Sulpitius Pius

ON ST. SULPITIUS PIUS, BISHOP OF BOURGES IN GAUL.

Around the Year 647.

Sulpitius Pius, Bishop of Bourges in Gaul (Saint)

From various sources.

Section I. The first and second Sulpitii distinguished.

[1] Two Bishops named Sulpitius governed the Church of Bourges: the first, surnamed Severus, under King Guntram; the other, Pius, under Clothar II and Dagobert. Both are ranked among the Saints, this one on the 17th and the other on the 29th of January. Whether a third, much more ancient, a disciple of St. Martin named Sulpitius, is rightly counted among them by some, we shall discuss elsewhere. The feast of St. Sulpitius Pius. Concerning Pius, Usuard writes on this day: In the city of Bourges, the deposition of St. Sulpitius the Bishop, whose life and precious death are commended by glorious miracles. The Roman Martyrology has the same (except that it adds "surnamed Pius"), as do Bellinus, Maurolycus, Menard, and many manuscripts. Rabanus, Ado, Felicius, Canisius, the manuscript Florarium, Ghinius, Dorganius, Saussaye, and others to be cited later also mention him.

[2] Many, because they believed the Sulpitius venerated on the 29th of January to be the disciple of St. Martin, shamefully confused the other two. Molanus certainly in his earlier edition added these words to Usuard: Erroneously written about him, by Molanus, the deposition of St. Sulpitius Pius, for whom Gregory of Tours wrote the History of the Seven Sleepers in the Greater Monastery. Guibert of Gembloux in his Apology for Severus. In his later edition he noted: This is not Severus, but Pius, to whom St. Gregory of Tours dedicated the history of the Seven Sleepers in the Greater Monastery. Galesinius: At Bourges, St. Sulpitius Pius, Bishop. by Galesinius, He, educated from boyhood in sacred letters and exercised in the principles of discipline, excelled in every virtue even when he was still a layman: then, having become a monk and afterward an Abbot, and finally created Bishop, illustrious for the holiness of his life and sanctity, and for miracles, he rested in the Lord. In his Notes he comments thus: St. Sulpitius Pius, that is, the first, who was present at the second Council of Macon. For there was a Sulpitius Severus, Archbishop of Bourges, whose life was elegantly composed by Giselinus at the beginning of his works. The life of the former, however, is in Surius, volume 1. So he. Concerning the Council of Macon, we shall speak later. Sulpitius, whose life Giselinus wrote, is Severus, the disciple of St. Martin, who lived a whole century before that council, so that if he had truly been a Bishop, and this Pius of ours had subscribed to that council, the latter could not be called "the First."

[3] by Baronius: Baronius in his Notes on the Martyrology for this day: This Sulpitius was called Pius in distinction from the other Sulpitius, Bishop of the same city, surnamed Severus. Concerning Sulpitius Pius, Gregory of Tours writes in the prologue to the History of the Dormients, and Guibert in his Apology for Severus. He succeeded Bishop Remigius in the times of King Guntram of the Franks, in the year of the Lord five hundred and eighty-seven, as the same Gregory attests in his History of the Franks, book 6, chapter 39; although in the life of him described by Surius, volume 1, it is stated that he succeeded Austregisilum in the times of King Clothar. But in these matters we give more weight to Gregory of Tours, whose opinion is made most certain by the Acts of the Second Council of Macon, which was celebrated in the twenty-fourth year of the same King Guntram; at which synod Sulpitius was present and subscribed. For in the times of King Clothar, not Sulpitius or Austregisilum, but Probatianus, Felix, Honoratus, and Arcadius presided over the Church of Bourges, as the Councils celebrated in his times indicate. By the same criticism, the tables of the Bishops of Bourges of Demochares must be corrected, in which there appears the still graver error that Sulpitius Severus is thought to be the one who was present at the second Council of Macon under King Guntram; whereas it is certain and clear that Severus lived in the times of Theodosius the Elder and his son Honorius, Emperors. According to the Acts of St. Austregisilum, which Surius relates in volume 3, one must say that yet a third Bishop of the same name presided over that Church. But enough of these matters. Sulpitius Pius, of whom we treat (as Aimoinus writes, book 4, chapter 16, and others), departed this life in the year of the Lord five hundred and ninety-four; this is the sixteenth year of King Childebert, in which Gregory of Tours, History of the Franks, book 10, chapter 26, is the authority for his death. He had as his successor Eustasius.

[4] So says Baronius, who, although in volume 5 of the Annals, year 431, number 190, he admits that Severus, the disciple of St. Martin, does not seem to have been a Bishop, nevertheless thinks that an error crept into the tables of the Church of Bourges when Sulpitius Severus was the name given to that contemporary of Gregory of Tours, whom he believes to be Pius, the subject of our discussion here. Then in volume 8, year 595, number 90, from the same Gregory of Tours he reports the death of Bishop St. Sulpitius, and says that his feast is on the 16th day before the Kalends of February, as, he says, all the Latin Martyrologies indicate. Severus died in that year, of whom we treat on the 29th, not Pius. But individual points must be briefly recalled for examination. Concerning the History of the Dormients dedicated to Sulpitius, we shall treat on the 4th of November, and concerning the Apology of Guibert of Gembloux on the 29th of January.

[5] refuted. St. Sulpitius Severus succeeded Remigius, or Remedius; and Eustachius, or Eustasius, succeeded him. But Pius succeeded St. Austregisilum, of whom we shall treat on the 20th of May; and Wulfeodus, or Wulfolentus, succeeded him. Thus Gregory of Tours and Surius do not conflict. At the Second Council of Macon in the year of Christ 585, the 24th year of King Guntram, the 2nd of Clothar II, Severus subscribed: Pius at the Council of Rheims under Archbishop Sonnatius in the year 630. Those other Bishops of Bourges whom Baronius lists, though in the wrong order, were present at councils during the reign of Clothar I: Honoratus at the Second Council of Orleans in the year of Christ 533 and the First Council of Clermont in 535; Arcadius at the Third Council of Orleans in 538; (Baronius omitted Desideratus, who subscribed to the Third Council of Orleans in 549 and the Second Council of Clermont); Probianus, or Probatianus, at the Second Council of Paris in 555 and the Third Council of Paris in 557. Felix at the Fourth Council of Paris in 573, the twelfth year after the death of Clothar, eleven years before the birth of Clothar the Younger. Baronius unjustly accuses the tables of Demochares, since in them it is not the Severus who died at the beginning of the fifth century, but one much later, who is said to have held the see under Guntram. Nor will it be necessary to recognize three Sulpitii of Bourges if we remove the disciple of St. Martin; but only two, whom that Church has venerated from all time. Aimoinus in book 4, chapter 16, treats not of the elder Sulpitius but of Pius; nor does he commemorate his death, but the health restored to Clothar through his prayers.

[6] After such great heroes, it is less surprising that Wion errs when he posits three Sulpitii: the first, the disciple of St. Martin, venerated on the 29th of January; Wion variously corrected. the second, Pius, the successor of Remigius, celebrated on this day; the third, another Pius, substituted for St. Austregisilum, on the 16th of January. But we have read no one before Wion who records a Sulpitius on the 16th of January. He cites Ado, in whom we do not find his name on the 16th of January, but on the 15th, on which his translation is observed, as we shall say below. He criticizes Surius and Peter de Natali for calling the one venerated on this day Sulpitius Pius and the successor of St. Austregisilum: and they were right; Wion is wrong. He says the one who flourished in the time of Guntram was first a monk and Abbot of St. Nicetius at Lyon, whereas St. Gregory of Tours, book 6, chapter 39, says he was one of the first senators of the Gauls: and Menard admits he was never a monk. But more on him on the 29th of January. Dorganius and Ferrarius, rashly following Wion, also placed the later Sulpitius on the 16th of January. On the 26th of January in certain manuscripts of Ado, in Bede's published text, in Notker, and others, St. Sulpitius of Bourges is recorded; whether this one or Severus, is unclear. Nor should this be omitted: that the surname Severus is by no means given by the ancients to the earlier Sulpitius. It may have grown from the belief of some that he was that Sulpitius Severus who was a friend of St. Paulinus.

Section II. Life of St. Sulpitius Pius, or the second.

[7] We give a double Life of St. Sulpitius Pius, both written by his contemporaries. The former had been published by Surius with altered style. We have restored the original diction from the manuscripts of Sainte-Marie de Ripatorio, Rougevallee, The Life of St. Sulpitius Pius, by a contemporary author, and Corsendonk. The author indicates his own time in chapter 1, number 4: Certainly, as far as we have learned from the account of those who were his companions or servants from boyhood up to our own times. And in chapter 2, number 12: And since the things we learned from our elders who were contemporaries of the blessed man, we have set down in writing in the order of his deeds, with the same fidelity with which they came to us, let us now take our beginning from our own time, partly from what we have seen, partly from what has been handed down to us by our fellow disciples, and let us leave it for the memory of posterity. Chapter 3, number 15, speaking of the Jews converted by him: Some of them, he says, live today under the religion of our faith. Chapter 4, number 17, concerning the one who obtained the faculty of speech through his merits: And he speaks wonderfully with various responses of speech to this day. And number 18, concerning the boy restored to life: He is believed to survive today, safe from the danger of famine: for he afterward remained with us for a long time. Lastly, chapter 8, number 34, concerning Ansulphus, badly abused by a demon and cured by the Saint's prayers: This indeed we have learned confirmed by him who suffered it and by the testimony of the faithful.

