ON SAINT MATERNIANUS
BISHOP OF REIMS IN GAUL.
FOURTH CENTURY.
PrefaceMaternianus, Bishop of Reims, in Gaul (Saint)
By D. P.
Flodoard, the author of the History of Reims brought down to the year 961, Priest of the same church, then monk and Abbot of the monastery of Saint Remigius, after in book 1, chapter 3 he had treated more fully of the first Bishops of that city, Sixtus and Sinicius, the first Bishops of the Church of Reims from Flodoard as having been destined into Gaul by the Apostle Peter, writes thus about their successors in chapter 5: "The ship of our Church, tossed by the thundering storms of frequent persecutions, which could scarcely raise its head, how long the See itself sat vacant without a worthy Rector, is not easily explained: so that after the aforesaid fathers of our faith, Blessed Sixtus and Sinicius, we find only one Bishop, Amansius, up to the rule of Constantine: under whom Betausius is found, who with his firstborn Deacon is read first from this Belgian province to have been present at the first Synod of Arles, held by Marinus the Bishop, under the most Blessed Pope Silvester, with Volusianus and Anianus as Consuls. After whom Aper, then Maternianus; of whose bones the relics Lord Archbishop Hincmar commemorates that he sent to King Louis the Transrhenane, in a letter sent to the same King on behalf of these and other Saints' pledges. Thence Donatianus was Bishop; whose relics also, carried to the maritime parts of the Bishopric of Noyon or Tournai, are remembered to have been adorned with various splendor of signs. Whom Blessed Viventius follows, as much by lofty merits of an illustrious life, as by the distinguished order of the Pontifical summit; whose sacred members also, translated, with Lord Ebbo our Bishop bringing them over the river Meuse, at Braine-sur-Meuse, a church being built, … are deposited with due honor to be kept … to whom Severus succeeded. After the aforementioned Bishops Blessed Nicasius follows in the cult of the Pontificate … under the Vandal persecution in the Gauls, a most strong Rector of the holy Church entrusted to him."
[2] in whose catalogues, where after Saints Sixtus and Sinicius, Thus Flodoard: which we have been pleased to adduce fully, that it might more clearly appear, from the very text of his writing, that in enumerating the Bishops of the Church of Reims he had no other domestic aid, than the more recent acts of certain Bishops, and a certain catalogue begun to be written in the 6th or 7th century under the bare naming of names; which kind of catalogues near their beginnings happen often to be imperfect, with the names of the more ancient for the most part hidden, except for those whom a more celebrated cult preserved in the memory of posterity; such as were Saints Sixtus and Sinicius, the first Apostles, accustomed to be venerated festively throughout the whole city on the very Kalends of September: after whom only the five immediately preceding Saint Nicasius were named after whom immediately were named these five, whom I mentioned, predecessors of Saint Nicasius. That no others intermediate were found in those catalogues by Flodoard, I gather from the one who must have had them before his eyes, William Marlot, the most recent author of the History of Reims. For, treating of Amantius in chapter 17, he asserts that he is placed by Flodoard, from acts which no longer exist: and in chapter 27 he says, the intermediate ones omitted, to be supplied from elsewhere. "that the name of Betausius from the Acts of the Council of Arles alone became known to him; and therefore he judges that he doubtless would have also placed Dyscolius, named in the Synod of Cologne, equally among the Archbishops, if the Cologne Acts had been known to him." Therefore the series of Bishops in Flodoard is hiulcous and defective, who sufficiently indicates that in his judgment there were more than those whose names he found; wherefore those who named Maternianus sixth, Donatianus seventh, are to be understood no otherwise than that their names hold such a place in the series indicated by Flodoard.
[3] Their uncertain Chronology among writers Concerning the Chronology the above-mentioned William Marlot confesses that "concerning those five who preceded Blessed Nicasius immediately, nothing certain is held among the people of Reims; nor does anyone exist who has certainly related, under what Consul or which one each had the ends of his life; because the subversion effected through the Vandals and Huns abolished the memory of the churches of Belgium, and of almost all Gaul." By which words this author sufficiently indicates that all things which are noted in Colvenerius concerning the aforesaid Bishops about the day and year of death are novel conjectures of those who in this past century have tried to make more augmented the bare catalogues of names, adding how many years each sat, whence he was taken, by what Roman Pontiff ordained, and other similar things. As he therefore, without any regard for them, thought himself free to arrange the Chronology, some light is received from the Life of Saint Maternianus from the reckoning which he believed more probable; so we also think we may do the same, about to treat of Saint Maternianus, of whom not only the bones but also the booklet of the Life must have been transmitted to King Louis; since it is even today found among the people beyond the Rhine, though no knowledge of it now remains at Reims, nor even in the time of Flodoard does it seem to have still existed there; otherwise it would by no means have been passed over by him. For since he treats most fully of Saint Nicasius, and accurately notes, when, where, and by whom
the bodies of his predecessors were translated; he sufficiently indicates that, if he had known anything more about them, it should in no way have been kept silent by him.
