John

CONCERNING S. JOHN, ABBOT OF REOME IN GAUL.

Around the year 545.

John, Abbot of Reome in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 4431

From various sources.

Section I. The feast day of S. John of Reome.

[1] Reome is a very ancient monastery in the diocese of Langres, within the jurisdiction formerly of the town or castle of Tonnerre, from which however it is thirty miles distant, founded in the time of Valentinian III by S. John on his paternal estate, as Claudius Robert proves from ancient records in the catalogue of the Bishops of Langres. It is now commonly called the Monastery of S. John, Reome, a monastery, formerly Reomaus, Reomagus, Reomus. The history of this monastery was collected and illustrated by our Peter Rouvier, who discusses the name itself as follows: "This name has a form not unusual in that and later ages, since Stabulaus and Gemblaus and other such names were then and afterwards in use. But whether the derivative should be Reomensis, like Stabulensis, or Reomaensis, like Gemblaensis; or Reomacensis, as elsewhere Gemblacensis, written and printed books have made uncertain, presenting now one form, now another. I, to distinguish it from Reomensis in Auvergne, shall generally call it Reomaense." Certain persons have supposed this name to have belonged to the rivulet which flows past the monastery; but it is much more likely that the place itself and the land on which the monastery was built formerly received this name. So he writes. The name Reomaus was plainly that of the land, but the termination was derived from a rivulet, of the kind used for the word Stabulaus in that age, but drawn from another source. For, as has been said elsewhere, and as Abbot Folcuin, who lived around the year 990 of Christ, testifies in his Chronicle of the Abbots of Lobbes, the Teutons call a shading Lo or Loo; formerly perhaps, or certainly elsewhere in various dialect, Lav: whence Lobacum and Laubacum, the present common name of the monastery of Lobbes; and the termination Laus, inflected in the Latin manner. So from Staveloo comes Stabulaus; so Calloo, a place situated two leagues from this city, once noble whence so named, and recently famous for the defeat of the Dutch heretics, is called Chaulaus by Baudemund in his Life of S. Amand, written nearly 1000 years ago. But Reomaus appears to be derived from aw, which signifies land surrounded or irrigated by a river, and from the stream Reomo, and was originally called Reomaw or Reomau, like Haynau, Mosau or Mosaw, a territory watered by the river Haine or the Meuse; and innumerable others of that kind. Perhaps there was formerly at that place a crossing of the same stream, whence it was called Reomagus. For magus or maghen in the names of Gallic places generally indicates that they are situated on rivers, and indeed where they are customarily crossed, although we have not yet unearthed the etymology. So much for the place and the name.

[2] John, the Abbot who founded this monastery, was enrolled in the sacred calendars on the 5th of the Kalends of February. The feast day of S. John the Abbot. We shall give the words of the old and recent Martyrologies, so that, because some of them have recently been sprinkled with errors, the site and genuine nomenclature of the place may be more certainly established. Usuard: "In the monastery of Reome, the deposition of John the Presbyter, a man of God." Ado has the same, except that he calls it the monastery of Reomanum, as also Molanus in the first edition of Usuard, Notker (in whom Hicanes is said instead of John), Canisius, and Bede MS., for the published text calls it Leomanense. Perhaps originally written Reomaüense or Reomawense. The MS. Martyrology of the monastery of S. Martin of Tournai: "And in Burgundy, of S. John the Abbot." The MS. of Centula: "In the territory of Langres, in the monastery of Reome, of S. John the Abbot, a man of magnificent virtue who destroyed a basilisk by his prayer." The MS. Florarium: "In the monastery of Reome, the deposition of S. John, Presbyter and Abbot. He destroyed a basilisk by his prayer and left the well in which it lurked for the use of the monks." The MS. of the Professed House of the Society of Jesus at Antwerp, prefixed with the name of Bede: "In the territory of the city of Langres, at the castle of Tonnerre, in the monastery of Robonicum, the feast day of S. John, Presbyter and Abbot: who was the first inhabitant of that place and the Father of various monks; and worn out by long old age, renowned for his virtues, he rested. He was buried not far from the monastery."

[3] An error has crept into the Roman Martyrology through copyists. For it reads: "In the monastery of Rheims, the deposition of S. John the Presbyter, a man of God." He is wrongly attributed to Rheims. Bellinus, in the Paris edition of the year 1521, uses the same form; the older Venetian edition calls it the monastery of Reome. In two MSS. of Usuard it is called Remense; in a certain monastic one, Remanense. Maurolycus: "In the territory of Rheims, at the castle of Tonnerre, of S. John the Presbyter, a man of God." Galesinius: "At Tonnerre within the borders of the Remi, of S. John the Presbyter, a man of God." Ferrarius contradicts himself in his Topography of the Martyrology; for under the word Rheims he writes: "28 Jan. John the Presbyter in the monastery of Tonnerre." But under the word Tonnerre, somewhat better: "It is a town of Celtic Gaul on the border of Burgundy and Brie, in the diocese of Langres, the head of the County of Tonnerre, where the monastery of Reome stands, not far from it, between the city of Auxerre and the town of Chatillon-sur-Seine, about ten French miles from Auxerre toward the east." And: "22 Sept. John, Abbot of Reome." But he supposed John the Abbot of Reome and that John the Presbyter, rashly ascribed to Rheims (even by Constantius Felicius), to be different persons. But the same Ferrarius in his new and general Catalogue of Saints, at the 22nd of September, in his Notes: "Not far from Tonnerre is to be seen the monastery of Reome, or, as others write, Reomacense, or even Rheomontense." Who are these "others" who call it Rheomontense? And then: "But in the Roman Martyrology on the 22nd (rather 28th) of January, where Rhemense seems to have been written for Rheomense or Rheomontense." Tonnerre is closer to Auxerre than to Reome, which is situated between the rivers Serein and Armançon, not far from the towns of Avallon and Semur.

[4] Whether he was a Canon: Constantinus Ghinius reckons S. John among Canons. When did he, or where, profess the canonical life, he who for 100 years led the monastic life, and indeed that most strictly monastic life, bound by the rules of the Egyptian ascetics? More correctly Wion, Dorgany, and Menard number him among the Benedictines: not because we suppose him to have been a Benedictine, since when the Benedictine order was first propagated beyond the Alps by S. Maurus, whether Benedictine, he had already been born 115 years; but because the monastery of Reome was afterwards entrusted to the Order of S. Benedict, as were many other dwellings and possessions of those ancient monks of various institutes, so that they, flourishing in the vigor of religious discipline, might restore the lapsed sanctity in them. Dorgany, therefore, writes of S. John as follows: "Of S. John, a man of God." Menard: "At Tonnerre, in the monastery of Reome, of S. John the Presbyter, a man of God, Abbot of that same monastery." Wion: "At Tonnerre within the borders of the Remi, in the monastery of Reome, the deposition of S. John the Presbyter, a man of God, a monk of the same monastery." Reome is far from the borders of the Remi. The same, in his Notes to the 22nd of September, says that John was first a monk of Lerins, then Abbot of Reome, at the castle of Tonnerre. He was indeed a monk of Lerins, but only after he had previously been Abbot of Reome; nor is that monastery at the castle of Tonnerre, but in the district or territory which formerly was subject to that castle.

Section II. The Life of S. John.

[5] The Life of S. John was written by a monk of Reome, a disciple of that most holy Abbot himself, in two books; in the second of which he introduces the Deacon Laetus conversing with him about the deeds and virtues of John. The Life of S. John, Our Peter Rouvier, and after him Aubert Le Mire, write that Jonas the Abbot was the author of this life, because, as will be clear from the preface below, he writes that while passing through the monastery of S. John called Reome, he rested there for a few days from the toil of the journey, reviewed by Jonas the Abbot; and was led by the prayers of the Lord Abbot Hunna and the Brethren of that monastery to write down what had been truly learned through the disciples of the aforesaid Confessor of Christ or their successors. But many things persuade us that Jonas only reviewed and interpolated that life.

[6] For in the Prologue, no. 3, the author speaks of himself thus: "That I should undertake it myself, with no one's envy refuting me; to commend a singular man, with the memory of many who often saw him, living and present, as witness." Rouvier reads "living and present": Written by a contemporary, but neither is the sense apt; and the question is, what does it mean to commend someone with the testimony of the memory of many, whether present or absent? Is it not to celebrate one whom many remember having seen? And he does indeed admit that the Deacon Laetus lived with John, and conversed with Jonas after John's death, still vigorous after 118 years and with his memory intact, when he was at least in his one hundred and fortieth year of age; for he had gone to John in the time of King Theudebert, around the year of Christ 540, to obtain eulogies for his brother Fidamiolus, which he had previously found beneficial for himself; whence it may be conjectured that he was then at least about twenty years old; to which if you add 123, the number that elapsed until Jonas's arrival at Reome, you get 143. If Laetus, so long-lived, retained his memory, and that was his age, why does he nowhere indicate it, as old men are wont to do? Why does he himself proclaim as remarkable in John, who was so much younger, what he does not mention in himself? Why does he speak of a plague that raged 120 years before as though it were recent and known to all? But not only was that one Laetus so long-lived, but many others too, by whose testimony as witness the author commends John.

[7] The same author professes himself a monk of Reome in bk. 1, ch. 1, no. 8: "Which our Bishop Gregory," he says, "having learned by report, who at that time held the governance of the Church of Langres," etc. By a monk of Reome. But whether Jonas was Abbot of Bobbio or of Luxeuil, he could not have called a Bishop of Langres "our Bishop." The same, in ch. 2, no. 10, calls S. John his own Patron; by what right? On account of a hospitality of a few days? And he could indeed have called him Patron, whom perhaps he resolved thenceforth to venerate diligently; but why his own? In ch. 3, no. 15: "Lest anyone think that what we say is fanciful, we have learned it from the report of the venerable Agrippinus the Deacon, son of that same Agrestius." To lend credibility, he cites a man commonly known at that time; but the son of one who had been intimate with John, who died so long before. But let that one too have been of the race of the long-lived.

[8] Does not the title of the second book clearly prove what we have said? It reads: "Dialogue of his disciples." By a disciple of S. John himself: The life-writer and the Deacon Laetus converse together: therefore not only the latter but the former too was a disciple of John. Rouvier writes that this dialogue was held between Jonas and Laetus. But the author says: "As I was turning over again and again the little body of the previous booklet, our dearest Laetus the Deacon came upon me." Why "dearest" and "our"? Whence came that familiarity between Laetus and an Italian, or certainly (as some, though wrongly, have written) an Irishman or Scot? He continues: "Then he began to ask me, as if not knowing, what work I was engaged upon in my cell." Let us grant that the guest Abbot of another institute was lodged in a cell among the other monks of that monastery: "Since I had heard you reading some time ago, Brother," he said. Let him call an Abbot advanced in years "Brother" rather than "Father," a Deacon-monk; let that be the privilege of his prodigious age: but how had he heard "some time ago," when Jonas had been there only a few days? Then at no. 4: "My brother Fidamiolus, whom you, Brother, know very well." Were all of that so long-lived a race?

[9] These two books on the life of S. John were transcribed from the ancient parchments of the monasteries of Acey and Montagne Sainte-Marie, whence this edition, of the Cistercian Order in the diocese of Besançon, by our Pierre-François Chifflet, who shared them with us; we have collated them with the edition published by Rouvier from MSS. of Reome and with the MS. of the monastery of Bonsons. Surius published the same on the 22nd of September, but much shorter, and altered the style in suitable places, as he himself admits. Vincent Barralis of Salerno published the same verbatim from Surius in his Chronologia Lirinensis; he adds, however, "as is found in a very ancient MS. codex": but he himself had not seen that codex.