[8] It may perhaps be permitted to suspect that this author was Domio the Abbot, a monk of St. Sulpitius. of whom in the second Life, chapter 2, number 10, or some one of his monks. Both certain of the passages just cited seem to suggest this, and the fact that what the author of the second Life writes about the basilica amplified by him, the first author so relates as to seem deliberately to conceal, out of humility, by whom it was done. The monastery, moreover, over which Domio presided, which was afterward called St. Sulpitius's, was, as John Chenu relates in his Chronology of the Archbishops of Bourges, founded by Clothar II outside the walls of the city, in a place where there was a chapel called Blessed Mary of Navis. He records more about the same monastery there. Saussaye writes that St. Sulpitius himself built two monasteries, one of virgins in the city itself, and the other of men outside the walls. In the Life of St. Leopardinus, the latter is called the Navis monastery.

[9] A shorter Life by another contemporary author. The other shorter Life, Rosweyde had formerly transcribed from the most ancient codex of Canon Preudhomme of Cambrai: we have collated it with the manuscripts of Corsendonk and St. Maximin. The author lived at the same time. This is clear from the prologue: The few things that I myself saw, or learned from the account of those who served him from adolescence to decrepit old age; or what has been made known by the very many faithful who saw them, I have taken care to briefly cover. Chapter 1, number 4, concerning the mute person healed: And he still survives today and speaks clearly. Number 5, concerning the converted Jews: and to this day they appear to live under Christian discipline. Chapter 2, number 8, shows that he wrote under Wulfolendus, his successor: Who, having received the episcopate of this city, to this day governs the Church in the name of God. That this Life was written in the manner of an epistle is evident from number 12: Nor does the compass of this letter permit it. There are not a few errors, even against syntax, whether from the ignorance of the author or the carelessness of copyists; we have changed nothing.

[10] Things written about him by others. The deeds of St. Sulpitius are also commemorated by others: Vincent of Beauvais, book 23, chapters 27 and the two following, in almost the very words of the first Life, but more concisely; and from him St. Antoninus, part 2, title 13, chapter 6, section 3. Peter de Natali, book 2, chapter 94. Francis Haraeus, who thinks he can resolve the question discussed in the preceding section about the two Sulpitii by positing that there was only one, who lived first at the court of Prince Theodoric, namely the brother of Clothar I, and then under Clothar himself; and afterward succeeded St. Austregisilum (who was called Remigius Austregisilum) and finally died around the year of the Lord 594. But, besides the fact that Austregisilum was clearly a different person from Remigius, he lived not under Theodoric I or Clothar I, sons of Clovis, but under Theodoric son of Childebert and Clothar II son of Chilperic, grandson of Clothar I, and under Dagobert. James Doubletius, Zacharias Lippelous (who also confuses him with the other Sulpitius), and Trithemius on Illustrious Men of the Benedictine Order, book 3, chapter 81, and book 4, chapter 55, also treat of him. Anthony Yepes in the Benedictine Chronicle, century 2, year 588, where he too wishes this one to be the successor of Remigius; and yet narrates of him whatever Surius narrates of the other, and says he lived now under Clothar, now under Guntram. Domenecco also conflates the deeds of both into the eulogy of one, whom he says lived under Guntram.

[11] Saints familiar to Sulpitius. Baudemundus mentions St. Sulpitius in the Life of St. Amandus on the 6th of February: After these things, he says, having received a blessing from the Abbot of that place and from the brothers, he sought the city of Bourges and the holy Austregisilum, who at that time was held to be magnificent and distinguished in the things of God. And when he had been most kindly received by him and by his Archdeacon, namely the most holy Sulpitius, who afterward became an illustrious Bishop, every kindness was shown to him, etc. Notger says much the same in the Life of St. Landoald on the 19th of March, and Hariger the Abbot in chapter 41; but in chapter 48, speaking of St. Remaclus: there are two metropolitans: one of Bordeaux, always distinguished by the titles of great men; the other of Bourges, having at that time as Archbishop St. Austregisilum, and as Archdeacon Blessed Sulpitius, shortly afterward bestowed with the honor of the Pontificate. Notger, moreover, in the Life of the same St. Remaclus on the 3rd of September: The boy Remaclus of good character was educated under Blessed Sulpitius, in whose honor many churches in our diocese (of Liege) are known to have been afterward dedicated by the same holy man. In the Life of St. Dulcardus on the 25th of October: From which time he so deeply settled into the affections of Lord Sulpitius, Bishop of Bourges, that the Bishop, great as he was, deigned to come to him very frequently, intending to hold conversations with him about heavenly glory.

Section III. The age of St. Sulpitius.

[12] What has been related about his age by others: The opinion of those who hold that St. Sulpitius Pius died under Guntram, before St. Gregory of Tours, has already been refuted. Constantinus Ghinius records that he died around the year 600, erroneously: the Florarium in the year 629. Trithemius says he flourished in the year 640: John Chenu says he held the see from the year 628 to 640: Aimoinus says he was present at the Council of Clichy in the year 659, which will be refuted later.

[13] From the Life it is established that under King Theodoric he received the obligation of the clergy and obtained the Levitical lot: in the camp of Clothar he obtained the office of Abbot; from the author of the Life. and at his command he earned the See of episcopal dignity: he obtained from Dagobert the abrogation of an unjust tribute, and the King himself died after a short space. Theodoric died in the year 613. Clothar, having obtained the monarchy of the kingdom of the Franks in the year 614, died in the year 628. Dagobert in 644. Flodoard in book 2, chapter 5 of his History of Rheims, writes that Sonnatius, Archbishop of Rheims, held a synod in the time of King Dagobert, with forty or more other Bishops of the Gauls, among whom he numbers Sulpitius of Bourges. Our Sirmond shows that this synod was held around the year of Christ 630.

[14] But in what year he received the episcopate is not clear. It is established that his predecessor, St. Austregisilum, held the see for 12 years. John Chenu writes that he was created in the year 615: from which it would follow that he died in 627 or 628, and that Sulpitius was created Bishop in the very last times of Clothar. was he created Bishop in the last year of Clothar: But from the Life of Sulpitius it is clear that Austregisilum held the see under Theodoric. However, Chenu arranges the chronology of the Kings differently, as does Sigebert, who at the year 627 writes thus: Austregisilum of Bourges flourished in the Gauls, and under him Sulpitius.

[15] Others hold that Sulpitius himself held the see under Theodoric. We shall give on the 7th of October a double Life of St. Leopardinus, Abbot and Martyr; in one of which we find: For hearing by the daily certainty of truthful report, was it under Theodoric. that in the time of King Theodoric the blessed and great Sulpitius Pius, the glory of all religion, presides at Bourges on the Archiepiscopal See, a name of praise, he took up the way of going to him. He then adds more about their mutual encounter and subsequent deeds. In the Life of St. Austregisilum it is also said that while Blessed Austregisilum was still alive ... Guarnerius, a most cruel man, came from the palace of King Theodoric, with the King's permission, to the city of Bourges ... to exact from that city a payment of money in the King's name, which it had not been accustomed to pay, but was prevented even from entering the city by St. Austregisilum. Then, greatly angered that he could not carry out the King's and his own will against the Bishop's resistance, he went furiously to the King; he reported to him that, with Bishop Austregisilum resisting, he had been unable to do what the King had commanded. Meanwhile, however, Blessed Austregisilum rested in peace by a blessed death, and his Deacon Sulpitius succeeded him. Afterward Guarnerius returned to carry out under Sulpitius what he had been unable to do under Austregisilum. But Sulpitius, in his anxiety, took refuge with the Lord, seeking from Him counsel for managing the affair well: for he was a mild and gentle man, and did not see how he could resist the man's violence. The injury done to him and the people is divinely avenged. Then he goes to Guarnerius: he begs that those who under his predecessor had been immune from such a burden might also in his times be allowed to enjoy the accustomed freedom. But Guarnerius, a savage man, scorned the prayers of the man of God. Then Sulpitius said to him: If indeed you obtain your will contrary to right and justice, you will not, however, long bear it with impunity. The author then continues in Surius with the vengeance that God shortly thereafter took upon the blasphemous and cruel man.

[16] Someone will object that these things were added to the Life of St. Austregisilum by a later writer, who also appends deeds of the time of Pepin; and that therefore the lapse of one hundred and fifty years is perhaps more tolerable. But certainly the earlier parts, which are established to have been committed to writing by a contemporary, conflict with the Life of St. Sulpitius: When he was made Deacon. for the latter relates that under Bishop Austregisilum he received the obligation of the clergy, having had his hair cut; the former that he was already a Deacon when Austregisilum assumed the episcopate: For when he had first entered the borders of the city of Bourges, that night he stayed in the villa called Germiniacum: and at dawn he summoned to himself Sulpitius the Deacon, who afterward succeeded him in the episcopate, and likewise Desiderius the Deacon, and said to them, etc. Perhaps for this reason Saussaye wrote in his Martyrology that Sulpitius was raised through the accustomed grades to the Levitical order by St. Apollinaris, Archbishop of Bourges. Nor is it surprising that someone errs in memory, even when narrating things he has seen: nevertheless, concerning his age, the one who deliberately pursues the deeds of Sulpitius himself seems more to be trusted. Concerning St. Apollinaris, predecessor of St. Austregisilum, we shall treat on the 5th of October.

[17] Now the time of Sulpitius's death must be investigated. Wion on the 16th of January relates that he died in the year 647; Chenu says 640; Claude Robert 640 or 641. In the shorter Life, chapter 1, number 7, it is said that after the violent tax upon the people had been abolished, which Lullus was preparing with the authority of King Dagobert: When he died. Nevertheless, it is believed that by divine vengeance both the King and his agent died after a short space. Since Sulpitius seems to have survived even after that transaction, it is not improbable that he reached the year 647, which Wion sets (though we do not know on what author's authority). At the Council of Chalon, held under Clovis around the year of Christ 650, as Sirmond reckons, Wulfoledus, Bishop of the Church of Bourges, subscribed; and to the Privilege of liberty granted to the monastery of St. Denis by Landericus, Bishop of Paris, in the 15th year of Clovis II, the year of Christ 658. From which it is manifest that Aimoinus errs in writing, book 4, chapter 41, that Blessed Sulpitius was present at the Council of Clichy, in which King Clovis ordered a decree of his authority to be drawn up concerning the same liberty of the monastery of St. Denis, in the year of Christ 659. Nor is Wulfolendus himself found subscribed there.

