E00603: Gregory of Tours, in his Glory of the Martyrs (64), tells of the construction of an impressive church of *Antolianus (martyr of Clermont, S00347) at Clermont (central Gaul) in c. 515; but in the process other holy bodies were disturbed, displeasing the saint; the church developed cracks and eventually collapsed in 571/593, but miraculously without loss of life or damage to its altar and marble columns. Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 580/594.
Creators: name: Bryan
Publisher: name: University of Oxford
Year: 2015
Subjects: History

description: Gregory of Tours, Glory of the Martyrs 64<br><br>Antolianus autem martyr apud urbem Arvernam martyrium consummavit. In cuius honore Alchima, soror, Placidina, coniux Apollinaris episcopi, templum aedificare cupientes, multa sanctorum corpora, dum fundamenta iacerent, removerunt; nescientes, cuius meriti essent quorum sepulchra reppererant. Qua cum viritim sepelire propter aliorum sepulchrorum multitudinem, qui locum illum ab antiquo repleverant, non haberent, congregatam ossuum massam in unam proicientes fossam, humo operuerunt; ideoque, quod Deo vel sancto martyri acceptabile non fuisset, per visum cuidam apparuit. Viditque homo ille conquirentem beatum Antolianum cum reliquis sanctis atque dicentem: "Vae mihi, quia propter me multi fratrum meorum iniuriati sunt; verum tamen dico, quia qui haec coeperunt ad effectum perducere non possunt".<br><br>Quod ita gestum est. Erectis tamen parietibus super altare aedis illius, turrem, ac columnis Pharis Heraclisque, transvolutis arcubus, erexerunt, miram camerae fucorum diversitatibus imaginatam adhibentes picturam. Nam ita fuit hoc opus eligans et subtile, ut per longa tempora rimarum frequentatione divisum pene in ruinam pendere videretur. Quod periculum Avitus pontifex cernens, anticipans futuram colomnarum stragem, iussit tegnos asseresque vel tegulas amoveri; quae submota nec adiutoria colomnis adposita, nutu Dei, discedentibus de machina structoribus, ut cibum caperent, recedentibusque et reliquis a basilica, dato colomnae inmenso pondere cum magno sonitu super altare et circa altare diruerunt, conpletaque est aedis nebula de effracti calcis pulvere. At sacerdos exsanguis, duorum damnorum detrimenta suspirans, ne et marmora confregissent, et aliquis deperisset e populo, scire non poterat, quid damni accessisset. Nullus enim propter nebulam pulveris illuc poterat accedere. Post duarum vero horarum spatium, recedente nebula, ingressi sunt vel defunctorum collegere corpora vel colomnarum fragmenta rimari. Nullum hominem perisse cognoscunt; altare quoque mirantur inlaesum, in quo de tanta altitudine inpactae colomnae nihil laesionis intulerunt. Quid plura? Invenerunt omnia integra, cuncta contemplantur esse salvata; glorificant martyrem, conspiciunt Dei virtutem, qui sic altare colomnasque servavit inlaesas. In huius urbis territurio et Iulianus martyr agonis palmam legitime decertando promeruit. De cuius virtutibus quae ad nos usque venerunt in libro, quem de eius miraculis propriae scribere praesumpsimus, declaravimus.<br><br>'The martyr Antolianus consummated his martyrdom at Clermont. Alchima, the sister of bishop Apollinaris, and Placidina, his wife, wished to build a church in his honour. While laying the foundations they removed the bodies of many holy people; for they did not know the merits of the people whose tombs they found. Because of the large number of other tombs that had filled the area from long ago, they were unable to rebury these bodies in separate graves. So they threw the bones they had collected in one pile and covered the trench with soil. In a vision, a man learned that this was not acceptable to God or to the holy martyr. The man saw the blessed Antolianus lamenting with other saints and saying: 'Woe is me, because many of my brothers have been wrongly treated because of me. But I say that those who have begun this project will be unable to bring it to completion.<br><br>And so it turned out. After building the walls above the altar of the church, they erected a tower, with Parian and Heraclian columns [and] curved arches, setting up a wonderful painting on the vault, created of a variety of colours. It was elegant and so delicate, that for many years, riven by a mass of cracks, it seemed on the verge of collapse. Bishop Avitus saw the danger. Foreseeing the collapse of the columns, he ordered the laths, beams and the tiles [of the roof] to be removed. During the process of removal, the columns received no reinforcement. When, by the will of God, the builders had climbed down from the scaffolding to eat some food and everyone else had left the church, the columns around and above the altar collapsed with a loud crash because of their immense weight. A cloud of dust from the shattered plaster filled the building. Deathly pale, the bishop, fearing the damage of two disasters, that the marble might be broken and that one of his flock might be dead, did not know which catastrophe had occurred. No one could approach the church because of the cloud of dust. Two hours later when the cloud dispersed, they entered, either to find the bodies of the dead or to investigate the ruins of the columns. They discovered that no one had died. The altar seemed to be intact; even though the columns had fallen on it from such a height, they bore no mark. Why say more? They found everything in one piece and noticed that everything had been preserved. They glorified the martyr and noted the power of God who had thus preserved the altar and the columns intact.'<br><br>Text: Krusch 1969, 81. Translation: Van Dam 2004, 61-62, modified.