ON SAINT HYMERIUS BISHOP OF AMERIA IN UMBRIA
>5TH OR 6TH CENTURY
PRELIMINARY COMMENTARY.
On the cult and on the history of his life, translation, and miracles.
Hymerus Bishop of Ameria in Umbria (St.)
AUTH. G. H. & D. P.
Ameria, to others Amelia, a most ancient city of Umbria, situated on a pleasant and fertile hill, mentioned by Cicero, Virgil, Pliny, Ptolemy, Strabo, Plutarch, Memory in Peter de Natalibus, Festus, and others
down to the decline of the Empire, obeyed the Roman state; then was subjected to Ecclesiastical dominion, and adorned with an Episcopal See. Among its Bishops it had St. Hymerius, whose sacred memory is celebrated on this 17 June. Peter de Natalibus, book 5 of the Catalogue, chap. 122, writes thus about St. Hymerius Bishop. "Hymerius Bishop, of Emilia in Tuscia (rather Ameria in Umbria), famous for virtues and miracles, there rested in peace on the 15th of the Kalends of July, and was there buried. Whose body in the course of time a certain Bishop of Cremona, sent thither by the Emperor for some cause, obtained, a no small price being given; and, translated to Cremona, honorably placed it in the Cathedral church of the gracious Virgin, and in the Martyrologies, where also it is mighty in miracles." Thus there. There followed Grevenus in the Additions to Usuard, Maurolycus, Felicius, Canisius, Witfordus, Molanus; but on the 18th day most of them after Grevenus and Molanus. The words are: "At Cremona, of St. Hymerius, Bishop of Emilia and Confessor." But Galesinius assigns it only to Cremona. More elegantly in the Roman Martyrology the particulars are thus expressed: "At Ameria in Umbria, of St. Himerius Bishop, whose body was translated to Cremona."
[2] "The Life of the same Saint," says Ughelli in the Bishops of Cremona, vol. 4 col. 800, The Life, translation, and miracles written by ancients, "was written by a certain Ambrose, Abbot, which we read in an old Codex: which an erudite old man, our friend, Abbot Constantius Caietanus, communicated to us, whose beginning is: 'To all the Brethren of the holy Cremonese Church, Ambrose, once of your Fraternity, now an unworthy Abbot, salvation in Christ. Nowhere does human presumption avail, etc.'" There also are extant the miracles of the same St. Hymerius, by a certain Canon of the Cremonese church, in the times of Bishop Offredus, around the year of the Lord 1174, whose beginning is: "Although, most beloved, etc." We shall give the history of the Translation and Miracles from the very transcript of Ughelli: and also among these the aforementioned Epistle described, as preliminary to the Life soon to follow, but which Ughelli did not find in that Ms., or (which I should be less inclined to believe) did not care to transcribe. Where we are to seek the Life itself I do not know; we shall hold it for a great treasure if found and communicated to us. Since from that Epistle, soon to be given in full and with some verses inserted into it, it seems to follow that the Life was written at the same time and in the same style in which the miracles were written; and the author professes that the Lord made it known to him to bring forth the deeds of Hymerius in writing; and that he insinuates nothing by crafty cunning: but "what I learned," he says, "from the men of that place from which Blessed Hymerius was Bishop, and what from our own (I understand the Monks), these things, though unworthy, I have brought forth." The defect of such a Life will be supplied by another much more recent, which how it came to our hands is worth recalling.