[18] There survives in volume 1 of the French writers of Andrew du Chesne a letter of St. Desiderius, Bishop of Cahors, of whom we shall treat on the 16th of November, His letter. inscribed to the holy Patriarch Sulpitius; and one of Sulpitius himself, Bishop of the city of Bourges, inscribed: To the Lord always his own and to be venerated by the Apostolic See, Desiderius, Pontiff of the city of Cahors; and another: To the Lord always to be regarded with reverence and to be honorably named, Lord Desiderius, Pope. Another of the same Sulpitius to Verus, Bishop of the city of Rodez.

Section IV. Relics. Their translation.

[19] Vincent Anthony Domenecco, in his book on the Saints of the Principality of Catalonia, A relic at Villefranche, writes that the head of St. Sulpitius, Archbishop of Bourges, was carried to Villefranche-de-Conflent, a town on the River Tet, in the territory of Conflent, and is preserved there in the parish church with great veneration. In a certain Martyrology of the Carthusian house of Brussels, the following has been added in the margin by a later hand concerning St. Sulpitius: and elsewhere. He now rests at Abresouse. What that place is, we do not know.

[20] Ado on the 15th of January has this: In the city of Bourges, the Translation of Sulpitius, Bishop and Confessor, who, educated from boyhood in sacred letters and conspicuous for the light of holy conduct, was also illustrious in virtues as a layman. Translation on the 15th of January. Afterward, having laid aside his hair, he became a Father of monks: and thence, raised to the episcopal chair, illustrious in life and glorious in miracles, he rested. Bede's published text has the same. Wion, Menard, Saussaye, the Florarium, and other manuscripts also mention this Translation. But in what time or to what place it was made, they do not say. John Chenu relates that his body formerly rested in the church of the monastery of St. Sulpitius, preserved with great diligence by the religious.

[21] On the 26th of January, as we noted before, the name of St. Sulpitius of Bourges is recorded in certain Martyrologies: whether this one or the first; whether his feast was customarily observed on that day anywhere; whether any translation of either was made on that day; whether instead of "of Bourges," "of Bayeux," who is venerated the following day, should be substituted, we do not know. and on the 17th of August. But again on the 27th of August, the Carthusians of Cologne in their supplement to Usuard, Bellinus of Padua in the Paris edition of 1521, and the German Martyrology have this: In the city of Bourges, the Translation of St. Sulpitius, Bishop and Confessor. Certain manuscripts and Saussaye also mention the same on that day.

LIFE

By a contemporary anonymous author, from three ancient manuscripts.

Sulpitius Pius, Bishop of Bourges in Gaul (Saint)

BHL Number: 7930

By a contemporary anonymous author, from manuscripts.

PROLOGUE.

[1] With the bright and radiant profusion by which, through the gift of the Eternal Emperor, on account of the merits of the nourishing Bishop, the hall of the Church is filled, the lamp of virtues shining forth -- even if we are unequal to speak worthily, still with however humble a discourse we attempt to bring it to the ears of the devout people: especially since it is the fruit of the hearers The fruit of the Lives of the Saints. to turn over with the pen the deeds of faithful men for the memory of the peoples. And although the just man needs nothing of mortal writing, whose name is already contained in the heavenly page; nevertheless, the increase of faith grows when the recent examples of the Saints are repeated, since both the pastor, enclosed in paradise, is represented to the flock of Christians by an earthly pen, and the flock, summoned by examples, directs its step toward heaven: so that, according to the oracle of Daniel, both the people instructed by the teaching of their patron may shine like the splendor of the firmament, and the teacher may gleam with the stellar light gathering upon him: especially since, for the declaration of his merit, in the vast world of Gaul, among the abundant material of virtues, A lamp at the tomb of Sulpitius overflowing with oil. by the distinguished gift of Christ, at his sacred body, a continual fountain of oil overflows with heavenly dew, and thus a perpetual fire takes its sustenance, so that by the infusion of the Holy Spirit the liquid takes on continual increase: for that prudent man, although nature extinguished his poor body by the death owed to all, shines nevertheless with the monument of living miracles. Daniel 12:3.

CHAPTER I.

The conduct of St. Sulpitius in secular life.

[2] At that time Blessed Sulpitius, born of distinguished parents, from nearly the foremost citizens, raised in the royal court, St. Sulpitius devoted to piety from boyhood: was the illustrious Pastor of the city of Bourges, and now, by his glorious departure, has become its Patron. Who, in the flower of his early youth, having broken the snares of the world, took up the service of Christ with a determination of perseverance: and the blessed man had so burned with the purpose of embracing the religious life while still a boy that (so to speak) if the time of persecution had not been lacking, he would have cast himself headlong into dangers of his own accord. He now began to devote himself to the reading of divine volumes, and to exercise himself not sluggishly in the teachings of the faith.

[3] he restrains his desires by prayer and abstinence: Moreover, for the repression of youthful passions and the acquisition of the fruits of wisdom, he constrained himself with the bridles of prayer and abstinence. And so from his very cradle the ecclesiastical rule was so honorable to him in its observance, that the crowds of many young and old men who flocked to him, inquiring about the religion of our faith, he not only converted to the faith but also formed with the teachings of a perfect life. Divine grace was manifestly with him, he instructs others: through which he drew innumerable persons to the imitation of himself in the faith of God. Above all, he considered the precepts of the Gospel and the voice of the Savior to be fulfilled with the greatest love and zeal. For although he might have seemed to be a young man and of somewhat imperfect understanding, yet maintaining the sign of the most perfect chastity, he placed, as it were, a first foundation of continence in his soul; a lover of chastity: and thus he went on to build the remaining virtues upon this; and according to the faith of the Gospels, in which the exhortation of the Savior's voice is expressed: Because there are eunuchs who have made themselves eunuchs for the kingdom of God, having spurned the bond of marriage, he maintained the purpose of chastity. Matthew 19:12.

[4] Certainly, as far as we have learned from the account of those who were his companions or servants from boyhood up to our own times, he adorns sacred places: he was seen, while still placed in the secular habit, to do nothing other than build monasteries, raise basilicas with new construction, restore ruined churches, bring aid to the wretched, he assists the needy: provide necessities to the poor and the needy from his own resources, and free many from the penalties and squalor of chains, not only by the word and exhortation of perfect and spiritual doctrine, but also by his own services and ministrations.

[5] There was a certain church situated not far from his parents' house, all but destroyed by enemies, where there was no congregation of clergy or people. There, since the blessed man's prayers were frequently yielding fruit, he indeed, avoiding the kindling of vainglory, when the deep silence of night fell, secretly clad in the garments customarily worn by penitents, proceeded to spend the night unarmed in sacred prayers; and having spurned the slothful indulgences of sleep with holy labor, He frequents a church by night in the garb of penitents: after passing the night in sweet meditation, when the splendor of the rosy dawn illuminated the world, he was again dressed in secular coverings, and thus he labored to conceal his holy purpose.

[6] These were the first exercises of his boyhood: this was the game of his infancy: such was the affection that burned in him toward God. One night in the church of which we have spoken, [he puts demons, troublesome to his companions, to flight by the sign of the Cross:] while he was keeping vigil with two small boys and leaning more deeply into prayer, with the whole delight of his mind suspended in the depths, two most foul and monstrous spirits, similar in appearance to Ethiopians, each seizing a boy, were striving to drag them violently from the church. At last the man of God found his boys behind him, wailing with great cries; he beheld the foul beings, raised his hand against the adversaries, and when the boys were already being dragged away and the spirits were seizing the exit, the sacred banner of the Cross of God he thrust forth. Instantly the foul and bloody spirits slipped away, and the boys remained safe.

[7] From that time, therefore, that rival of all goodness and enemy of truth and adversary of human salvation, directing all his machinations against the soldier of God, whom he could not corrupt in mind, strove to terrify him with phantom threats. About which, if anyone wishes to learn more carefully, we shall briefly show a little further on in their proper places. he becomes illustrious for other miracles: Meanwhile he began to shine with signs and to be adorned with miracles of virtue. For even while placed in the secular habit, he put demons to flight by his word and healed the sick by prayer; the athlete of Christ toiling with all his strength, so that from his holy purpose, which he wished to keep hidden from human favor, he flees vainglory: nothing of this world's breeze of favor might burst forth and stain his ears with the pollution of arrogance.

[8] Therefore, while these things were being done by him, and through the goodness of his deeds the truth of our God was being known by a kind of silent proclamation; and while, as often happens, the splendor of the light kindled some to pious belief, and the dark mist of faithless cloudiness covered others with impious detraction, so that what is written in Genesis seemed to be fulfilled: That there was thick and palpable darkness for the Egyptians; but for the children of Israel there was light in all their dwellings; our God nonetheless continued to be magnified in His Saint, he gleams with the splendor of virtues. and to advance the work of the virtue He had begun with more prosperous successes. Exodus 10:20.

e. The same: These.

CHAPTER II.

Life in the religious habit before the episcopate.

[9] And when suddenly his fame, widely scattered far and wide, had spread abroad, especially in the region placed under the western sky, Bishop Austregisilum of the city of Bourges requested Prince Theodoric that permission be given him to share the office of teaching in the Church with Sulpitius, because multitudes were flocking to him for the grace of his teaching. Without delay: the royal authority was granted, He becomes a Deacon: so that, with his hair cut, he should receive the obligation of the clergy; and advancing through the successive grades, setting him above the rest for a year and more, he obtained the Levitical lot and ministered to the Church.

