Gorgonius

ON SAINT GORGONIUS, MARTYR, AT TOURS IN GAUL.

Gorgonius, Martyr, at Tours in Gaul (Saint)

The treasure of this Martyr, hitherto scarcely known, we discovered at Paris in the library of the Canons Regular of Saint Victor, in a manuscript codex marked number 877, and in another manuscript codex number 851, in the second part of the Lectionary, in which the Prologue was missing. It concerns Rainald, Abbot of Marmoutier, the monastery built from its foundations by Saint Martin near Tours, History written by an eyewitness, published from manuscripts. who set out for Rome in the year 846 and returned the following year with the body of Saint Gorgonius the Martyr, and the miracles which occurred on that occasion. These things were written by an eyewitness, a monk of the said monastery and companion of Abbot Rainald: those who wish hereafter to compile a catalogue of Abbots will be able to learn his name from this. The cult of the Martyr was taken up on the eleventh of March, cult of Saint Gorgonius on 11 March with other Gorgoniuses. on which day the memory of Gorgonius the Martyr was inscribed in various Martyrologies, and first of Saints Gorgonius and Firmus, or Firminus, Martyrs, whom we reported as having suffered at Nicaea on the preceding day, the tenth of March. Saint Gorgonius the Martyr of Nicomedia also had his cult on this eleventh, and more so on the twelfth of March, together with Saints Dorotheus, Peter, Migdonius, and others, as is stated on the twelfth of March: but his feast is chiefly celebrated on the ninth of September. Furthermore, in very many Martyrologies the Forty Martyrs of Sebastea in Armenia have their own veneration: among whom there was also one called Gorgonius. Behold the Nicaean, Nicomedian, and Armenian Martyrs, who bore the name Gorgonius: from whom we judge this one to be distinct: whose body was found at Rome, and indeed, as it seems, on the Appian Way, between two laurel groves near the church of Saint Cecilia. The author, having set aside the miracles of Saint Alexander, from whom he is distinct, (which he asserts he took care to note down below, but which are lacking in the Saint Victor manuscripts, and perhaps now exist nowhere else) added a conclusion, conjecturing that the bodies of the holy Forty Martyrs had been brought during the time of persecution by Bishop Agabus, and that this body of Saint Gorgonius, which was brought to Tours, had been that of one of the said Martyrs. But since those bodies had been quite reduced to a mass of ashes, nothing could ever be discerned that might be judged to have belonged to any particular Saint; much less did solid bones, which could be transferred, survive at that time.

HISTORY OF THE TRANSLATION.

From two manuscript codices of Saint Victor at Paris

Gorgonius, Martyr, at Tours in Gaul (Saint)

BHL Number: 3622

PROLOGUE

[1] Many are led to write the deeds of the ancient Fathers by the abundance of their material, since, enriched through manifold understanding, they come to know great things. Yet to commit to the pen the memory of the Saints, and to make known to posterity their acts and virtues or merits, and to leave them also in worthy writings, accumulates the reward of eternal recompense, demonstrates the example of living well, and celebrates without end and in manifold ways the praise of Almighty God in His Saints. Nevertheless, as for the virtues and also the miracles which Christ has performed in the present time through His glorious servant, the Martyr Gorgonius, in our presence and before our bodily sight, The author writes what he himself saw. a trepidation seizes those of us who desire to record them in writing, on account of the great number of miracles: and first care must be taken to humbly guard the modesty of conscience, and to provide with all caution that no one should doubt in faith, and that nothing erroneous or rash be mixed with so great a truth, the utmost effort must be made: so that if it is not accomplished as we would wish, it may at least be fulfilled as we are able. For a good work, for those who have it in their will, will issue from God's aid into progress. Therefore let the subject matter itself excuse its writer, since it is established that he has told small things in place of great, and that one must yield not to labor but to time. For since, by the bounty of heavenly clemency, the virtues and fame of the most precious Martyr Gorgonius are daily increased and spread everywhere in the regions of the West: it only remains that all may know that those things have been noted down simply and at the same time most briefly, which continuous labor permitted us, weary as we were, to elucidate briefly, lest they fall from memory: and to open a little to all who are well-disposed those things which serve in time of convenience. Therefore, through the intercession of the aforesaid Martyr, the superabundant bounty of Almighty God will grant that we may be able to set forth the fullness and magnitude of his virtues' bounty in a more extended style and more brilliant eloquence in a suitable space of time: nor will He who has bestowed greater things deny the lesser: and He who has disposed to bestow upon us, unworthy as we are, the shining pearl, namely the most noble Martyr, in our territories, will favor us so that we may render to him fitting service in all things, and may be able to speak worthy things of him with fitting grace.

