CatholicaHere begins the prologue to the Life of Saint Machutus, bishop and confessor #
1 We must, dearest brothers, with all the strength and diligence of our mind, cultivate and with pious desires praise together the almighty Lord, the author of all things and the discerner of creatures, who is always wonderful in his saints and who foreknew and predestined them before the foundation of the world. For it is just and rightly owed that the creature, most of all the rational one, should continually glorify its maker and lord, and by believing should praise the Son of God, true God and reigning above all, as redeemer. For what else shall we repay to the Lord for all that he himself has freely and generously bestowed upon the human race, except that, with humble intention and inward affection, considering according to the capacity of our mind all his benefits, we render to him for each one a sacrifice of praise? For from his gracious gift and bestowal is granted whatever is found in his saints in the way of usefulness and in the progress of holiness, virtues, and miracles, so that the praise of Christ may always increase through them and in them for ever. And therefore we also, in order to augment and spread the praise of God, have taken care to touch briefly, in writing, upon certain things from the life and conduct of Saint Machutus, so that we may both offer to our redeemer some increase of the talent entrusted to us and be aided in our necessities by the patronage of that same saint whose deeds we recall. Here ends the Prologue
Here begins the Life of Saint Machutus, bishop and confessor #
Chapter 1: The saint’s homeland, birth, and baptism #
1 The venerable bishop Machutus, then, was born of noble parents according to worldly rank in quadrangular Britain, in the region called Gwent; his mother, as it is reported, already advanced in years, named Deruuela, was the sister of Ammon, father of Saint Samson, and of Umbrafel, father of Saint Maglorius; and he sprang from a most noble father among the men of that region, named Uuento. As trustworthy men relate, his mother was in her sixty-sixth year when she bore her holy son Machutes in the valley called Carvanna. In that place there was situated a most elegant and noble monastery, over which Brendan, a religious confessor of Christ, presided as abbot. To this monastery the mother of Saint Machutus had come on the night of the vigil of holy Easter to keep watch and to pray; and on that very night, the grace of Christ visiting her, she gave birth to the same son. Brendan then baptized him, lifted him from the sacred font, and afterwards received him as a spiritual son, faithfully accepting him to be reared henceforth in a spiritual manner; and from his earliest age he nourished him until he was able to speak and to learn letters by study, and to know and understand them. On that same night, moreover, on which Saint Machutes was born, thirty-three male infants were born from those pregnant mothers who, as followers, were accompanying that mother with her; and all these were nourished together with him.
Chapter 2: His childhood #
1 After Saint Machutes had begun to pass beyond infancy, his blessed master, seeing that he was now able to learn letters, wrote the elements for him on a tablet. Their names and shapes he perfectly learned and stored in his memory within the space of a single day. In his boyhood also he stood out very greatly in character among the rest of his contemporaries. For although tender in age, he was strong in spirit. He was not, as is natural to childhood, frivolous, but grounded in a firm seriousness; and that which childish age is accustomed to shirk—namely the labor of literary discipline—he undertook with the greatest eagerness and cheerfulness of mind, and he strove insistently to experience it until the full measure of his progress. From this exercise of learning he was made illustrious by the gains of skill, with the grace of Christ accompanying him; and just as one who is hungry is nourished with eager throat, so he drank in the food of divine wisdom, so that, not a little filled thereby, he yet hungered the more, as divine Wisdom itself speaks of itself, saying: “Those who eat me will hunger still, and those who drink me will thirst the more” [Sirach 24:21].
2 Moreover, as with the increase of age he was instructed more and more in the sacred letters, a fiery vigor of his small body bore clear witness that it was glowing strongly within him: so much so that, while his other companions or fellow pupils would groan vehemently at being afflicted by the harshness of the cold in wintertime, he would say that he had too much heat; and while others chattered with their teeth from excessive cold, this same Saint Machutes, already fervent in spirit, was so warm in body at all times that he took no care at all, like the others, to put on or wrap himself in a cloak, but, content with a single garment, he burned continuously in all his limbs to such a degree that the tiniest and clearest drops of sweat were seen to flow gently from his forehead and face.
Chapter 3: An island rises from the sea to save him #
1 That valley of Carvana in which Saint Machutes was born, nourished, and instructed lies close to the sea. And so, according to the custom of boys, for whom play is always a delight, those fellow pupils of Saint Machutes—and he himself with them—went down to the seashore, so that there they might exercise themselves in childish running about and relieve the labor of discipline by the indulgence of play. But almighty God, unwilling that his power should remain hidden any longer in his holy boy, permitted that the other students, before the approach and flooding of the sea, which customarily swells day by day, should flee and leave their game, so as to return to school or to their lessons; while that sacred boy himself, held fast by sleep, remained lying upon a certain bundle of seaweed on the shore. Meanwhile, as the sea, flooding in, drew near to the place where Saint Machutes lay sleeping, without touching him at all or wrapping him in its waves, it gently surrounded him; and by the nod and providence of God, by as much as the sea rose around him, so much was the strip of shore on which he lay lifted up, and the higher it was raised, the deeper the sea became around that very place. Then the boy Machutes, pleasing to God, awaking in terror at the sound of the waves, and looking around on every side and seeing no one, began with a loud voice to call his fellow pupils by name. And when no one answered him, he said to himself: “Almighty God, who have not abandoned those who hope in you, where now am I placed? Do not abandon me, Lord, but help and save the little servant of your greatness and mercy.”
2 Meanwhile, as his companions, who had fled the danger of the advancing sea, were gathering at home, when the master did not see him among them, he began anxiously to ask where his most beloved pupil was. They replied that he had gone with them to the shore and that they had seen him sleeping there, but they confessed that they did not know whether he had remained there afterwards or had come away from there. Then the master groaned deeply and said: “Lord God, it would have been better for me not to have seen him born than to be deprived of him before I had seen fulfilled in him what I desired.” Then, as evening was already approaching, the master and the pupils, who knew the place where he had remained sleeping, went down to the seashore. And look, an island appeared in the sea which had never before been seen by them. And while all were marveling and saying secretly among themselves that they had not seen it before, the master himself said to them: “Is there any one of you who has seen this island until now?”
