E00048: Gregory of Tours, in his Life of *Gallus (bishop of Clermont, ob. 551, S00034), recounts how *Gallus (bishop of Clermont, ob. 551, S00034) died in an aura of sanctity and was buried in the church of *Laurence (deacon and martyr of Rome, S00037) in Clermont (central Gaul). During his funeral and at his grave miracles occurred, and grass from turf which had covered his body healed the sick. From Gregory's Life of the Fathers, written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 573/594.
Creators: name: Admin
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2014
Subjects: History

description: Gregory of Tours, Life of the Fathers 6.7<br><br>The date of Gallus' death is miraculously revealed to him. He gives communion to the people, sings matins and gives up the ghost.<br><br>Exinde ablutus atque vestitus in eclesiam defertur, donec conprovintiales ad eum sepeliendum convenirent. Magnum enim ibi miraculum ostensum populis fuit, quod sanctus Dei, adtracto dextro pede in feretro, se in aliud latus, quod erat versus altari, contulit. Dum haec agerentur, rogationes illae, quae post pascha fiunt, caelebrabantur. Iacuit autem in eclesia triduo, assiduo instante psallentio cum magna frequentia populi. Episcopis autem quarta die advenientibus, eum de eclesia levaverunt, et portantes in sancti Laurenti basilicam, sepeliunt. Iam vero in exsequiis eius quantus planctus, quanti populi adfuere, enarrari vix potest. Mulieres cum lucubribus indumentis, tamquam si viros perdidissent, similiter et viri, obtecto capite, ut in exsequiis uxorum facere mos est, ipsi quoque Iudaei, accensis lampadibus, plangendo prosequebantur. Omnes tamen populi una voce dicebant: "Vae nobis, qui post hac die numquam similem merebimur habere pontificem". <br><br>Et quia, ut diximus, conprovintiales longe distabant nec celerius venire potuerant, ut mos rusticorum habetur, glebam super beatum corpus posuere fideles, quo ab aestu non intumesceret. Quam cespitem post eius exsequias mulier quaedam et vere, ut ego diligenter inquisivi, virgo purissima et devota Deo Meratina nomine ab aliis eiectam collegit et in orto suo posuit, infusaque saepius aqua, Domino incrementum dante, vivere fecit. De qua cespite infirmi non solum auferentes atque bibentes herbam, sanabantur, verum etiam fidelis super eam oratio suffragium merebatur. Quae postea per incuriam, virgine migrante, deperiit. <br><br>Denique ad sepulchrum eius multae virtutes ostensae sunt. Nam quartanarii vel diversis febribus aegroti, ut ad beatum tumulum fideliter attingunt, protinus hauriunt sanitatem. Valentinianus igitur cantor, cui supra meminimus, qui nunc presbiter habetur, cum diaconatus fungeretur officium, a typo quartano corripitur, ac per multos dies in magna defectione laborans. Factum est autem, ut in die accensus huius febris loca sancta circuire disponeret orans, veniensque ad huius sancti sepulchrum, prostratus ait: "Memor esto mei, beatissime ac sanctae sacerdos. A te enim edocatus, doctus ac provocatus sum. Memor esto alumni proprii, quem amore unico dilexisti, et erue me ab hac qua deteneor febre". Haec effatus, herbolas, quae ob honorem sacerdotis tumulo respersae fuerant a devotis, collegit; et, quia virides erant, ori applicat, dentibus decerpit, sucumque earum degluttit. Praeteriit enim dies illa, nec ab hoc est pulsatus incommodo, et deinceps ita sospitati est restitutus, ut nec illas quas vulgo fractiones vocant ultra perferret. Haec ab ipsius presbiteri ore ita gestum cognovi. Non enim ambigitur, per illius potentiam prodere virtutes de tumulis servorum suorum, qui Lazarum vocavit de monumento.<br><br>'Then his body was washed and dressed, and he is carried into the church, to wait until his episcopal colleagues assembled for the burial. He accomplished there a great miracle before the people: the saint of God drew up his right foot on the bier and turned onto his other side so that he faced the altar. While these things were happening the Rogations, which follow the Easter ceremonies, were being celebrated. He lay three days in the church, and psalms were sung all the time in the midst of a great multitude of people. The bishops arrived on the fourth day, and lifted the body out of the church into the basilica of St Laurence for burial. There was such great mourning at the funeral, and so many people, that it cannot be described. The women were in mourning clothes as if their husbands had died; the men had their heads covered as was the custom at their wives' funerals. Even the Jews followed the procession in tears, and held lit lamps. And all the people said, with one voice, "Woe on us, who from this day shall never again merit such a bishop". <br><br>And as the bishops of the province were, as we have said, far away, and had not been able to come promptly, the faithful, after the custom of country people, put turf on the body of the saint so that the heat would not cause it to swell. And after the funeral ceremony a woman, or rather, as I have discovered by diligent inquiry, a very pure virgin consecrated to God, called Meratina, collected the turf that had been thrown away by the others and put it into her garden. She often watered it, and, the Lord favouring its growth, she made it live. Sick people who took away some grass and made herb tea with it were cured, and even the faithful who said a prayer over it obtained what they wanted. In the end the virgin departed, and the turf was neglected and perished. <br><br>Many miracles were also done at the tomb of St Gallus. For those ill with quartan fever and various other fevers recovered as soon as they had touched the blessed tomb with faith. The singer Valentinianus, of whom we spoke earlier, who is now priest, found himself taken with quartan fever while he was still a deacon, and was gravely ill for several days. Then it happened that during a brief recovery he decided to visit the holy place and to pray there, and he came to the tomb of St Gallus and prostrated himself before it, saying, "Remember me, holy and blessed bishop, for it is by you that I was raised, instructed and encouraged; remember your pupil whom you loved with a rare love, and deliver me from the fever which grips me". Having said this, he took some of the herbs which had been strewn around the tomb by the faithful in honour of the saint, and since they were green he put them in his mouth, chewed them with his teeth and swallowed the juice. The day passed without any fever, and in the end he was so restored to health that he had no sort of relapse, such as is commonly called a fractio. I learnt this from the mouth of the priest himself. And there is no doubt that He who called forth Lazarus from the tomb draws forth with His power such virtues from the tombs of his servants.'<br><br>Text: Krusch 1969, 235-236. Translation: James 1991, 40-42. <br>