Martin Halts a Funeral Procession

Some time after this, while Martin was on a journey, he met the body of a certain pagan being carried to the tomb with superstitious funeral rites. Seeing the crowd approaching from a distance, and not knowing what was going on, he stood still for a little while. For there was a distance of nearly half a mile between him and the crowd, so it was hard to make out what the sight before him really was. Still, because he saw it was a gathering of country people, and the linen cloths spread over the body were blowing about in the wind, he thought that some unholy rites of sacrifice were being performed. This idea came to him because it was the custom of the Gallic peasants, in their wretched folly, to carry the images of demons, veiled with a white covering, around through their fields. [a]

So he raised the sign of the cross against them, and ordered the crowd not to move from where they were, and to set down their burden. At this the miserable people could be seen at first going stiff like rocks. Next, as they tried with every possible effort to move forward but could not take a step further, they began to whirl themselves around in the most ridiculous way, until, no longer able to bear the weight, they set the dead body down. Thunderstruck, staring at one another in bewilderment, not knowing what had happened to them, they stood sunk in silent thought. But when the holy man discovered that they were simply a band of peasants holding a funeral, and not offering sacrifices to the gods, he raised his hand again and gave them the power to go on their way and to lift up the body. So he both made them stand still when he pleased and let them go when he saw fit.