E00503: Gregory of Tours, in his Glory of the Martyrs (30), tells of relics of *Andrew (the Apostle, S00288) and *Saturninus (bishop and martyr of Toulouse, S00289), which shortly after 524 were saved from fire in a town in Burgundy and translated to Neuvy-le-Roi (near Tours, north-west Gaul); they were then transferred to a new church, and replaced in the old one by a relic of *Vincent (deacon and martyr of Saragossa and Valencia, S00290). Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 580/594.

Gregory of Tours, Glory of the Martyrs 30

Gregory tells of the tomb of Andrew the Apostle in Patras (see E00502), and continues:

Tempore, quo, interfecto Chlodomere rege Francorum, se exercitus reparans Burgundiam devastabat, in quadam basilicam reliquiae iam dicti apostoli cum Saturnini martyris tenebantur. Accensaque basilica, cum iam tegnorum moles dirueret, pauperes ac senes, quos barbaries reliquerat, flebant, dicentes: "Vae nobis, qui tantorum pignorum hodie caremus auxilia; nec nobis ultra spes praesentis vitae manebit, si haec deperierint". His ita flentibus, nutu Dei adveniens Turonicus homo, condolens his lamentis et discens virtutem martyrum, non minus fide quam parma protectus, per medias ingreditur flammas, adprehensasque ab altare sanctas reliquias, nihil ab igne nocitus, extulit foras, sed continuo ita constrictus est, ut gressum in antea agere non valeret. Tunc indignum se iudicans, qui eas ferret, unam puellam parvulam inpollutamque elegit a praeda, cui capsulam ad collum posuit et sic in patriam prospere accessit. Tunc conlocatis in altari Novivicensis eclesiae, ubi nulla adhuc sanctorum pignora habebantur, annis singulis devotissime eorum solemnia celebrabat. Cuius filius, cum haec post patris obitum non impleret, a febre quartana per annum integrum laborans, vovit, ut novam basilicam in eorum honore construeret; quo facto, amota febre, sanatus est.

Sed nec hoc sine Divinitatis providentia actum reor, quod ea die, qua beatae reliquiae in alia sunt translata basilica, errantes homines a via, qui beati Vincenti reliquias deferebant, ad vicum ipsum delati sunt. Tunc rogante presbitero, diviserunt ei particulam pignorum, quam in sancto altari, unde alias abstulerat, conlocavit.


'In the time when king Chlodomer of the Franks was killed, an army supplied itself by devastating Burgundy, where relics of the aforementioned martyr [Andrew] and of the martyr Saturninus were kept in a church. The church was set on fire, and already the bulk of the beams had collapsed. The poor people and the old people whom the barbarians had left behind wept and said: 'Woe to us, who today are without the assistance of such relics. If these relics are lost, we will have no more hope for the present life.' While they were weeping in this way, a man came from Tours at the command of God and shared in their grief. Once he heard about the power of the martyrs, he entered the middle of the flames, protected more by his faith than by a shield. After seizing the holy relics from the altar, he was not injured by the fire and ran outside. But suddenly he was so paralyzed that he could not walk as before. The man who was carrying the relics judged himself unworthy [to do so]; so he selected a guiltless young girl to carry the treasure. He hung the reliquary (capsula) around her neck and quickly returned in this way to his mother city. The relics were placed in the altar of a church at Neuvy-le-Roi (in altari Novivicensis eclesiae), where there were as yet no relics of any saints. Every year the man piously celebrated the festivals of these martyrs. After this man died, his son did not observe these festivals. When he suffered from a quartan fever for an entire year, the son vowed to construct a new church in honour of the martyrs. Once the [new] church was completed, the fever broke and he was healed.

But I think that this did not happen without the intervention of the Divinity, because on the same day that these blessed relics were transferred to this other [new] church, men carrying relics of St Vincentius lost their way and were brought to this village [of Neuvy-le-Roi]. Then, at the request of the priest they cut off a small piece of the relics [of St Vincentius] for him, which he placed in the holy altar from which he had removed the other relics.'

Text: Krusch 1969, 56. Translation: Van Dam 2004, 28.