As I wrote earlier, the first pages – parchment – to arrive in Europe from the library White Monastery at Sohag in Egypt were leaves of a life of the incredibly obscure St Colluthus (or Coluthus), containing two stories of miracles that took place at his shrine. These were published by Francesco Borgia in 1781; the Coptic text and a Latin translation.
I thought that it might be interesting to translate these into English; as far as I know, no modern language version exists. Unfortunately I was unable to work with the printed Coptic, so I had to use the Latin.
The stories are mutilated, unfortunately, and neither is very interesting nor – to me at least – edifying. Rather they document the kinds of superstition circulating in Egypt in the Dark Ages.
Let me give the English first, and then the modern Latin translation from which I made it.
MIRACLE 1
“…I will give you the healing of your eyes, and difficulty will not cause it to fail you, in the course [of events].” The man said, “I wish to find a woman who has recently given birth, so that I may complete the work which has been commanded to me by Saint Colluthus.” The woman said, “I will fill your eyes with milk from my breasts.” Then that man, whose eyes were diseased, said to her, “Show kindness to me: behold, you see my torment and my affliction.”
Her husband said to her, because he remained unbelieving, “Do not do this, lest perhaps those who slander you should mock you.” She said, “Mock me? Why? For I believe, through the faith of my noble lineage and the teaching of my Fathers, that if I fill his eyes with milk from my breasts, he will see through the power of Saint Colluthus.” Then she said to him, “Have people ever seen me as someone worthy of ridicule? Was I ever a wanton woman? Or have they said in their hearts that a man has had relations with me other than intercourse with you, my husband? Behold, I call you all as witnesses today, all who hear me. I swear to you by Saint Colluthus, and by the oblation of the Christians,** [i.e. the mass] and by the sufferings which Christ endured on the cross, that I have had no relations with any man since I was given in marriage. From my mother’s womb I came to my husband only. And when has my flesh been touched by a strange man? Has not the Lord heard me, seeing my need?”
And so, taking her milk, she filled the man’s eyes. And she said, “In the name of the power of Saint Colluthus the true doctor” and then his eyes poured out waters, and these flowed out abundantly.
Immediately after this, he opened them, saying, “I believe in you, Saint Colluthus!” and at the same time he cried out to his people, “Behold, I have received my sight, so that I can distinguish a little.”
The woman said to him, “Allow me to fill them again another time.” And the man blessed her, saying, “May the Lord preserve you until His hands reach you.”** [i.e. his purpose is complete] When she filled his eyes a second time, these [waters] flowed out more abundantly.
A little later he opened them again. He looked here and there and said, “Truly, this time I see well.”
Again, after a short while, the woman said to that man, “Allow me to fill them once more also; for I believe that you will have health.” Then she signed her whole body and her breasts with the sign of the cross, in the name of Christ. She filled his eyes with milk a third time, saying, “In the name of God and of Saint Colluthus.” Then the woman said to him, “Close your eyes for a little while, and may the grace of God and of Saint Colluthus be with you.”
And this noble woman, confirmed greatly in faith, was strengthened because she saw the healing which had gradually been accomplished for him. After a little while he opened his eyes again. The household servants were present at night, and at that time he saw the light truly and perfectly.
Then that man rose up in great joy. He walked, washed his face in a basin, and cried out, saying, “You are great, to you I give glory, O God of Saint Coluthus, because I have been made worthy that you should grant me the grace of light, just as it was for me at the beginning.” And all the people who had entered the martyr’s shrine, together with those who had gone out, came together. They looked upon him rejoicing greatly because he was seeing this light.
Indeed, that man also, who considered the wrong which he had done to his wife, praised her and confessed before Saint Colluthus, saying, “Behold, I have been healed in body and in my soul, because I have been made worthy to come to this place of yours.” The woman’s parents also came with her brothers and her people, rejoicing, blessing and glorifying [God], saying, “Blessed are you among women, O our sister and our daughter, because today you have received glory in the midst of many, since you have put to shame the multitude of men and women through your nobility. For the multitude thought, O our daughter, that they would find fault with you because of your noble birth, your kindness, and your sweet speech.” At this time Saint Colluthus revealed the glory of his greatness and his nobility through the greatness of the healings which he performed for those who were sick and who believed in him.
After these things, each person went away with him to his own house. They honoured the martyr’s shrine of Saint Coluthus: they ate and drank in his place, and they returned home giving glory to God and to Saint Coluthus.