[4] This Life exists in the notable Ms. Passional of the Boddeken monastery, of the Order of Canons Regular of the diocese of Paderborn, for the month of December, fol. X, whence our Joannes Gamansius transcribed it for us; which is here given from a Ms. without doubt taken from an older codex of the Egmond monastery, in which the feast of Saint Maternianus was wont to be held in such a month; I believe, for the memory of the translation made to that place: for the day of death is nowhere expressed in the Life, and among the people of Reims the memory of his Birthday persisted on this April 30, as we shall see below. But nothing is read in that Life of the translation made under Hincmar, from which we gather that it was written before that, perhaps in the 6th or 7th century, and seems to have been written in the 6th or 7th century when the church of Saint Agricola was already counted under the name of Saint Nicasius, on account of the frequent miracles of the same Saint there and the famous pilgrimage of the Franks to his sepulchre; by which things we judge that the same church was restored (which first raised by Jovinus in the 4th century of Christ, doubtless needed more than one restoration) before that famous renovation, which first happened under Gervase the Bishop about the year 1060; and on that or some other occasion the bodies of the three Bishops Maternianus, Donatianus, and Viventius were found and elevated: for we believe that they before they were translated were in some veneration among the Remenses, but of the more obscure kind, because of the brightness of the Nicasian miracles.
[5] and translated to Egmond together with the body Of Saint Donatianus, who is venerated as Patron at Bruges in Flanders, we shall treat on October 14. What place Braine-sur-Meuse is, we shall ask on September 7, on which the memory of Saint Viventius is celebrated: here treating of Saint Maternianus, I say Egmond (whither Flodoard first taught us that his body had been translated, and whence we believe the life was spread as far as the Boddeken monks) is a town among the Federated Belgae, notable with the title of Counts, on the ocean sea, between Alkmaar and Beverwijk, in what is now called Western Friesland; which owes its first celebrity to Saint Adalbert the Martyr, one of the first Apostles of Friesland, whose more celebrated cult there on June 25 seems to have moved King Louis to honor the place with the body of Saint Maternianus. Yet this town, suffering frequent devastations from barbarian pirates, quickly lost the memory of so great a treasure once possessed by it: for we find no mention of it in the whole Egmond chronicle, which, from the beginning of the most powerful Abbey founded there by Theodoric II, Count of Holland, before the foundation of the Abbey. where before had been a monastery of nuns established by Theodoric I, that is, from the beginning of the 10th century up to the year 1484, was gathered and brought down from various deeds, letters, epitaphs, registers, privileges of the past Fathers by Johannes Gerbrand a Leydis the Carmelite, having prefaced a few things about the passion and miracles of Saint Adalbert, and about various devastations of the place before the age of Theodoric I and II: whom I should rather call restorers than first founders, persuaded that from the time of King Louis or even earlier there was some congregation of holy persons of one or the other sex there: with whom the Life was kept, which finally came to the Boddeken collectors.
[6] In this is established Saint Aprus, From this Life, however, which we entirely believe to have been written before the times of Hincmar, we have three things, after the body was carried away from Reims, which were unknown there: namely, that "when Blessed Aprus, Bishop of the holy Church of Reims, happened to die, Maternianus the Priest, son of Cresconius and Flavia, most noble parents, was substituted to him, manifested by the sign of a nocturnal splendor; then that he reached the 60th year of his age, and the 23rd of his Episcopate; third, that having been deemed worthy of the familiarity of Saint Hilary, Bishop of Poitiers, he visited him before he died, about the year 367. These three things will pave the way for us to establish a chronology, if not from certain authority, at least from a more probable conjecture: so that even before Aprus Dyscolius could have presided at Reims, and been present at the Council of Cologne, where he is read with the title of the Remorum, in the year 346; in which year that was celebrated, and not in the year 356 or 369, is proved by the year after the Consulship of Amantius and Albinus noted before the Acts of the same Council. (who could have sat after Dyscolius For neither Colvenerius nor others please us, thinking that Dyscolius was not Bishop of the people of Reims but only a Chorepiscopus, whose existence in that age will not easily be proved in Councils pronouncing sentence together with the Bishops and among them. Nor also do those please us who disjoin the five predecessors of Saint Nicasius, consecutively named in the ancient catalogues (from which namely the Bishops of Reims began to be buried in the Basilica of Saint Agricola), to make a place among them for this one found by themselves, and therefore perhaps unknown to the people of Reims as were the other predecessors of his, because they lay buried in the church of Saints Sixtus and Sinicius, or even elsewhere in an uncertain place.