3 They answered, “No one.” Then the master, exceedingly anxious and sorrowful, ordered those same pupils to look everywhere along the shore and through the waters of the sea, to see whether perhaps the body of the boy might be found or seen. And when all, according to the master’s command, had searched everything here and there by looking and peering about, with the darkness of night now closing in, they returned to the monastery. And, entering the church, they celebrated the funeral rites of Saint Machutes according to the office owed to the dead. In this manner all of them withdrew to their beds in great sorrow, the master alone going to his own dwelling and neither willing nor able to sleep. Then, not long afterwards, messengers sent by the parents of the blessed Machutes knocked at the door, saying: “Ho there, Brendan, the parents of the boy Machutes have sent us to you, commanding you to return their son to them safe and unharmed, just as they entrusted him to you.” But he answered and said: “Alas! now not only does the greatness of grief over him afflict me, but this harsh message of yours makes my very life weary. But go, and report to those who sent you that their son lives eternally with God the Father.”
Chapter 4: The child is found again; the psalter cast into the water #
1 When the messengers had departed, Saint Brendan persisted earnestly that night in vigils and prayers; and about cockcrow an angel of the Lord stood by him and said: “Brendan, servant of God, do not fear nor be troubled. Almighty God, who never abandons his servants whenever they are placed in peril, but from the beginning of the world has never delayed to bring the help of consolation to his faithful who are afflicted and sorrowing, has wondrously preserved the boy Machutes—about whose loss you were greatly distressed—unharmed and alive among the waves of the sea, wholly immune from that most terrible danger. For look, for his preservation a lasting island has been made there, where he remained resting, at the command of Christ, the author of all the elements, who walked upon the sea with dry feet. And so that this first miracle of divine power manifested in him may be commended by perpetual testimony, the sea which formerly was accustomed daily either to approach that place with its advances or to withdraw with its retreats, now, by the command of almighty God, shall encircle that island with such stable depth that it will never recede from it; and by this means no one will be able to reach it on foot or without a boat. Go there in the morning, and you will find the sacred boy there, keeping watch in the praises of God.”
2 Then the venerable and holy abbot Brendan, for the heavenly benefits bestowed upon himself and upon his sacred pupil, honored and magnified God through the whole night with rejoicing and splendid praises. And when it came to matins, he related to all the brothers what had been revealed to him by the angel; and together, when morning had dawned, they went down to the shore. There, just as the angel had said, they saw the holy boy Machutes standing on the higher part of the island, singing hymns to the Lord. Then the master, rejoicing, said with raised voice: “Hail, chosen one of almighty God; now you are present for me to embrace you. Son, thus gladdened today, I receive you unexpectedly, as if on the fourth day I were seeing Lazarus raised by the Lord from the tomb” [John 11:43–44].
3 But he, answering humbly, said: “Bless eternally the Lord God forever, and render fitting thanks to him, who in regard for his grace has preserved me, a very little servant of his mercy, in so great a danger of the sea. Now, however, allow me, at least for one day, to remain here, where the mercy of God has deigned to make me illustrious by the miracle of salvation; but see that I may have my psalter with me, and if there is no means by which it may be carried all the way to me, place it in that sea, for almighty God, who saved me amid the flooding of the sea, will send it to me, if it so pleases him, unharmed through the waters.”
4 Then, as the master himself, while the others looked on, held the psalter in his hand cast it into the sea, the bundle of seaweed upon which he had slept came rushing forward, received the psalter upon itself, and carried it up to the shore on which the blessed boy Machutes was standing, not at all wet from the waters.
Chapter 5: The child refuses to leave Saint Brendan #
1 Therefore all the brothers, seeing this miracle—namely, the elements serving a servant of God—fell prostrate on the ground and for the space of one hour offered praises to the Lord together. Rising from prayer, fearing nothing further, but rather greatly encouraged by the sight of the holy boy, they returned to the monastery and sent word to the parents announcing the safety of their son and the outcome of the greatest miracle accomplished and shown by almighty God on his behalf in the sea. On hearing this they were greatly amazed, saying among themselves: “Great are you, O Lord, and great are your wonders, now and always, from the beginning and now, you who rule and govern all things, whose command power no creature can resist, but to whose most omnipotent will all things are wholly subject.” Immediately they came to the monastery, and with rejoicing learned in orderly narration all the things that had by divine action most happily and graciously befallen their offspring; and until the next day they remained there with priests and other holy men, now going to the seashore to see the sacred son, now returning again to the monastery.
2 When day came, they sent a small boat for the boy, brought him over to land, and led him to the monastery. Then the master said to the parents: “Now receive your son, saved and unharmed by the mercy of God, just as in your distress you commanded.” When the boy Machutes heard this, bearing it with difficulty to be separated from his teacher, he said tearfully: “Holy master, venerable to me more than parents, and worthy of reverence with a full spiritual love—did I not hear you, when you were preaching the Gospel, say: ‘Call no one your father on earth, for one is your Father, who is in heaven’” [Matthew 23:9]. By these sacred and other similar words, although placed in infancy, he spoke wisely to the master, the other brothers, and his parents, and amazed them.
3 But his parents, understanding that the hand of the Lord was with the boy, repenting of the same harsh message and begging pardon, entrusted him to the master and, bidding farewell, returned to their own home. And Saint Machutes, advancing day by day, ready and joyful in age and grace, crossed daily by boat to the island for the sake of prayer, which to this day in the British tongue is called Rorea.
Chapter 6: The miracles of the burning coals and of the relit candle #
1 There was moreover a custom that one of the boys, in his assigned week, should carry a lantern with a light before the master as he went to the basilica at night for the sake of the matutinal office. When the week of the blessed boy arrived, his other companions extinguished the fire by which the lamp ought to have been lit. And they did this at the instigation of envy, wishing that the sacred boy might on this account suffer blows from his master. The boy Machutes, uncertain what to do, ran to the workshop where cider was being brewed, asking the maker to give him fire of that sort. But when he was unwilling—indeed reluctant—to light a flame, at last, as the boy pressed him, he placed burning coals into the boy’s lap, by which his clothing was in no way harmed. Returning then to the master, he found the candle already divinely lit by an angel. Seeing this miracle—namely, that the burning coals did not scorch the garments of the sacred boy, and that the light had been kindled from heaven by an angel—the master threw himself down at the boy’s knees, reverently adoring him, rejoicing that he had been gloriously granted so blessed and noble a charge, already radiant with grace and with no small number of miracles.