[10] Meanwhile the grace of miracles was surrounding him more and more. And when it had been suggested by the faithful to Prince Clothar; then Abbot in the army. immediately the Bishop was asked that for his salvation and that of his army, permission be given for the blessed man to hold the office of Abbot in his camp. Now when provision was made at his own and all his people's expense for three days, He distributes the royal rations allotted to him among the poor: keeping what was sufficient for one day, he bestowed the rest on the needy. And when his men murmured from fear of want: Fix the eye of your mind, he said, O children, on the Lord and Savior; seek first His kingdom and His justice, and all things will be added to you. Psalm 33:11. Remember that prophetic word: Those who seek the Lord shall not lack any good thing. another supply is provided. Indeed, such an abundance of food was suddenly sent to him by the faithful that he not unreasonably rejoiced that he had received it with the hundredfold return which the faithful Rewarder had promised to His disciples, without any human glory. Matthew 19:29.

[11] At length, after a few days had passed, the King was afflicted with a cruel disease, and the poison spread through his limbs was rushing headlong toward death. Meanwhile the Queen, struck with sudden grief, cast away her jewels, tore her garments, and lacerated her hair and cheeks, and now mourned her husband as though already lost. The household was in turmoil; the tears of the servants were joined to the mistress's lamentations. They rush to the most blessed man, He prays and fasts for the sick King: they cling to the Saint's knees, they wet his feet with tears, begging that the pious Priest would pour forth prayer to the Lord for the King's health. He, moreover, whose hope rested in Almighty God, bathed his face with tears and beating his breast drew forth grievous sighs; he continued in vigils and fasting, and ceaselessly poured forth prayers for the sick man. After five days the King slipped more and more toward death: then the Priest was asked by his companions to take a small amount of food to moderate his excessive fasting. I will not eat, he said, until I can obtain the Prince's health from Christ the Lord, whom I serve. And when they cried out that the Prince was now at his last gasp and nearly lifeless, and that by his prolonged fast he was pointlessly afflicting his innocent body; he predicts his recovery. he, whose salvation firmly endured in God, promised that after seven days had been completed, the Prince, having recovered his former vigor, would take food with him and the other companions. And so the day arrived that was awaited by the prayers of all: the Priest's promises were fulfilled: swift healing was granted to the Prince: the Priest was raised up by the hands of all in a glorious triumph and summoned with great honors to a royal banquet. For by this he was dear and acceptable to all.

[12] And since the things we learned from our elders who were contemporaries of the blessed man, we have set down in writing in the order of his deeds, with the same fidelity as they came to us; The age and trustworthiness of the author. let us now take our beginning from our own time, partly from what we have seen, partly from what has been handed down to us by our fellow disciples, and let us leave it for the memory of posterity.

CHAPTER III.

An apostolic life in the episcopate.

[13] When therefore the royal court was blooming with beautiful splendor from the flowers of his virtues and the gems of the grace of signs, and a certain radiance of light had shone forth to this world and filled all around with the fragrance of its scent; it came to pass that the holy Bishop, whom we mentioned a little above, After St. Austregisilum died, departed to the Lord by a glorious death. And when the entire people of the Church had assembled together for the election of a Bishop, and they were crying out one for another, as happens in such cases, and a certain faction of the more senseless populace was giving its consent to some of the leading men through the favor of a partisan, many seek the See of Bourges by simony: and through a mortal and impudent Prefect, with infinite weights of gold and silver, had brought their consent before the King, so that according to that sacrilegious sect of the wicked Simon, they might seize the heavenly grace against all right and justice: but our people, whom the Savior addresses, Fear not, little flock, for it has pleased your Father to give you the kingdom, were asking from Christ, the immortal and perfect God, that the blessed man be their Priest; they nonetheless sent a humble petition of few words on behalf of their delegation, and through one of those of whom it is said, Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, they made it known to the ears of the King. Luke 12:32. Matthew 5:3. And when the King (as often happens), infected with the poison of human greed, had his mind bent toward the copious money brought before him, the Queen persuading, his wife, kindled with divine love, was admonishing her husband, crying out that it was worthy and just that, after the departure of such a great man, this one should be advanced to his See, who was supported by equal merit and by the signs of miracles and the graces of virtues with similar distinction. And the glorious woman recalled to her husband's memory by what labor his prayer had recently pulled him back from the precipice of death. At length, by heavenly indulgence, the Prince drew deeper counsel: having suppressed the poison of greed and spurned the persuasions of the wicked, he commanded to be fulfilled without delay Sulpitius is chosen as successor, what had been determined by divine providence. And so, with the Lord arranging it, he earned the See of episcopal dignity, the first of Aquitaine. For the assistance of God's will was present, so that a swift conversion might recall peoples in disagreement and dissenting in spirit to the love of the Bishop, and suddenly unite them in one accord.

[14] Having obtained the ornament of the Pontificate, therefore, he succumbed to the burden, not to the honor: he became all things to all men, He lives most holily in the episcopate. not seeking what was useful for himself but what was useful for many, that they might be saved: and suddenly the Lord hastened to kindle His Priest like a lamp. For the blessed man gave himself over entirely to the greatest abstinence, to unceasing fasts, to almost constant vigils, so that whenever the necessity of nature demanded a little sleep, he rested not upon the softness of a bed, which he was never accustomed to use, but upon the mere surface of a mat and hairshirt.

[15] Since the venerable man, worthy of God, was illustrious in all things for the purity of his life and the virtues of his soul, he did not greatly value the ornament of speech, namely because in him the soul was adorned with divine virtues, together with the grace of signs which had been granted to him by our Lord Jesus Christ; daily increasing his preaching of the word of God, He devotes himself to preaching. and sowing the saving seeds of the heavenly kingdom more broadly through all the land. Indeed, he so excelled in reforming the Jewish people, infected with ancient poisons, that they seemed to behold as it were a new light of truth: He converts many Jews. and since the teacher of religion taught many things by his words but still more by his examples, and they did not see him command his disciples to do what he himself had not first done: he did not permit any Jew whatsoever to dwell in the city entrusted to him by heaven without the grace of baptism. For since he was continually praying to the Lord for their conversion and teaching them that through baptism they would have the remission of sins, and that they could not otherwise enter the kingdom of God, as though the rays of the true sun had shone upon their hearts, amazed and beholding the glory of God with unveiled face, repenting of their ancient errors, coming with faithful confession, they were baptized by the Bishop himself. By the divine gift, therefore, the distinguished warrior snatched the prey from the enemy, restored it to its Author, and expelled the stain of unbelief from the innermost recesses of their hearts by the love of Christ. Some of them live today under the religion of our faith.

[16] He shines with apostolic signs. For after a brief time, so great a grace of virtues was increased in him that signs were performed through him no less than once through the Apostles. For whereas we said a little above that he put demons to flight by his word and healed the sick by prayer, our God added to magnify His Saint; so that in the course of time he restored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the mute, life to the dead, hands to the maimed, and walking to the lame, and very many other things which it is tedious to recount one by one: of which, if God's favor assists, we desire to touch upon a few. Come then, let our discourse do what it promises.

CHAPTER IV.

Various miracles performed by him.

[17] A certain Gunthoaldus brought his son, a boy of about ten years, whose throat so adhered to his tongue that an articulate word had never been uttered from his mouth, and laid him at the feet of the blessed man: he made known the whole matter. And the Bishop, moved by human compassion, with groans and sighs raised his eyes and hands together to heaven; invoked Christ, He obtains speech for a mute boy by the sign of the Cross. who is God over all, with tears poured forth in total faith, and having offered prayer, touched the boy's tongue and impressed the sign of the cross upon it. Instantly the tongue was freed, and he speaks wonderfully with various responses of speech to this day. Stupendous things follow upon splendid and glorious signs.

[18] At the time when a deadly famine had ravaged, as it were, all the provinces, a certain boy, half-dead from hunger, was rolled at the Saint's knees with faint breath, and begged him to have mercy on him. The man, full of piety, having compassion, looking at him who was over the household, said: I commend this boy to you with the greatest care, under the testimony of Christ. Then that man, just as he was commanded, promised to be diligent: and while he was occupied hither and thither by various duties, he began to care somewhat negligently for the poor boy, who, consumed alike by cold and hunger, threw himself into the furnace of the baths. And when with his faint breath he could no longer drag his weary limbs, he finally died. When all had been searched through at some time, the steward, looking through everything and finding no trace of the boy anywhere, the blessed Bishop demanded back from the steward the one entrusted to him. And the steward, throwing himself at his knees, confessed that he had lost him. Immediately the blessed man entered his cell, prostrated himself on the ground, poured forth abundant tears, redoubled deep sighs, and besought the Lord Jesus that the boy should at last be restored to his sight. He restores to life a boy who died of cold and hunger. For he had taken what he heard so hard, and uttered such tears with cries, as though mourning his own crime, as if before the tribunal of the eternal Judge the soul of the dead were being required at his hands. Meanwhile, the one whose duty it was hastened to the furnace to light it, and finding the corpse tried to drag the stiff limbs, and having recognized the lifeless boy, reported it to the blessed Bishop. Again he groaned, prostrated on the ground, poured forth prayers, and long remained in sighs; then, raising his head, he commanded hot water to be poured over the bones of the dead boy. Meanwhile the Priest of God was ceaselessly beseeching the Lord, beating his breast, for the same boy. The limbs of the dead man began to move little by little and the bones, ministering to their functions, began to return to their former office: and, though faint, while the Blessed One continued in prayer, the boy rolled at his feet, and having touched his vestige regained his former strength. He is believed to survive today, safe from the danger of famine: for he afterward remained with us for a long time.

