Amator

ON SAINT AMATOR,

BISHOP OF AUXERRE IN GAUL.

A.D. 418

Amator, Bishop of Auxerre in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 0356

BY THE AUTHOR G. H.

Very many Saints of Auxerre have their veneration this month: among whom are the six first Bishops, namely St. Peregrinus the first to be referred to the day XVI, St. Marcellianus the II to the day XIII, St. Valerius the III and St. Valerianus the IV, Sacred cult from the ancient Calendars. both on the day VI, St. Eladius or Helladius the V on the day VIII, and then St. Amator the VI, of whom at these Kalends of May we have now to treat. Famous is the memory of this Saint in almost all the Sacred Latin Calendars, of which the first place obtain the ancient transcripts of the Hieronymian Martyrology, of which the Epternac one, written nine hundred or more years ago, has these things adjoined: In the city of Auxerre of Amator the Bishop. Which in the Lucca and Blumian are more largely explained in this manner: In Gaul in the city of Auxerre the deposition of St. Amator the Bishop. The title of Confessor is added by Usuard, Bellinus, and others, with the present Roman Martyrology. Others, and especially the more recent, from his Acts add greater eulogies, as also Petrus de Natalibus book 4 chapter 113. But before these Calendars an ancient testimony of the Ecclesiastical veneration

exhibits the Basilica, A Basilica built at Auxerre. erected at Auxerre to his honor and cult. There is extant a history of the Bishops of Auxerre, drawn by Philip Labbe from ancient MSS. and edited in the first volume of his New library, in which at the Acts of St. Aunarius (who presided over the Church of Auxerre as Bishop about the year 580) are indicated Litanies constituted by him, to be celebrated through the beginnings of the twelve months, in this order: On the Kalends of January the Basilica of Lord Germanus, on the Kalends of February the Basilica of Lord Amator, on the Kalends of March the monastery of Lord Marianus, and so consequently. The same St. Aunarius constituted, by whom Vigils in the Basilica of St. Stephen with the Abbots should be celebrated on each day, in this manner: On the Lord's night the Basilica of Lord Germanus and the monastery of Decimiacum. On the second day of the week the Basilica of Lord Amator and the monastery of Fontaine &c. In the ancient Breviaries of the Church of Auxerre is prescribed the Office of SS. Philip and James the Apostles, with a commemoration of St. Amator at Vespers and Lauds: and that memory is continued through the whole Octave.

[2] The Life of St. Amator wrote Stephanus, an African Presbyter, at the request of the mentioned St. Aunarius, whose is this epistle to him. To the most beloved and most loving and to me by an inner bond of charity connected Stephanus the Presbyter, Aunarius by the grace of God Bishop, in the Lord eternal salvation. St. Aunarius the Bishop requesting his Life. The prudence of thy doctrine, proved to us now by many experiments, has compelled us, to place upon thy shoulders a certain imperious little burden; but one which to thee is not of burden, but of honor; nor which presses downward with iniquitous weight, but which rather lifts up even to heaven. It is known to thee, dearest brother, both what is the diversity of human minds, and how into contrary studies not only the empty common folk, but even the whole nobility is divided: and some indeed are delighted with prosaic style, but some confess themselves to be delighted with numbers or rhythms and the songs of verses. Therefore, that I might meet the wishes of all, and that none be defrauded of his desire, it pleased me, that the Lives of the most blessed Confessors thou shouldst describe some with free foot, but some impeded by metric law arrange: for which cause I beseech the friendship of thy love united to me, that the Life of the most blessed Germanus the Bishop thou cease not to change into the quality of verses: but that of St. Amator thou describe with prosaic modulation; that being made followers of the Apostolic preaching, we may become all things to all, and owe nothing to anyone, except that we love one another. May the Divine piety guard your undivided charity to me, venerable brother. Thus far St. Aunarius; to whom the aforesaid Presbyter gave a response of this kind.

[3] To the Lord most blessed and adorned with Apostolic infulae, my spiritual Father, Aunarius the Bishop, Stephanus, Stephanus the Presbyter pledges himself to write. the servant of all the servants of Christ. The letters of your Apostolate run through, what the ardor of holy desire holds forth with the highest alacrity, clearer than light I have approved. It is therefore the purpose of your devotion, that the noble acts of the flowering life of the most esteemed men Germanus and Amator be described: but to those let the intention of your most pleasant path be directed, who can behold the lights of the virtues with equal inspirations. But by him (whose inert wit grows torpid with twin stiffness; and a stuttering tongue, impeded amid the rancid courses of the throat by the squalid stiffness of thirst, speaks not, but rather grates) how shall I be able to set forth in polished speech the divinely inspired gifts of the most holy men, who cannot even explain private affairs heaped up by human chance? To ridicule, unless I am deceived, and to inexplicable mockery he devotes himself, whosoever beyond the possibility of his strength assumes a burden. Do not bold temerity ruin the followers of beasts, if less captious industry shape it? Never has a recruit borne the monuments of victory by a shield, which is painted, if the learned hand of a veteran example has not instructed him. Never also has a bird more safely cut the open way of the air granted to it, to which the feathered mother as guide has not been a forerunner. He will surely lie cut down by the dashing of the waves, whosoever trusting to the hire of his own boldness, thrusts the undocile right hand of the boat upon the rudder. So each one is cut asunder into the diverse hook of unskillfulness, if he be in no wise helped by the favors of the learned. I, most blessed man, beg, that that may impose on me the summit of thy peak, which does not doubt that I can easily accomplish it; if yet also in this work, whatever inelegantly or witlessly rustic garrulity sets forth, thou bear it with equanimity, I will undertake; and will do what paternal authority brings and bids. Fare well for a long time, Lord Pope. Thus Stephanus.

[4] this we give from MSS. We procured for ourselves a Legendary written in several volumes on parchment: but, what hitherto we have grieved, there were wanting the Acts of the Saints pertaining to the four first months: but now they begin to be of use to us, while they exhibit the Acts of the Saints pertaining to May and the seven following months: from which, and two other our codices sufficiently ancient, likewise another of the monastery of St. Mary of Bonnefont, we give the Life of St. Amator: which same we found in a MS. parchment of the Most Serene Christina Queen of Sweden marked number 81, likewise in a MS. of Nicolaus Belfortius, which it did not seem worth the trouble to collate with our MSS., since we had known the same to occur everywhere from the Catalogue of the MS. Codex and of very many others. Petrus le Venier the Penitentiary of the Church of Auxerre (whose humanity and erudition we ourselves experienced at Auxerre in the year 1662, and whose illustrious library we admired) has the same Life distributed into three parts, of which the first is concluded with the first chapter, the two following parts, into two chapters each we divide. This man of the highest judgment thinks, that it was written by the above-mentioned Stephanus the African Presbyter: and to this opinion we willingly subscribe. Moreover the author seems, from the supplied material of the Acts, to have accurately selected those things which he found more authentic. Thus what in number 18, 22, 24, 25, and 27 are related, he drew from the Life of St. Germanus his successor, the words of Constantius the Presbyter, the author of the said Life, being preserved, which here a full century earlier, that is about the year 480, he had composed.

[5] There are extant various compendia of it. There are extant various compendia of the same Life, in some of which, that which is inserted in the History of the Bishops of Auxerre, with this clause after the narration of the miracles, As the book published concerning his Life manifestly declares. What there is adjoined concerning the time of the See, we shall presently examine. Another compendium we have from a MS. of Utrecht of St. Saviour, to which one not unlike is extant at Cologne with the Carthusian Fathers; from which the former part, and indeed with the style changed, Laurentius Surius edited; for the rest he refers the reader to the Life of St. Germanus. A third could be reckoned, which the monk of Auxerre sets forth in his Chronology, printed at Paris in the year 1609 folio 55 and 60; which Bellovacensis described book 20 chapter 13. A fourth compendium at Auxerre itself we described from a very ancient MS. of Chartres, which much praised, he who communicated it to us George Viola, a monk of Auxerre at St. Germanus, a man erudite in historical antiquity: which because it is an illustrious encomium of the Saint, and contains some things not indicated elsewhere, we propose in the manner of a eulogy, in these words.