Chapter 7: The virtues and piety of the child; he is appointed a preacher #
1 Meanwhile the holy boy did not carry out the purpose he had set himself of study either negligently or sluggishly. Hence it came about that by the vigor of constant application he ran through, retaining in his heart, the entire body of the Psalms—not so much numerous as salvific—beyond what might have been expected, and then, gradually through time, by experience in reading, he learned many doctrines of the Scriptures, until at last, by the persistence of readings and studies, he skillfully attained competence in the liberal arts. Indeed, while still placed in adolescence, he afflicted his body with prolonged fasts and many vigils; and as his age increased, so in him increased the virtue of wisdom and justice and of the four principal virtues, that is, prudence, fortitude, justice, and temperance. He was supported and directed by the guidance of the heavenly overseer, with God’s help, so that, as a kind of divine living being and, as it is written, “full of eyes” [Ezekiel 1:18], he might exist as a provident and vigorous counselor for himself and for his neighbors, and a guide in good works. For after, in his boyish years, he devoted and gave himself to the fear of God with perpetual service, and resolved and provided always to cleave to it, so that he might have fuller knowledge and understanding of God, he constrained and bound himself to learn the sacred and theological Scriptures, in which both God is known and eternal life is sought. From infancy itself, as he came forth a virgin from his mother’s womb, so he remained throughout his whole life, with virginity as his companion in the world. Nor did it suffice him alone to preserve an angelic life on earth within himself, but he also drew to himself and associated with a celibate life whatever companions and fellow dwellers he could. But when he assumed the monastic habit, he thereafter ate neither the flesh of four-footed animals nor of birds, but at all times observed frugality and continual moderation, as far as human weakness allowed, so that by these virtues he might be able to maintain unceasing chastity and holiness, in order that, chaste in body and pure in heart, he might one day merit to see God in eternal rest [Matthew 5:8].
2 And when, with the advance and maturity of a vigorous age, together with breadth of learning, he had been abundantly formed for divine tasks, and his master assigned to him the office of preaching, he humbly and obediently taught the people by word the contempt of the world which he himself fulfilled by deed, saying with the Apostle that we do not have here a lasting city [Hebrews 13:14], and asserting that all things perishable and temporal, together with those who trust in them, are destined to pass away. And therefore that it is best and most salutary for Christians always to yearn and strive, by doing good works, skillfully and wisely, for the attainment of the heavenly city Jerusalem, which is the throne of the King of eternal glory, our Lord Jesus Christ. These and other salutary admonitions of this kind, obeying his master and burning with zeal for God, he wisely and wholesomely impressed upon the ears of the people.
Chapter 8: First journey in search of the island of Ima #
1 He himself, then, while with his whole mind intent on passing from perishable things to eternal ones, from what slips away to what is stable, from earthly things indeed to heavenly, striving to seek for himself a more remote place, resolved with his master and companions to set out by sea for a certain island in those regions, most renowned, situated namely in the Ocean, called Ima. It was said, moreover, to possess no small likeness to paradisal delights. And so, when a ship had been prepared with all things suitable and necessary for so great a voyage, placing all their confidence and hope in the Lord Jesus Christ, to whom, as the only-begotten Son of God the Father, both winds and sea eternally obey, they set out, and about ninety-five brothers in number entrusted themselves together to one spacious vessel upon the sea. There, wandering for a long time, sailing here and there, when already after a prolonged period—although without danger or loss or the death of any of their own—they were wearied by the voyage and were unable to find the island they sought, after traversing the Orkneys and the other northern islands, they returned to their homeland.
Chapter 9: Machutus is elected bishop #
1 Afterwards, when, by God’s mercy and providence, escaping unharmed and uninjured the perilous shipwrecks of the sea, they had returned to their former monastery, Saint Machutus, as a man illustrious and endowed with outstanding holiness, venerable in merits and deeds, praiseworthy for many virtues and wonders, shone forth most fittingly among all the inhabitants of that land in many ways and by many signs. And as many cycles of time passed by in annual succession, the same blessed man, very often radiant with miracles and pleasing to all the people because of the fervor of virtues in him not failing but rather abounding, was, by the kings and nobles of that province, already distinguished by other ecclesiastical ranks at various intervals of time, with God so disposing, unanimously chosen for the summit of the episcopate and solemnly ordained.
Chapter 10: Second journey in search of the island of Ima; the giant of the sea #
1 When he had been ordained bishop and had for some time happily and worthily administered that most sacred office, and when naval equipment had again been prepared, he set out to sail for the same island, praised by the mouths of many, in which, according to report, heavenly citizens—angels—were said to dwell, together with his former holy master Brendan and with other holy men likewise. In this voyage, remaining upon and traversing the sea for many years, they came even to a span of seven years; and so it came about that, as the years were interposed by a yearly return, seven times it befell them to celebrate holy Easter upon the sea. In that seventh year, when they had come to a certain island, it happened that they found a tomb of wondrous length, at which all marveled, because so great a space of mound seemed to be occupied by human stature. Some of them indeed said that nowhere had a man of such great height existed in life. Then Saint Brendan, the master above all, together with all the brothers in common, urgently begged the blessed Machutes—whom they believed that nothing was impossible for with God, on account of whom, indeed, God had formerly worked so great and unheard-of a miracle in the sea—that by his prayer, precious in the sight of the Lord, whatever body had at any time been buried in that tomb might be raised again.
2 When the blessed and holy man Machutes heard this, he was at first struck with fear, judging himself unworthy to obtain such a thing; but at last, as his master pressed him with many prayers, lest he seem disobedient to him, he prostrated himself tearfully before God in prayer, believing faithfully that God is not the God of the dead but of the living [Matthew 22:32], and that death and life serve the Lord Jesus Christ. And when, his hidden prayer being finished—known indeed only to God and to himself—he rose upright, the blessed Machutes said with a clear voice, lifting his gaze to heaven: “Lord Jesus Christ, who, being true God, equal to the Father, consubstantial and coeternal with the Holy Spirit, deigned to take human substance for the redemption of the human race, and who, among the other miracles of your omnipotence, raised Lazarus of four days from the tomb [John 11:43–44], and who, to confirm faith in the hearts of the faithful, promised that greater works would be done through them than through yourself [John 14:12]; you also yourself said, to commend that faith firmly, that if anyone has faith like a grain of mustard seed and says to this mountain, ‘Pass from here,’ it will pass without delay [Matthew 17:20]; you, by that ineffable power by which you created all things, give life to the ashes of whatever corpse was in its time placed in this tomb, so that, when it appears raised and alive, praise and glory may increase to your name, with the Father and the Holy Spirit, with whom you have one divinity and power to all ages of ages. Amen.”
Chapter 11: Continuation — the resurrection and baptism of the giant #
1 And when, with all listening, the holy man had thus concluded his prayer, see: the whole tomb shaking, a man of towering and incomparable stature came forth, as if from sleep, raised by divine power through the merits of the blessed Machutes. When all marveled at him because of the vastness of his body and his excessive height and giant-like size, they asked who he was and of what condition he had been in his life. He replied that he was a giant, named Milduus, and that he had been a pagan and an idolater. He also recounted the torments which he had endured in hell with the other lost and damned, and that by the merits of the blessed Machutes he had been snatched from the infernal prisons, where until then, together with all those condemned there, he had spent an unfruitful repentance in the punishments of Gehenna.
