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The City of God

Chapter 8.--Of Miracles Which Were Wrought that the World Might Believe in Christ, and Which Have Not Ceased Since the World Believed.

Why, they say, are those miracles, which you affirm were wrought formerly, wrought no longer? I might, indeed, reply that miracles were necessary before the world believed, in order that it might believe. And whoever now-a-days demands to see prodigies that he may believe, is himself a great prodigy, because he does not believe, though the whole world does. But they make these objections for the sole purpose of insinuating that even those former miracles were never wrought. How, then, is it that everywhere Christ is celebrated with such firm belief in His resurrection and ascension? How is it that in enlightened times, in which every impossibility is rejected, the world has, without any miracles, believed things marvellously incredible? Or will they say that these things were credible, and therefore were credited? Why then do they themselves not believe? Our argument, therefore, is a summary one--either incredible things which were not witnessed have caused the world to believe other incredible things which both occurred and were witnessed, or this matter was so credible that it needed no miracles in proof of it, and therefore convicts these unbelievers of unpardonable scepticism. This I might say for the sake of refuting these most frivolous objectors. But we cannot deny that many miracles were wrought to confirm that one grand and health-giving miracle of Christ's ascension to heaven with the flesh in which He rose. For these most trustworthy books of ours contain in one narrative both the miracles that were wrought and the creed which they were wrought to confirm. The miracles were published that they might produce faith, and the faith which they produced brought them into greater prominence. For they are read in congregations that they may be believed, and yet they would not be so read unless they were believed. For even now miracles are wrought in the name of Christ, whether by His sacraments or by the prayers or relics of His saints; but they are not so brilliant and conspicuous as to cause them to be published with such glory as accompanied the former miracles. For the canon of the sacred writings, which behoved to be closed, ¹ causes those to be everywhere recited, and to sink into the memory of all the congregations; but these modern miracles are scarcely known even to the whole population in the midst of which they are wrought, and at the best are confined to one spot. For frequently they are known only to a very few persons, while all the rest are ignorant of them, especially if the state is a large one; and when they are reported to other persons in other localities, there is no sufficient authority to give them prompt and unwavering credence, although they are reported to the faithful by the faithful.

The miracle which was wrought at Milan when I was there, and by which a blind man was restored to sight, could come to the knowledge of many; for not only is the city a large one, but also the emperor was there at the time, and the occurrence was witnessed by an immense concourse of people that had gathered to the bodies of the martyrs Protasius and Gervasius, which had long lain concealed and unknown, but were now made known to the bishop Ambrose in a dream, and discovered by him. By virtue of these remains the darkness of that blind man was scattered, and he saw the light of day. ²

But who but a very small number are aware of the cure which was wrought upon Innocentius, ex-advocate of the deputy prefecture, a cure wrought at Carthage, in my presence, and under my own eyes? For when I and my brother Alypius, ³ who were not yet clergymen, ⁴ though already servants of God, came from abroad, this man received us, and made us live with him, for he and all his household were devotedly pious. He was being treated by medical men for fistulae, of which he had a large number intricately seated in the rectum. He had already undergone an operation, and the surgeons were using every means at their command for his relief. In that operation he had suffered long-continued and acute pain; yet, among the many folds of the gut, one had escaped the operators so entirely, that, though they ought to have laid it open with the knife, they never touched it. And thus, though all those that had been opened were cured, this one remained as it was, and frustrated all their labor. The patient, having his suspicions awakened by the delay thus occasioned, and fearing greatly a second operation, which another medical man--one of his own domestics--had told him he must undergo, though this man had not even been allowed to witness the first operation, and had been banished from the house, and with difficulty allowed to come back to his enraged master's presence,--the patient, I say, broke out to the surgeons, saying, "Are you going to cut me again? Are you, after all, to fulfill the prediction of that man whom you would not allow even to be present?" The surgeons laughed at the unskillful doctor, and soothed their patient's fears with fair words and promises. So several days passed, and yet nothing they tried did him good. Still they persisted in promising that they would cure that fistula by drugs, without the knife. They called in also another old practitioner of great repute in that department, Ammonius (for he was still alive at that time); and he, after examining the part, promised the same result as themselves from their care and skill. On this great authority, the patient became confident, and, as if already well, vented his good spirits in facetious remarks at the expense of his domestic physician, who had predicted a second operation. To make a long story short, after a number of days had thus uselessly elapsed, the surgeons, wearied and confused, had at last to confess that he could only be cured by the knife. Agitated with excessive fear, he was terrified, and grew pale with dread; and when he collected himself and was able to speak, he ordered them to go away and never to return. Worn out with weeping, and driven by necessity, it occurred to him to call in an Alexandrian, who was at that time esteemed a wonderfully skillful operator, that he might perform the operation his rage would not suffer them to do. But when he had come, and examined with a professional eye the traces of their careful work, he acted the part of a good man, and persuaded his patient to allow those same hands the satisfaction of finishing his cure which had begun it with a skill that excited his admiration, adding that there was no doubt his only hope of a cure was by an operation, but that it was thoroughly inconsistent with his nature to win the credit of the cure by doing the little that remained to be done, and rob of their reward men whose consummate skill, care, and diligence he could not but admire when be saw the traces of their work. They were therefore again received to favor; and it was agreed that, in the presence of the Alexandrian, they should operate on the fistula, which, by the consent of all, could now only be cured by the knife. The operation was deferred till the following day. But when they had left, there arose in the house such a wailing, in sympathy with the excessive despondency of the master, that it seemed to us like the mourning at a funeral, and we could scarcely repress it. Holy men were in the habit of visiting him daily; Saturninus of blessed memory, at that time bishop of Uzali, and the presbyter Gelosus, and the deacons of the church of Carthage; and among these was the bishop Aurelius, who alone of them all survives,--a man to be named by us with due reverence,--and with him I have often spoken of this affair, as we conversed together about the wonderful works of God, and I have found that he distinctly remembers what I am now relating. When these persons visited him that evening according to their custom, he besought them, with pitiable tears, that they would do him the honor of being present next day at what he judged his funeral rather than his suffering. For such was the terror his former pains had produced, that he made no doubt he would die in the hands of the surgeons. They comforted him, and exhorted him to put his trust in God, and nerve his will like a man. Then we went to prayer; but while we, in the usual way, were kneeling and bending to the ground, he cast himself down, as if some one were hurling him violently to the earth, and began to pray; but in what a manner, with what earnestness and emotion, with what a flood of tears, with what groans and sobs, that shook his whole body, and almost prevented him speaking, who can describe! Whether the others prayed, and had not their attention wholly diverted by this conduct, I do not know. For myself, I could not pray at all. This only I briefly said in my heart: "O Lord, what prayers of Thy people dost Thou hear if Thou hearest not these?" For it seemed to me that nothing could be added to this prayer, unless he expired in praying. We rose from our knees, and, receiving the blessing of the bishop, departed, the patient beseeching his visitors to be present next morning, they exhorting him to keep up his heart. The dreaded day dawned. The servants of God were present, as they had promised to be; the surgeons arrived; all that the circumstances required was ready; the frightful instruments are produced; all look on in wonder and suspense. While those who have most influence with the patient are cheering his fainting spirit, his limbs are arranged on the couch so as to suit the hand of the operator; the knots of the bandages are untied; the part is bared; the surgeon examines it, and, with knife in hand, eagerly looks for the sinus that is to be cut. He searches for it with his eyes; he feels for it with his finger; he applies every kind of scrutiny: he finds a perfectly firm cicatrix! No words of mine can describe the joy, and praise, and thanksgiving to the merciful and almighty God which was poured from the lips of all, with tears of gladness. Let the scene be imagined rather than described!

