Diatribe de Prodigiosis Crucibus

Horrendous plague at Constantinople

In the year 746, the 6th year of the Emperor Constantine Copronymus, following a suddenly arisen and formidable darkness, there ensued horrendous earthquakes in Syria and Palestine; these were followed by the bubonic plague, drawing the origins of its source from Calabria and Sicily, which, invading Constantinople, ravaged it for three years in such a way that it was nearly reduced to a solitude, and with all the monuments, lakes, gardens, and vineyards where the dead might be buried having been filled, no place remained; a great prodigy! On the garments of those who were infected by the plague, figures of Crosses were seen, imprinted without any perceptible trace of motion, and thus they ended their lives, all industry of the medical art being in vain; and when they recognized the vengeance of an angry Divinity, they all entreated the Divine clemency by whatever means they could; Constantine alone, persisting in his stubborn obstinacy, did not cease to infest heaven and earth with blasphemies against GOD and the Saints: all of which Theophanes and Theodorus pursue more fully.

Crosses appear at Paris

In the year 954, fire sent down from heaven clung to the garments of men under the form