2 Then that man, of whatever stature and enormity, understanding that he had been raised by the power of the supreme Divinity through blessed Machutes, sought a life that would remain without end, earnestly begging to be reborn by water and the Spirit, and he confessed that the Lord Jesus Christ, whom the Jews crucified, is truly God and the Son of God. He also professed that he had seen all the most wicked Jews and all the accomplices and ministers of the Passion of Christ tormented a hundredfold more than other unbelievers by eternal fire, who, as is read in the holy Gospels, once subjected the Lord Jesus Christ to various mockeries.
3 Therefore the blessed Machutes, seeing him seeking the sacraments of baptism with his whole heart, first, as a bishop of the orthodox faith, fully instructed him in the knowledge of faith in the Holy Trinity, and thus baptized him with a threefold pouring of water in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit [Matthew 28:19].
Chapter 12: Continuation — the ship is towed by the giant #
1 When these things had been accomplished, they carefully made known to him the purpose of their intention for which they were laboring among the blue waters of the Ocean, asking him whether he, as an inhabitant of the sea, knew the island they were seeking, called Ima. To them he said: “One island,” he said, “I once saw while walking upon the sea, excelling all islands everywhere situated in the regions of the world by a brilliance and abundance of delights unlike the rest; for surrounded by a wall of golden, glass-like splendor and brightness, it shone forth like a mirror. But no entrance into it appeared to me. I believe indeed that I, being a gentile, was unworthy to enter such things and neither deserved nor was able to pass its walls. Even the palaces of heaven, so to speak, marveled at its beauty.”
2 Hearing this, the blessed Machutes asked him that, as a guide going before them, he should direct their ship toward that region in which he confessed that he had seen so wondrous a dwelling under heaven, as it were heavenly or paradisal. Without delay, obeying the commands of Saint Machutes, he himself grasped with his hand the rope by which the ship was held at anchor and, lofty like a cedar in height—what one would scarcely wish to believe—slowly treading and furrowing the depths of the sea with his steps, he dragged the ship after him, in case he might be able to lead them to the place of which he had spoken.
3 But suddenly, with the straits boiling and the winds raging, a contrary storm arose; and since they were unable to direct their course to the place toward which they were heading, it seemed good to them at least to return to that island where the same giant, snatched from the prisons of Erebus, had drawn the breath of life and had by divine power been taken away from the dominion of the dead. Nor should it be thought that this came about without the ordering of divine providence, which governs all things justly, well, wisely, and at the fitting time. For it pleased God more that Saint Machutes, shepherd of the Church, long since chosen by God’s grace and consecrated as bishop, should by preaching convert many with himself to the knowledge of the catholic faith, than that he should live alone, withdrawn from the world, celibate and contemplative, devoted to an anchoritic life.
Chapter 13: Continuation — the death of the giant #
1 They therefore returned to the island where the blessed Machutes had raised the same giant; and while they remained there, resting and serving their God without sloth, it happened that the man who had previously been raised—the giant Milduus—died there again. Marveling at his unexpected death, Saint Machutes and the brothers gathered with him faithfully commended his soul to Christ the Lord, the most just judge of all, and committed his body to the earth heaped up from all sides.
2 And since they had lost hope of finding that renowned island which they sought, lest they should further be frustrated in vain and be tossed about or wander in the deep and perilous Ocean, at last all of them with one accord decided to return to their homeland. There, for a time, devoting themselves to divine contemplation, as it were “through a mirror and in an enigma” [1 Corinthians 13:12], they would endure their exile on earth away from their heavenly homeland, until the all-sufficient perfection of every good, the vision of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Chapter 14: Continuation — the celebration of Mass upon the sea monster; return to Great Britain #
1 Finally, after a favorable breeze of the winds had given the signal for sailing, and the fitting equipment had been made ready, they loosed the keel from its anchorage; and as the prow, in sailing back, was plowing the course of the sea toward their homeland, the most sacred day of the Lord’s resurrection, namely holy Easter, was at hand. When it dawned, since, because of the great and singular reverence of the feast, it was necessary for them to celebrate and hear Mass in the most devout manner, and they strove to accomplish this with salutary care and effort, they all carefully scanned the surrounding regions of the Ocean to see whether perhaps, if an island appeared anywhere, they might be able to draw near and put in there. While this was diligently sought by all, look, a small thing appeared in the sea, as if it were an island. When they had drawn near to it and put in, they urged Saint Machutes to celebrate there the most sacred solemnities of the Mass. And when, at the reverent urging of the brothers, he gave his assent, the brothers began to sing the Mass with psalmody; and they had proceeded in the order of the missal as far as the Lord’s Prayer and what follows, when suddenly—dreadful to relate—that whole thing which seemed like an island moved; but it was a beast, one of those called whales, an inhabitant of the abyss, of such enormity and magnitude that a little before it had been believed by Saint Machutes and all his fellow brothers to be an island or some stretch of land. When it was seen or felt to move from its place, and they perceived that it was a living animal beneath them, all were terrified, chattering in confusion that the form of the monster was Leviathan, and crying out that they were about to be submerged and swallowed.
2 But the man of God Machutes, trusting in the Lord, remained unafraid until, as quickly as possible, when the Mass had been completed, he began vigorously to strengthen with sacred words and examples the band of brothers, almost lifeless from excessive fear, setting before them the prophet Jonah, kept safe and unharmed by the Lord for three days in the belly of the whale [Jonah 2:1; Matthew 12:40]. He declared that even in so great a danger divine aid is nonetheless present where human help wholly fails. When this exhortation was finished, and all fled to the ship, Saint Machutes lay down there in prayer, invoking the Lord Jesus with supplicatory petitions: that he who, at the time of his passion and of the subsequent resurrection on the third day—the most precious of all days and ages—after first freeing his just and faithful ones, namely all the patriarchs and prophets, from the inextricable darkness of Erebus, bound the infernal Leviathan in the depths of hell with the chains of his omnipotent word [cf. Psalm 74:13–14; Revelation 20:1–2], might he himself, almighty God Jesus Christ, on that same most celebrated day of his most sacred resurrection, make that whale upon which he stood immobile, until that company of brothers, devoted to God and to our Lord Jesus Christ, should pass by unharmed and uninjured.
