De sancto Mamertino
The Conversion of Mamertinus
A pagan man named Mamertinus is guided away from idol worship toward the holy Bishop Germanus through a miraculous vision at a saint's tomb.
Mamertinus, a former pagan, once lost an eye and suffered a withered hand while worshiping idols. Believing he had offended the gods, he set out for the temple to worship them, but he met a religious man named Savinus who asked him how he had come to be so afflicted. Mamertinus replied, "I have offended my gods, and so I am going to pray to them, that they might be appeased and return what they took from me in their anger." Savinus said, "Brother, you're mistaken—you're mistaken if you think demons are gods. Go instead to the holy Bishop Germanus of Auxerre, and if you follow his counsel, you'll be healed at once." Mamertinus immediately set out on his journey and arrived at the tomb of the holy Bishop Amator and many other holy bishops; because of the rain that night, he withdrew into a small cell built over the tomb of Saint Concordianus. While he slept, he had a marvelous vision: a man came to the door of his cell and called for Saint Concordianus to come to a feast. This was something that Saint Peregrinus and Saint Amator were doing along with other bishops. Concordianus replied to him from the tomb, "I cannot come right now, because I must guard a guest of mine, lest he be killed by the snakes that live here." The man left and reported what he had heard, then returned and said, "Saint Concordianus, rise and come, and bring with you the subdeacon Vivianus and the acolyte Junianus so that they may perform their duties; Alexander will guard your guest." It then seemed to Mamertinus that Saint Concordianus took him by the hand and led him along, and when they reached the others, Saint Amator asked them, "Who is this who has entered with you?" He replied, "He is my guest." And the other said, "Send him away, for he is defiled and cannot be with us." As he was being sent away, he prostrated himself before them and obtained the favor of Saint Amator, who ordered him to hurry to Saint Germanus. Waking up, he went to Saint Germanus and, prostrating himself before him, begged for forgiveness.
Miracles and Sanctity
Following his baptism, Mamertinus experiences the power of God through the clearing of the tomb, his life as a monk, and the miraculous events surrounding his death.
When he had recounted the things that had happened to him, they both went to the tomb of the blessed Concordianus; they moved the stone and saw many snakes that were over ten feet long, and as they all fled, the blessed Germanus commanded them to go to a place where they would no longer presume to harm anyone. And so Mamertinus was baptized and healed, and he became a monk of the monastery of Saint Germanus, where later they grieved for what they had done, and each of them was converted to the faith; at one time, when some of the younger monks living with him had set traps for a bear that was lying in wait for the sheep, it ran into the traps at night and was caught. Saint Mamertinus, knowing this, got out of bed, found the animal, and said to it, "What are you doing, you poor creature?" "Flee quickly, so you aren't caught," and he released it and let it go; but when he had died and his body was being carried to Auxerre, and they were in a certain village, they were unable to move it from there in any way until a prisoner, having suddenly broken his chains, came out free to the body and, with others, carried it to the city, where it was honorably buried in the church of Saint Germanus.
Read the original Latin
Mamertinus paganus prius, cum ydola quadam vice coleret, unum oculum perdidit et unins manus ariditatem incurrit, Qui dum se Deos offendisse putaret et ad templum ad adorandum ydola pergeret, obviavit ei vir'quidam religiosus nomine Savinus, qui eum, unde sibi tanta acciderit infirmitas, requisivit, Qui ait: Deos meos offendi et ideo eos orare vado, ut, quae mihi irati abstulerunt, reddant propitii. Qui ait: erras, frater, erras, si daemones Deos putes, sed vade ad sanctum Germanum Altissiodorensem episcopum, et si ejus consilio acquieveris, continuo sanus eris, Qui statim - iter arripiens venit ad sepulchrum sancti Amatoris episcopi et plurimorum episcoporum sanctorum, secessitque propter pluviam nocte illa ad quandam cellulam super tumbam sancti Concordiani collocatam. Cum autem obdormivisset, apparuit ei visio qnaedam mirabilis, quod quidam scilicet vir venit ad ostium cellae ejus vocavitque sanctum Concordianum, ut veniret ad festum. Quod sanctus Peregrinus et sanctus Amator cum aliis episcopis faciebant. Cui ille de tumulo respondit: non possum modo venire, quia hospitem quendam me custodire oportet, ne a serpentibus, qui hic habitant, occidatur. Abiens ille, quae audierat, nuntiavit reversusque ait: sancte Concordiane, surge, veni et adduc tecum Vivianum subdyaconum et Junianum acolitum, ut officium suum faciant, Alexander autem hospitem tuum custodiet, Visumque est igitur Mamertino, quod sanctus Concordianus apprehensa manu duceret eum secum, cumque ad eos venisset, dixit iis sanctus Amator: quis est iste, qui tecum ingressus est? Qui ait: hospes meus est, Et ille: expelle eum, quia pollutus est et nobiscum non potest esse. Qui cum expelleretur, prostratus coram iis sancti Amatoris gratiam impetravit, qui jussit ei, ut ad sanctum Germanum pergere festinaret, Evigilans igitur ad sanctum Germanum Yenit et coram eo prostratus veniam postulabat.
Qui cum ea, quae sibi contigerant, enarraret, perrexerunt ambo ad tumbam beati Concordiani et remoto lapide viderunt plures serpentes, qui decem pedum longitudinem excedebant, cumque omnes diffugerent, beatus Germanus iis imperavit, ut ad talem locum pergant, ubi de caetero nemini praesumant nocere. Sicque Mamertinus baptizatus est et sanatus factusque est monachus monasterii sancti Germani, ubi post sanctum de eo, quod fecerant, doluerunt et unusquisque eorum ad fidem conversus est, Quadam vice, cum quidam juniores monachi secum manentes ursae cnidam, quae ovibus insidiabatur, laqueos tetendissent, illa in laqueos nocte irruens capta tenebatur. Quod sanctus Mamertinus praesciens de lecto surrexit et eam inveniens dixit illi: quid facis, o misera? fuge cito, ne capiaris, eamque dissolvens dimisit, Verum cum mortuus fuisset et corpus ejus Altissiodorum deportaretur, et cum fuissent in quadam villa, nullo modo illud inde movere potuerunt, quoadusque quidam incarceratus subito fractis vinculis liber exsiliens venit ad corpus et cum aliis usque ad urbem portavit, ubi in ecclesia sancti Germani honorifice est sepultus,
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