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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 10, Of the Conversion, the Miracles, and the Death of the Blessed Aredius, Abbot of…

I must now speak of the miracles and death of the abbot Aredius, who in this year quitted this earth and at the summons of the Lord passed to heaven. He was a native of Limoges and of free birth, being sprung from parents in no mean station. He was sent in his youth to King Theudebert, and became one of the noble youths attached to the royal household. At that time Bishop Nicetius was at Trèves, a man of eminent holiness who enjoyed great fame among the people alike for the admirable eloquence of his preaching, and for his good works and his miracles. Noticing the boy in the palace, and discovering in his face I know not what quality that seemed divine, he bade him follow him. So Aredius left the royal palace and followed after him. And going into the bishop’s cell, they talked together of the things relating to God; the youth then besought the holy bishop to correct, to teach, to influence him, and to instruct him in the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures. Thereafter he dwelled with the bishop, consumed with ardent zeal for this study, and had received the tonsure. One day, while the clergy were chanting psalms in the church,¹ a dove descended from the ceiling, and lightly fluttering round him, perched upon his head, for a sign, as I hold, that already he was filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit. He sought to drive the bird away, not without confusion, but after circling round a little while, it settled once more upon his head, or on his shoulder; and not only in the church, but even when he went into the bishop’s cell, it kept him company continually. This happened for several days, to the wonder of the bishop. Afterwards this man of God, filled, as I have said, with the Divine Spirit, returned to his own country, his father and brother being dead, to console his mother Pelagia, who had none of her kindred to look to but this son alone. His time was now all devoted to fastings and prayers, and he besought her to be responsible for all the care of his house, whether in respect of the discipline of the servants, of the cultivation of the fields, or the tilling of the vineyards, that there might be no interruption of his prayers. He claimed but one thing for himself, the privilege of superintending the erection of churches. What need to say more? He built churches of God in honour of the saints, sought and obtained their relics, made tonsured monks from those of his own household, and founded a monastery in which not only the Rule of Cassian was observed, but also the Rules of Basil and other abbots who instituted the monastic life. His holy mother provided for every monk his food and raiment. But this heavy toil was not enough to hinder her from singing the praises of God; even when she was engaged on any work, she was ever constant in offering prayer to the Lord, as it were a fragrance of incense finding favour in His sight. In the meantime the sick began streaming from all sides to the holy Aredius, and he restored them to health by laying on of hands with the sign of the Cross. Were I to attempt to make several mention of them, I should never be able to go through their number or record their names; this one thing I know, that whoever went to him sick returned from him whole. I will only set forth some few facts concerning his greater miracles.

He was once making a journey with his mother on his way to the church of the blessed Julian the martyr.² They came with evening to a certain place which was very dry and sterile for want of running water. His mother then said to him: ‘My son, we have no water; how therefore can we abide here this night?’ But he prostrated himself in prayer, and for a long while poured forth supplication to the Lord; then, rising up, he fixed a stick which he carried in the ground, and after making it revolve two or three times, he drew it out with great content; and soon so great a flow of water followed that they not only first drank of it themselves, but afterwards were able to water their beasts. A very short time ago he was on a journey, when a rain-cloud rapidly came up. As soon as he saw it he bowed his head a little over the horse which he rode, and stretched forth his hand towards the Lord. And when his prayer was over, lo! the cloud was divided into two parts, and all round them rain came down in torrents; but upon themselves there fell hardly a drop. A citizen of Tours, Wistrimund, surnamed Tatto, suffered from violent toothache, which caused a swelling of the jaws. He complained of it to the holy man, who laid his hand upon the place, whereupon forthwith the pain was driven away and never afterwards revived to cause further trouble. It was the patient himself who told me the story. As for the miracles which the Lord wrought by his hands through the power of the blessed martyr Julian, and of the blessed confessor Martin, I have recorded most of them in my books of Miracles, as he himself hath related them.³

After these and many other miracles performed by Christ’s aid, he came to Tours when the feast of the blessed Martin was over, and after a short sojourn told us that he should not be kept much longer in this world, and that his dissolution was surely near. He bade me farewell and departed, giving thanks to God that it had been granted him to kiss the tomb of the holy bishop before he passed away. Upon his return to his cell, he made his will, set all his affairs in order, and made the holy Martin and the holy Hilary his heirs; he then began to ail and was attacked by dysentery. On the sixth day of his sickness, a woman, often vexed by an unclean spirit, from which the holy man had not been able to deliver her, bound her hands behind her back, and began crying aloud, and saying: ‘Run, O citizens! leap for joy, O people! go forth to meet the martyrs and confessors who are now come together for the passing of the blessed Aredius. Lo, here is Julian come from Brioude, Privatus from Mende; here are Martin from Tours, and Martial from Aredius’s own city. Here, too, are Saturninus from Toulouse, Denis from Paris, and many another now in heaven to whom ye pray as confessors and martyrs of God.’ When she thus cried aloud at nightfall, her master put her in bonds; but it was impossible to hold her; she burst the bonds and rushed to the monastery, uttering these same cries. Soon afterwards the holy man gave up the ghost, not without true testimony that he had been taken up of angels. During his funeral, when the grave closed upon him, he delivered the woman from the evil of the infesting demon, together with another woman vexed by a yet more evil spirit. And I believe it to have been by God’s will that he should not heal these women in his lifetime, in order that his obsequies might be glorified by this miracle. And after they had been celebrated, a certain dumb woman with a wide gaping mouth came to his tomb and kissed it; after which she received the gift of speech.

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