In the same city of Carthage lived Innocentia, a very devout woman of the highest rank in the state. She had cancer in one of her breasts, a disease which, as physicians say, is incurable. Ordinarily, therefore, they either amputate, and so separate from the body the member on which the disease has seized, or, that the patient's life may be prolonged a little, though death is inevitable even if somewhat delayed, they abandon all remedies, following, as they say, the advice of Hippocrates. This the lady we speak of had been advised to by a skillful physician, who was intimate with her family; and she betook herself to God alone by prayer. On the approach of Easter, she was instructed in a dream to wait for the first woman that came out from the baptistery ⁵ after being baptized, and to ask her to make the sign of Christ upon her sore. She did so, and was immediately cured. The physician who had advised her to apply no remedy if she wished to live a little longer, when he had examined her after this, and found that she who, on his former examination, was afflicted with that disease was now perfectly cured, eagerly asked her what remedy she had used, anxious, as we may well believe, to discover the drug which should defeat the decision of Hippocrates. But when she told him what had happened, he is said to have replied, with reli gious politeness, though with a contemptuous tone, and an expression which made her fear he would utter some blasphemy against Christ, "I thought you would make some great discovery to me." She, shuddering at his indifference, quickly replied, "What great thing was it for Christ to heal a cancer, who raised one who had been four days dead?" When, therefore, I had heard this, I was extremely indignant that so great a miracle wrought in that well-known city, and on a person who was certainly not obscure, should not be divulged, and I considered that she should be spoken to, if not reprimanded on this score. And when she replied to me that she had not kept silence on the subject, I asked the women with whom she was best acquainted whether they had ever heard of this before. They told me they knew nothing of it. "See," I said, "what your not keeping silence amounts to, since not even those who are so familiar with you know of it." And as I had only briefly heard the story, I made her tell how the whole thing happened, from beginning to end, while the other women listened in great astonishment, and glorified God.

A gouty doctor of the same city, when he had given in his name for baptism, and had been prohibited the day before his baptism from being baptized that year, by black woolly-haired boys who appeared to him in his dreams, and whom he understood to be devils, and when, though they trod on his feet, and inflicted the acutest pain he had ever yet experienced, he refused to obey them, but overcame them, and would not defer being washed in the laver of regeneration, was relieved in the very act of baptism, not only of the extraordinary pain he was tortured with, but also of the disease itself, so that, though he lived a long time afterwards, he never suffered from gout; and yet who knows of this miracle? We, however, do know it, and so, too, do the small number of brethren who were in the neighborhood, and to whose ears it might come.

An old comedian of Curubis ⁶ was cured at baptism not only of paralysis, but also of hernia, and, being delivered from both afflictions, came up out of the font of regeneration as if he had had nothing wrong with his body. Who outside of Curubis knows of this, or who but a very few who might hear it elsewhere? But we, when we heard of it, made the man come to Carthage, by order of the holy bishop Aurelius, although we had already ascertained the fact on the information of persons whose word we could not doubt.

Hesperius, of a tribunitian family, and a neighbor of our own, ⁷ has a farm called Zubedi in the Fussalian district; ⁸ and, finding that his family, his cattle, and his servants were suffering from the malice of evil spirits, he asked our presbyters, during my absence, that one of them would go with him and banish the spirits by his prayers. One went, offered there the sacrifice of the body of Christ, praying with all his might that that vexation might cease. It did cease forthwith, through God's mercy. Now he had received from a friend of his own some holy earth brought from Jerusalem, where Christ, having been buried, rose again the third day. This earth he had hung up in his bedroom to preserve himself from harm. But when his house was purged of that demoniacal invasion, he began to consider what should be done with the earth; for his reverence for it made him unwilling to have it any longer in his bedroom. It so happened that I and Maximinus bishop of Synita, and then my colleague, were in the neighborhood. Hesperius asked us to visit him, and we did so. When he had related all the circumstances, he begged that the earth might be buried somewhere, and that the spot should be made a place of prayer where Christians might assemble for the worship of God. We made no objection: it was done as he desired. There was in that neighborhood a young countryman who was paralytic, who, when he heard of this, begged his parents to take him without delay to that holy place. When he had been brought there, he prayed, and forthwith went away on his own feet perfectly cured.

There is a country-seat called Victoriana, less than thirty miles from Hippo-regius. At it there is a monument to the Milanese martyrs, Protasius and Gervasius. Thither a young man was carried, who, when he was watering his horse one summer day at noon in a pool of a river, had been taken possession of by a devil. As he lay at the monument, near death, or even quite like a dead person, the lady of the manor, with her maids and religious attendants, entered the place for evening prayer and praise, as her custom was, and they began to sing hymns. At this sound the young man, as if electrified, was thoroughly aroused, and with frightful screaming seized the altar, and held it as if he did not dare or were not able to let it go, and as if he were fixed or tied to it; and the devil in him, with loud lamentation, besought that he might be spared, and confessed where and when and how he took possession of the youth. At last, declaring that he would go out of him, he named one by one the parts of his body which he threatened to mutilate as he went out and with these words he departed from the man. But his eye, falling out on his cheek, hung by a slender vein as by a root, and the whole of the pupil which had been black became white. When this was witnessed by those present (others too had now gathered to his cries, and had all joined in prayer for him), although they were delighted that he had recovered his sanity of mind, yet, on the other hand, they were grieved about his eye, and said he should seek medical advice. But his sister's husband, who had brought him there, said, "God, who has banished the devil, is able to restore his eye at the prayers of His saints." Therewith he replaced the eye that was fallen out and hanging, and bound it in its place with his handkerchief as well as he could, and advised him not to loose the bandage for seven days. When he did so, he found it quite healthy. Others also were cured there, but of them it were tedious to speak.

I know that a young woman of Hippo was immediately dispossessed of a devil, on anointing herself with oil, mixed with the tears of the prebsyter who had been praying for her. I know also that a bishop once prayed for a demoniac young man whom he never saw, and that he was cured on the spot.

There was a fellow-townsman of ours at Hippo, Florentius, an old man, religious and poor, who supported himself as a tailor. Having lost his coat, and not having means to buy another, he prayed to the Twenty Martyrs, ⁹ who have a very celebrated memorial shrine in our town, begging in a distinct voice that he might be clothed. Some scoffing young men, who happened to be present, heard him, and followed him with their sarcasm as he went away, as if he had asked the martyrs for fifty pence to buy a coat. But he, walking on in silence, saw on the shore a great fish, gasping as if just cast up, and having secured it with the good-natured assistance of the youths, he sold it for curing to a cook of the name of Catosus, a good Christian man, telling him how he had come by it, and receiving for it three hundred pence, which he laid out in wool, that his wife might exercise her skill upon, and make into a coat for him. But, on cutting up the fish, the cook found a gold ring in its belly; and forthwith, moved with compassion, and influenced, too, by religious fear, gave it up to the man, saying, "See how the Twenty Martyrs have clothed you."

