XVI Here it is told of the great mercy wrought by Saint Paulinus the bishop
Edward Storer translation
Blessed Bishop Paulinus was so full of charity that when a poor woman asked a charity for her son who was in prison Blessed Paulinus replied: I have nothing to give to you, but do this. Lead me to the prison where your son is.
The woman led him there.
Notes in this chapter
Note 1 · The word in the original is tortori, literally torturers, though it means, of course, the keepers of the prison. ↑Note 2 · Also in Saint Gregory, Dialogues, III, 1. ↑Note 3 · And he put himself in the hands of the prison-keepers1 saying to them: give back her son to this good woman, and keep me in his stead.2Note 4 · Peter or Piero. ↑Note 5 · The story appears in Cavalca’s Vite dei Santi Padri, and also in other forms elsewhere. ↑Note 6 · Peter1 the banker was a man of great wealth, and was so charitable that he distributed all his possessions to the poor.Note 7 · Then when he had given everything away, he sold himself and gave the whole price to the poor.2