[3] Pope Alexander VII, when he was called Fabius Chisius in Minor orders, Apostolic Nuncio directed to the parts of the Rhine and thence sent by Pontifical authority to the Monastery of Westphalia to procure the common peace; a more recent one supplied by Pope Alexander VII, thence, as he was always most devoted to our studies on editing the Acts of the Saints, so he often transmitted various Acts of the Saints, among which we have the Life of St. Hymerius Bishop of Ameria, which we edit from the very paper then sent to us. The author of this Life was Antonio Maria Gratiano Bishop of Ameria, who presided over his Church from the year 1592 to the year 1611, a man of great learning, and who wrote a golden work on the seven Sacraments of the Church, its author Gratianus Bishop of Ameria, on the sacrifice of the Mass, on the life of the ministers of the Church, on the duties of Parish priests, and on many other things, printed at Venice in the year 1617. To this work at the end are added the Lives of the Saints, Patrons of the Amerine Church, written by the same Gratianus, among which is extant also this of St. Hymerius, and thence it was transferred to the third Surian edition. An illustrious compendium is extant in Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, monuments of the Amerine and Cremonese Church being cited, Compendia in others, and in Ughelli vol. 1 of Italia sacra in the Amerine Bishops. Ludovico Jacobilli sets out the Acts of St. Hymerius in Italian in vol. 1 on the Saints of Umbria, ancient manuscript Lections of the Church also of Ameria and of Cremona being cited, from which namely Gratianus composed the Life, after which we shall treat separately of the cult of St. Hymerius among the Cremonese.
[4] At what time he lived is uncertain: Jacobilli judges that he was ordained Bishop at Rome by Pope Sylvester, the time of his life and See, around the year 324, and that he died around the year 344. But Ughelli asserts that Hymerius did not live before the year 400. But long after, when the holy institution of monks began to flourish: wherefore it also pleased Ughelli to commemorate him after Bishop Salustius, who is found subscribed to the Roman Synod celebrated under Pope Symmachus, held in the year 502. There a certain Salustius was indeed present, but with his See not indicated, and so some in Jacobilli refer his death to the year 524. Further, in Ughelli, on account of the catalogues of the Amerine Bishops being very imperfect, no certain one is found before the year 649, when Adeodatus the Amerine Bishop subscribed to the Roman Council under Pope Martin.
THE EPISTLE OF ABBOT AMBROSE
To the more ancient Life written by him, which is wanting.
To all the Brethren of the holy Cremonese Church, Ambrose, once of your fraternity, now an unworthy Abbot, salvation in Christ.
Hymerus Bishop of Ameria in Umbria (St.)
BHL Number: 3956
Nowhere does human undertaking avail, where divine cooperation is lacking: and earthly enterprise is nothing, against which heavenly assembly stands opposed. The Author professes that he was divinely commanded, Therefore let no one wholly entangled in the world think that he pleases God: whoever therefore would labor outwardly that he may live happily inwardly. For I wish it to be made known to your Fraternity, what the Lord made known to my littleness, to bring forth in writing the magnificent deeds of Hymerius our holy and blessed Father; but yet it is not within my ability, nor of strong wit or skilled art, to bring forth this so great thing, unless it be granted otherwise to know. to write about St. Hymerius, Therefore I now beg all, attend, and hither turn your sense with holy mind: since whatever work I am about to do, or whatever I am about to say, I am quite in need of your loud-sounding favor and highest support: For it is a great matter, to be dictated by many masters. For although this second labor remains not similar to the first, yet I beg, do not despise it: yet asks to be helped by the Brethren, for what my little mind willed, that, writing with a slender style, it has brought forth. Spare, I pray, spare my age; and, granting pardon to my wisdom, do not, touched by livid zeal, envy, but, full of divine love, rejoice: and believe this given to me from heaven, that I am not so nourished by the milk of philosophy, nor fed by honeyed nectar, that I would dare to bring forth the egregious deed of so great a Father, unless heavenly power should suggest so great a work. But if anything of this act shall be bitter, let cemented charity make it honeyed; that, as gold proved by fire, the solid one may glow seven times. Do not wonder that I cannot draw the club from the hand of Hercules; while I am unable to pluck the shoot of a pygmy with my fingers, striving with great effort. I therefore do not, like the rich, cast great gifts into the temple; but, like a poor little woman, offer small things to the Lord; and the whole sustenance which I have I willingly expend. For let no one think that I insinuate this by my own capacity or by crafty cunning: but what I learned from the men of that place from which Blessed Hymerius was Bishop, and that his slenderness be excused, and what I learned from our own, these things, though unworthy, I have brought forth. There is nothing new in the world, as the teaching of the ancients shows us. Yet I heard many things about the sanctity of the aforesaid Father, which I silently passed over; fearing lest I should fall into the abyss of falsehood, as we read once happened to Lentius. These therefore, if there is leisure, will suffice, which, although not many nor physically deduced, I have nevertheless written with ready boldness. Thus he; but whom he indicates by Lentius, I do not grasp.
