Saint Macarius of Egypt

Three hundred years after Jesus Christ, there lived in Egypt a saintly man called Macarius, both holy and wise. In 360AD he founded a monastery in Scetes, north-west of Cairo. One day they brought to Saint Macarius a good woman who had been transformed into a mare by a malign magician. All who saw her,including her husband, thought that she really was changed into a mare. For three days and nights she remained so, and would eat nothing: neither food fit for human or horse. Her husband took her to all the local priests, but they were confounded and could think of no remedy. Then her husband thought to take her before Saint Macarius at his monastery. His disciples saw nothing but an ordinary mare, and tried to send the man away, thinking him mad, but Macarius, through divine knowledge, is alleged to have said to them, "You are horses yourselves, seeing with the eyes of beasts." Recognising the human soul of the woman within the mare, he sprinkled holy water upon her brow, and before all, she regained her human shape.

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