[6] some eulogy of the Life. St. Amator, Bishop of Auxerre, in his youthful age very well instructed in letters, was compelled by his parents to betroth a certain maiden. But when the time of the coupling pressed, exhorting one another, they made a vow of virginity. And behold an Angel was present, who brought them two crowns, praising their purpose, and exhorting them to persevere. Moreover the maiden delivered herself to the company of Virgins, but Amator in the Clergy shone with such great renown, that after the decease of St. Helladius he deserved to be constituted in the Pontificate. Made therefore Pontiff he shone forth with many miracles; illuminating the blind, curing the paralytic, even bringing back the dead to life. But when he had subjected many to the yoke of faith, both by the exhibition of miracles, and by the instance of preaching; seeing the basilica there still to be small, nor able to contain so great a multitude of Christians; he asked of a certain citizen of Auxerre, Ruptilius by name, that he would grant him a dwelling, which within the cloister of the city he had, ample and lofty: and straightway he refused. But not long after very grievously sickened, he assented to the Saint what he had asked. Then the man of God consecrated the same house a Basilica, in which afterward he tonsured St. Germanus. This is until now the basilica, frequented by Christian peoples in honor of the Proto-martyr Stephen, which D. William, Bishop of the same city, afterward of Paris, destroying, began to build a church of wondrous work in the year of the Lord 1215. Amator finally seized by a fever, when he had foreseen his death to be imminent, calling together the Clergy and people, ascended the Pontifical throne: and amid the hands of the attending Clerics, sent forth his spirit: which blessed spirit indeed many saw carried into heaven by Angels in the appearance of a dove.

[7] To arrange the chronotaxis of the life led by St. Amator, about his death a single mark of time is offered in the Acts below num. 31; He died May 1 on the 4th day of the week, where he is said to have died on the Kalends of May the fourth day of the week. Therefore not in the year 421, as the Monk of Auxerre and others after him wrote; for then the Kalends of May fell on Sunday, with the Dominical letter B. Nor also did his death fall on the year preceding, the 20th of that century; which the Sanmarthani indicated under doubt with the year 418; which, with Philip Labbe and others, in the year 418 we judge must necessarily be assigned to the death of St. Amator. For then with the cycle of the Sun VII, the Dominical letter F, the Kalends of May agreed with the required fourth day of the week, which with the cycle of the Moon I fell after the third Sunday of Easter, then celebrated April VII: so that St. Amator could conveniently after the Paschal feasts have undertaken a journey to the city of the Aedui, and have returned to his proper See, as in the Acts is explained. In the history of the Bishops of Auxerre the years of the See are attributed thirty, with one month and V days: consecrated in the year 388. therefore he would have been consecrated about the Solemnity of the Annunciation of the Virgin Mother of God and of Christ incarnate, in the year 388. And thus far indeed all things aptly enough: but rightly it displeases in the said history, that St. Amator is said to have been in the times of Constantius, and Julian the Apostate, and Jovinian the Emperors, under the Roman Pontiffs Felix, Damasus, Siricius and Anastasius. For first, so lived St. Amator under Constantius, Julian, and Jovian or Jovinian, that he also transcended the Empire of Valentinian and Valens the brothers and of Gratian, and finally Valentinian the younger and Theodosius the great reigning was created Bishop, and died under Honorius the son of Theodosius. Then, beyond the aforenamed Pontiffs (from whose number Liberius was not to be excluded, Felix II being dead or abdicating, again the true Pontiff) St. Amator lived, even under the Pontificate of Innocent. But these things therefore had to be explained, that it might be established that the author of the aforesaid history erred in anticipating in like manner the deeds of the other Bishops of Auxerre. destined to marriage about the year 364. Concerning the first age of St. Amator, we seem to be able to establish something more certain from the time of his marriage: for that he might assist at it is said n. 4 to have been summoned St. Valerianus toward the end of his Life, and presently St. Helladius his successor

to have consecrated the same a Levite, n. 7. But from what is to be said at the Life of St. Valerianus, to his death and to the ordination of St. Helladius is to be assigned the year 364; born before 344. therefore St. Amator seems to have been born before 344, and to have died before the seventieth year of his age.

[8] he is said to have set out to Antioch Wonderful are the things which we described at Rome from a MS. Legendary of Cardinal Barberini, and another MS. in which this title was prefixed: Here begin the miracles of SS. Quiricus and Julitta, which Teterius the Sophist their servant published, concerning their bodies found by St. Amator at Antioch: after which title these things are written. Since the venerable passion of SS. Quiricus and Julitta his mother, by a diverse relation indeed, but with a true and equal martyrdom, is agreed to be known to the Christian people; of the insuperable profundity of their miracles, by which in the world God disposing they shone, drawing as it were a certain rivulet, I have taken care to taste a few things, and have studied to set them in the sacred pages to the honor of the Church. Therefore many years' time having run out, after the crown of martyrdom received, the holy Amator Bishop of Auxerre, with the most illustrious man Savinus the count, traversing the borders of Antioch, to have brought the bodies of SS. Quiricus and Julitta, found their most sacred bodies by the grace of Christ: which with great cult, returning, he brought into the parts of Gaul, and carried to the city of Autun, only the arm of the boy being granted to the prayers of St. Savinus, in the house in which the same Prelate powerful with the glory of his merits is venerated by the faithful, he again honorably entombed. For this incomparable treasure that city, adorned with the titles of many saints, deserved therefore to be given to it, that both health of bodies and of souls thence might come to its people: and the ordination of God, by which the same Martyr was to be the future father of Nevers, this meanwhile being preserved, might at some time become more gladly assiduous to his faithful. Amen. The same things even to the sign are read in Mombritius volume 2 in the Life of St. Quiricus and Julitta toward the end, and are cited by Baronius in the Notes to these Kalends of May. Perhaps there will be one who sheds greater light, that at the Acts of the said in the next month of June something more explored may be given. Concerning St. Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish, about the year 414 received by St. Amator at Auxerre, we treated at his Life § VIII. Concerning his apparition made to St. Mamertinus, afterward Abbot of Auxerre, consult the Life of that Saint on April XX. Concerning the arm of St. Germanus and the tooth of St. Amator, in the time of Charlemagne brought to the monastery of Cuxa in the diocese of Elne in Catalonia, we treated on January V in the Acts of St. Flamidianus the Martyr, collected by Vincentius Domeneccus.

[9] Great was in the sacred offices the communication of the Churches of Troyes and Auxerre; hence St. Helena the Virgin, whose body is preserved at Troyes in the Cathedral Church, also in the diocese of Auxerre was wont to be venerated under a double rite, as below at her feast May IV is indicated: His cult in the Church of Troyes. but in turn in the Church there was made on this day a commemoration of St. Amator the Bishop, as at Auxerre. From which alone it has been brought about that St. Amator is held a Bishop of Troyes, and indeed the first, as is to be seen in Camuzatus in the Repertory of the sacred antiquities of the diocese of Troyes fol. 152, Nicolaus Des Guerrois on the Saints of Troyes on the year 314, the Sanmarthani, and others in Christian Gaul.

THE LIFE

By the Author Stephanus the African Presbyter.

from several MS. codices.

Amator, Bishop of Auxerre in Gaul (S.)

BHL Number: 0356

BY THE AUTHOR STEPHANUS THE AFRICAN FROM MSS.

CHAPTER I.

His birth, studies, the betrothed thrust upon him, and left. His assumption into the Clergy.

