16. (1) It so happened that the presbyter of that fort, a very venerable man named Silvinus, came to die. When he was laid out on his bier in the church and they had kept vigil with psalm-singing as was the custom, at daybreak the man of God asked the tired presbyters and deacons to retire for a little while and to have some sleep for their relaxation after the hardship of the vigil. (2) When they had gone, the man of God asked the ostiarius, named Maternus, whether all had gone as he had told them. The latter answered thath all had gone away, but St. Severin said: "Not so. A woman is hiding here." Then the doorkeeper made another round of the precincts of the church and assured him that nobody had remained within. But the soldier of Christ, informed by a revelation of the Lord, said: "Somebody is hiding here." So the doorkeeper searched a third time with even greater diligence and found a consecrated virgin hiding in one of the less conspicuous places. (3) The doorkeeper reproached her: "What are you doing? Did you expect that your presence would remain secret when the servant of God is here?" She said: "It was love of religion that caused me to do this. For when I saw that all were sent outside, I thought by myself that the servant of God would invoke God's majesty to raise this dead man here to life." (4) So, when the said virgin had also gone, the man of God, together with the presbyter and the deacon and the two doorkeepers, bent down and prayed with a flood of tears that the power from above might give the often-proved manifestation of its majesty. Then, as the priest was ending his prayer, the blessed man addressed the dead body with these words: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, holy presbyter Silvinus, speak to your brethern." (5) The dead man opened his eyes; the man of God was hardly able to persuade those present to keep silent, so great was their joy. Again, Severin said to the dead man: "Do you want us to ask the Lord to grant you again to His servants in this life?" He, however, said: "I adjure you by the Lord, do not let me be kept here any longer, and be cheated of eternal rest in which I already saw myself placed." (6) He had hardly said these words when he lay again without life. This event was kept secret by the express will of St. Severin, who forebade to make it known before his death. I heard the story as i have told it from the accounts of the subdeacon, Marcus, and the janitor, Maternus. For the presbyter and the deacon, who had been witnesses of this great miracle, died, as is known, before the holy man who had their promise not to reveal to anybody what they had seen.
(trans. L. Bieler 1965: 74-75)