Testimonia

{"author":null,"backreferences":[{"context_html":"<p>One miracle was wrought among ourselves, which, though\r\nno greater than those I have mentioned, was yet so signal\r\nand conspicuous, that I suppose there is no inhabitant of\r\nHippo who did not either see or hear of it, none who could\r\npossibly forget it. There were seven brothers and three sisters\r\nof a noble family of the Cappadocian Cæsarea, who were cursed\r\nby their mother, a new-made widow, on account of some\r\nwrong they had done her, and which she bitterly resented, and\r\nwho were visited with so severe a punishment from Heaven,\r\nthat all of them were seized with a hideous shaking in all\r\ntheir limbs. Unable, while presenting this loathsome appearance,\r\nto endure the eyes of their fellow-citizens, they wandered\r\nover almost the whole Roman world, each following his own\r\ndirection. Two of them came to Hippo, a brother and a sister,\r\nPaulus and Palladia, already known in many other places by\r\nthe fame of their wretched lot. Now it was about fifteen\r\ndays before Easter when they came, and they came daily to\r\nchurch, and specially to the relics of the most glorious Stephen,\r\npraying that God might now be appeased, and restore their\r\nformer health. There, and wherever they went, they attracted\r\nthe attention of every one. Some who had seen them elsewhere,\r\nand knew the cause of their trembling, told others as\r\noccasion offered. Easter arrived, and on the Lord's day, in\r\nthe morning, when there was now a large crowd present, and\r\nthe young man was holding the bars of the holy place where\r\nthe relics were, and praying, suddenly he fell down, and lay\r\nprecisely as if asleep, but not trembling as he was wont to\r\ndo even in sleep. All present were astonished. Some were<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_498\">[Pg 498]</a></span>\r\nalarmed, some were moved with pity; and while some were\r\nfor lifting him up, others prevented them, and said they should\r\nrather wait and see what would result. And behold! he rose\r\nup, and trembled no more, for he was healed, and stood quite\r\nwell, scanning those who were scanning him. Who then\r\nrefrained himself from praising God? The whole church was\r\nfilled with the voices of those who were shouting and congratulating\r\nhim. Then they came running to me, where I\r\nwas sitting ready to come into the church. One after another\r\nthey throng in, the last comer telling me as news what the\r\nfirst had told me already; and while I rejoiced and inwardly\r\ngave God thanks, the young man himself also enters, with a\r\nnumber of others, falls at my knees, is raised up to receive\r\nmy kiss. We go in to the congregation: the church was\r\nfull, and ringing with the shouts of joy, \"Thanks to God!\r\nPraised be God!\" every one joining and shouting on all sides,\r\n\"I have healed the people,\" and then with still louder voice\r\nshouting again. Silence being at last obtained, the customary\r\nlessons of the divine Scriptures were read. And when I came\r\nto my sermon, I made a few remarks suitable to the occasion\r\nand the happy and joyful feeling, not desiring them to listen\r\nto me, but rather to consider the eloquence of God in this\r\ndivine work. The man dined with us, and gave us a careful\r\naccount of his own, his mother's, and his family's calamity.\r\nAccordingly, on the following day, after delivering my sermon,\r\nI promised that next day I would read his narrative to the\r\npeople.<a id=\"FNanchor_982_982\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_982_982\">[982]</a> And when I did so, the third day after Easter Sunday,\r\nI made the brother and sister both stand on the steps of\r\nthe raised place from which I used to speak; and while they\r\nstood there their pamphlet was read.<a id=\"FNanchor_983_983\"></a><a class=\"fnanchor pginternal\" href=\"#Footnote_983_983\">[983]</a> The whole congregation,\r\nmen and women alike, saw the one standing without any\r\nunnatural movement, the other trembling in all her limbs;\r\nso that those who had not before seen the man himself saw\r\nin his sister what the divine compassion had removed from\r\nhim. In him they saw matter of congratulation, in her subject\r\nfor prayer. Meanwhile, their pamphlet being finished,\r\nI instructed them to withdraw from the gaze of the people;\r\nand I had begun to discuss the whole matter somewhat more<span class=\"pagenum\"><a id=\"Page_499\">[Pg 499]</a></span>\r\ncarefully, when lo! as I was proceeding, other voices are heard\r\nfrom the tomb of the martyr, shouting new congratulations.\r\nMy audience turned round, and began to run to the tomb.\r\nThe young woman, when she had come down from the steps\r\nwhere she had been standing, went to pray at the holy relics,\r\nand no sooner had she touched the bars than she, in the same\r\nway as her brother, collapsed, as if falling asleep, and rose\r\nup cured. While, then, we were asking what had happened,\r\nand what occasioned this noise of joy, they came into the\r\nbasilica where we were, leading her from the martyr's tomb\r\nin perfect health. Then, indeed, such a shout of wonder rose\r\nfrom men and women together, that the exclamations and the\r\ntears seemed like never to come to an end. She was led to\r\nthe place where she had a little before stood trembling. They\r\nnow rejoiced that she was like her brother, as before they had\r\nmourned that she remained unlike him; and as they had not\r\nyet uttered their prayers in her behalf, they perceived that\r\ntheir intention of doing so had been speedily heard. They\r\nshouted God's praises without words, but with such a noise\r\nthat our ears could scarcely bear it. What was there in the\r\nhearts of these exultant people but the faith of Christ, for\r\nwhich Stephen had shed his blood?</p>","headings":["THE CITY OF GOD.","BOOK TWENTY-SECOND.","ARGUMENT."],"marker_anchor":null,"paragraph_id":"pg45305-paragraph-783"}],"canonical_references":[],"date_end":null,"date_start":null,"deduplication_fingerprint":"36d8a8f9ad295274520a4e85a9753e37f3093cc8d501100d9368f32269ceb473","edition_title":"The City of God, Volume II","edition_translators":["Marcus Dods","George Wilson (Books XVII-XVIII)"],"edition_year":1871,"explicit_reference_candidates":[],"headings":[],"id":"pg45305-Footnote_982_982","license_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/policy/license.html","public_import_allowed":false,"record_kind":"original-editor-translator-note","review_required":["work and recension attribution","original-work chronology","Bible reference numbering and citation kind","English edition rights and attribution"],"review_status":"needs_review","rights_evidence":"Provider catalog reports public domain in the USA. Original transcription title leaves state T. & T. Clark, Edinburgh, 1871; printed translator allocation retained. Gutenberg credits Internet Archive/Canadian Libraries without an exact scan identifier. Full provider license preserved with acquired original; republication and per-work metadata remain unreviewed.","source_anchor":"Footnote_982_982","source_ebook":45305,"source_html":"<div class=\"footnote\">\n<p><a id=\"Footnote_982_982\"></a><a class=\"pginternal\" href=\"#FNanchor_982_982\"><span class=\"label\">[982]</span></a> See Augustine's <i>Sermons</i>, 321.</p></div>","source_sha256":"7e0ced9e70512f3cf050b53c9d548e36b70d468d875153869f95d8aff5bbb530","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/45305/pg45305-images.html#Footnote_982_982","text_sha256":"b6f13448dc6aba575f11cdb8c84e1ac4c81523d764989963f26e6a22d836bd93","verified":false,"work_id":null}

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