When the bishop Projectus was bringing the relics of the most glorious martyr Stephen to the waters of Tibilis, a great concourse of people came to meet him at the shrine. There a blind woman entreated that she might be led to the bishop who was carrying the relics. He gave her the flowers he was carrying. She took them, applied them to her eyes, and forthwith saw. Those who were present were astounded, while she, with every expression of joy, preceded them, pursuing her way without further need of a guide.

Lucillus bishop of Sinita, in the neighborhood of the colonial town of Hippo, was carrying in procession some relics of the same martyr, which had been deposited in the castle of Sinita. A fistula under which he had long labored, and which his private physician was watching an opportunity to cut, was suddenly cured by the mere carrying of that sacred fardel, ¹⁰ --at least, afterwards there was no trace of it in his body.

Eucharius, a Spanish priest, residing at Calama, was for a long time a sufferer from stone. By the relics of the same martyr, which the bishop Possidius brought him, he was cured. Afterwards the same priest, sinking under another disease, was lying dead, and already they were binding his hands. By the succor of the same martyr he was raised to life, the priest's cloak having been brought from the oratory and laid upon the corpse.

There was there an old nobleman named Martial, who had a great aversion to the Christian religion, but whose daughter was a Christian, while her husband had been baptized that same year. When he was ill, they besought him with tears and prayers to become a Christian, but he positively refused, and dismissed them from his presence in a storm of indignation. It occurred to the son-in-law to go to the oratory of St. Stephen, and there pray for him with all earnestness that God might give him a right mind, so that he should not delay believing in Christ. This he did with great groaning and tears, and the burning fervor of sincere piety; then, as he left the place, he took some of the flowers that were lying there, and, as it was already night, laid them by his father's head, who so slept. And lo! before dawn, he cries out for some one to run for the bishop; but he happened at that time to be with me at Hippo. So when he had heard that he was from home, he asked the presbyters to come. They came. To the joy and amazement of all, he declared that he believed, and he was baptized. As long as he remained in life, these words were ever on his lips: "Christ, receive my spirit," though he was not aware that these were the last words of the most blessed Stephen when he was stoned by the Jews. They were his last words also, for not long after he himself also gave up the ghost.

There, too, by the same martyr, two men, one a citizen, the other a stranger, were cured of gout; but while the citizen was absolutely cured, the stranger was only informed what he should apply when the pain returned; and when he followed this advice, the pain was at once relieved.

Audurus is the name of an estate, where there is a church that contains a memorial shrine of the martyr Stephen. It happened that, as a little boy was playing in the court, the oxen drawing a wagon went out of the track and crushed him with the wheel, so that immediately he seemed at his last gasp. His mother snatched him up, and laid him at the shrine, and not only did he revive, but also appeared uninjured.

A religious female, who lived at Caspalium, a neighboring estate, when she was so ill as to be despaired of, had her dress brought to this shrine, but before it was brought back she was gone. However, her parents wrapped her corpse in the dress, and, her breath returning, she became quite well.

At Hippo a Syrian called Bassus was praying at the relics of the same martyr for his daughter, who was dangerously ill. He too had brought her dress with him to the shrine. But as he prayed, behold, his servants ran from the house to tell him she was dead. His friends, however, intercepted them, and forbade them to tell him, lest he should bewail her in public. And when he had returned to his house, which was already ringing with the lamentations of his family, and had thrown on his daughter's body the dress he was carrying, she was restored to life.

There, too, the son of a man, Irenaeus, one of our tax-gatherers, took ill and died. And while his body was lying lifeless, and the last rites were being prepared, amidst the weeping and mourning of all, one of the friends who were consoling the father suggested that the body should be anointed with the oil of the same martyr. It was done, and he revived.

Likewise Eleusinus, a man of tribunitian rank among us, laid his infant son, who had died, on the shrine of the martyr, which is in the suburb where he lived, and, after prayer, which he poured out there with many tears, he took up his child alive.

What am I to do? I am so pressed by the promise of finishing this work, that I cannot record all the miracles I know; and doubtless several of our adherents, when they read what I have narrated, will regret that I have omitted so many which they, as well as I, certainly know. Even now I beg these persons to excuse me, and to consider how long it would take me to relate all those miracles, which the necessity of finishing the work I have undertaken forces me to omit. For were I to be silent of all others, and to record exclusively the miracles of healing which were wrought in the district of Calama and of Hippo by means of this martyr--I mean the most glorious Stephen--they would fill many volumes; and yet all even of these could not be collected, but only those of which narratives have been written for public recital. For when I saw, in our own times, frequent signs of the presence of divine powers similar to those which had been given of old, I desired that narratives might be written, judging that the multitude should not remain ignorant of these things. It is not yet two years since these relics were first brought to Hippo-regius, and though many of the miracles which have been wrought by it have not, as I have the most certain means of knowing, been recorded, those which have been published amount to almost seventy at the hour at which I write. But at Calama, where these relics have been for a longer time, and where more of the miracles were narrated for public information, there are incomparably more.

At Uzali, too, a colony near Utica, many signal miracles were, to my knowledge, wrought by the same martyr, whose relics had found a place there by direction of the bishop Evodius, long before we had them at Hippo. But there the custom of publishing narratives does not obtain, or, I should say, did not obtain, for possibly it may now have been begun. For, when I was there recently, a woman of rank, Petronia, had been miraculously cured of a serious illness of long standing, in which all medical appliances had failed, and, with the consent of the above-named bishop of the place, I exhorted her to publish an account of it that might be read to the people. She most promptly obeyed, and inserted in her narrative a circumstance which I cannot omit to mention, though I am compelled to hasten on to the subjects which this work requires me to treat. She said that she had been persuaded by a Jew to wear next her skin, under all her clothes, a hair girdle, and on this girdle a ring, which, instead of a gem, had a stone which had been found in the kidneys of an ox. Girt with this charm, she was making her way to the threshold of the holy martyr. But, after leaving Carthage, and when she had been lodging in her own demesne on the river Bagrada, and was now rising to continue her journey, she saw her ring lying before her feet. In great surprise she examined the hair girdle, and when she found it bound, as it had been, quite firmly with knots, she conjectured that the ring had been worn through and dropped off; but when she found that the ring was itself also perfectly whole, she presumed that by this great miracle she had received somehow a pledge of her cure, whereupon she untied the girdle, and cast it into the river, and the ring along with it. This is not credited by those who do not believe either that the Lord Jesus Christ came forth from His mother's womb without destroying her virginity, and entered among His disciples when the doors were shut; but let them make strict inquiry into this miracle, and if they find it true, let them believe those others. The lady is of distinction, nobly born, married to a nobleman. She resides at Carthage. The city is distinguished, the person is distinguished, so that they who make inquiries cannot fail to find satisfaction. Certainly the martyr himself, by whose prayers she was healed, believed on the Son of her who remained a virgin; on Him who came in among the disciples when the doors were shut; in fine,--and to this tends all that we have been retailing,--on Him who ascended into heaven with the flesh in which He had risen; and it is because he laid down his life for this faith that such miracles were done by his means.