[19] Not much time having elapsed, another deed divinely accomplished by him is also related. There was a certain whirlpool situated in a field of the people of Vierzon, so copious with its mass of water, being, as it were, consecrated to demons, that if anyone entered it for any reason, he would instantly lose his life cruelly, entangled by demonic cords. He drives a demon from the waters with chrism. But through God's help the arrival of Blessed Sulpitius came at some time. Then the inhabitants of the place clung to the Saint's knees: they begged the Priest to come to their aid, because they lamented having lost many relatives and servants there. And he (as always), thus moved to compassion with his whole heart, commanded a small amount of chrism to be mixed with oil and water, and blessing it, gave it to a disciple, commanding him, like the prophet Elisha, to say: Thus says the Lord: I have healed these waters, and there shall be no more death or barrenness in them. 2 Kings 2:21. And when this had been done, the terrible enemy was so driven from that place that from then on all pass through with good fortune, and an abundance of fish is drawn from the shore, and no one feels any danger. Health was therefore restored to the people, and the affliction of the water was taken away.

[20] Not long afterward follows a far more illustrious miracle. When one of the peasants, to alleviate the summer heat, had of his own accord thrown himself into the river, he was instantly bound by the snares of Satan and violently lost his life. This place is not far from the dwelling of the basilica, where the Saint of God was reclining with the brothers in a kind of dining alcove for the sake of refreshment. Meanwhile a certain old woman, who was standing at some distance, suddenly signaled with her hand to the attendants who were standing in the sight of the blessed Bishop. And they tried through one of their fellow servants to inquire what the matter was. And when they came to the place, the woman indicated that someone had sunk to the bottom and had lost his breath. Then he summoned his companions, reported to the Bishop, who commanded the body to be pulled out and kept until the ninth hour. And when all had been fed, he went to his place of prayer: and indeed, immediately as he had asked, he had elicited the restoration of the lifeless man. But for this reason he believed three hours should pass from the sixth hour, so that no one might doubt that he had truly been dead. At length he rose from prayer, He restores a man drowned in the river to life by the sign of the Cross. and commanded the lifeless body to be placed before him, and raising his hand impressed the image of the Cross: the dead man's limbs moved as his spirit was restored: at the voice of the Bishop he quickly arose in good health; having regained his vigor he returned by his own steps.

CHAPTER V.

Other miracles performed by the sign of the Cross.

[21] At a certain time a certain one of the nobles, named Theodegisilus, came to the blessed Bishop for the purpose of visiting him: he showed him the affection which he knew him to extend to all: and since it was winter, an abundance of fuel was piled upon the fire: the minds of the attendants were perhaps occupied elsewhere, and no one was attentive to the danger of fire. At length the flame voraciously devoured the roof: and now all things that had been sprinkled began to be shaken, and when ruin threatened they found vigorous flames: the copious fire had cast all into fear, because of the extreme difficulty, since no one dared ascend to the roof: despairing of any help, all took to flight. He extinguishes the flames. The Priest strove to resist the flames with the banner of the Cross in his hand. And to the amazement of all, the globes of flame were instantly extinguished before the Priest of God could draw back his hand, as if they had been surrounded on all sides by the waters of a great river rushing forth.

[22] Let us relate a similar deed. Within the walls of the city, a certain one of the noble women had filled a great granary with sheaves of grain: in the dead of night a criminal stealthily entered and set fire to it: He fixes a boundary upon the fire. immediately flames surrounded it on all sides. Nor could what the grief of all made manifest remain hidden: a tumult arose, while the blessed man was pressed by an unusual sleep. At length through a disciple he learned the cause of the event; proceeding with swift course, he circled the pyre of flames with spiritual songs, and in wondrous ways with his staff he fixed a boundary for the fiery hill, which it could not cross. From every side, while they were touching the neighboring and adjoining houses, the flames, having turned back upon themselves, were extinguished in one mass, fleeing into a chaos they dared not cross. The Father, rejoicing, returned to the church to pay the praises due at the morning hours.

[23] Let us add a third similar miracle. The man of God had built a certain monastery in the same city with the greatest effort, in which he had enclosed a band of virgins and continent women, where he raised a structure of stones with tall buildings. By the carelessness of one of the unwary, when night's silence had fallen, with fire gradually growing as it was snatched from the wall, it spread; soon, having burst through the house, it hastened to reach the neighboring buildings. Already the mass of flames had grown into a great mountain. At length the Priest of God, summoned by the prayers of his flock, came to the fold, and with the sign of the Cross prepared to resist the flames of immense height. He again extinguishes a fire, with a dove intervening from heaven. Instantly, in the midst of the pyre, holy assistance appeared in the form of a dove, in which the Holy Spirit had descended upon the Lord at His baptism. Suddenly the flames were extinguished and dared not touch the remaining houses. The pastor established the rescued flock with salutary teachings, through whose instruction the purpose of chastity shines today among them; who, while they clothe themselves with the zeal of wisdom, consecrate not only their bodies but also their souls to virginity, preparing clean vessels for wisdom, from which they seek divine and holy and immortal embraces of the Word, from which a posterity is left that is by no means subject to corruptible mortality: moreover, how greatly the grace of abstinence, sobriety, and modesty shines among them with beautiful splendor, words cannot express. Now let us return to the narrative of our account.

[24] Far from the city, in a place called Anatra, he ordered a huge tree to be cut down with axes, and when it had been quickly felled, He turns a falling tree to the other side by the sign of the Cross. one of the boys, his mind occupied with something else, stood there stupefied, and in his foolishness did not flee from death. Instantly the Priest raised his hand with the sign of the Cross, marvelously turned the tree to the other side, and snatched the boy safe from the danger of death.

CHAPTER VI.

The unjust tribute abrogated through his efforts.

[25] And when, with the light of the most brilliant stars gleaming, as it were, with the infinite miracles of signs, with faith prevailing, by which everywhere all alike had believed in the Lord and Savior; that rival of all goodness and ancient deceiver of the human race strove to assail the church resting in peace, together with all the people, with an internal war through certain wicked men; and he inflamed a certain Prince of the provinces of the Gauls with the ardor of greed, An unjust tribute imposed on the city, and urged him with secret persuasions to enroll the people of Bourges, together with the priests of the Church, under an abominable tax. And like a beast hissing with a double mouth and brandishing diabolical poisons with double tongues, he sent one of his supporters to harass the said people. But because divine power and grace never abandon their own in the greatest and most critical contest, the wicked minister compelled the Christian multitude, which had been free from time immemorial, to serve under royal cruelty.

[26] All, not enduring the impious affliction, so great a multitude flocked to the pious Pastor, and so great a clamor arose from the uplifted voices of those lamenting, that it was thought to be terrible thunder to those who heard it. This alone the voices of all cried out: O pious Pastor, come to the aid of the flock which until now you have nourished with pastoral affection. Act, lest the flock entrusted to you by the Lord perish: defend it from the wolf who tears it with rabid teeth. Whereupon he, moved by the greatest piety, having proclaimed a fast for all, a fast proclaimed addressed the Assessor gently, asking him to cease pursuing the impious command. But when his hard mind could not be broken by pride, and he grew ever more fierce and heated despite the Bishop's words, the Blessed One sought his cell, prostrated himself on the ground, beat his holy breast, and sought from the Lord what he had been unable to obtain from the Governor; and knowing that it is no less a virtue of the mind to pray to the Lord for an enemy than to prostrate oneself for the Lord, he sought the conversion of his enemies rather than their destruction. And indeed, if he had asked immediately, the fitting punishment of the immoderate Prince and the most savage Assessor would have been present. But the blessed man was always mild and pious toward his adversaries.

[27] Meanwhile he sent one of his own, a certain solitary named Ebregisilum, who, having renounced all things, that is, the world with its practices, was superior to the rest in life and speech as an example of the blessed man, he sends one to admonish: to reprove the savagery of the Prince, and to announce that unless he changed for a better way of life, sudden destruction was imminent. The follower of the Blessed One also added, admonishing the Prince about the crimes of his committed impieties, if perhaps he could feel repentance for his wrongdoing, if he could weep for his crime, and extinguish the avenging flames of punishment with an abundance of tears, because God does not want the death of the sinner so much as that he be converted and live. he obtains amendment from him. The King, hearing this, was terrified by excessive fear and shaken with such great dread that, immediately acknowledging his guilt and paying for his offense with tears, bearing repentance without royal haughtiness, he willingly fulfilled what had been intimated by so great a Priest through his disciple. The unwonted tax was swiftly abolished, the impious enrollment was annulled, salvation was granted to the people, and as though after a great tempest the splendor of the sun had been restored, with peace given to the churches, the joys of the priests were multiplied. The King also marvelously added that a general decree should be given so that the impious exaction would not be repeated against the people in the future. The refractory Assessor divinely punished. But the fierce Assessor, who did not give his assent to the King's reform, was struck by divine vengeance, and instantly lost with disgrace the life he had enjoyed unworthily. For the minister of so great a crime could not escape unpunished. O blessed in all things was the man, who never defended himself against the fury of his adversaries with hand or weapon, but with fasts and continual vigils, lying beneath the altar, by supplication prepared God as his defender and that of His Church. And who could ever have deterred him by his machinations and assaults, who always remained safe and unconquered with the helping right hand of Christ?

CHAPTER VII.

A coadjutor chosen. Exercises of virtue.

[28] At that same time the man of God, adorned in all things with signs and all virtues, and observing Apostolic simplicity in the word of God, inferior to none and in all things a truly perfect priest and victim of God, while he was striving everywhere with solicitude to complete the work of caring for the poor which he had long since undertaken; In decrepitude he chooses a Coadjutor for himself. and his age, now mature, was declining toward decrepit old age, and he saw that he could not suffice for everything, either to devote himself to the deeper divine contemplations, or to remain in holy prayers as he constantly desired; or to fulfill the instructions of those who were daily being restored to the faith -- from all of which he was not even given the free time of a single hour to breathe, since he was always being called from one thing to another, so that from the first light until deep evening he never ceased to be occupied in various affairs; when he saw himself burdened with so great a load, he thought it more useful to hand over to one of the faithful, a leading man of the region, already fully and excellently instructed, a man named Wulfolentus, the participation of his office and labor, and to commit to him the ministry of the divine word, and so with the clergy assembled, he received therein the rights of the priesthood.