MIRACLE 2
Hear also another great miracle which was performed through Saint Colluthus.
Again a mutilated man was brought forward who had absolutely no power to walk on his feet: likewise his hands were withered. He did not lift up his step, but moved along by dragging his body over the ground, just as little children go, crawling upon the earth, and he was brought into that holy place. Then he lay in the martyr’s shrine, praying to God and calling upon Saint Colluthus for the healing of his body, that healing might be given to him. And he groaned day and night, weeping many times, crying out in great anguish of spirit, he said, “Help me, physician and healer! For this reason I flee to you, my lord, and to this your holy martyr’s shrine, that you may have mercy upon my lowliness.” All the people were greatly distressed because of him, crying out, “Truly he suffers.”
After all these things, Saint Colluthus, the physician and accomplisher of healings, had mercy on him. He came to him in a vision at night. He stood over him and said to him, “Do you know me?” He answered, “No, my lord. Who are you, who appear surrounded by the greatness of glory?” He said to him in the vision, “I am Coluthus the physician. I heal all people who have faith, freely, and I desire to receive no payment from anyone whatsoever.” The man said to him, “My lord, may your mercy embrace me, for I am in very great anguish.”
Saint Colluthus said to him in the vision, “Rise at dawn. Walk using your hands and your feet, and enter the city. To any man or woman who meets you in the city say, ‘Where is the house of Mary the prostitute?’ They will show it to you. And if they ask you, ‘Why?’ say to them, ‘I wish to spend the night with her; I will give her her payment.’ Do not fear, and do not be ashamed. For a great gift and a great grace will come to that woman through you. She will abandon the shamefulness of her error; she will become honoured through this business of yours, when she hears of the mercy of your healing…”
Latin, somewhat normalised with quotation marks added:
MIRACULUM I. VERSIO.
“…Tibi dabo sanitatem oculorum tuorum: et difficultas non faciet eam tibi deficere, in directione.” Dixit homo: “Volo invenire mulierem puerperam, ut perficiam opus, quod a Sancto Colutho iussum est mihi.” Dixit mulier: “Ego implebo oculos tuos lacte ex uberibus meis.” Dixit autem ad eam vir ille, cuius oculi erant infirmi: “Fac caritatem mecum: ecce vides cruciatum meum, et afflictionem meam.”
Dixit illius maritus ad ipsam: in incredulitate quia manens erat, “Ne hoc facito, ne forte detrectatores deriserint te .” Dixit illa: “Deriserint me? Quare? Ego enim per fidem nobilitatis meae, et doctrinam Patrum meorum credo, quod si implevero illius oculos lacte ex uberibus meis, ille videbit per virtutem Sancti Coluthi: dicens ei: “An aliquando viderunt me homines deridendam?” aut fui voluptuosa, aut dixerunt in corde suo, quod homo communionem habuit mecum praeter tui, mariti mei, consuetudinem? Ecce testor vobis hodie, quotquot estis qui me auditis : iuro vobis per Sanctum Coluthum, et per oblationem Christianorum, et per cruciatus , quos Christus passus est in cruce, quod communionem non habui cum homine ex quo fui nuptui tradita. Veni ab utero matris meae ad maritum meum solum. Et quando caro mea tacta est a viro alieno? Nonne Dominus exaudivit me videns necessitatem meam?
Et sic accepto lacte suo implevit oculos hominis: et sic dicebat: “In nomine virtutis Sancti Coluthi modici veri:” et sic oculi eius effuderunt aquas, et hae defluxerunt multum.
Inter haec autem statim eos aperuit dicens: “Credo tibi sancte Coluthe:” et eodem tempore exclamavit ad homines suos dicens: “Ecce visum recepi, ita ut parumper discernam.”
Dixit mulier ad eum: “Sine ut eos impleam alia vice.” At homo benedixit ei dicens: “Dominus conservabit te quousque pertigerint manus eius.” Illa vero ut implevit oculos eius secundo, aquam hi emiserunt copiosius.
Paullo post iterum eos aperuit: respexit huc et illuc dicens: “Vere video hac vice bene.”
