Gregory of Tours, in his Miracles of Julian (17), describes how a former deacon, working for the public fisc, who seized sheep belonging to *Julian (martyr of Brioude, S00035), was later struck with a burning fever at the saint's tomb in Brioude (central Gaul), and died. Written in Latin in Clermont and Tours (central and north-west Gaul), 570/587.
E05164
Literary - Hagiographical - Collections of miracles
Gregory of Tours
Gregory of Tours, Miracles of Julian (Liber de passione et virtutibus sancti Iuliani martyris) 17
A deacon, who had left the church and joined the public treasury (fiscus publicus), while collecting pasture tax (pastuaria) on the mountainous summer pastures, seizes some rams belonging to the saint and beats the shepherds when they protest, 'not knowing that whoever takes something from the houses of the saints harms the saints themselves (ignorans ... quod, qui de domibus sanctorum aliquid aufert, ipsis sanctis iniuiriam fecit)'.
Contigit autem, ut post dies multos, non religione sed casu conferente, ad vicum Brivatinsim properaret, proiectusque humo ante sepulchrum, mox a febre corripitur et tanta vi caloris obprimitur, ut neque consurgere neque puerum evocare possit. Famuli vero cum vidissent eum extra solito plus occumbere, accedentes: "Quid tu", inquiunt, "in tanta diuturnitate depraemeris? Non enim tibi tam longa mos erat orandi devotio". Ferebant autem de eo, quod quandoquidem in eclesia fuisset ingressus, parumper inmurmurans, nec capite inclinato, regrediebatur. Tunc interpellantibus pueris, cum responsum reddere non valeret, ablatus manibus e loco, in cellam, qui erat proxima, lectulo collocatur. Igitur, invalescente febre, proclamat se miser incendi per martyrem, et quod primo siluerat, admotis animae iudicii facibus, crimina confitetur, iactarique super se aquam, voce qua poterat deprecabatur. Delatis quoque cum vasculo limphis et in eum saepe deiectis, tamquam de fornace ita fumus egrediebatur e corpore. Interea miseri artus ceu conbusti in nigridine convertuntur, unde tantus procedebat fetor, ut vix de adstantibus possint aliqui tolerare. Innuens enim dehinc manu, indicat, se esse leviorem; mox, illis recedentibus, hic spiritum exalavit. De quo haud dubium est, qualem illuc teneat locum, qui hinc cum tali discessit iudicio.
'Many days later it happened that this man hurried to the village of Brioude not because of his religious piety but because of a fortuitous impulse. After kneeling on the ground in front of the tomb, he was soon struck with a fever and was afflicted with such an intense burning that he was unable to get up or to call his servant. But when his servants noted that he was kneeling much longer than usual, they approached and said: "Why are you kneeling for such a long time? Such long and devout prayer has not been your custom." For some said of him that whenever he entered a church he would murmur a bit and leave without bowing his head. As he was unable to answer his questioning servants, they carried him from that place on their hands and put him on a bed in a room which was nearby. Then, as the fever became stronger, the wretch shouted out that he was on fire because of the martyr. Although at first he had kept silent, after the flames of judgement had been applied to his soul he confessed his crimes, and with whatever sound he was capable of he begged that water be sprinkled on him. But even though water was brought in a vessel and often sprinkled on him, smoke poured from his body as if from a furnace. Meanwhile his suffering limbs, as if on fire, turned black and produced such a stench that scarcely any of the bystanders could tolerate it. Still signalling with his hand the man indicated that he was [feeling] better. Soon the bystanders left, and he exhaled his spirit. From this, there is no doubt what place he occupies there [in Hell], who left here with such a judgement.'
Text: Krusch 1969, 121-122.
Translation: Van Dam 1993, 175-176, lightly modified.
Summary: Katarzyna Wojtalik.
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Non Liturgical ActivityPrayer/supplication/invocation
Visiting graves and shrines
MiraclesMiracle after death
Punishing miracle
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - lesser clergy
Other lay individuals/ people
Slaves/ servants
Source
Gregory, of a prominent Clermont family with extensive ecclesiastical connections, was bishop of Tours from 573 until his death (probably in 594). He was the most prolific hagiographer of all Late Antiquity. He wrote four books on the miracles of Martin of Tours, one on those of Julian of Brioude, and two on the miracles of other saints (the Glory of the Martyrs and Glory of the Confessors), as well as a collection of twenty short Lives of sixth-century Gallic saints (the Life of the Fathers). He also included a mass of material on saints in his long and detailed Histories, and produced two independent short works: a Latin version of the Acts of Andrew and a Latin translation of the story of The Seven Sleepers of Ephesus.The Miracles of Julian, full title Martyrdom and Miracles of the Martyr Saint Julian (Liber de passione et virtutibus sancti Iuliani martyris), consists of 50 chapters. It opens with a brief account of Julian's martyrdom and of the discovery of his head in Vienne (chapters 1 and 2), followed by 48 chapters of miracles effected by the saint, primarily at his tomb in Brioude (south of Clermont, central Gaul), but also through relics distributed in other areas of Gaul (and in one case, chapter 33, even in an unnamed 'city of the East').
Brioude and the shrine of Julian are within the ancient territory of Clermont, Gregory's native city, and the attachment that he and his wider family felt towards Julian is manifest in a number of stories in the Miracles, including evidence that Gregory often attended the feast of the saint on 28 August. In chapter 50 Gregory addresses Julian as his patron and asks for his support through the remainder of his life.
Gregory wrote the Miracles of Julian over an extended period, very possibly starting before he became bishop of Tours in 573. Statements he makes in chapters 32 and 34 suggest that he initially planned to draw the book to a close with less chapters than the fifty we have, and that this was soon after his consecration to Tours; but, learning later of more miracles (primarily from Aredius of Limoges, chapters 41-45) and himself witnessing a further miracle (chapter 46a), he extended the book to 50 chapters, completing these in the early or mid 580s. Chapter 50 addresses the reader in a valedictory tone, with a personal invocation of Julian; but it is possible that the work was never published in Gregory's lifetime.
For discussion of the work, see:
Krusch B., Gregorii Turonensis Gregorii episcopi Turonensis Miracula et opera minora (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum I.2; 2nd ed.; Hannover, 1969), 2.
Monod G., Études critiques sur les sources de l’histoire mérovingienne, 1e partie (Paris, 1872), 42–45.
Van Dam, R., Saints and their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul (Princeton, 1993), 162-163.
Shaw R., "Chronology, Composition and Authorial Conception in the Miracula," in: A.C. Murray (ed.), A Companion to Gregory of Tours (Leiden/Boston, 2015), 102–140.
Bibliography
Edition:Krusch B., Gregorii episcopi Turonensis Miracula et opera minora (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum I.2; 2nd ed.; Hannover 1969), 112–134.
Translation:
de Nie. G., Lives and Miracles: Gregory of Tours (Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 39; Cambridge MA, 2015).
Van Dam, R., Saints and their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul (Princeton, 1993), 200–303.
Further reading:
Murray A.C. (ed.), A Companion to Gregory of Tours (Leiden and Boston, 2015).
Shanzer, D., "So Many Saints – So Little Time ... the Libri Miraculorum of Gregory of Tours," Journal of Medieval Latin 13 (2003), 19–63.
Katarzyna Wojtalik
06/03/2018
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00035 | Julian, martyr of Brioude (southern Gaul) | Certain |
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