E02687: Gregory of Tours, in his Glory of the Confessors (70), recounts a miracle of *Mitrias (saint of Aix-en-Provence, S01288): a villa of the church of Aix (southern Gaul) was seized by a magnate of the court of King Sigibert; Franco, bishop of Aix, appealed to the saint and stopped all veneration at his tomb until the villa was returned; the evil-doer was struck down with illness, eventually relented, and then expired. Written in Latin in Tours (north-west Gaul), 587/588.

Gregory of Tours, Glory of the Confessors 70

Mitrias of Aix-en-Provence, though a slave (conditione servus), was free in justice. He was a very holy man, as readers of the story of his life's struggle testify (ut ferunt legentes certaminis eius textum), and the miracles he performs show that he is in heaven. Once, when Franco was bishop of Aix, a certain Childeric, an important man at the court of Sigibert (primus apud Sigibertum regem), seized a villa belonging to the church, claiming that it held the villa improperly. Although Franco threatened the vengeance of Mitrias, Childeric kept the villa and, in addition, fined Franco three hundred gold coins (aurei).

Denique condemnatus spoliatusque sacerdos ad urbem redit, atque prostratus in orationem coram sepulchro sancti, dicto psalmi capitello, ait: 'Non hic accenditur lumen, neque psalmorum modolatio canitur, gloriosissime sancte, nisi prius ulciscaris servos tuos de inimicis suis, resque tibi violenter ablatas eclesiae sanctae restituas'. Haec cum lacrimis effatus, sentes cum acutis aculeis super tumulum proiecit; egressusque, clausis ostiis, simliter in ingressu alias collocavit.
Nec mora, corripitur pervasor a febre, decumbit lectulo, exhorret cibum, fastidit et potum, profert aestuans iuge suspirium. Cui etiam si ab ardore febris interdum sitis accederet, aquam tantum, nihil aliud hauriebat. Quid plura? In hac aegrotatione integrum ducit annum; sed mens prava non flectitur. Interea labitur caesaries cuncta cum barba, et ita omne caput remansit nudum, ut putaris eum olim sepultum, nuper eiectum fuisse post funera de sepulchro. His et talibus miser adflictus malis, sero recogitat, dicens: 'Peccavi, eo quod expoliaverim eclesiam Dei atque episcopo sancto intulerim iniuriam. Nunc autem ite quantotius et, redditam villam, sexcentos aureos super tumulum sancti deponite. Est enim mihi spes, quod res reddita tribuat aegrotanti medellam'. Quod audientes homines eius, accepta pecunia, fecerunt, sicut eis fuerat imperatum. Reddiderunt agrum solidosque super sepulchrum servi Dei posuerunt. Sed cum hoc fecissent, statim ille in loco quo erat spiritum exalavit, lucratusquer est detrimentum animae per adeptionem adquesitionis iniquae. Episcopus autem obtenuit ultionem de inimico eclesiae, quam promiserat futurum per athletae Dei virtutem.

'After bishop Franco was sentenced and despoiled, he returned to his city. He knelt in prayer before the tomb of the saint, recited the verses of a psalm, and said: ‘Most glorious saint, no more lights will be lit here, no more melodies of psalms will be sung, until you first avenge your servants from their enemies and restore to the holy church the properties that have been violently taken from you.’ He wept as he said this. Then he threw briers with sharp thorns on top of the tomb; and having left, he shut the doors and put other briers likewise in the entrance.
Immediately the man who had invaded [the church property] was struck with a fever. He lay on his bed, rejected food, refused to drink, and in his fever continually panted. Even if he occasionally became thirsty because of the burning of his fever, he drank only water and nothing else. Why more? He spent an entire year in this illness, but his evil mind was not changed. Meanwhile all his hair and his beard fell out, and his entire head was so naked that you might think he had once been buried and then recently taken from his tomb after a funeral. After the wretched man was afflicted with these and other similar misfortunes, he reconsidered at a late hour and said: ‘I have sinned because I plundered the church of God and I brought insult upon the holy bishop. Now, however, go as quickly as possible and, after restoring the villa, place six hundred gold pieces on the tomb of the saint. For I hope that after the property has been returned he might grant a cure to a sick man.’ His men listened to what he said, took the money, and did as had been commanded of them. They restored the estate and placed the gold coins on the tomb of the servant of God. But when they did this, immediately he [Childeric] exhaled his spirit in the place where he was. Because he had unjustly seized this acquisition, he earned the loss of his soul. The bishop obtained from this enemy of the church the revenge that he had predicted would result from the power of the athlete of God.'

Text: Krusch 1969, 338-339. Translation: Van Dam 2004, 51-52, lightly modified.