VM 1.2

English

Once a devout man, full of faith, came to the holy temple i and, thirsting for the grace of the saint, turned over in his mind what he might take with him from the blessed building for his health; approaching the tomb, he begged the custodian to grant him some blessed candle wax from the tomb. When he had received this, he departed with joy and full of faith placed it on a field where he had sowed a harvest. When a dangerous storm came that had often devastated the region in the preceding years, it was kept away by this benediction and never again ravaged that field as it used to do.

When the magnificent and longed-for feast of Easter had come, the people devoutly went to the blessed man's cell, where he had often spoken with angels when he lived there. When they had kissed and moistened with tears every single place where the blessed man had once sat or prayed, or where he had eaten or allowed his body to rest after many labors, they went to cross the river with a convoy of boats that had been made ready, to go to his blessed tomb and prostrate themselves in front of the confessor, begging his forgiveness with tears. As they crossed the river, however, the wind began to blow hard, impelled by the Tempter, and the convoy sank into the water, causing both men and women to be carried away by the river. While they were rolled about by the tempestuous waves, and all hope of escape had gone, everyone shouted forth in one voice: "Compassionate Martin, snatch the men and women who are your servants away from this present death!" As soon as these words had been said, behold, a gentle breeze and an obedient wave returned everyone to the shore to which they were headed: no one perished, and all, saved, performed the Easter festivities with the greatest rejoicing.

Thus that same power was present that, dividing the Jordan, had led the people on its dry bottom between mountains of water, when Joshua, after he had taken up twelve stones from the bottom of the river, manifesting the sign of the apostles, consecrated them at the shore where they arrived; or that power which caught up Peter, about to die, with his compassionate right hand, lest he drown; or what drew the sailor, in danger of drowning and calling upon the Lord of Martin, from the depths of the sea to the shore he wished to reach.

Someone who had begged to be given some candle wax from the holy building as a benediction, accepted some wax from the tomb of the saint and put it in an inner room of his house as a heavenly treasure. It happened, however, that a fire sent by the envy of the Tempter burned all around his home with voracious flames, spread among the dry beams and destroyed everything. Meanwhile, a cry went up to heaven, imploring the blessed Martin's help. Then they remembered the particle of wax that had been brought from the temple of the saint. When it had been found and thrown into the flames, the whole fire went out at once, and, in a new kind of miracle, wax, which normally feeds fire, stifled the violence of the flames by the force of its holiness.

All this Paulinus wrote down in verse in the sixth book of his work after he had received the information about these things in a summary from the holy bishop Perpetuus. At the time that the papyrus roll containing the summary had come to him, Paulinus's grandson had been afflicted with a serious illness. Trusting in the power of the holy man, how-ever, Paulinus said: "If it pleases you, blessed Martin, that I write something in your praise, let it be shown upon this ill boy." When the document had been placed on the boy's chest, the fever disappeared at once, and he who had been ill was healed.

The priest Fortunatus too, however, wrote a whole poem about Martin's life in four books. Encouraged by these examples albeit inexperienced, we shall nevertheless attempt to recount some of the powerful deeds of the holy and most blessed Martin which happened after his death, as many as we can find: for it shall be my intention to write about what cannot be found in the works of Severus and Paulinus.

Latin

Cum autem ad templum sanctum quidam devotus fide plenus accessisset, et gratiam sancti sitiens, cogitaret, quid de beata aede raperet ad salutem, prope sepulchrum accedens, aedituum supplicat, ut sibi parumper benedictae cerae largiretur e tumulo. Quam accipiens, laetus abscessit et agro, cui frugem seruerat, confisus inposuit. Adveniens autem tempestas saevissima, quae vicinia in annis praecedentibus saepe vastaverat, ab haec est benedictione prohibita, nec ibidem ultra, ut consueverat, nocuit. Magnifica vero atque desiderabili paschali festivitate adveniente, populus ad beati cellulam, in qua commoratus saepe cum angelis frequentaverat, devotus advenit. Et singula ioca adlambens osculis vel inrigans lacrimis, in qua vir beatus ante sederat aut oraverat, sive ubi cibum sumpserat vel corpori quietem post multos labores indulserat, classe navium praeparata, amnem transire parat, ut beatum sepulchrum adeat et se, cum fletu veniam deprecans, coram confessore prosternat. Navigantibus autem illis, temptatoris inpulsu commoto vento, navis in profundo dimergitur, et sexus uterque ab amne diripitur. Cumque inter procellas fluctuum rotarentur, et spes omnis evadendi perisset, una omnium vox in clamore profertur, dicens: „Miserator Martine, eripe a praesenti interitu famulos famulasque tuas!" His dictis, ecce flatus aurae placidus artus submersorum subvehens ab undis inlaesos, omnesque litori, quod desiderabant, unda famulante, restituit; nec ullus deperiit, sed cuncti salvati paschalia festa cum summa exultatione perfuncti sunt. Non enim defuit illa virtus, quae Iordanen scindens populum sub aquarum molibus margine arente traduxit, cum, de fundere fluvi duodecim lapidibus ablatis, signa apostolica gestientes, Iosue litori, cui advenerat, consecravit; vel illa quae Petrum pereuntem, piam amplectens dexteram, ne periret, eripuit; vel quae navitam submersurum, Martini Dominum invocantem, de profundo pelagi ad litus, quod optabat, elicuit. Quidam pro benedictione de sancta aede adsumere flagitans aliquid, ceram de sepulchro sancto accepit et infra penetralia domus tamquam thesaurum caeleste reposuit. Factum est antem, ut invidia temptatoris inmissum incendium domus voraci flamma circumoritur et sparsus per aridis tabulis cuncta vastaret. Interea clamor ad caelum tollitur et beati Martini auxilium inploratur. Meminetur etiam cerae particulam a sancti templo delatam. Quae repertam et igni iniectam, protinus cunctum restinxit incendium, novoque miraculo cera, quae ignem alere erat solita, violentiam ignis vi sanctitatis obpressit'. Haec Paulinus in sexto operis sui libro versu conscripsit, acceptum a sancto Perpetuo episcopo de his indiculum. Verum cum ad eum huius indiculi carta venisset, nepus eius gravi tenebatur incommodo. At ille confisus in virtute sancti: 'Si tibi', inquid, 'placet, beate Martine, ut aliqua in tua laude conscribam, appareat super hunc infirmum'. Positaque carta pectori eius, extemplo recedente febre, sanatus est qui erat aegrotus. Sed et Fortunatus presbiter omne opus vitae eius in quattuor libris versu conscripsit.

Notes

• boat in a storm but acknowledgement to other stories.