Page:History of the Franks.djvu/230

 igS HISTORY OF THE FRANKS kiss. The man who had built it of interwoven branches, trusting in God and confident of the blessed Martin's power, took refuge within its walls with his property saying: ''I believe and have faith that he who has so often mastered fire and at this place by a kiss made a leper's skin clean, will keep the fire from here." When the fire came near great masses of flame swept along but when they touched the wall of the oratory they were extinguished at once. But the people kept calling to the man and woman : ''Run if you wish to save yourselves. For a mass of fire is rushing on you ; see, ashes and coals are falKng around you like a heavy rain. Leave the oratory or you will be burned in the fire." But they kept on praying and were never moved by these words. And the woman, who was armed with the strongest faith in the power of the blessed bishop, never moved from the window through which the flames sometimes entered. And so great was the power of the blessed bishop that he not only saved this oratory together with his follower's. house but he did not permit the flames to injure the other houses which were around. There the fire ceased which had broken out on one side of the bridge. And on the other side it burned all so completely that only the river stopped it. However, the churches with the houses attached to them were not burned. It was said that this city had been as it were consecrated in ancient times so that not only fire could not prevail there but snakes and mice could not appear. But lately when a channel under the bridge had been cleaned and the mud which filled it had been taken out they found a snake and a mouse of bronze. They were removed and after that mice without number and snakes appeared, and fires began to take place. 34. Inasmuch as the prince of darkness has a thousand arts of doing injury, I will relate what lately happened to recluses vowed to God. Vennoc, a Breton, who had become a priest as we have told in another book, was so given up to abstinence that he wore only garments made of skins and ate wild herbs in the raw state and merely touched the wine to his lips so that one would think he was kissing it rather than drinking. But as the devout in their generosity often gave him vessels of this liquor, sad to say he learned to drink immoderately and to be so given up to it as to be generally seen drunk. And so as his drunkenness grew worse and time went