E02706: Gregory of Tours, in his Glory of the Confessors (78), recounts how plague threatened the city of Reims (north-east Gaul); the citizens kept vigils at the tomb of *Remigius (bishop of Reims, ob. c. 533, S00456); then took the cloth that covered his tomb and journeyed with it around the territory of the city; the plague spared Reims. Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 587/588.
Creators: name: Kwojtalik
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2017
Subjects: History

description: Gregory of Tours, Glory of the Confessors 78<br><br>[This story is preceded by another miracle of Remigius - in which the saint strikes dead a man who had invaded the property of the church of Reims: E02705.]<br><br>Sed nec illud sileri placuit, quod illud gestum est tempore, eum lues inguinaria populum primae Germaniae devastaret. Cum autem omnes terrerentur huius cladis auditu, concurrit Remensium populus ad sancti sepulchrum, congruum huius causae flagitore remedium. Accensis cereis lichnisque non paucis, hymnis psalmisque caelestibus per totam excubat noctem. Mane autem facto, quid adhuc precatui desit, in tractatu rimatur; repperiunt etenim, revelante Deo, qualiter, oratione praemissa, adhuc maiori propugnaculo urbs propugnacula munirentur. Adsumpta igitur palla de beati sepulchro, conponunt in modum feretri; accensisque super cruces cereis atque cereferalibus, dant voces in canticis, circumeunt urbem cum vicis. Nec praetereunt ullum hospitium, quem non hac circuitione concludant. Quid plura? Non post multos dies fines huius civitatis lues adgreditur memorata. Verum tamen usque ad eum locum accedens, quo beati pignus accessit, et si constitutum cerneret terminum, intro ingredi non modo non est ausa, sed etiam quae in principio pervaserat huius virtutis repulsu reliquid.<br> <br>'But it is proper not to be silent about what happened when the plague of the groin ravaged the people of First Germany. When everyone was terrified at hearing of this devastation, the people of Reims rushed to the tomb of the saint to request a remedy that was appropriate for the situation. After lighting many candles and lamps, they kept watch for the entire night with hymns and celestial psalms. At dawn they searched in a treatise for what was still missing from their request. By the revelation of God they discovered how, after first praying, they might fortify the defences of the city with a still more effective defence. They took the cloth covering (palla) of the tomb of the blessed Remigius and arranged it in the shape of a bier. With candleholders and candles burning above the crosses, they joined voices in chants and journeyed around the city as well as its villages. Nor did they omit any home that they did not include in their circuit. Why say more? Not many days later this plague approached the edges of the city. It advanced all the way to that spot where the relic of the blessed Remigius had gone, and whenever it recognised the boundary that had been set, it did not in any way dare to advance further. Because of the obstacle of his power the plague even left what it had previously invaded.'<br><br>Text: Krusch 1969, 345-346. Translation: Van Dam 2004, 59, modified