[1] Amator, a man conspicuous for the splendor of the highest chastity, and by the quality of his name pleasing to God and beloved, Of most noble and rich parents born of most noble parents, and in embroidered cradles educated and nourished. But his father was Proclidius a citizen of Auxerre, but his mother was named Usiciola; who of a not dissimilar lineage was begotten of the number of the Aeduan Nobles. Of these indeed the furniture and the possession of patrimonies was inestimable. So great therefore an enrichment of fields had accrued to the good things of his parents, that on account of their breadth and the diversity of regions in which they were situated, an only son, they were ignorant of the quantity. To these therefore there was no other offspring, who should enjoy the possession of so great a substance, except the aforesaid Amator, a man prevented and filled with the prudence of God from his very cradle. Him therefore tenderly loving, and with the highest diligence of solicitude educating, they delivered to letters not only common but also liberal. Whose wit because it had been dedicated to God, so within a short time obtained the doctrine of all arts and the subtlety of disciplines, he is instructed in the liberal disciplines; that the figures of poetic inventions, the enthymemes of orators, the knots and enigmas of jurists, also the syllogistic questions of Philosophers he expounded thoroughly with easy disputation.

[2] But there was at the same time ^a Valerianus, a man most approved in manners, Bishop of the aforesaid city. Therefore very often having questioned the aforementioned youth, he is loved by St. Valerianus the Bishop, he admired in him not only the good of nature, but also the cleverness of so great capacity and prudence. And when day by day he beheld the progress of his discipline; he began within the recesses of his breast to ruminate and to say: What thinkest thou will this youth be, in whom is so great a brightness and simplicity of prudence? I believe indeed, nor is the faith of the believer vain, that he is a vessel predestined of election, and a most pure temple of majesty. Of this very often-said youth therefore the venerable man as instructor by his large mansuetude, he is incited to all virtues, obtaining for himself the help of Almighty God by prayer, approaches the youth and exhorts him with salutary admonitions, that to the precepts of God and the Catholic religion rather he should apply the intention of his mind, than to vain superstitions. Who so received the beginnings of his holy persuasions with a fertile heart, as if in these he had been instructed from the beginning. From this the aforesaid Bishop did not cease to confirm him with the testimonies of the divine Scriptures, and to consolidate him with the precepts of the Lord. But all these things were done secretly from his parents.

[3] And when he grew up, and came to that possibility of age, that he should be coupled in marriage; his parents say to him. It is known to thee, son, he is destined to marriage by his parents. that besides thee we have no other offspring, through whom the seeds of our lineage may be propagated. Therefore, most beloved, more willingly attend to the persuasion of thy parents, and give consent to our devotion and ardor more quickly; that a maiden like thee may be betrothed by us to thee in wedlock, whereby thou mayest both enjoy the delights of the world, and renew the progeny of thy stock through the solemnities of marriage. But Amator a most clever man, whose mind was now stretched to heaven; was held more inclined to the Lord's precepts, very frequently inculcated to him by the most blessed Valerianus; than to the worldly persuasions, which were most troublesomely brought to him by his parents. But his parents seeing him to be inclined and prone to the preachings of the most sacred Valerianus; thought to betroth to him a maiden, begotten of most honorable seed, and equal in birth; that through her conjunction they might bend his mind given to God to secular things. But there was betrothed to him a little maiden, Martha by name, Martha being offered as a betrothed, sprung from the town of the city of Langres, born of most celebrated and most famous parents. But when the appointed day of the marriage according to the quality of the pacts held between them approached, the families of all the nobles are invited after the custom, the houses are adorned, the bridal chamber is duly constructed within the most splendid spaces of the houses. Part of which gleams plumed with gold: but another flashes with scarlet, and silk not once dyed, and bright ivory. which being splendidly led in In the doorway stands the not sluggish agate: the jasper shades the light: the onyx prostrate is trodden, and there a copious store of all riches is laid up, to which nature has specially imposed a name. Then the maiden is adorned with the contending hands of the tiring-women, who press the forehead with a turreted crown, and bind the loose mantles with the gems of a girdle, also gird the bared arms with narrow under-tunics, and the yellow flame-veils cover the most splendid faces, as had been the rite and custom of the most elegant Romans. Then the most reverend youth is bidden by the authority of his parents to be present at the bridal chamber.

[4] [St. Valerianus over them recites for the marriage rites, the prayers of the Levitical ordination] Valerianus the Bishop is invited at once, after the custom of religious men, to the entrance of the bridal chamber, that he might confirm the auspice of their conjunction with the Lord's invocations. Who while approaching took the little book of sacred prayers in his right hand, by the divine instinct now and providence of the everlasting nature, when for the joining of human society and the conjugal good he wished to pour forth prayers, dedicated them with the sacred office of Levites. But none of the bystanders, what had been done by the Bishop, except only those who enjoyed the blessings, could know. But when it now grew toward evening, and the time of the coupling pressed; while the couches with mira pictura varied with cushions are adorned, while for the marriage of their only son the parents greatly rejoice, the man full of God approaches with such words the Virgin divinely associated to him: Tell me I pray, given to an immortal spouse and illustrious virgin; tell me I pray, daughter of Almighty God, thinkest thou that thou hast understood, what prayers were poured forth over us through the mouth of the Bishop? To whom the virgin answering says: I have understood, most beloved, and I am prostrate with too great a terror of fear. To whom again the youth: Do not I pray be afraid, nor let the stiffness of thy body agitate thee. For this also is not to be imputed to unskillfulness, which being noticed they treat between themselves of keeping virginity, but rather to be ascribed to the power of God, which through the mouth of the aforesaid Pontiff exercised His piety in us. Therefore I beseech, that if it sit upon thy will, to keep this gift unharmed, granted and given to us by the mercy of God, thou disclose to my knowledge. To whom the most sacred virgin answered: For now, most beloved brother, we depend upon one judgment, and therefore what things to thee God favoring are pleasing I gladly embrace. From that very hour namely they no longer cherished themselves with conjugal delight, but rather either of them enjoyed divine testimonies, so that thou wouldst behold lovers of the sacred Scriptures, not of marriage. O ineffable and invisible largesse of God, which not only the names of these Saints, but with the names also ^b equals the merits. The incorrupt Martha sister of Lazarus, ministered with equanimity to the Lord reclining: this Martha, exhibited purity of mind and body to the King reigning in highest heaven. That one deserved for herself only a simple crown of modesty: this one while she adorns the youth associated to her with the produce of chastity, ennobles for herself a doubled palm of victory as a gift.

[5] To them therefore alternately cherishing themselves with the Lord's precepts, and dilating the roots of their perseverance with examples; and a fragrance poured forth from heaven they are confirmed in their purpose; an unusual odor, fragrant in the midst of them, not common, but of a secret light brought by the Mediator. Whose sudden sweetness the virgin admiring, questions the youth associated to her with such discourses: Tell me I beseech, youth, whose is so great a sweetness of odor. Has not the winter of stormy stiffness scorched the sweetness of all flowers? And whence now has so great a goodness of inspiration leaped forth into the bounds of an alien season? To these the youth, Already, he says, often to thy mind, virgin, I have inculcated, what is the possibility of the divine power. This odor surely, which is in our nostrils,

is not enclosed by the bounds of temporal meadows, but is propagated by the verdant fields of the eternal Church. Therefore it behooves us in all ways to guard the inviolate integrity of our bodies and minds, by which the divine Majesty offers itself in odors, and the lover of chastity appears through the sweetness of His creature. Let the conjugal couch therefore be only the consort of a common bed, not in worldly enticements. For I from my infancy avoided the ^c consort of maidens, and execrated the blandishments of the world, by which the chastity of modesty is wont to stray. And that now to thy affection, virgin endowed with chastest ornaments, I gave assent, not my will, but the frequent impulse of my parents persuaded: whose commands I thought it impious to despise, hoping that I should possess the dominion of the perpetual father, while I obey mortals. To Him alone unceasingly I render thanks, who gave such a wife to me, in whom not by earthly acts, but by heavenly I might be well pleased. And these things said after the discourses of a long conversation sleep oppressed them both.

[6] But at the dead of night the man beloved of God Amator being awakened, beholds not far from him an Angel standing, bearing a double wreath in his hands, who of his own accord addresses the youth with these words: Receive, young people, the gift granted to you by the Lord's piety, and in all things guard your purpose of an uncontaminated mind. These voices uttered from the mouth of the Angel the wakeful youth heard, and likewise by the vision of an Angel offering a double wreath. and watched the face of the speaker with his own eyes: but he thought those things which had truly been said to be done as if through a dream. For there were there two handmaids, keeping watch in the service of their Lords: who beholding the things which were done, were prostrated by the terrible vision. But the next day at dawn rising up, on account of the miracle shown to them they begged to be made handmaids of God.