[7] fifth before Saint Nicasius) But that I may preserve the order not interrupted, I shall not delay, with Sigebert and others following him, by substituting the Hunnic devastation under Attila for the Vandalic persecution or irruption, which happened in the year 406, the martyrdom of Saint Nicasius up to the year 454. For five Bishops seem to me amply to suffice for fifty and more years, which between the death of Dyscolius and the ordination of Nicasius could have intervened. Nor would it be too much if out of those fifty years twenty-three were given to Maternianus, since nothing compels us to make his successors very long-lived. There seems to be some difficulty about Aprus, under whom the city is said in this very Life to have long triumphed. But do we say that this Life is of the first faith and written by a contemporary author, so that every detail must be considered? Nor can one be called "long-lasting" a Bishop of eight or ten years? Maternianus succeeded for 23 years Let us grant, therefore, that Aprus reached the year 356; yet Maternianus would have died before 380, and would have left about twenty years to be divided among three successors. Although I would not wish to trust the number of years found in the Life so much, that I should think we must laboriously fight for it. For what if those 23 years have an extra "denarius" of ten? Then also Maternianus would have died about the year 380, and much more space would remain to be attributed to his successors.
[8] With such a correction admitted, the difficulty would also be utterly removed, which otherwise arises from the time of death, and visited Saint Hilary before his death. which the aforementioned Life seems almost to make common to Saints Hilary and Maternianus: but it is established that Hilary died in the year 367, on January 13, as was proved in his Life on the said day and month. Yet it could be answered that only four more illustrious deeds of Saint Maternianus already Bishop are narrated by the author of the Life, who received them from the tradition of his elders and arranged them in his own way: namely the preservation of the unextinguished taper, when the baptismal font was first blessed by the recently consecrated Saint; the cleansing of the leper, while the same going about his diocese conferred the holy Chrism from village to village; the victory over the Magus, and the said visitation of Saint Hilary at Poitiers, where he also was warned by an Angel of his own death. But this, although the history immediately subjoins it, by the defect of other material to be interposed, could seem more fittingly to be delayed, so that Maternianus might run out on a journey of about four hundred miles to Hilary, now an old man and over whom, as Maternianus had learned by angelic warning, death was hanging, while he himself was still more robust in age and strength.
[9] he was not a brother of Saint Maternus Bishop of Milan. And these things, concerning the order and time of the Bishops of Reims, I have not defined as things to be held by those interested in the history of Reims, but have proposed them as things to be considered: let them see themselves what credit they wish to give to the Life of Saint Maternianus, here first published. Those things which are there narrated, though they seem to be rhetorically amplified and clothed with some less certain circumstances, yet as to substance are more probable to me than those which are unknown to all antiquity, and received I know not from what source, I read in the Catalogue of Colvenerius; where it is said that "Saint Maternianus was the uterine Brother of Maternus, IX Archbishop of Milan, who having been ordained Archbishop already old by Saint Pope Julius in the year 351, sat 9 years, died July 7 in the year 359." For Saint Maternus died under the Emperors Diocletian and Maximian, nor ordained by Saint Pope Julius, and therefore before the year 304; and indeed at a great age; for he had borne the Episcopate from the times of the Emperor Valerian, and thus before the year 262. Saint Julius was indeed Pope when Maternianus was ordained; but this one must be believed to have been ordained at Reims, not at Rome, even if the Life did not say so, as it really does: nor can it be imagined that anything was done by Saint Julius on account of which he should be said to have been ordained by him; because I do not think that then the Roman Pontiff was accustomed to send the Pallium to Metropolitans. But the day July 7 (to be silent about the year of death gratuitously invented) does not seem to have been taken from any sacred fasti of the churches of Reims, but from certain additions to Usuard's Martyrology, or dying on July 7. supplied to Colvenerius from elsewhere, where at the end was simply found written the name of Maternianus Confessor: which some one persuaded him to be of the Bishop of Reims, since his name so written occurred nowhere else.
[10] We have, above all the other exemplars of Usuard, of which perhaps more than two hundred we have seen and examined, one more genuine, because more sparingly augmented, and written for the uses of some church of Reims perhaps five hundred years ago, commemorated in the Martyrologies on April 30 which, brought to the Carthusians of Herne, and at last to the Louvain college of the Society, finally came to our Museum; where on this April 30 is thus read, added to the text of Usuard itself at the end by a writer of Reims, even before the memory of Saint Eutropius of Saintes: "On the same day the Birthday of Saint Madernianus, Archbishop of Reims, who sixth ruled the same church": and from this Ms. Molanus transcribed the same words, whom Ferrarius followed. The same words Marlot testifies he found in the ancient Martyrology of the Remigian Church. The same, and perhaps from the very codex which we have, the author of the Florarium copied, but reads "Madermanus": with no other cult at Reims. which also Greven did. Besides this simple memory of this Saint in the Martyrology, no cult of him remains at Reims, unless perhaps in very recent years some has been taken up. For in the Breviaries printed by the authority of Charles Cardinal of Lorraine in the years 1543 and 1559, and again revised and reprinted in the year 1630, no commemoration of Saint Maternianus is prescribed to be performed in the sacred rites. Whence therefore did Saussay get it, that at Reims on July 7 is recalled the deposition of Saint
Maternianus, Bishop of this metropolis, whose chief solemnity is held on his translation on the day before the Kalends of May.
