JOCELIN 's Life.
 

To return to the main St. Patrick Page Click here

To Return to the page of literary references and song Click here

THE PROEME OF JOCELIN.

It has been, from ancient times, the object and the design of most

writers to perpetuate, with a pen worthy of their virtues, the lives of

holy men, that the fervor of sanctity so deserving our veneration might

not be buried in oblivion, but rather that it might shine before all as

in a glass, to the end that posterity might imitate its brightness--as

was commanded from above, that in the breast-plate of the chief priest

the names of the twelve patriarchs, the sons of Israel, should be

engraven on twelve precious stones, so that by the sight thereof the

faithful might be moved to imitate the acts of the holy fathers; for it

is most fitting that of those in whose titles we glory, in whose

praises we delight, by whose patronage we are protected, we should

endeavor to conform to the manners, and be confirmed by the examples;

but since the dearth of literature has so much increased, and the

slothfulness to learning so much abounded, very many, fools and

ignorant persons, have ofttimes, lest they should perish from the

memory of the faithful, written the lives of the saints, certainly with

a pious intent, but in a most unhandsome style.  Wherefore, in reading

the lives and acts of the saints composed in a rude manner or barbarous

dialect, disgust is often excited, and not seldom tardiness of belief.

And hence it is that the life of the most glorious priest Patrick, the

patron and apostle of Ireland, so illustrious in signs and miracles,

being frequently written by illiterate persons, through the confusion

and obscurity of the style, is by most people neither liked nor

understood, but is held in weariness and contempt.  Charity therefore

urging us, we will endeavor, by reducing them to order, to collect what

are confused, when collected to compose them into a volume, and, when

composed, to season them, if not with all the excellence of our

language, at least with some of its elegance.  To this our endeavor the

instruction of the threefold instrument which is described to belong to

the candlestick of the tabernacle giveth aid; for we find therein the

tongs, the extinguisher, and the oil-cruse, which we must properly use,

if, in describing the lives of the saints, who shone in their

conversation and example like the candlestick before the Lord, we

should labor to clear away the superfluous, extinguish the false, and

illuminate the obscure, which, though by the devotion we have toward

St. Patrick we are bound to do, yet are we thereto enjoined by the

commands of the most reverend Thomas, Archbishop of Armagh and Primate

of all Ireland, and of Malachy, the Bishop of Down; and to these are

added the request of John de Courcy, the most illustrious Prince of

Ulidia, who is known to be the most especial admirer and honorer of St.

Patrick, and whom we think it most becoming to obey.  But if any snake

in the way, or serpent in the path, watching our steps, shall rashly

accuse us herein of presumption, and shall attack our hand with viper

tooth, yet do we, with the blessed Paul, collect the vine-twigs for the

fire, and cast the viper into the flame.  Wherefore, in describing the

saints that sleep, which were the branches of the true vine, so that

the minds of the faithful may be inflamed toward the love and belief of

Christ, we little regard the tongue of the scorner and of the

slanderer; for if we are to be judged of such, with the apostle setting

them at small account, we commit all to the divine judgment.

[Illustration: The Saint Patrick of Our Own Century.]

THE LIFE AND ACTS OF ST. PATRICK.

BY JOCELIN.

CHAPTER I.

There was once a man named Calphurnius, the son of Potitus, a

presbyter, by nation a Briton, living in the village Taburnia (that is,

the field of the tents, for that the Roman army had there pitched their

tents), near the town of Empthor, and his habitation was nigh unto the

Irish Sea.  This man married a French damsel named Conchessa, niece of

the blessed Martin, Archbishop of Tours; and the damsel was elegant in

her form and in her manners, for, having been brought from France with

her elder sister into the northern parts of Britain, and there sold at

the command of her father, Calphurnius, being pleased with her manners,

charmed with her attentions, and attracted with her beauty, very much

loved her, and, from the state of a serving-maid in his household,

raised her to be his companion in wedlock.  And her sister, having been

delivered unto another man, lived in the aforementioned town of Empthor.

And Calphurnius and his wife were both just before God, walking without

offence in the justifications of the Lord; and they were eminent in

their birth, and in their faith, and in their hope, and in their

religion.  And though in their outward habit and abiding they seemed to

serve under the yoke of Babylon, yet did they in their acts and in

their conversation show themselves to be citizens of Jerusalem.