[7] But the most celebrated days of the marriage being passed, eager and concordant to ^d St. Eladius the Bishop, who had succeeded the most blessed Valerianus, Then by St. Eladius the Bishop Amator and Martha direct their steps: and falling down before him and disclosing the desires of their vows, he begged to be made a Cleric, she begged more and more to be associated to the number of the religious. Then the Bishop, considering and contemplating that they fervently loved God, Martha is ordained a nun, Amator a Cleric. and on account of love of Him wished to change the secular habit; obeyed both diligently, unburdening him of his hair, joining and associating her most devoutly to the company of the religious of the nuns. The office of sanctification therefore being completed in them, thus the Pontiff exhorts them with ^e most limpid words. I give thanks to Almighty God, who chose you to himself immaculate and uncontaminated. For truly, sons, the Bishop was sufficiently prostrate with sorrows at your conjunction, when for the fitting prayers of your conjunction, he poured forth the prayers of the ordination and sanctification of Levites. But since those things were done prefiguratively, for the sake of this confirmation, by a fortuitous will; you ought, most sacred young people, to know to whose service you have bound yourselves, and what cult of profession you have today received. For everyone who serves God as a soldier, ought to abstain from all things; and to please by works only Him, to whom he devoted and delivered himself. All things which shall come upon you bear with equanimity. Let no tribulation separate you from the charity of Christ, let no secular gains obscure the cheerfulness of your longanimity: so finally you will be able to obtain the reward of good retribution, and to be partakers of the inheritance of the just. Saying this, excited by the ardor of God, he moved most holy Amator to the levitic grade, and elevated him with the offices of the sacred ministry. Both therefore return to their lodging giving thanks, and praising together with hymn-bearing voices the miracles of Almighty God granted to them.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER II

The possessed man and the paralytic woman healed. Demons driven off.

[8] Not long after his consecration, there was a certain man, ^b Eraclius by name, from the ^c Aeduan city, born of a most excellent stock. To whom there was a wife, by name Palladia, equaling her husband in manners and lineage, and also richer in copious wealth. Of Palladia a Christian, She withdrawing from the worship of demons, had delivered herself to the faith and dogmas of the true religion; and had obtained the laver of regeneration, her husband remaining in his former errors. But it pleased her, after the consummation of holy baptism, to go to the city of Auxerre, in whose vicinity she possessed a patrimony. But she being placed in the suburb, the Paschal day came. But on the very day of the Lord's resurrection, as a neophyte, she went forth to the holy Church beset with lamp-bright ornaments: for so by the diverse splendor of gems the aforesaid Palladia shone through, that she dimmed the brightness of the sun, and hid the light of day with her precious ornaments. she is refused the communion of the Chalice The sacrifice therefore being completed, when the libations of the Eucharist she had wished also to confirm by a draught of the Lord's Blood, she approached the most blessed Amator, then a Deacon, who offered to the peoples the most sacred Chalice unto eternal life. Whom he beholding adorned with pompous attire, thus approached: Of this chalice of the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ thou shalt not taste, on account of vain adornment, and the use of marriage. unless thou cast from thee the burden of ornament: for thou hast this night exercised the crime of pollution, and it behooves thee to be clothed in mournful attire, and with a flood of tears to wash away the nocturnal misdeed, and so to apply thyself to the most sacred banquets. Thou didst not promise so to live, when thou madest a pact with God, renouncing the devil and his angels, and the enticements and ^d incentives by which he grows fat.

[9] She hearing these things, since she had been openly rebuked before all; and the things which she thought hidden, had been divulged among the people and revealed, blazed up: and taking boldness from her crime, gnashing like a lioness with groans, went out of the church. the husband still an idolater incited by her, But when she approached the place in which her illustrious husband had his consistory, she began with sobs to suggest to him, and to defile her beauty with tears, that she might in some manner by her very grief provoke the mind of her husband to wrath. Of her suggestion therefore she made such a beginning: Thy wife, since I am thine, by I know not what pseudo-deacon, before the whole multitude of the Church, was lacerated. For I, that I might please thy sight, and appear more adorned than all who frequented the festivity, was clothed willingly in whatever most proud garment I had, and also with golden ornaments, and necklaces of little stones decently adorned and cared for myself: for which thing I was grievously wounded, and shaken with contumelies. For the Eucharist received, when I wished to taste the liquids of the sanctified Chalice, the bearer of the Chalice exasperating me repelled me, threatening that unless I had laid aside my garments together with my ornaments, and had suppliantly performed penance for the nocturnal misdeed, I should in no wise communicate. and contriving the slaying of St. Amator, Thou therefore, truly most beloved, delay not to avenge her, whom thou surviving thou seest lacerated and despised as a widow. To whom the husband: Let thy tears, sweetest wife, cease a little in peace, thou shalt now see me an avenger in the gore of the sacrilegious one.

[10] From this now he began, as a Pagan, to scrutinize causes, and to seek places apt for snares, whereby he might more easily vindicate his injured wife. But this he did day by day, he is besieged by a demon; and she becomes a paralytic. all causes and affairs of their utility being cast aside. But lest he should obtain the effect of his evil thought, straightway that contriver of guile is seized by a most wicked spirit; but she by a deadly disease, which dissolved the joints of her members. But both were lying without the aid of any remedy or consolation, since God Almighty through them willed in the oft-said Amator to demonstrate His power, and to show how dear and most faithful a servant he was to Him. And when they were involved in these languors and sighs, a little sleep crept upon their eyelids: excited by a heavenly voice to penance, they are bidden to come to St. Amator, and behold the voice of the Lord Saviour sounded in their ears with these words, saying: Are you still involved in your malices, and blinded and made dull by nefarious counsels, are you forgetful of yourselves? Remember, with what crimes you have afflicted yourselves, or what cause of malice came suddenly upon you. If you wish at length at some time to be both absolved from the bond of this languor, by which you are constrained; return to your heart, and search it, in that against the slaying of my well-pleasing servant Amator you have indecently armed yourselves; and you shall know, that this malice has hedged you about. For if you shall not with contrite heart be converted to him, that for you he may pour forth ^e prayer; know that you are alike to be consummated in your iniquities and in a worse languor.

[11] These things being heard by them, rising up more speedily they begged, that they might come to the man of God. And since they had been so impeded by the snares of long sickness, that they could not lean upon their feet, they are carried in vehicles; they go suppliantly sad, and beating their breasts with their fists. But when they recognize themselves to be now nearer to Amator the most holy man; leaping down from the back of the carrying beasts, they are prostrated to the ground, they suppliantly beg pardon of him; crying with concordant voice and saying: Have mercy on us, friend of God: absolve those bound with nefarious bonds by thy most equitable merits. Now clearer than light shine the ensigns of thy virtue, and the firmness of faith is more widely propagated. We confess, most blessed man, that we wished on account of the refutation of our iniquity to deliver an innocent man to death, adding sin to sin: Do not, we beseech, render evil for evils: let it be enough the vengeance which deservedly invaded us on thy account. Behold, whatever we have we offer to the palms of thy sanctity, to bestow on whatsoever uses thou shalt wish; only restore us to our former health by thy prayers pleasing to God, and grant strength of body and soul. To whom the most reverend Amator thus began: If you shall believe with your whole heart, whatsoever you shall ask will be granted to you. For where the splendor of sincere faith shines forth, there the integrity of cures also reigns together.

