ds might be true (I Cor. 1: 27), that God despises that which is held in great esteem among men; or again, as the Lord Himself foretold (Matt. 20:26), "Whosoever will be great among you, let him be your minister." Then, searching the spot with greater diligence, they found a marble slab which they had to cut through. At last, having broken through the slab, they found the bones of St Benedict, and his sister's bones beneath, with another marble slab between; since (as we believe) the almighty and merciful God would that those should be united in their sepulcher who, in life, had been joined together in brotherly and sisterly love, and in Christian charity.
Having collected and washed these bones they laid them upon fine
clean linen, each by itself, to be carried home to their own country.
They gave no sign to the Romans lest, if these had learnt the
truth, they would doubtless never have suffered such holy relics
to be withdrawn from their country without conflict or war-relics
which God made manifest, in order that men might see how great
was their need of religion and holiness, by the following miracle.
For, within a while, the linen that wrapped these bones was found
red with the saint's blood, as though from open wounds on living
whereby Jesus Christ intended to show that those whose bones are
here so glorious would truly live with Him in the world to come.
Then they were laid upon a horse which bore them over all that
long journey as lightly as though he had felt no burden. Again,
when they journeyed through forest ways and on narrow roads, neither
did the trees impede them nor did any ruggedness of the path obstruct
their journey; so that the travelers saw clearly how this was
through the merits of St Benedict and his sister St Scholastica,
in order that their journey might be safe and prosperous even
into the realm of France and the monastery of Fleury. In which
monastery they are now buried in peace, until they I arise in
glory at the Last Day; and here they confer benefits upon all
who pray unto the Father through Jesus Christ, the Son of God,
who lives and reigns in the unity die Holy Ghost, world without
[For a a collection of miracles wrought by these bones at Fleury,
see Miracles de St. Benoit, ed. E. Certain (Soc. d'Histoire
From C.G. Coulton, ed, Life in the Middle Ages, (New York:
Macmillan, c.1910), Vol IV, 29-31
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(c)Paul Halsall August 1996