The Life of Saint Martin · Chapter XVI

The paralysed girl healed at Trier with blessed oil

As for the gift of healing the sick, it had such extraordinary power in Martin that hardly anyone came to ask him for help without going away cured on the spot — as can be clearly seen from the case I am about to tell.

In the city of Trier there lived a girl struck by a paralysis so severe that for a long time she had not moved a single muscle of her body: she was practically dead from head to foot and it could barely be seen that she was still breathing. The whole family had gathered around the bed in tears, by now only waiting for the end in order to see to the funeral, when the news ran through the city that Martin had just arrived in Trier. As soon as he heard of it, the young woman’s father ran out of the house, almost breathless, to go and beg his help for his daughter.

By then Martin had already gone into the church. There and then, in front of all the people and of many other bishops, the old father threw himself to the ground, clasped his knees and implored him, sobbing convulsively: “My daughter is dying of a terrible illness and — worse even than death itself — she has only a thread of breath left in a body that already seems dead! I beg you by everything to go to the house and give her your blessing, because I have absolute faith that by your hand she will be made well!”

Flustered by such a request in public, Martin tried to draw back, greatly embarrassed: he said that this was completely beyond his powers, that the poor man was mistaken about him and that he had no merit at all for God to work such a miracle through him. But the father would not let go of him, weeping more and more and insisting that he come and see his daughter before she died. In the end even the other bishops present pressed Martin to go, and he finally went to the girl’s house. Outside, at the door, an immense crowd gathered to see what the man of God was going to do.

First, turning to his usual weapons on these occasions, Martin knelt down until his forehead touched the ground and remained in prayer. Then he looked at the girl and asked for a little oil; he blessed it and poured a few drops of that sacred liquid into her mouth — and at that same instant she recovered her speech. Then, little by little, as Martin touched her, her arms and legs came back to life again, until the young woman stood up with a firm step before the whole people.