LIFE
From a Ms. of the Boddeken Monastery
Maternianus, Bishop of Reims, in Gaul (Saint)
BHL Number: 5677
FROM MS.
CHAPTER I.
Birth and education of Saint Maternianus, and his Episcopal ordination.
[1] Our Lord God, from the beginning of the creation of man, wished His whole creature to persist in His ordered disposition: Born of a noble family but because, with the devil envious, the human condition fell from the happy joys of paradise; to restore it to its former state, sending His only-begotten Son, He mercifully restored to Himself the mortal race; and through Him calling His Saints to contests, he mightily subdued the diabolical power. Of whom one, the most blessed Maternianus, the glorious Bishop of the Remi, was enriched with manifold divine gifts; and with his most noble father Cresconius, his mother also Flavia nourishing him, shone with great signs from infancy, so that nobly ascending the summit of the Pontificate, in the greater ages to come he was to be spread abroad as Bishop through wonders.
[2] For when the boy of such sanctification had been born, a heavenly messenger appeared to his mother through a vision, A future saint is foretold, who foretold that the boy would be blessed, and moreover would be to all the citizens a solace a of a more perfect faith. For also on the eighth day of his nativity, when the little child was resting asleep in the inner chamber, in the middle silence of night, with a starry splendor surrounding the little bed, divine power shone forth: he is surrounded by heavenly light, and all the keepers when they looked, struck with great terror, also all the inhabitants round about astonished, raised their gaze to this spectacle of great wonder: and thus, as all beheld, shining forth all around for the space of three hours like a fiery globe, it was taken up wondrously into the heavens. Thither to that house all the fellow citizens therefore running, venerating father and mother with the holy offspring, with immense praises magnifying the Lord, glorified Him; and hence more touched than before, they venerated the father of the family.
[3] It also happened one day, while the boy was being nursed, and placed for rest, as winter weather pressed, beside the b hearth, when the nurse was going away for other necessaries, being left alone he slept: a coal leaping from the middle of the fire kindled the little bed of the sleeping little one: and yet, he is preserved unharmed from the fire, with divine power resisting, though almost all his clothes were burned, left the little one unhurt: from whose burning of the bed the whole dwelling already as if kindled had so boiled up, that unless by the same power of God, by which the boy had been rescued, the whole house would have been freed, it would have been utterly consumed by fire. For the domestic servants rushing together hither and thither, when they had no access to enter on account of the excessive heat; a most beautiful man appeared to them among the flames, in white garments, who was covering the little one with his own cloth, and extinguishing the strong flames with his own force; at whose bright departure both the inflamed house is rescued, and with the boy protected, with all the citizens the whole neighborhood congratulating, rejoices together in the Lord: for often after that vision all the household of the father of the family, made more cautious, with a more horrible look approached the entrance of the dwelling where the boy was.
[4] with the holy Innocents he familiarly converses. Indeed in more secret hours, in his adolescent age, they saw, terrified by the awful sights, similar youths of most beautiful form, sitting, standing, or going about, near the little one several times: whence only with the cries of the boy heard, at inopportune hours no one dared to frequent the chamber. Who at length, reverently raised to boyhood, when he had grown, and, somewhat like the rest, alone went out for a scholarly walk to learn; the same in form unknown boys in shining clothes stood by him, and delighted in the soliloquy of his grace. Who, when he was often asked by his nurses who the unknown little boys were, with whom he often, about to jest, withdrew alone, and loved more than the known ones; "I do not know," he answered, "except only that they assert themselves to be sons of our holy Fathers, who in white robes were long ago innocents here, translated divinely, and departed to the blessed joys; and thence announcing all good things, they bring me honey-sweet delights of eating: with whom while I eat, I forget all the good things of this life; because no good is lacking to me, as long as I have their company: with whom departing, the whole world seems to me to be in darkness, and therefore I take delight in no others' addresses."
[5] And thus always growing stronger, when the Saint of God, the aforesaid Maternianus, had reached the fullness of his age, it happened that Blessed Aprus c, Bishop of the holy Church of Reims, died, widely and long very well known for sanctity and wisdom, With the See of Reims vacant for prodigies and virtues; and that sacred city remained mourning and widowed, which with so great a Bishop long had triumphed outstanding. All ecclesiastical Orders therefore, there militating in Christ, began to hold a long and most zealous contention in vigils and supplications for the choosing of a worthy Shepherd. Whose prayers being heard, with the Lord having mercy, it happened that in the dead silence of a certain Lord's night, that primitive ethereal ray, which also in the cradles had been sent from heaven, duly illuminated the whole house, where, tired after continuous prayer, the man of the Lord Maternianus the Priest rested, a nocturnal splendor over his chamber with the inhabitants of the city itself waking and seeing, and fearing lest as if by lightning fire the whole city from that house should be burned. Which sign, by the wondrous disposition of God, was shown in following times, namely that from his merits or examples, the numb hearts of infirm peoples should more fervently pant for the love of divine worship. Wherefore all the citizens soon concurring, and gathered together on all sides, he himself still unknowing, gazing on the gentle brightness of so great a radiance, understood together that divine grace was being manifested in their Bishop. Astonished therefore with fear and joy, and not daring to wake him while he rested, they ran to the metallic signs of the temple: and when all the vessels d began to sound, re-echoing the praise of Christ, he stirs up the people, within with hymns and thanksgivings, outside indeed with most glorious ringings, there was the clamor of the tumultuous and concurring people magnifying the Lord.