Section III. The age of S. John.

[10] The author expressed the age of S. John when he said: "From the time of the Caesar Valentinian and the Emperor Marcian, Under which rulers S. John lived; who obtained the dignity of the monarchy after Theodosius the Younger, he endured until the times of the Augustus Justinian. At which time also the Franks with King Clovis, setting aside the Republic, breaking the boundaries of the Romans by military force, invaded Gaul. And so he endured until the times of King Theodoric, who was the son of the aforesaid Clovis, and of his son Theudebert." He then testifies in bk. 2, the last chapter, that he died at the age of 120 years. These chronological indicators are admirably discussed by Rouvier.

[11] Valentinian III, grandson of Theodosius the Elder through his daughter Placidia, received the Empire while still a boy on the 23rd of October 425, and held it amid various disasters until the 17th of March 455. When and how long each reigned: Marcian, upon the death of Theodosius the Younger on the Kalends of August in the year 450, was made Emperor through the agency of S. Pulcheria; he died toward the end of January 457. Justinian reigned from the 1st of April 527 until the year 565. Clovis succeeded his father Childeric in the kingdom of the Franks in the year 482, embraced the faith of Christ in 496, and died in 511. Four sons succeeded him: three born of S. Clotilde, and Theodoric born of a concubine, who established the seat of his kingdom at Metz. When he died in the year 534, his son Theudebert succeeded him; Theudebald succeeded him in the year 548.

[12] From these facts it is established, first, that John was not born before the year of Christ 425, nor did he die after 548. The precise year of death and birth Rouvier derives as follows: In the MSS. of Reome, as we shall note below, he is said to have died "in the year of the Lord 512, according to what is numbered in the cycle of the Blessed Bishop Victorius." Victorius made a cycle of 532 years and began it from the consuls called the two Gemini, in which year, like many other ancients, he supposed Christ to have suffered, when in fact He suffered only two years later. Therefore, to establish the precise year of Christ, some add 30 years to the years of the Victorian cycle, others fewer, and others 33, and no more. If you add 30 to the 512 years of that cycle, you will produce the year 542 of the common era; from which number if you subtract John's 120 years, 422 will remain. But it is certain from what has been said above Born in 425, died in 545, that he was not born before the reign of Valentinian III, that is, before October of the year 425. Therefore, to establish something certain, one must add 33 to those 512 years of Victorius, to make 545; from which if 120 are subtracted, the year of birth will be 425, or at most 426.

Section IV. Miracles from S. Gregory of Tours.

[13] It is worthwhile to set forth here chapter 87 of the Glory of the Confessors by S. Gregory of Tours, especially because Baronius seemed to doubt whether it referred to this S. John, since he supposed him to have lived at Rheims. He therefore writes in the Notes to the Martyrology: Another S. John the Presbyter, 27 June. "S. Gregory of Tours writes in his book On the Glory of the Confessors, ch. 23, the deeds of a certain John the Presbyter, not at Rheims (as is here stated) but buried at Tours; for which reason that one appears to be different from the one we are treating of." About another John, the same Gregory of Tours writes in On the Glory of the Confessors, ch. 87. We shall treat of the former, the Touronian Presbyter John, on the 27th of June. Of the Reomanian, S. Gregory has the following:

[14] "There was in the district of Tonnerre, in the parish of Langres, a man distinguished for holiness, John the Abbot, anticipated by divine grace according to the etymology of his name. For it is related that when he wished to build a monastery, which is called Reome, The water of the well of Reome, and the Brethren were suffering an extreme scarcity of water, he found a well of immense depth, in which a most evil serpent, a basilisk, dwelt. Having therefore destroyed the serpent by divine invocation and cleansed the well, he rendered it drinkable for the Brethren. Of which water we too, when we were proceeding to Lyon, being kindly received by the Brethren of that monastery, cures fevers, drank on account of the miracle; and by drinking it very many sufferers from ague are cured."

[15] "The following miracle is also related of the aforesaid man. A certain fratricide, bound with iron rings for the enormity of his crime, received the command to wander for seven years visiting the places of the Saints. When he had come to Rome, he learned by divine revelation Chains loosed for a penitent, through his intercession, that he could not be absolved otherwise than by reaching the relics of the holy body of John, Abbot of Reome. Wandering therefore everywhere through the places, at last he came to the basilica where, not far from the monastery, his most sacred body is laid: and there, devoting himself to prayers and vigils, he was freed from all his bonds. This just and devout man lived, like the lawgiver Moses, one hundred and twenty years, and neither did his eye grow dim nor his tooth move. He was moreover the teacher of a memorable man, of whom we shall speak in his place"--namely S. Sequanus, of whom he treats in the following chapter.

LIFE FROM ANCIENT MSS.

By a monk of Reome, a contemporary, reviewed and interpolated by Jonas the Abbot.

John, Abbot of Reome in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 4426

By an Anonymous Author, from MSS.

PREFACE OF ABBOT JONAS.

In the third year of the reign of King Clotar, by order of that Prince himself and of his mother the exalted Lady Queen Balthild, when the Abbot Jonas, trained in the teachings of Blessed Columban, was being sent to the city of Chalon in the second week of the ninth month, and passing through the monastery of S. John which is called Reome, had rested there for a few days from the toil of the journey; led by the prayers of the Lord Abbot Hunna and the Brethren of that monastery, to write down what had been truly learned through the disciples of the aforesaid Confessor of Christ or their successors, he at last turned his pen to the task as follows.

BOOK I.

PROLOGUE OF THE AUTHOR.

[1] In pursuing the most excellent examples of the Saints, who illuminated the world more brightly than the light, both by teaching with their words and by showing by their example, we ought with all zeal and all effort to declare and make known to all whatever has been discovered: The Acts of Saints ought to be written, so that we may summon to eternal life the minds both of men devoted to heavenly desire and also of the simple. So that while we weigh with attentive mind, by examining, the labors and studies, the examples of contrition and mortification of the Bishops and monastic Fathers who preceded us, we may raise both our own hearts and the minds of others to the imitation of them; so that, with Christ's favor, we may strive to undertake both the consolations of doctrine and the supplements of labors. Nor is it undeserved that their virtues and religious deeds are upheld with Christian praise, who, flourishing with one spirit in the diversity of virtues, are also adorned with the diverse gifts of graces, according to the saying of Isaiah: "Who are these that fly as clouds, and as doves to their windows?" Isa. 60:8. For there is no doubt, according to what the Vessel of Election, with the trumpet of the Holy Spirit sounding and demonstrating the form of the supplement of spiritual gifts, has revealed; that while individuals exercise the service of the divine name by receiving individual gifts from the bounty of the Creator according to their merits, they afterwards receive an accumulation of rewards. 1 Cor. 12:4.

[2] Therefore we strive to commit to memory with our pen the life of the venerable and religiously imitable man, the Blessed John, monk and Abbot: what and how great contests of his labor he strove to undertake, and what outstanding examples to show for our benefit, to leave as a memorial to the ages. So that not only might he receive the fruit of his labor, but also draw all men subsequently to the imitation of his contest, who, rightly venerating and imitating his glorious triumphs, might receive both the medicine for their sins and the supplements of eternal life. Whence, exalted by these and such virtues, anticipated by the grace and mercy of God, and walking with an unimpeded step in His commandments, he merited a triumph not only in the heavenly realm, but also in the present life he remained for a long time for the edification of many. When S. John lived. So that from the time of the Caesar Valentinian and the Emperor Marcian, who obtained the dignity of the monarchy after Theodosius the Younger, he endured until the times of the Augustus Justinian. At which time also the Franks with King Clovis, setting aside the Republic, breaking the boundaries of the Romans by military force, invaded Gaul. And so he endured until the times of King Theodoric, who was the son of the aforesaid Clovis, and of his son Theudebert. Setting aside these things, let us return to what we had begun. For we believe it will be useful and pleasing if we turn the pen of our writing to the point from which we digressed.

[3] I shall therefore begin to write the life of S. John, for we consider it wicked to pass over in silence how he showed himself dear to God from the very rudiments of his infancy. There is, however, a threefold and entangled difficulty which we must avoid. First, that I, so unskilled and so inarticulate, should presume to commit to written syllables and to memory a subject of such magnitude. Apology for the inelegance of style and prolixity. Second, lest, as I expect, my rather uncultivated and perhaps faulty speech should, as it were, pierce the ears of readers with a dull blade. Third, that I am distressed on every side, since my mind, impelled by love of Christ, desires to unfold everything; and again I fear lest the prolixity of the pages and the abundance of accumulated matters should engender disgust in the hearts of the incredulous. But, as I believe, the reward will be prepared by the Lord, not for whoever reads, but for whoever believes. Although by some I may not unjustly be judged presumptuous, for daring to undertake a work which I am unable to bear as worthily as it deserves, and for presuming to discuss such exalted virtues with an unskilled pen. But when I first set my mind to writing, I resolved within myself that I would not blush at solecisms or at the lowliness of my words; only that I might rescue from the oblivion and silence of men his praise and the virtues which Christ wrought through him, now almost growing old. And therefore I think they should be spread abroad without pretension, because I do not fear that anyone will refute me for having written anything false. For if these things could somehow be known to posterity without our labor, I would perhaps not have thought it necessary for me to work at this. At length I thought this was owed by me to so many men of talent: that since we still hold his living memory, I should render it immortal, if I could. Which task I shall undertake with no one's envy refuting me; to commend a singular man with the testimony of the memory of many living and present persons who often saw him.

g. Rouvier reads ecce.

CHAPTER I.

The upbringing of S. John, his monastic life, his desire for concealment.

[4] The homeland, family, and parents of S. John. John, a man to be proclaimed in all things and second to none in his time, was born in the territory of the city of Langres; he adorned the nobility of his birth with the nobility of his mind; sprung from the same soil and buried in the same soil at his death. He was begotten of most noble parents. His father was named Hilarius, and his mother was called Quieta. The practice of religion held their minds enchained and bound under every devotion of Christian fear. And indeed from the very rudiments of his earliest years, his upbringing, both in boyhood and in youth, he was nourished and raised by his parents in the practice of Christian vigor and religion. Holy character from boyhood. While he still enjoyed the youthful age in his parents' house, he did not pursue wantonness but followed the footsteps of the Saints: he did not allow himself to be dissolved by more delicate foods or by any delights, as that age is wont to do. He meditated even in boyish age upon what he afterwards devoutly fulfilled when he had passed into manly strength. For he was excellently educated in letters. But how singular his memory was, and what benevolence he showed toward his fellow students, his studies, is beyond our ability to unfold.

[5] Therefore, when he was about twenty years of age, and the affection of his parents' love as well as the gravity of their old age would by no means permit him to penetrate to more secluded places, his withdrawal, he at last broke all restraints and betook himself to Christ. Thus in a remote part of his estate he built himself a cell with his own hands with the greatest labor, and constructed an oratory, and there with only two boys attending him he devoted himself to God alone. For at that same time a Consul named John governed the Gauls under the authority of the Empire. After some span of time had elapsed, also to a more remote place, when the soldier of Christ directed his mind toward more perfect things, and here and there gave free rein to his religion with fervent spirit in order to imitate the examples of the Saints, in the wilderness that lies under the sky of Langres and is about thirty miles from the castle called Tonnerre, accompanied by the aforesaid boys, he established himself as a new guest. There at first he began to dwell in a small hut.

