Tours or a Gregory Thaumaturgus as "tentative," or as attempted with incomplete confidence. It is equally lu- dicrous to represent incomplete assurance on the part of a saint with respect to his miracles before they were wrought as prolonging itself throughout his life, after they were wrought. Meanwhile the fact remains that throughout the history of the church miracles have rather been thrust upon than laid claim to by their workers.33 Nor did there ever lack those who openly repudiated the notion that any necessary connection existed between saintliness and miracle-working. Richard Rolle of Hampole, who also became posthumously a miracle-worker, was in his life- time pronounced no saint because he wrought no miracles. His reply was to the effect that the inference was inconse- quent. "Not all saints," he said,34 "do or have done mir- acles, neither in life nor after death; nor do all reprobates either in life or after death lack miracles; frequently the mediocre good and less perfect do miracles, and many who are seated highest in the heavens before the face of God remain quiet within." 35 "Many bodies," he says, "have been translated on earth whose souls perchance have not yet attained heaven." " Saints are not carried to the super- natural seats for the reason that they have showed wonders, for some wicked men, too, have done this; but truth has desired that the more ardently one loves, the more highly shall he be elevated, the more honorably shall he be seated among the angels." 36 "It is not necessary now," he con- tinues quite in the vein of Augustine, "that miracles should be shown, since throughout the whole world many abide in memory ; but there is need that before the eyes of all should be shown the example of that work. ..."
In remarks like these there is manifested a certain de- preciation of the value of miracles, assuredly not strange in the circumstances. And we are bound to carry this a step further and to recognize that a great mass of these miracles are alleged to have been wrought in the interest
MIRACLES AND SUPERSTITION 51
of what we must pronounce grave errors. J. H. Newman, in a passage just quoted, remarks that many miracles are ascribed to the tombs or relics of the saints, rather than to the saints themselves; and this is only an example of the uses to which they have been put. So many were wrought in connection with superstitions which grew up about the Eucharist, for instance, that "wonders wrought by the Eucharist" is made one of the main divisions of the article, "Wonders," in Smith and Cheatham's Dictionary of Chris- tian Antiquities?1 Thus, for example, "Cyprian speaks of a person who had lapsed in persecution attempting to com- municate ; when on opening the area or receptacle in which the consecrated bread was reserved, fire burst out from it and prevented her. Another, on attending church with the same purpose, found that he had received from the priest nothing but a cinder." 38 Ambrose relates that one of his friends called Satyrus was piously inclined but not yet admitted to the sacrament. "In this state he hap- pened to suffer shipwreck in his passage from Africa." "Says Ambrose: 'Satyrus, not being afraid of death, but to die only before he had taken of these mysteries, begged of some of the company, who had been initiated, that they would lend him the divine sacrament'" (which they carried about with them — according to the superstitious habit of the day — as an amulet or charm), " 'not to feed his curiosity by peeping inside the bag, but to obtain the benefit of his faith, for he wrapped up the mysteries in his handkerchief, and then tying it about his neck threw himself into the sea ; never troubling himself to look out for a plank, which might help him to swim, since he wanted nothing more than the arms of his faith; nor did his hopes fail him, for he was the first of the company who got safe to the shore.'"39 Optatus relates that certain members of the Donatist sect once cast the Eucharistic bread of the Catholics to the dogs — which promptly went mad and bit their masters.40 Sozomen tells that a woman who had received some Eu-
52 COUNTERFEIT MIRACLES