Even now, therefore, many miracles are wrought, the same God who wrought those we read of still performing them, by whom He will and as He will; but they are not as well known, nor are they beaten into the memory, like gravel, by frequent reading, so that they cannot fall out of mind. For even where, as is now done among ourselves, care is taken that the pamphlets of those who receive benefit be read publicly, yet those who are present hear the narrative but once, and many are absent; and so it comes to pass that even those who are present forget in a few days what they heard, and scarcely one of them can be found who will tell what he heard to one who he knows was not present.

One miracle was wrought among ourselves, which, though no greater than those I have mentioned, was yet so signal and conspicuous, that I suppose there is no inhabitant of Hippo who did not either see or hear of it, none who could possibly forget it. There were seven brothers and three sisters of a noble family of the Cappadocian Caesarea, who were cursed by their mother, a new-made widow, on account of some wrong they had done her, and which she bitterly resented, and who were visited with so severe a punishment from Heaven, that all of them were seized with a hideous shaking in all their limbs. Unable, while presenting this loathsome appearance, to endure the eyes of their fellow-citizens, they wandered over almost the whole Roman world, each following his own direction. Two of them came to Hippo, a brother and a sister, Paulus and Palladia, already known in many other places by the fame of their wretched lot. Now it was about fifteen days before Easter when they came, and they came daily to church, and specially to the relics of the most glorious Stephen, praying that God might now be appeased, and restore their former health. There, and wherever they went, they attracted the attention of every one. Some who had seen them elsewhere, and knew the cause of their trembling, told others as occasion offered. Easter arrived, and on the Lord's day, in the morning, when there was now a large crowd present, and the young man was holding the bars of the holy place where the relics were, and praying, suddenly he fell down, and lay precisely as if asleep, but not trembling as he was wont to do even in sleep. All present were astonished. Some were alarmed, some were moved with pity; and while some were for lifting him up, others prevented them, and said they should rather wait and see what would result. And behold! he rose up, and trembled no more, for he was healed, and stood quite well, scanning those who were scanning him. Who then refrained himself from praising God? The whole church was filled with the voices of those who were shouting and congratulating him. Then they came running to me, where I was sitting ready to come into the church. One after another they throng in, the last comer telling me as news what the first had told me already; and while I rejoiced and inwardly gave God thanks, the young man himself also enters, with a number of others, falls at my knees, is raised up to receive my kiss. We go in to the congregation: the church was full, and ringing with the shouts of joy, "Thanks to God! Praised be God!" every one joining and shouting on all sides, "I have healed the people," and then with still louder voice shouting again. Silence being at last obtained, the customary lessons of the divine Scriptures were read. And when I came to my sermon, I made a few remarks suitable to the occasion and the happy and joyful feeling, not desiring them to listen to me, but rather to consider the eloquence of God in this divine work. The man dined with us, and gave us a careful ac count of his own, his mother's, and his family's calamity. Accordingly, on the following day, after delivering my sermon, I promised that next day I would read his narrative to the people. ¹¹ And when I did so, the third day after Easter Sunday, I made the brother and sister both stand on the steps of the raised place from which I used to speak; and while they stood there their pamphlet was read. ¹² The whole congregation, men and women alike, saw the one standing without any unnatural movement, the other trembling in all her limbs; so that those who had not before seen the man himself saw in his sister what the divine compassion had removed from him. In him they saw matter of congratulation, in her subject for prayer. Meanwhile, their pamphlet being finished, I instructed them to withdraw from the gaze of the people; and I had begun to discuss the whole matter somewhat more carefully, when lo! as I was proceeding, other voices are heard from the tomb of the martyr, shouting new congratulations. My audience turned round, and began to run to the tomb. The young woman, when she had come down from the steps where she had been standing, went to pray at the holy relics, and no sooner had she touched the bars than she, in the same way as her brother, collapsed, as if falling asleep, and rose up cured. While, then, we were asking what had happened, and what occasioned this noise of joy, they came into the basilica where we were, leading her from the martyr's tomb in perfect health. Then, indeed, such a shout of wonder rose from men and women together, that the exclamations and the tears seemed like never to come to an end. She was led to the place where she had a little before stood trembling. They now rejoiced that she was like her brother, as before they had mourned that she remained unlike him; and as they had not yet uttered their prayers in her behalf, they perceived that their intention of doing so had been speedily heard. They shouted God's praises without words, but with such a noise that our ears could scarcely bear it. What was there in the hearts of these exultant people but the faith of Christ, for which Stephen had shed his blood?

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput VIII: De miraculis, quae ut mundus in Christum crederet facta sunt et fieri mundo credente non desinunt.

