Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 1993
A young man from Tours (Gaul) called Theodemundus is cured of muteness and deafness by Saint Martin. He is sent by Queen Chlotild to school and becomes a cleric, all in the first half of the 6th century. Account of Gregory of Tours, "The Miracles of the Bishop Martin", Tours (Gaul), AD 573/594.
I 7.
 
Theodemundus is both mute and hard of hearing. He comes to the basilica of Saint Martin in Tours every day and prays vigorously. The alms he receives he distributes at once to others as poor as he is. After three years he is cured by the saint's power.
 
Sanitati ergo hic redditus, a Chrodechilde regina pro virtute reverentiaque sancti Martini collectus est, et ad scholam positus omnem psalmorum seriem memoriae commendavit. Quem Deus perfectus efficiens clericum, per multos in posterum annos in servitio ecclesiae commorari permisit.
  
(ed. de Nie 2015: 452, summarised by J. Szafranowski)
I 6.
 
Theodemundus is both mute and deaf. He comes to the basilica of Saint Martin in Tours every day and prays vigorously. The alms he receives he distributes at once to others as poor as he is. After three years he is cured by the saint's power.
 
After he had thus been given back his health, he was taken up by Queen Chlotild because she revered the holy Martin's power and placed in a school, where he committed the whole sequence of the Psalms to memory. God made him a perfect cleric and allowed him to remain for many years thereafter in the service of the church.
 
(trans. de Nie 2015: 453; summarised by J. Szafranowski)

Discussion:

After the death of her husband, Clovis I, in 511, Queen Chlothild remained in Tours. She died there in 544 at the tomb of Saint Martin.
 
The word schola might refer to both a school and a church choir.

Place of event:

Region
  • Gaul
City
  • Tours

About the source:

Author: Gregory of Tours
Title: The Miracles of the Bishop Martin, De virtutibus beati Martini episcopis
Origin: Tours (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Bishop Gregory of Tours (Gaul) began to collect the miracles connected to Martin, his predecessor in bishopric, at the very beginning of his episcopacy. Martin`s power is usually revealed at his tomb in Tours, and Gregory owed his high rank among Gallic bishops largely to his position as the custodian of Saint Martin`s sanctuary. Additionally, Gregory presents the recording of Martin`s miraculous activity as fulfilment of a vow; this vow was the result of no fewer than three visions in which he received the divine commandment to do so, and the promise he had made to his mother. Eventually, Gregory composed four books collecting Martin`s miracles. By cross-reference with other works by Gregory, Raymond Van Dam claimed that the first book – which gathers only the miracles that took place before Gregory`s episcopacy – was completed by 576, the second book was finished by 581, and the third by 588; the fourth book seems to continue up until Gregory`s own death in 594 (Van Dam 1993: 142-146, 199).
Recently, Giselle de Nie prepared a new edition of "The Miracles", which is based on the earlier editions by Ruinart, Bordier, and Krusch. She also normalised the spelling and punctuation, and provided a new translation "that stays as close as possible to the author`s train of thought" (de Nie 2015: xxv).
Edition:
Gregory of Tours, Lives and Miracles, ed. and trans. G. de Nie, Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library 39, Cambridge, MA and London 2015, pp. 421-855.
 
Translation:
Gregory of Tours, The Miracles of the Bishop St. Martin, trans. R. Van Dam, in: R. Van Dam, Saints and their Miracles in Late Antique Gaul, Princeton 1993, pp. 199-303.

Categories:

Social origin or status - Socially marginal
Described by a title - Clericus
Relation with - Monarch and royal/imperial family
Education
Devotion - Veneration of saints and relics
Devotion - Supernatural experience
Ritual activity - Chanting
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER1993, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=1993