Peter Damian's Sermon on the Translation of Saint Hilary

Now while Fridelinus, confessor of Christ, was laudably governing the monastery of blessed Hilary situated in the suburbs of Poitiers, and was there flourishing with the distinguished disciplines of holy conduct and the excellent uprightness of his character, blessed Hilary appeared to him manifestly in a vision, and among various other things commanded him with a certain authority of lively command: namely, that he himself together with the bishop of Poitiers should without delay approach the king of the Franks, who was then holding the reins of affairs, and confidently request the funds by which the monastery might be enlarged and more fittingly built. To these words he further added that, once the monastery had been newly restored, the holy Abbot should provide a suitable place in which they might lay his body after the translation had been made. The king received them, duly discharged as legates of this happy oracle, graciously and kindly, and bestowed upon them magnificent gifts of royal generosity.

Therefore, rebuilding the monastery anew from its foundations through stonecutters and masons, and restoring it splendidly, the servants of the Lord persevered untiringly in their undertaken labors until they not only brought the fabric of the rising structure to full completion, but also clothed both walls, that is, inside and outside, with the beauty of gleaming mosaic. In this work, indeed, wherever the sum of the royal gift fell short, the bishop did not cease to supply from ecclesiastical resources what was lacking. At length, therefore, when the monastery had been perfected not only with the structure of a completed building but also dedicated with the blessings of priestly office, they forthwith demolished the tomb in which the holy body had been buried.

When therefore the day had been appointed on which they were to transfer the holy remains, on the preceding night, while the bishop and the abbot together were keeping vigil in prayers, they suddenly behold that blessed Angels bring forth the holy body from the tomb, which had already been opened, and carry it with their own hands into the place that had been prepared for it. After these things had been accomplished, blessed Hilary admonished holy Fridelinus in a vision to appoint in his place as ruler of the monastery a certain Irishman closely related to him by kinship, while he himself should hasten to the island of Gallinaria to build a church in honor of that same blessed Hilary. He at once humbly obeyed the command of the blessed bishop, and built not only that which had been commanded, but also four other monasteries in his honor.

Although the life of blessed Fridelinus, in which this history is said to be recounted, has by no means come into our hands, what is written here became known through the report of a brother's account. This, therefore, is the occasion of this sacred solemnity. This is the venerable subject of today's celebration: that at the translation of the holy body the devout people of the faithful may rightly rejoice, for whom an army of Angels performed the funeral rites.

Moreover, from the occasion of this venerable translation, the other deeds of the blessed man also return to our memory: so that what was accomplished in times long past, now brought back before our eyes, may appear in some manner recent and new. For as soon as we begin to speak of the deeds of the venerable man, there immediately comes to mind how impenetrable a wall of the Church he stood against the weapons of heretics, how as an unconquerable warrior he crushed the perverse dogma of the Arians by the grace of catholic truth. Nor is it without significance that, when he was making his way to Seleucia, a town of Isauria, to fight against the treachery of the heretics, a gentile girl, divinely instructed, announced the coming of the holy bishop; and therefore together with her father Florentius and his whole household she merited to receive the sacrament of divine baptism.

Nor does that distinguished miracle escape memory, that on the island of Gallinaria the venomous fury of monstrous serpents could not endure the power of so illustrious a bishop; but, as if terrified by a thunderclap, they did not presume to cross even the boundary of a humble staff which he himself had fixed. But this too comes consequently to mind: that the same outstanding bishop not only restored to life a boy who had died without the grace of regeneration and returned him safe and sound to his mother, but also, having instructed him in the rudiments of the true faith, added him to the children of holy Church. These things, therefore, and many other marks of his virtues come to us on the occasion of this venerable translation, which kindle us to the love of God and to devotion toward this illustrious bishop.

Plainly, since holy Church venerates the translations of many just men which were arranged by the diligence of men, with how much greater zeal of devotion is this one to be solemnly commemorated, which was accomplished by the hands of Angels!

But what is it that the Lord himself personally buried the body of Moses, and yet was unwilling that his sepulchre should become known to men; whereas the body of blessed Hilary he not only transferred through Angels in the presence of men, but also exalted to the glory of such great honor and the reverence of the whole Church? For of Moses it is written: Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord's command, and he buried him in the valley of the land of Moab over against Phogor, and no man has known his sepulchre unto this present day. What is it, then, that the one is unknown, while the other is visited daily with such great glory of Christian devotion? What is it, I say, that Moses is removed from the knowledge of men, unless it be to take away the occasion lest divine honor be paid to one known to have been so dear and familiar to God, by the faithlessness of the Israelite people?

But the bodies of the other Saints are not hidden: so that, while they are frequented by the approach of Christian devotion, both shining signs of virtues may be wrought through them, and the store of blessed merits may increase for these same saints. Furthermore, certain of the faithful are for this reason enclosed after death in loftier tombs, that they may impress their memory upon the living, so that the living may not fail to render them offices of piety. Hence it is that a burial place is customarily called a memoria: namely, that through it the living may remember, and the dead may receive refreshment.

But what is it that certain of the Saints took such great care to provide sepulchres for their bodies? Abraham indeed purchases the double cave from the sons of Heth for four hundred shekels of silver. Jacob and Joseph direct all the desire of their souls toward that same cave, and request that their bodies be carried there after their death. What then is it that the holy Patriarchs, who plainly declare themselves to be dust and ashes, who certainly despise bodies and all bodily things in contemplation of heavenly things, so greatly desire that their bodies should rest in the land of the Canaanites? Why do they choose that place above all other parts of the world for their repose, unless because they knew that the author of human salvation was to be born there from their own seed?

Hence it is that Jacob beseeches his son Joseph, saying: If I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh, and show me kindness and truth, that you bury me not in Egypt, but that I sleep with my fathers, and that you carry me out of this land and bury me in the sepulchre of my forefathers. But why did Jacob ask that the hand of his son be placed under his thighs as a sign of confirming the pledge, unless because he knew that he who is the supreme truth was to be propagated from his own seed? Those blessed men therefore were already cleaving with their inmost hearts to those borders of the land which they already perceived in spirit to be trodden by the footsteps of the Savior, which they already saw with their inner eyes to be purpled with the precious blood of the Lord's body: so that their bodies might there await their resurrection, where they knew that the very author of the blessed resurrection was to rise again.

To this let us also, most beloved, direct the clear gaze of our mind. Toward this, since we cannot make our way by the progress of our feet, let us press forward with the haste of burning desire: and while we show worthy reverence of devotion to the relics of any of the saints, let us direct the gaze of our mind toward that one and singular body which we believe to have been ineffably exalted in the glory of the paternal majesty. That indeed is the land for which the blessed Patriarchs and Prophets then sighed, flowing with milk and honey. Milk flows from the breasts of flesh, but honey comes from above. And because the substance of the Lord's body came forth from the womb of the Virgin, while his divinity descended from the eternal majesty, the body of the Savior is rightly called the land of promise.

This land is said to flow with milk and honey alike, because in the body of our Redeemer there is both true substance and the ineffable sweetness of the divinity. For in him, as the Apostle says, all the fullness of the divinity dwells bodily, and elsewhere: God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. May he deign to lead us into this land of the living, who did not disdain to bear the mortal conditions of our land: so that we may there feed on milk and honey in such wise as to be satisfied by the presence of our Savior and by the honeyed sweetness of his divinity, who lives and reigns with God the Father and the Holy Spirit for ever and ever. Amen.