De sancto Christophoro
The Search for the Greatest Lord
Reprobus, a man of immense stature, seeks the most powerful master in the world, moving from a king to the devil, and finally to Christ.
Before his baptism, Christopher was called Reprobus, but afterward he was named Christopher—which means "Christ-bearer"—because he carried Christ in four ways: on his shoulders by transporting people, in his body by mortification, in his mind by devotion, and in his mouth by confession or preaching. . Christopher was a Canaanite by birth, a man of immense stature and a terrifying face, standing twelve cubits tall. As some accounts of his life record, while he was staying with a certain king of the Canaanites, he decided he should find the greatest prince in the world and enter his service. He went, therefore, to a certain great king who was widely rumored to have no equal in the world. The king welcomed him gladly and had him stay at court, but one day a minstrel was singing before the king and mentioned the devil frequently. Now, because the king had faith in Christ, whenever he heard the devil mentioned, he would immediately make the sign of the cross on his face; seeing this, Christopher was very surprised and wondered why the king did this and what the sign meant. When he asked the king about it and the king refused to tell him, Christopher replied, "If you don't tell me, I won't stay with you any longer." Compelled by this, the king said to him, "Whenever I hear the devil mentioned, I protect myself with this sign, fearing that he might gain power over me and do me harm." Christopher said to him, "If you fear the devil so that he won't harm you, then he is proven to be greater and more powerful than you, since you are shown to fear him so much." I've been disappointed in my hopes, thinking I had found the greatest and most powerful lord in the world, but now you must go, because I want to seek out the devil himself, so that I can take him as my lord and become his servant. So he left that king and hurried off to find the devil. While he was traveling through a wilderness, he saw a great crowd of soldiers, and among them, a fierce and terrible soldier came up to him and asked where he was going. Christopher answered, "I'm looking for the devil, so that I can take him as my lord." The other replied, "I am the one you're looking for." Christopher was delighted, pledged himself to him as his servant forever, and accepted him as his lord. As they were traveling together, they found a cross standing on the road. As soon as the devil saw the cross, he was terrified and fled, leaving the road to lead Christopher through a rough wilderness before eventually returning to the path. Seeing this, Christopher was amazed and asked him why he was so afraid that he had left the smooth road and gone so far out of his way through such rough country. When he refused to tell him, Christopher said, "If you don't tell me, I'll leave you immediately." Compelled by this, the devil said, "A man called Christ was fixed to a cross, and when I see the sign of his cross, I am terrified and flee." Christopher asked him, "So, this Christ is greater and more powerful than you, since you're so afraid of his sign?" I've worked for nothing, and I still haven't found the greatest lord in the world. You can go now, because I'm leaving you to go look for Christ himself.
The Service of the River
Instructed by a hermit, Christopher finds his vocation in carrying travelers across a dangerous river, where he eventually encounters and carries the Christ Child.
After he had searched for a long time for someone who could tell him about Christ, he finally came to a hermit who preached Christ to him and carefully instructed him in the faith; the hermit said to Christopher: "The King you want to serve requires this service: you'll have to fast often." Christopher replied, "Ask for some other service from me, because I can't do that at all." The hermit said again, "You'll also have to offer many prayers to him." Christopher said, "I don't know what that is, and I can't perform that kind of service either." The hermit asked him, "Do you know of a river where many people who try to cross it are in danger and perish?" Christopher said, "I know." The hermit replied, "Since you're so tall and strong, if you were to stay by that river and carry people across, it would be very pleasing to Christ the King, whom you wish to serve, and I trust he would reveal himself to you there." Christopher said to him, "I can certainly do that, and I promise to serve him in this way." So he went to the river mentioned, built himself a hut there, and instead of a staff, he carried a pole in his hands to steady himself in the water, and he carried everyone across without stopping. Many days later, while he was resting in his little hut, he heard a child's voice calling him, saying, "Christopher, come out and carry me across." Christopher rushed out, but found no one; returning to his hut, he heard the voice calling him again. He ran out once more and found no one. A third time, called by the same voice, he went out and found a child by the riverbank who begged him earnestly to carry him across. So Christopher lifted the child onto his shoulders, took his staff, and stepped into the river to cross it. And look, the water gradually rose, and the child weighed as much as lead, and the further he went, the higher the waves grew.1 The boy pressed down on Christopher’s shoulders with a weight that grew heavier and heavier, becoming so unbearable that Christopher was in great distress and feared he might perish. But once he had barely made it across and reached the riverbank, he set the boy down and said, "You put me in great danger, boy; you weighed so much that if I had carried the whole world on my back, I could hardly have felt a greater burden." The boy answered him, "Don't be surprised, Christopher, because you didn't just carry the whole world on your back; you carried the One who created the world." I am Christ the King, your King, whom you serve in this work. To prove that I am telling you the truth, once you have crossed, plant your staff in the ground near your little hut, and by morning you will see it bloom and bear fruit." With that, He vanished from his sight. Christopher went on his way, and after he had planted his staff in the ground, he rose in the morning to find that it had sprouted leaves and produced dates like a palm tree.