MIRACLES OF THE 12TH CENTURY.
By the author John, Canon of Cremona, contemporary.
Hymerus Bishop of Ameria in Umbria (St.)
BHL Number: 3958
a
[1] Although, most beloved, we strive less worthily to imitate the worthy manner of life of the Saints, The Prologue of the author, their custom and pursuits; yet it is fitting to revolve their merits and illustrious marvels with us with total devotion, and with the greatest diligence to recall them incessantly by venerating and admiring; and when it shall be expedient and the time shall require, not to pass them over in silence, but by narrating and ascribing them to commit them to memory, the Lord saying: "A lamp is not to be put under a bushel, but upon a candlestick, that it may give light to those entering the house." Matt. 5:15 For there is no good thing that does not shine more beautifully, if the knowledge of many approves it. Whence the Prophet: "I will confess to thee, O Lord, with my whole heart, I will narrate all thy marvelous works," that is, "Whatever I shall say will be marvelous." Ps. 44:16 But to so elegant and worthy a proposal that Davidic saying would seem to occur, and as it were to draw back from the undertaking: "But to the sinner God hath said, Why dost thou declare my justices?" And what is said elsewhere: "Praise is not seemly in the mouth of a sinner." Sir. 15:9 Nevertheless, because by these words the undevout one is repelled; but to the devout or to those to be corrected praise or reading is not denied; sometimes also, according to Augustine, through stone channels the waters of pure rivers are conveyed to barren little plots, although boldly yet not impudently, divine grace assisting, we approach the proposed task, the Lord Himself promising: "Open thy mouth and I will fill it; for it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy." Ps. 80:11
[2] Therefore, recalling the most worthy merits of the most blessed Hymerius, and writing down his admirable miracles lately shown to us, that the truth may appear from the very order of the deeds, The wife of a citizen of Brescia devoted to the Saint, beginning from the first, let us pursue the rest. For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard: for as we have heard, so have we seen in the city of the Lord, in the temple of Blessed Hymerius. In the Bishopric of Brescia, the solemnity of our Confessor being at hand, a certain man of great devotion and faith, hastening elsewhere, persuaded his wife: 1 Cor. 1:28 "Take heed to yourself, wife, more diligently, to rest from all work and all labor, on which today the solemnity of Blessed Hymerius is celebrated at Cremona." Luke 10:21 O the wondrous devotion of great faith! who… although poor and ignoble, neglecting temporal advantages, loving the Sabbath of the mind, treasured up for herself a true Sabbath and rest… But the wife, seeing her neighbors busy with their accustomed works, weaving on his feast against her husband's command, herself too deliberates about the accustomed work: and, the prudent man's edict being despised, using her own counsel, as was her office, gave herself to the work of weaving… But when she was intent on the work, suddenly her arm is weighed down, weakened, and, deprived of its accustomed vigor, is drawn back from the undertaking:
at last the hand itself, before extended, is bent back, she is punished by the contraction of her hand, being bent back is contracted, being contracted is opened by no effort, and the more she strives, the more it is as it were reduced to a stump…
[3] But the husband, returning home, and marveling at what had been done; he approves the divine Judgment, and asserts a worthy vengeance upon his wife; and many remedies of physicians being applied in vain, and after the offering of a waxen hand, human aid failing, he seeks the divine: for there is no counsel, there is no knowledge, nor fortitude against the Lord. He surely is the key which opens, and no one shuts; shuts, and no one opens: He snatches away, and there is no one who can rescue from His hand. They therefore vowed a waxen hand to Blessed Hymerius and to venerate his annual solemnity more zealously thereafter… Therefore, the Octave of the solemnity coming, both hasten to the threshold of Blessed Hymerius: and the waxen hand, bought at a doubled price, they offer with inmost devotion at his altar; fulfilling what is said: she is cured. "Vow ye, and pay to the Lord your God." What more? Ps. 75:12 scarcely was the vow fulfilled, when the hand, before contracted, is raised, raised is wholly extended, extended is closed and opened in the accustomed manner… These things therefore being known beyond doubt, and approved with every certainty, the Cremonese clergy and people of both sexes, noble and ignoble, rich and poor, old and young, run together with the highest devotion: and a procession being ordered, with sonorous praises, with high-sounding voices they glorify God, honor the Saint, marveling praise the miracle, and the whole city resounds in praise of so great a Patron.