HISTORICAL NARRATIVE

[1] In the year, therefore, of the incarnation of Our Lord Jesus Christ 846, divine grace administering, it came to pass The body of Saint Gorgonius the Martyr brought from Rome into Gaul: that Rainald, Venerable Abbot of the cell of the great monastery, together with certain Priests and Deacons and other Clerics from the aforesaid monastery committed to him, should journey to Rome for the purpose of prayer, and, if the Lord should permit and the Roman or Apostolic authority should allow, should bring back with him to the aforementioned monastery of Saint Martin, which that most precious Confessor of Christ had built from new foundations with the greatest care, the body of some Martyr of Christ, just as by the Lord's gift he also did. And after the feast of Saint Martin himself had been celebrated at the aforesaid newly constructed place, by God's ordinance, the said Abbot set out for Rome with his Clerics. Having then made the rounds of the oratories of the Roman Church's jurisdiction, and having obtained the treasure he desired, on the fourteenth day before the Kalends of June they departed from Rome, and, bringing with them the body of the most blessed Martyr of Christ Gorgonius, swiftly with the Lord's help, with the greatest joy and gladness, they arrived at Saint Alexander's: whose miracles, namely those of the said Confessor of Christ, lest disobedience and negligence be imputed to us, which were done openly before all, we have taken care to note down below. On the following day, however, the horse of Rainulf, a horse's ailment removed: the Master of the Cupbearers, a man of the Abbot, was seized by a most violent illness, so that it could scarcely be moved from the spot by three or more men; when brought before the holy Martyr of Christ, it recovered its health and began to crop the grass, and feeling nothing at all wrong, began to run, so that all who were present marveled exceedingly.

[3] a monk's quartan fever cured, On another day, Garnerius, a monk, who had been tormented for some time by the most acute quartan fevers, besought the most blessed Martyr of Christ for his illness, and the same fever was extinguished as if it had merely touched him: giving thanks to God, he recognized that he had been unhesitatingly freed by the merits of the blessed Martyr of Christ. a Priest's illness, For Gerbertus the Priest, who set out from Tours for Rome in the same company as an invalid, as many of his neighbors knew, was thereafter seized by illness on the journey to such a degree, and swelled throughout his whole body, that his life was already despaired of by all who accompanied him. When he sought a suitable place to remain and be buried, should he happen to die, he was encouraged by his fellow travelers to place his faith and hope through God in the merits of Blessed Gorgonius. a monk's gout, Having done so, he immediately began to obtain health, and was able to walk on his own feet on the return journey more vigorously than he had ridden on horseback on the outward journey: his fellow citizens, when he arrived home, greatly marveled at his recovery. Finally, the Priest Irmgard from the monastery of the said Abbot Rainald, laboring under a most violent gout, was miraculously freed in an instant by the same most holy Martyr of Christ, and afterward he most devotedly served that same Martyr. Milo, indeed, the Vicar of the town of Bridacum, pain of the kidneys: who was so tormented by pain in his kidneys that he declared he could in no way travel either on foot or on horseback, devoted himself in prayer before the holy Martyr of Christ, and immediately, his health having been restored, he proceeded unharmed with his companions.

[4] After fording the river which is called the Taro, and when we had arrived at a certain village called Boilana, there was brought to us on the road a certain man who had been held continuously by paralysis for nine years, others healed in Italy: paralysis, and had been unable to perform any work:

thrown down by those who carried him beneath the bier of the most holy Martyr, and with the bystanders praying for some time and the Clerics who were present singing the Litany, when the prayers were completed, through the intercession of Saint Gorgonius, on that same day, he who for so many years had lacked the strength of all his limbs was made whole.

