The Cult of Saints in Late Antiquity

Jonas(?), Life of Vedast, Bishop and Confessor (Vita sancti ac beatissimi Vedasti episcopi et confessoris, BHL 8501)

(1) The author sets out to write the Life of Vedast, remarking on the importance of imitating the ‘glory of holy bishops’ (sanctorum presolum gloria), and commemorating this in writing (litterarum seriae memoriae est commendando).

(2-3) How Clovis, king of the Franks, came to Toul, and took Vedast as his companion. How at Vieux-Pont (Grandeponte) Vedast healed a blind man: there is now a basilica built there where many miracles occur. How, at Reims, Vedast commended (commendavit) Clovis to the blessed (beatus) *Remigius (bishop of Reims, ob. c. 533, S00456), who baptised him. (4) How, in the same city, Vedast’s prayers caused an empty wine cask to refill miraculously.

(5) How Remigius appointed Vedast to the see of Arras, where he healed a blind man upon his arrival. (6) How Vedast expelled a bear from Arras' neglected basilica. (7) How, at a banquet, he blessed with the sign of a cross beer barrels ‘consecrated in the pagan fashion’ (gentile… ritu sacrificata), causing them to burst, and how many were converted after seeing this miracle. (8) How, after he had ruled the church of Arras for about 40 years, he had foreknowledge of his end, and died on 6 February, at which point many heard heavenly choirs.

(9) On Vedast’s burial: how the clergy and people from Arras and elsewhere came to bear the body to its tomb, but found that it could not be moved from the house. How Scupilio, the archpriest, then remembered hearing Vedast say that he opposed any burials within the city walls (sepius audivi eum dicentem, quasi infra muros civitatis nullus defunctus requiscere debeat), and that the bishop wished to be buried in a wooden oratory on the banks of the Crinchon. How Vedast could not be moved there since the site was not ready, causing Scupilio to plead with the saint to 'order us to carry you to the place that we originally prepared for you' (iube ergo te deportare ad locum quem olim tibi preparavimus). How the body then became moveable, and was carried accompanied by psalm-signing to ‘a tomb, which was appropriate for a servant of God, inside the church at the righthand corner of the altar, where he himself had carried out the office from his episcopal throne’ (sepultra qua decuit Dei servo in ecclesia ad dextro cornu altaris, ubi ipse pontificale cathedra fungebat officio). (10) How, when Vedast’s house later burnt down, his cell and bed survived unscathed (lecto cellola incolomis remansit).


Text: Krusch 1905, 309-20.
Translation: O'Hara and Wood 2017, 265-77.
Summary: B. Savill.

Chant and religious singing

Cult building - oratory
Cult building - monastic
Cult building - independent (church)
Altar
Burial site of a saint - tomb/grave
Burial site of a saint - sarcophagus/coffin

Prayer/supplication/invocation
Composing and translating saint-related texts
Ceremonies at burial of a saint

Miracle during lifetime
Miracle after death
Miracles causing conversion
Power over elements (fire, earthquakes, floods, weather)
Healing diseases and disabilities
Revelation of hidden knowledge (past, present and future)
Saint aiding or preventing the translation of relics
Unspecified miracle
Miraculous sound, smell, light

Bodily relic - entire body
Contact relic - other object closely associated with saint
Transfer, translation and deposition of relics

Ecclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Pagans
Aristocrats
Monarchs and their family
Animals

Source

Discussion

Bibliography