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History of the Franks

St Gregory of Tours, tr. Dalton, 1927

Book 7, 31. Of the Relics of the Holy Sergius the Martyr

At this time Gundovald was at Bordeaux, for Bishop Bertram showed him friendship. Seeking every means of helping forward his cause, he was told by some one that a certain king in the East had possessed himself of a thumb of the holy Sergius the martyr, that he had inserted it in his right arm,¹ and that whenever he was in straits how to drive back his enemies, putting his trust in this protection, he lifted up his right arm, and the multitude of his adversaries fled away, as though vanquished by the power of the martyr. Hearing this, Gundovald began diligently to inquire if there were any one in that place who had succeeded in getting relics of Sergius the martyr. Thereupon the bishop Bertram told him of one Eufronius, a merchant, because he had a grudge against this man. He had once caused him to be tonsured against his will, because he coveted his possessions; but Eufronius, disdaining the act, migrated to another city, and when his hair had grown again, he returned. The bishop therefore said: ‘There is here a Syrian, Eufronius by name, who hath made his house a church, and placed there relics of this saint, and by the saving virtue of the martyr he hath been witness of many miracles. Once the city of Bordeaux burned with a great fire, but his house, surrounded though it was by flames, was nowise touched of them.’ At these words, Mummolus at once hurried to the Syrian’s house, accompanied by Bishop Bertram; they pressed upon the man, and bade him show the sacred relics. He refused; but reflecting that a trap was perhaps being laid for him through some grudge, he added: ‘Trouble not an old man, nor do wrong to the saint, but take these hundred gold pieces to depart.’ When Mummolus still insisted on seeing the relics, he offered two hundred pieces; but even so he could not obtain his withdrawal unless the relics were displayed. Mummolus now ordered a ladder to be set against the wall (for they were hidden in a casket in the upper part of the wall over against the altar), and commanded his deacon² to go up. He mounted the steps and grasped the casket, but was shaken with such trembling that none thought he would reach the ground again alive. But, as I have said, he laid hold of the casket, which was hanging from the wall, and took it down. Mummolus searched the contents, and found a bone from the saint’s finger, which he did not fear to strike with a knife; first he hacked it on the upper side, then on the lower. After many fruitless blows, the small bones remained unbroken; at length it split into three parts, which vanished in different directions; methinks it little pleased the martyr that such treatment befell it. Eufronius now wept bitterly, and all prostrated themselves in prayer, beseeching God of His grace to restore to them that which had been removed from their mortal sight. After the prayer, the fragments were found, and Mummolus, taking one of them, departed, though not with the favour of the martyr, as the sequel shall declare.

While Gundovald and Mummolus were at Bordeaux, they ordered that Faustianus, a priest, should be consecrated as bishop of Dax.³ The bishop of this city had recently died; and Nicetius, count of the place, and brother of Rusticus, bishop of Aire,⁴ had obtained the diploma from Chilperic, permitting him to receive the tonsure and become bishop of the town. Gundovald, intent on annulling all that king’s decrees, convoked the bishops, and bade them give him the blessing. But Bishop Bertram, though he was metropolitan, had misgivings as to the consequences, and enjoined Palladius of Saintes to give the blessing; it is true that his eyes at this time were sore. Orestes, bishop of Bazas, was also present at the consecration, but afterwards denied it before the king.

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