[29] Who could recount with what humility and what charity he was content to devote himself to the needs of his companions and attendants, He attends to the needs of his attendants and the poor. and of the poor? He who always ruminated with his pure mouth upon that Gospel saying and strove with all his might to fulfill it in action: He who wishes to be first among you, let him be your servant; and he who wishes to be your Lord, let him be your slave. Matthew 20:26. And because he had the whole eye of his mind fixed upon God, he unceasingly considered that our Lord Jesus Christ, made man for our sake, taught us this: that we should struggle against sin even unto death; since He Himself did not count it robbery to be equal with God, He strives to emulate the humility of Christ. but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, and being found in human form, He humbled Himself even unto death: following whom, Sulpitius the servant of God accepted all the labors of affliction and the torments of flesh and mind, lest he stain the purpose of faith with his conscience.

[30] Since indeed, if we wished to recount the virtues of Blessed Sulpitius the Bishop and to set forth the strength of his constancy, we neither have a supply of speech so great, nor do we think these things would seem credible to any except those alone who beheld them with their own eyes. Now let our discourse proceed to those things it had earlier begun, so that we may endeavor to weave together a few things from the deeds of the miracles which he performed from heaven, with his co-ruler now joined to him. At a certain time, one of the wicked and, as it were, destitute, forced his way by night into the storeroom of the blessed man; he immediately tried to seize what his criminal mind had conceived as the crime of theft: and hastening to depart, no exit lay open for his return, and as if enclosed by every fortification as in a prison, He divinely knows of a thief wandering about in the storeroom: the guilty one was bound on every side. Having therefore spent the entire night's journey in vain, for him who had had an easy entrance, not even a narrow passage lay open for his exit. Meanwhile the splendor of light illuminated the world, and the man of God summoned one of the guards, sending word to his companion to drag out the one he would find within the storeroom, weary with wandering and, as it were, bound with chains and so ensnared.

[31] Without delay: the attendant hurried to his companion; when he was called, they found the criminal inside, and immediately seized him to drag him out. Between their hands the slippery fellow suddenly slipped away, and when he saw himself surrounded by his crime and hemmed in on all sides by the crowds, preferring to undergo a swift death rather than to endure long torments for his crime, he threw himself headlong to his death into a well of nearly eighty cubits, which was nearby. he throws himself into a very deep well: Nevertheless, when the voracious earth had received him, he called upon the help of the blessed Bishop. Then the man of God, arriving with swift speed, ordered one of the boys to descend after the fugitive on a rope, earnestly warning him to draw out the criminal with the greatest diligence, embracing him. And when all cried out that the one whom the gaping earth of such great depth had swallowed could no longer be alive, but was rather already believed by all to have perished; he commanded the boy to obey his orders quickly. The servant entered, and not hesitating, armed with the sign of the man of God, he is pulled out unharmed. found him cheerful whom all believed to be lifeless: having tied the captive with ropes, he brought him back to the fatherland's soil: the walls were packed with crowds of people: nearly the whole city had gathered for the spectacle of so great an event: all were clapping their hands and their voices were resounding: they marveled that he was safe whom they had supposed to be dead, plunged in a pit of such great depth. Hitherto the criminal, shaken from his deep stupor of mind, prostrated at the Saint's feet, begged pardon for his crime. Instantly the man, full of piety, forgave him and provided him with necessities, admonishing him often that he should rather ask than steal; that he should desire his sustenance to be provided by a gift, not by robbery. And since in him there was perfect humility, ready mercy, holy simplicity, who could tell how great was his patience and long-suffering?

[32] When one of his disciples, of the order of Levites, was requesting permission to return to his own, the Bishop, out of loving affection, lest some mishap of the long journey should befall him, did not grant him the liberty of departing. But this one, armed with a spirit of pride, had barely allowed the first rest to relax the forgetting of his cares, The disobedience of a Deacon chastised. when, spurred by his crime, he immediately seized flight with a swift vehicle: he was struck with a fitting punishment of blindness, such that he wandered here and there inconclusively throughout the whole night with empty toil. When day was restored to the lands, having consumed his course in vain, he found himself standing in the very place from which he had eagerly set out. At length from the Priest, from whom I think nothing was hidden, he sought pardon for his crime, clung to the Saint's knees, and confessed in order what he had done: the mind, most ready in piety, instantly forgave and granted pardon to the one who confessed.

CHAPTER VIII.

Demonic infestations overcome.

[33] For how many and with what arts the most wicked demon, with his whole army, fought against him with the greatest determination, and brought forth novel weapons of demonic fury against him above all others who were then fighting for Christ's name, we have taken care to briefly review for those wishing to know. And because we have already said a little above about his frequent all-night vigils; when in the deep silence of a certain night he had completed the melodious singing of psalms in the baptistery, he proceeded with a few to the basilica of the blessed Martin, so that he might feast upon divine praises there for the remaining space of the night until matins. And when the boy going before him with a lamp had already reached the doors of the basilica, the deadly demon, assuming a powerful form and the appearance of a most foul and horrible bird, first tried to extinguish the light that went before. Then he hurled himself with great force into the face and eyes of the holy man, and flying about here and there, made himself violent and troublesome again and again with ridiculous intentions. At this the man of God, considering the deeds of the wicked one, said: I know who you are, He drives away the infestations of demons by the sign of the Cross. minister of the ancient serpent, nor do you permit yourself to be hidden, you who show yourself almost continually as a most wicked persecutor. At length, raising his hand with the sign of the Cross, the demon not only dared not hurl himself further, but by the impact of the impressed Cross he vanished.

[34] As is his shameless and wretched delusion, the seditious enemy then stirred up provocations to injury against the holy man. And so when he had commanded one of the boys, simple in mind and conduct, Ansulphus by name, to go to a certain place to provide the food necessary for the brothers and the poor; without delay, the boy obeyed his commands, fulfilled his orders, and was hastening to return home: the most savage demon, with his officers, presented himself in his path: he threw him from the vehicle, and left him badly beaten with blows, He divinely knows that his servant has been badly treated by a demon: so that he was carried half-dead by neighbors to the house. And since, on account of the injury to St. Sulpitius, no one reported to him what had happened; at length by divine means through the Spirit (for he had received the gift of prophecy) he perceived that the servant had remained mute and blind for ten continuous days, with all his limbs half-dead, and his mouth so locked with his teeth that no one could pour even a drop of water inside. Meanwhile the man of God reported to the brothers the order of events concerning the one he had sensed in spirit, grieving for the afflicted from compassion and shedding tears from piety, for the pious pastor mourned that his sheep was being tortured with bitter pain on his behalf. Immediately, however, he prostrated his holy limbs upon the ground, he cures him by prayer. and after prayer, rising from the ground, he commanded a morsel of bread with wine to be brought to the lifeless man. Immediately, his teeth having been opened with iron instruments, the attendants poured into his mouth a drop of the wine he had sent: soon the lost senses were restored to the man who had been largely dead already, and his limbs returned to their former vigor in their accustomed service. This indeed we have learned confirmed by him who suffered it and by the testimony of the faithful.

[35] Not long after, when the setting of the day had returned to the lands, he undertook to keep vigil in the church with a few companions, and when deep quiet was upon them, the serpent's cunning first caressed them with a faint whistle in the air. Then, when all was quiet, with a violent force it struck within the precincts of the church the arches, altars, lamps, and other furnishings, so that the disciples thought the entire church was being torn down from its foundations. And while they trembled with excessive fear and, having left off their chanting, were clinging to the pavement gazing upon destruction, the blessed and in all respects unconquered one so strongly persisted in the divine canticles, making light of what the envious one was perpetrating, that he had never been more constant or more illustrious in prosperous times. At length the envious serpent, with his whole army, gathered himself into one mass, and thinking to terrify his unshaken constancy with heavier blows and noise, He steadfastly scorns the demon's terrors. roaring with immense tumult, dashing himself against the pavement before the face of the blessed man, hurled himself down so that the disciples thought their Master had been crushed to pieces. They themselves remained stunned for a long time: but the glorious Priest, wounding the adversary with divine javelins, persevered in spiritual canticles: indeed he reproved the disciples for having been terrified by phantom threats and for having abandoned their canticles. But what wonder if this enemy of the human race sought the death of so great a Priest, since he was the leader and standard-bearer among God's people, when that impious one once even stretched his wicked and impure outrages against the Divinity itself?

[36] And because malice incessantly fights against goodness, and the adversary's rivalry pursues the Saints of God, we cannot suffice to tell how greatly the most wicked enemy, manifesting himself with various illusions, heaped up the provocations of his fury against the host of Christ, which His right hand was protecting through His priest. Nevertheless, let us briefly relate one of those things which he cruelly perpetrated against one of the servants of God in the presence of so many witnesses. When one of the bands, whose duty it is continually to sing to God in the mother church, Leguntius by name, was proceeding to the church for his regular night vigil, he encountered the enemy of the human race as his assailant. And the adversary, gnashing in anger, strove to turn the servant of God back from the journey of the good work he had begun, He restores a half-dead man to health by placing the Eucharist in his mouth. and having afflicted him with many blows, left him half-dead and nearly lifeless. And when he was found in the morning, prostrate on the ground, by many, he had lost all the service of his senses. Then the Saint of God happened to have gone away from the city, and when after three days he returned, he found him half-dead and badly beaten with blows. Then, prostrating himself beside the brother's limbs, he groaned deeply, and having forced open his teeth, the Priest of God poured the Sacrifice into his mouth with his own hands, and to the marvelous amazement of all who were watching, immediately, having seized his hand, the man rose up whole in the face of the Priest, as if he were thought to have had no illness at all, and leaping everywhere he blessed the Lord.

