Gregory, a sixth-century bishop of Tours, was a great collector of saints' lives. The Gallic saints he described healed the sick, protected fugitives, and released prisoners. They were also quick to take offense and to punish, paralyzing, crippling, and even killing those who slighted them or threatened their interests. This work attempts to reconcile these two aspects of Gregory's saints, allowing for a better understanding of the place of miracles of punishment (Strafwunder) within the broader theological context of the early medieval Latin West.
Duard Andrew Grounds is a researcher affiliated with the Department of Theology at the University of Duisburg-Essen.