Confession and Martyrdom
Christopher travels to Lycia, where he converts thousands through his preaching and miraculous endurance of torture, ultimately winning his crown of martyrdom.
After this, he came to the city of Samos in Lycia, where, because he did not understand their language, he prayed to the Lord to grant him the ability to understand it. While he was still in prayer, the judges, thinking he was insane, left him alone. Christopher, having obtained what he asked for, covered his face and went to the place of trial, where he comforted the Christians and those who were being tortured for the Lord. Then one of the judges struck him in the face, and Christopher, uncovering his face, said, "If I were not a Christian, I would have avenged this injury immediately." Then Christopher planted his staff in the ground and prayed to the Lord that it might leaf out for the conversion of the people. As soon as this happened, eight thousand people believed. The king sent two hundred soldiers to bring him in, but when they found him praying and were afraid to tell him why they had come, he sent another two hundred, who also immediately began to pray with him. Christopher stood up and asked them, "Who are you looking for?" When they saw his face, they said, "The king sent us to take you to him in chains." Christopher replied, "If I didn't want to go, you couldn't take me, whether I was bound or free." They said to him, "If that's the case, then go free wherever you like, and we'll tell the king that we couldn't find you at all." "Not so," he said. "I will go with you." He converted them to the faith, had them tie his hands behind his back, and let them present him to the king in chains. When the king saw him, he was terrified and immediately fell from his throne. Then, having been lifted up by his servants, he asked him his name and his homeland. Christopher replied, "Before my baptism I was called Reprobus, but now I am called Christopher." The king said to him, "You've given yourself a foolish name—that of Christ the Crucified—who could neither help himself nor be able to help you." Now then, you wicked Canaanite, why don't you sacrifice to our gods? Christopher replied, "You are rightly called Dagnus, because you are the death of the world and a companion of the devil, while your gods are the work of human hands." The king replied, "You were raised among wild beasts, and you can only speak of savage things unknown to men." Now then, if you sacrifice, you'll receive great honors from me; if not, you'll be consumed by tortures. Because he refused to sacrifice, the king ordered him to be thrown into prison and had those soldiers who had been sent to Christopher beheaded for the name of Christ; then he had two beautiful girls, one called Nicaea and the other Aquilina, locked in prison with him, promising them many rewards if they could entice him to sin with them. Seeing this, Christopher immediately gave himself to prayer. But when the girls pressured him with clapping and embraces, he stood up and asked, "What are you looking for, and why have you been brought here?" Terrified by the radiance of his face, they said, "Have mercy on us, holy man of God, so that we may be able to believe in the God you preach." Hearing this, the king had them brought to him and said, "So, have you been seduced as well?" I swear by the gods that unless you sacrifice to them, you'll die a miserable death. They replied, "If you want us to sacrifice, order the streets to be cleaned and everyone to be gathered at the temple." Once this was done and they had entered the temple, they loosened their belts, placed them around the necks of the gods, and by pulling them, dragged them into the dust and smashed them, saying to those standing by, "Go and call the doctors to come and heal your gods." Then, by the king's order, Aquilina was suspended, and with a huge stone tied to her feet, all her limbs were torn apart. After she passed to the Lord, her sister Nicaea was thrown into the fire, but she came out unharmed and was immediately beheaded. Then Christopher was brought before the king, who ordered him to be beaten with iron rods and to have an iron helmet, heated in the fire, placed on his head; he then had an iron bench made, ordered Christopher to be bound to it, and had a fire lit beneath it with pitch thrown on, but the bench broke like wax and Christopher came out unharmed. Next, he ordered him to be tied to a post and shot by four hundred soldiers. However, all the arrows hung in the air, and none of them could touch him. The king, thinking he had been shot by the soldiers, mocked him, but suddenly one of the arrows came down from the air, turned back, struck the king in the eye, and immediately blinded him. Christopher said to him, "I am to be finished tomorrow; you, therefore, tyrant, make a paste from my blood, anoint your eye, and you will be healed." Then, by the king's order, he was led to be beheaded and, having poured out a prayer there, he was beheaded; the king, taking a little of his blood and placing it on his eye, said, "In the name of the God of the holy Christopher," and he was immediately healed. The king then believed and issued a decree that if anyone blasphemed God and Saint Christopher, they would immediately be struck down by the sword. Ambrose, however, says in his preface about this martyr: "Lord, you bestowed upon Christopher such a wealth of virtue and grace of doctrine that you recalled forty-seven thousand men from the error of paganism to the worship of the Christian faith through shining miracles. He provoked Nicaea and Aquilina, who had served for a long time in a public brothel in the filth of prostitution, to the habit of chastity and taught them to receive the crown. For this reason, bound to an iron bench amidst a fiery pyre, he did not fear the intense heat and could not be pierced by the arrows of all the soldiers for an entire day. Moreover, one of these arrows struck the executioner's eye, to whom, however, the blood of the blessed martyr mixed with earth restored sight and, by removing the blindness of the body, illuminated both it and his mind, for he obtained mercy before you and humbly asked that he might repel diseases and infirmities."
