The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

We have been unable to add many new full-text translations to our database, through a lack of resources; but we are delighted to offer here the first English translation of a key text: Avitus' Latin version of the discovery of the relics of Stephen. See E07864 for a second (anonymous) translation of the same story. Both translations are by Philip Beagon.


The Revelation of Saint Stephen (Revelatio Sancti Stephani) ('Recension A')

I 1. Lucianus misericordia indigens et omnium hominum minimus, presbyter ecclesiae Dei quae est in villa Caphargamala in territorio Hierosolymorum, sanctae ecclesiae omnibus sanctis qui sunt in Christo Iesu in universo mundo, in Domino salutem.
2. Quae apparuit meae pusillitati a Deo ter de revelatione reliquiarum beati et gloriosi protomartyris Stephani et primi diaconi Christi, et Nicodemi qui in Evangelio scriptus est, et Gamalielis qui in Actibus Apostolorum nominatur, necessarium duxi Vestrae in Christo Dilectioni, imploratus ac magis iussus a sancto et Dei cultore patre Avito presbytero, ut secundum fidem consummatam interroganti quasi filius patri obaudiens et sicut cognovi cum omni simplicitate impiger indicarem omnem veritatem.

II. 3. Die parasceve, (hoc est feria sexta) quae est tertio nonas decembris, consulatu Honorii decies et Theodosii sexies Augustorum, adveniente nocte dormiente me in cubili meo in loco sancto baptisterii in quo consuetudo erat mihi dormire et custodire ecclesiastica quae erant in ministerio, hora tertia noctis (quae est prima custodia vigiliarum) quasi in exstasi effectus semivigilans,
4. vidi virum senen longum hieroprepen (hoc est dignum sacerdotem), canum, barbam prolixam habentem. palliatum alba stola cui inerant gemmulae aureae habentes intrinsecus sanctae crucis signum.
5. Et virgam auream in manu habens venit et stetit ad dexteram meam et aurea virga pulsavit me ter vocans nomine meo, dicens 'Luciane Luciane, Luciane'.
6. Et dicit mihi graeco sermone: 'vade in civitatem quae dicitur Aelia (quae est Hierusalem) et die sancto Ioanni qui est in ea episcopus: quamdiu clausi sumus et non aperis nobis? Et maxime quia in temporibus tui sacerdotii oportet nos revelari.
7. Aperi nobis festinanter monumentum ubi in neglegentia positae sunt nostrae reliquiae, ut per nos aperiat Deus et Christus eius et Spiritus Sanctus ostium clementiae suae in hoc mundo.
8. Periclitatur enim saeculum ex multis casibus qui fiunt in eo cotidie. Et non tantum sollicitus sum pro me quantum pertinet mihi de his qui sunt positi mecum, sancti et multum honoris digni'.

