Winoc lived in the 700s and led a sizable religious community “in the practices of admirable humility, penance, devotion, and charity.” Although I do wonder what it means for humility to be admired…nonetheless it appears that Winoc had a good heart and a steady determination to be a force for good in the lives of the people in his orbit.

Winoc specifically cared about the sick and the poor, and he spent many hours waiting upon those who found themselves in whatever constituted 8th-century hospitals, finding joy in these efforts. Moreover, Winoc oversaw the feeding–not only his religious community but also the poor that they came in contact with. As Butler tells us:

Even in his decrepit old age he ground the corn for the use of the poor and his community, turning the wheel with his own hand without any assistance.

Ah, but this is not (merely) the tale of an elderly man, obstinately insisting on doing this grueling manual labor of milling all by himself, shooing away those offering their assistance because–for whatever reasons–he had to be the only one putting himself into this effort! No, indeed! Butler continues:

When others were astonished he should have strength enough to ply constantly such hard labour, they looked through a chink into the room (of the mill), and saw the wheel turning without being touched, which they ascribed to a miracle.

A miracle indeed! This magic miracle wheel, turning unaided, certainly explained how someone “in his decrepit old age” managed to grind the village’s corn on his own. It also raises a host of fascinating questions, beginning with: If this grinding wheel was indeed a miracle from God–rather than, say, some clever invention or innovation by Winoc–why keep it a secret? This is not a trick question, nor is it merely a rhetorical one.

Now, as reported in several of the Gospels, there was a considerable period in the ministry of Jesus when he was not yet ready for others to know or proclaim him as a/the messiah. Is there perhaps a danger (physical? spiritual? communal?) that comes when others perceive you as a miracle worker, as a living saint, as touched by an angel, as someone wholly different from them? And what implications does this question hold in situations where we’re not talking the seemingly supernatural?