Cur, inquiunt, nunc illa miracula, quae praedicatis facta esse, non fiunt? possem quidem dicere necessaria fuisse, priusquam crederet mundus, ad hoc ut crederet mundus. quisquis adhuc prodigia ut credat inquirit, magnum est ipse prodigium, qui mundo credente non credit. uerum hoc ideo dicunt, ut nec tunc illa miracula facta fuisse credantur. unde ergo tanta fide Christus usquequaque cantatur in caelum cum carne sublatus? unde temporibus eruditis et omne quod fieri non potest respuentibus sine ullis miraculis nimium mirabiliter incredibilia credidit mundus? an forte credibilia fuisse et ideo credita esse dicturi sunt? cur ergo ipsi non credunt? breuis est igitur nostra conplexio: aut incredibilis rei, quae non uidebatur, alia incredibilia, quae tamen fiebant et uidebantur, fecerunt fidem; aut certe res ita credibilis, ut nullis quibus persuaderetur miraculis indigeret, istorum nimiam redarguit infidelitatem. hoc ad refellendos uanissimos dixerim. nam facta esse multa miracula, quae adtestarentur illi uni grandi salubrique miraculo, quo Christus in caelum cum carne in qua resurrexit adscendit, negare non possumus. in eisdem quippe ueracissimis libris cuncta conscripta sunt, et quae facta sunt, et propter quod credendum facta sunt. haec, ut fidem facerent, innotuerunt; haec per fidem, quam fecerunt, multo clarius innotescunt. leguntur quippe in populis, ut credantur; nec in populis tamen nisi credita legerentur. nam etiamnunc fiunt miracula in eius nomine, siue per sacramenta eius siue per orationes uel memorias sanctorum eius; sed non eadem claritate inlustrantur, ut tanta quanta illa gloria diffamentur. canon quippe sacrarum litterarum, quem definitum esse oportebat, illa facit ubique recitari et memoriae cunctorum inhaerere populorum; haec autem ubicumque fiunt, ibi sciuntur uix a tota ipsa ciuitate uel quocumque commanentium loco. nam plerumque etiam ibi paucissimi sciunt ignorantibus ceteris, maxime si magna sit ciuitas; et quando alibi aliisque narrantur, non tanta ea commendat auctoritas, ut sine difficultate uel dubitatione credantur, quamuis Christianis fidelibus a fidelibus indicentur. miraculum, quod Mediolani factum est, cum illic essemus, quando inluminatus est caecus, ad multorum notitiam potuit peruenire, quia et grandis est ciuitas et ibi erat tunc imperator et inmenso populo teste res gesta est concurrente ad corpora martyrum Protasii et Geruasii; quae cum laterent et penitus nescirentur, episcopo Ambrosio per somnium reuelata reperta sunt; ubi caecus ille depulsis ueteribus tenebris diem uidit. apud Carthaginem autem quis nouit praeter admodum paucissimos salutem, quae facta est Innocentio, ex aduocato uicariae praefecturae, ubi nos interfuimus et oculis adspeximus nostris? uenientes enim de transmarinis me et fratrem meum Alypium, nondum quidem clericos, sed iam deo seruientes, ut erat cum tota domo sua religiosissimus, ipse susceperat, et apud eum tunc habitabamus. curabatur a medicis fistulas, quas numerosas atque perplexas habuit in posteriore atque ima corporis parte. iam secuerant eum et artis suae cetera medicamentis agebant. passus autem fuerat in sectione illa et diuturnos et acerbos dolores. sed unus inter multos sinus fefellerat medicos atque ita latuerat, ut eum non tangerent, quem ferro aperire debuerant. denique sanatis omnibus, quae aperta curabant, iste remanserat solus, cui frustra inpendebatur labor. quas moras ille suspectas habens multumque formidans, ne iterum secaretur - quod ei praedixerat alius medicus domesticus eius, quem non admiserant illi, ut saltem uideret, cum primum sectus est, quomodo id facerent, iratus que illum domo abiecerat uixque receperat - , erupit atque ait: iterum me secturi estis? ad illius, quem noluistis esse praesentem, uerba uenturus sum? inridere illi medicum inperitum metumque hominis bonis uerbis promissionibusque lenire. praeterierunt alii dies plurimi nihilque proficiebat omne quod fiebat. medici tamen in sua pollicitatione persistebant, non se illum sinum ferro, sed medicamentis esse clausuros. adhibuerunt et alium grandaeuum iam medicum satisque in illa arte laudatum - adhuc enim uiuebat - , Ammonium, qui loco inspecto idem quod illi ex eorum diligentia peritiaque promisit. cuius ille factus auctoritate securus domestico suo medico, qui futuram praedixerat aliam sectionem, faceta hilaritate, uelut iam saluus, inlusit. quid plura? tot dies postea inaniter consumpti transierunt, ut fessi atque confusi faterentur eum nisi ferro nullo modo posse sanari. expauit, expalluit nimio timore turbatus, atque ubi se collegit farique potuit, abire illos iussit et ad se amplius non accedere; nec aliud occurrit fatigato lacrimis et illa iam necessitate constricto, nisi ut adhiberet Alexandrinum quendam, qui tunc chirurgus mirabilis habebatur, ut ipse faceret quod ab illis fieri nolebat iratus. sed posteaquam uenit ille laboremque illorum in cicatricibus sicut artifex uidit, boni uiri functus officio persuasit homini, ut illi potius, qui in eo tantum laborauerant, quantum ipse inspiciens mirabatur, suae curationis fine fruerentur, adiciens, quod reuera nisi sectus esset saluus esse non posset; ualde abhorrere a suis moribus, ut hominibus, quorum artificiosissimam operam industriam diligentiam mirans in cicatricibus eius uideret, propter exiguum quod remansit palmam tanti laboris auferret. redditi sunt animo eius, et placuit ut eodem Alexandrino adsistente ipsi sinum illum ferro, qui iam consensu omnium aliter insanabilis putabatur, aperirent. quae res dilata est in consequentem diem. sed cum abissent illi, ex maerore nimio domini tantus est in domo illa exortus dolor, ut tamquam funeris planctus uix conprimeretur a nobis. uisitabant eum cottidie sancti uiri, episcopus tunc Vzalensis, beatae memoriae Saturninus, et presbyter Gulosus ac diaconi Carthaginensis ecclesiae; in quibus erat et ex quibus solus est nunc in rebus humanis iam episcopus cum honore a nobis debito nominandus Aurelius, cum quo recordantes mirabilia operum dei de hac re saepe conlocuti sumus eumque ualde meminisse, quod commemoramus, inuenimus. qui cum eum, sicut solebant, uespere uisitarent, rogauit eos miserabilibus lacrimis, ut mane dignarentur esse praesentes suo funeri potius quam dolori. tantus enim eum metus ex prioribus inuaserat poenis, ut se inter medicorum manus non dubitaret esse moriturum. consolati sunt eum illi et hortati, ut in deo fideret eiusque uoluntatem uiriliter ferret. inde ad orationem ingressi sumus; ubi nobis ex more genua figentibus atque incumbentibus terrae ille se ita proiecit, tamquam fuisset aliquo grauiter inpellente prostratus, et coepit orare: quibus modis, quo adfectu, quo motu animi, quo fluuio lacrimarum, quibus gemitibus atque singultibus subcutientibus omnia membra eius et paene intercludentibus spiritum, quis ullis explicet uerbis? utrum orarent alii nec in haec eorum auerteretur intentio, nesciebam. ego tamen prorsus orare non poteram; hoc tantummodo breuiter in corde meo dixi: domine, quas