[12] Then they again with too great wailing, lifting a little their face watered with tears to the servant of God, said: Thou knowest now, Lord, of what sort or how great is the faith and credulity in our hearts: for neither are the things which are done by us wretched ones hidden from thee. O unsearchable ways of the Lord! O wondrous power! which so refutes the temerity of human presumption, that it acquires not loses, that it saves rather than slays. Truly in these most evidently straying it shone forth, she is healed, which cries and says: I will slay, and I will make to live; I will strike, and I will heal. Deut. 32, 39 They immediately merit health, from him on whom unjustly they attempted to lay hands: and they roll before his feet prostrate with grief, of whose destruction they most pertinaciously thought. The Presbyter therefore being called together, St. Amator baptized also the husband of the oft-said woman. the husband is baptized, Whom ^f sometimes he thus admonished saying: Beware lest further you do your own wills on the most festive day, lest worse befall you. Then at last oil being received he blessed, and the name of the Lord being invoked anointed their bodies: and both are anointed with oil. And forthwith from him the spirit of wickedness was put to flight, and the disease of contagion leaving her, both were healed. This first miracle openly

did God work through His servant: who secretly always works through individuals, and is continually praised, and blessed by all.

[13] After these things, not after long courses of time, ^g Auxentius, an enemy of the orthodox faith, began to persecute St. Martin, and to bring upon him many troubles, so that he sought him for capital peril. Then he, The demons driven by St. Martin from the island Gallinaria since he was not ignorant of the divine precepts, by which it is granted on account of the burning rage of persecution to pass from city to city; from the place in which he had been, migrated to the island which is called ^h Gallinaria: in which Beelzebub the prince of demons, the inhabitants being shut out, with his soldiers reigned together. But as soon as the man of God set foot there, not able to bear his presence, he deserted the place possessed by him. He went out therefore, excluded from the presence of the aforesaid man, with too great howlings and crashes; and to the place he betook himself with all his companions, and residing in i Altricus, which is called Altricus: and there not far on a precipice of the roads cautiously sitting, they began through moments going about by a certain invasion and ferocious terror grievously to twist them, but especially at midday hours, that might be fulfilled what is written; of the ruin and the demon of midday. Psal. 90, 6 Thus they did for no short time, so that the terror of a depraved opinion invaded the breasts of almost all men, and they strongly avoided the journey of that straighter way. This St. Amator learning, on a certain day undertook the journey of that way. Which seen the frequent people of the city in throngs rushed out at the gates, fixing the sign of our Lord Jesus Christ on the forehead, through which the most blessed Amator triumphed. St. Amator coming, And also those who were driven by the temptations of the aforesaid spirits, ran together vying; not distrusting the power of God, which through His servant Amator worked.

[14] Then the demons, crying with a great voice, said: Why dost thou also here, servant of God Amator, persecute us? why is it not allowed us to rest in any place whatsoever? Hither Martin drove us from our dwellings, and put us to flight from our thresholds: now also Amator excludes us from the foreign places lately possessed. To whom Blessed Amator: Yield to this place, and leave the places rashly seized by you. For you shall not be permitted to possess again the possession of Christ, whence already through the laver of regeneration you have been expelled. Truly the Lord faithful in His words, who so offered Himself an example to all, that what He himself had by nature, He accommodated to His subjects by grace: for Amator deserved through the faith, which reigned in him, to dare what Christ wrought by power. For they themselves, first crying out and confessing the Lord to be of all creation, the demons exclaimed together; in the power of Christ What is there to us and to thee, Jesus of Nazareth? thou hast come before the time to destroy us. But Blessed Amator rebuking them said: Hasten your flight, and leave unharmed the bodies besieged by you, withdrawing. Luke 4, 34 Not I command you, but Jesus Christ, who commanded the raging sea, and the elation of the waves settled into itself; who commands the sluggish clouds, and with headlong fall they flow down to earth. Which name being heard they terrified and loosed from dread, he put to flight. prostrate with humility, not without tearful cries, left the place in which they had begun to be: and going out from the place, in which by corporeal images they terrified the peoples, like smoke they flowed away into the air. Then the people, cheered with tearful joy, rendered thanks to the Lord, as much as it had of possibility, saying: We give thanks to thee, Lord Jesus Christ, that to all thou hast offered thyself in the gift of cures: and respect of persons can in no way be found with thee.

ANNOTATA.

e. The same, prayers.

CHAPTER III.

The entrance to the Episcopate: the infamy dissipated. A new Church procured. A dead man raised: a fire extinguished.

[15] These miracles therefore being performed, and the courses of a short time passing, Consecrated Bishop, Elladius an Apostolic man transmitted his body to the earth, his soul to heaven. Then there arose a happy sedition of the peoples, crying with concordant voice, that Amator the Shepherd of the basilica should succeed, and receive the spiritual inheritance of Elladius. Whose voices were confirmed by the worthy ordinations of God, and their desires given to Blessed Amator were not vain, but straightway he was promoted to the honor of the Episcopate.

[16] But after three years of his Pontificate, the adversary spirit, who always envies the good, and to those avoiding his craftinesses stretches lethal snares, having glided into the breast of ^b Litinus the Archdeacon of the same most reverend Amator, began to goad him with his stings, he is defamed by the Archdeacon and others as guilty of luxury: that he might machinate some detestable things against him. Then he, gathering with himself some of the Clerics, and from the number of the laity certain rash ones, began to scatter the seeds of hatred among the peoples, and against the Pontiff of God the slipperinesses of a new invention of malice, so that this their madness had persuaded, to fix the stain of marriage and the mark of adultery on the chaste one. For they said: It is decreed for Priests that in the Clergy they be associated with virgins; but after they have obtained the reward of honor, it is not lawful for them to be further joined to wives: but this our Bishop, not only a partaker of the table, but also of the bed, which is impious, is found. These rumors therefore in the whole people vomiting forth the poison of deadly thought, they said: Go out and separate yourselves from him, and be no longer partakers of ^c communion with him: for what pardon of our purgation can he merit for us, who daily is rolled in luxury, and is plainly seen by all to satisfy his pleasures? who presuming to watch him by night But since the legal decree is sanctioned, that no one dare accuse his Bishop; come, and with sagacious vigilance let us surround him with troops set round about: and he who thinks himself to be unknown, by that very experience in a manner, while by us he is caught in his past vomit, let him be known.

[17] These things with themselves by such an assertion cleverly scrutinizing, on a certain night defended by darkness, they secretly besieged his little bed. But certain ones of them watching the doors, had assembled in a most copious number. But Christ, who often works in His faithful, and to those who love Him promised the inheritance of His kingdom, they are divinely chastised, that He might demonstrate to all the chastity of His servants known indeed to Himself, but hidden to the peoples, while they secretly lay in wait and clung to the sides of the little bed; behold then, in the appearance of a lamb, the gift of the Divinity, to evacuate the machination of the proud, crept into the midst of His servants; flashing with the miracle of His brightness so much, that even those who lay in wait, although unworthy, drew in the splendor of the unwonted light. Forthwith therefore the Archdeacon, the author of the worst machination and the inventor of the cloudy thought, lost his eyes on account of the brightness: but the rest his accomplices are seized by the tempter spirit: and by the nefarious vehicle began to be constrained, tortured, and dashed for their depraved thoughts. Which knowing the most holy man Amator, in a double manner poured forth tearful groans to God, who both showed him clean to those suspecting evils, and through his intercession freed them from those temptations by which they had been occupied.