[6] Shortly after this, with crowds of people flocking together from various parts, he himself was established as the leader of the heavenly militia. Now with a monastery built there through the firmness of his faith, where the monastery was founded, he does not allow the ordinances of the Rule and the examples of the Fathers, of whom he himself was an imitator, to be wanting in a monastery still rough and new. Then, fired by the zeal for perfection, rules prescribed; he fearlessly undertook the labor of a journey, and with fervent mind proposing to visit monasteries all around, neither the great extent of territories nor the immensity of present dangers could in any way deter him who was a fiery torch of faith. And so, having visited the monasteries of Gaul, and having tasted the truth of the light, desiring to store up spiritual honey, like a most prudent bee he plucked the flowers of divine grace, and storing them within the chamber of his breast, he strove toward the sweetness of the highest sanctity and the summit of perfection.

[7] From there he again sought a monastery on a maritime island called Lerins; where at that time, and even now, the regularity of the Rule and the ordinances of the holy Fathers endure inviolate. The reason for undertaking the labor of this journey was this: Flight to Lerins out of a desire for concealment. As the throng of monks in his monastery grew, he began to consider anxiously what would be better, and what would more profitably contribute to the accumulation of reward: whether he should preside by governing a community, or whether, subjected to others through obedience under the guise of religion, he might make greater progress. It was at last his counsel that it was better to submit himself under the bond of mortification than to lord it over others by commanding. Therefore, for the sake of embracing this religious life, accompanied by two Brethren, seizing upon the densest darkness of night, he fled. When he was received there, out of humility he concealed the dignity of his former position.

[8] When he had been lying hidden there for a year and about six months, and was being sought throughout the whole country, he was at last seen by someone who had come from the regions of Gaul; by whom, however, he could scarcely be recognized on account of the humility of his garb. Recognized there. When this man, looking at him, had been held for a very long time in hesitation about recognizing him, at last approaching more closely and diligently examining not only his face but also the sound of his voice, he rushed to his feet and said: "Is this not the venerable John, who, fleeing the eminence of honors, came to these places?" At first this struck the onlookers with the greatest amazement; but afterwards they were struck with even greater wonder when the man had immediately revealed his name, which had come to them with a great reputation. All the Brethren asked his pardon for their former ignorance: namely, that they had assigned him among the juniors for so long a time. Thenceforth, as was fitting, he began to be held in the greatest honor; for He is truthful who said that a city set upon a mountain cannot be hidden. Matt. 5:15. The man who had recognized him therefore returned and brought back to the country the ineffable joy of the discovery of John. He is recalled to his own: When our Bishop Gregory, who at that time held the governance of the Church of Langres, learned this report, he chose two Brethren and wrote two pairs of letters. One to the Father of that monastery, named Honoratus; the other he transmitted addressed to John's own name, entreating him to return: and that if he delayed, he should know that Gregory would have him to account before the tribunal of Christ both for the desolation of the aforesaid place and for the dispersal of the Brethren. Copies of these letters would have been worthy of being inserted into this booklet, if they could somehow be found.

[9] Therefore they brought him back unwilling and weeping that he had not merited to end his life in the subjection which he had embraced; and having returned to his homeland, he gladdened all his countrymen and fellow citizens by the grace of his arrival. And so, entering the monastery, he found that the strictness of the Rule which he had taught he restores the lapsed discipline, was by no means being observed. Then indeed, reforming anew the ordinances of the monastery as though it were still rough and new, he at last eventually recalled the order of things to its former state. For as far as the judgment of our understanding penetrates, he is not to be judged inferior to that Egyptian of whom a certain excellent writer, Cassian, in those booklets which he composed concerning human vices and their natures and remedies, relates of a certain Pinufius, a Presbyter and Abbot; who, when he was considered the foremost of all in those parts, and on that account could not cultivate the virtue of humility, fled secretly from the monastery which he himself had founded, out of a desire for subjection, and having put on secular garments, is said to have sought the monastery of the Tabennesians, which he knew to be the strictest of all: and with many tears and prayers he at last obtained admission. And when he was sought by his disciples in various places, he was seen, in a similar manner, by someone who had come from the parts of Egypt; who here too could scarcely be recognized on account of the humility of the office he was performing and the lowliness of his garb; and he commemorates the very labor of the work he was performing: for, he says, bent over with a hoe, he was loosening the earth for vegetables, and carrying manure on his own shoulders and working it into their roots. At length Pinufius, recognized by the Brother who had seen him, was unwillingly recalled to his own monastery.

CHAPTER III.

Other miracles of his.

CHAPTER II.

The virtues and miracles of S. John.

[10] But we must return to the order of the work we have begun, because we judge it more proper to speak the praise of our own Patron in our own words, so far as the slenderness of our talent suffices, than to weave the volume of our work from the virtues and writings of others; The writer implores his aid. because however unlearned we may be, and however constrained on every side by the poverty of our knowledge, so that we cannot attain to such arduous things, reaching to the sublime summit, as the magnitude of the matters demands, yet we trust that we can to some extent set them forth, if by his intercession that word of the Lord, which was uttered through Isaiah, should also be directed to us: "I will go before you, and will humble the mighty of the earth, and I will break in pieces the gates of bronze and cut asunder the bars of iron, and will open to you hidden treasures and the secrets of mysteries": that the word of the Lord going before us may first humble the mighty of the earth, that is, the noxious passions claiming for themselves a tyrannical and most savage dominion in our mortal body; and may make them submit to our investigation and exposition; and so, breaking for us the gates of ignorance and shattering the bars of vice that exclude us from true knowledge, may lead us to the secrets of mysteries. Isa. 45:2-3.

[11] Therefore when, as we said, he had first established himself in the wilderness of Tonnerre, He cleanses an ancient well by killing a basilisk: while still only a few dwelt with him, he suffered an extreme scarcity of water. But when the Brethren inquired, it was reported that a well existed in that place, built in ancient times to an immense depth: which the neglect of the common people and the length of time had permitted to be covered over with a mass of stones; where also a most evil serpent, a basilisk, dwelt. When this came to the knowledge of the blessed man, anxious not so much for his own need as for the care of the Brethren whom he wished to assemble there, shaking the weapons of faith, he proceeded to the place, while all chanted psalms and expected nothing other than the death of the blessed man alone. Meanwhile John descended into the well, and having completed his prayer and taken up a rake, he was the first to approach as a digger of the earth. Then he encouraged all; and all came: and as they worked, the immensity of the well was opened. There the aforesaid serpent was found, slain by the invocation of the divine name. The suffrages of prayers conquered the lethal venoms of the serpent. Then with the serpent cast out and the well cleansed, an abundance of water is known to flow there even to the present day.

[12] Having returned, therefore, as we said above, to the aforesaid place, he strove anew to minister wholesome admonitions in the regular tenor which Blessed Macarius had established for the Egyptian monks, and to summon the people, educated to better things, to heavenly joys; He preaches Christ: with the support of a monk named Filomerus, devoted to all holiness and religion; upheld by whose aid, assenting to heavenly proclamation for both monks and people, he conferred it without delay. At the same time his mother, learning of the longed-for arrival of her venerable son, hastened to come to him; so that she might at last joyfully behold the sight of him so long separated from her, and satisfy her prayers. And so, having undertaken the journey to him, He refuses to speak to his mother; she arrived at the place where the man of God was situated, and requested the affection of the attendants, that they should arrange for her to be permitted to behold the offspring long desired before her eyes. Hearing this, he refused, and declined to indulge his mother's affection, remembering the words: "He who does not leave father or mother is not worthy of me." Matt. 10:37. But nevertheless, lest by rashly scorning it he should disturb the faith of his mother, which he knew to be fixed in the love and fear of Christ, He briefly allows her to see him: passing before her, he appeared for a short time to her eyes, so that he might both satisfy his mother's desire and not soften the vigor of his religion on account of a mother's blandishments. He consoles her through his attendants: For he exhorted her through his attendants to polish the eyes of her soul with the medicinal observance of the commandments of God, so that they might behold one another in the vision of peace; for she should know that she would never see him again in the present life.

[13] At another time also, when the monks, desiring to follow the ordinances of the holy Egyptian Fathers, He exercises his monks with manual labor: which decree that a monk should be exercised by continual manual labor, and by contrition not only of body but also of heart, with the purity of perfect chastity; the monks observed this commandment as if it had been sent from heaven. And so the use and necessity of the place demanded that they should clear the forest which borders that monastery by hostile uprooting of stumps. Performing this labor of work with the greatest effort and the most intense application, on a certain day (I know not from what cause) it happened that upon returning to the monastery they left all their axes in the place where the work had begun. Meanwhile a certain one of the inhabitants of that place, He recovers the stolen axes, the thief being divinely detained: the Brethren being absent, carried off all their axes by the crime of theft. The Brethren, having returned, reported the loss of the damage to the Father. Then he said: "Devote yourselves to prayer and reading, until I, with the Lord's help, seek the common property wherever it may be." And going out, he proceeded to the place. Then, his prayer completed in his customary manner, while he turned over in his mind why God had permitted this to happen to His servants, he saw from afar a man coming toward him at a most rapid pace, the one who had committed this crime: and while the latter hastened, the former waited a moment. Having quickly arrived, the thief immediately threw himself at his feet and confessed the crime he had committed; and he reported that he had been unable to find any means of escape unless he fully restored the property of the servants of God; and at the same time he begged pardon for the crime committed. Then Blessed John, moved by compassion, bestowed upon him not only pardon but also eulogies with a blessing.

[14] For it would be absurd to pass over the tokens of those virtues by the grace of which, as I trust, he was adorned and attained this glory. Which, insofar as he could be questioned, he narrated in his own words, not so much from the pretense of boasting as from the zeal for edification. He had happened to arrive at the castle called Semur, He avoids the seductions of an immodest woman, intending to spend the night there. And while he was returning from the church, where he had gone for the purpose of prayer, the day now having departed and the night, so to speak, now having entered, a certain woman rushed upon him, captive in her inner senses and in the ornament of modesty, or rather deceived; persuading and courting him to penetrate with her more secretly the hidden parts of the countryside, so that the devil and the woman might more easily incline him by their enticements and crimes. When the man full of God perceived the devil's art, spurning and resisting, he is said to have fled at a run. Then she, confused by the guilt of her conscience and modesty, and with the storm of her conscience and her fury calmed, at last coming to herself, returned to the lodging. John sought to conceal the victory of his struggle. But the things which Christ works through His servants, although they strive with the utmost effort to conceal them, are all revealed whether they will it or not.

CHAPTER III.

Other miracles of his.

[15] A certain Agrestius, a citizen of the region of Grandmont, a man of good morals, had come to the monastery of S. John on the Lord's Day with the purpose of requesting a blessing, waiting and seeking that he might be deemed worthy to receive the consecrated Body of Christ from the mouth of John; and when John, as was his custom, wished to celebrate the solemnities of the Mass more privately, John said: "Go out, Agrestius, for the time being, while we perform the sacred mysteries more privately, as the welfare of the monastery demands." When Agrestius entreated that he not be rejected, since he had come chiefly for this very purpose, John said: "We do not do this because we wish to abhor the presence of your charity; but lest we appear to make void the precepts of the holy Fathers, or presume to relax the discipline of the Rule." At length he went out, overcome either by reason or by entreaties. Then, stirred by indignation, he dared to blaspheme, asking why he had not been permitted to be present while the holy mysteries were celebrated by the holy man. [He appears to Agrestius and rebukes him for the blasphemy, indicating the loss he has incurred.] On the following night, therefore, when he had given himself to sleep, he beheld in a vision John standing before the place of his bed with a joyful face, a serene countenance, and bearing in his right hand the gem of the Eucharist. John said: "Behold, Agrestius, for if you had refrained from blasphemy yesterday, even though you had not received it bodily, it would nevertheless have been bestowed upon you spiritually; but now, because you have presumed to blaspheme, it shall be denied to you spiritually." And the vision vanished from his eyes. Upon waking, he recognized the guilt of his offense; and when day had been restored to the world, he returned with a contrite heart and, prostrated by divine fear, begged pardon. Lest anyone think what we say to be fabulous, we learned of it from the report of the venerable man Agrippinus the Deacon, the son of Agrestius himself.

