed, at once
he put the demon to flight from the besieged body, & with the weak members
in their proper joint reformed, to return
home to the parents he restored whole. Who also after
intervals of times, for the health conferred on him with his own
rejoicing, to Musturnacum, in the field of the holy Church
of Lyon, to B. Nicetius devoted, with his relatives
returning to the doctor already cured, gave thanks
to Christ and likewise to the holy Pontiff.
[5] But after the man worthy of merits had taken his passing,
with the enemy of the human race plotting it happened,
that the greatest part of the city of Lyon, with rising
flames, the gravest fire of burning consumed. After death he cures 2 blind women:
Where while from all sides hastening wedges
of peoples poured together, suddenly a bright voice
sounding, filled the ears of the crowd gathering, saying,
that St. Nicetius into the house of the Church bodily
had come, & to two blind women with sight restored
had conferred the former health. Then at once strength
to the people the sound that announced the arrival
of the buried Bishop restored. Nor is it wondrous that the blessed
athlete took care with spiritual power to defend, where
bodily he was seen to dwell: nor had sanctification from thence
by the same granted departed, where even after his exit
he dwelt.
[6] the dust of his sepulcher stills storms: A certain one therefore inflamed with ardor of faith, dust
from his tomb for whatever remedies for his protection
reverently collected bore: which
as often as with faithful objection, with the coming impetus of a storm
he showed, the rigor of hail is dissolved into water,
& the hardness of stones is changed into the liquid of water.
Someone also had received ten solidi from a certain creditor without
delay, with the trust of charity intervening:
which when for the cause of perfidy he wished to deny, about to perjure himself at his sepulcher he becomes blind, at the sepulcher
of the most blessed Bishop, that he had not received them,
he disposed to perjure himself. Where at once of all his limbs
deceived of vigor, as he had come blind of heart,
so blinded in the eyes he stood. Then unfortunate, confounded with late
penitence, what he had borrowed he began to offer, pouring out prayer
with tears that he might receive sight. He
indeed most sacred Pastor; & penitent is healed: who lived in merits & piety,
with the rest of bodily strength, restored sight
to one praying; & as for justice he rebuked the perfidious,
so for mercy he heard the afflicted.
[7] A certain one likewise filled with the infestation
of a mad spirit, to his sepulcher scarcely at last under great
custody arrived: where while so great a fury by vexation
he had raged, he was seen to have lost his spirit. To whom
when a place for burial was being prepared, with the oil of the lamp a man held as dead comes to life: because by night &
day, he lay deceived of all heat of spirit, with lethal
sleep pressed down lifeless; by divine nod to a certain one
of the observers came back to memory, that on his brow,
mouth or ears of the oil of the lamps, which at the memorial
of the blessed Pontiff were, faithfully the signs of the Cross
he should make: thinking that he who the other virtues to work
was wont, perhaps might also raise the dead.
Then gradually signed, with hidden mystery reviving,
at once with Christ propitiating he rose.
[8] Also at a certain time seven accused, in a blind
prison placed, 8 imprisoned are freed. no less bound by iron chains
than afflicted, at the city of Vienna through long
custody were held: of whom one in a vision
St. Nicetius merited to see, as if the instruments,
with which bound they were constrained, with
his staff he had touched: & at once the strength of iron was broken,
& the locked doors stood open. Who at once sought the church
freely, by the Saint's intercession freed.
But in the basilica, where his most sacred body with the devotion
of the faithful is venerated, a certain one guilty of fault,
by the command of public order, with another, with iron
bonds was bound: but when to his sepulcher with impeded
steps they had come, others constrained with iron rings: the broken structure
of the bonds crashed, & the public criminals a hidden power
absolved which by other times with like mystery was
wrought. Who though before he migrated from this world to the heavenly
kingdoms, had worked very many virtues,
(whence already we are certain to have said some) even secretly
put demons to flight from possessed bodies. But
after the holy man migrated from the light of this age,
then rather with strength added did he show himself to be living;
while continually & unceasingly, with the people as witness, various miracles are wrought: to the lame
step, to the blind sight, to the demoniacs remedy,
to the contracted whole vigor, & to all the sick
the remedy of health confers, whom to his sepulcher
the integrity of sure faith leads.
[9] Whence his diverse heralds could be narrated with manifold
relation, but it is not at all necessary, that
manifold speech of words discuss each one,
which his operation always with spiritual mysteries
manifests: & the more the course of times
rolls on, the more with multiplied works his virtue
is augmented. Whose most holy prayer may be able to obtain, Aetherius the Bishop takes care that his life be written
that as he fortified this city with the defense of his
body,
so the health of souls & bodies may confer on all:
& for the most blessed Bishop Aetherius
with his prayers intercede: who labored with holy zeal,
how his life, which even after death was flourishing
in the continuity of works, might be made known by the office of reading.
But not unworthily his memory with zeal of love
he solemnly cultivates, from his prediction who foretold him to be his successor
whom straightway after his passing the devotion
of the people of Lyon to the very degree of the Pontificate
ambitiously sought: But what then the foreknowing disposition
of the Prince denied, with the successor dead to grant
it did not cease: & thus what the holy Bishop's word,
while he remained in the body, brought forth; second Bishop after him. this into the heart
of the most clement King God the author infused: by which
obtaining also it happened, that he who was hitherto
Father of the fatherland, now should be of the Church. For which matter we must pray
God; that whose venerating patronage,
with unanimous devotion we ambitiously celebrate the solemnity;
by his intercessions we may always be helped, &
fortified with suitable aids, since we do not merit to be taught
by examples, with our Lord Jesus
Christ reigning, with the Father & the Holy Spirit, forever and ever.
Amen.