Gregory of Tours, The History of Franks

Saints were able to influence the lives of Medieval Christians because they were a figure of perfection for people to strive to be like. They were also spiritual leaders in the highest sense, and provided guidance in the church as well as the everyday lives of the medieval people. While they were alive, they served as figures who gave inspiring sermons and wrote articles that made significant contributions to the church at that time. They were also said to be the “mediator between the transcendent, omnipotent God and the weak” (Madigan 328). They were seen as having supernatural powers, which made people want to be close to them in every sense. This even included when people died, they would ask to be buried near them in hopes that during judgement day their close proximity would help their case. After they passed away, they still served as figures of respect and honor throughout not only the medieval era, but still today.

How the people back them would effectively Christianize time would be through the events of the saints. Dependent on how the saints entered the liturgy and the calendar of the church would be how the time was to be perceived. They would place saints on their calendars every day of the year, as long is it didn’t interfere with the Christ or Virgin Mary. Feast-days were meant to celebrate the saints, and usually be associated with the days the saints were on the calendar. Relics were a very important issue going on during this time. Because people were so fascinated with saints and would do anything to get close to their divine power, people would often steal the relics and sell them back to people. This was especially common during the chaos of the crusades. Relic “translation” is simply the removal of a saint’s body or remains, which was almost always to a more elaborate shrine. Gregory of Tours in particular paid special attention to the saints because of his fascination with the miracles they would perform. He was known for writing down all of these miracles, especially those of Martin of Tours.

Really Gregory only relies on what people tell him and what he hears from others. This gives a lot of chance for error or exaggeration in the story. The medieval Christian interest in saints was very high, and back when there was no scientific way to prove anything, it was very reassuring to feel as though you had a saint looking after you. Gregory’s stories are incredibly inspiring, even though modern historians and scientists believe that the “miracles” he recorded, were simply cases in which the body repaired itself. Although these instances were not necessarily factual true they definitely helped the public believe in something bigger than themselves. Because Gregory was deemed as such a reliable source, people didn’t questions his authenticity, even though he got his stories from a questionable place.