Passing through the city of Piacenza, when we had stopped to refresh ourselves, weary from the journey, and were detained while sitting and taking food, contraction of the limbs with a hump: a certain girl followed us, with contracted knees and arms, also hunchbacked under her shoulder blades, named Giliza, carried by her father Gisland, or by her mother Raganiberta, and cast down beneath the bier of the most glorious Martyr of Christ. While her father and mother prayed for some time, her bound limbs began to be loosened: when the Lord Rainald, the Venerable Abbot, ordered bread to be offered into her hand, she held what she received in her hand for a long time, yet tasting nothing of it; suddenly she rose up and carried the bread running to her mother: for she was six years old and had been born thus. When this was heard, all rejoicing paralysis, at the miracle of the Saint, and weeping for joy, we ran with haste, and giving thanks to God, after praises had been completed, we each returned to our accustomed tents. Then, having resumed our journey, there came to meet us a certain small boy, carried by his mother to a certain village, lacking the strength of all his limbs; when held up, by God's gift, he seized the ladder, continued for a long time, and the next day walked on foot after us to the city of Pavia. Near Pavia also, when our tents had been pitched, a certain girl was brought, daily fever: named Eva, niece of the Abbess Agia, who was suffering most severely from daily fevers; placed before the bier of the most blessed Martyr, she was miraculously healed. As we then passed through the city of Vercelli, a certain woman was brought before the bier of the holy Martyr of Christ, who was bound on the right side by paralysis, yet immediately paralysis: merited health, by the Lord's gift. Thence, therefore, as we proceeded onward, a certain woman lacking the light of her eyes was led before the holy Martyr of Christ, named Augusta, blindness, who immediately received her sight, and giving thanks to God, returned to her home with joy. Near the city of Augusta Praetoria, a certain demoniac ran to the bier of the most blessed Martyr of Christ, compelled however by her mother: a demoniac freed: for by her beating she had been so tormented that she most often harassed her own mother with reproaches and curses and blows: when, being compelled, she touched the bier, she made the sign of the Cross on her forehead, and with a great stench, she was released from those by whom she was held bound, and prostrating herself at her mother's feet, she begged pardon. Pardon having been granted by her mother, she departed rejoicing, giving thanks to the Lord.

[5] Crossing then the lake of Saint Maurice, we arrived by boat at the port, which is about two miles from the city of Lausanne. In Burgundy, a blind and crippled woman healed A certain woman was brought, blind and crippled, and cast beneath the bier of the Blessed Martyr, and she returned healed of both afflictions. Thence, coming to the river Vobe, we spent the night, and in the morning, after Masses had been celebrated, a certain man named Haringisus, lacking the light of his eyes, received his sight a blind man, before the bier, by the Lord's gift. In that same place also, a certain demoniac named Lanfridus, a demoniac, making noise and gnashing throughout the whole day, was freed by the Lord's gift from that vexation of demons, and on the morrow followed the body of the holy Martyr, until his lord, having received permission, led him home unharmed. One mile a crippled girl, before we had reached the village of Salins, there met us a certain girl, already crippled for ten years, and prostrated before the bier of the most blessed Martyr of Christ, she was immediately freed from the weakness of her limbs and healed. Passing afterward through the aforesaid village, we made a halt for the night, where a certain man, lame in the hand and limping on his right foot and mute in speech, came to us. Prostrated before the holy Martyr of Christ, he began both to walk and to speak, a lame and mute man. and on the following day he traveled with us the whole day, congratulating us. As we approached the river Loue, a certain woman candles lit of their own accord. named Griminhild, carrying a candle in her hand, cast it upon the bier of the holy Martyr, and without human fire it emitted flames of itself in the sight of all, and those who saw it marveled, saying: "Wonderful is God in all His Saints." Crossing then the river Saone, there followed us a certain old woman named Adalrada, who likewise, as above, placed a candle upon the ladder, and without human fire it likewise emitted flames.