[18] At the same time also, in which these things had happened, there was still the church together at the gate which is called the Bath gate by the old authors. on account of the multitude of those converted to Christ, But the prospect of the same Church was over against the channel of the ^d Yonne river. For therefore the church had not been of ample building, because still there was the newness of Christians, converting from idols to God; which through the preaching of the oft-said most blessed Amator so began to sprout, and the seed of charity to fructify, and to propagate Christian shoots, that on account of the multitude the church did not contain them within the straits of its smallness. At that time therefore there was a certain most noble man, by name Ruptilius, a citizen of the city of Auxerre, who had an ample and lofty dwelling, he asks that from the house of Ruptilius an ample church be made, left to him by his paternal testament; within whose cloisters was a broad place, surrounded by a certain divine pleasantness. To which Ruptilius, when on a certain day the most blessed Amator had come to him, he thus spoke: We know thee, God being the author, to have been regenerated by the liquids of the holy laver; and thou owest to Him, who snatched thee from errors, and joined thee to His truth, to obey in all things. Thou knowest, most illustrious man, that the house of God is small, and does not suffice for the Christian people; therefore, since it is not just, as I think, that a servant should possess a better dwelling than God, make decently a converted place, that this house be consecrated to Christ the Lord as a Church, whereby thou mayest obtain the retribution of God's benevolence and the goodness of a most large reward. But he harshly receiving the holy admonition, denied that he could fulfill this work, for the reason that by the authority of his illustrious parents it had been legitimately left to him as an inheritance. but having suffered a refusal And these things said, despising the most sweet words of the Priest, he answered: Far be it that this house, which my parents and me from infancy nourished, and appeared preeminent over all with the splendor of the greatest nobility, should receive in itself the dominion of another, and lose the honor of its former dignity.

[19] Then Amator worthy of God having withdrawn from him, appointed spiritual vigils; and prostrate on the ground, besought the Lord saying: Show, Lord God, that thou art of all the Creator and Lord; he turns to prayers: and this man, who to me thy servant asking for thy name neglected to obey, compelled by thy signs and prodigies, of his own accord may promise that he will give for thy satisfaction the spacious places of his house, which lately at my request he was unwilling to give and despised. But the Lord, who always hears the prayers of His faithful, did not suffer the petition of His servant to be long deferred: but straightway refuted the refuser,

and recalled the disobedient one through the chastisement of pain to the fullness of obedience. but then him being seized by a disease He began therefore to be tortured by the languor of his body, and unceasingly to be afflicted with pains. But when, amid the bodily torments, a certain oppression of sleep had ^e crept upon him; he hears the salutary words of the threatening Lord, saying to him, Unless straightway thou acquiesce to the admonitions of my servant Amator, I will ^f make thee afflicted with worse torments. Rise quickly, and hastening obey the words of Amator my beloved, and delay no further to offer the places of the aforesaid thy dwelling as a hall of sanctification to me. Which heard, he ran, though impeded by the disease, to the dwelling of the most blessed Priest: and at a distance prostrating himself on the ground, with tears sent forth these words: Receive, well-pleasing to God, what thou didst lately ask: and pray, that from the languors, and offering of his own accord the house with which my flesh is burdened, I may more quickly be free; moreover I am also ready to confer this money, with which the palace of Christ may be built; only let me grow well. Then the most often-named disciple of Christ, marking his forehead with the sign of the Cross, by the sign of the Cross he heals: restored the integrity of health to the asker.

[20] But since part of that house hung half-ruined, the most beloved of God Amator wished first the fabric to be made solid, and so to fulfill in the same the vow of his devotion, nay the will of God. The money found in the foundations he sends to Ruptilius, When therefore he had gathered workmen, that they should make the foundations of the ruined part; in the very emptying of the old foundation, he found no small sum of solidi: which carefully and more cautiously binding, he directed to the same man Ruptilius by carriers, asserting it to be his, for the reason that it had been found in the place of his habitation. To whom the carriers: This says our Bishop: These treasures were found in that part of the house, which thou most willingly didst assign to Christ: therefore, since it justly suits, that what is found in thy own thou shouldst have, take it. To whom he: Carry back, I pray, the weight of gold which you brought me, and deliver it to the hands of the Pontiff. For this not by the grace of my merit, but by the abundance of His largesse was obtained; and therefore whatever it shall please him to do, let him do of his own gains: this only I beseech your goodness, that you carry to him my own suggestion, that amid the libations of his most splendid prayers, he be mindful of his Ruptilius. the remitted money he spends on the poor and the repair of the church: St. Amator therefore received the returning companions with the moneys, and some of them he bestowed on the cares of the poor, but some on the perfection of the begun edifice; which completed, according to the beginnings of his vow, he consecrated to Christ the Lord.

[21] This is until now the ^g Church frequented by Christian peoples. O unfailing gift of the Holy Spirit, which by the Lordly largesse duly conferred on the Apostles, never by the disparity of believers or by posterity dissociates hearts! The Apostles, preaching to the nations, infidelity being repelled, more easily persuaded to approach to the true worship of God: in which dedicated but Amator subverting the altars of superstition, for those converting themselves to the Christian ceremonies, prepares a most pure tabernacle of testimony, in a place once polluted by idolatries. The Nobles run together from every side, and whoever were more honorable to the dedication of the ^h Church, and render thanks to God, who through His most faithful servant Amator, acquired in a manner the receptacle of a new dwelling. All admire in the servant of God the virtues of the operations of the true faith, give thanks on account of his most holy merits, a more abundant grace of God being granted to them. The Church therefore being completed not many days after, the maiden consecrated to God Martha is visited with fevers, in a field whose name was Arriacum, he buries his Martha. once subject to the dominion of her parents: and there not long sickening, the chaste virgin delivered her most pure spirit to the Lord to be crowned. Whose body the most reverend Amator, with many peoples accompanying him, most diligently bound with bandages gathered, and near Altricus in sight of the city entombed.

[22] But on the following day the most blessed Amator was going, with frequent cult and the wonted manner, going round the places of the Saints: and behold an infant, taken away by a bitter death, becomes met by him, of about eight years; a boy of eight years and already to be buried with whom was a multitude of men weeping, and beating their breasts with bitter contusions. Whose wailings not bearing, he ordered the body to stand; and bending himself in prayer, directed these prayers into the ears of the Lord: Lord, who art the life of the living and the resurrection of the dead, who leadest to the gates of hell and bringest back, who didst command Lazarus already fetid with four days' corruption to return to those above, do also now thy wonted wonders in this corpse of an infant, and to those mourning him as dead, restore him living and unharmed to his parents. Scarcely had he supplied the devotion of his prayer, and the dead one is forthwith raised, by prayers he raises him. the members receive the vigor of the senses, and render to the body its office as though never lost: he speaks who had been dead, and by all thanks are rendered to Christ the raiser: the Christian faith is dilated, and the swiftness of so great a miracle and the obtaining of the man of God is more widely divulged. There runs together in throngs a crowd of the languishing, and before the vestibule of the Bishop they are prostrated. The integrity of health is rendered to all, infirmity is put to flight afar, strength is renewed, the true color is restored to their appearances, as it had been before.

[23] These things duly performed, on a certain night, by I know not what chance, the whole city is suddenly surrounded by raging flames, he stays the burning of the city. so that there was thereafter no hope for the inhabitants of escaping the peril. Yet amid the sudden chances of disasters, they remember Amator the servant of God, run headlong, all alike are prostrated to the ground before him, vociferating and saying: Succor, servant of God, those in peril: bring aid to the despairing. On thee rests the bowed safety of all this city: thee they strive to take to themselves as a most firm barrier of the falling ruin. The servant of God hearing these things, cast himself, with peril enough, into the midst of the burning flame, where he could by the seething fuel lose the breath of his living soul, had he not quickly been consoled by the invisible majesty of God. Straightway therefore as that worshipper of God unexpectedly delivered himself to the ravening fire, a small cloud flowed down into rain, which both extinguished the voracity of the fire, and confirmed before all the hire of the servant of God for the safety of the people.

ANNOTATA.

a. About the year 388.

b. One our MS. Licinus.

c. The same, communion.

d. The same, sight.

CHAPTER IV.

St. Germanus, afterward his successor, is instructed. The journey to Autun. A blind man and three lepers healed. Money recovered from a thief.