[4] The aforesaid miracle, most beloved, as the beginning of others and the cause of those following, and with many thenceforth flocking, having more diligently set forth according to the measure of our frailty, let us more briefly transcribe the admirable things which follow, divine grace assisting. The former miracle therefore being divulged and approved by all, with burning desire hastening, they run together with most devout mind, the weak and infirm, the lame and blind, the withered and contracted, and those held by whatever infirmity, desiring to be mercifully freed by the merits of Blessed Hymerius; fulfilling what is said: "Ask and you shall receive, seek and you shall find, knock and it shall be opened to you." Luke 11:9 But the Lord, wishing His Confessor to be honored again by a miracle, and to confirm the aforesaid by a following testimony, adds at once more wondrous things to the wondrous. the likewise contracted hand of a girl is healed: For a certain girl's, known to many from earlier years, contracted hand, in the sight of all, is mercifully opened, is shown wholly sound, and, consolidated with natural vigor, is wondrously moved… Therefore joy is added to joy, jubilation to song, procession to procession, the unanimity of all bursts forth a good word, and the solemnity is doubled in praise of the Saint.
[5] And because the devout Clergy and people are by no means ungrateful for so great a benefit, but, like the cleansed foreigner, as the Gospel relates, render glory to the Lord; and the same miracle is repeated more often: He rejoices in a manifold benefit divinely conferred. Luke 17:18 For since devotion and homage do not cease, a third, fourth, fifth miracle, wholly similar to the second, follows in extended hands: which, on account of their similarity, we have touched more briefly, lest perhaps things told separately should generate weariness in the reader. Let your devotion therefore observe how faithful is that Gospel promise: "He that asks receives, and he that seeks finds, and to him that knocks it shall be opened": because everyone who exalts himself shall be humbled, and the Octave is piously doubled. and he who humbles himself shall be exalted; nor will the abundance of the Giver ever be lacking, unless perhaps the assiduity of the petitioner be lacking; because not he who shall have begun, but he who shall have persevered unto the end, he shall be saved. The solemnity therefore being continued up to another Octave, by unanimous vow and common counsel, the honorable Clergy, together with their Pontiff Offredus most worthy, and his venerable Brethren the Canons, celebrates the feast with an elegant variety of office; namely with services, worthy songs, hymns and praises of psalmody, exceptional processions, devout prayers; but the faithful people, with a wondrous variety of gifts, a notable diversity of offerings, namely with beautiful palls, silver vessels, candles not small, coins innumerable, and other worthy offerings; but the merciful Lord, the end of all and the beginning, beginning and consummating, with the novelty of manifold miracle, adorns the solemnities of His Confessor.
[6] On the first and second day, therefore, frequent miracles flashing, as we said, a blind boy is illuminated, because as time proceeded other admirable things followed; since neither let it weary your devotion to hear, nor irk our littleness to write. For it is established that a little boy, deprived of light from earlier years, was most devoutly offered by his parents before the altar of Blessed Hymerius, hoping altogether that by his suffrage he would be illuminated: and because they offer faith and devotion unceasingly, they receive the infant forthwith illuminated. For the kind Lord, by opening his eyes illuminating, restored sight to the blind one, and by a wondrous benefit against nature the privation is turned into a habit: which appeared so manifest to all present, an arm contracted is healed again. that it was approved by the Pontiff himself with evident signs… And because the partakers of the heavenly benefit pay incessantly praise and devotion, and offer unceasingly by multiplying vows and prayers; the omnipotent Lord bestows the grace of His blessing by multiplying them. For when day and night, as we said, a multitude of the infirm, the blind, the lame, the withered, and the like, stood by, awaiting the mercies of the Lord; magnifying His mercies, He extends and raises a certain adult woman's arm, long withered and contracted together with the hand, raising consolidates it with natural vigor, consolidating restores both members to their former function… And that the other brief things said may be more easily retained, what is similar to this is proved by a second and third miracle… d.