III. 9. Et respondi ei dicens: 'Quis enim es tu domne, et qui tecum sunt?' Respondit mihi: 'Ego sum Gamaliel qui Paulum apostolum nutrivi et legem docui in Hierusalem.
10. 'Et qui mecum est in orientali parte monumenti iacens, ipse est domnus meus Stephanus, qui lapidatus est a Iudaeis et principibus sacerdotum in Hierusalem pro Christi fide foris portam quae est ad Aquilonem quae ducit ad Cedar; ubi die ac nocte iacuit proiectus ut sepulturae non daretur secundum mandatum impiorum principum, ut a feris consumeretur corpus eius. Ex Dei voluntate non tetigit eum unum ex his, non fera, non avis, non canis.
11. Ego Gamaliel, compatiens Christi ministro et festinans habere merce-dem et partem cum sancto viro fidei, misi per noctem quantos noveram religiosos et in Christo Iesu credentes habitantes in Hierusalem in medio Iudaeorum, et hortatus sum eos et necessaria substantiae ministravi ac persuasi illis ire occulte et portare corpus eius meo periculo in villa mea hoc est in Caphargamala (quod interpretatur villa Gamalielis, viginti milliaria a civitate habens) et ibi feci illi planctum fieri diebus quadraginta et poni eum in meo monumento novo in orientali theca et praecepi eis ut quaecumque necessaria erant pro eius planctu de meo darent.
12. Ipse etiam domnus Nicodemus in alia theca positus est, qui venit ad Salvatorem Iesum nocte et catechizatus est ab eo audiens ‘Nisi quis renatus fuerit ex aqua et Spiritu Sancto, non potest intrare in regnum caelorum.’ Et iens baptizatus est a Christi discipulis.
13. Et cognoscentes Iudaei amoverunt eum a principatu suo et anathematizaverunt eum et de civitate exiliaverunt. Et hunc ego Gamaliel quasi persecutionem passum pro Christo sustuli eum in meo agro et alui et vestivi eum usque ad finem vitae eius, et hunc honorifice sepelivi iuxta domnum Stephanum.
14. Similiter vero et Abibas filius meus dilectissimus qui mecum baptismum Christi accepit ab eius discipulis, viginti annorum existens, ante me mortuus, est in tertia theca excelsiori in qua et ego ipse postea defunctus sum applicitus.
15. Mea vero uxor Ethna habens nomen, et Selemias primogenitus filius meus, quia noluerunt esse fidei Christi, in alia villa matris suae sepulti sunt, hoc est in Capharselemia’.
16. Interrogavi autem ego humilis Lucianus presbyter, dicens: ‘Et ubi vos quaeremus?’ Qui dixit mihi: ‘in meo proastio (quod potest intelligi proximus de villa ager) qui dicitur Delagabri, quod interpretatur virorum Dei.

IV. 17. Et evigilavi, et deprecatus sum Deum dicens: ‘Domine Iesu Christe, si est ista visio ex te et non est illusio, fac ut iterum et tertio appareat mihi quando vis et quomodo vis’. Coepi ergo ieiunare et siccas escas ducere usque ad aliud parasceven.
18. Et iterum ipse domnus Gamaliel ipsa similitudine eodemque schemate apparauit mihi sicut in primo visu dicens: ‘Quare neglexisti ire et dicere sancto episcopo Ioanni?’
19. Et ego respondi ei: ‘timui, domne, mox a prima visione haec nuntiare ne viderer seductor esse; deprecatus sum enim ut, si a Domino missus fuisses ad me, denuo ac tertio appareres mihi’.
20. Dixit autem ad me: ‘acquiesce, acquiesce, acquiesce mihi’. Et iterum dixit mihi: ‘quoniam requisisti de reliquiis singulorum, quomodo et ubi sint positae,
21. appone sensum tuum et vide diligenter quae ostenduntur tibi’. Et dixi: ‘Etiam domne’.
22. Et statim attulit quattuor calathos, tres aureos et unum argenteum. Tres eorum pleni erant rosis: duo albas rosas et tertius rubicundas habens quasi sanguis; quartus vero calathus argenteus plenus erat croco bene olenti.
23. Et posuit eos ante me. Et ego dixi ei: ‘Quid sunt isti, domne?’ Et dicit mihi: ‘lipsana nostra sunt. Qui rubeas habet rosas, ipse est domnus Stephanus, qui a dextris positus est, ad orientem ab introitu monumenti. Secundus calathus domnus Nicodemus est, positus contra ostium.
24. Unus vero calathus argenteus est Abibas filius meus, deuterotes tou nomou (id est iteratus in lege), immaculatus ex utero matris suae, coniunctus meo calatho in excelso loco, ubi ambo positi sumus quasi gemini’.