3 When this prayer had been completed, that beast or monster, by divine power, was made immovable like a rock or a mountain, until Saint Machutes, after all the others, descended to the ship with safe and free step. Then that holy fellowship of brothers throughout the whole day sang hymn and praise to the Lord who had delivered them from the jaws of the whale, as he had Peter from the depths of the sea [Matthew 14:29–31]. And so, praising the Lord with hymns and spiritual songs [Ephesians 5:19], with a very favorable voyage they returned unharmed to their native land ancestral homes, accompanied by him who said to his disciples: “Look, I am with you always, even to the consummation of the age” [Matthew 28:20].
Chapter 15: Return to Great Britain; Machutus abandons his country and family #
1 But after the blessed bishop Machutes, illustrious in merits, had grown weary of the frustration of his desire, because he had been unable to find in the Ocean a place that would satisfy his vows, he returned to his parents, namely to his father called Guento and to his mother named Daruuela. For the father of that same holy bishop, called Guento, was a most noble count and the founder of the city called Guinicastrum. Now when this prelate once heard read by a deacon the Gospel in which the Lord declares: “Whoever does not leave father and mother and all that he possesses cannot be my disciple” [Luke 14:26; 14:33], he immediately went to his father and mother and asked permission to cross the sea, testifying that he could not fully and perfectly attain the grace of Christ unless, by following and imitating his command, he did what he had heard proclaimed through the mouth of the evangelizing Levite. But although his father long resisted and objected, he, persisting unshakably, as one building always upon the foundation which is Christ by adding virtues to virtues, gathered together into one all his disciples who were clothed in monastic garb, together with his teacher Brendan; and he himself, adorned with the episcopal dignity, came with them all to the seashore. Yet he found no ship, because his father had forbidden all sailors to provide any assistance for crossing or any conveyance by ship whatever to his son.
Chapter 16: Christ appears to him and causes his ship to be guided to the island of Aaron #
1 God, however, ever most ready to hear and aid all his faithful, granted and supplied to the holy prelate the service of a certain ship—empty indeed of men, but divinely filled and governed by the bodily presence of Christ, present with the Father in his divinity. For Christ appeared in that ship under the form of a man. At his invitation and urging, the blessed bishop and his companions and associates entered that vessel. And while they were sailing, that man who appeared—truly Christ the Lord—asked the blessed Machutes to what place he had resolved to cross the sea. He replied that he did not know, except where the Lord might deign to direct him; saying this, he did not know that it was Christ with whom he was speaking. To him the Lord said: “There is an island in this sea which a certain monk inhabits, named Aaron. To him I shall direct you through my angel, instructing him to receive you and all yours with affection and honor.” As soon as the priest and bishop Machutes heard these words, he understood that the one who was speaking was not merely a man, but the maker of angels and men; and without any hesitation or delay he fell at his feet and adored him. And immediately the Lord ceased to appear to his sight.
Chapter 16: Machutus is elected bishop of Alet #
1 Then, guided by a favorable voyage, he reached the island named after the monk Aaron, and was received by that same monk Aaron with the greatest diligence and courtesy; and the venerable priest Machutes remained with him for so long until the episcopate of the British city called Alet was divinely revealed and destined for him, and he duly obtained the office of bishop of that same city. For that city was not far from the island of Aaron, being situated on the seashore, having on one side a river called Rinctus, while on the other side it was washed by the sea. In those places the Britons were not yet fully Christian. Therefore the most renowned bishop Machutes began to teach and instruct the people and to call and draw them to the way of truth. Saint Samson, moreover, was carrying out the same salutary and saving works in his own city; he, who was the cousin of the blessed Machutes and of Maglorius, being so by a double kinship.
Chapter 17: Triple miracle — a dead man raised, a vessel changed into glass, water changed into wine #
1 At a certain later time, while the often-mentioned and most honorably to be named holy bishop Machutes was devoutly celebrating Mass on the vigil of Easter, some men passed before the doors of the church carrying a corpse deprived of vital breath. The sacred and venerable bishop ordered them to pause for a short while until the celebration of the Mass was completed. When it was finished, he went outside and enjoined all who were standing around or had gathered in the great crowd to beg the Lord as earnestly as they could with prayers, so that by his omnipotent will he might restore life to that dead body and spread the praise of his divine name by the mouth of all who saw it. And while the bishop was praying together with the people standing around, the one who lay dead arose, standing alive and restored to life. He declared that he was suffering from burning thirst and began to beg that a draught of wine be given to him, refusing water to drink. Yet no wine was to be found nearby. But the venerable bishop, seeing a certain small marble vessel not far away, ordered it to be brought to him. Over it, after pronouncing episcopal blessing, he changed it into a glass vessel, and the water poured into it he turned into wine. O how blessed and glorious a priest, accomplished in the effects of such great virtues, who in one day worked three miracles so marvelous: he restored a dead man to life, made marble into glass, and turned water into wine! Whereupon the one who had been raised, having drunk, carried back home the bier on which he had been borne.
2 O in every way blessed Saint Machutes, richly and abundantly endowed with sacred and mighty merits by the grace of the supreme Divinity! For just as once, for Saint Moses, first and greatest of the prophets, and for the people, whom by God’s command help the angel led, God omnipotent made a dry path through the Red Sea [Exodus 14:21–22], so likewise for this saint, when he was a boy, he prepared the firmness of an island in the sea. And just as the same almighty God prepared a great fish to swallow the prophet Jonah unharmed and likewise to cast him forth unharmed after three days [Jonah 1:17; 2:10], so also for this saint, now made bishop, he set fast in the sea huge and monstrous whale, immobile, which held the holy Machutes himself and all his companions or brothers upon it for as long as the saint asked of the Lord, until all, unharmed and whole, returned to their ship. And in the raising of the dead, with almighty God Christ Jesus—who is true salvation and eternal life—working in him, he shone forth sublimely and powerfully, as is declared in the present little book [John 11:25].
