Constantius of Lyon, in his Life of *Germanus (bishop of Auxerre, ob. c. 448, S00455), recounts how the saint, while travelling from Milan to Ravenna (mid to late 440s), ordered a deacon to give his party's last three gold coins to some beggars, but the deacon held one back. They subsequently received two-hundred gold coins from a wealthy man named Leporius, and Germanus used the occasion to rebuke the deacon, telling him that but for him they would have received three hundred. Germanus then healed Leporius' household. Written in Latin at Lyon (south-east Gaul) between c. 460 and c. 480.
E08584
Literary - Hagiographical - Lives
Constantius of Lyon, Life of Germanus of Auxerre 33-34
For a full account of Constantius' Life of Germanus, see E05841.
After leaving Milan (E08359), Germanus and his party pass some poor men begging for alms (§ 33). Germanus tells his deacon to give all the money they have, three gold coins (aureos), to the beggars, but the deacon gives them only two and holds one back. Not long after, some horsemen approach them:
Qui breui adiuncti statim desiliunt et obuoluti genibus, huiusmodi precem fundunt: "Dominus noster uir spectabilis Leporius non longe abhinc domicilium fruitur; qui cum familia sua ita inplicitus diuerso tenetur incommodo ut et propria et suorum infirmitate subcumbat. Cuius ad uos lacrimas deportamus: infirmum, si dignum ducitis, uisitate. Si uero precem nostram occupationis uestrae necessitas uincit, orationem intercessionis inpendite; mereatur benedictionem, si non meretur aspectum." Ad haec uir beatissimus repletur misericordia et, relicto itinere, ea uia rectior iudicatur quae mercedem boni operis praeparabat. [...]
Tum illi cum exultatione, cum gaudio ducentorum solidorum munus, quod transmissum fuerat, obtulerunt. Deinde conuersus ad diaconum, ait: "Accipe quae traduntur et intellege te fraudem fecisse pauperibus; nam si totum indigentibus contulisses, remunerator noster trecentos hodie reddidisset." Contremuit diaconus, secretum reatus sui innotuisse pontifici.
'These soon caught them up, jumped off their horses and went down on their knees.
"Our master Leporius," they said, "a man of spectabilis rank, lives not far from here. He and his household are down with various illnesses, so that what with his own incapacitation and theirs he is quite prostrated. We have been sent to tell you of his, troubles. Will you condescend to come and cure him? But if you are too much engaged to do as we ask, aid him with your prayers. Let him have the blessing you can obtain for him, even if he cannot have the privilege of seeing you."
This roused the compassion of the holy man and, even though it meant leaving the road, he reckoned that the shortest way was the one that won the reward of a good deed. [...]
Then the messengers in transports of joy presented to him two hundred gold pieces that had been entrusted to them for the purpose. Germanus turned to his deacon, saying:
"Take what they offer and remember that you have defrauded the poor; because if you had given those beggars all you had, our benefactor would have repaid you with three hundred gold pieces today."
The deacon was appalled at the thought that his guilt had been no secret from the Bishop.'
Germanus then goes to Leporius' estate and heals all the members of his household (§ 34).
Constantius goes on to describe Germanus' arrival in Ravenna (E06022).
Text: Borius 1965.
Translation: Hoare 1954, slightly modified.
Revelation of hidden knowledge (past, present and future)
Protagonists in Cult and NarrativesEcclesiastics - bishops
Ecclesiastics - lesser clergy
Aristocrats
Source
Germanus of Auxerre (PCBE 4, 'Germanus 1', pp. 878-883) was the most important and revered episcopal saint of 5th-century Gaul. The Life of Germanus was written some years after his death (traditionally dated to 448, but perhaps earlier) by Constantius, a literary figure, possibly a cleric, attested in Lyon in the 460s and 470s (PCBE 4, 'Constantius 3', pp. 521-522). The precise date when he composed the Life is not documented, but it must have been sometime between the 460s and the early 480s. For full discussion of the authorship and date of the Life of Germanus, see its overview entry: E05841.Discussion
This event occurs when Germanus is on his way to the western imperial capital of Ravenna in order to intercede for the rebellious inhabitants of Armorica. Germanus died during his stay in Ravenna, at a date which is nowhere recorded directly but which the balance of evidence suggests was in the second half of the 440s, though the specific year traditionally given (448) may not be the correct one.The incident narrated here occurs at an unnamed place somewhere between Milan and Ravenna. If the inference that Germanus' arrival in Milan coincided with the feast of Gervasius and Protasius is correct (see E08359) the time of year would be late June. Leporius (PLRE II, 'Leporius 2'), described as a vir spectabilis (the second highest rank in the status hierarchy of the later Roman empire) was evidently a large landowner, and possibly an imperial official or former official, but is not attested elsewhere.
Bibliography
Editions:Borius, R., Constance de Lyon, Vie de saint Germain d'Auxerre (Sources chrétiennes 112; Paris: Cerf, 1965), with French translation.
Levison, W., Vita Germani episcopi Autissiodorensis auctore Constantio, in: Passiones vitaeque sanctorum aevi Merovingici V (Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores rerum Merovingicarum 7; Hannover and Leipzig, 1919), 246-283.
English translation:
Hoare, F.R., The Western Fathers (London, 1954), 283-320. Reprinted in T.F.X. Noble and T. Head (eds.), Soldiers of Christ: Saints and Saints' Lives from Late Antiquity and the Early Middle Ages (University Park PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1995), 75-106.
David Lambert
29/04/2025
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S00455 | Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, ob. 445/450 | Certain |
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