V. 25. Et iterum evigilavi et similiter ieiunavi usque ad aliud parasceuen. Et ecce iterum ipse eadem similitudine et simili voce apparuit mihi minitans et turbulentus dicens:
26. ‘Quare tantum contempsisti aut quam excusationem potes habere? Crede mihi: si non vadis et dicas sancto episcopo Ioanni quia habes pati quod non arbitraris’.
27-28
29. Ego vero tremens dixi: ‘etiam, domne, vado’. In ea vero hora vidi quasi referens episcopo quae suprascriptae sunt visiones;
30. Et audio ipsum papam dicentem mihi (sic in ipsa tertia visione): ‘Si haec ita vidisti dilectissime, me opportet accipere inde bovem masculum aratorem amaxicon (quod nos possumus carri tractorem dicere) operarium, et dimittere tibi agrum ubi sunt fructus’.
31. Et dixi illi: ‘Domne, ut quid mihi agrum si non habeo bovem laborantem in eo?’ Et ait mihi episcopus: ‘Sic placuit, ut ego colligam inde bovem masculum aratorem amaxicon operarium’.

VI. 32. Et statim evigilavi et vidi et dixi cuncta sancto episcopo Ioanni et omni clero eius.
33-34
35. Dixit autem mihi: ‘vade et fode in acervo qui est in ipso agro, et si inveneris nuntia mihi’. Et ego dixi ei: ‘Deambula vi agrum et vidi acervum minutorum lapidum in medio, ubi arbitrabar eos esse’. Et dixit mihi papa: ‘vade, fode, et si inveneris, sedens custodi locum et manda mihi per diaconum ut veniam ad locum’. Et ita me dimisit.
Cum venissem in villam, misi praecones ut omnes habitatores villae diluculo consurgerent et foderent in acervo.

VII. 36. Eadem vero node apparuit ipse domnus Gamaliel cuidam monacho nomine Migetio, innocenti et simplici viro, eadem similitudine qua mihi apparuit, et dixit ad eum: ‘vade, die Luciano presbytero:
37. Vane laboras in acervo illo, modo non sumus ibi, sed tunc ibi positi fuimus cum lamentarentur nos secundum consuetudinem antiquorum; propter quod ibi acervus in testimonium planctus factus est.
38. Sed quaere nos in alia parte, quae est ad Boream, loco qui dicitur syra lingua Dabatalia quod interpretatur (in graeco) Andragathon (quod nos possumus dicere virorum fortium)’.
39. Diluculo vero consurgens ad hymnos, invent monachum ilium praedicantem omnibus fratribus. Hymnis deinde dictis, coepi dicere: ‘eamus ad acervum illum et fodiamus in eo’. Tunc quidam dixerunt mihi: ‘audi primum quid dicat monachus Migetius’.
40. Et advocato monacho Migetio, exquisivi ab eo quid esset quod vidisset. Ille autem universa signa quae videram Domni Gamalielis dixit mihi, et quemadmodum vidisset contra austrum agrum situm et monumentum in eo quasi neglectum et ruinosum, ubi tres lectos aureos stratos vidit, et unum ex eis altiorem ab aliis, in quo erant duo iacentes, unus senex et unus iuvenis, et in aliis duobus lectis erant singuli.
41. Et respondit qui erat in excelsiori lecto et dixit : ‘vade, dic presbytero Luciano quoniam nos domini loci istius fuimus; si vis magnum iustum invenire, ipse ab orientali plaga positus est’. Et haec audiens a monacho, glorificavi Dominum, quoniam inventus est alius testis in revelatione.

VIII. 42. Nos igitur ivimus ad acervum, et fodientes nihil invenimus. Convertimus autem nos ad monumentum illud ubi monacho ipsa nocte apparuerat ; et fodientes invenimus tres thecas, secundum quod apparuerat mihi secundum typum calathorum.
43. Invenimus igitur altissimis litteris scriptum lapidem obrutum habentem ita: Celihel, quod interpretatur Stephanus Dei, et Nasoam, quod interpretatur Nicodemus, et Gamaliel. (Hoc interpretatus est papa Ioannes, sicut et ipse audivi ab ipso sancto episcopo).
44. Statim ergo renuntiavi episcopo cum esset in Lidda (quae est Diospolis) in synodo agens. Qui assumpsit secum duos alios episcopos, Eutonium de Sebaste et Eleutherium de Hiericho, et venerunt ad locum.
45. Qui aperientes domni Stephani ((thecam statim odor magnus exiit ut repleret omnem locum ilium.
46. Oratione autem facta ab omnibus episcopis omnibusque fratribus qui cum his aderant, signa salutis multorum et diversa in populo facta sunt)).
47. Et osculantes reliquias iterum clauserunt ((locum)).
48. Et post paucos dies transtulerunt sanctum corpus Stephani in civitatem, VIIo Kalendas Ianuarias.
No chapter 49

