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History of the Franks
St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927
Book 6, Of the Holy Hospicius, the Anchorite, His Abstinence and His Miracles
There was at this time near the town of Nice one Hospicius, a recluse and great ascetic, who wore iron chains wound close about the bare skin, and over them a hair shirt; he would eat nothing but dry bread with a few dates. During Lent he nourished himself on the roots of the Egyptian herbs which the hermits eat, brought to him by merchants; he first drank the water in which they were cooked, then ate the roots themselves. Great miracles the Lord deigned to perform by his means. For upon a time the Holy Spirit revealed to him the coming of the Lombards into Gaul, which he foretold after this manner: ‘The Lombards,’ he said, ‘will enter Gaul, and lay waste seven cities because their wickedness is waxed great in the sight of the Lord. For there is none that understandeth, none that seeketh the Lord, none that doeth good to appease the wrath of God. The whole people is without faith, given to perjuries, prone to thefts, swift to shed men’s blood; from such the fruit of justice in no wise groweth. They pay not tithes, they feed not the poor, they clothe not the naked; they take not in the stranger, nor do they give him meat according to his need. For this cause this blow cometh upon them. Now, therefore, I say to you: Gather together all your substance within your walls, that it be not pillaged by the Lombards, and fortify yourselves in the strongest places that ye have.’ At these words all were amazed, and, bidding him farewell, returned, greatly marvelling, to their own homes. And to the monks he said: ‘Remove ye also from this place, and take all your possessions with you; for lo! the people which I have foretold draweth nigh.’ Then they said: ‘We will not leave thee, most holy father.’ But he answered: ‘Fear not for me; they shall vex me, but they shall not harm me to the death.’ And when they were gone that people came, laying waste all things within reach, and arrived at the place where the holy man of God lived in his solitude. And he showed himself to them through a window of his tower. Then did they go about the tower, but could not find an entrance whereby they might come in to him. So two of them climbed up and uncovered the roof, and saw him girded with chains, and wearing a hair shirt; and they said: ‘This is a malefactor who hath slain a man; for this cause is he held in these bonds.’ And they called to them an interpreter and inquired of him what evil he had wrought that he was thus hardly punished. He himself confessed to them that he had wrought manslaughter and was guilty of every crime. Then one drew a sword to strike him on the head; but his right arm was suspended in the act to strike and turned stiff, so that he could not draw it back; then he loosed his hold on the sword, and let it fall to the ground. At sight of this his comrades raised a shout heaven high, beseeching the holy man of his mercy to tell them what they ought to do. He made the sign of our salvation over the arm and made it whole again. And the man was converted on the spot, and received the tonsure, and is now held the most faithful of the monks. Two dukes who hearkened to the words of Hospicius returned in safety to their country; but those of the Lombards who scorned his injunction perished miserably in that land of Provence. Many of them were possessed by demons, and cried aloud: ‘O holy and most blessed, wherefore dost thou torment us and burn us thus?’ But he laid his hands upon them and healed them.
Some time after this, there was an inhabitant of Angers who through exceeding fever had lost his speech and hearing; on his recovery from the fever he remained deaf and dumb. Now a deacon was being sent from that district to Rome to bring back relics of the blessed apostles and other saints who protect that city. When the parents of the sick man heard this, they asked him of his goodness to take their son with him on his journey, having faith that if he could only visit the tombs of the most blessed apostles he should at once find healing. The two set forth, and came to the place where the blessed Hospicius dwelled. The deacon, having saluted and embraced him, set forth the causes of their journey, told how he was on his way to Rome, and besought him to commend them to any of the clergy who were among his friends. But while they sojourned with him the saint felt the power of miracle present within him through the Spirit of the Lord, and he said to the deacon: ‘Bring into my sight, I beg thee, the sick man who is the companion of thy journey.’ The other, losing no time, went swiftly to their lodging, and found the sick man in a high fever, who by a sign of the head gave him to know that there was a ringing sound in his ears. He took him and brought him to the holy man of God, who grasped his hair with one hand and drew his head into the window;1 there, holding the sick man’s tongue with his left hand, he took consecrated oil, and poured it into his mouth and on the top of his head, saying: ‘In the name of my Lord Jesus Christ, be thine ears unsealed, and thy mouth opened by that same power which cast out the evil spirit from him that was deaf and dumb.’ With these words he asked of him his name. He answered: ‘I am called So-and-so.’ And when the deacon saw it he said: ‘I render Thee thanks without end, Christ Jesus, who deignest to reveal such wonders by the hand of Thy servant. I was seeking Peter, I was seeking Paul and Laurence, and the other martyrs who have glorified Rome through their blood; and lo! I have found them all here; here I have discovered them all.’ But as he said this, marvelling and with many tears, the man of God, eschewing all thought of vainglory, said to him: ‘Hold to thy peace, most beloved brother, for it is not I who do these things, but He who created the world out of nothing; who, putting on our mortal nature, made the blind to see, the deaf to hear, the dumb to speak; who restoreth to lepers their skin as it was before, and granteth to all the sick remedy abounding.’ Then the deacon bade him farewell, rejoicing, and departed with his companions. When they were gone, a certain man named Dominicus, blind from his birth, came to put to the proof this miraculous power. This man had sojourned in the monastery for two or three months, constant in prayer and fasting, when at length the man of God summoned him and said: ‘Art thou fain to recover thy sight?’ ‘It was ever my wish’, answered the other, ‘to know things unknown to me. For I am ignorant what thing light may be. This only I know, that it is praised by all men. As for me, from the beginning of my life till now, I have not had grace to look thereon.’ Then the saint, making the sign of the holy Cross over his eyes with consecrated oil, said to him: ‘In the name of Jesus Christ our Redeemer, be thine eyes opened.’ And forthwith they were opened; and there he was, marvelling and beholding the wonderful works of God, which he saw for the first time in this world. Afterwards, a woman was brought to him who, as she herself proclaimed, was possessed of three devils. And when he had blessed her with his holy touch, and set the Cross upon her brow with the sacred oil, the devils were driven forth, and she departed healed. And by his benediction he made whole another girl vexed by an unclean spirit.
But when the day of his death now drew nigh, he called to him the prior of the monastery, and said: ‘Bring a crowbar, and break through the wall, and send messengers to the bishop of the city, that he may come and bury me. For on the third day from now I shall pass from the world, and enter into my appointed rest which the Lord hath promised me.’ Thereupon the prior of the monastery sent to the bishop of the city of Nice to give him this news. Now a certain Crescens came to the window, and beholding Hospicius bound with chains and covered with worms, said to him: ‘O my lord, how art thou able to endure such grievous torments?’ The other replied: ‘He giveth me comfort for whose name I suffer these things. And I tell thee that now I am released from these chains, and go into my rest.’ And when the third day came, he put from him the chains with which he was bound, and prostrated himself in prayer. And when he had prayed with tears for a long time, he laid himself down upon a bench, with his feet stretched out, and his hands raised towards heaven, and rendering thanks to God, gave up the ghost. And straightway all the worms which had gnawed his holy limbs vanished. Then Bishop Austadius came, and with utmost care committed the hallowed body to the earth. All these things I learned from the lips of the man who, as I have related, was deaf and dumb and healed by the saint. The same man told me much more of his miracles; but I was prevented from speaking of them because I heard that his life had already been written by many writers.
Notes
- i. e. of his cell.