CHAPTER IX.

Outstanding benefits to various persons.

[37] Not long afterward, therefore, one of the peasants, having seized an axe in his hand, defiled the day of the Lord's Resurrection with a wicked deed. A man laboring on the Lord's Day and therefore punished, Instantly the sacrilegious hand withered, the skin dried out with the sinews, and the axe, adhering, was locked in his grip. Immediately he hastened to the Saint of God, and threw himself at the feet of the athlete of Christ: the withered hand betrayed the author of the sacrilege. The Priest rather admonished the lamenting culprit to come to the church; he continued prayers beneath the altar, so that at length he might obtain from Christ the pardon for the crime he had committed. Meanwhile the Saint of God ran to his accustomed refuge, entered his cell sprinkled with ashes, and spent the night in prayer with tears poured forth: and when at daybreak the Priest of God came to the church for the payment of due praises, while the diverse crowd was looking at the man with the axe, the man of God bent forward in prayer. he heals him by prayer. And so suddenly the guilty man, unable to endure the torments, resounded with great cries, so that the place itself seemed to have been suddenly moved: for an immense fear seized everyone. Meanwhile the sacrilegious hand was suddenly restored to its proper function; the bones, skin, and sinews were filled with their proper humors; the axe sprang apart from it wonderfully: the criminal poured forth abundant tears, confessed his sin and was absolved, and returned home absolved. And so divine providence, excelling in mercy, heals the diseases of the soul through the affliction of the body, according to that saying: I will visit their iniquities with a rod, but I will not take my mercy from them. Psalm 88:33.

[38] And because long ago the Lord and Savior, while dwelling on earth, had said to His disciples: If you believe in me, the works that I do you shall do also, and greater things than these you shall do; at length the spiritual flame had so kindled the blessed man with the love of faith, The water with which he washed his hands cures diseases. that if anyone secretly caught the water dripping from his hands when they were being washed and touched it to the body of any person who was ill, that person was instantly freed from most infirmities, but especially those afflicted with tertian and quartan fevers were restored to their former health with wondrous amazement. John 14:12. For how many or what signs the Lord performed through him in the end, and with what new and wondrous miracles He declared them, we think would be credible to none but those who saw them with their own eyes.

[39] And since the companionship of his life and deeds was believed to be held not with other mortals He scorns the world. but with immortal Angels; he so rejected the last allurements and blandishments of the world, that he might rightly say with the Apostle: For me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain. Philippians 1:21. And that: I desired to be dissolved and to be with Christ, were it not that for their sake I would choose to live, for whom I would also die. Ibid., 23. He therefore rejected the pomp of the world as filth, scorned gold, and spurned silver as mud. He celebrates councils, He instructs the clergy: he summons Bishops through synods; he frequently admonishes that the divine commandments should not be neglected, entirely echoing that mandate of the Savior: Do not possess gold or silver, etc. But according to the Apostle, having food and clothing, he says, let us be content with these, and what follows is to be fled. Matthew 10:9. 1 Timothy 6:8. He himself strove with all his might, chastising his body and bringing it into subjection, lest perhaps while preaching to others he himself should become a castaway. a lover of poverty and mortification. For a long time he neither had nor used silver vessels, but all things for his use were of wood, pottery, and marble. O inviolate constancy, which trampled with the virtue of patience the life by which human frailty is battered! And since, according to the Savior's voice, he taught those things which he himself had first done in all things, there is no doubt that he was great in the kingdom of heaven. Matthew 5:19. This was the Priest of God wearing the pontifical plate, who by crucifying the body in himself and pursuing vices attained a new martyrdom, not by death but by the mortification of the flesh.

[40] And when he had now abundantly and more than sufficiently built churches, monasteries, and cells, He establishes many sacred places. he became the Father of innumerable clergy and monks, with very many renouncing their possessions, who, devoted to this kind of philosophy and having distributed their goods to all the needy, and also casting far away many cares of life, and dwelling outside the city in gardens or small plots of land: some, moreover, just as in the Acts of the Apostles those who first believed are remembered to have lived, selling their possessions and estates and placing the proceeds at the feet of the rest, distributing to each as was needed, so that they might easily fulfill the Gospel office. Acts 4. All, whom he had desired, were most fully instructed in spiritual doctrines and so devoted in the studies of Christian philosophy to the imitation of the blessed master, that some would not even indulge in food -- not so much desired as necessary for the body -- even after the third day; namely, while most of them, conversing in the deeper understanding of the sacred volumes, as though yearning for rich banquets, He teaches his disciples to long for the nourishment of wisdom. could not be sated, and by gazing more keenly were inflamed, and by continual contest so wrestled against the flesh that they yielded to its pleasure and desire in nothing; but nourishing the soul on the pastures of wisdom and the food of knowledge, always increasing more and more. The Father, exulting in such zeal of his sons, at length hastened to demand from the eternal Father the interest that had been deposited: and suddenly the Lord was present to console and reward His faithful servant.

CHAPTER X.

Death. Burial. Miracles.

[41] And while he was flourishing with these miracles of virtues, the glorious time of his blessed consummation arrived. But although his limbs, now broken by age, were failing, the burden of abstinence strengthened his afflicted and almost dead body; and what nature had neglected, merit confirmed. And so, full of days, with the time of his life completed, shining with the splendor of his merits, He dies blessedly. he commended his earthly limbs to the earth, while his spirit, among the heavenly choirs of angels, ascended to the heights of heaven.

[42] Therefore from every quarter of the city a throng of innumerable peoples instantly streamed together from all sides. The walls, courtyards, and all the streets were packed with people, to such an extent that unless the help of the blessed Bishop had been present, A great throng gathers for the funeral. the greater part of the people would have been crushed underfoot, suffocated by the overwhelming press and killed by the compression of such crowds. The lamentation of all was immense, the grief intolerable, and those mourning burst forth with such great groaning that even hearts of stone would have poured forth immense tears. I do not know whether there was anyone so cruel and senseless there who could have restrained himself from tears. For so great a roar of voices arose that the place seemed to be shaken as if by great thunder. And while the grief of soul was boundless in all, He is mourned by all. the lamentations of the clergy, their sobs interrupted, scarcely allowed them to sing spiritual hymns; only those words among the sobs were wrung from the groans of those in grief: Alas, desolate flock, what will you do? Behold, having lost the Pastor, you are scattered, and who will be able to free you from the rabid teeth of wolves? In your death, O good pastor, who would doubt that we have all perished?

[43] Meanwhile they came to the basilica, where now the Priest of God, awaiting the time of the glorious triumph of the resurrection, lies buried with wondrous splendor, He is buried. which indeed he himself had once built with the greatest effort. The body was placed in the tomb; the entire people, unable to endure the absence of the Pastor, beyond all human measure, lay prostrate upon the pavement and gave forth lowing; to such a degree that not even the ministers of the church were permitted the freedom of fulfilling their office. They mourned, indeed, as for one absent whom they had not lost but had sent ahead; not knowing at all what embassy he was hastening to fulfill on their behalf, penetrating heaven in the sight of God, so that he might intercede for the people there, which here he might render to the one who asks and is faithful, there he might pour forth prayers, which here he might answer to their petitions.

[44] He is made illustrious by miracles. Without delay he did not suffer himself to be absent from those whom, while placed on earth, he had nourished with unceasing labor; but instantly he hastened in spirit to visit the one he had left in body, not in affection. And so, by suddenly restoring health to those with various infirmities, he showed himself to be present, so that, as if a light shown from heaven or a certain ray of the sun bursting forth, it illuminated the whole world with the brightness of the supernal light: from which, through all cities and villages, an immense multitude was gathered to the churches like grain to the threshing floors at harvest time. And not only did the renowned reputation of the diverse miracles of healing fill the neighboring cities, but all the kingdoms of the earth, as if with a winged flight, a most brilliant flame had shone forth. And unless the basilica itself had been largely enlarged, it would not have been able to receive in its capacity the multitude of the sick. And if I deserve God as my Guide, I still desire to show in brief discourse the things that the outstanding triumphant one now performs. Indeed, the place where these things are done has also been fittingly called Navis by its ancient predecessors, on account of a port for shipping, which, as if by a kind of presage of the future, that name once indicates which it now manifests by divine purpose: namely, this is the ship in which those who hold fast cross the sea of this age; and reach the far-distant fatherland, namely of the heavenly kingdom, free. There indeed, from the imminent storms of visible and invisible evils, a port of refuge is made; there from the waves and tempests of turmoil of the age the grace of escaping is bestowed. There daily they pour the salt of knowledge and faith upon the sick and ignorant. There, through the intercession of our blessed Father, from the eternal and invisible Physician, healing is freely bestowed upon the sick. Through it, truly, the shipwrecked and exiles are brought back to their former fatherland.

[45] Having therefore passed over the rest, in which, as I promised above, I shall devote effort before long; A lamp suspended before his tomb continually flows with oil. let me now speak briefly about that lamp which is suspended before the tomb of the Blessed One. It is reported by the attendants to have been filled with oil once, and with the holy liquid overflowing, to have continually poured forth an abundance from above, from which many, anointed, have been freed from various and most infirmities. And this must be confessed not without wonder: that once, at the evening hour, while the priestly assembly was resounding with divine canticles, a heavenly flame, striking the wick of the lamp with the impact of lightning, before all who were watching, provided light wonderfully; and it never afterward lost its brightness so long as its fuel is supplied by the ministry maintained to this day.