[16] One who scorns his intercession for a fugitive slave is divinely punished. At another time also, a certain slave of one Clarus fled to the monastery of S. John, driven by his fault (which fault it seems to us by no means right to unfold, lest we appear to weave a tragedy rather than a history), and lurking there for a few days, he besought that S. John would send an intercessory letter to Clarus, so that with his fault pardoned the slave might return to his master's service, excused. Then Blessed John, out of regard for mercy and piety, wrote a letter. When this had been delivered to Clarus, he inquired from the bearer the order of events on account of which it had been sent. He learned that it had been sent so that his slave might not seem to be excluded any longer from the duty of his master's service. Taking the letter in his hands, he not only disdained to read it through, but also expectorations drawn from a dry throat without any admixture of phlegm were cast upon the seal of the letter itself. Therefore divine vengeance followed upon this act of rashness; for from the day on which these things were done, for nine full years not only could no bread whatsoever be introduced into his mouth, but not even the sanctification of the Eucharist itself could anywhere be admitted; and scarcely, so to speak, could he taste any of the thinnest liquid.

[17] The mind therefore desires to narrate how great a grace of expelling demons endured in John even to his death, if it can in any way be pursued and encompassed by us. At that time Nicasius was also very famous, a man of fierce disposition, to whom the care of governing the commonwealth of the town of Avallon had been entrusted. A slave of this Nicasius, tormented by a pitiable end because he was possessed by a demon, was brought in chains and bonds to the monastery of S. John, He frees a demoniac: in hope of recovering health. When he had been presented before the gaze of S. John, and all besought him to bestow his accustomed care of purification upon the madman, the wretched man began to rage and gnash his teeth, and to utter the most frenzied words: he was also burned on all sides by engulfing globes of invisible flames; and you might have seen the wretched man whirled this way and that, and crying out with enormous shrieking that he could endure no longer if John should come any closer. Meanwhile he ordered the demoniac to be brought to him more privately, and having healed him by a swift purgation, he commanded him to dwell with him for a few days afterward. By which deed both the possessed man recovered his health and the slave was restored to his master.

[18] Nor was what I am about to relate dissimilar to this. A certain person from among the rustic folk came to make a request, bringing with him his little son, likewise another, whom he makes a monk: that through the prayer of S. John health might be restored to the child, who was denied the use of his tongue and the functions of his lips, so that the devil had even rendered him senseless. Then John began to resist, saying that it was not within his own power through which God might show a sign of health. Meanwhile the father, weeping and wailing, at length earned that his son be received. And so, after some interval of time had passed, the child was purified by divine aid. Then the little boy, as if desiring to repay the benefit of his restored well-being, cast himself at the feet of S. John and, with the holy Brethren themselves interceding, obtained that he might be added to the number of the holy Brothers: desiring to serve the Lord in the very place where he had obtained not only the health of his body but also the safety of his soul.

[19] For in John this was admirable: that he was never afflicted by anyone's death, nor did he rejoice at a funeral. There was nothing of malevolent will in him, His supreme moderation of spirit in all things. nor was the capacity for good ever lacking. His authority was tranquil, his mind content with its own measure, and never given to base gain. He conquered the enticements of the body, avoided jests and obscene speech; he was never envious of anyone: not ignorant, but taught by many experiences that these habits pledge the perpetual life to come through the ages.

[20] But let it suffice to have said a few things from many, because for one whom a few things do not suffice for believing, more things will not profit by hearing. Epilogue. Therefore the little page of our booklet, fearing lest it be received with distaste by some on account of its prolixity, now demands an end. Assuredly, in this volume of the booklet, in both the preceding and the following part, we wish the reader to be forewarned that he should weigh the substance rather than the words; and however much the sense of the style may be varied by a scattering of solecisms, I beseech that no anger be directed against us on any account.

BOOK II.

A Dialogue of his disciples.

CHAPTER I.

Miraculous healings.

[1] As I was reviewing again and repeatedly the little body of the preceding booklet, our most dear Laetus the Deacon arrived: at whose entrance I greatly rejoiced, The Author learns other things from Laetus. and having greeted one another most courteously, we sat together for a little while. Then he began to inquire of me, as if unaware, what manner of work was being carried on by me in my cell. But when from my response he discovered this to be our labor, which I mentioned above, rendered much more joyful and kissing my head, he said: "When I had been listening to you reading just now, Brother, I was silently returning in thought to my own conscience, wondering whether the things I knew about John's virtues were included in the present volume. But since they are perhaps not at all known to you, I beg you to write them down as I explain them." At these words we were both silent for a little while. Yet at my request, he at last began thus.

[2] On a certain day an occasion arose by which I was carrying a letter from S. John to Secundinus the Patrician on behalf of a certain poor man. One who scorns the letter of S. John is punished by God; Secundinus the Patrician, having taken the letter in his hands and learning for what cause it had been brought, cast it down to be trampled underfoot; and he strove to hurl threats at me, and with swelling neck to thunder forth furious words, to strike the footstool with his foot and to slap his thigh with his palm. I confess to you truly that I saw the man raving mad. But I, not wholly unmindful of the Gospel precept, having shaken the dust from my feet, departed. Mark 6:11. Immediately Secundinus was shaken with excessive fear and trembling, and was surrounded by a kind of dark mist of night; and as if he had been driven round on all sides by sharpened stakes, so you might have seen his whole body contorted in various ways and in various parts. I was astonished at the miracle of the thing. How swiftly his limbs were transformed to another condition! So that he who just before, inflamed with excessive fury of boasting, had been striking the footstool with his foot and had struck his thigh with his palm, now, as I believe and am confident, terrified by the assault of an Angel, indeed contorted by excessive trembling, understood that he was suffering these things on account of his contempt for S. John's letter. And so through trusted intermediaries he begged pardon, declaring that he would render complete obedience to S. John's commands in every way; and he immediately decreed that all things which John had commanded should be fulfilled, provided only that he would pray to the Lord on his behalf. He is healed by his prayers. This being done, both the one recovered his health and the other obtained what he had requested.

[3] But I said: "O Laetus, although I hear these things from you and willingly receive them, I beg you nevertheless to relate the greatness of that virtue which, as they assert, you yourself experienced." "I shall do so," said Laetus, "plainly. During that plague, which I wish you did not know, while it was devastating our peoples and our country, God being angry, as I was returning from Paris, where at that time it was raging, I felt myself seized by the contagion of this disease. And when, oppressed by the severity of the ulcer, I had scarcely reached my own home, and there, with the affliction prevailing, I lay almost lifeless, and was attended by the sorrowful ministry of my grieving household, and my mother was tearing her face and cheeks with her own nails, crying out that she was wretched, she said that no hope of life would remain to her after my death, not even a small portion. Suffering from the plague, he is healed by drinking water blessed by him. But I, desiring to console her, said that I would survive, if only water from the well of the monastery of S. John were brought to me to drink. And when water had been brought which had been imbued with S. John's blessing, once I drank it, as if the swiftest health had entered into me, I rested in sleep in a way that previously had rarely happened to me. And when I awoke, I perceived that the ulcer, from whose putrefaction I had long been suffering, had burst open. Thus gradually, little by little, my limbs began to revive with their proper functions, until, strengthened in my steps both by the prayers of Blessed John and with the Lord's help, I arose."

[4] Nor was what I am prepared to relate dissimilar to this. For at the time when the Franks, having set aside the Republic and abolished the right of Empire, were ruling by their own power, Theudebert, son of Theuderic, formerly the son of Clovis, having burst through the barriers of Italy, brought war upon the Italians. Having returned most swiftly, he dismissed the general to whom he had entrusted the supreme command of the wars, named Buccelenus, and also sent another named Mumulenus to his aid, and so returned to his own lands. I suspect it is hidden from no one what manner and magnitude of pestilential disease in those days far and wide depopulated the peoples and the country. Another is freed from quartan fever by bread blessed by him; By the affliction of this disease, my brother Fidamiolus, whom you, Brother, know very well, had long been wasting away with the quartan malady. But when it had become known to me that he lay as one already dead without any hope of life, immediately having recourse to the familiar protection, I hastened devoutly to John, as to celestial aid, no otherwise than for a thing already perishing. At once, having received the gift of eulogies, quite lavish indeed — one biscuit and five small apples — I carried them by night in haste to the ailing man. And while I was still far off, the sick man perceived not so much my arrival as the arrival of his own health, and began to inquire of those standing about where I was; and calling me by my name, he was demanding the biscuit which I was bringing, as though he could see me present. A little later I arrived and was received by the ministrations of the mourning crowd. And so, having entered the house in which the sick man lay, when I both saw my brother being even now headlong snatched away into death, breaking forth into open sobs and tears, I produced the gift which I had brought. Therefore I myself inserted three particles of the blessed bread, moistened with an infusion of wine, into his mouth; and immediately, his limbs being strengthened, he sat up in his bed and drew breath. Then little by little, strengthened by the reception of this food, his limbs began to return to their proper function, until, restored to his former good health, he arose in the sight of the entire company.

[5] Likewise another: For neither should this seem worthy of being passed over: that to his friend, or rather his kinsman, who was imperiled in health by this disease from which he knew himself to have suffered, he brought a portion of that gift by which he himself had been made well, desiring to render him similarly healed. Upon receiving this, the kinsman too was restored to his recently lost well-being. For indeed the small gifts of these eulogies, sanctified by S. John's blessing, frequently wrought cures upon the infirm.

CHAPTER II.

Care for the poor and his own.

[6] And when he was being exercised in his customary manner through the forest, after the fashion of the ancient athletes, by prayer and fasting, he found a certain poor man, half-naked, seeking with all diligence the necessary food and the fruits which the forest is accustomed to produce, He turns an idle beggar into an industrious man in order to overcome the hunger of his flesh with food. When John inquired what he was seeking, the man expressed in the confession of his own mouth the misery that had been inflicted upon him. But John said: "Would that the hunger of the flesh alone were pressing upon you, and not the hunger and thirst of the soul, which remains tormented without any nourishment! Or surely if that poverty of which the Lord spoke prophetically possessed you — 'Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven,' and renders him prosperous by the sign of the Cross and 'Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied' — you would lack no abundance of provisions. Matt. 5:3 and 6. But I shall give counsel by whatever means I can, so that you may not lose hope. For many have escaped through an unexpected turn of fortune. Place your hope in the Lord, and He Himself will nourish you; and take up the pursuit of labor, according to the Apostle, 'that which is good, so that you may have something to provide necessities for your own use and for the needy.' Eph. 4:28." And having made the sign of the Cross on the man's breast, he commanded him to go to his own home. The man, obeying the command of the man of God, undertook so great an abundance of labor that thenceforth the things necessary for him were never lacking.