ANNOTATIONS OF D. P.
A MORE RECENT LIFE
By the author Antonio Maria Gratiano Bishop of Ameria.
Hymerus Bishop of Ameria in Umbria (St.)
A. GRATIAN. BISHOP
[1] Hymerius by nation a Bruttian, when he had passed his adolescence with the utmost modesty and most chaste morals; by nation a Bruttian, and had imbued himself with those disciplines of letters which that age can take in; and when, with his very age, the pursuits also of piety and of heavenly things had grown together in him; lest, as he understood was happening, he should be distracted from the fruit and meditation of them by human cares and the company of men; his homeland and parents being left, he withdrew into a hidden and deserted island. Where, after the institute of the Anchorites, intent on divine praises and prayers, and greatly devoted to fastings and abstinence, for a long time wild fruits, he becomes an anchorite, and the herbs and roots which the earth of itself pours forth, furnished food; spring water quenched his thirst, woodland trees were his roof, the very ground his bed. Until, the very admiration of his sanctity betraying him, he was compelled to betake himself into the cenobies of Monks: among whom he so excelled all in every praise of religion, that no one in continence could be compared with him, no one in assiduity of prayer, no one in contempt of self, no one in the other Christian virtues: then a monk, to which when he had joined no mediocre learning also of the divine letters, and by zeal for them spent whatever time he had over from the sacred offices of prayer and psalmody; he seemed to have established for himself among men a certain heavenly manner of life.
[2] But that so great a virtue of the man, such notable ornaments of wisdom, religion, sanctity, should lie hidden in solitude and within the enclosures of the cenobies, and be of fruit to himself almost alone, divine providence did not allow: by divine will, and those very ornaments it then willed to come into the open, and to profit very many by use and example, when he was especially intent on the plan of a solitary life, and could think of no such thing. For when by chance the Amerine Church, widowed of its Pastor by the death of its Bishop; and in those happy ages of the rising and flourishing Church, the prayers of the Amerine people being heard, the Bishops were not so much created by the studies and votes of men, as sought from God by the pious prayers of the Clergy and people; and those at last were received whom the heavenly will by its own power had shown; and the Amerines were consulting with their Clergy about choosing a new Bishop, and, insisting with frequent supplications and sacrifices, were praying God to give them a ruler and moderator of sacred things and guardian of souls; an unknown and absent one is elected Bishop: suddenly, divinely indicated, all with great consent acclaimed as Bishop Hymerius, far thence absent, nor seen by any, or known otherwise than by the fame of his sanctity. Which thing was thence a miracle to those very ones who had done it; reflecting that the name of an unknown man had been accepted with so great will and approbation of all.
[3] The Bishopric therefore being conferred on him, they send legates to Rome, who refer the matter to the Supreme Pontiff; by whose authority, having set out thence into the island, urged on by the authority of the Pope, where the holy man dwelt, they crossed over; and, having drawn him out from the hiding-places of the cenoby, set forth why they had come. He, as he was a man grave and prudent, the matter being maturely weighed, at last dared neither to resist the divine will, nor to refuse the commands of the Supreme Pontiff: nor did he endure to desert even the most ardent prayers of the Amerine Clergy and people and their so great zeal toward him. Therefore when he had undertaken the burden of the Pastoral office, as imposed on him by God Himself, he comes to Ameria, humbly and obediently; he came to Ameria: and was received with as great joy of all as the consent with which lately he had been sought and chosen Bishop.