[6] At the same hour also, to the same God-bearing Priest, while with his two Deacons, his disciples, Syagrius and Berillus by name, resting and assisting, Angels appeared through a vision, ascending and descending through the same path of the glittering ray; and addressing him, who running thither, going and returning, sweetly frequented songs of heavenly sweetness: detained by the delight of which spiritual assemblies, he could not rise for his fellow citizens, before with lights kindled the whole company of Priests entered his chamber, by crying out with most sweet voices might wake him, saying: "Rise now, Maternianus, illustrious e for great merits, possess the citadel of great dignity for much time." At hearing this the man of God, placed between both psalming groups, what was about him to be done divinely, he yet was utterly ignorant. That starry radiance, receding, had so irradiated his face, that as if a sparkling countenance and more splendid than ever before, and more terrible to the sight of all, appeared. And when he opened the door, proceeding humbly to the Brothers invoking him, they seize him to the church and place him in the Cathedral chair: received at once with joy, in the middle of the night's journey almost passed, and with crowds pressing on all sides and rejoicing, as if forced by violence to the sublimity of so great a dignity he advanced: but venerably elected by all, for performing the nocturnal office of divine worship, with the Elders compelling him with prayers, yielding, in the Pontifical place, when he had stood; it happened that through him was fulfilled what the holy ecclesiastical Prayer frequently utters, f expressing wholesomely, "That with the darkness of sins driven out of our hearts, you make us to arrive at the true light, which is Christ."
[7] who, having slipped away secretly, Meanwhile while these things were being done, and with the multitude of the people assisting the divine office of the Lord's night was being celebrated; mindful of human frailty, he feared that he could not bear so great a weight and the care of an immense flock; and thought himself more snatched by the tumult of the people than elected by the assembly of the wise: and imputing it to his sins alone, he was terrified with fear. And soon, anxious, how he might rescue himself from such a weight or danger, he subtly tried in his heart, keeping silent: and having taken a plan of withdrawing, going to the secret chambers of the sanctuary, as if about to lay something down, he feignedly arranged it: and thence with his two aforesaid disciples, he secretly went out, more desiring to wander in other regions than to be preferred there. Wherefore hastily mounting their horses, they began to go away together. And when they had come to the bolts of that gate, he is divinely compelled to return from flight, a fiery globe, not gentle as usual, but fervent, turning about them, seized them: which so terrified them, that to what side they should turn they knew not at all: for their horses, with manes and tails burnt, threw off their riders: who when they scarcely escaped alive, again divinely compelled, at once brought back to the former prayer of the people, they completed the sacred office together solemnly with the most devout people as before: for the Lord showed this, that no one should resist but should acquiesce to His will. And when now the dawn was shining, and he is consecrated Bishop. with the ecclesiastical multitude compelling and the full assembly of provincial Bishops assisting, at the very rising of the sun he received the consecration of the holy Pontificate. Who celebrating the solemnities of the holy Masses, and inflaming the immense people of God with a most clear sermon to the love of the heavenly homeland, not as a young man or a novice, but rather as a long-standing preacher and prudent dispenser, most prudently ministered the measure of wheat to the servants of God according to the capacity of each.
NOTES.
CHAPTER II.
Miracles of Saint Maternianus the Bishop.
[8] His beginnings therefore, briefly touched here, his following spans of time so blessed show, He is illustrated by various miracles, that it can hardly be enclosed in papers, with what great miracles he shone in the world. For whoever sick was visited by him, was made sound; whoever came sad, consoled by him in mind and body, departed joyful: he never harmed anyone, but strove to have profited all in Christ. Nonetheless, for the testimony of truth, some of his miracles are here inserted, so that, more forwardly spread abroad through the eternal ages, they may become certain examples of felicity and salvation for the faithful of Christ or for ministers.
[9] First of all, therefore, after the perfection of his sanctification, he shone by this sign among the people. While on the holy Easter Saturday he was going forth to consecrate the sacred fonts, in the consecration of the font keeping the taper unextinguished, and with the order of the blessing having been completed, the lighted tapers duly immersed in the waters were being held; slipping from the hand of the one
holding them, one of the tapers sought the depths of the sacred font: which, however, the power of the sanctified water by no means extinguished, but upright and flame-vomiting made it reach the upper part of the salutary waves, and more splendid than the other lights. For that visible fiery matter, not extinguished, showed that the fullness of heavenly glory, through the sanctification of His servant Bishop Maternianus, by the power of the Holy Spirit was infusing mystical powers in the waters of the sacred font: namely that there, with vices extinguished, true works of the true light henceforth might visibly shine in the sons of adoption. Therefore with all the heavenly sacraments completed in order, turning to the other offices of the sacred night, his people, rejoicing in all divine gifts, with the evening vigils performed, he allowed them to go to their own habitations of rest.
