Bad Advertisement?
Are you a Christian?
Online Store:Visit Our Store
| Chapter III.
PREVIOUS SECTION - NEXT SECTION - HELP 
Chapter III.
“The following is a
small matter which I learned lately from the narration of Arpagius the
presbyter, but I do not think it ought to be passed over. The wife of
the courtier Avitianus had sent some oil to Martin, that he might bless
it (such is the custom) so as to be ready when needful to meet
different causes of disease. It was contained in a glass jar of a shape
which, round throughout, gradually bulges129
| 129 The text of this
sentence is very uncertain, and the meaning somewhat obscure. | out
towards the middle, with a long neck; but the hollow of the extended
neck was not filled, because it is the custom to fill vessels of the
kind in such a way that the top may be left free for the knobs which
stop up the jar. The presbyter testified that he saw the oil increase
under the blessing of Martin, so much that, the abundance of it
overflowing the jar, it ran down from the top in every direction. He
added that it bubbled up with the same130
| 130 Here, again, the text
is in confusion. |
effect, while the vessel was being carried back to the mistress of the
household; for the oil so steadily flowed over in the hands of the boy
carrying it, that the abundance of the liquid, thus pouring down,
covered all his garment. He said, moreover, that the lady received the
vessel so full even to the brim, that (as the same presbyter
tells131
| 131 Text and meaning both
very obscure. | us at the present day) there was no room in
that jar for inserting the stopper by which people are accustomed to
close those vessels, the contents of which are to be preserved with
special care. That, too, was a remarkable thing that happened to this
man.” Here he looked at me. “He had set down a glass vessel
containing oil blessed by Martin in a pretty high window; and a boy of
the family, not knowing that a jar was there, drew towards him the
cloth covering it, with rather much violence. The vessel, in
consequence, fell down on the marble pavement. Upon this, all were
filled with dread lest the blessing of God, bestowed on the vessel by
Martin, had been lost; but the jar was found as safe as ever, just as
if it had fallen on the softest feathers. Now, this result should be
ascribed, not so much to chance, as to the power of Martin, whose
blessing could not possibly perish.
“There is this, too, which was effected by a
certain person, whose name, because he is present, and has forbidden it
to be mentioned, shall be suppressed: Saturninus too, who is now with
us, was present on the occasion referred to. A dog was barking at us in
a somewhat disagreeable manner. ’ I command thee,’ said the
person in question, ‘in the name of Martin, to be quiet.’
The dog—his barking seemed to stick in his throat, and one might
have thought that his tongue had been cut out—was silent.
Thus it is really a small matter that Martin himself performed
miracles: believe me that other people also have accomplished many
things in his name. E.C.F. INDEX & SEARCH
|