[4] Here the exceptional virtue of the holy man shone forth all the more at once, the more illustrious and lofty was the place from which he was now beheld. diligent in observing discipline, For he not only maintained the same innocence of life with which he had shone in solitude and among his cenobites; but so fulfilled all the duties of the Pastoral office, that he merited no less glory of prudence, diligence, assiduity, than of religion and holiness. He so ruled the discipline of sacred things and the whole order of the divine Offices, that nothing was more adorned than his church, nothing more cultivated, nothing more orderly. In moderating morals, moreover, he held this first of all, that he should command nothing to others which he had not first commanded to himself; that he should exact nothing in the life of others which had not shone in his own. And having at once attacked the people with frequent sermons, not indeed by faculty and art of speaking (although not even this ornament of talent was wanting to him), but by the simplicity and aptness of his speech, and in moderating morals, and by the gravity of matters and sentences, and (in which lies all the force of persuading) by the opinion of his innocence and Sanctity, in a short time so bound to himself the minds of all, that he easily impelled them whither he wished. Often, discoursing of the eternal punishments which await the guilty and the damned in hell, he struck the hearts of the hearers with enormous terror:
often, raising their minds to the hope of those heavenly goods which are prepared for those who despise human things, and who live piously, chastely, justly, and according to the discipline of Jesus Christ, it is wondrous to say how great loves of piety and religion he stirred up.
[5] But you could not easily discern whether he undertook the offices of charity with greater gentleness or with greater bounty, devoted to works of charity and abstinence. To all the needy there was in him a certain help, to the afflicted consolation: and those whom he could not help with goods, he aided with work or counsel. When he visited the sick, by relieving, consoling, admonishing, he took care more zealously not so much that diseases be driven from their bodies, as that the plague of sins be healed in their souls. His house was always open to guests, and especially to those traveling for the sake of religion. He himself was always most observant of fasting and abstinence, so that with bread and water, and, when he received himself more sumptuously, with figs or eggs or fruit, he sustained his body rather than nourished it.
[6] That such notable virtues, so great a sanctity of the man, were far most acceptable to God, the admirable prodigies and miracles which he repeatedly performed testified, he is famous for miracles. For he often freed places, often human bodies, beset and infested by adverse spirits, by prayers poured out to God: he often restored to health the sick, often those variously crippled in their limbs, in the utmost despair of recovery, by the same prayers.
[7] He predicts the day of his death. Finally, when, being well and sound, he had by divine instinct foretold the day on which he himself was to die; with the same piety with which he had passed his life, with the same he also gave forth his last breath. Nor thence, from his body and from the Relics preserved through many ages and with great devotion and cult of the Amerine and surrounding peoples, did lesser or less frequent miracles proceed: so that the Church which the present glory of his greatest virtues and his examples had illustrated, He adorned also from heaven from time to time with new benefits, and made more celebrated, until, by the great misfortune of this City, around the year 965, It is translated to Cremona in the year 965. the holy Relics were carried off to Cremona by Loyza Bishop of the Cremonese; to whom, because he held an easily foremost place of grace and authority with Otto the first Emperor, the Amerine bishop dared not be opposed; the less so indeed, because through Loyza he desired to recover and appease the angry and hostile mind of the Emperor: and at Cremona up to this day the Relics of Hymerius are kept in the Cathedral church and piously venerated. The body indeed is held enclosed in a marble chest, into which the inscription of the chest itself teaches that it was placed by Bishop Siccard. The whole head is preserved in a transparent glass vessel, in the form of a lantern, and the Cremonese church holds the holy Patron himself adopted to it in great honor and veneration.
ANNOTATIONS OF G. H.
"Four years being taken from a thousand two hundred," that is, 1196. / "Bishop Sicard makes this chest, and the altar: / Who at last on the third day consecrates the same when completed, / Being endowed in the eleventh year of his Pontificate." Hence it is understood that this Sicard was ordained in 1185: but he died in 1215, according to Ughelli: who also narrates how by the same one's care St. Homobonus was canonized in the year 1200, three years after his death on 13 November. Before him there was a certain Obertus, ordained in 1117, who in the year 1141, in about the 24th of his Prelacy, enclosed the body of St. Hymerius in the iron chest, and brought it into the new Cathedral; and in the year 1158 took care to have the body of St. Gregory the Presbyter translated into the church of St. Michael, dying in 1169. To him succeeded Emmanuel, then Offredus: and Emmanuel indeed is praised as a saint, as we said among the Omitted on 27 Feb.; but, Merula being silent about him, among the Cremonese Saints and Blessed; we await of his cult (if he have any) and then of his Life and miracles, more distinct instruction.
