1.5 . About another brother false in his confession

In almost the same time, there was another brother in a monastery which is under our jurisdiction in France at Tours-sur-Marne, to whom the care of this place had been committed. He, long driven by the necessity of illness, asked Rodulf, the abbot of the monastery of Châlons-sur-Mer, to come to him to offer healing both to his soul and his body – about which he was by no means ignorant.

Sparked by charity towards him, he did not hesitate to leave and coming quickly, he strove to visit the sick man. And when he realized the man was oppressed by a serious illness, he began to urge him to confess. The monk attempted to confess his sins, which he claimed to have done on his own free will, but not with a simplicity of spirit. For keeping silent with stupid shame about the most serious and mortal sins and with the fear of God neglected, he had confessed only the ordinary sins and those things which seemed trifling.

Once this semblance of a confession was finished, the sick [monk] prayed that we would give to him the body of the Lord. When it was brought to him, he received it with a presumptuous mouth. However, he was not able to swallow it –though he tried for a long time and with great effort– so he was forced to spit out all the broken morsels of the Body of Christ and also the wine which he had drunk, into the recipient dish placed near to his mouth. On account of this, or rather, on account of this divine judgment, the abbot who had come was very affected and thought that the ill monk had not fully cleansed themselves through confession. He again began to admonish him so that, in case the monk kept hidden any crime, he would not be ashamed to reveal it to him in a true confession. He, both exhorted by the abbot and also repenting due to divine inspiration had a change of heart. Vomiting out whatever of his illness he had hidden inside him, he revealed the crimes –now not falsely, but truthfully with a contrite and humble heart– which he had previously hidden under his death-dealing shame. And when he was cleansed of all the dregs of iniquity through the antidote of penitence and he had merited absolution from the aforesaid abbot due to this true confession, the Eucharist (which he had been forced to spit out beforehand) was brought and devoutly accepted by the monk, who swallowed it without any difficulty as if the healthiest of men.

And lest any doubts be raised about this miracle, he, who was forced to spit out the bits of the body of Christ which he was unable to swallow, after confession he ate not only the body of Christ but also other meals without any problems. Therefore, with confession, absolution, and the reception of the sacrament, that brother was strengthened in the Lord, he lived for only three more days and then he died. Knowing this from the very abbot Radulf (Raoul) himself, I have taken care to communicate this to those reading and listening.