tuorum preces exaudis, si has non exaudis? nihil enim mihi uidebatur addi iam posse, nisi ut exspiraret orando. surreximus et accepta ab episcopo benedictione discessimus, rogante illo ut mane adessent, illis ut aequo animo esset hortantibus. inluxit dies qui metuebatur, aderant serui dei, sicut se adfuturos esse promiserant, ingressi sunt medici, parantur omnia quae hora illa poscebat, tremenda ferramenta proferuntur adtonitis suspensisque omnibus. eis autem, quorum erat maior auctoritas, defectum animi eius consolando erigentibus ad manus secturi membra in lectulo conponuntur, soluuntur nodi ligamentorum, nudatur locus, inspicit medicus et secandum illum sinum armatus atque intentus inquirit. scrutatur oculis digitisque contrectat, tentat denique modis omnibus: inuenit firmissimam cicatricem. iam laetitia illa et laus atque gratiarum actio misericordi et omnipotenti deo, quae fusa est ore omnium lacrimantibus gaudiis, non est committenda meis uerbis; cogitetur potius quam dicatur. in eadem Carthagine Innocentia, religiosissima femina, de primariis ipsius ciuitatis, in mammilla cancrum habebat, rem, sicut medici dicunt, nullis medicamentis sanabilem. aut ergo praecidi solet et a corpore separari membrum ubi nascitur, aut, ut aliquanto diutius homo uiuat, tamen inde morte quamlibet tardius adfutura, secundum Hippocratis ut ferunt sententiam omnis est omittenda curatio. hoc illa a perito medico et suae domui familiarissimo acceperat et ad solum deum se orando conuerterat. admonetur in somnis propinquante pascha, ut in parte feminarum obseruanti ad baptisterium, quaecumque illi baptizata primitus occurrisset, signaret ei locum signo Christi. fecit, confestim sanitas consecuta est. medicus sane, qui ei dixerat ut nihil curationis adhiberet, si paulo diutius uellet uiuere, cum inspexisset eam postea et sanissimam conperisset, quam prius habere illud malum tali inspectione cognouerat, quaesiuit ab ea uehementer quid adhibuisset curationis, cupiens, quantum intellegi datur, nosse medicamentum, quo Hippocratis definitio uinceretur. cumque ab ea quid factum esset audisset, uoce uelut contemnentis et uultu, ita ut illa metueret, ne aliquod contumeliosum uerbum proferret in Christum, religiosa urbanitate respondisse fertur: putabam, inquit, magnum aliquid te mihi fuisse dicturam. atque illa iam exhorrescente, mox addidit: quid grande fecit Christus sanare cancrum, qui quadriduanum mortuum suscitauit? hoc ego cum audissem et uehementer stomacharer in illa ciuitate atque in illa persona non utique obscura factum tam ingens miraculum sic latere, hinc eam et admonendam et paene obiurgandam putaui. quae cum mihi respondisset non se inde tacuisse, quaesiui ab eis, quas forte tunc matronas amicissimas se cum habebat, utrum hoc antea scissent. responderunt se omnino nescisse. ecce, inquam, quomodo non taces, ut nec istae audiant, quae tibi tanta familiaritate iunguntur? et quia breuiter ab ea quaesiueram, feci ut, illis audientibus multumque mirantibus et glorificantibus deum, totum ex ordine, quemadmodum gestum fuerit, indicaret. medicum quendam podagrum in eadem urbe fuisse scimus; qui cum dedisset nomen ad baptismum et pridie quam baptizaretur in somnis a pueris nigris cirratis, quos intellegebat daemones, baptizari eodem anno prohibitus fuisset eisque non obtemperans etiam conculcantibus pedes eius in dolorem acerrimum, qualem numquam expertus est, aestuasset, magisque eos uincens lauacro regenerationis, ut uouerat, ablui non distulisset, in baptismate ipso non solum dolore, quo ultra solitum cruciabatur, uerum etiam podagra caruisse nec amplius, cum diu postea uixisset, pedes doluisse quis nouit? nos tamen nouimus et paucissimi fratres ad quos id potuit peruenire. ex mimo quidam Curubitanus non solum a paralysi, uerum etiam ab informi pondere genitalium, cum baptizaretur, saluus effectus est et liberatus utraque molestia, tamquam mali nihil habuisset in corpore, de fonte regenerationis adscendit. quis hoc praeter Curubim nouit et praeter rarissimos aliquos, qui hoc ubicumque audire potuerunt? nos autem cum hoc conperissemus, iubente sancto episcopo Aurelio etiam ut ueniret Carthaginem fecimus, quamuis a talibus prius audierimus, de quorum fide dubitare non possemus. uir tribunicius Hesperius apud nos est; habet in territorio Fussalensi fundem; Zubedi appellatur; ubi cum adflictione animalium et seruorum suorum domum suam spirituum malignorum uim noxiam perpeti conperisset, rogauit nostros me absente presbyteros, ut aliquis eorum illo pergeret, cuius orationibus cederent. perrexit unus, obtulit ibi sacrificium corporis Christi, orans quantum potuit, ut cessaret illa uexatio: deo protinus miserante cessauit. acceperat autem ab amico suo terram sanctam de Hierosolymis adlatam, ubi sepultus Christus die tertio resurrexit, eamque suspenderat in cubiculo suo, ne quid mali etiam ipse pateretur. ast ubi domus eius ab illa infestatione purgata est, quid de illa terra fieret, cogitabat, quam diutius in cubiculo suo reuerentiae causa habere nolebat. forte accidit, ut ego et collega tunc meus, episcopus Sinitensis ecclesiae Maximinus, in proximo essemus; ut ueniremus rogauit, et uenimus. cumque nobis omnia rettulisset, etiam hoc petiuit, ut infoderetur alicubi atque ibi orationum locus fieret, ubi etiam Christiani possent ad celebranda quae dei sunt congregari. non restitimus; factum est. erat ibi iuuenis paralyticus rusticanus. hoc audito petiuit a parentibus suis, ut illum ad eum locum sanctum non cunctanter adferrent. quo cum fuisset adlatus, orauit, atque inde continuo pedibus suis saluus abscessit. Victoriana dicitur uilla, ab Hippone Regio minus triginta milibus abest. memoria martyrum ibi est Mediolanensium Protasii et Geruasii. portatus est eo quidam adulescens, qui cum die medio tempore aestatis equum ablueret in fluminis gurgite, daemonem incurrit. ibi cum iaceret uel morti proximus uel simillimus mortuo, ad uespertinos illuc hymnos et orationes cum ancillis suis et quibusdam sanctimonialibus ex more domina possessionis intrauit atque hymnos cantare coeperunt. qua uoce ille quasi percussus excussus est et cum terribili fremitu altare adprehensum mouere non audens siue non ualens, tamquam eo fuerit adligatus aut adfixus, tenebat et cum grandi eiulatu parci sibi rogans confitebatur, ubi adulescentem et quando et quomodo inuaserit. postremo se exiturum esse denuntians membra eius singula nominabat, quae se amputaturum exiens minabatur, atque inter haec uerba discessit ab homine. sed oculus eius in maxillam fusus tenui uenula ab interiore quasi radice pendebat, totumque eius medium, quod nigellum fuerat, albicauerat. quo uiso qui aderant - concurrerant autem etiam alii uocibus eius acciti et se omnes in orationem pro illo strauerant - , quamuis eum sana mente stare gauderent, rursus tamen propter eius oculum contristati medicum quaerendum esse dicebant. ibi maritus sororis eius, qui eum illo detulerat: potens est, inquit, deus sanctorum orationibus, qui fugauit daemonem, lumen