Chapter XVIII.
Martin performs Various Miracles.
In
the meanwhile, as a sudden
report had troubled the city as to the movement and inroad of the
barbarians, Martin orders a possessed person to be set before him, and
commanded him to declare whether this message was true or not. Then he
confessed that there were sixteen demons who had spread this report
among the people, in order that by the fear thus excited, Martin might
have to flee from the city, but that, in fact, nothing was less in the
minds of the barbarians than to make any inroad. When the unclean
spirit thus acknowledged these things in the midst of the church, the
city was set free from the fear and tumult which had at the time been
felt.
At Paris, again, when Martin was entering the gate of
the city, with large crowds attending him, he gave a kiss to a leper,
of miserable appearance, while all shuddered at seeing him do so; and
Martin blessed him, with the result that he was instantly cleansed from
all his misery. On the following day, the man appearing in the church
with a healthy skin, gave thanks for the soundness of body which he had
recovered. This fact, too, ought not to be passed over in silence, that
threads from Martin’s garment, or such as had been plucked from
the sackcloth which he wore, wrought frequent miracles upon those who
were sick. For, by either being tied round the fingers or placed about
the neck, they very often drove away diseases from the
afflicted.