Presbyters Uniwersytet Warszawski
ID
ER 43
Valentinianus, presbyter and cantor, probably in Clermont (Gaul), informs Gregory of Tours of his healing at the tomb of Saint Gallus. Account of Gregory of Tours, "Life of the Fathers", Tours (Gaul), ca 590.
6.7
 
Valentinianus igitur cantor, cui supra meminimus, qui nunc presbiter habetur, cum diaconatus fungeretur officium, a typo quartano corripitur, ac per multos dies in magna defectione laborans. Factum est autem, ut in die accensus huius febris loca sancta circuire disponeret orans, veniensque ad huius sancti sepulchrum, prostratus ait: "Memor esto mei, beatissime ac sanctae sacerdos. A te enim edocatus, doctus ac provocatus sum. Memor esto alumni proprii, quem amore unico dilexisti, et erue me ab hac qua h deteneor febre". Haec effatus, herbolas, quae ob honorem sacerdotis tumulo respersae fuerant a devotis, collegit; et, quia virides erant, ori applicat, dentibus decerpit, sucumque earum degluttit. Praeteriit enim dies illa, nec ab hoc est pulsatus incommodo, et deinceps ita sospitati est restitutus, ut nec illas quas vulgo fractiones vocant ultra perferret. Haec ab ipsius presbiteri ore ita gestum cognovi.
 
(ed. Krusch 1885: 237)
6.7
 
The cantor Valentinianus, of whom we spoke earlier [40], who is now presbyter, found himself taken with quartan fever while he was still a deacon, and was gravely ill for several days. Then it happened that during a brief recovery he decided to visit the holy places and to pray there, and he came to the tomb of St Gallus and prostrated himself before it, saying, "Remember me, holy and blessed bishop, for it is by you that I was raised, instructed and encouraged; remember your pupil whom you loved with a rare love, and deliver me from the fever which grips me." Having said this, he took some of the herbs which had been strewn around the tomb by the faithful in honour of the saint, and since they were green he put them in his mouth, chewed them with his teeth and swallowed the juice. The day passed without any fever, and in the end he was so restored to health that he had no sort of relapse, such as is commonly known as fractio. I learnt this from the mouth of the presbyter himself.
 
(trans. James 1991: 41-42, slightly altered by J. Szafranowski)

Place of event:

Region
  • Gaul
City
  • Clermont

About the source:

Author: Gregory of Tours
Title: Life of the Fathers, Vita Patrum, Liber Vitae Patrum
Origin: Tours (Gaul)
Denomination: Catholic/Nicene/Chalcedonian
Gregory of Tours (bishop of Tours in Gaul in 573-594) started writing his Life of the Fathers some time before 587 and finished it around 592 or slightly later, as shown by the cross-references to his other works.  It is a collection of twenty Gallic saints` lives of different lengths. They all are in some way connected to Gregory`s family or church interests, while also exemplifying different virtues leading to sanctity. Saints presented in the Life of the Fathers are all either ascetics or bishops.
 
More on the text: James 1991: ix-xxv.
Edition:
Gregorii Episcopi Turonensis Miracula et Opera Minora [in:] Monumenta Germaniae Historica, Scriptores Regnum Merovingiciarum I, ed. B. Krusch, Hannoverae 1885 (repr. 1969), 661­-744.

Categories:

Education - Education by clerics
Former ecclesiastical career - Deacon
Described by a title - Presbyter/πρεσβύτερος
Relation with - Bishop/Monastic superior
Functions within the Church - Cantor
Please quote this record referring to its author, database name, number, and, if possible, stable URL: J. Szafranowski, Presbyters in the Late Antique West, ER43, http://www.presbytersproject.ihuw.pl/index.php?id=6&SourceID=43