IX. 50. Et tunc in tempore iugis et infinitae siccitatis pluvia magna descendit et abundanter inebriata est terra, efomnes glorificabant ibi Deum propter sanctum eius Stephanum et propter coelestem eius thesaurum misericordiae et pietatis quem periclitanti saeculo aperire dignatus est Dominus Iesus Christus qui cum Patre et Spiritu Sancto vivit et regnat in saecula saeculorum. Amen.


Discovery of Saint Stephen (A)

1. Lucianus, needful of mercy and the least of all men, priest of the church of God in the village of Caphargamala, in the territory of Jerusalem, sends greetings in the Lord to all the saints of the holy church, who are in Christ, in the whole world.
I. 2 The three visions vouchsafed by God to my undeserving person about the revelation of the relics (de revelatione reliquiarum) of the blessed and glorious proto-martyr, Stephen, the first deacon of Christ, and of Nicodemus, who is written of in the Gospel, and of Gamaliel, who is named in the Acts of the Apostles, I have considered necessary to reveal to you who are beloved in Christ. I have been begged, indeed commanded by the holy father Avitus, a worshipper of God, diligently and straightforwardly to place on record the whole truth, just as I have come to know it, as an obedient son would answer completely truthfully his father’s questions.

II.3 On the day of Preparation, that is, Friday, two days before the Nones of December in the tenth consulate of the emperor Honorius and the sixth of the emperor Theodosius [= AD 415], as night fell, I went to my bed to sleep in the sacred baptistery. It was my custom to sleep there to guard the church’s property. In the third hour of the night (which is the first watch), I half awoke, as if in a trance.
4. I saw an old man, a dignified priest, white-haired, with a long beard. He was wearing a white stole, inlaid with small golden gems, forming the sign of the holy cross.
5. He had a rod of gold in his hand. He came and stood at my right side and struck me with the golden rod, calling me by name three times, saying, ‘Lucianus, Lucianus, Lucianus’.
6. He spoke to me in Greek: ‘Go into the city, which is called Aelia (that is, Jerusalem) and say to John, the bishop there: Will you not lay us open, who have been shut away for so long, and particularly because it is right that we should be revealed during your episcopate?
7. Make haste to open the tomb for us, in which our remains were carelessly placed, so that through us, God and his Christ and His Holy Spirit might open the gateway to mercy in this world.
8. For this age is in danger from many errors which occur daily. I am not only concerned on my own account but also on behalf of those who have been placed with me, holy men, deserving great honour.’