Read the original Latin
Christophorus ante baptismum dicebatur Reprobus, sed postmodum Christophorus dictus est, quasi Christum ferens, eo scilicet, quod Christum quataor modis portavit, scilicet in humeris per traductionem, in corpore per macerationem, in mente per devotionem, in ore per confessionem sive praedicationem. .
Christophorus gente Cananaeus, procerissimae staturae vultuque terribili erat et XII cubitos in longitudine possidebat. Qui, ut in quibusdam gestis suis legitur, cum staret cum quodam rege Cananaeorum, venit sibi in mente, ut majorem principem, qui in mundo esset, quaereret et ad eundem secum moratarus accederet. Venit igitur ad quendam maximum regem, de quo generalis fama habebatur, quod majorem mundus principem non haberet. Quem rex videns libenter recepit et in sua curia manere fecit, quodam autem die joculator quidam cantionem coram rege cantabat, in qua frequenter dyabolum nominabat. Rex autem cum fidem Christi haberet, quemcumque dyabolum nominari audiebat, protinus in faciem suam crucis signaculum imprimebat, quod videns Christophorus plurimum admirabatur, cur hoc rex ageret et quidnam hujusmodi signum sibi vellet. Cum antem de hac re regem interrogaret et ille hoc sibi manifestare nollet, respondit Christophorus: nisi hoc mihi dixeris, tecum ulterius non manebo. Qnapropter coactus rex dixit ei: quemcumque dyabolum nominari audio, hoc signo me munio timens, ne in me potestatem accipiat mihique noceat. Cui Christophorus: si dyabolum, ne tibi noceat, metuis, ergo ille major et potentior te esse convincitur, quem in tantum formidare probaris.
Frustratus igitur sum spe mea putans, quod majorem et potentiorem mundi dominum invenissem , sed jam nunc valeas, quia ipsum dyabolum quaerere volo, ut ipsum mihi in dominum assumam et ejus servus efficiar. Discessit igitur ab illo rege et dyabolum quaerere properabat. Cum autem per quandam solitudinem pergeret, vidit magnam multitudinem militum, quorum quidam miles ferus et terribilis veniebat ad eum et, quonam pergeret, requisivit. Qui Ghristophorus respondit: vado quaerere dominum dyabolum, ut ipsum in dominum mihi assumam. Cui ille: ego sum ille, quem quaeris. Gavisus Christophorus se sibi in servum perpetuum obligavit et ipsum pro domino accepit. Cum ergo ambo pergerent et in quadam via communi crucem erectam invenissent, mox ut dyabolus ipsam crucem vidit, territus fugit et viam deserens per asperam solitudinem Christophorum duxit et postmodum ipsum ad viam reduxit, Quod videns Christophorus et admirans interrogavit illum, eur in tantum timens viam planam reliquerit et tantum devians per tam asperam solitudinem ierit. Quod cam ille nullatenus indicare vellet, dixit Christophorus: nisi mihi hoc indicaveris, statim a te discedam; quapropter compulsus dyabolus dixit ei: quidam homo, qui dicitur Ghristus , in cruce fixus fuit, cujus crucis signum cum video, plurimum pertimesco et territus fugio.