[46] These deeds of the most illustrious man, though set forth in words unworthy of them, Epilogue. we now plan to give an end at the proper time; we place a hand upon our mouth, we hasten to return inward to our conscience, and him whom we cannot imitate we ask by our prayers to become our patron, so that we may be assisted by the merits of him whose birthday we celebrate, with his assistance, who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, God, for ever and ever, Amen.

a. That is, by a fall.

ANOTHER SHORTER LIFE

By a contemporary anonymous author, from three ancient manuscripts.

Sulpitius Pius, Bishop of Bourges in Gaul (Saint)

BHL Number: 7928

By a contemporary anonymous author, from manuscripts.

PROLOGUE.

[1] From the beginning to the end, through every place and generation, I believe there have never been lacking men chosen by God, In every age there are some Saints. in whom the grace of the Holy Spirit might shine forth; and through whom the Lord might see fit to manifest signs of miracles, and the consolation and encouragement of those seeking Him: just as in modern times, through the merit of the life of a single Bishop of His, Sulpitius, of whom I speak, He has deigned to show many miracles as well. Concerning whom, since the brothers have commanded me to write something that I knew, for the benefit of posterity's memory; I know that I am unequal to the burden of this imposed work; nor can I record in fitting words, as is worthy, the great virtues of the man of God which he performed from the beginning of his youth; but nevertheless, so as not contumaciously to refuse the charge laid upon me; the few things that I myself saw, The author lived with St. Sulpitius. or learned from the account of those who served him from adolescence to decrepit old age; or what has been made known by the very many faithful who saw them, I have taken care to briefly cover.

CHAPTER I.

The outstanding virtues of St. Sulpitius.

[2] St. Sulpitius, pious from boyhood: When therefore Blessed Sulpitius the Bishop, while he seemed still to be dwelling in the secular habit in his parents' house, was so devoted to good works that he seemed to do nothing more than either build churches or construct monasteries or tirelessly exercise himself in works of mercy toward the poor, and out of love for chastity he was seen to have spurned the bond of marriage. And when the Lord now deigned to satisfy his wish and good purpose; having had the hair of his head cut, he received the tonsure of the clergy; and ascending through the successive degrees of ecclesiastical dignity, to the point he becomes Bishop: that by the election of the people and the assembly of the clergy he ascended to the dignity of the episcopate. In which office he was devoted to nothing more, alongside the governance of the Church, than the care of the poor, and he strove with the greatest effort always to provide them with food he benefits all. and with which to cover themselves. A man also provided the necessities of this common life.

[3] A noble man named Theudoghislus, a Domestic, came to the aforesaid Bishop seeking an audience. The Bishop received him kindly with his customary affection and ordered a banquet to be prepared. Since it was wintertime, so that the attendants might be seen to guard against the injury of the cold, they kindled a copious fire; and while no one was attentive to the danger of fire, it happened by chance that the roofing of that house caught fire, He extinguishes a fire by the sign of the Cross. and then a greater flame of the conflagration began to spread and grow stronger; so that the helpers and the rest, turned to fear, thought of nothing else than to rush outside with rapid course. And when those who should have ascended to the roof were unable to ascend because of the difficulty of the ascent, and that flame grew ever stronger and stronger; Blessed Sulpitius the Bishop, raising his hand, opposed the banner of the Cross: and the conflagration itself subsided by a wonderful power. Those who then saw it, and who survive today, report that the flame subsided and was extinguished with such speed that before the Bishop himself could draw his hand back to himself, as though much water had been poured from above, all that fire had been quenched.

[4] Not long after, as a certain man named Gunthoaldus reported, his son, a youth of about ten years, mute, He restores speech to a mute boy by the sign of the Cross. and from his birth had never spoken an intelligible word; he brought him before the aforesaid Bishop and made known the case. The Bishop, extending his hands and eyes to heaven, and having offered prayer, touched the lips of that little boy and impressed the sign of the Cross, and touching his tongue with his hand; the mercy of the Lord was present: he immediately spoke: and he still survives today and speaks clearly.

[5] Nor did I think this should be passed over: that in the time of his life the holy man did not allow any heretic or pagan or Jew to dwell in the city of Bourges without the grace of baptism. He converts all the Jews. For when the Jews at that time were seen to be in the city of Bourges, and he often spoke kindly to them and preached the divine word to them, that according to the Gospel no one could enter the kingdom of God unless he were seen to be reborn of water and the Holy Spirit; and day and night he prayed for the mercy of the Lord for their conversion; they, obeying him, first a few, then all, came together in the church for the sacraments of baptism. John 3:5. Having been baptized by the Bishop himself, they appear to live under Christian discipline to this day.

[6] Which of the clergy could so keep vigil through perpetual nights in comparison with the blessed man, or fast to his measure? He surpasses others in virtue. When he came to the church at night, he did not leave the church before he had finished chanting the entire book of psalms.

[7] At that time, prompted by greed, King Dagobert commanded his supporter Lullo, a man fierce in character and without any trace of mercy, to impose an unaccustomed tax upon the people of Bourges; and that they should live under the payment of the tax and serve the King's command. Under which affliction the entire people of that region gathered to the aforesaid man of God, and so great a multitude of lamenting ones assembled, and with raised lamentation and confused voice imploring the man of God to come to their aid. In the affliction of the people he proclaims a three-day fast: He, moved by piety and unable to endure their wailing and tears, together with the clergy, having proclaimed a fast for three days, entreated the mercy of the Lord; that He would relieve the affliction of His said people. He therefore sent a certain one of his clergy, named Ebrigiselus, who was to reprove the said King for this crime and to announce to him swift destruction unless this were more speedily amended. he obtains the abrogation of the unjust tax from Dagobert. This having been done, the King, deterred by fear, immediately commanded his people to be relieved of that tax, and the enrollment that had been made to be returned. And that people, relieved from that affliction, to this day remains in its former liberty. Nevertheless, it is believed that by divine vengeance both the King and his agent died after a short space.

CHAPTER II.

Death. Miracles at his tomb.

[8] He takes a Coadjutor for himself. When the aforesaid Bishop saw himself to be gravely burdened by so great a load, amid the solicitude of the churches and the care of the poor and the affairs of the entire people, he asked the King for a colleague to support this burden. The King gave his assent and granted him the most prudent man he had asked for, whose name was Wulfolendus: who, having received the episcopate of this city, to this day governs the Church in the name of God. He, moreover, under that humility with which he had previously managed the care of the poor, seemed all the more thereafter to provide the needs of the poor. He assists the poor. Some, however, detracted from him, asking why he had left the episcopate and handed it to another, and took delight in the multiplication of certain souls. But he persisted in the work he had begun; and fleeing human praise and avoiding the boasting of vanity, he always persisted in relieving the poor from want of food and clothing.

[9] He dies. And after these things, his life having now been completed, full of days, he departed to the Lord in peace. And when he was being carried from the church to the tomb, He is buried amid great grief, especially of the poor. such a multitude of mourning poor filled the church; all the streets were packed, and confused voices were carried to heaven: so great was the uproar that the place seemed to be shaken by great thunder: and amid the voices of the mourners no other speech was heard, but all cried out: Good Pastor, why do you leave us? And to whom do you abandon us? Today in your death it is certain that we all die. They arrived at the basilica, which he himself had previously ordered to be built. Placed in the tomb, those poor ones could not endure the absence of the Pastor; they lay like corpses in the church, so great a multitude that not even the ministers of the church could freely perform their office.

[10] Without delay: after a few days had passed, a certain cripple, who for a long time, with his limbs withered by the contraction of the sinews, He shines with miracles, was unable to walk on his own feet, insisting on prayer in that place, so recovered his health that he was seen to return to the city on his own steps without the support of a staff. What more? As the venerable Abbot Domio and his monks, who day and night appear to devote themselves to the divine office in the aforesaid basilica and are said to keep zealous vigils, attest, so great a multitude of the sick was healed there by the grace of the Holy Spirit from diverse infirmities, that the blind received sight, the deaf hearing, the lame the ability to walk, and those who seemed to be vexed by the cruelty of a malignant spirit with the severity of diseases, through the intercession of the above-mentioned blessed man, all having received health, cheerfully returned to their homes. Among these, many were seen in the city who said they had been struck with blindness for a long time and now saw clearly: and many were healed from diverse infirmities.

[11] And when the Lord deigned to show these miracles of healings through him, not only did this fame fill the neighboring cities, A great concourse at his tomb. but also the distant expanses of regions, as if by winged flight: so that an innumerable multitude of lamenting ones in diverse vehicles flocked to the place of burial of the aforesaid man; so that the capacity of that basilica could not accommodate so great a multitude, had not the foresight of the aforesaid Abbot greatly enlarged that basilica. Of which multitude of the sick, many in that very place, having received health and blessing the mercy of the Lord, cheerfully returned home.

[12] What shall I say about that lamp which is before his tomb, Many are healed by the oil of the lamp at his tomb. which they report was filled once, and with the multitude of oil overflowing and falling from above to the ground, many, anointed, were delivered from their infirmity? Because it is too long to recount one by one the signs of healings which the Lord deigned to demonstrate there, and the compass of this letter does not permit it -- since it is still reported among the people that great healings are being performed for those oppressed by diverse infirmity -- let these things briefly covered suffice.

[13] The place of his burial. That place, where the basilica is, where the aforesaid man of God is buried, is called Navis, because a port for shipping was seen to be there: a most pleasant place between two rivers, copious with groves and vineyards, and an immense plain interspersed with meadows and rivers, so that those dwelling there seem to possess the likeness of Paradise. In which place may the grace of the Lord deign to persevere for the salvation of the human race, through the granting of Him who in perfect Trinity lives and reigns, one God, eternal and remaining unchangeably without end, for ever and ever, Amen.