Chapter 18: The resurrected sow #
1 For indeed, with Christ surely working within him—who, with God the Father in the unity of the Holy Spirit, is the author and maker of all virtues and of all wonders whatever exist and shall exist from the beginning of the world until the consummation of the age—in the power of the Holy Trinity, which is one and omnipotent Godhead, he shone forth as the magnificent raiser of three dead persons. Of two of these we have already spoken; of the third we shall speak below, if only the mercy of Almighty God may always assist us. Meanwhile, insofar as we are able, let us humbly set forth some of his other miracles. At another time likewise, the holy bishop of God accomplished, although in the lowly form of an animal, yet no small miracle, with Him working in him who “reaches mightily from end to end and disposes all things sweetly” [Wis 8:1], and who truly and faithfully is confessed to “hate nothing of the things that He has made” [Wis 11:24], and of whom the psalmist David sings: “You will save men and beasts alike, O Lord; how you have multiplied your mercy, O God!” [Ps 36(35):7]. For when that same holy man, a most fruitful sower of the divine word and a tireless steward of God’s treasures, was passing through the region of Britain, sowing the seeds of the Gospel and promising the kingdom of God to those who believed and kept His commandments and rendered obedience, he found a certain swineherd grieving no little over a sow which he had killed with the throw of a stone; and this indeed for the reason that she, an untimely devourer, was very often breaking into the crops and by the battering of her snout was wearing them down and destroying them. In that sow there lay seven suckling piglets, vainly striving to draw milk from the teats with their accustomed draught. As the holy bishop passed by and learned of the swineherd’s distress—who greatly feared the anger of his lord for the killing of the sow—he was moved with heartfelt compassion; he touched the tip of his staff to the sow’s ear, and immediately, restored to life, she offered her udder and the nourishment of milk to her offspring. Then the swineherd swiftly and eagerly reported these things to his master. The matter so prevailed with him that without delay, mounting his horse, he himself went to the bishop and, humbly prostrating himself before him in reverence and begging the help of his grace, granted and gave over entirely to Saint Machutus that estate, to be possessed henceforth by right of ownership.
Chapter 19: The girl possessed by a demon #
1 In the surrounding territory or district of the same city of Aleth there lived a certain man of outstanding nobility, who had a daughter fiercely possessed by the obstinacy of demons and so grievously afflicted that whoever attempted to touch her or approach her, she would at once, baring her teeth in a bestial manner, rush upon them to tear and bite them; and therefore she could in no way be restrained, unless bound fast with iron chains, from being deadly harmful and from any manner of pursuit and laceration of men. Hearing this, her same father learned of the blessed Machutus, by the constant favor of Christ flourishing in innumerable and immense virtues and freely healing many of their infirmities by the benefits of those virtues, and he took care to go to him, humbly begging and earnestly begging him concerning his daughter’s most grievous and demonic vexation and for the expulsion, with God’s aid, of the malignant enemy, most hostile always to the salvation of mankind.
2 Immediately the holy man, not delaying to bestow mercy, a true imitator of our Lord Jesus Christ, who for the deliverance of men from the dominion of demons deigned, made man, to visit and redeem the world, went to the house where the girl was being restrained from her frenzy by chains, intending by God’s grace to grant her a perfect and swift remedy. And as he drew near and stood present there, he fastened his kerchief about the neck of the suffering girl. Then it was easy to hear the demons hurling baleful insults against the servant of God, as they brazenly reproached him for having once been a dweller beyond the sea, now being a fugitive and a stranger, and for having been of no distinction in his native land, yet now violently presuming to drive out demons from dwellings long invaded and possessed, by the invocation of the fearsome name of almighty God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. But the holy confessor and bishop, firmly grounded in the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the unique foundation of all good things and virtues, and therefore remaining altogether immovable and steadfast against every force and all the false contrivances of demons, with the Holy Spirit prompting him—the Spirit who is always the author of all virtues and miracles, who is God and almighty power, the Holy Spirit proceeding from God the almighty Father and from His Son, God the almighty Lord Jesus Christ, as it is read in the Gospel: “For power went out from Him and healed them all” [Lk 6:19]—with that same Holy Spirit, I say, prompting Saint Machutus, the holy bishop blessed water and commanded it to be poured into the mouth of the raging woman for her to drink. When this saving draught had been taken, she became as though dead. Yet after the space of some hours, returning by God’s will to perfect soundness of mind and bodily health, she stretched herself to the ground at the feet of the holy bishop, the most powerful worker of virtues, freely offering expressions of thanksgiving for such great consolations of remedies as she had obtained divinely through him. Whereupon her father, as was fitting, exceedingly rejoiced, and generously rewarded Saint Machutus with many gifts of gold and silver, and granted him the choicest land, to be possessed by his right in perpetuity.
Chapter 20: Duke Hailoch recovers his sight #
1 When at a certain time a duke of the British region, named Hailoch, whether deceived by the enemy demon—the ever-present instigator of all evils—or stirred and dominated by envy or pride, or else perverted by wicked counsel, attempted and began to overthrow and destroy a monastic basilica on the estate of Saint Machutus, founded by the saint himself and elegantly constructed, the holy man of God came and strove with earnest prayers to turn the same irreverent prince away from the bold and sacrilegious violation of that place; but he was in no way able to soften the hardness or arrogance of his swollen heart. Therefore the blessed bishop wholly betook himself to begging God concerning this matter.
2 Whereupon, not long afterward, that prince or duke, covered with the likeness of death, became blind—blind in his eyes as he already was in his heart. Afterwards, however, coming to his senses and returning to his heart, stricken with remorse, anxious and drenched with tears, he went to the man of God, lamenting and confessing that he had sinned and stood guilty before the holy bishop, and with such humble words as he could utter, he begged forgiveness. The blessed bishop, as he was always ready to show mercy, looked upon him kindly and first absolved him, as was fitting, from the bond of the offense he had committed; then, as one now worthy of divine help and healing, he sprinkled him with blessed water and anointed his eyes with consecrated oil, restoring to him his former sight. He also enjoined upon that same prince Hailoch, at his humble request, what sort and how great a penance he should perform for the rashness of his guilt and offense. The same duke then deserved to possess, by the power of Saint Machutus, greater vigor of sight than he had ever had before. Rejoicing exceedingly in the benefit of so great a grace, he granted to the blessed bishop the finest and most fruitful possession of land willingly bestowed an abundant gift of gold and silver, and thereafter with wondrous affection cherished and honored him.
Chapter 21: A wagtail lays its eggs in the saint’s cloak #
1 On a certain day the often-mentioned man, namely the kindly bishop, went out with some of his monks into a field for the purpose of pruning a vineyard. And so that, being unencumbered, he might work more lightly and readily, he laid aside his cloak in a certain place in the vineyard. When the work of the vineyard was finished and he again wished to put on the cloak, there was found in it the egg of a certain little bird, a wagtail, or more elegantly called a parraca. When this was discovered, the man of God—one not without that condescension without whose providence not even one of the sparrows perishes upon the earth—forbade the garment to be removed from the place until the little bird should hatch her young [Mt 10:29]. Meanwhile, however, no inclemency of the air nor any rain dared to soil or defile the covering of the sacred bishop, being restrained by divine power from presuming or acting rashly. Which, although it is a small thing, nevertheless by the grace of God is shown not to be an unseemly miracle.
