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The City of God

Chapter 9.--That All the Miracles Which are Done by Means of the Martyrs in the Name of Christ Testify to that Faith Which the Martyrs Had in Christ.

To what do these miracles witness, but to this faith which preaches Christ risen in the flesh, and ascended with the same into heaven? For the martyrs themselves were martyrs, that is to say, witnesses of this faith, drawing upon themselves by their testimony the hatred of the world, and conquering the world not by resisting it, but by dying. For this faith they died, and can now ask these benefits from the Lord in whose name they were slain. For this faith their marvellous constancy was exercised, so that in these miracles great power was manifested as the result. For if the resurrection of the flesh to eternal life had not taken place in Christ, and were not to be accomplished in His people, as predicted by Christ, or by the prophets who foretold that Christ was to come, why do the martyrs who were slain for this faith which proclaims the resurrection possess such power? For whether God Himself wrought these miracles by that wonderful manner of working by which, though Himself eternal, He produces effects in time; or whether He wrought them by servants, and if so, whether He made use of the spirits of martyrs as He uses men who are still in the body, or effects all these marvels by means of angels, over whom He exerts an invisible, immutable, incorporeal sway, so that what is said to be done by the martyrs is done not by their operation, but only by their prayer and request; or whether, finally, some things are done in one way, others in another, and so that man cannot at all comprehend them,--nevertheless these miracles attest this faith which preaches the resurrection of the flesh to eternal life.

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De civitate Dei (CCSL)

Caput IX: Quod uniuersa miracula, quae per martyres in Christi nomine fiunt, ei fidei testimonium ferant, qua in Christum martyres crediderunt.

Cui nisi huic fidei adtestantur ista miracula, in qua praedicatur Christus resurrexisse in carne et in caelum adscendisse cum carne? quia et ipsi martyres huius fidei martyres, id est huius fidei testes fuerunt; huic fidei testimonium perhibentes mundum inimicissimum et crudelissimum pertulerunt eumque non repugnando, sed moriendo uicerunt; pro ista fide mortui sunt, qui haec a domino inpetrare possunt, propter cuius nomen occisi sunt; pro hac fide praecessit eorum mira patientia, ut in his miraculis tanta ista potentia sequeretur. nam si carnis in aeternum resurrectio uel non praeuenit in Christo uel non uentura est, sicut praenuntiatur a Christo uel sicut praenuntiata est a prophetis, a quibus praenuntiatus est Christus, cur et mortui tanta possunt, qui pro ea fide, qua haec resurrectio praedicatur, occisi sunt? siue enim deus ipse per se ipsum miro modo, quo res temporales operatur aeternus, siue per suos ministros ista faciat: et eadem ipsa, quae per ministros facit, siue quaedam faciat etiam per martyrum spiritus, sicut per homines adhuc in corpore constitutos, siue omnia ista per angelos, quibus inuisibiliter, incorporaliter, inmutabiliter imperat, operetur, ut quae per martyres fieri dicuntur, eis orantibus tantum et inpetrantibus, non etiam operantibus fiant; siue alia istis, alia illis modis, qui nullo modo conprehendi a mortalibus possunt: ei tamen adtestantur haec fidei, in qua carnis in aeternum resurrectio praedicatur.