[10] Hence also when through opportune intervals of time, persistent, he bore the care of his flock, and for the cultivation of the Lord's field he provided the abundance of the free seed of the word of God; by the sacred Chrism cleansing a leper, it happened that after preaching, by the laying on of hands, the confirmation of the Holy Spirit was to be administered: and behold in the order of those to be confirmed, a certain leper was awaiting the grace of the same Holy Spirit. Blessed Maternianus, when by order he had come to that very horrible leper, the ministers and others standing by were striving to move him from his place, because of the contempt of the very strong leprosy: whom the Saint recalled with a great voice, crying out and saying, "Confessing your sins now about to be freed, in the power of the holy Trinity, approach here sick, and thankfully receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." And so with the sign of the Cross impressed on his forehead with the sacred oil of Chrism, soon the leprosy fell from him like a scale, and from that hour made sound, together with the multitude of those assisting, rendered thanks with immense praises to the divine majesty, for the merits of the same His Saint. Adorned by this sign of virtue the man of God showed that he could impart bodily and spiritual grace of purification to all, and by his merits could cleanse them from deadly stains: who namely, as one sick man there from the filth of the body, so no less also from morbid morals, by the power of his sanctity, invisibly purged the minds of all the faithful.
[11] and the unjust oppressor of a poor widow, With the times of his happiness also succeeding, one day when he was going out from the city to visit the outer churches; a certain widow woman met him with great groans, crying out that a certain powerful man, her neighbor, Ursus by name, had plundered all she had, and had shut up her two sons in heavy custody, because they dared to defend the crops of her poverty from the servants or animals of that powerful man. To whom, hearing these things, he sent two Deacons of his disciples, beseeching him to restore to the poor little widow all her stolen estates, also to allow her imprisoned sons to go and procure the necessities of their mother from the word of God: all of which commands, if he should despise them, and would not obey the words of God, the proud man also would be excommunicated, until he devoutly assented to the Priestly commands. after the contempt of excommunication, They having received this Pontifical sentence, with the same widow following, coming together to the house of the robber as quickly as possible, they found him drunk and sodden with excessive voracity: whom warning with Priestly words, they most constantly persisted in beseeching for the widow herself. But that proud one, soon turned into fury, began to detest and despise the holy Bishop or his disciples: but now the disciples, moved by the same detestation, according to the word of the man of God, cast the sentence of excommunication upon him. Which sentence of excommunication, as soon as its hearing touched him, falling forward, with almost all his bowels evacuated, poured out there in the sight of all whatever he had devoured that day. divinely punished, he restores him to hearing and speech. Hence also with his throat constricted, he could not only not take any food, but not even utter a word from his mouth; until, hastening, he ran to the feet of Saint Maternianus, and, deaf and mute, asked pardon with a tearful entreaty. Whom while the man of God Blessed Maternianus mercifully beheld, taking him and holding his hand, he led him from the crowd apart, and in the manner of catechizing touched his ears and throat with spittle, and thus in the name of the holy and undivided Trinity restored to him speech and hearing; and lest he should further provoke God to anger by such wickedness, nor despise ecclesiastical admonitions any more, he mercifully instructed him, and so manfully repressed his proud mind from further iniquitous presumption.
[12] Against him Irenaeus the magus from Africa, And when the venerable Confessor of Christ was always the persecutor of all evildoers, and many heretics and many false priests were repressed by the vigor of his sanctity and doctrine; in the latest times, from the far borders of Africa, a most famous magus, Irenaeus by name, having heard of his prodigies and virtues, hastened to the city of Reims; wishing to overcome by perverse will or diabolical instigation his saving grace of virtues, spread among the peoples, and by vituperating to reduce the power of his sanctity to nothing. And as Simon Magus among the Apostles thought he could by magic wickedness extinguish the saving triumph of Christ's miracles, so also this perverse, already-named Irenaeus was thinking he could, with his most shameful monstrosities, destroy the name of this man of God for sanctity. Therefore the time of the contest was made known throughout the whole region, when the proud magic art desired to dispute with the ecclesiastical humility. Now the same lost magus had most powerful instigators, princes of the world, brought by the impious, enemies of God, who, stirring up enmities against the divine power or the ecclesiastical rights or studies of the Saints, did not cease to machinate malice with iniquitous intent against this holy man; against whom the holy Church always complains, crying, "Why do you glory in malice, you who are powerful and in iniquity?" Ps. 51:3 and the other things which follow there: who also, not willing to understand what has been confirmed about their prince the devil, with the Lord saying, "Because the prince of this world has already been judged," damnably brought themselves into the vanities of the world, whence also they were made enemies of God, because as is read in the holy Scriptures, "Whoever shall wish to be a friend of this world, is constituted an enemy of God." John 16:11, James 4:4
[13] provokes him to public combat, And behold, now on the appointed day of the contest, to the venerable city all the fellow citizens of that region come together; and with the whole assembly of the faithful called together, the most holy Priest said: "In the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to strengthen your faith, I shall engage against this profane magus; with this condition, namely, that if he shall be made reprobate by divine power, let him not pollute the conscience of any of ours with his cunning any longer, nor avail by diabolical treacheries to deceive anyone within our borders: but rather, if he shall be converted from his deadly errors and be compunct, let him obtain pardon; otherwise, confounded in his iniquities, let him perish condemned by divine authority." And the whole people shouted with a great voice, "Let it be, let it be!"
