De sancto Vedasto
The Heat of Penance
The name Vedastus is interpreted through the lens of ascetic suffering and the avoidance of eternal woe.
Vedastus is like one who truly gives off heat, because he truly gave himself the heat of affliction and penance; or he is like one who keeps his distance from 'woe,' because eternal woe stays far from him—for the damned will always say: 'Woe, because I offended God; woe, because I consented to the devil; woe, because I was born; woe, because I cannot die; woe, because I am tormented so cruelly; woe, because I will never be set free.'
Signs of Apostolic Power
Vedastus performs miracles of healing and restoration, culminating in his peaceful death and a final post-mortem miracle.
Vedastus was ordained bishop of Arras by blessed Remigius; when he arrived at the city gate and found two poor men there—one blind and the other lame—begging for alms, he said to them, "Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have, I give to you." After he prayed, he healed them both. When a wolf took up residence in an abandoned church overgrown with briars, he commanded it to leave and never dare to return, and it did. Finally, after converting many people through his words and deeds, he saw a pillar of fire descending from heaven into his house in the fortieth year of his episcopacy. Realizing his end was near, he rested in peace shortly after, around the year of our Lord 550. When his body was being transferred, Audomatus, who was blind from old age and grieving that he couldn't see the Body of Christ, immediately received his sight; but later, at his own request, he lost his sight again.
Read the original Latin
Vedastus quasi vere dans aestus, quia vere sibi dedit aestus afflictionis et poenitentiae, vel quasi vaeh distans, quia vaeh aeternum ab eo distat, Nam damnati semper dicent: vaeh, scilicet quia Deum offendi, vaeh quia dyabolo consensi, vaeh quia natus fui, vach quia mori non valeo, vaeh quia tam male torqueor, vaeh quia nunquam liberabor.
Vedastus a beato Remigio in Atrebatensem episcopum ordinatus fuit; qui cum ad portam civitatis venisset et ibidem duos pauperes, unum caecum et alium claudum petentes eleemosinam reperisset, dixit iis: argentum et aurum non est mihi, quod autem habeo, vobis do. Et facta oratione utrosque sanavit. Cum autem in quadam ecclesia derelicta et vepribus operta lupus habitaret, eidem praecepit, ut inde fugeret nec ultra illuc redire auderet, quod et factum est. Denique eum verbo et opere multos convertisset, quadragesimo anno sui episcopatus vidit columnam igneam a coelo usque in domum suam descendentem. Qui finem suum adesse considerans, post modicum in pace quievit circa annum domini DL. Cum autem corpus ejus transferretur, Audomatus prae senio caecus, dolens quod corpus Christi videre non poterat, mox lumen recepit, sed postmodum ad votum suum lumen amisit.
The Golden Legend (Legenda Aurea) companion
Continue through all 240 chapters, one saint a day
Chosen Portion serves the Golden Legend as a daily portion on iOS, free, alongside the full Sub Rosa archive
The Legenda Aurea was organized for day-by-day use across the liturgical year, and Chosen Portion restores that original one-feast-per-day reading rhythm
- A complete saint's life or feast reading most days in 5-10 minutes
- 240 chapters - enough daily readings to cover a full liturgical year and beyond
- Daily reminders so the plan survives busy weeks