A Case of the Devil’s Deception

There was a man named Clarus, a young man of very noble family, who later became a presbyter and who now, through his blessed departure from this world, is numbered among the saints. Leaving everyone else behind, he went to Martin, and in a short time he became distinguished for the most exalted faith and for every kind of excellence. Now it happened that he had built himself a dwelling not far from the bishop’s monastery, and many brothers were staying with him. A certain young man named Anatolius came to him, who under the profession of a monk had falsely put on every appearance of humility and innocence, and for some time he lived with the rest from the common store. Then, as time went on, he began to claim that angels regularly talked with him. When no one believed what he said, he tried to persuade a number of the brothers by certain signs. At last he went so far as to declare that angels went back and forth between him and God, and now he wanted to be regarded as one of the prophets. Clarus, however, could not be brought to believe him by any means. So Anatolius began to threaten Clarus with the anger of God and with afflictions in the present, because he did not believe one of the saints. Finally, it is said, he burst out with this declaration: “Look, this very night the Lord will give me a white robe from heaven. Clothed in it, I will live among you, and that will be a sign to you that I am the Power of God, since I have been given the garment of God.” [a]

Everyone’s expectation was raised high by this claim. About the middle of the night, the sound of people rushing eagerly about showed that the whole monastery there was stirred up. The cell where the young man lived could be seen glittering with many lights, and the whispering of those moving about in it could be heard, along with a kind of murmur of many voices. Then, when silence fell, the young man came out and called one of the brothers, named Sabatius, to him, and showed him the robe he had been clothed in. Sabatius, astonished, gathered the rest together, and Clarus himself also ran up. A light was brought, and they all carefully examined the garment. It was extremely soft, wonderfully bright, and of glittering purple, and yet no one could tell what it was made of or from what kind of fleece it had been formed. Yet when it was examined more closely with eyes or fingers, it seemed to be nothing other than a garment. Meanwhile Clarus urged the brothers to pray earnestly that the Lord would show them more clearly what it really was, and so the rest of the night was spent in singing hymns and psalms. When day broke, Clarus wanted to take the young man by the hand and bring him to Martin, knowing well that Martin could not be deceived by any of the devil’s tricks. Then the wretched man began to resist and refuse, insisting that he had been forbidden to show himself to Martin. And when they forced him to go against his will, the garment vanished from among the hands of those who were leading him. Who, then, can doubt that this too showed Martin’s power, so that the devil could no longer disguise or hide his deception once it had to be brought before Martin’s eyes?