[6] At Orleans, a blind woman and others healed Therefore, as we approached the walls of the city of Orleans, a certain woman lacking sight followed us, and before she reached the bier of the Blessed Martyr, through his intercession she received the light. Meanwhile, as we made our way through the aforesaid walls, in the middle of the marketplace, which is held every Saturday in the public square, a crippled boy, there sat a certain small boy named Benedict, with contracted knees and lacking all their strength, and he merited the ability to walk and began to go after us unharmed: so that the citizens of that region were greatly astonished. Thence, arriving at the place where we also pitched our tents afterward, namely in the meadow of Saint Maximin, on the side of that monastery, and there remaining for two nights, a certain widow named Domnina came to us, lame in her hand, but lame in the hand, by the Lord's gift, returned sound and unharmed. There also a certain man named Adalmadus, mute, came before the door of the tent where the same blessed Martyr of Christ was resting, and through his intercession merited the loosening of his tongue and the power of speech. a mute man, There also Godelindis, a woman lacking all strength of limbs from head downward, arrived, and bent of back, returned upright and healed to her home. six crippled, Hildeberga also, crippled, and brought in that same place before the bier of the most blessed Martyr, was restored to health. two blind women and a lame man Then Adaltrudis, blind of sight and led there, received in a moment her sight. Also Laudiadus, a certain crippled man, came there and returned sound. There also Gisbildis, lacking the ability to walk, merited the power of going. Otbertus also, crippled, went there devoutly, and by the Lord's gift returned unharmed. Gumbalda, also blind and crippled from the waist downward, was carried to the bier of the most blessed Martyr, and in a moment received her sight and, having recovered the strength of all her limbs, returned sound and unharmed. Finally, then, in that same place, a certain woman named Emiltrudis, crippled in her legs and knees, was carried there by bearers and was made well. Martin, lastly, a cripple, sought the Martyr of Christ and, made whole, followed us all the way to Marmoutier. As we then proceeded thence, a certain woman, deaf and mute and blind from birth, was led before the most blessed Martyr of Christ, deaf, mute, and blind, and there received hearing, speech, and sight. When we inquired her name, we could not learn it, but since she herself did not know her own name or the place of her birth, we gave her the name Benedicta.

[7] At Calniacum, a crippled girl, Proceeding therefore to the village of Calniacum belonging to Saint Martin's Marmoutier, we arrived at the same most glorious Martyr of Christ's resting place, and there, while we spent the night and remained for two days, a certain girl named Ermenfrida, crippled, from a village of the brethren of the same monastery, was brought in a small litter before the bier of Blessed Gorgonius, and with her knees made straight, by the Lord's gift, she began to walk unharmed, and a blind man. with great rejoicing: and there also Bernehardus, a blind man, a native and resident of the same village, was led there, and by God's gift, through the same Saint, he received his sight.

[8] Therefore, by the Lord's favor, the most blessed Martyr of Christ was brought to the monastery of Saint Martin, which is called Marmoutier, The body is brought to Marmoutier, with the greatest honor and reverence, and was placed in the bosom of the middle of the church, where, through the intercession of John the Baptist, whom we had adorned in the Lateran church, which is venerated and worshipped within the walls of the city of Rome, and by the permission of Blessed Peter the Apostle, on the eve of the feast of Saint Martin, he was sent on the fifth day before the Nones of July, on the vigil of Saint Martin, whose love was held by God and whose deliberation was had, so that he should not be brought there before the day before the Nones of the same month: but because we believe this was done by God's direction, so that where he was to be buried and venerated and to remain in perpetuity, it could not be changed, but rather that he should arrive before the day of the feast of the most precious Confessor of Christ, with whom he was to be associated, so that it might be evident to all where it pleased him to remain forever: and he who was willingly withdrawn from the midst of the Princes of the Apostles, it was fitting that he should be laid in a noble place beside the supreme Confessor of Christ: in the place, namely, where the coming of the Blessed Mother of God and Virgin Mary, for the purpose of visiting the same Confessor of Christ, is venerated to this day, and in the attendance of the Apostles Peter and Paul and of the holy Virgins Agnes and Thecla that same visitation and colloquy is commemorated, that the body of the most precious Martyr should be buried: so that both the place and the religious observance through him, in whatever matters it was deficient, might deserve to be restored: because in the place from which he was brought, such was the promise: and therefore through the intercession of Blessed Martin the obtaining was so easy: and lest perchance, God forbid, he should be concealed in a lowly place where, through successions of heirs, it should happen to those who did it or who consented to it, what the Prophet declared in the Psalm, saying of those who said: "Let us possess the sanctuary of God as an inheritance. O my God, make them like a wheel and like stubble before the face of the wind: as fire which burns the forest, and as flame burning the mountains, so shalt Thou pursue them in Thy tempest, and in Thy wrath Thou shalt trouble them: fill their faces with shame and they shall seek Thy name, O Lord: let them be ashamed and troubled forever and ever, and let them be confounded and perish," and so forth. Psalm 82:13 and following. Therefore, after the vigils had been completed and Masses celebrated, both the Clerics and the monks, together with Landrannus, Archbishop of the city of Tours, and Aitard, Co-bishop of the Church of Nantes, and the Lord Rainald, Venerable Abbot of that same place, and Vivian, the illustrious Count and Rector of the Monastery of Saint Martin, determined that for a time the body should be carried to an open place outside the walls of the monastery on account of the concourse of both sexes: which was done with great honor deposited in the Salicetum, by the crowds of Priests and Levites and the remaining people and Clerics; in the Salicetum, that is, or the territory beside the aforesaid walls of the same monastery, until the time for his burial in a church to be built beside the same monastery, by Christ's arrangement, should arrive. In the aforesaid place of the Salicetum, therefore, the miracles described below were performed, by the Lord's mercy.