Rursus post paullulum dixit mulier ad hominem illum: “Sine ut eos impleam alia etiam vice; etenim credo, quod sanitas erit tibi.” Ipsa porro signavit corpus suum omne, et ubera sua in nomine Christi, signaculo crucis: implevit oculos eius lacte tertia vice dicens: “In nomine Dei, et Sancti Coluthi.” Dixitque illi deinde mulier: “Claude oculos tuos parumper et gratia Dei, et S. Coluthi sit tibi.” Eadem autem ingenua femina in fide, summopere confirmata est, quoniam vidit sanitatem, quae facta fuerat illi (homini) sensim. Post paullulum eos aperuit : adfuerunt nocte domestici: eoque tempore vidit lucem vere, atque perfecte.
Homo vero ille surgens in magno gaudio, ambulavit, lavit faciem suam in pelvi, et exclamabat dicens: “Tu magnus es, tibi gloriam defero, O Deus Sancti Coluthi, quia factus sum dignus ut gratiam mihi concederes luminis, quemadmodum mihi erat in initio.” Et omnes homines, qui in martyrium ingressi erant cum iis qui exiverant, venerunt universi: eumque contemplati sunt gaudentem vehementer, quod hoc lumen aspiceret.
Verum et homo ille, qui consideravit malum, quod fecit mulieri suae, magnificans (eam) confessus est S. Colutho dicens: “Ecce sanatus sum in corpore, et in anima mea; quia factus sum dignus venire ad locum hunc tuum.” Parentes quoque mulieris cum eius fratribus eiusque hominibus venerunt gaudentes, benedicentes et glorificantes dicebant: “Benedicta tu inter mulieres, O soror nostra, et filia nostra, quia gloriam hodie accepisti in medio multorum, ex quo confudisti multitudinem hominum, atque mulierum per nobilitatem tuam. Multitudo enim putavit te, O filia nostra, deprehendere in nato propter nobilitatem generis, et comitatem, atque suavi loquentiam.” Hoc tempore Sanctus Coluthus manifestavit gloriam magnitudinis, et nobilitatis suae per magnitudinem sanationum, quas fecit illis, qui infirmi erant, et qui crediderunt ei.
Post haec unusquisque abiit cum eo in domum suam. Honorarunt martyrium Sancti Coluthi: manducarunt, biberunt in ipsius loco, et rediere domum dantes gloriam Deo, et Sancto Colutho.
MIRACULUM II. VERSIO.
Audite quoque magnum aliud miraculum, quod factum est per S. Coluthum. Adductus porro est et homo mutilus non habens vim ambulandi super pedibus suis omnino: erantque manus eius aridae simul : non equidem gressum extulit, sed incedebat trahendo corpus per humum, quemadmodum eunt filii parvuli raptantes se super terram: dimissusque est in illius loco sancto. Erat autem iacens in martyrio deprecans Deum, interpellans S. Coluthum propter sanitatem corporis sui, ut ei fieret sanatio. Et ingemiscebat die ac nocte plorans etiam multoties: vociferans in magnis angoribus animi dicebat: “Adiuva me medice, sanator; ob id enim confugio ad te, domine mi, et ad tuum hocce martyrium sanctum, ut misereatis vilitatis meae.” Homines vero omnes affligebantur vehementer propter eum clamantes: “Vere cruciatur.”
Post haec autem omnia misertus est illius S. Coluthus medicus sanationum effector. Venit ad eum in visione noctis: stetit super eum, dixitque illi: “Nostine me?” Respondit ei: “Non, domine mi: tu quis es, qui inveniris magnitudine gloriae circumdatus.” Dixit ei in visione; “Ego sum Coluthus medicus, et homines quosque habentes fidem sano omnes gratis, et nullius omnino mercedem accipere cupio.” Dixit illi: “Domine mi, misericordia tua complectatur me, quoniam ego in angoribus sum nimis.” Dixit ei S. Coluthus in visione: “Surge tu diluculo ambula manibus, pedibusque tuis, et ingredere civitatem: et homini, aut mulieri occurrentibus tibi in civitate dic eis: ‘Quaenam est domus Mariae fornicariae?’ Illi eam tibi indicent. Et si te interrogaverint: ‘quare?’ dic illis: ‘Volo noctem cum ea transigere : dabo ei mercedem suam.’ Ne timeas, et ne verecunderis; magnum enim donum, et magna gratia fiet mulieri illi per te. Deseret turpitudinem erroris sui: fiet illustris tua hac occasione, quum audiverit misericordiam sanationis tuae….”
I hope this will prove useful.