In the spring of 470, the ground around Vienne would not stop moving.
The city, then capital of the Burgundian kingdom in what is now southern France, had endured months of earthquakes. Fires broke out without warning. Volcanic eruptions in the surrounding hills scattered ash across the fields. The harvest failed. And people fled into the streets convinced judgement had arrived.
The bishop of Vienne, (Saint) Mamertus, did not offer an explanation. He just told the people a procession was coming.
On the three days before Ascension Thursday, Mamertus led the population out beyond the city walls and through the surrounding fields. Clergy, farmers, children, magistrates: all walking together while fasting, singing the Litany of the Saints, and praying for deliverance.
The procession moved through the land that sustained the community. It named the fields, and traced the edges of the inhabited world. But most importantly: it asked God to preserve both.
Then… the earthquakes stopped, and the har…