[24] But at the time in which these things were done, a certain ^a Germanus by name, born of a noble stock, governed the territory of Auxerre by his proper visitation: St. Germanus addicted to hunting, whose custom it was to indulge rather the pursuits of young recruits, than to give heed to the Christian religion. He therefore watching assiduously for the hunt, captured a plenty of beasts most frequently by snares and the briskness of his art. But there was a pear tree in the middle of the city, of most pleasing pleasantness, on whose little branches the heads of beasts caught by him hung for the admiration of his too great hunting. Whom the famous man of the same city Amator the Bishop, frequently addressed with these words: Cease, I pray, most splendid man of good things, to exercise these jests, which are an offense to Christians, but to be imitated by Pagans. This work is of idolatrous worship, in vain admonishing him not to fix the heads of the captured beasts to the tree not of the most elegant Christian discipline. And although the man worthy of God did this unceasingly, he nevertheless in no way wished to acquiesce or obey the admonisher. But the man of the Lord again and again exhorted him, that not only he should depart from the custom ill seized, but also should root out the very tree itself, lest it be a stumbling-block to Christians. But he in no wise wished to apply a placid ear to the admonisher. At the time therefore of this persuasion, on a certain day the aforesaid Germanus withdrew from the city to estates of his jurisdiction. Then Blessed Amator, awaiting the opportunity, he cuts it down, fearing nothing of his anger. cut down the sacrilegious tree with its roots; and lest there be any memory of it to the unbelieving, he forthwith assigned it to be burned with fire: but the masks, which they displayed hanging as the shade of a certain trophy of contest, he ordered to be thrown farther from the bounds of the city. But forthwith someone, turning his steps to the ears of the oft-said Germanus, inflamed his mind with words; and exaggerating his anger with his persuasions, made him ferocious: so that forgetful of the holy religion, by whose rite and gift he had been consecrated, he threatened death to the most blessed man: and lest in any way the assembly of certain Christians should resist him raging; gathering with himself a rustic crowd he came to the city unforeseen.

[25] When all these things being learned by certain ones were disclosed to most holy Amator, he says: I ^b judge myself worthy to be made a witness to the Saviour by shed blood: this is what the Greeks call a Martyr. By divine revelation therefore knowing the time of his decease, and he goes off to Autun. and foreseeing Germanus to be his future successor, he set out to the Aeduan country, where Julius the ruler of the republic and governor of Gaul presided. Going therefore thither, he arrived at the place, whose name was Gubilium. But behold the countrymen, by the divine nod, beholding him coming, began the thorns and briars, some with hands, some with iron tools, whereby he might make his journey, to cut away: and although he was unknown to them, by the beauty of his countenance and the honor of the little chest in which he bore the enclosed Relics hanging from his neck, they knew him to be a servant and worshipper of God. But approaching near they began to cry with these voices: Set out, blessed of the Lord, and delay not to approach even to us: for we know, both from thy appearance and from thy habit, on the way refreshed by rustic obeisance that thou art a Pontiff of God and a Priest: therefore, if we are not unworthy, take a sip of our cups, and of our dishes though rustic take a tasting. But he, rejoicing that even in the companions of beasts the sum of the Catholic faith reigned, and the holy fear of God was present, did not refuse their petition; but tasting slightly the taste of the cup and of the dish, he blessed and sanctified, and offered to them to drink and eat, by whose receiving they were forthwith filled by the largesse of Christ. To whom moreover he says: May the blessing of the Patriarch Jacob descend upon you, and may you be filled with the dew of heaven and the fatness of the earth, and may there be to you abundance of grain, wine, and oil.

[26] After these things by a certain event, yet to reveal more evidently the ensigns of the divine gifts of the servant of God, he illuminates a blind man: to a certain one of the same multitude of rustics the contagions of blindness befell. But he who had been struck with blindness, prostrate at the feet of the most reverend Amator with tearful groaning, asked, that the intercession of the holy man should recall the lost sight to his own faults. Then Blessed Amator, after the wonted manner, with bent knees, besought the Majesty of the one physician, the master of all physicians. Rising

from the prayer, he went round the orb defrauded of light with the sign of Christ; and with the going round of his fingers, both the pain receded, and the light revisited its own seat. Which seen the whole phalanx of countrymen, ran to the feet of Blessed Amator, confessing him with a heralding voice to be the lover of God, and saying: Truly thou art a man of God most high, most strenuous and worker of healings, and by His command today thou hast entered the savior of our hut and of mind and body. But Amator, the worshipper of God, gladly rendering thanks to the invisible Creator, leaving them, thus pursued the way which he had begun.

[27] But as he set out, a certain Suffronius, born of generous blood, from the town of ^c Alise, worn out with sorrow and wounded with sharper cares, was making his journey: who with eyes lifted beheld most holy Amator going by the straight path; and dismounting from his horse more quickly, although sad and weeping, embraced the footsteps of the Pontiff. To whom the Pontiff: Why is thy face sad with unwonted sadness, and thy cheeks watered with rivulets of tears? To whom Suffronius: A theft, most blessed man, and a violence so atrocious I have suffered, that I have lost the vessels of all the quantity of my silver. But, O well! he foretells that the money taken by theft will be recovered, Because thy blessedness God granted to me in a mournful journey, now I believe that by thy prayers, what I have lost, I shall again receive without any blemish. To whom most holy Amator: May God work according to thy faith, and not suffer thee long to be afflicted with lamentations. But because so it has been granted to us by the providence of God, that we behold one another with mutual sights: accompany us a little, and afterward thou shalt return. But as they went together they crossed over the space of nearly three thousand paces; and behold there runs to their sights a night-wandering thief, still bearing the little bundle of his theft on his shoulders, with a most lowly countenance. Whom beholding and knowing Suffronius, with a cheerful countenance, a secure breast, with a loftier voice thundered saying: A special joy of comfort the Lord today afforded me, that I should have found thee, most blessed Amator, amid my straits: behold I behold the most splendid quantity of my metal, which lately I lost, which thy prayer to be heard restored to me, and thy sanctity preserved. These things hearing the most blessed Amator thus began: Behold now what thou hadst lost thou hast received, thou hast suffered no damage or loss of thy things, little son: for which thing I beseech thee that these be no longer held liable for any fault, who are found criminous by their own deeds; but going together to the tabernacle of the most blessed Martyrs ^d Andochius and Thyrsus hasten, and there delay not to entangle them with the bonds of the sacraments, he commands the thief to be dismissed without trouble: that they may promise to attempt this crime no further: but this thou shalt take care to fulfill secretly, on account of the rapacity and calumnies of avaricious judges. Behold clearly, that the tree of the heavenly husbandman shines with its fruits, established by spiritual cultivations, which in its time will fill the want of the lost faculty with the copiousness of its largesse, and unburdening the anxious of undue fruits will make them satiated secure. With these therefore and such benefits cheering the mourner, absolving the guilty of the fault of damnation, swift he came to the city of the people of Autun.

[28] [e] Then ^f Simplicius the Bishop, a man of the highest simplicity and charity, honorably received by St. Simplicius the Bishop forewarned by the rumor of his coming, did not neglect to go to meet him with all the Clerical order, and also with Julius then Prefect, surrounded by the troops of his office. Whom duly saluted and ^g more purely honored with the deference of due veneration, they led to the Aeduan city. But the time of the dark night being passed, the servants of God rising, hasten to the lodging of ^h Symphorian the Martyr. For at that time it was not yet encompassed with ample buildings, but the space was shut up by the straits of a very small little cell. There two olives and two candlesticks, shining with the luminous lamps of the Lord's precepts, alike enter: alternately they prevent one another with prayers: they pay the obeisances of vows to the dignity of the Martyr. For although now long the aforesaid cell had been built in honor of the Martyr, yet it had not been dedicated in the canonical manner by the invocations of a Pontiff. Then the aforesaid Priest of God Simplicius presses upon Blessed Amator with the request, that through the purity of his prayers the dwelling of Symphorian the Martyr might be consecrated to God. The Lord therefore performing through His servant, what He had promised to His most faithful Athlete Symphorian; forthwith, the crowd of peoples going before and following and praising God together, they returned into the city. And behold suddenly, in the very brevity of the journey, three lepers, desiring the integrity of the cleansing of their body, presented themselves to their sight; he heals three lepers. asking that they would bestow on them the wonted healthfulness of prayers. But the Bishop takes liquids from the stream of the Jordan, which Reticius ⁱ formerly the Bishop commanding, had been brought to the Aeduan city. From these besprinkling on the faces of the lepers, moreover with the oil of blessing their whole body the sign of the Cross being made he anointed; and straightway every disease wholly left the besieged ones, so that the surface of the skin was thus restored to its former color, as if it had never been deteriorated by the languor of leprous defilement. All proclaim thanks to God, and to Symphorian the Martyr and to Amator with concordant voice thanks are rendered, and the help of restored health to both is attributed by the heraldings of the peoples.