[7] He generously assists the poor. At a certain time also, a severe famine was tormenting the surrounding regions, so violent that for most people there was not even hope of survival. When therefore they hastened to the man of God seeking sustenance, he, bearing before his eyes the saying of the prophetic proclamation, which says, "Break your bread for the hungry, and give to everyone who asks of you," Isa. 58:7; Luke 6:30 ministered necessities to whomever he saw arriving. And when from all sides the throng of the needy was arriving more and more frequently, and he was bestowing his accustomed work, ministering to all, one of the attendants approached him and said that he did not have so great an abundance of grain as the troops of the needy were demanding. He, groaning, requested that a vessel be set apart for relieving the want of the poor petitioners; and immediately at the command of the pious Father, the vessel was filled, holding nearly twenty-five modii or more; while the rest should serve for the needs of the Brethren. When therefore the throng of the needy was being fed from that vessel for some space of time, it happened that a certain man according to custom asked that necessities be given to him; John ordered the customary measure to be given to the needy man. Then the attendant said: "Not even a small amount remains in the vessel, but the whole has been distributed to the poor at your commands." Hearing this, he lifted his eyes to heaven, and bending his knee implored God, the bestower of all things; and when his prayer was completed, he commanded the attendant: "Go," he said, "with the support of faith, and bring food to the needy man." The grain miraculously multiplied The attendant going found the vessel full; and taking the measure, he gave it to the poor man. Then he hastened to report the news to the Father; but John commanded silence, lest the stain of vainglory should destroy the heap of grace.

[8] A certain man of noble purpose, Sequanus by name, having learned of the fame of the servant of God John in the observance of the former Fathers, He receives S. Sequanus into hospitality and discipline: which he himself also thirsted for with burning love, coming one night from the region of Grandmont through the dense darkness, secretly entered the basilica, knocking upon the common Lord with prayers. This was divinely revealed to the man of God; and quickly he commanded his attendant to go with hastened step, and having struck the signal to rouse the brethren, because "our common Brother Sequanus, having secretly passed through the doors of the church, is knocking upon the Lord with prayers." This was found to be so by the swiftest discovery, and the most ardent charity of the Brethren paid to the venerable servant of God the fullest due of hospitality.

[9] How great and how sublime the examples of the Lord's miracles shone forth in His saints has resounded throughout the boundaries of the Church spread across the world, and is known to the faithful by the well-wrought light of truth. When at that time the crops, brought to completion by their annual ripening, had been prepared for cutting in the aforementioned monastery, the assembly of the Brethren hastened in a troop to cut the harvest; and the work, carried on through the whole day's limits, was halted by the approach of the foul night. And when all had returned to the monastery, A monk exulting in a heavenly vision by the command of the elders, one of the Brethren, Claudius by name, remained behind to guard the crop. While he was taking sleep and, waking in the dead of night, raised the ardor of his mind to heaven — according to that saying, "I sleep, but my heart watches" Song of Songs 5:2 — he began to think that perhaps the weary limbs of his companions were indulging too much in slumber, and that, neglecting the practice of prayer, they might defer the customary exercise of their office until the approach of dawn. And while he was turning this over with an anxious mind, he suddenly saw the heavens opened and a shining orb illuminating the whole world; and presently, while his mind was struck with awe at the event of this wondrous thing, the winged cock raising its accustomed voice announced the coming light to the world; and when the signal was struck, the whole assembly of the Brethren entered the church to perform their prayers and chants. He salutarily reproves him: Rejoicing, after the light had been given to the world, he reported to the Father with enthusiasm what he had seen. But John, lest the Brother, corrupted by the goad of pride, should pollute his mind, rebuked him saying: "Do not presume to narrate with a puffed-up heart that you have seen such things. For what? Is it right that a man placed under frailty, and stained by the contagion of sins, should dare to boast of heavenly contemplation?"

CHAPTER III.

Zeal for virtue. His death.

[10] How great was the honor and veneration by which he was supported by the Kings of the Franks The Kings bestow many gifts upon him. and by noble men, no one doubts who desires to read through the benefactions conferred by the aforesaid Kings, recorded in the charters of their decrees, which are preserved even now in the public archives of the aforesaid monastery. There was in him, as I believe and truly say, the fragrance of all virtues, the mortification of the body: fasting and prayers, just as he had borne them in his youthful age, in the same manner he carried them also in his old age; teaching his subjects by example to guard by every means against the greatest vices of gluttony — that is, He takes care that his monks do not indulge in gluttony, avarice, or pride: of the gullet — of love of money, that is, of avarice — of vainglory, that is, of pride — by which he had learned that Adam had been deceived in Paradise; lest in a similar manner, just as Adam, having fallen by these three vices and having been separated and cast down from the joys of Paradise, so likewise those who imitate him, while they succumb by obeying the gluttony of the belly's gorging, while they are disturbed by the goad of pride through weakness of mind, while their souls dedicated to God are wounded by the evil of arrogance — severed from the company of the righteous and deprived of every joy of perpetual light, they should be condemned to eternal torment. He himself, devoting himself to fasting and vigils, having crushed all allurements, favored the virtues as they flourished; and by vigor of spirit he checked the pleasures of the body, being inflamed as he was by the love of that fire of which the Lord says: "I came to cast fire upon the earth; and what do I desire, except that it blaze?" Luke 12:49. That he might attract the fruit of all virtues, he always bore this word in heart and on lips: "My soul has longed to desire your justifications at all times." Ps. 118:20 and 127. And again: "Therefore I have loved your commandments above gold and topaz." And exhorting the Brethren, with cheerful countenance and joyful face, he would admonish them saying: "Come, let us exult in the Lord; let us shout with joy to God our Savior; let us come before His face in confession, and let us shout with joy to Him in psalms. Ps. 94. Come, let us adore and fall prostrate before the Lord, and let us weep before God who made us, for He is the Lord our God." 2 Thess. 3:10. Devoting himself to God with most pious work in heart and body, he was mindful that S. Paul had commanded that if anyone would not work, neither should he eat. And searching the institutions of the holy Fathers, among many conferences he meditated especially upon the teaching of S. Isaac, Abbot of Scythia, constraining himself for the love of Christ, and not blushing at but carrying and always bearing the Cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. This blessed man restrained his mind by the unshaken foundations of profound humility from every assault of slippery impulse; and thus gradually from divine contemplation and spiritual insight he merited to be exalted.

[11] Removed from all care of the world, He cut off generally the solicitude of carnal things except for certain necessities, and admitted not only no care but not even the very memory of any business or cause. Detraction, vain talk, or excessive speech, and scurrility he likewise cut off; and with the greatest effort he strove that his monks be imbued with those disciplines in which he himself, trained from an early age, had risen to the summit of perfection. Nor indeed, although his limbs were failing, Even in extreme old age he devotes himself to preaching: did he cease from the office of preaching; rather, he indefatigably and wholesomely preached those things by which his disciples might be instructed.

[12] He died, therefore, at about one hundred and twenty years of age, on the fifth day before the Kalends of February, full of years of the body He dies at 120 years of age, with his eyes, teeth, and memory intact: and of the beauty of religion: his eyes did not grow dim, he suffered no loss of teeth, and he held tenaciously the vigor of his memory. And as usually happens in most cases, his decrepit age by no means ever succumbed to avarice by abandoning the practice of generosity; rather, his old age was equally strong in all the good things to which his youthful age had devoted itself. He is buried: He was buried not far from the monastery, within the boundaries of the monastery, in the place which he himself had predicted. He shines with miracles. Where, for the display of his most excellent merit, he daily shines with bodily and spiritual miracles, through the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit through infinite ages of ages, Amen.

ON THE TRANSLATIONS AND MIRACLES OF S. JOHN OF REOME.

John, Abbot of Reome in Gaul (S.)

22 Sept. 11 Mar. 28 Aug.

From various sources.

[1] A threefold Translation of the relics of S. John was made: the first was arranged through the zeal of Abbot Leopardinus, near the end of the sixth century or the beginning of the seventh; the second two hundred years later, under Charlemagne; the third after the year 900 of Christ. Of the threefold Translation of S. John The narrative of these Translations and of the many miracles performed at his relics was published from the MSS. of the monastery of Reome by our Pierre Rouvier in two books, which in his work on Reome he designated as the fourth and fifth books concerning the deeds of S. John.

[2] The history was written by two authors, Rouvier seems to have supposed that there was one and the same author of both books. And perhaps the preface prefixed to the second book may persuade this, with these words: "Even though the goal of publication has not yet been reached," as though he had already begun to publish something. It seems to us that this is not clear; indeed, from the Preface attached to the second book and not the first, one may probably suspect that each was written by different authors. We have added the chapter titles and numbers: Rouvier had distributed each little work into more but shorter chapters; but since no such division was made by the original writers themselves, we judge that we are permitted, as we have done elsewhere, to cut and divide in another manner.

[3] Whether, therefore, there was one or two authors of these booklets, they were certainly alumni of the monastery of Reome. The former indicates this of himself when in chapter 2, number 4 he says: "It is indeed judged most profane to allow that to fall into oblivion through forgetfulness which, for the declaration of the singular merit of our Father, we ourselves have seen to be wrought by the wondrous efficacy of the Divinity." And indeed those miracles seem to have been performed and written down before the incursion of the Northmen and the third translation. By monks of Reome. The author of the second booklet also professes himself a Reomensian at number 1: "For indeed the works of our blessed Father John"; and at number 2: "Since he is continually present with us." Then he attests that other things were done in his own presence; and finally he indicates his own period, since he both recalls the devastation inflicted on the province of Lyon by the Northmen, and writes of miracles wrought at Semur at number 7: "we have beheld."

[4] The first Translation was arranged by Leopardinus not before the year of Christ 580; for at about that time, when Mummolus was elevated to the episcopate of Langres, The first Translation: by whom and when arranged; Leopardinus was made Abbot. Rouvier calculates the chronology thus: S. Gregory, Bishop of Langres, in the year 538, in the fourth year after the consulship of Paulinus the Younger, subscribed to the third Council of Orleans in the month of May; and in the following year, or certainly not long after, departed this life on 4 January. S. Tetricus, his son, succeeded him and, as Fortunatus attests, governed that Church for thirty-three years, as we shall say on 18 March. Then Pappulus sat for eight years, as S. Gregory of Tours writes (bk. 5, ch. 5). These years, when brought to a reckoning, will produce the year 580, except that some time seems to have elapsed between the death of S. Tetricus and the installation of Pappulus. Mummolus succeeded Pappulus — the third Abbot of Reome after S. John — whom S. Gregory of Tours attests to have been surnamed "the Good." To him, therefore, in the governance of the monastery, Leopardinus was next installed, by whom the body of S. John was translated.

[5] From where, however, and to where it was translated, because the author did not explicitly relate, Rouvier judges it rightly to be inquired into. S. Gregory testifies that his most sacred body had been placed in a basilica not far from the monastery. From where; Which basilica this was is indicated by the Martyrology of Reome, in which at the tenth day before the Kalends of July the following is read: "In the village of the monastery of Reome, the dedication of the church of S. Maurice the Martyr, in which S. John the Confessor rests in body." This church now stands in the village whose name is Corps-Saint. Leopardinus translated it within the monastery, as can be gathered from chapter 2, number 7, To where: where it is said that it was decreed by religious counsel to restrain forever the atrium of the monastery from the frequentation of women — that is, those flocking to the church of the monastery itself on account of the venerable relics of the Saint.