[14] and ferocious bulls being asked for, The seducer therefore being summoned, and led by his patrons; said he did not wish to meet under cover or in narrow places, but rather in the most spacious open fields, where he would not be oppressed by any ambushes. Hearing which, the holy Bishop with the whole multitude went out to the eastern side of the city, to the most ample places, and there the magus stood with his patrons. Who when he had seen the holy man coming from afar with the people, said to his leaders or companions: "Our horses fail, weary from the long journey, we also, fatigued, cannot enter the combat without mounts; ask therefore the holy bounty of the Bishop, that he may show us this first humanity of his kindness, that he cause the fiercest bulls of his herds to be brought here, and let it be a sign before the people, if we can fit these untamed ones to our services; afterwards indeed we shall hasten to the other studies of our contest." Therefore hearing these things the holy Bishop sent to the nearest herds of the city, where five great and most fierce bulls were found, who were led as quickly as possible to the public assembly. Meanwhile however the holy Priest of God disputing about various physical matters with the deceitful man, found him most skilled in wicked doctrine, and instructed in the most subtle inquiries, moreover submerged with excessive depth in magic disputations.
[15] he shows them tame, When therefore the said five bulls were brought, with a very ample space given by the multitude standing around, the wicked one ran to them, going out from the midst of the people: in whose sight the bulls were made so meek, that he led them to whatever side he wished: and with all seeing this, he showed that he could do many other disgraceful signs. For one, the largest of those bulls, having been taken, holding its tongue, he led it to the holy Bishop, whom he made stand motionless before him. And when all wondered at this, the holy Pontiff said: "O men of God and faithful to all His precepts, why do you marvel? Cannot your merits dissipate this forced pretense of diabolical fraud, and turn this bull back to its former state of ferocity?" When he had said these things, that perverse magus continuously running, with the staff he held, pressed upon the ground a very great circle around the bull. and one circumscribed by a circle he prevents from going out: The holy Bishop also commanded that bull, that turned he should return to his natural state. Who at once recognizing his nature, and wishing with greatest impetus to return to the other bulls, when he had come to the impressed circle, as if repulsed by a wall or great rock, at once fell supine to the earth: thence rising again, round and round through that circle, as if turned in an orbit, foaming and bellowing and desiring to go out, but unable, ran as if enclosed.
[16] but the Saint dissolving his magic with the sign of the cross, But when the holy Bishop saw this power of the devil, lest he should weary the hearts of the simple by longer deceiving with such ambushes, gave the little cloth which he held in his hand to his Deacon, whom he ordered to strike the circle on the eastern part, three times in the name of the holy Trinity with the same little cloth. Meanwhile restraining the people from tumult, he commanded those who were in those eastern parts, that they should give the same bull a way to return. But the aforesaid Deacon, when he struck the circle, as the man of God had commanded him; soon the most fierce bull, enclosed within, when he had felt the way to go out from that circle to be opened to him, going out with a strong impetus, struck the greatest terror into the people standing by with his most ferocious roarings. These things when the detestable magus had seen, and grieving he saw himself as if conquered, together with the bull restored to its ferocity, turned into fury, ran after the bull: which quickly mounting and turning himself toward the Bishop, with savage and headlong course he strove to trample him. Wherefore, with all fleeing hither and thither, alone with a few, most confident in the power of God, the holy Bishop persevered undaunted: who, the rushing most fierce beast together with its diabolical rider, the sign of the holy Cross having been impressed,
hurled to the ground: and the bull, with bones broken, the divine power extinguished; and the magus terrified, and deprived of all memory of his arts, he brought even to the loss of his mind: whom leaving lifeless beside the dead bull, turning to the comfort of the people, instructing all about the magnificent wonders of God, he wondrously instructed the holy Church of God, and wisely taught how all should avoid the devil's emanations; he is dashed to the ground and, healed, comes to his senses. and the same magus himself, through the merits of the holy people standing by, he foretold could still recover; and if he truly wished to be converted to the true grace of religion, he did not deny that he could obtain pardon. Whom after these things before the people he ordered his ministers to lift from the ground, and to mercifully bear care of him, and thus strove to stir him to the right faith of saving grace. Whence also after a little, the wretched man, confused and compunct, asked for the sacraments of baptism, and afterwards by his works showed himself to be a cultivator of the right faith, the divine sentence being fulfilled upon him, where it is written, "Fill their faces with ignominy, and they shall seek your name, O Lord." Ps. 82:17
CHAPTER III.