Gui Christophorus: ergo ille Christus major et potentior te est, cujus signum in tantum formidas? In vacuum igitur laboravi nec adhue majorem mundi principem inveni. Jam nunc valeas, quia te volo deserere et ipsum Christum inquirere. Cum igitur diu quaesivisset, qui sibi Christi notitiam indicaret, tandem ad quendam eremitam devenit, qui sibi Christum praedicavit et in ejus fide ipsum diligenter instruxit, dixitque eremita Christophoro: rex iste, cui servire desideras, istud requirit obsequium, quia frequenter jejunare oportebit. Cui Christophorus: aliud a me requirat obsequium, quia istam rem nequaquam agere valeo. Rursus eremita: multas quoque orationes te sibi facere oportebit. Cai Christophorus: nescio, quid sit hoc, nec hujusmodi obsequium perficere possum. Cui eremita: nosti talem fluvium, in quo multi transeuntes periclitantur et pereunt?
Cni Christophorus: novi. Et ille: cum procerae staturae sis et fortis viribus, si juxta fluvium illum resideres et cunctos traduceres, regi " Christo, cui servire desideras, plurimum gratum esset et spero, quod ibidem se manifestaret. Cui Christophorus: utique istud obsequium agere valeo et me sibi in hoc serviturum promitto. Ad , praedictum igitur fluvium accessit et ibidem sibi habitaculum fabricavit portansque loco baculi quandam perticam in manibus, qua se in aqua sustentabat et omnes sine cessatione transferebat. Evolutis multis diebus cum in domuncula sua quiesceret, audivit vocem cujusdam pueri se vocantis et dicentis: Christophore, veni foras et me ipsum traducas. Concitus Christophorus exsiliit, sed neminem reperit, rediensque in domunculam suam praedictam íterum vocem se acclamantis audivit, Qui rursus foras cucurrit et neminem invenil, Tertia vice ab eodem ut prius vocatus exiit et puerum quendam juxta ripam fluminis invenit, qui Christophorum, ut se traduceret, obnixe rogavit. Christophorus igitur puerum sibi in humeris elevans et baculum suum aceipiens flumen transiturus intravit. Et ecce aqua (luminis paulatim intumescebat et puer instar plumbi gravissime ponderabat, quantoque magis procedebat, tanto amplius unda crescebat.
et puer magis ac magis Christophori humeros pondere intolerabili deprimebat, adeo ut Christophorus in angustia multa positus esset et se periclitari formidaret, Sed cum vix evasisset et fluvium transfretasset, puerum in ripa deposuit eique dixit: in magno periculo, puer, me posuisti et adeo ponderasti, quod, si totum mundum super me habnissem, vix majora pondera praesensissem. Ad quem puer respondit: ne mireris, Christophore, quia non solum super te totum mundum habuisti, sed etiam illum, qui creavit mundum, tuis humeris bajulasti. Ego enim sum rex Christus tuus, cui in hoe opere ipse deservis, et ut me verum dicere comprobes, cum pertransieris, baculum tuum juxta domunculam tuam in terra fige et mane ipsum floruisse et fructificasse videbis, statimque ab oculis ejus evanuit. Veniens igitur Christophorus cum baculum suum in terram fixisset, mane surgens invenit ipsum ad modum palmae frondes et dactylos pertulisse. Post hoc autem Samon civitatem Lyciae venit, ubi, dum eorum linguam non intelligeret, oravit dominum, ut illius linguae sibi concederet intellectum. Dum autem in prece consisteret, judices eum insanum putantes reliquerunt, assecutus Christophorus, quod petebat, vultum operiens, ad locum certaminis venit et christianos et qui torquebantur in domino, confortabat. Tunc unus ex judicibus in faciem eum percussit, cui Christophorus vultum discooperiens dixit: nisi christianus essem, meam protinus injuriam vindicassem. Tunc Christophorus virgam suam in terra fixit et ut propter conversionem populi fronderet, dominum exoravit.
Quod dum protinus factum fuisset, octo millia hominum crediderunt. Rex autem CC milites, qui eum ad se adducerent, misit, et cum eum orantem invenissent et sibi hoc intimare timerent, iterum totidem misit, qui et ipsi cum co orante protinus oraverunt. Surgens Christophorus dixit iis: quem qnaeritis? Qui ejus vultum videntes dixerunt: rex misit nos, ut te ad ipsum vinctum ducamus. Quibus Christophorus: si ego voluero, nec solutus nec ligatus a vobis duci potero. Dicunt ei: si ergo nonvis, vade liber, quocumque volueris, et nos regi dicemus, quod te nequaquam invenimus. Non ita, inquit, sed ego vobiscum vadam. Ipse autem eos ad fidem convertit et ab iis manus sibi tergo ligari fecit et se regi vinctum praesentari.