[6] The memory of this Translation was recorded in the sacred calendars on 22 September, the day on which it occurred. An old MS. of Centula: "On the same day, the Translation of S. John of Reome." Others record S. John on that day, with no distinction assigned for his feast from that which is celebrated on 28 January. The anniversary of his memory, 22 Sept. The Carthusians of Cologne and Molanus in his additions to Usuard, the Martyrologies of Cologne and the German MS. Florarium: "In the district of Tonnerre, Blessed John the Abbot." Ferrarius: "At Tonnerre, S. John, Abbot of Reome." Wion: "In the district of Tonnerre, S. John the Abbot, who lived 120 years of age, whose eyes were not dimmed during all that time, nor did his teeth suffer loss, nor did his memory fail." Benedict Dorganius has the same. And on that day Surius and others included the Life of S. John.

[7] The second Translation was made in the time of the Emperor Charlemagne, The second Translation; although the author writes only that it occurred some years after the first: "After some years," he says, "by the Bishop of the city of Langres, whose name was Becco, the aforesaid sepulchre of the venerable John is known to have been translated from that place to another." Claudius Robertus writes that this Becco, in the twenty-third year of Charlemagne, that is, the year of Christ 791, donated certain churches to the monastery of S. Stephen at Dijon, and that he is called by others Betto, Berto, or Bicto. Rouvier holds that it was placed by Becco in the apse of the altar in the monastic church. "Which apse," he says, "those who now enter it — demoniacs and those of unsound mind — most often experience the most immediate relief."

[8] Afterward the sacred relics were carried from Reome to Semur out of fear of the Barbarians who were advancing from Francia into the Gauls, that is, into the provinces of Lyon, as is said in book 2, number 5; which Rouvier proves to have occurred around the year 888, in which year indeed the monastery of Beze, The third Translation. also situated in the territory of Langres, was devastated by the Northmen. But since the same Barbarians penetrated into those regions more than once, the sacred pledge seems to have been left for a sufficiently long time in the castle of Semur, fortified by nature and by art. The author attests to this delay of time and the Saint's exile, as it were, at number 5: "Therefore there were displayed in that place through various seasons of years, as long as he sojourned there, many miracles." At that time the lord of that castle was Adalgarius, Bishop of Autun, whom Rouvier proves to have died before the year 894, and who also holds that the remains of S. John were brought back to Reome not before the year 911.

[9] On what day the second and third Translation occurred, the author nowhere reveals. One of the two seems to have been made on 11 March, on which day the MS. Martyrology of Ado from the monastery of S. Lawrence at Liege reads: The anniversary of each. "And the Translation of the body of S. John of Reome." The MS. of S. Lambert in the same place: "And the Translation of the body of S. John of Reims." The other seems to have been made on 28 August, on which day the MS. Florarium reads: "Among the Lingones, John the Abbot and Confessor." The Carthusians of Cologne also record him on that day in their additions to Usuard.

TRANSLATION I AND II, AND MIRACLES,

By an anonymous monk of Reome, published from MSS. by Pierre Rouvier of the Society of Jesus.

John, Abbot of Reome in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 4429

By an anonymous monk of Reome, from P. Rouvier.

CHAPTER I.

The first and second Translation of S. John.

[1] After the original burial of the most blessed John, his sacred body is known to have been reverently moved by Leopardinus, who was installed as the fourth Abbot of that place after him. What divine manifestation was displayed there is deemed worthy of a faithful account for the praise of its author. For when they wished to uproot and move that sepulchre from the place in which it had been set, and having removed the earth on all sides, they were nevertheless unable to move the sarcophagus, it was decided to undergo the labor of a three-day fast. After a three-day fast, And when the third day of the fast had now dawned (for it was the tenth day before the Kalends of October, on which day the venerable feast of Blessed Maurice the Martyr, with his companions, shines bright and renowned in the world), and their limbs, already weary from fasting, were resting once more in sleep after the singing of Matins, 22 Sept. a certain old man entering the church beheld, as it seemed to him, the blessed elders John and Silvester — who had succeeded him in the governance of the place — standing before the sepulchre, By a heavenly admonition, and commanding those who were with them, clothed in white stoles, to move the sepulchre and bring it to the appointed place. And when with bold spirit that man was observing what was being done, he was rebuked by John, as he himself supposed: "Why," said John, "have you dared to enter the church? But because I recognize that your entrance was with a simple heart, go," he said, "and with swift step rouse both Leopardinus and the brethren, that they may complete the work begun." That Brother hastened swiftly to Abbot Leopardinus and laid out the cause of what had taken place. The Abbot with his monks arose rejoicing, The body of S. John is transferred: and having recognized the will of the holy man and with the permission of his own devotion, rising and removing the sepulchre, they moved it to the appointed place. Where they also built a holy altar with the counsel of the Bishops, at which the sacrifices of Christ are offered and the offices of prayer are performed, and where remedies are bestowed upon the sick and the consolations of blessings upon all who make their vows.

[2] After some years, by the Bishop of the city of Langres whose name was Becco, It is translated again: the aforesaid sepulchre of the venerable John is known to have been translated from that place to another, not without the presence of divinity manifested in the place. For a certain Archdeacon named Gerard, when he approached rather incautiously near the sepulchre for the sake of seeing it, A certain man standing irreverently is punished, and with bended knee was holding his hand irreverently upon the rim of the sarcophagus, the lid of the sarcophagus, raising itself a little — for it lay prone upon the ground — crashed down with great force and crushed his fingers with a most severe fracture, so that it broke all the bones of his fingers into minute pieces. He began to be tormented by the most grievous affliction of the fracture, so that he could not bring to his mouth not only his fingers but not even his arm, the pain preventing it. And when throughout the whole day he sat sorrowful and anxious at the sepulchre of S. John, suddenly by the power of Almighty God he was made whole, and with his hand restored to its natural condition he returned by evening, and when the Brethren were already seated at table he suddenly began to serve and to offer the cup of wine to all. All who were present rejoiced and found his arm and fingers so sound as if he had never suffered any such great affliction. He is healed by the Saint's power.

CHAPTER II.

Various miracles at his relics.

[3] At the memorial of the holy Confessor, innumerable miracles bear witness to the preeminent merit of the blessed body, A leper, by divine admonition, approaches the sepulchre of S. John, God working wonders through the dead man to whom He had given demonstrations of His power through the living. From very many we touch upon a few, that a chosen paucity may attest to the multitude of miracles. To a certain leper from the territory of Tours it was revealed in dreams that if he was held by the desire of recovering his health, he should earnestly seek out the sepulchre of the most famous Confessor John. Thither, though beset by many difficulties, with what effort he could, after some time he arrived. Received according to the rite of hospitality and refreshed by the office of kindness, he was placed in a more remote part of the church, intending to pray for a remedy for his deformity with devoted vigils, as he had been forewarned. And lest he should be tormented long by a delay of the divine benefit, the only delay was while the Brethren assembled according to custom for the performance of the office of Vespers. He is healed. While this was being solemnly fulfilled, his wretched limbs, drenched everywhere with sweat, began to herald the divine medicine which was already at hand. All, stupefied with joy, raising their voices on high, were urgently beseeching the Divinity that the miracle begun in the healing of the unfortunate man be brought to completion. When baths were first applied, the filth of his most squalid skin (horrible to behold!) infected the entire surface of the water. Immersed a second time in the waters, with all squalor laid aside, he appeared so immaculate in his whole body that it was most evident to all that this had been cured by heavenly power through the merits of the venerable John, beyond human diligence. This same man afterward remained in the place for some time, and then carried back to his own soil the adornment of his recovered health.

[4] It is indeed judged most profane to allow that to fall into oblivion through forgetfulness which, for the declaration of the singular merit of our Father, we ourselves have seen to be wrought by the wondrous efficacy of the Divinity. A boy whose tongue had been cut out, Certain shepherd boys, occupied with tending the flocks, found money long hidden in secret parts of the earth; and fearing betrayal by one of their companions, Theubert by name, the equally cruel boys by equal connivance cut out his tongue with a most wicked blade, at the dictation of avarice. He, being a mere child in age, was thought likely to be able to betray the affair. He was indeed from the region of Grandmont and, worn out by his grievous calamity, while he was wandering through various places for the sake of seeking alms, he at last betook himself to the monastery of the venerable Confessor. Having there found the means of sustenance, he stayed for some time. Now it happened on the vigil of the feast of that same most holy Confessor, while the bells announcing the evening assembly were being rung by the guardians of the sacred things in the ecclesiastical manner, that he too was present and was regulating the sound of one of them by the effort of his own hand. While this was being diligently done, he saw, as he himself afterward related, A spark issuing from the Saint's bones, a small flame like a burning star, as if proceeding from the sepulchre of the blessed Father John, strike the enclosure of his mouth with a most powerful blow. By which event he was immoderately affected, and now most like one lifeless, he fell to the ground. The bystanders at the monastery, supposing that he had been struck by an attack of the falling sickness, lifted him up by hand and placed him on a bed. His tongue is restored. He, having been restored during the night by healing sleep, so recovered the office of speech after cock-crow that he addressed in a most clear voice all those seeking the vigils of the nocturnal station — which is wonderful. Finally, examining the inner parts of his mouth more diligently, they found the stalk of his tongue perfectly reformed, magnifying the divine power in S. John, by whose most excellent merits it is established that both the tongueless man was restored to his necessary function and the people, beholding the heavenly works, were strengthened in the firmness of faith.

[5] For the sake of the perfection of his merit, which must be continually proclaimed, we add a few things from many, lest we seem to withhold from posterity things that would be profitable. A certain man of Aquitanian birth had been so injured in his limbs from boyhood that his calves adhered to his knees and his heels to his buttocks, deprived of their better functions, and had rendered him both helpless and deformed. While he was being carried about everywhere in a common vehicle for the purpose of begging sustenance, A cripple is partially healed. having been conveyed by chance to the monastery of the most reverend John, he was nourished by the compassion of the religious Brethren for a considerable time, with a daily ration of food assigned to him. They had a not unreasonable confidence of holy hope, because they had often experienced that the most excellent Confessor of God, when earnestly entreated, would immediately confer the remedy of healing upon such persons. It came to pass on one of his feast days, while the Brethren were engaged according to custom in the sacred vigils, that the nerves of the unfortunate man, hitherto, as we said, feeble, began to be loosened with great force, and to attempt the long-denied ability of walking with whatever efforts were possible. A great clamor of the bystanders resounded for a long time, all crying out with equal spirits and the same voices the praises of Christ and the merits of Blessed John. But because full faith is always accompanied by full recompense (for it is most true that the just lives by faith and that without it each one is dead), we gather that this man was not of complete faith, who, having been initiated in heavenly medicines, recovered in part but remained helpless in part. He obtained only this much vigor: that he who until then had been carried only by an external device might henceforth depart, still feeble, by the effort of his own body.

[6] On account of a crime committed, a certain man, most severely bound on both arms by the weight of iron, while he was visiting the various dwelling places of the Saints, merited to be relieved of one bond. And when he had been tormented for a very long time by the sharp pain of the other, A certain man's iron shackle on his arms suddenly loosens. and when divine mercy was now decreeing to take pity on the wretch's affliction, he was warned in sleep that the relief which remained was to be sought at the most sacred body of the venerable John, and that the fullness of this salvation had been reserved for his merits. Upon learning this, he anxiously hastened to the Saint's monastery. When he had arrived there, tears followed prayer and remedies swiftly followed tears. For the bonds of his fetters, hitherto insoluble, fell from the man's body so quickly that no one could doubt this was a divine work. And it was openly evident that, just as he was freed from bodily bonds, so likewise by the intercession of the blessed man he was absolved from the noxious guilt of his soul, with heavenly providence working both — for which it is most familiar to care with greater solicitude for the salvation of both bodies and souls.