Visit to Saint Hilary. Pious death.
[17] Maternianus near the end of his life Magnified with these and many other virtues, Blessed Maternianus, a man most dear to God, foreknew his death long before: also foretelling the end of many of his fellow citizens, provoking and confirming all to better joys of heavenly life, he untiringly set them on fire. As his term's day was approaching, which as we have said he knew long before, in the sixtieth year of his age, the twenty-third a of his Bishopric, foreknowing also the passing of blessed Hilary, he hastened to his See, the city of Poitiers, led by angelic company, always visiting the places of the Saints b along the same route. And when he drew near to the region of the aforesaid kindly Bishop, Blessed Hilary also, taught by a heavenly messenger of his coming, sent most holy Brothers to meet him, he goes to Poitiers to Saint Hilary, through whom he wondrously intimated both that the whole cause of devotion had been divinely revealed to him, and that his awaited coming was now most known to him. Blessed Maternianus also being received with great joy by the same, delightfully came to the city of Poitiers: whom the holy Bishop of that city, as by name Hilary, so gladly received, devoted with his whole mind. For those great Bishops led out all those days of visitation with great exultation: from whose meeting the whole city is made joyful, whose temporal and spiritual happiness was shown augmented by the merits of such men.
[18] where, strengthened by an Angel for final perseverance, While therefore the most holy Bishops were sitting, and disputing at length about hidden and heavenly mysteries; the Angel of the Lord appeared to them, comforting and admonishing them about the arena of combat and the contest of virtue, that they who in youth had been the strongest warriors of Christ against the ancient enemy, with the Lord's favor, should by no means fail in the last moment of their old age, but rather should, for the glory of eternal remuneration, profit more strongly by fighting for the faith of Christ, as the Most Blessed Hilary the Bishop himself (as is written in the book of his Life), having suffered excessive persecutions of heretics and condemned to exile, was long detained in Africa [*], where also writing a wondrous book on Virginity, c he directed it to his daughter, whom he had begotten in lawful marriage in his youth: another also on the Holy Trinity, d another on the exposition of the Psalms there he composed with a most copious speech: for he was a most eloquent man and fluent with wondrous fertility of speech, in whose conversations Saint Maternianus greatly delighted. Vanquishing heretics, magi, soothsayers, sorcerers, diviners, and augurs, they overcame them; others also, condemned under the bond of anathema, they manfully expelled from their regions; being decorated with more wondrous grace of virtues and triumph in these pestilent deceits, than for all kinds of healings, which they performed in the sick and the blind and the lame, in their whole life, by divine instinct.
[19] after 12 days spent there, From such long contests, therefore, persecutions, and labors, mutually comforted in turn; providing the final end of their days, and as they had been divinely instructed happily procuring, they stayed there together twelve days with gladness. Blessed Maternianus, moreover, with all humility and most generous ministration applied, Saint Hilary led on the journey of three days as far as the boundary of his region e: whom, released with joy and a pleasant flood of tears, he bids farewell and returns to Reims, for arranging his own See and the place of his sanctification, with a heavenly blessing he directed. And thus each, walled with divine protection, went away to enter combat against the ambushes of the serpent with most robust intention: and lest the cunning assailant should crush their heel, each commended himself confidently to the prayers of the other: who by worthy merits equally deserved the sublime dignity and glory of the heavenly homeland.
[20] He went therefore to his own region the excellent and most holy man Maternianus; and he dies among his own, who with most faithful fellowship in his days being joined to the aforesaid man of God, passing through many and various regions round about or cities of his holy Bishopric, armed with divine admonitions and heavenly power, not long after, on the day of his most holy deposition foretold to him, happily migrated to the Lord. Whence his sad and sorrowful disciples had great mourning with lamentation; he himself appeared to them in the third watch of the same night, whom he magnanimously comforted with the Lord's sentence, saying, to whom on the night of his deposition he also appears glorious, "Let your love be without feigning: and, do not be sad, because, as the Lord says, your sadness shall be turned into joy, if you shall diligently follow the imitable example of our Lord Christ and mine: John 16:20 in whom also he followed, whose footsteps he always imitated, Blessed Paul, who said: 'Be imitators of me, as I am also of Christ.' 1 Cor. 1:11" With these things said, Blessed Maternianus gave himself back to the fellowship of the Angels: but all those assisting brought worthy services to the funeral of his body; whence also, returning with the joy of so great consolation, they magnified God with great praise of exultation, who leads His Saints, faithfully obeying Him, to heavenly dignity by glorifying them, who in unity and trinity reigning, lives now and always, God the Lord, forever and ever.