Quem rex videns territus est et de sede sua protinus corruit. Deinde a servis suis levatus de nomine suo et patriae eum interrogavit. Cui Christophorus: ante baptismum Reprobus dicebar, nune autem Christophorus vocor. Cui rex: stultum tibi nomen imposuisti, scilicet Christi crucifixi, qui nec sibi profuit nec tibi prodesse poterit. Nunc ergo, Cananaee malefice, quare non sacrificas Diis nostris? Cui Christophorus: recte vocaris Dagnus, quia tu es mors mundi, socius dyaboli, Dii autem tui sunt opera manuum hominum, Cui rex: inter feras nutritus es et tu non potes nisi opera feralia et hominibus incognita loqui. Nunc ergo si sacrificaveris, magnos honores a me consequeris, si non antem, suppliciis consumeris. Nolentem ergo sacrificare in carcerem mitti jussit ac illos milites, qui ad Christophorum missi fuerant, pro Christi nomine decollari fecit, Deinde duas formosas pnellas, quarum una dicebatur Nicaea et altera Aquilina, secum in carcerem recludi fecit, promittens iis multa munera, si eum ad peccandum secum allicerent.
Quod videns Christophorus protinus in orationem se dedit. Sed cum a puellis plausu manuum et amplexibus urgeretur, surrexit et ait illis: quid quaeritis et ob quam causam huc interductae estis? At illae claritate vultus ejus perterritae dixerunt: miserere nostri, sancte Dei, ut in Deum, quem praedicas, credere valeamus. Quod audiens rex eas ad se duci fecit dicens: ergo et vos sednctae estis? per Deos juro, quod, nisi Diis sacrificaveritis, mala morte peribitis. Quae responderunt: si vis, ut sacrificemus, jube plateas mundari et omnes ad templum congregari. Quo facto cum illae introissent templum, solventes cingulum suum posuerunt in colla Deorum et ad tetram trahentes in pulverem confregerunt dixeruntque adstantibus: ite et vocate medicos, ut curent Deos vestros. Tunc jussu regis Aquilina suspenditur et ligato ad ejus pedes ingenti saxo membra ejus omnia dirumpuntur.
Quae cum migrasset ad dominum, soror ejus Nicaea in ignem projicitur, sed inde illaesa exiens protinus decollatur. Post ergo Christophorus regi praesentatur, qui jussit eum virgis ferreis caedi et cassidem ferream et igneam in caput ejus poni, deinde scamnum ferreum fieri fecit et Christophorum ibidem ligari et ignem injecta pice succendi, Sed instar cerae scammum confringitur et Christophorus illaesus egreditur. Deinde jussit eum ad stipitem ligari et a CCCC militibus sagittari. Sagittae autem omnes in aére suspendebantur nec ipsum aliqua contingere potuit, Rex autem putans ipsum a militibus sagittatum cum eidem insultaret, subito una de sagittis ab aére veniens et relro se verleus regem in oculo percussit et ipsum protinus excaecavit, Cui Christophorus: crastina die consummandus sum, tu igitur, tyranne, lutum de sanguine meo facies et oculum inunges et sanitatem recipies. Tunc jussu regis ad decollandum ducitur et ibi fusa oratione decollatur, rex aulem modicum de sanguine ejus accipiens et super oculum suum ponens ait: in nomine Dei el sancti Christophori, et continuo sanus effectus est. Tunc rex credidit dans praeceptum, ut, si quis Deum et sanctum Christophorum blasphemaret, continuo gladio feriretur. Ambrosius autem in praefatione sic ait de hoc martire: Christophoro tantae virtutis cumulum et doctrinae gratiam, domine, contulisti, ut XLVII millia hominum de gentilitatis errore ad christiani dogmatis cultum coruscantibus miraculis revocares, quique Nicaeam et Aquilinam publico lupanari longo tempore sub meretricia sorde famulantes ad castitatis habilum provocavit easdemque coronam percipere edocuit, propterea inter igneum rogum ferreo scamno constrictus nimium calorem non limuit atque per diem integrum omnium militum sagittis transfigi non potuit; caeterum una ex his carnificis oculum collisit, cui tamen beati martiris cruor mixtus cum terra lumen restituit et corporis caecitatem tollendo illuminavit et mentem, nam apud te veniam impetravit atque, ut morbos et infirmitates repellat, suppliciter obtinuit.
Notes
- 1 ↩The source text contains a parenthetical mark before 'luminis' which appears to be a typo for 'fluminis' (river). I have translated it as 'the water' to maintain the flow.
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