Dabra Metmaq's camel driver steals from the monastery and is punished by the Virgin Mary
CONTENT INFORMATION
Story Type: Miracle of Mary
Story Theme(s): Visions, Dreams, & Apparitions; Feasts & Holy Days
TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Earliest Attested Instance of the Story: 1494 - 1508
Earliest Manuscripts in which Story Appears: C-Veroli (BGV) 1; EMML (HMML) 6938; R-Vatican (BAV) Raineri 55; BOr (BL) 644; VOHD (UH) 102
Total Manuscripts in which Story Appears: 88
Total Incipits in the ITool: 33
Incipit(s): ወሀሎ፡ በዝንቱ፡ ደብረ፡ ምጥማቅ፡ ዘእግዝእትነ፡ ቅድስት፡ ድንግል፡ ማርያም፡ ብእሲ፡ ክርስቲያናዊ፡ ነዳይ፡ ጸዐኔ፡ አግማል፡ ለመፍቅደ፡ ደብር።, from EMML (HMML) 6938, f. 56v
ID Numbers: PEMM Theme ID 547; PEMM ID 36; Macomber ID 36; Beta maṣāḥǝft ID LIT5146MiracleMetmaqCamel; Clavis ID CAe 5146
Translations & editions of this story
Amharic: Täsfa Giyorgis. 1931. From TG (EOTC) 1924-1931, p. 69.
English: Jeremy Brown with Ekaterina Pukhovaia. 2023. From C-Veroli (BGV) 1, ff. 33v–34v.
French: Gérard Colin. 2004. From TGS (EOTC) 1986-1994, p. 116.
Manuscripts in which story appears:
1500s: C-Veroli (BGV) 1, f. 33v; EMML (HMML) 6938, f. 56v; R-Vatican (BAV) Raineri 55, f. 63r
1600s: BOr (BL) 636, f. 215v; VOHD (UH) 102, s. 68a; CUA-DC (EMIP) 2173, f. 57r; EMDA (HMML) 153, s. 64b; E...
1700s: d'Abbadie (BNF) 222, f. 74v; EMIP (EMIP) 832, f. 54v; EMDA (HMML) 237, s. 173b; EMIP (EMIP) 761, f. ...
1800s: EMDA (HMML) 10, s. 192a; EMDA (HMML) 319, s. 66b; EMML (HMML) 7605, f. 75r; EMML (HMML) 76, s. 220; ...
1900s: EMDA (HMML) 415, s. 72a; EMIP (EMIP) 2609, f. 46r; EMIP (EMIP) 1289, f. 96v; B-E (Yale) 25, f. 74v; ...
This story, with the short title "Untrustworthy Camel Driver," is old: the earliest PEMM manuscript* in which this story appears is from around 1501.
It appears in 88 out of 709 PEMM manuscripts (13%).
This story is not illustrated in PEMM manuscripts.
It is a post-life miracle: it does not take place during Our Lady Mary's lifetime, but after it.
This story was originally composed in Dabra Mǝtmāq, Egypt, Africa (confirmed).
It is available in the following languages: French, Geʿez, Amharic, English.
If you think any of the information on this page is incorrect (e.g., the date, manuscripts, translation), please use our PEMM Feedback Form to let us know. We depend on users like you to improve the site.
* A "PEMM manuscript" is defined as any Geʿez Marian manuscript or book that PEMM has catalogued. For more information, see Using the Site.
Summary
A poor camel driver was employed to deliver foodstuffs to the monastery of Dabra Metmaq, but he often stole some of the food. Knowing he was poor, the monks showed patience and hoped the camel driver would change his ways. One year, as a festival for the monastery approached, the monks employed the camel driver to transport donated goods from Cairo. The camel driver took some of the goods for himself, leaving the monastery with insufficient food for the festival. Disappointed, the monks prayed to Mary. Outside the church, a Muslim man looked on as Mary exited the church, stabbed the camel driver with a staff in the shape of a cross, and reentered the church. Following this vision, the Muslim begged the monks to baptize him into the Christian faith, and to entrust him with their camels. The monks assented. One day the new camel driver saw a bright light, and two shining men appeared with incense. He told the monks what he had seen, and when they went to the church and smelled the incense, they believed the camel driver.
Translation
Translated by Jeremy Brown with Ekaterina Pukhovaia from C-Veroli (BGV) 1, ff. 33v–34v, in 2023.
A miracle performed by Our Lady Mary, Holy Twofold Virgin, the Mother of God, may her prayers and her blessings be with her servant Laeka Maryam in the morning and in the evening, forever and ever, amen.
A poor Christian man lived in Dabra Metmaq,1 which was dedicated to Our Lady Mary, Holy Twofold Virgin, the Mother of God.
He was a camel driver for the material needs of the monastery. He would bring with him all the possessions that the monks were gathering from the Christian brethren. However, he would take a share for himself out of it, and he would waste it on the way. He would only bring a little bit to the monks.
He was always causing trouble for the monks. But they were tolerant of him, and they would say, “This poor man is a Christian. If we force him out from driving camels, his children will die from hunger. God will scrutinize us on their account. So rather let’s leave him to turn himself away from doing evil.”
But every day he added on crime, deceit, and wickedness.
When the monastery’s feast drew near, the monks took the camel driver with them to drive the camels. He went to the land of Misr because of their material needs for the celebration of the feast.
It was a well-known deed among the people of Egypt to give annually to the monastery a gift in accordance with their abilities. When they had prepared what was needed for the monastery, including candles, incense, oil, and food, they would load it upon the camels and send it with the camel driver.
When he came back from Misr, the camel driver approached his house. His house was near the road. When he entered his house, he took most of the possessions that the people had sent with him and gave them to his wife. Then he brought the monks’ share to those who were in the monastery.