ACTS OF THE TRANSLATION,
From an old Ms. of Abbot Constantius Caietanus.
Hymerus Bishop of Ameria in Umbria (St.)
BHL Number: 3957
[1] There was in the days of Otto the Greater, the most illustrious Emperor, a certain Bishop of Cremona of good memory, Luizo, a Royal Sumista, kind in things committed to him, provident in counsel, Bishop of Cremona, filled with divine love and gifts, that he might become the gracious finder and bearer of so great a Father Hymerius. Who, when, frequently entering and going out from the Royal presence, and acting faithfully toward the precepts of the Emperor, he was in the Roman parts, there came to him the Bishop of Ameria, whom a malevolent disturbance and discordant accusation had made an exile from the Imperial presence: who thus began to speak with a mournful voice: "Most dear Father, whom the Emperor has dedicated in the second height of the kingdom, asked to intercede for the man of Ameria, I beg you to help me, since, condemned by a certain trifling accusation, and unjustly struck by a harsh sentence, I am deprived of the Imperial grace. Now therefore aid me, condoling my abjection: for I will recompense you with any gift." To whom he: "If," he said, "you make me happy by giving me some happy thing of the bodies of the Saints, I will restore you to the King's former benevolence." To this the other, "I do not dare," he said, "in this to satisfy your requests: in turn he is asked to give the body of some Saint. for the bodies of the Saints are buried at the sacred altars. But I have one, placed in a wooden chest, whom the inhabitants of that place venerate with the highest honor, Hymerius by name: if I were able by some reason to bring him to you, and could transfer him to your homeland, I know that you would have to rejoice in so great a blessed Father."
[2] These words being related, they came forthwith to the town of Ameria; and with gracious cunning entered the church, Here by night, lifting the body of St. Hymerius, as if about to celebrate the nocturnal mysteries: for, prostrate in prayer for a long time, they gave themselves to many vows and prayers, that the Saint might favor their petitions. Scarcely were the prayers finished, when that whole place trembled in which St. Hymerius lay. But the Prelates, although trembling, yet with believing hope approached nearer. Meanwhile, the guards sleeping in heavy sleep, the Bishops went to the sepulchre of St. Hymerius. Who, when they began to break the chest, he hands it over to the Cremonese: trying to draw out the blessed body; one of the guards, awakened, began to cry: "Rise, Brethren, rise quickly. The body of blessed Hymerius is being stolen from us." Which Luizo, the egregious Prelate, having heard the guard, running at once to him gives him gifts and asked for silence: but he, the gift being received, and having seen his Bishop, keeping silent, granted protection.
[3] Then the Pontiffs, lifting the celebrated body, adored it, rejoicing in so great a gift: and, placing the most holy members in a most pure vessel, went out from the town secretly to all. who places it under the altar of the Blessed Virgin Mary. But the aforesaid Bishop, returning to Cremona, brought with him the joys he had desired. Who, having entered his own city, calling the people together, showed to all the body of the most blessed Hymerius: for the people, prostrate in prayer, earnestly praised the Lord, who had given them such a patron. And when they persisted in the praise of so great a Father, very many sought the church, and celebrated the mysteries in his honor; then the most holy body was laid up in a shrine more becomingly adorned, behind the altar of the holy Mother of God, which at that time had been built in the Southern part of that church, where it remained for a long time, not placed in an altar, because a place for placing it was lacking: but yet so that the Saint was always venerated year by year. But the aforesaid laudable Pontiff, rejoicing in so great a Father, considered how he might place the sacred body of the Saint; but yet this was not given to him, because, compelled by imperial service, sent to Constantinople, he returned thither no more.
