Eugippius

In his own words on Joel

• Joel 2:16

  He addressed them piously. "Have you not read," he said, "what divine authority has prescribed to a sinful people through the prophet: 'Be converted to me with all your heart, in fasting and in weeping,' and a little later: 'Sanctify a fast,' he says, 'call an assembly, gather the congregation,' and all that follows? Therefore, fulfill with worthy actions what you teach, that you may perhaps escape the evil of the present time. And let nobody, on any account, go out on his field as if he could ward off the locusts by human effort, lest God's wrath be provoked even more." Without delay everybody gathered in the church, and they all, each in his place, recited the psalms, as was the custom. Every age and sex, even those who could not yet speak, offered a prayer to God with tears, alms were given unceasingly, and every good work that the present emergency demanded was carried out as had been prescribed by the servant of God.

  THE LIFE OF ST. SEVERIN 12