Oil Blessed by Martin

“The following is a small matter that I learned recently from the account of Arpagius the presbyter, but I do not think it should be passed over. The wife of the courtier Avitianus had sent some oil to Martin for him to bless (that is the custom), so that it would be ready when needed to meet various kinds of illness. It was in a glass jar, round all over, which swelled out gradually toward the middle and had a long neck. But the hollow of the long neck was not filled, because it is the custom to fill vessels of that kind so that the top is left free for the stoppers that close them. The presbyter testified that he saw the oil increase under Martin’s blessing, so much that it overflowed the jar and ran down from the top on every side. He added that it went on bubbling up in the same way while the vessel was being carried back to the lady of the house. The oil kept flowing over in the hands of the boy carrying it, so steadily that the liquid pouring down in such abundance covered all his clothes. He said, moreover, that the lady received the vessel so full to the brim that (as the same presbyter tells us to this day) there was no room in that jar to put in the stopper with which people usually close vessels whose contents are to be kept with special care. [a]

“There was also a remarkable thing that happened to this man.” Here he looked at me. “He had set down a glass vessel containing oil blessed by Martin in a rather high window. A servant boy of the household, not knowing a jar was there, pulled the cloth covering it toward himself rather too roughly, and so the vessel fell onto the marble floor. At this everyone was filled with dread that the blessing of God, given to the vessel by Martin, had been lost. But the jar was found as safe as ever, just as if it had fallen on the softest feathers. Now this result should be put down, not so much to chance, as to the power of Martin, whose blessing could not possibly perish.

“There is this, too, which was done by a certain person whose name will be kept back, because he is present and has forbidden it to be mentioned. Saturninus, who is with us now, was also there at the time. A dog was barking at us rather unpleasantly. ‘I command you in the name of Martin to be quiet,’ said the person I mean. The dog fell silent. His bark seemed to stick in his throat, and you would have thought his tongue had been cut out. So it is really a small thing that Martin himself worked miracles. Believe me, other people too have done many things in his name.