reddere. tum, sicut potuit, oculum lapsum atque pendentem loco suo reuocatum ligauit orario nec nisi post septem dies putauit esse soluendum. quod cum fecisset, sanissimum inuenit. sanati sunt illic et alii, de quibus dicere longum est. Hipponiensem quandam uirginem scio, cum se oleo perunxisset, cui pro illa orans presbyter instillauerat lacrimas suas, mox a daemonio fuisse sanatam. scio etiam episcopum semel pro adulescente, quem non uidit, orasse illumque ilico daemone caruisse. erat quidam senex Florentius Hipponiensis noster, homo religiosus et pauper; sartoris se arte pascebat; casulam perdiderat et unde sibi emeret non habebat; ad uiginti martyres, quorum memoria est apud nos celeberrima, clara uoce ut uestiretur orauit. audierunt eum adulescentes qui forte aderant inrisores eumque discedentem exagitantes prosequebantur, quasi a martyribus quinquagenos folles, unde uestimentum emeret, petiuisset. at ille tacitus ambulans eiectum grandem piscem palpitantem uidit in litore eumque illis fauentibus atque adiuuantibus adprehendit et cuidam coquo, Catoso nomine, bene Christiano, ad coquinam conditariam, indicans quid gestum sit, trecentis follibus uendidit, lanam conparare inde disponens, ut uxor eius quomodo posset ei quo indueretur efficeret. sed coquus concidens piscem anulum aureum in uentriculo eius inuenit moxque miseratione flexus et religione perterritus homini eum reddidit dicens: ecce quomodo te uiginti martyres uestierunt. ad aquas Tibilitanas episcopo adferente Praeiecto martyris gloriosissimi Stephani memoria ueniebat magnae multitudinis concursu et occursu. ibi caeca mulier, ut ad episcopum portantem duceretur, orauit; flores, quos ferebat, dedit, recepit, oculis admouit, protinus uidit. stupentibus qui aderant praeibat exsultans, uiam carpens et uiae ducem ulterius non requirens. memorati memoriam martyris, quae posita est in castello Sinitensi, quod Hipponiensi coloniae uicinum est, eiusdem loci Lucillus episcopus populo praecedente atque sequente portabat. fistula, cuius molestia iam diu laborauerat et familiarissimi sui medici, qui eum secaret, opperiebatur manus, illius piae sarcinae uectatione repente sanata est; nam deinceps eam in suo corpore non inuenit. Eucharius est presbyter ex Hispania, Calamae habitat, uetere morbo calculi laborabat; per memoriam supradicti martyris, quam Possidius illo aduexit episcopus, saluus factus est. idem ipse postea morbo alio praeualescente mortuus sic iacebat, ut ei iam pollices ligarentur; opitulatione memorati martyris, cum de memoria eius reportata esset et super iacentis corpus missa ipsius presbyteri tunica, suscitatus est. fuit ibi uir in ordine suo primarius, nomine Martialis, aeuo iam grauis et multum abhorrens a religione Christiana. habebat sane fidelem filiam et generum eodem anno baptizatum. qui cum eum aegrotantem multis et magnis lacrimis rogarent, ut fieret Christianus, prorsus abnuit eosque a se turbida indignatione submouit. uisum est genero eius, ut iret ad memoriam sancti Stephani et illic pro eo quantum posset oraret, ut deus illi daret mentem bonam, qua credere non differret in Christum. fecit hoc ingenti gemitu et fletu et sinceriter ardente pietatis adfectu; deinde abscedens aliquid de altari florum, quod occurrit, tulit ei que, cum iam nox esset, ad caput posuit; tum dormitum est. et ecce ante diluculum clamat, ut ad episcopum curreretur, qui me cum forte tunc erat apud Hipponem. cum ergo eum audisset absentem, uenire presbyteros postulauit. uenerunt, credere se dixit, admirantibus atque gaudentibus omnibus baptizatus est. hoc, quamdiu uixit, in ore habebat: Christe, accipe spiritum meum, cum haec uerba beatissimi Stephani, quando lapidatus est a Iudaeis, ultima fuisse nesciret; quae huic quoque ultima fuerunt; nam non multo post etiam ipse defunctus est. sanati sunt illic per eundem martyrem etiam podagri duo ciues, peregrinus unus: sed ciues omni modo; peregrinus autem per reuelationem, quid adhiberet quando doleret, audiuit; et cum hoc fecerit, dolor continuo conquiescit. Audurus nomen est fundi, ubi ecclesia et in ea memoria martyris Stephani. puerum quendam paruulum, cum in area luderet, exorbitantes boues, qui uehiculum trahebant, rota obtriuerunt, et confestim palpitauit exspirans. hunc mater arreptum ad eandem memoriam posuit, et non solum reuixit, uerum etiam inlaesus apparuit. sanctimonialis quaedam in uicina possessione, quae Caspaliana dicitur, cum aegritudine laboraret ac desperaretur, ad eandem memoriam tunica eius adlata est; quae antequam reuocaretur, illa defuncta est. hac tamen tunica operuerunt cadauer eius parentes, et recepto spiritu salua facta est. apud Hipponem Bassus quidam Syrus ad memoriam eiusdem martyris orabat pro aegrotante et periclitante filia eoque se cum uestem eius adtulerat, cum ecce pueri de domo cucurrerunt, qui ei mortuam nuntiarent. sed cum orante illo ab amicis eius exciperentur, prohibuerunt eos illi dicere, ne per publicum plangeret. qui cum domum redisset iam suorum eiulatibus personantem et uestem filiae, quam ferebat, super eam proiecisset, reddita est uitae. rursus ibidem apud nos Irenaei cuiusdam collectarii filius aegritudine exstinctus est. cumque corpus iaceret exanime atque a lugentibus et lamentantibus exsequiae pararentur, amicorum eius quidam inter aliorum consolantium uerba suggessit, ut eiusdem martyris oleo corpus perungueretur. factum est, et reuixit. itemque apud nos uir tribunicius Eleusinus super memoriam martyrum, quae in suburbano eius est, aegritudine exanimatum posuit infantulum filium, et post orationem, quam multis cum lacrimis ibi fudit, uiuentem leuauit. quid faciam? urget huius operis inplenda promissio, ut non hic possim omnia commemorare quae scio; et procul dubio plerique nostrorum, cum haec legent, dolebunt me praetermisisse tam multa, quae utique me cum sciunt. quos iam nunc, ut ignoscant, rogo, et cogitent quam prolixi laboris sit facere, quod me hic non facere suscepti operis necessitas cogit. si enim miracula sanitatum, ut alia taceam, ea tantummodo uelim scribere, quae per hunc martyrem, id est gloriosissimum Stephanum, facta sunt in colonia Calamensi et in nostra, plurimi conficiendi sunt libri, nec tamen omnia colligi poterunt, sed tantum de quibus libelli dati sunt, qui recitarentur in populis. id namque fieri uoluimus, cum uideremus antiquis similia diuinarum signa uirtutum etiam nostris temporibus frequentati et ea non debere multorum notitiae deperire. nondum est autem biennium, ex quo apud Hipponem Regium coepit esse ista memoria, et multis, quod nobis certissimum est, non datis libellis de his, quae mirabiliter facta sunt, illi ipsi qui dati sunt ad septuaginta ferme numerum peruenerant, quando ista conscripsi. Calamae uero, ubi et ipsa memoria prius esse coepit et crebrius dantur, inconparabili multitudine supererant. Vzali etiam, quae colonia Vticae uicina est, multa praeclara per eundem martyrem facta cognouimus; cuius ibi memoria longe prius quam apud nos ab episcopo Euodio