Garnier: Miracles, Pilgrimages and Souvenirs

http://txm.ish-lyon.cnrs.fr/bfm/pdf/becket.pdf
Stanzas 1172 - 1182
Lines 5856-5910

1172
Li sainz martyrs dunt vus l’estorie oï avez,
La nuit de saint Thomas, devant Noël, fu nez,
Quant um chantout les vespres ; après vespres, levez ;
E après saint Thomas fu Thomas apelez.
5860 Quant um chantout les vespres, el halt ciel fu portez.

1173
Li parreins fu ocis e gist en Orïent,
Car saint’iglise esteit idunc en creissement.
Cist fu ocis el Nort, e guarde l’Occident,
Pur s’iglise qui ert tut’en dechaement.
5865 Noël e Jursalem unt parti igalment.

1174
Pur la terrestre iglise furent andui ocis ;
Le celestïel regne unt par lur mort conquis.
E al servise Deu unt tuz les cinc sens mis,
E tuz les cinc degrez unt muntez e purpris.
5870 Tut le mund de dous parz unt en lur guarde pris.

1175
Par un marsdi fu nez li sainz huem dunt vus di ;
Pur veir de Norhamtun par marsdi s’en fuï,
E si passa la mer par un jur de marsdi,
E repassa d’essil par tel jur altresi ;
5875 Par marsdi ensement le martyre suffri.

1176
Pur ço qu’or tart nus est novals martyrs donez,
Guernes li Clers, del Punt Sainte Mesence nez,
Vus volt faire del tens del martyre acertez :
Mil anz cent e seissante e diz tuz acuntez
5880 I out, des que Deus fu en la Virgene encarnez.

1177
Mult est bien saint Thomas de Deu nostre Seignur ;
E tuz li munz le veit, n’en querrum menteür.
Ne fu unches oï des le siecle primur
Que Deus a humme mort mustrast si grant amur :
5885 Mult granz miracles fait pur lui e nuit e jur.

1178
En terre est Deus od nus pur amur al martyr,
E les morz fait revivre, mutz parler, surz oïr,
Les contraiz redrescier, gutus, fevrus guarir,
Ydropikes, leprus en santé restablir,
5890 Cius veer, en lur sens les desvez revenir.

1179
Pluisur rei le requierent en dreit pelerinage,
Li prince, li barun, li duc od lur barnage,
Genz d’alïens païs, de mult divers language,
Prelat, moine, reclus e maint en poünage ;
5895 E ampolles reportent en signe del veage.

1180
Mais de Jerusalem est la cruiz aportee,
E de Rochemadur, Marie en plum getee,
[182] De Saint Jame, l’escale qui en plum est muee :
Or ad Deus saint Thomas cel’ampole donee,
5900 Qui est par tut le mund cherie e honuree.

1181
En semblance de vin e d’ewe fait user
Deus sun sanc par le mund, pur les anemes salver ;
En ewe e en ampoles fait par le mund porter
Deus le sanc al martir, pur les enferms saner.
5905 En santé e en signe i fait l’onur dubler.

1182
Mais merveille poum e veer e oïr,
Que cil ki mortalment le soleient haïr,
Envers le rei Henri medler e mal tenir,
Ki furent a sa mort purchacier e bastir,
5910 Pur merci les veum ses hummes devenir.

Translation

1172
The holy martyr whose story you have listened to was born before Christmas on the night of St. Thomas [the Apostle/Doubting Thomas] at the hour when Vespers was chanted. And it was after this Thomas that our Thomas was named. And it was at the hour when Vespers were chanted that he was carried up high into Heaven. 5860


1173
The saint after whom he was baptised and named was killed and laid to rest in the East, as holy Church was then in the ascent. As for him [our Thomas], he was killed in the North and protects the West for the sake of his Church, which was in decline. They each divide the world into two equal halves at Christmas time on either side of Jerusalem. 5865

1174
The two of them were both killed in the cause of the Church here on Earth. By their deaths they each gained the kingdom of Heaven. And in the service of God they put all their five senses; and mounted all of and achieved the five steps to canonisation. Each has taken half of the world under his protection. 5870


1175
The saintly man of whom I speak to you about was born on a Tuesday; it was a Tuesday, verily, when he took flight from Northampton; he crossed the sea on a day which was a Tuesday, and similarly returned from exile on the same day. It was on a Tuesday that he suffered martyrdom. 5875

1176
Since a new martyr has recently been given to us, [I] Guernes the Cleric, born in Pont-Sainte-Maxence, wants to give an exact date of his martyrdom: one thousand one hundred and seventy years since God was made flesh by the Virgin. 5880

1177
St. Thomas is hugely in the favour of God our Lord. The whole world knows this:  we will not to seek a liar.  It has not been heard of since the first century that God has shown so much love for a dead man. Many great miracles has He performed through him both night and day. 5885

1178
God manifests Himself on Earth in the midst of us through His love for the martyr; He raises up the dead, the dumb are able to speak, the deaf to hear, deformities are straightened out; those who suffer from gout or fever are cured, those with dropsy or leprosy have their health restored; the blind are made to see and the insane recover their senses. 5890

1179
Many a king, as well as princes, barons, and dukes together with their entourage, have made a pilgrimage [to his tomb] seeking his help; people from foreign lands speaking many diverse languages: prelates, monks, recluses and many [pilgrims] who come on foot. They take away ampullae bearing witness to their journey. 5895

1180
Indeed from Jerusalem have pieces [of the True] Cross been brought; and from Rocamadour [statues] of [the Virgin Mary] moulded from lead [pewter?]; and of St James [Santiago de Compostella] scallops fashioned out of lead [pewter?]. Now God has given us these ampullae which the whole world cherish and honour. 5900

1181
Under the appearance [pretence?] of turning wine into water, God has used his [Thomas'] blood for the salvation of everyone's souls. He has caused the blood of the martyr to be carried throughout the world mixed with water in ampullae for the cure of the sick. 5905

1182
Even we can see and hear extraordinary things: those who have never ceased to hate him to death, to confound him with their slanders before King Henry, those who sought and realised his martyrdom, we see them through his mercy [obtain their pardon] by becoming his vassals. 5910

References

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Pewter ampulla of St. Thomas Becket: 12th-13th century at Museum of London
https://goo.gl/JrX9cS

British Museum - ampulla
https://goo.gl/DOzrTI
The miraculous water from Becket's well in Canterbury was said to heal any ailment — "optimus egrorum, medicus fit thomas bonorum"  for people who are sick, Thomas is the best of physicians," said the motto stamped on the lead ampules which each pilgrim received.

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https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/155937205820552215/

The Scallop Shell and the Camino de Santiago - CaminoWays.com

Linda Kay Davidson; David Martin Gitlitz. Pilgrimage: From the Ganges to Graceland ; an Encyclopedia. Rocamadour, France: ABC-CLIO. pp. 527–. ISBN 978-1-57607-004-8.

William McLoughlin; Jill Pinnock (2007). Mary for Time and Eternity. Gracewing Publishing. pp. 352–. ISBN 978-0-85244-651-5.

La Fontenelle de Vaudoré (1839). Revue anglo-française: destinée à recueillir toutes les données historiques et autres, se rattachant aux points de contact entre la France, l'Aquitaine et la Normandie, la Grande-Bretagne et l'Irlande. Saurin frères

Emmanuel Walberg (1975). La tradition hagiographique de Saint Thomas Becket: avant la fin du XIIe siècle : études critiques. Slatkine. pp. 35–.