When the monks saw him, they were deeply upset. They said, “What is this gift which is not sufficient for the feast?”
Then they entered the church from which Our Lady Mary, Holy Twofold Virgin, the Mother of God, appears, prostrated face down on the ground, and said, “Our dear Lady Mary, Holy Twofold Virgin, the Mother of God, as your son Jesus Christ lives, if you do not perform a miracle with this man who steals your possessions all the time, then we will not serve your church, and we will not celebrate your feast ever again.”
Then, grieving and weeping, they left the church. Then the monks took from the house of the Christian camel driver the gifts that he had brought them.
There was a traveler from the Arab people standing in front of the middle gates of the church. [The camel driver] also went to the middle gates of the church to find some relief from the hardships of the road, [and he slept] next to the Bedouin about whom we told you earlier.
When he fell asleep, that Bedouin saw a radiant woman who shone seven times brighter than the sun. She was coming out of the gates of the church. Two radiant men were with her, one on her right and one on her left. Then she indicated to the man on her right to give her the cross spear2 that was in his hand. After he handed it over to her, she grabbed hold of that spear and pierced the side of the camel driver, holding the spear with the radiant man. Then the woman entered inside the church through the gate from which she had come out.
After she had vanished, the Bedouin got up quickly and went to the camel driver. He found his side pierced and [with] blood flowing out of it.
The Bedouin was terrified. He went to the monks and told them what had happened.
Then the monks went to the camel driver. They saw blood flowing from his side. The monks shifted the camel driver but found that he was dead. Immediately, they took him and buried him in the monastery.
When the Bedouin, which in translation means “wilderness dweller,”3 saw everything that happened, he begged the monks to make him the camel driver in the dead man’s place. The monks rejoiced about this and handed over the monastery’s camels to him.
Then he asked the monks to make him a Christian and to not make it known to any of Muslims. So the monks sent word to Patriarch Abba Gabriel and informed him about this.
Abba Gabriel commanded the monks to baptize the Bedouin. So they baptized him in the name of the Holy Trinity. This Bedouin continued to serve the monastery well.
Then one day he went to Rif and, having fulfilled his material needs, he returned to the monastery. Then night fell. He brought down the loaded camels to the gates of the monastery. He wanted to wake up the monks.
Suddenly, he heard the sound of a beautiful voice, and he saw a brilliant light come out of the vault of the church and surround the building. There were radiant men there. The smell of fragrant incense the likes of which no person has ever smelled before in this world came out. The Bedouin rejoiced over what he had seen.
After a while he heard the bell of the monastery ringing. When he heard it, he wanted the custodian4 to open the gates of the church for the midnight prayer. Everything that he had seen and heard disappeared.
Then he hurried down and pounded upon the gates of the monastery. He cried out to the monks.
When the monks heard his voice, they recognized it and opened the gates for him. The Bedouin told them everything he had seen and heard.
After they had gathered, they opened the gates of the church to celebrate the midnight prayer. They smelled the incomparable sweet fragrance. At once they understood that what the Bedouin had told them was accurate and not a lie. They elevated the honor of Our Lady Mary, Holy Twofold Virgin, the Mother of God, and the service of the church and the monastery.
As for that Muslim who had become a Christian, he is in that monastery to this day. He goes down into the land of Egypt to fulfill their material needs, and no one recognizes him except for the monks.
Look, dear brothers, at the mercy of this Pure Virgin, and [consider] how when she understood the heart of this man to serve her well, she revealed a miracle to him and turned him away from foolishness and ruin toward upright belief in her beloved son.
May her prayers and her blessings be with her servant Laeka Maryam, who limitlessly loves her forever and ever, amen and amen.
Notes
1. Dayr al-Maghtis, or Dabra Metmaq, was a monastery in the Nile Delta, near Lake Burullus, destroyed in the fifteenth century (Mamluk period). It is a site where, during the flight of the Holy Family to Egypt, Jesus left a footprint in a stone. al-Maqrizi records pilgrimages to this monastery to celebrate a feast in honor of Mary. See ID 35 for a story of her appearances in the monastery.
2. Literally, በትረ መስቀል (staff of the cross).
3. Literally, ሐቅላዊ (field or wilderness dweller).
4. “Amnut” is the Arabic title for the church custodian, the sexton.
TO CITE THIS TRANSLATION
Jeremy Brown with Ekaterina Pukhovaia, trans. "ID 36: Dabra Metmaq's camel driver steals from the monastery and is punished by the Virgin Mary." From C-Veroli (BGV) 1, ff. 33v–34v. Täˀammərä Maryam (Miracle of Mary) Stories, edited by Wendy Laura Belcher, Jeremy Brown, Mehari Worku, and Dawit Muluneh. Princeton: Princeton Ethiopian, Eritrean, and Egyptian Miracles of Mary project. https://pemm.princeton.edu/stories/36.
This story, with the short title "Untrustworthy Camel Driver," is old: the earliest PEMM manuscript* in which this story appears is from around 1501.
It appears in 88 out of 709 PEMM manuscripts (13%).
This story is not illustrated in PEMM manuscripts.
It is a post-life miracle: it does not take place during Our Lady Mary's lifetime, but after it.
This story was originally composed in Dabra Mǝtmāq, Egypt, Africa (confirmed).
It is available in the following languages: French, Geʿez, Amharic, English.
If you think any of the information on this page is incorrect (e.g., the date, manuscripts, translation), please use our PEMM Feedback Form to let us know. We depend on users like you to improve the site.
* A "PEMM manuscript" is defined as any Geʿez Marian manuscript or book that PEMM has catalogued. For more information, see Using the Site.