[9] a crippled boy healed, Isernbardus, therefore, a certain small boy, crippled, coming with his small stools before the bier of Blessed Gorgonius the Martyr, was made upright by God's gift and returned unharmed. Then a certain woman named Isenberga went to the aforesaid Martyr for the purpose of prayer, and it happened that with another woman she quarreled, arguing with an agitated mind: and before she reached the place where the most glorious Martyr was resting, she became mute, a mute woman, and remaining mute throughout the whole day, as the assembled people prayed,

in the evening she recovered her speech, and promised that she would amend herself henceforth from such behavior. a blind woman, Meanwhile, a certain woman named Berthala, who was blind, came forward, and having recovered her sight, she returned. There also Agildis, a demoniac woman, arrived, a demoniac, and, freed from those by whom she was held, while the Clerics and the people prayed, she departed healed. There also Godabelus, crippled in both knees, came forward, a crippled man, and having felt nothing in one of those limbs for ten years, with all strength restored, he returned upright and unharmed. Then there came a certain man, formerly mute, who said that he had recovered his speech on the journey while he was hastening to the same Martyr of Christ to be healed. a mute man, Since his testimony alone was not accepted, suitable witnesses followed him, who said that for a long time they had seen him living among them as a mute. a crippled and hunchbacked boy, A certain boy, named Franco, bent at the knees and hunchbacked under his shoulder blades, when he was being carried by his mother from a village with a friend before the Martyr of Christ, as they arrived at the bank of the Loire, the boy's limbs began to be loosened, and boarding the boat, he began to be healed more and more, and having crossed the river, he arrived upright before the holy body. a deaf and mute boy, On the same day, a certain boy was led there by his mistress, deaf and mute from birth, who immediately, when he reached the place of the bier, merited hearing and speech through the intercession of Saint Gorgonius.

It then happened, at the persuasion of the wicked enemy, that a certain woman, of whom we made mention above, who had been deaf and mute and blind from birth, and had obtained healing from all these infirmities before the body of Saint Gorgonius, made blind on account of theft, stealthily removed a certain small silver ornament from the head of the Saint. When it had been taken, she lost her sight, and she immediately returned the aforesaid ornament, and, mourning what she had done, wept most bitterly, shedding blood in place of tears. On that same day and the following night and through the next half day, while she wept and others who were present prayed, she recovered her sight by God's gift. a crippled boy, There, indeed, a certain small boy named Betto, already crippled for three years, came, and with his knees freed -- for he had come with small stools -- he began to walk on upright feet. A woman, therefore, named Plectrudis, lacking the strength of her kidneys, bent over on crutches, approached one evening, a bent woman, and having recovered her strength, she put aside the crutches by which she had been supported and returned upright and unharmed. A certain man, indeed, named Gislebertus, going from Marmoutier to his home, and passing through a village of the same monastery which is called Asmarias, entered the house of a certain man, one who plucked the monastery's grain is punished. and placed bundles of that man's grain before his horses. The wife of the same man, however, began to cry out, lest he take from them their small portion of poverty, and even weeping began to invoke Saint Gorgonius, that he might be an avenger for her if he should carry off her bundles from her: one of the horses began to crop the grain, and immediately with its mouth sealed it began to tremble, until falling to the ground outside, it dropped dead. Seeing this, the aforesaid Gislebertus, stricken with fear, took flight with his men as quickly as he could.

[10] Although it is unknown to us how the bodies of the holy Forty Martyrs were brought to Rome, nevertheless we have it in writing that Agabus, a worshipper of God and a Bishop of that same country, together with most reverend men, buried with precious spices their bodies in the place which is called the Appian Way, between two laurel groves near the church of Saint Cecilia the Virgin, one mile from the city of Rome, until the storm of the persecution of the ungodly against the Christians, lasting for many years, should pass, where those who love God and believe in Christ and confess the Holy Spirit glorify Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns forever and ever. Amen.