Then the man of God thought it good that they should presently dig up the ground in the same place before his departure. This was done, and a deep hole made, the monks found there an idol of brass, which being for a little while by chance cast into the kitchen, they beheld fire suddenly to come from it, which to all their sight seemed to set the whole kitchen on fire. For the quenching of it, the monks by casting on of water made such a noise, that the man of God, hearing it, came to see what the matter was.
He himself beheld not any fire at all, but they said that they did. He bowed down his head forthwith in prayer, and then he perceived that they were deluded with a fantastical fire. He therefore bide them bless their eyes, that they might behold the kitchen safe and sound, and not those fantastical flames, which the devil had falsely devised.
OSB Index | Gen. Information | Saint Benedict
