History of the FranksGregory, Bishop of Tours, Saint
History
History of the Franks
Gregory, Bishop of Tours, Saint
France -- Church history -- To 987; France -- History -- To 987; Franks -- History -- To 768
And to satisfy the people he placed red-hot coals in his cloak and
drawing it close to him he walked as far as the tomb of the blessed
Martin along with throngs of the people. And when the coals were cast
down before the tomb his robe was seen to be unburned. And he said:
“Just as you see this robe uninjured by the fire, so too my body
is undefiled by union with a woman.” And when they did not believe
but denied it, he was dragged, abused, and cast out, in order that
the words of the saint might be fulfilled: “Let me tell you that
you will suffer many misfortunes in your episcopate.” When he was
cast out they appointed Justinian to the office of bishop. Finally
Bricius went to see the pope of the city of Rome, weeping and wailing
and saying: “Rightly do I suffer this because I sinned against a
saint of God and often called him crazy and daft; and when I saw
his miracles I did not believe.” And after his departure the people
of Tours said to their bishop: “Go after him and attend to your own
interest, for if you do not attack him, you shall be humiliated by
the contempt of us all.” And Justinian went forth from Tours and
came to Vercelli, a city of Italy, and was smitten by a judgment of
God and died in a strange country. The people of Tours heard of his
death, and persisting in their evil course, they appointed Armentius
in his place. But bishop Bricius went to Rome and related to the
pope all that he had endured. And while he remained at the apostolic
see he often celebrated the solemn ceremony of the mass, weeping
for the wrong he had done to the saint of God. In the seventh year
he left Rome and by the authority of that pope purposed to return
to Tours. And when he came to the village called Mont-Louis at the
sixth mile-stone from the city, he resided there. Now Armentius was
seized with a fever and died at midnight. This was at once revealed
to bishop Bricius in a vision, and he said to his people: “Rise
quickly, so that we may go to bury our brother, the bishop of Tours.”
And when they came and entered one gate of the city, behold they
were carrying his dead body out by another. And when he was buried,
Bricius returned to the bishop’s chair and lived happily seven years
after. And when he died in the forty-seventh year of his episcopate,
Saint Eustochius, a man of magnificent holiness, succeeded him.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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