Caput XXXIV
The Miracle at Saint Aventinus
A miracle at the church of Saint Aventinus in Auvergne punishes horsemen who threatened merchants and their pigs, breaking one man's hip and nearly severing another's head.
A certain miracle that had recently taken place had slipped from my memory; it seems fitting to include it here in order to refute robbers. There is a church of Saint Aventinus in Auvergne, above a river called the Allier. When merchants crossing near this church with their pigs saw certain horsemen approaching, they were afraid and turned aside into the shelter of the church. One of the horsemen said to them: 'Drive out the pigs.' And when they were unwilling, he forced them, promising he would give them a pig. Then he entrusted the pigs to a certain man of his company, to be held as security, and began to withdraw gradually. But the one who had been threatening the pigs had gone a little way when he suddenly fell and broke his hip. But the one who had ordered the pigs to be threatened happened to catch sight of a fox near the road, and after spotting it, he evidently dismounted from his horse and began to run. When he had suddenly slipped and been pressed down under the horse in such a way that the part of the saddle which projects would have completely severed his head from him.
The Source and the Moral
The merchants recover their pigs, the rapist's fate is noted, the source of the story is given, and the episode is framed as a warning against oppressing the poor.
The merchants who had been following in tears fled once they recovered their pigs. But the one who had been the rapist — his madness did not please them. I learned this from his cousin. These things have been said about the oppressors of the poor.
Divine Providence Governs All Things
The narrator turns to console the afflicted by affirming that nothing happens by chance but by divine providence, citing Amos and Isaiah to show that even evil and plunder come under God's sovereign will.
Now, in that present situation of yours, we will bring forth what we can — as though we had quite forgotten that we already said many things above for their comfort. To them this must first be made known: that nothing — whether prosperity or adversity — is arranged for all and for each individual by chance, but by divine providence. For it is written, as we said above: 'Nothing on earth happens without a cause.' Hence through Amos it is said: 'If there is evil in a city that the Lord has not done' (Amos 3:6).✦ And through Isaiah: 'Who gave Jacob over to plunder?'✦
Scripture on Chastisement and Judgment
Further scriptural citations from Isaiah, Amos, and Jeremiah are woven together to show that God chastises the elect for their good and punishes the wicked, so that no one escapes divine justice.
(Isa. 42:24.)✦ and Israel by those laying waste: 'Is it not the Lord himself, against whom we have sinned?'✦ (In the same place.) For regarding the good things through which adversity is given for the sake of usefulness, the aforementioned Amos says: 'Only have I known you out of all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities' (Amos 3:2).✦ But regarding the wicked, to whom Jeremiah offers the cup of wrath, saying: 'Thus says the Lord: You who drink, you shall drink, because behold, in the city upon which my name is called, I will begin to afflict you — as though the innocent will go unpunished?'✦ you will not go unpunished (Jer.✦ 25:28).✦
Silent Submission to God's Will
Drawing on David's example from Psalm 38, the narrator exhorts the afflicted to restrain complaint and accept hardships in humble silence because God is the one who ordains them.
Keeping these things in mind, then, we'll hold back any excess of complaining through whatever hardships come our way, just as King David did when he said: I became silent and did not open my mouth — but why?✦ because you have done this (Psalm✦ 38, 10).✦
Read the original Latin
Quoddam nuper gestum miraculum mente exciderat; quod ad praedones redarguendos inserere placet. Est ecclesia S. Aventini in Arverno super fluvium, qui vocatur Alerius. Cum juxta hanc negotiatores cum porcis transeuntes vidissent sibi equites appropiare quosdam, timentes eos in curam ecclesiae diverterunt, unus ex equitibus dixit ad eos: Educite porcos. Cumque illi nollent, coegit eos, promittens aliquem porcum se daturum. Tunc cuidam viro ex suis porcos ad minandum commendavit, et tractim abire coepit. Is vero qui porcos minabat aliquantulum progressus subito corruit, et coxam sibi fregit. Verum ille qui porcos minare jusserat, vulpem viae contiguam forte conspexit, post quam videlicet equo dimisso currere coepit. Cum subito lapsus ita subtus equum depressus est, ut illa pars sellae quae proeminet caput ejus penitus truncaret.
Negotiatores, qui flendo sequebantur, receptis porcis fugerunt. Illi vero qui raptor exstiterat, non placebat vecordia sua. Hoc ego ab ipsius consobrino didici. Haec de afflictoribus pauperum dicta sunt. Nunc in existente illo vestro quae possumus proferemus, quasi videlicet obliti quod multa jam superius ad eorum solatium dixerimus. Quibus hoc primitus intimandnm est quod non fortuitu, sed divina dispositione vel prospera vel adversa, et cunctis et singulis disponuntur. Hinc enim scriptum est, ut supra diximus: Nihil in terris sine causa fit: hinc per Amos dicitur: Si erit malum in civitate quod Dominus non fecit (Amos III, 6). Et per Isaiam: Quis dedit Jacob in direptionem?
(Isa. XLII, 24.) et Israel vastantibus: Nonne Dominus ipse cui peccavimus? (Ibid.) Nam de bonis, quibus utilitatis causa datur adversitas, praedictus Amos dicit: Tantummodo vos cognovi ex omnibus cognationibus terrae, idcirco visitabo super omnes iniquitates vestras (Amos III, 2). De pravis autem quibus Jeremias calicem furoris propinat, dicens: Haec dicit Dominus, bibentes bibetis, quia ecce in civitate, in qua invocatum est nomen meum, ego incipiam affligere vos, quasi innocentes immunes eritis? non eritis immunes (Jer. XXV, 28).
Haec igitur considerantes murmurationis excessum inter quaslibet angustias temperabimus, sicut rex David cum diceret: Obmutui, et non aperui os meum, sed quare? quoniam tu fecisti (Psal. XXXVIII, 10).
Scripture echoes
- ↩Amos.3.6 — If a trumpet is sounded in a city, do the people not tremble? And if disaster occurs in a city, has not the LORD done it?
- ↩Isa.42.24 — Who gave Jacob over to plunder and Israel to spoilers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?
- ↩Isa.42.24 — Who gave Jacob over to plunder and Israel to spoilers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?
- ↩Isa.42.24 — Who gave Jacob over to plunder and Israel to spoilers? Was it not the LORD, against whom we have sinned, in whose ways they would not walk, and whose law they would not obey?
- ↩Amos.3.2 — You alone have I known among all the families of the earth; therefore I will call you to account for all your wrongdoing.
- ↩Jer.25.28-Jer.25.29 — And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them: "Thus says the LORD of Hosts: You shall drink! Jer.25.29 — For behold, upon the city that is called by my name I am beginning to work evil; and you — you shall by no means go unpunished, for you shall not go unpunished, for it is a sword that I am calling against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts.
- ↩Jer.25.28 — And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them: "Thus says the LORD of Hosts: You shall drink!
- ↩Jer.25.28 — And if they refuse to take the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them: "Thus says the LORD of Hosts: You shall drink!
- ↩Ps.38.10 — Lord, before you is all my longing, and my groaning has not been hidden from you.
- ↩Ps.38.10 — Lord, before you is all my longing, and my groaning has not been hidden from you.
- ↩Ps.38.10 — Lord, before you is all my longing, and my groaning has not been hidden from you.
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