The Life and Legends of Saint Francis of Assisi | Page 4

God, for the
conversion of sinners, for reanimating piety, for nourishing and
strengthening the hopes of the good things of another life. We are,
therefore, justified in saying that the promise of Jesus Christ is for all
times, in certain occasions, and that the belief in the miracles in the
Lives of the Saints is authorized thereby.
In the sixth place, that there have been miracles in the Lives of the
Saints are facts, the proofs of which are unquestionable. The Acts of
the Martyrs, which have always been read in the Church, and the
genuineness of which has been admitted by the most talented critics,
contain recitals of the most wonderful events: the confessors of the
faith instantaneously cured, after having undergone the most cruel
tortures; wild beasts tamed and crouching at their feet; lights and
celestial voices, apparitions of Jesus Christ and His angels, and many

other wonderful circumstances.
In the first six centuries there are scarcely any ecclesiastical writers and
Holy Fathers who do not record miracles worked by the servants of
God, and by their relics; and they speak of them as of things which they
have either seen with their own eyes, or were of public notoriety.
Saint Justin Martyr, in the second century, speaking of the power of
Jesus Christ over the demons, in his Apology, addressed to the
Emperors Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus, and to the Roman Senate,
says: "You have proofs of what passes before your eyes, and in your
city, and in all the rest of the world; for you know that many of those
possessed, not having been able to be delivered by your exorcists,
enchanters, and magicians, have been so by the Christians who have
exorcised them in the name of Jesus Christ, who was crucified under
Pontius Pilate."
Saint Ireneus assures us that in the same century some true disciples of
Jesus Christ had received supernatural gifts, which they made use of
advantageously for other men: "Some," says he, "drive away devils;
and this is certain, that often those who have been delivered embrace
the faith, and join the Church. To others it is given to know the future,
and to have prophetic visions. Others cure the sick by the imposition of
hands, and restore them to perfect health. Very often, even in every
place, and for some requisite cause, the brethren solicit, by fasting and
fervent prayers, the resurrection of a dead person, and obtain it; these
dead, thus revived, have lived with us for several years afterwards.
What shall I say further? It is not possible to enumerate the
extraordinary gifts which the Church receives from God, and what she
operates in every part of the world, in favor of the nations, in the name
of Jesus Christ crucified."
"We can," says Origen, writing against Celsus, "show an immense
multitude of Greeks and barbarians who believe in our Lord Jesus
Christ; there are some who prove their faith by the power of working
miracles. They cure the sick by invoking their God, the Creator and the
Sovereign Lord of all things; and the name of Jesus Christ, our Saviour,
of whose Gospel they recite a part. We ourselves have seen several sick
persons delivered from the most formidable maladies, and the cured are
too numerous to be counted."
Tertullian, in his Apology, and in another work, records plainly the

miraculous fall of rain which was obtained from heaven by the prayers
of the Christian soldiers, which saved the army of the Emperor Marcus
Aurelius, which was reduced to the last extremity. He proves the truth
of this fact by the very letter of the emperor. We have also authentic
proofs of this event in the authors and records of paganism itself.
Tertullian, likewise, tells us that the pagans received extraordinary
graces by means of the Christians, some of which he quotes, and he
adds: "How many persons of distinction, without mentioning other
people, have been thus delivered from the devil, and cured of their
evils!"
St. Cyprian upbraided an idolater in the following terms, while refuting
him: "The gods whom you adore we exorcise in the name of the true
God, and they are compelled to leave the bodies which they possessed.
Oh, if you chose to see and hear them, when suffering under the power
of our words, as if they were spiritual scourges, and feeling the secret
operation of the Divine Mastery! They howl terrifically, entreat of us to
spare them, declare, in presence of their adorers, whence they came,
and confess a future judgment. Come and be convinced of the truth of
what we say; to be at least moved. Those whom you adore, fear us;
those to whom you pray, entreat of us to spare them; those whom you
revere as sovereigns, are