ANNOTATA.

CHAPTER V.

St. Germanus asked as successor. The sickness, death, burial of St. Amator. The encomium of each.

[29] ^a Hence on the next day St. Amator asserts that he wishes to enter the praetorium of Julius. Whose coming Julius learning, By Julius the Governor of Gaul more quickly set out to meet him, and as it became a most faithful worshipper of God with obeisances within the right introduces him; after the manner of a most Christian son, he asks suppliantly to merit the blessing of his entrance. The prayer therefore being supplied, thus the most reverend Priest addresses the Prefect: He asks St. Germanus as his successor, My end, the Lord making it known to me, I have known: and because there is no other who may receive the rule of the holy Church, except the most illustrious Germanus, as my Lord deigned to reveal to me, I beg thy Highness, that thou grant license to me asking, to tonsure the same Germanus. To whom the Prefect: Although he is necessary and useful to our republic, yet because God has chosen him for Himself, as thy Blessedness attests, I cannot come against the precept of God. Then having obtained his wish, with gladness he was again restored to his city. Into which when he had come, he commanded all the people to be present in the atrium of his house. When it had come, he addressed it with these words: Be more attentive in mind, sweetest sons; for it is worth the trouble to allege to your senses, and foretelling his own death what the recesses of my mind bring forth. By God revealing it the day of my transit from the world I most evidently know and have known. Therefore I exhort your unanimity, that more diligently searching out from your company a most firm man you choose, who may be the watchman of the house of God. But they hearing this were silent, and none of them answered him a word.

[30] Then he seeing that all were silent, directed his way to the holy Church: in whose company the whole congregation of peoples set out. But as he entered the Church, when the people also wished to enter, he thus addressed it saying: Germanus expecting nothing such he tonsures into a cleric, Unburden, dearest sons, your hands of weapons, and cast the arms from your shoulders, and so enter the house of God, since this is a house of prayer, not a station of warring Mars. But they hearing these things, more quickly than said, whatever of steel they bore, they placed outside. Then Blessed Amator, seeing Germanus bearing no truculent burden, commanded the doorkeepers to shut the doors of the Church with bolts: but he himself with the crowd of Clerics and nobles gathered with him, laying hands, seized Germanus; and the name of the Lord being invoked drawing the hair from his head, the secular ornaments being cast off he clothed him in the habit of religion with the honor of promotion, exhorting and confirming with such words: It behooves thee to be busy, venerable brother, how thou mayest guard uncontaminated and immaculate the honor committed to thee: because at my decease Almighty God has committed to thee the pastoral office. But then now the most blessed Amator begins to be urged by the incitements of his death: and although he was wounded with sickness, yet he never omitted to confirm the people by preaching and to say: Little sons, now my Lord God, and he persuades that after him a Bishop be chosen. from whom hitherto I had been a pilgrim, will receive my soul: I beseech that unanimous and concordant, you make my brother Germanus obtain the office of my place. To whom the whole crowd consenting, for the confirmation of his persuasion, answered, Amen, yet not without tears nor without grief. For every age and order and sex was afflicted with lamentations, because it was losing such a Shepherd: yet there was to them amid these a kind of comfort, that they were to receive a not dissimilar Pontiff.

[31] Therefore on the fourth day of the week of the Kalends of May, he began to be more sharply urged, On May 1 the 4th day having consoled the people and to be wearied with the dissolution of the body. But not even thus did he rest even amid the pains from salutary preaching; but inculcating on all a salubrious admonition, he thus spoke: Forbid laments to sound, prohibit the peoples to weep. There surely mourning-wandering voices are to be sent forth, where a worse one will succeed a better: but here in vain you pour forth tears, where better ones succeed the best: for of this Pontiff predestined for you, not only the life will profit, but also the death. in the church he dies at the 3rd hour. Saying this he commanded himself to be carried to the holy Church, that there he might render his spirit to the Giver; where day and night he had been wont to profess to Him. There proceeds with him on right and left a frequent multitude, the choir of Clerics goes before, the band of matrons follows. But he when he had entered the Church, ascending the Pontifical throne, about the third hour of the day sent forth his spirit. To whom forthwith the choir of Saints, which is wonderful to say, succeeded, and bore his spirit with hymns and praises in the appearance of a dove to heaven. This by many beholding and narrating was confirmed, and especially by [b] Helena a most sacred maiden, who at the same time excelled all in virtues and miracles.

[32] They bore therefore his body, that they might lay him near

the tomb of the most reverend memory of Martha. At the carrying of the body the prison being opened But there was on the way, by which the body was to pass, a most foul prison, where not a few bound for their committed crime were held. Before which dungeon when the bier, on which the body was borne, came, forthwith the fastenings of the bolts are broken, the chains spring off from the bodies of the prisoners, and all kinds of bonds are loosed. Then those who were confined by the stenches and bonds of the prison, coming forth, the captives are freed: put themselves under the bier on which the body was carried. From that hour namely no one of the guards or Judges dared to lay hands on the guilty; but the liberty, which by the crime of their living body they had lost, they received by the dead body of Amator the most holy man. But there was made a great exultation among the peoples, and the miracles done by him living, are confirmed with manifold praise by the transit of his dead body. The joys of those leading the body increase, the voice of those singing psalms is dilated. Thence to the place, which is called Altricus, he is led for burial. Whence while they return, behold they behold a certain paralytic man, a paralytic of 30 years is healed. who now for nearly thirty years was held by that disease, borne on the necks of men: but he was from the territory of Bourges, whom the report of most holy Amator had compelled to be carried from his own places, and to make pilgrimage. Those who carried him approach nearer; they inquire the welfare of the man of God; they learn it to have been his funeral pomp, which in throngs they had seen set out from the city, to be led. Then the languishing one begs, that he might at least a little enjoy those waters, with which the body of the most blessed Amator had been washed. These things learning the most reverend Germanus, then a Presbyter, admiring their faith, ordered the members of the paralytic to be drenched with the same water. But as soon as of the water of the washed body it was applied to the members of the sick man, forthwith all languor departed; and the framework of the members, lacking the morbid loosening forthwith, was consolidated with its own marrows, and repaired with the nerves growing vigorous.

[33] O truly worthy and illustrious city which by its fecundities is preferred to the world! The city of Auxerre is praised, Almost all cities receive the rights of patronage, thou bestowest: those are ruled and stabilized by foreign aid, thou hast brought forth a twin protection not only for thy firmness, but also for the world. Amator supplies to the Southerners [d] the seeds of healings, Germanus to the Westerners always bestows the aid of welfare. Hence to thee city, mother of so great Martyrs, a copiousness of soundness, thence an opulence of fruits is ministered. to be compared with the Roman by the twin patronage of two Saints. I shall assert thee not unequal to the Romulean city: since there by the benefit of Peter and Paul the Apostles the people triumphs, here by the aids of Amator and Germanus it is governed: there the notice of the friends of Christ shines forth, here of the faithful little servants. Frequent therefore the most sacred tombs assiduously, and pay the office with a grateful mind, who hast deserved to be adorned with so great and such titles. There day and night celebrate the vigils of a sincere heart, where the manifold forms of healings are more evidently declared: whose names it is impossible to recount specifically, because it is easier to grasp by name the waves of the immense sea or the sands of the shore, than to run through with mortal tongue the progresses of the wonders of Amator or Germanus. But these things through them and in them works the undivided Trinity, to whom is honor and glory forever and ever. Amen.

ANNOTATA.

The love of our city, and the restorer of the sacred sheepfold the Prelate was, by a fitting surname endowed Amator, a magnificent Doctor, gleaming with the light of merits, far and wide famous for the titles of his signs.