A Pike at Easter, and a Jeweled Hand

“Since he was used to eating fish at Easter time, he asked a little before the hour of the meal whether any was ready. Then Cato the deacon, who managed the outward business of the monastery and was a skilled fisherman himself, told him that he had caught nothing the whole day, and that the other fishermen, who used to sell their catch, had not been able to catch anything either. Martin said, ‘Go, let down your line, and a catch will follow.’ As Sulpitius here has already described, we lived close to the river. Since it was a festival, we all went to watch our friend fish, every one of us hoping hard that the effort would not be in vain, since it was being made on Martin’s own advice to get fish for him. At the first cast the deacon drew out an enormous pike in a very small net and ran joyfully back to the monastery. No doubt he felt what some poet put into words (I use a learned verse, since I am talking with learned people): ‘And brought his captive boar to wondering Argos.’ [a]

“Truly that disciple of Christ, imitating the miracles the Savior performed and set before his saints as an example, showed that Christ was also working in him. Christ, glorifying his own holy follower everywhere, gave that one man the gifts of many different graces. Arborius, of the imperial bodyguard, testifies that he saw Martin’s hand as he was offering the sacrifice, clothed, as it seemed, with the noblest gems and glittering with a purple light; and that when Martin moved his right hand, he heard the clash of the gems as they struck together. [c]