[4] At last in the times of the venerable Olderic, the subsequent Bishop, the Lord, not unmindful of His Confessor Hymerius, A proper crypt is built for him, wishing him to be specially placed, permitted one of the chamberlains of the Prelate just mentioned, wishing to build a crypt in honor of the holy Father, for the sake of his salvation. Concerning which matter the same chamberlain, bound by a savage bond of infirmity, was soon by divine power restored to his former health. And as he labored faithfully in the holy work for a long time, we believe he was rewarded by the suffrage of his Pontiff with both rewards. But the crypt being completed and polished within, by the successor Bishop. the Bishop, convening with the Lord's Clergy and people, with a gracious translation and the highest jubilation placed the blessed body with aromatic spices, in the place of prayer, a place to be venerated by all; where the divine mysteries are celebrated, and aids are granted to those devoutly asking, and health is restored to innumerable sick.
[5] Meanwhile, a few days now passing, there came a certain man blind in both eyes, and before the sacred altar of Hymerius fell prone, believing himself about to be illuminated by the virtues of the Saint. When, persevering in assiduous prayer, A blind man is illuminated, at last he awaited the mercy of the Saint, he received the desired gifts. For overflowing water, leaping forth from a certain bucket, brought in during the celebration of Masses, dripped drops in the mouth of the same man reclining nearby; and kindled lamps long extinguished, bringing clear lights to his forehead. He who had been blind becomes joyful, the light being received. a drop of water poured into his eyes. O wondrous and stupendous thing! unheard of by all in those times! For greatly to be feared is the mercy of the Omnipotent, who thus cements together discordant elements. For who has seen cold water of a spring kindle the flames of extinguished fire? but this water, ignited by heavenly ardor, imitated the pool of Siloam, which once at God's command opened the eyes of the blind. This fame therefore being divulged through the whole province; many came together from everywhere, bearing gifts.
[6] But Olderic the Bishop himself, a man well Catholic, rejoicing at so great a prodigy, soon ordered a silver tablet to be made, to be placed before the altar of the holy Father Hymerius, adorned with gold and gems: which being begun, little gifts of silver were contributed by many. the weight of silver offered for the tablet is found greater, And when the silver was weighed in an even balance for the weight of the fabrication, that it might be known of what quantity it was when whole; it wondrously began to grow. For as often as it was weighed in the scale, so often the pound grew another, up to the completion of the tablet. O new and admirable power, which we have heard happened nowhere! That abundance surely flowed forth in the silver, which once fed the hungering people in the desert. With such excellent miracles flowing forth, an innumerable crowd of both sexes running together, many sick are cured, hastened eagerly to the aforesaid Father. For many blind, deaf, withered, and burdened with various sicknesses, hearing these miracles, hastened to the threshold of Blessed Hymerius, and
were restored to the desired health, by whatever infirmity they had been held: but also demons, fleeing at the command of the Saint from many possessed bodies, howled, saying, "Alas! alas! behold the destruction of our race: behold the people is taken from us." the possessed are freed. Which miracles, as we have said, and many others, flourished through very many times: but, the wickedness of the people rising up, the holy Father ceased a little from his virtues, as if forgetful of his accustomed miracle. But afterward, the wondrous Pastor, remembering his faithful, daily showed manifold prodigies.
[7] Let us therefore rejoice in the Lord, dearly Beloved, celebrating the feast day of our Father Hymerius: since, The Saint is invoked. if he shall perceive us faithfully festive, he will favor our prayers propitiously and happily. He indeed loves pure servants, whose pure name we declare by interpreting it. For if we look according to the etymology of the name, Ymeron in Hebrew and Aeolic we shall interpret as Purus (Pure) in Latin. Truly he was pure to the Lord, because he pursued purity of heart. These things therefore being accomplished wholesomely, we pray you, most holy Father, that, enjoying your patronage, we may merit to be made partakers of the heavenly gift, He himself aiding, who, one in trinity, lives and reigns, through the eternal ages of ages. Amen.