Part 54 (2/2)

St. Salvius, Bishop of Albi,[631] having been seized with a violent fever, was thought to be dead. They washed him, clothed him, laid him on a bier, and pa.s.sed the night in prayer by him: the next morning he was seen to move; he appeared to awake from a deep sleep, opened his eyes, and raising his hand towards heaven said, ”Ah! Lord, why hast thou sent me back to this gloomy abode?” He rose completely cured, but would then reveal nothing.

Some days after, he related how two angels had carried him to heaven, where he had seen the glory of Paradise, and had been sent back against his will to live some time longer on earth. St. Gregory of Tours takes G.o.d to witness that he heard this history from the mouth of St. Salvius himself.

A monk of Augia, named Vetinus, or Guetinus, who was living in 824, was ill, and lying upon his couch with his eyes shut; but not being quite asleep, he saw a demon in the shape of a priest, most horribly deformed, who, showing him some instruments of torture which he held in his hand, threatened to make him soon feel the rigorous effects of them. At the same time he saw a mult.i.tude of evil spirits enter his chamber, carrying tools, as if to build him a tomb or a coffin, and enclose him in it.

Immediately he saw appear some serious and grave-looking personages, wearing religious habits, who chased these demons away; and then Vetinus saw an angel, surrounded with a blaze of light, who came to the foot of the bed, and conducted him by a path between mountains of an extraordinary height, at the foot of which flowed a large river, in which he beheld a mult.i.tude of the d.a.m.ned, who were suffering diverse torments, according to the kind and enormity of their crimes. He saw amongst them many of his acquaintance; amongst others, some prelates and priests, guilty of incontinence, who were tied with their backs to stakes, and burned by a fire lighted under them; the women, their companions in crime, suffering the same torment opposite to them.

He beheld there also, a monk who had given himself up to avarice, and possessed money of his own, who was to expiate his crime in a leaden coffin till the day of judgment. He remarked there abbots and bishops, and even the Emperor Charlemagne, who were expiating their faults by fire, but were to be released from it after a certain time. He remarked there also the abode of the blessed in heaven, each one in his place, and according to his merits. The Angel of the Lord after this revealed to him the crimes which were the most common, and the most odious in the eyes of G.o.d. He mentioned sodomy in particular, as the most abominable crime.

After the service for the night, the abbot came to visit the sick man, who related this vision to him in full, and the abbot had it written down directly. Vetinus lived two days longer, and having predicted that he had only the third day to live, he recommended himself to the prayers of the monks, received the holy viatic.u.m, and died in peace, the 31st of October, 824.

Footnotes:

[629] Lib. i. de Miracul. Sancti Stephani, cap. 4. p. 28. Lib. vii.

Oper. St. Aug. in Appendice.

[630] Sulpit. Sever. in Vita S. Martini, cap. 3.

[631] Gregor. Turon. lib. vii. c. 1.

CHAPTER LVI.

THE VISION OF BERTHOLDUS, AS RELATED BY HINCMAR, ARCHBISHOP OF RHEIMS.

The famous Hincmar,[632] Archbishop of Rheims, in a circular letter which he wrote to the bishops, his suffragans, and the faithful of his diocese, relates, that a man named Bertholdus, with whom he was acquainted, having fallen ill, and received all the sacraments, remained during four days without taking any food. On the fourth day he was so weak that there was hardly a feeble palpitation and respiration found in him. About midnight he called to his wife, and told her to send quickly for his confessor.

The priest was as yet only in the court before the house, when Bertholdus said, ”Place a seat here, for the priest is coming.” He entered the room and said some prayers, to which Bertholdus uttered the responses, and then related to him the vision he had had. ”On leaving this world,” said he, ”I saw forty-one bishops, amongst whom were Ebonius, Leopardellus, Eneas, who were clothed in coa.r.s.e black garments, dirty, and singed by the flames. As for themselves, they were sometimes burned by the flames, and at others frozen with insupportable cold.” Ebonius said to him, ”Go to my clergy and my friends, and tell them to offer for us the holy sacrifice.” Bertholdus obeyed, and returning to the place where he had seen the bishops, he found them well clothed, shaved, bathed, and rejoicing.

A little farther on, he met King Charles,[633] who was as if eaten by worms. This prince begged him to go and tell Hincmar to relieve his misery. Hincmar said ma.s.s for him, and King Charles found relief.

After that he saw Bishop Jesse, of Orleans, who was over a well, and four demons plunged him into boiling pitch, and then threw him into icy water. They prayed for him, and he was relieved. He then saw the Count Othaire, who was likewise in torment. Bertholdus begged the wife of Othaire, with his va.s.sals and friends, to pray for him, and give alms, and he was delivered from his torments. Bertholdus after that received the holy communion, and began to find himself better, with the hope of living fourteen years longer, as he had been promised by his guide, who had shown him all that we have just related.

Footnotes:

[632] Hincmar, lib. ii. p. 805.

[633] Apparently Charles the Bald, who died in 875.

CHAPTER LVII.

THE VISION OF SAINT FURSIUS.

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