III. 9. And I replied to him, saying: ‘Who are you, master? And who are those with you?’ He answered: ‘I am Gamaliel who supported the apostle Paul and who taught the law in Jerusalem.
10. Lying with me in the eastern part of the tomb is my lord Stephen, who was stoned by the Jews and the chief priests in Jerusalem, on account of his faith in Christ, outside the northern gate, on the road going to Cedar. There he lay day and night - the impious rulers had forbidden him burial - so that his body would be consumed by wild animals. But by the will of God, not one of these, not a wild beast, bird or dog touched him.
11. I Gamaliel, his comrade in the service of Christ, eager to share the reward with this holy man of faith, sent in the night as many faithful believers in Christ as I knew who lived in Jerusalem amongst the Jews. I encouraged them, provided them with sustenance and persuaded them to go by night secretly, and to carry his body, at my risk, to my village, that is in Caphargamala (which means ‘the village of Gamaliel’, about twenty miles from the city). There I had him mourned for forty days and placed in my new tomb, in the burial niche (theca) on the east side. I instructed them to give whatever was necessary for his mourning from my resources.
12. My lord Nicodemus was placed in the other niche, he who came to Jesus the Saviour by night, and was instructed by him, hearing that ‘unless he was born again from water and the Holy Spirit, he could not enter into the kingdom of heaven.’ And he went and was baptised by the disciples of Christ.
13. When the Jews discovered this, they removed him from his office, cursed him and drove him from the city. I, Gamaliel, considering that he had suffered persecution for Christ, received him on my estate and fed and clothed him up to the end of his life. Then I buried him with honour, next to my lord Stephen.
14. Likewise, my most beloved son, Abibas, who was baptised along with me by the disciples of Christ and who lived only twenty years, dying before me, was placed in the third, higher, niche, in which I too was interred when I died.
15. But my wife, Ethna by name, and my eldest son, Selemias, who did not wish to become believers in Christ, are buried at another village, of his mother, that is at Capharselemia.’
16. Then I, the lowly priest, Lucianus, questioned him: ‘Where shall we look for you?’ He said to me: ‘In my field on the outskirts of the village, which is called Delagabri, which means ‘of the men of God’.

IV. 17. I awoke and then I prayed to God: ‘Lord, Jesus Christ, if this vision comes from you and is not false, make it appear a second and a third time, when and how you wish.’ Therefore, I began to fast and to take dry food, up to the next day of Preparation.
18. The lord Gamaliel appeared to me again, with the same appearance, wearing the same clothing as in the first vision. He said: ‘Why have you neglected to go to speak to the holy bishop, John?’
19. I answered him: ‘I was afraid, my lord, to announce these things straight after the first vision, lest I seemed to be a deceiver. And so I prayed that, if you had been sent to me by the Lord, that you would appear a second and a third time.’
20. Then he said to me: ‘Be satisfied with me, be satisfied, be satisfied!’ He continued: ‘since you have asked about the relics (de reliquiis) of each individual, how and where they were placed…
21. …apply your mind and look carefully at what is shown to you.’ ‘Certainly, my lord’, I answered.
22. Immediately he brought four vessels (calathos), three of gold and one of silver. Three of them were full of roses; two of them held white roses, the third, red ones, like blood. The fourth vessel, the silver one, was full of sweet-scented crocus.
23. He placed the vessels in front of me and I said to him: ‘What are these, master?’ and he replied: ‘These are our relics (lipsana nostra). The vessel holding the red roses is our lord, Stephen, who was placed on the right-hand side, towards the east, as one enters the tomb. The second vessel is our lord, Nicodemus, placed opposite the entrance.
24. The single vessel of silver is my son Abibas, learned in the law, spotless from the womb of his mother, joined in my vessel, in the lofty position where we were both placed, as if twins.

V. 25. I awoke again and fasted in similar fashion up to the next day of Preparation. And behold, he appeared to me again, the same in appearance and voice but now speaking with angry menace.
26. ‘Why have you shown such contempt? What excuse can you have? Believe me. If you do not go and speak to the holy bishop John, you will suffer in ways you cannot conceive.’
27 – 28
29. Trembling, I said, ‘I go at once, master.’ In that very moment I saw myself, as if reporting to the bishop the visions written about above.
30. And I heard this father saying to me (this was in the third vision) “If you have seen these things, most beloved, it is right for me to take from there the ox which ploughs and pulls the cart and to give up to you the field which contains the fruit.’
31. And I said to him: ‘Master, what use is the field to me if I do not have an ox to work it?’ And the bishop said to me: ‘I have made my decision. I shall collect from there the ox which ploughs and pulls the cart.’ [From Version B of the text, it is clear that the ‘ox’ is the body of Stephen, which John will take to Jeruslaem, leaving the lesser saints at Caphargemala.]