constituta est. sed libellorum dandorum ibi consuetudo non est uel potius non fuit; nam fortasse nunc esse iam coepit. cum enim nuper illic essemus, Petroniam, clarissimam feminam, quae ibi mirabiliter ex magno atque diuturno, in quo medicorum adiutoria cuncta defecerant, languore sanata est, hortati sumus, uolente supradicto loci episcopo, ut libellum daret, qui recitaretur in populo, et oboedientissime paruit. in quo posuit etiam, quod hic reticere non possum, quamuis ad ea, quae hoc opus urgent, festinare conpellar. a quodam Iudaeo dixit sibi fuisse persuasum, ut anulum capillacio uinculo insereret, quo sub omni ueste ad nuda corporis cingeretur; qui anulus haberet sub gemma lapidem in renibus inuentum bouis. hoc adligata quasi remedio ad sancti martyris limina ueniebat. sed profecta a Carthagine, cum in confinio fluminis Bagradae in sua possessione mansisset, surgens ut iter perageret ante pedes suos illum iacentem anulum uidit et capillaciam zonam, qua fuerat adligatus, mirata tentauit. quam cum omnino suis nodis firmissimis, sicut erat, conperisset adstrictam, crepuisse atque exsiluisse anulum suspicata est; qui etiam ipse cum integerrimus fuisset inuentus, futurae salutis quodammodo pignus de tanto miraculo se accepisse praesumpsit atque illud uinculum soluens simul cum eodem anulo proiecit in flumen. non credant hoc, qui etiam dominum Iesum per integra matris uirginalia enixum et ad discipulos ostiis clausis ingressum fuisse non credunt; sed hoc certe quaerant et, si uerum inuenerint, illa credant. clarissima femina est, nobiliter nata, nobiliter nupta, Carthagini habitat; ampla ciuitas, ampla persona rem quaerentes latere non sinit. martyr certe ipse, quo inpetrante illa sanata est, in filium permanentis uirginis credidit; in eum, qui ostiis clausis ad discipulos ingressus est, credidit; postremo, propter quod omnia ista dicuntur a nobis, in eum, qui adscendit in caelum cum carne, in qua resurrexerat, credidit; et ideo per eum tanta fiunt, quia pro ista fide animam posuit. fiunt ergo etiamnunc multa miracula eodem deo faciente per quos uult et quemadmodum uult, qui et illa quae legimus fecit; sed ista nec similiter innotescunt neque, ut non excidant animo, quasi glarea memoriae, crebra lectione tunduntur. nam et ubi diligentia est, quae nunc apud nos esse coepit, ut libelli eorum, qui beneficia percipiunt, recitentur in populo, semel hoc audiunt qui adsunt pluresque non adsunt, ut nec illi, qui adfuerunt, post aliquot dies quod audierunt mente retineant et uix quisque reperiatur illorum, qui ei, quem non adfuisse cognouerit, indicet quod audiuit. unum est apud nos factum, non maius quam illa quae dixi, sed tam clarum atque inlustre miraculum, ut nullum arbiter esse Hipponiensium, qui hoc non uel uiderit uel didicerit, nullum qui obliuisci ulla ratione potuerit. decem quidam fratres - quorum septem sunt mares, tres feminae - de Caesarea Cappadociae, suorum ciuium non ignobiles, maledicto matris recenti patris eorum obitu destitutae, quae iniuriam sibi ab eis factam acerbissime tulit, tali poena sunt diuinitus coherciti, ut horribiliter quaterentur omnes tremore membrorum; in qua foedissima specie oculos suorum ciuium non ferentes, quaquauersum cuique ire uisum est, toto paene uagabantur orbe Romano. ex his etiam ad nos uenerunt duo, frater et soror, Paulus et Palladia, multis aliis locis miseria diffamante iam cogniti. uenerunt autem ante pascha ferme dies quindecim, ecclesiam cottidie et in ea memoriam gloriosissimi Stephani frequentabant, orantes ut iam sibi placaretur deus et salutem pristinam redderet. et illic et quacumque ibant conuertebant in se ciuitatis adspectum. nonnulli, qui eos alibi uiderant causamque tremoris eorum nouerant, aliis, ut cuique poterant, indicabant. uenit et pascha, atque ipso die dominico mane, cum iam frequens populus praesens esset et loci sancti cancellos, ubi martyrium erat, idem iuuenis orans teneret, repente prostratus est et dormienti simillimus iacuit, non tamen tremens, sicut etiam per somnum solebant. stupentibus qui aderant atque aliis pauentibus, aliis dolentibus, cum eum quidam uellent erigere, nonnulli prohibuerunt et potius exitum exspectandum esse dixerunt. et ecce surrexit, et non tremebat, quoniam sanatus erat, et stabat incolumis, intuens intuentes. quis ergo se tenuit a laudibus dei? clamantium gratulantiumque uocibus ecclesia usquequaque conpleta est. inde ad me curritur, ubi sedebam iam processurus; inruit alter quisque post alterum, omnis posterior quasi nouum, quod alius prior dixerat, nuntiantes; meque gaudente et apud me deo gratias agente ingreditur etiam ipse cum pluribus, inclinatur ad genua mea, erigitur ad osculum meum. procedimus ad populum, plena erat ecclesia, personabat uocibus gaudiorum: deo gratias, deo laudes. nemine tacente hinc atque inde clamantium. salutaui populum, et rursus eadem feruentiore uoce clamabant. facto tandem silentio scripturarum diuinarum sunt lecta sollemnia. ubi autem uentum est ad mei sermonis locum, dixi pauca pro tempore et pro illius iucunditate laetitiae. magis enim eos in opere diuino quandam dei eloquentiam non audire, sed considerare permisi. nobis cum homo prandit et diligenter nobis omnem suae fraternaeque ac maternae calamitatis indicauit historiam. sequenti itaque die post sermonem redditum narrationis eius libellum in crastinum populo recitandum promisi. quod cum ex dominico paschae die tertio fieret in gradibus exedrae, in qua de superiore loquebar loco, feci stare ambos fratres, cum eorum legeretur libellus. intuebatur populus uniuersus sexus utriusque unum stantem sine deformi motu, alteram membris omnibus contrementem. et qui ipsum non uiderant, quid in eo diuinae misericordiae factum esset, in eius sorore cernebant. uidebant enim quid in illo gratulandum, quid pro illa esset orandum. inter haec recitato eorum libello de conspectu populi eos abire praecepi, et de tota ipsa causa aliquanto diligentius coeperam disputare, cum ecce me disputante uoces aliae de memoria martyris nouae gratulationis audiuntur. conuersi sunt eo, qui me audiebant, coeperuntque concurrere. illa enim, ubi de gradibus descendit in quibus steterat, ad sanctum martyrem orare perrexerat; quae mox ut cancellos adtigit, conlapsa similiter uelut in somnum sana surrexit. dum ergo requireremus quid factum fuerit, unde iste strepitus laetus exstiterit, ingressi sunt cum illa in basilicam, ubi eramus, adducentes eam sanam de martyris loco. tum uero tantus ab utroque sexu admirationis clamor exortus est, ut uox continuata cum lacrimis non uideretur posse finiri. perducta est ad eum locum, ubi paulo ante steterat tremens. exsultabant eam similem fratri, cui doluerant remansisse dissimilem, et nondum fusas preces suas pro illa, iam tamen praeuiam uoluntatem tam cito exauditam esse cernebant. exsultabant in dei laudem uoce sine uerbis, tanto sonitu, quantum nostrae aures ferre uix possent. quid erat in cordibus exsultantium nisi fides Christi, pro qua Stephani sanguis effusus est?