Chapter 22: Calumnies against the saint. the baker Riwan #
1 After the death of Hailoch, duke of Britain, who while he lived deemed the blessed bishop Machutus worthy of all honor and favor and so exalted him, there arose an impious generation of men of that province against the saint of God, burning with envy and malice and, driven by furies, raging madly, because the man of God possessed so broad and spacious a tract of land, bestowed and granted to him over many years, by God’s will and prompting, by not a few faithful and God-fearing people. For they said among themselves and complained that Bishop Machutus possessed very much of their parents’ land that nothing would be left for themselves or their heir-sons in the future, from which they might obtain sustenance or procure the necessities of life. On account of this bitter envy of their wickedness and the stubbornness of their insolence, they inflicted upon the holy bishop many injuries of their factions and enterprises and vexations of opposition. For they sometimes grievously afflicted his native dependents or any of his servants with beatings and bruises, and subjected and squandered other goods whatever under his authority and lordship by frequent devastations and plunderings. These things they did, wishing by various persecutions and the anguish of reproach to drive him away utterly from that realm or from the site and dwelling of his monastery. But all these things the blessed bishop, supported by the greatness of his even-tempered spirit, bore patiently.
2 It happened, however, that a certain man from the bishop’s service, namely his baker called Riwan, those most ill-omened rivals and accomplices of malice, after cruelly beating and striking him with clubs and whips, laid him out upon the seashore and bound him fast on every side with bent withies, so that he could not lift himself from there, intending that either by the encroaching sea he should at once be slain or be swallowed up by the surge of the waves and perish utterly. When this was heard, the bishop obtained by prayer that the sea, advancing and making its accustomed daily approach, should leave around that man—torn and exhausted by blows—a space of a mile on every side inaccessible, lest by the heat of its tide it should consume or kill the servant of the man of God. But those wicked men took away from the bishop his horses by force or fraud, so that, hearing of so great a crime against his servant, he might not hasten to rescue or revive him. Moreover, to heap disgrace and insult upon the saint of God, they prepared a mare for the bishop’s seat or conveyance. The holy confessor, however, on foot, hastened as quickly as he could along the path to reach the place where his servant lay bound and as though ensnared. By the presence of his holiness he rendered him unharmed, and brought him back with him vigorous and sound, together with Saint Machutus.
Chapter 23: The outraged saint curses the Bretons and Brittany and sets sail #
1 Therefore, because of the many and grievous offenses inflicted upon him contrary to right and divine law, the blessed Machutus, angered against the Breton people, laid upon that wicked generation the mark of excommunication and curse. As the cause of that curse and anathema took effect, the land itself together with its inhabitants began to fall into confusion and to sink back, and gradually, as if rushing headlong toward ruin and nothingness. For some of the people became crippled, others leprous, others indeed blind; many were wasted away by grave and long-lasting illnesses, grew pallid, and were deprived of all health and rest, long tormented and almost lifeless. Some, moreover, ended their wretched lives in such afflictions by death. The land likewise became barren and unfruitful, incapable of bringing forth or producing crops, and ineffective in bearing fruit or produce of every kind. But these things came afterward.
2 Meanwhile the blessed and glorious bishop, counting as nothing the prosperities of the world and fearing no adversities, shunning that accursed people who bore him hatred without cause, said: “If the Lord avoided the Jews and withdrew, fleeing their perfidy [Jn 11:54], then surely it behooves me to imitate my Christ and to abandon so insolent and turbulent a people, and to depart elsewhere among the nations because of the intolerable provocations and deceitful wiles of this frenzied folk.”
Chapter 24: He lands in Saintonge and is received by Bishop Léonce #
1 Driven off and, as it were, put to flight from the seat of his episcopate by such provocations of unrest and scandals, the blessed Machutus embarked upon a vessel on the western sea. The voyage he completed prosperously, spending almost the whole time continually occupied with psalms and prayers, his destination being the district of the city of Saintes in the province of Aquitaine. When he arrived there with his fellow monks, whom he had long trained and led with holiness and religious discipline, he asked whether Christians were living and settled in those regions. He was given the answer he greatly desired to hear: namely, that Christians indeed dwelt and inhabited those lands in every respect, and moreover that Léonce, a man most renowned for abundance, distinction, and glory, exercising episcopal authority, was known to govern the city of Saintes.
2 Rejoicing, therefore, at this illustrious report of the bishop and of the Christian people, the blessed Machutus sent some of his monks to him, that they might inform him of his arrival and faithfully make known and set forth the reasons for his journey and pilgrimage. When these things were heard, the honorable and distinguished man, Bishop Léonce, was filled and illuminated with great spiritual joy and gladness; he received the blessed Machutus with much veneration and at once assigned to him outright a certain estate, of no small revenue and value, for lodging and dwelling, and appointed it to serve his needs and ministry. While he remained there for some time, the inhabitants and local people brought him many gifts from their own possessions.
Chapter 25: Of the wolf who performs the duties of a donkey #
1 Among these people a certain peasant presented him with a little donkey, to carry daily from the forest the wood necessary for use. The holy bishop entrusted this donkey to one of his servants, who would go out each day riding it to the forest to fetch wood. But when one day the wood that was to be loaded onto the donkey slipped loose and fell among the chips, a wolf, swooping down in a swift and deadly rush, attacked it with rapacious greed, killed it, and devoured it. Anxious and distressed at what had happened, the servant, bearing the loss with difficulty, placed part of the wood upon his shoulders and carried it to the lord bishop, recounting what had occurred: the attack of the wolf and the destruction of the donkey. Then the holy man said to the servant: “Go before me and lead me into the forest.” When the bishop entered it, he easily obtained by prayer that the wolf should be present before him. He ordered it to lie down like a beast of burden and to have the load of wood placed upon it, and, laden, to proceed to the house. Thereafter the wolf behaved like a domestic dog, always going along with the servants and keepers of goods, maintaining constant and vigilant guard with the keenest instinct. Because of this transformation of a brute and novelty of nature, Bishop Léonce from that time onward honored the holy man with even greater admiration. All the common people also, hearing these things, offered him gifts from their possessions with ready devotion of heart.
Chapter 26: The daughter of the count of Saintes is cured from the bite of a serpent #
1 One day, when the daughter of the count of Saintes was walking through her father’s garden and strolling about with other girls, a serpent lurking there struck her with a deadly bite. As a result, grievously afflicted and wasted away, she caused extreme anguish and sorrow to both her parents, nearly to death. They, taking counsel and giving heed in such necessity to a remedy that was indeed salutary, approached with humble prayers the most holy man of God, Bishop Machutus, and summoned him to themselves for the deliverance of the girl from her imminent danger. Then the blessed Machutus, long since and most frequently proved by God’s grace in notable virtues, and likewise confident that divine help was then, as always, present to him, applied to the girl’s wound a leaf of ivy sprinkled with blessed water or consecrated by his saliva, and with God’s assistance restored her to her former health and soundness. Whereupon her father, exceedingly rejoicing, granted to the saint a large and valuable estate belonging to his own domain.