VI. 32. Immediately I awoke and I related to the holy bishop, John and his clergy all I had seen.
33 – 34
35. The bishop said to me: ‘Go and dig in the mound which is in that field, and if you discover anything, report it to me.’ And I said to him: ‘I have walked down to the field and I have seen a mound of small stones (acervum minutorum lapidum) in the middle, where I thought they were. And this father said to me: ‘Go, dig and if you find anything, set a guard on the place and send word, via a deacon, for me to come there.’ When I came to the village, I sent word to all its inhabitants to rise at dawn and to dig in the mound.
36. That same night, the lord Gamaliel appeared to a monk called Migetius, a blameless, honest man, exactly as he had appeared to me, and said to him: ‘Go, tell the priest Lucianus:
37. You are working in vain on that mound. We are not there now. We had been placed there when they mourned us, according to the custom of the ancients. For that reason the mound was created, as a witness to the mourning.
38. Look for us in another place, northwards, in the place which is called Dabatalia in the Syriac language. In Greek it is ‘Andragathon’ which we [in Latin] can translate as ‘of the Good Men’.
39. Rising at dawn for hymns, I found the monk speaking to all his brothers. When the hymns had been chanted, I began to speak: ‘Let us go to the mound and dig there.’ Then they said to me to listen first to what the monk Migetius had to say.
40. After Migetius had spoken, I enquired of him what he had seen. He told me every detail of the lord Gamaliel which I had observed. And he told me how he had seen, opposite the southern field, an apparently ruined and neglected tomb. There he had seen three golden biers laid out, one of them on a higher level than the others. On this one there were two bodies, one an old man, the other a youth. The other two biers had a single occupant each.
41. And the one who was on the higher bier replied and said [to Migetius]: ‘Go. Tell the priest Lucianus, how long we have been the lords of this place. If you wish to find the great and noble man, he has been placed on the eastern side.’ Hearing this from the monk, I glorified God, since another witness to the revelation had been found.

VIII. 42. And so we went to the mound, dug there and found nothing. Then we turned to the tomb (monumentum) which had appeared to the monk the previous night. Digging there we discovered three burial niches (tres thecas), just as had appeared to me, just as was represented by the vessels.
43. We found a buried stone, inscribed with very large letters, which read thus: ‘Celihel, that is Stephen of God, and Nasoam, by which is meant Nicodemus, and Gamaliel’. I personally heard this interpretation from the holy bishop John himself.
44. I immediately reported to the bishop, who was holding a synod in Lydda (that is Diospolis). He took two other bishops with him, Eutonius of Sebaste and Eleutherius of Jericho, and came to the place.
45. When they opened the burial niche of the lord Stephen, at once a great scent came forth and filled the whole place.
46. After all the bishops and the brothers who were there with them had prayed, different signs of the salvation of many occurred among the people.
47. Having kissed the relics (osculante reliquias), they closed the place again.
48. A few days later, they transferred the holy body of Stephen into the city, on December 26th.
(no chapter 49)
50. And then, at that time of perpetual and endless drought, a great downpour came about and the earth was made utterly drunk. Everyone glorified God on account of his saint, Stephen, and on account of the heavenly treasury of mercy and holiness which the Lord Jesus Christ had deemed worthy to reveal to an age in peril, who lives and reigns with the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever. Amen.


Text: Vanderlinden 1949.
Translation: Philip Beagon (2020, for this database).

Saint’s feast

Cult building - independent (church)
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave

Composing and translating saint-related texts
Burial ad sanctos

Miracle after death
Material support (supply of food, water, drink, money)
Power over elements (fire, earthquakes, floods, weather)
Miraculous sound, smell, light
Unspecified miracle

Bodily relic - entire body
Discovering, finding, invention and gathering of relics
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics
Touching and kissing relics

Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Ecclesiastics - monks/nuns/hermits

Source

Discussion

Bibliography