[7] Meanwhile the report of his virtues was being carried among the peoples with a most celebrated rumor, that no one worthy of faith had betaken himself to the couch of the sacred body without having rejoiced that he had carried back the sum of his prayers. There was a great concourse of the sick to the temple of the man of God. And so, on account of those returning healed and the multitude of the ailing flowing in, the ample capacity of the roads was at times seen to be most narrow. It happened that, as many were rushing in, a woman also, deprived of her sight for a long time, entered among them. A blind woman recovers her sight. For since the translation of the precious body had recently been celebrated, by the very novelty of the event both sexes were indiscriminately permitted to enter the church. The woman entered, and prostrating herself with the full collapse of her body upon the ground, as soon as she completed the Lord's Prayer, the darkness of her blindness was dispelled and she received the most brilliant light of day — about to enjoy the gift of her eyes for the remaining time of her life by the grace of Blessed John. In the course of time, the Brethren of that place decreed by religious counsel Women excluded from the atrium of the monastery. to restrain forever the atrium of the monastery from the frequentation of women, judging it not proper for their monastic profession to grow accustomed frequently either to the sight of women or to be entangled in conversation with them.

[8] A certain woman of the same district, she too deprived of the functions of her eyes, when for very many days she had insatiably desired to touch the threshold of the venerable John, and this was declared impossible by many, Another blind woman is healed. no longer enduring the delays, having employed a little boy as her guide, she strove earnestly to go to the monastery. And when, traversing the forest surrounding the monastery, she had progressed to the point from which an easy view lies open to one looking upon the entire place, in a wondrous manner the darkness immediately departed and she obtained the most splendid light, and joyfully carried back the full reward of her faith, having experienced that the most blessed John also followed most graciously with the bestowal of benefits the prayers of those absent, if they were sincere.

[9] A certain man pervaded by a demon, bound with iron chains over his whole body, was brought by his parents together with friends to the memorial of the Saint; there, scarcely retained for three days and not without violence, A demoniac is freed. he was compelled by the evil spirit to pour forth dreadful cries, the spirit declaring that it was suffering most grievously to be deprived of the power of its dwelling-place by the merits of the blessed man. When the three days were completed, while the Brethren were engaged according to custom in the public celebration of the Sacraments, he was immediately healed by divine power and remained healed for the rest of his life, as if he had never been assaulted by the violence of the ancient enemy or had suffered any diminishment of his inner senses. Joyfully frequenting the temple of the most sublime Confessor for many days with votive vigils in thanksgiving for his restoration, he then departed to his own home, with thanksgiving, strong in body and whole in mind. Ineffable indeed before the Lord is the merit of our most excellent Father, Blessed John, upon whom, among the other gifts of virtues, this privilege is seen to have been specially conferred: that never did anyone possessed by the demonic plague betake himself to him and return uncured.

OTHER MIRACLES AND TRANSLATION III.

By an anonymous monk of Reome, published from MSS. by Pierre Rouvier of the Society of Jesus.

John, Abbot of Reome in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 4430

By an anonymous monk of Reome, from P. Rouvier.

CHAPTER I.

Various persons aided by S. John.

[1] Preface Since we perceive the whole world tending toward ruin, and since what seems divine cannot always yield to narration, it is right that while we live we should seek the praise of him whom we believe to be present without delay before the Lord for the intercession of all of us. Even though the goal of publication has not yet been reached, let it at least remain in our desire that what remains may be furthered by divine aid. For indeed the works of our blessed Father John, honestly passed over by orators, by his own compassion — who deigns to grant to us, still unskilled, what we believe can be done — we would not judge unworthy of the word of all tongues.

[2] Since indeed he is continually present with us, at a certain time when the Brethren had given themselves to the solemnities of the sacred vigils, in order to celebrate joyfully each year the holy Mother of God assumed into heaven, and when according to custom that most glorious hymn was begun by which we worthily praise God and duly confess Him as Lord, suddenly a certain lame man named Guandelbertus, standing behind the choir of those singing psalms, began to utter cries, and to beat his knees with his hands, and to cast himself upon the pavement, and to roll this way and that. The ability to walk is restored to a lame man by the aid of S. John. At this sight, the whole assembly of the Brethren was struck with the joy of compunction, and removing him from the place where he was, they bore him before the presence of the holy body. Meanwhile, while the morning offices were being completed, you might have seen all his limbs trembling and, loosed from their bonds, clashing together limb by limb. For a little while the strength of his powers was taken from him, so that he was not even sufficient to stand; and then more powerfully his former health was recovered, so that it was clear to all that the inviolate Mother of God had obtained these wonders for her Priest. And although we know this was done on the aforesaid solemnity, we believe nevertheless that it was principally by the merits of him whose miracles we know to have been wrought formerly in this same man: for he whom he had taken in helpless, and utterly deformed, and scarcely capable of function, and had rendered commendable, now over him he consoles his own servants, so that he might offer him, now perfectly thriving, as an example of that true saying which had predicted that praise would follow not the beginning but the execution of a good work.

[3] We have also seen a certain fratricide who, on account of the enormity of such a crime, bore iron rings in the circuit of his neck and arms, his breast and his loins, as a charge of penance. When he had therefore traversed many places of the Saints on this account, The fetters of a fratricide are loosed. two rings which were adhering to his neck and breast had fallen off through their merits. When at length he had reached Rome and was long awaiting divine clemency in this matter, he merited without hesitation to be consoled by a heavenly response, which commanded him to seek the place of John the Confessor of Christ, He had come there by heavenly admonition. indicating under what territory he might find it, and promising liberation from the enormity of so great a weight of penance, which he too was resisting exceedingly. He arrived there, therefore, and while he was present rejoicing over this matter, through John's intercession, the remaining rings which were on his arms and loins suddenly appeared broken asunder. Wherefore there is no doubt that he is counted among the company of those to whom the power of binding and loosing has been given.

[4] How many signs, finally, he has shone forth with in our own time upon demoniacs is beyond telling. For he obtained this as his customary practice. Many demoniacs freed. For it was common to see very many men and women, subjected to the dominion of that enemy, set free, with those venerable chain-straps placed around their necks — those very ones by which he had drawn out the fiery serpent from the well and had bestowed the grace of salvation upon the people who were growing pale over it from the nearness of death.

b.

It has seemed good here to give in full the learned Note 75 of Rouvier in his very own words: "The use of iron rings for penance," he says, "was manifold from ancient times; for they were worn openly by some Iron rings voluntarily undertaken, and secretly under clothing, and secretly under clothing by others; and voluntarily undertaken by some and by others at the command of Priests. And indeed those who wore them openly on their naked bodies, if they did so voluntarily, were commonly branded with the mark of vanity. Apollo the Anchorite, in Palladius's Lausiac History, chapter 52, on this account rebuked 'those who bore iron and those who grew their hair long.' But even if this were not done voluntarily, nevertheless on account of its indecency, it was forbidden by a law of Charlemagne. But truly those who secretly and voluntarily tamed their flesh with iron rings of this kind not only escaped reproof but even earned the admiration of wise men. It is indeed incredible how ingenious holy men and women were in devising their own punishments in this matter. Theodosius the Anchorite, By Saints, as Theodoret writes in his History of the Fathers, chapter 10, had imposed most heavy rings 'on his neck and loins, and on both hands.' Jacob the Younger augmented the punishment (chapter 20), for besides the rings on his arms, neck, and loins, 'chains from the ring around his neck, two in front and two behind, descending crosswise into the lower ring and forming the figure of the letter X, bound the two rings to one another both in front and behind.' Concerning Eusebius the Anchorite, nearly the same things are written in the same work, chapter 4. These examples of penance reached the Latins somewhat later, but nevertheless Hospitius near Nice of the Massilians is written to have lived bound with iron chains, as Paul the Deacon records in his History of the Lombards, book 3, chapter 21. Walafrid Strabo has the same about S. Gallus, book 1, chapter 31. But this very punishment of iron rings was revived in Latin usage by the companions of S. Peter Damian. For he himself thus writes about Rudolph, Bishop of Gubbio, chapter 3: 'He was perpetually pressed by an iron ring near his breast.' And chapter 9, about Dominic Loricatus: 'For about three lustra of years he has been clad in an iron corselet against his flesh, and is girded in his body by two iron rings, and likewise bound around the upper arms by two more.' This was the severity of men against themselves. But what is more to be wondered at, women also wished to wrest this palm of penance for themselves. Theodoret of old, among the Greeks, described Marana and Cyra as wearing iron, Even women, to such an extent that Cyra, who was weaker in body, walked perpetually bent over; and both had imposed rings upon themselves — 'on the neck a collar, on the loins a belt, and on the hands and feet what pertains to them.' Among Latin women, it suffices to have mentioned the one S. Radegund, of whom Fortunatus thus writes: 'On a certain occasion, when during the days of Lent she had bound three iron rings on her neck and arms, and inserting three chains had bound them rather tightly around her body, the hard iron was enclosed by the tender flesh growing over it.' These persons voluntarily underwent these torments, but this fratricide of ours did not do so voluntarily. For thus Gregory of Tours writes about him in his book On the Glory of the Confessors, chapter 87: 'A certain fratricide,' he says, 'on account of the enormity of his crime, bound with iron rings, received the injunction that for seven years he should make a circuit visiting holy places.' The author of this book agrees with him, asserting that the fratricide had very much resisted the enormity of this penance."

Those whom Rouvier here reviews as illustrious for their sanctity and wondrous austerity of life are assigned to the ecclesiastical Calendar on various days: Theodosius on 11 January, Jacob on 26 November, Hospitius on 21 May, Gallus on 16 October, Rudolph, Bishop of Gubbio, on 26 June, Dominic Loricatus on 14 October, Marana and Cyra on 3 August, Radegund on 13 August. But we do not agree with Rouvier when he writes that S. Gregory of Tours treats of this same fratricide. The writer of these miracles, as is clear below, lived at the time when the Northmen were roaming through and devastating the Gauls, near the end of the ninth century, three hundred years after S. Gregory; yet this writer says: "We have also seen a certain fratricide" — lest anyone suppose that this was transcribed from S. Gregory.

Side Note: 25 January, number 20.

CHAPTER II.

Many sick persons healed.

[5] We have also seen many persons of unsound mind restored to the proper state of their mind through his intercession. Persons of unsound mind restored: Among whom indeed we have recognized not only inhabitants of neighboring places but even dwellers of other regions far removed. And so when, on account of the immensity of our sins, divine vengeance had decreed that the ferocity of the Northmen should come from Francia, in which it was raging far and wide without any resistance, into the Gauls, and should rage with insatiable slaughter here and there, and on this account it was necessary for everyone to hasten to safe places, it was expedient that the very remains of the holy body be carried by its monks to the castle of Semur, The holy body having been carried to Semur, which while alive he had been accustomed to visit for the purpose of prayer, as is set forth in his Life. When, compelled by necessity, he had been placed there in tents during the harsh rigors of winter, at length with the great difficulty of labor he obtained a small hut as a dwelling. Therefore there were displayed in that place through various seasons of years, as long as he sojourned there, many miracles, of which nevertheless we touch upon very few that we have witnessed.