Chapter 27: The child drowned in a well raised to life by the saint #
1 The venerable Bishop Léonce therefore, in order that the virtues divinely manifested through the merits of the most holy Bishop Machutus might be made known, humbly asked him to go out with him to visit, in episcopal fashion, the sees or parishes of his diocese. And when they came to a village called Brea, distinguished by two basilicas, Lord Bishop Léonce assigned one of them to the blessed pontiff Machutus. There, having established his lodging, when one morning he wished to wash, he ordered a boy who was standing by to go and bring water. But the boy, still only twelve years old, carelessly bending himself forward to draw the water, leaned too far inward and fell into the well and died. When his body was brought up from the water and taken away, Bishop Léonce ordered it to be carried into the basilica where Saint Machutus was lodging. At once the boy’s parents arrived, along with very many relatives, for he had been born of noble parents. The parents and kinsfolk and all the faithful kept vigilant watch around his body.
2 When morning came, the blessed Machutus, most distinguished by the effects of virtues, ordered everyone to leave the church except two monks closely attached to him and most dear to him. With them, after bending his knees seven times in prayer, he recalled—God giving aid—the soul of the innocent boy to his own limbs. As a result, Bishop Léonce and all the people alike, filled with joy, together gave thanks to God, the supreme maker, who had granted them such and so great a patron, perfect in all holiness and most fully approved by the display of virtues.
Chapter 28: The healing of the blind woman Bona #
1 In the same district of Saintonge there was a certain widow named Bona, covered by blindness for fourteen years. When she was brought before the holy Bishop Machutus and received his blessing, her eyes were immediately enlightened, and rejoicing she returned to her home.
Chapter 29: Return to Brittany #
1 While the blessed Machutus was flourishing in these and other notable miracles and virtues, envoys came to him from the province of Brittany, earnestly and with great anxiety begging him that by the presence of his return and by the grace of his blessing he would restore their homeland, which he had rendered barren and pestilential together with its inhabitants by the blow of curse and excommunication. Whereupon he sought the counsel of Bishop Léonce, who advised him that it seemed pleasing and fitting that a three-day fast should be undertaken together, so that the divine will concerning this matter might be made more clearly manifest to them. Accordingly, an angel of the Lord appeared to the blessed Machutus, exhorting him to cross over to Brittany without delay and to wipe away every stain of the curse by the presence of his holiness, and by a saving blessing most fully restore the land with its people, the crops with the trees, and by fertility and abundance make it rich and fruitful, as though renewed by his sacred merits pleasing to God; and that afterward he should return again to Saintonge, for there it was appointed that he would most happily depart this life and triumphantly ascend to the heavenly dwellings.
Chapter 30: Brittany recovers fertility and prosperity #
1 Accordingly, in keeping with the angelic revelation, the holy man withdrew into Brittany and by his blessing cleansed and washed it from every scourge of plagues or miseries by which it had until then been afflicted, and most earnestly commended its people to God, the giver of all good things. And afterward all that land flourished with such abundance and richness that, as though drawn back by the hand of Divinity from a headlong ruin, it rejoiced to bloom with every kind of good and wealth—whereas before, pressed by deadly evils, it had seemed to totter and to perish.
2 Then at last both the ruler of that realm and the nobles and bishops assembled, begging Saint Machutus that he would never depart from them, but would dwell continually among them as he had formerly intended. To them he replied with gentle and calm speech that he could in no way transgress or offend the angelic foretelling, which had declared that he was to die among the people of Saintonge.
Chapter 31: Return to Saintonge and the death of the saint #
1 And so, with everyone greatly sorrowing and lamenting, he departed, to return to the city of Saintes. Having happily come back there with God’s grace and having dwelt there for some time, now at last worthy of a heavenly calling, most blessed and most pleasing to God, long-lived with the fullness of many years and most richly endowed with the abundance of all virtues, he gave back his spirit to God, to be borne aloft to the heights of heaven by the ministry of angels, on the seventeenth day before the Kalends of December, in the stillness of the night of the Lord’s Day, with all the brethren standing by him and most devoutly keeping the sacred vigils. He lived one hundred and thirty-three years. Throughout all the time of so great a longevity, from the very beginnings of infancy—as far as we have been able to set forth above—advancing from good to better and from better to the very best gains of virtue, until he surpassed all human condition and, inseparably united to the Divinity itself, became exalted above the whole of created and immeasurable worldly existence, indeed was divinely admitted among the heavenly citizens, the angelic spirits and all the saints who dwell in heaven, to stand eternally as their companion and fellow.
Chapter 32: posthumous miracles. a church raised over his tomb #
1 The most precious pledge of his most holy body—more fitting, dear, and honorable than all gold and precious stone—the lord bishop Léonce, a man of outstanding probity, reverently and worthily committed to a most dutiful and becoming burial, to remain hidden indeed in the tomb, yet thereafter to benefit the whole age by the fragrance of virtues shining forth. For on that very day on which he entered the mausoleum, he restored the light of the eyes most perfectly to two blind men, drove out a most wicked demon from one possessed, and on the third day likewise after his sacred and honorable burial restored to a cripple the firm and agile use of walking, and by the grace of Divinity refashioned for a certain mute man, unable to speak at all, fluent and eloquent speech.
2 But the diligent Bishop Léonce, wishing to honor more fully and fittingly the most blessed body of the most holy Bishop Machutus, caused a new and elegant church to be built at the place where he had buried him, outside the walls of the city of Saintes. There, from that time onward, the omnipotence of Divinity has shown and declared so many and such great miracles as neither human memory nor the industry or skill of writers can grasp or comprehend. Nor only there, but wherever else the presence of his sacred relics or the memorials of churches or altars are found, there indeed divine mercy is readily present to those who pray with devotion, so that in the hearts of all the faithful everywhere who experience the presence of his holiness there may always remain, with inward intent and continual devotion, praise, remembrance, and glorification of so great a confessor, who most powerfully and most kindly aids all who invoke him.
3 By whose prayers, together with the merits and mighty intercessions of all the saints, may Jesus Christ our Lord deign to deliver us powerfully from all the hindrances of demons and make us strangers to the fires of hell, grant us to be sharers in his redemption, and allow us also, as the least of citizens of the heavenly fatherland, to see him whom we desire and to rejoice forever in his praise—he who lives and reigns with God the Father and the Holy Spirit, Lord and King, Lord of heaven and earth and of all the elements, to the infinite ages of ages. Amen.