[6] When therefore that same little town was being governed by a certain man named Gozbert, while the Bishop Adalgarius, who was then its lord, held dominion, Gozbert was so contorted by the immensity of a fever that all his limbs were completely dissolved and rendered utterly deprived of every strength. The taking of no food or drink A certain sick man healed: had rendered him entirely helpless and deformed. When his life hung in the balance, he was brought to the compassion of the aforesaid Father. But with the illness growing hotter, as one almost desperate and out of his mind, he took three days' time in returning home, always going back to the Saint's basilica. But when this three-day period was completed, at last he fell before him as one almost lifeless. And when this was believed by all, he suddenly perceived the most glorious gift of what he had sought. And so he returned to his home sound and well, praising and blessing him by whose gift he had received so evident a benefit for his body.

[7] Nor have we observed his own brother, named Letaldus, to have incurred a dissimilar infirmity, so that he was carried on altogether foreign feet before the Saint himself, where, wasting away for a very long time, he took absolutely no daily sustenance. Likewise another. He grew pale with approaching death, so that to no one was hope given of bringing him back to life. Then the attendants, completing what belonged to the divine service and having performed the offices of the Hours in the usual manner, found it fitting to take their meal. But he, asking what they were about to do, declared that he wished to go with them. Carried therefore with great effort to them, he began to inquire what they were going to eat. But they, filled with astonishment, grieved that he had fallen into delirium. But when they answered what it was, according to the resources of the place (for in keeping with the same, a pot of legumes had been placed on the fire), he asked that some be given to him. From then on he immediately began to feast, so that it was by no means lawful for him to eat any other food — he who before the time of his illness had never had this custom. And all, made joyful for this reason, were moved to give thanks to the Lord, who through the blessed Father was bestowing such things upon His own. He therefore departed to his home as if at that time he had had no illness whatsoever.

[8] At another time again, a certain fellow-soldier of the man mentioned just before, named Adalard, compelled by the same affliction, A sick man, having dismissed the attending crowd, even the women, by which it was evident to all that he was devoid of all strength and was already almost at the very end, was brought to the same place. And there, while he was being most severely tormented, and his attendants of both sexes were ministering to him indiscriminately, a certain monk among the bystanders came forward and, among other words of comfort, made known to him how the holy man during the present life had shuddered at the sight of women, so that he would not even wish to look upon his own mother — who was greatly longing to see him — with a direct gaze of his eyes, even in passing. For which reason, the monk added, he did not judge it at all beneficial that this service of women should be rendered to him in that place, nor indeed the barking of dogs and the disturbance of various animals which were kept near the dwelling of the blessed man. Alarmed by this, the sick man ordered himself to be carried home. Then, as a great sickness of the body came upon him, as if holding his death before his eyes, he returned to the Father's aid with only bearers attending him, all others being absent. He was thereupon restored to his former health, and perceiving himself to be convalescing somewhat, he hastened to have the physician attend him, on account of the need of bloodletting. But the vein having been cut, Having rejected human medicine, the disease did not respond well and its trouble roared back again. But coming to his senses, he groaned with earnest cries as to why he had preferred another remedy to the heavenly medicine with his presumptuous mind. Wherefore, though he endured this for many more days, and among others there was held no certainty of recovery from it, He is healed: he rejoiced that he had received the health he desired and returned to his home giving thanks to the Lord. The squire of this soldier, named Berengarius, and his nephew Aldricus, seized by the aforesaid complaint, Likewise two others. were brought to the holy Father and by his swift intercession most quickly enjoyed restored health.

CHAPTER III.

Demoniacs freed.

[9] It must not be passed over in silence that Blessed John displays the most abundant services toward the possessed, especially since ancient records of the Scriptures attest to this. A certain rustic named Clement, an inhabitant of the town of Avallon, having been hired by another for wages, when it happened that at an earlier cock-crow he sprang from his own bed on account of guarding the oxen and was surveying their pasture more carefully, he suddenly beheld a most black monster striking the herd with a most powerful blow. A demoniac is freed. He is therefore seized by this same most abominable creature and is driven wild, carried away in his blinded mind. And now the shadow of night was closed by the trembling dawn of day. Moreover, after that day worthy of the sun had passed, not only the master of the house himself returned to his home, but also that companion of most foul fellowship, the monstrous one. When at length, during the supper of all, this same energetic man was about to dine, he suddenly rose without eating, snatched up the threshing flail, and in the forbidden hours of the night began everywhere to thresh, as if on a threshing floor. Presently, when his sister who was nearby wished to restrain him as one mad, dropping the flail which he held, he suddenly raged against her, and had she not been immediately snatched away, she would have been fiercely torn to pieces by his teeth. Therefore, with his hands bound behind his back, he was brought to S. John, who was accustomed to heal in all other afflictions, but more frequently in this one most accursed of all. Upon entering John's basilica, he was compelled to utter unheard-of cries and grotesque contortions of his body. Whence, when the iron demon-expellers of the aforesaid Father were immediately placed around his neck according to custom, he was so agitated that you might have seen him torn apart as if disemboweled and utterly dissolved. He was tormented by these dreadful wounds until the following day, when the feast of All Saints, venerable to the whole world, arrived. Then, with God showing mercy and the patronage of the Saints coming to his aid, gradually from the day before yesterday and more vehemently during that very night, the legion of demons was so driven away from him that it was clear to all that he had invoked the entire assembly of the Saints for the aid of this most wretched man — he whose mercy we know the same unfortunate man had sought first.

[10] We have also beheld a certain woman named Bertrude, coming from the region of Bourbon, twisted incredibly and incurably for nearly five months by no small vexation of demons. Moreover, the seedbed of that diabolical invasion was this: that she, having once had three brothers, Having immoderately embraced her slain brother, she is possessed by demons: and being offspring lawfully begotten in marriage, on a certain day heard by some chance that one of these three brothers had been killed. She hastened to him not so much swiftly as she rushed headlong upon him. And being consumed by excessive grief over him, in order to soothe the sorrow of her heart over her brother, she began to kiss the corpse. In whose embrace she was at once pervaded by a multitude of demons, persisting in this manner of madness for many days, so that it was supposed to be some other infirmity — by which it was made most evident that the demon wished to deceive her by this kind of stratagem.

[11] Now when this matter became known, she was abandoned by her husband and all her relatives, and was entrusted to one of her brothers to be led about. She is partially cured by S. Germanus, In the meantime they went around to the sacred places, until they reached the most blessed Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, awaiting his most benign assistance in this matter. Where, although she was tormented for a very long time and roasted by the most bitter lacerations, by the most glorious merits of the aforesaid Bishop Germanus, a portion of the malignant spirits was removed from her, while a portion was left behind by the hidden judgment of God. After remaining there for some time, when on a certain day she wished once more to enter the basilica of the aforesaid Bishop, as she herself often reported afterward, she was prevented from entering his house by a certain most handsome old man bearing a staff in his hand, By a heavenly admonition she comes to S. John: and was admonished to seek out the place of S. John, Confessor of Tonnerre. It was therefore necessary for them to undertake the labor of a journey once again, although being ignorant of the routes they spent long delays wandering through various dwelling places of the Saints. When they had arrived, what bodily contortions and what cries of the ancient enemy burst forth from her is beyond telling. And so within the circuit of the church itself there was no remedy and no desire for life for that wretched woman, but only the proclamation of death. At last she was placed before the most blessed Confessor John, bound with his most tried little chains of iron, in which the most abominable enemy professed himself to be burning with great torment. And when at the signals of the Hours the praises of Christ were being proclaimed, she produced things even more wonderful and astonishing with her mouth and body. Meanwhile, when the fourth sun of her arrival was passing, and the whole brotherhood with no small throng of crowds was celebrating the most sacred solemnity according to Christian custom — with all sounding Hosanna in the ceremonies of branches and palms — she was being agitated by unspeakable evils. At last therefore, while the evening suffrages were being paid by the Brethren, She is completely freed. and she herself had been brought to the oratory of S. Michael the Archangel, the demon began to cry out that he was being chained by the same Archangel and being burned more powerfully by fires. Spittle mingled likewise with blood was brought forth from her, so that you would have believed her to be most grievously torn apart within and would have recognized her as almost dead. From that point, by the grace of the Lord, she appeared to be better, until by the wondrous gift of the aforesaid Confessor John she was restored to complete health. And so returning to her home, she bound herself by a vow to the Lord, who saves all who hope in Him.

[12] And after a small interval of time, again from the same regions a certain woman with her husband, named Dodila, occupied by a most insane spirit, visited the little dwelling of the aforesaid S. John, though under compulsion. Another is partially cured elsewhere, She, having visited many places of the Saints, and having been partially freed from them by God's mercy, even in the sight of all the Princes by whose authority the Kingdom of Burgundy was at that time being strengthened, had always professed this praise: that she would never merit to be healed until she obtained the assistance of Blessed John. When she had arrived there, driven by a most violent demon and restrained by many people, and uttering the most abominable words, she was presented to the most blessed Father. Among other things she uttered this remarkable statement: that for eight days the blessed Mother of God and the aforesaid distinguished Confessor had been interceding unceasingly with the Lord on her behalf. By their prayers, the demon said, he could remain there no longer, because he already knew that the Nativity of the same Mother of God was approaching. At S. John's she is completely cured. This came to pass while the Brethren were performing the evening offices of the aforesaid feast, just as the unclean spirit himself had predicted. For he departed with great cries, and the same woman partly covered the surface of the pavement with bloody spittle. In this we discern that demons, though compelled, sometimes speak the truth, just as we find in many places of the holy Scriptures.

CHAPTER IV.

The third Translation of S. John.

[13] Nor should that be passed over which has been made known to all. For when the great ferocity of the pagans was traversing the kingdoms of the Franks and was so insistent in their devastation While the Northmen were raging, that it destroyed everything with the most bloody slaughter and almost reduced it to nothing, at length, having passed through their territories, it invaded the borders of the Gauls, visiting even the vicinity of Auxerre. When it was growing more frequent with the most abominable depopulation and was troubling the life of Christians with prolonged calamities, The Saint's relics are transferred to Semur: it came about that the aforesaid Confessor of Christ, John, abandoned his own place and with his monks sought a foreign one. For leaving the place which he had founded, he visited the castle whose name is Semur and illuminated it by his presence.

[14] Where, while he was being frequented by all and all rejoiced in his protection, the Lord, having mercy, caused the Christian people to come together against the barbarism of the pagans and to encamp the night through, if it could be done, impeding their savagery. When they are expelled, the relics are brought back: And when an excess of hunger and thirst had heavily fallen upon the Northmen, and the dreary force of cold had struck them with horror under the open sky, the cunning of the pagans was turned to flight, until they could protect themselves by their accustomed stronghold. When this was accomplished, the aforesaid Father, whose nativity was about to be celebrated immediately, deigned to return from the aforementioned castle, with his monks and no small throng of the people, to his own place. Meanwhile, on account of the weariness of the journey, since his eagerly desired reception was now at hand, it was necessary to rest for a little while. And when his monks had gone ahead, in order to meet their great Superior with full ceremonial adornment in the ecclesiastical manner, suddenly a certain woman from Limoges named Avalendis, who had been reduced by a demonic spirit for nearly six years, and who had visited the places of many Saints, was brought before his sacred body, that she might obtain his glorious intercession. A demoniac is freed. Indeed an innumerable multitude of crowds was present while she was being tormented most wretchedly. All awaited his mercy while they watched the wretched woman tortured without remedy. Moved by their prayers, as we believe, the most pious Father — in order to cause his place to shine brightly with wondrous illumination and to strengthen his own monks with a most glorious visitation — suddenly obtained the freedom of life for the one most miserably bound. Therefore, with the great praises of all, he was restored to his own place, where, with the Lord's favor, he daily shines with manifold miracles and is attended by the divine offices to Him who lives and reigns for all ages of ages. Amen.