Therefore, out of the earth of their flesh, being freed from the tares

of sin and from the noxious weeds of vice by the ploughshare of

evangelic and apostolic learning, and being fruitful in the growth of

all virtues, did they, as the best and richest fruit, bring forth a

son, whom, when he had at the holy font put off the old man, they

caused to be named Patricius, as being the future father and patron of

many nations; of whom, even at his baptism, the God which is three in

one was pleased, by the sign of a threefold miracle, to declare how

pure a vessel of election should he prove, and how devoted a worshipper

of the Holy Trinity.  But after a little while, this happy birth being

completed, they vowed themselves by mutual consent unto chastity, and

with an holy end rested in the Lord.  But Calphurnius first served God

a long time in the deaconship, and at length closed his days in the

priesthood.

CHAPTER II.

_How a Fountain burst forth, and how Sight and Learning were given to

the Blind._

A certain man named Gormas, who had been blind even from his mother's

womb, heard in a dream a voice commanding him that he should take the

hand of the boy Patrick, then lately baptized, and make on the ground

the sign of the cross--adding that at the touch a new fountain would

burst forth, with the water whereof, if he bathed his eyes, he would

forthwith receive his sight.  And the blind man, instructed by the

divine oracle, went to the little boy, made with his right hand on the

ground the sign of salvation, and immediately did a new fountain burst

forth.  And his darkened eyes, being bathed with this healing stream,

perceived the day poured in, and the virtue of Siloe renewed; and,

_that the mercies of the Lord might be acknowledged, and the wonders

that he doeth for the children of men_, while the outward blindness of

Gormas was enlightened, his inward sight received the revealing gift of

science; and he who was before unlearned, having experienced the power

of the Lord, read and understood the Scriptures, and as by the outward

mercy from being blind he became able to see, so by the inward grace

from unlearned he became learned.  But the fountain flowing forward

with a more abundant stream, even unto this day pouring forth its clear

waters, sweet to the draught and wholesome to the taste, is honored

with the name of Saint Patrick, and, as is said, gives health or relief

to many laboring with divers diseases; and it rises near the seaside,

and over it the devotion of posterity has erected an oratory, with an

altar built in the form of a cross.

CHAPTER III.

_Of the Stone of Saint Patrick._

Near this place is a stone which the inhabitants call Saint Patrick's

Rock; for some believe that he was born thereon, and others that on it

he celebrated Mass.  As often as any controversy arises between the

villagers or the neighbors which is thought fit to be determined by an

oath, it is brought to this stone, and there, the sacrament being

taken, the cause is decided.  But if any perjurer or false witness laid

his hand thereon, immediately it was wont to pour forth water, and the

holiness of Patrick openly showed unto all how accursed was the crime

of perjury or of false testimony; yet at any other time it did not use

to exude one drop, but always remained in its natural dryness.  Which

opinion of the people, however, as to this stone, is the more probable,

we know not, though the latter may seem the nearer unto the truth.  Let

it suffice, therefore, to record the miracle which the Bishop Saint Mel

testifies that he had oftentimes beheld.

CHAPTER IV.

_Of the Well dried up._

As he grew in age, he was seen also to grow in grace, and, as from the

full store of divine ointment flowing within him, he perfumed all

around with the abundance of his manifold miracles.  And Patrick, the

child of the Lord, was then nursed in the town of Empthor, in the house

of his mother's sister, with his own sister Lupita.  And it came to

pass in the winter season, the ice being thawed, that a well overflowed

and threatened to overturn many houses in the town; and the rising of

the waters filled the mansion wherein Patrick abided, and overturned

all the household stuff, and caused all the vessels to swim.  And the

little boy, being an hungered, asked in his infantine manner for bread;

yet found he not any who would break bread for him, but jeeringly was

he answered that he was nearer to being drowned than fed.  When the boy

dipped three of his fingers into the swelling water, and, standing on a

dry place, he thrice sprinkled the water in the form of a cross, and in

the name of the Holy Trinity commanded the well that forthwith it

should subside.  And behold a miracle!  Immediately all the flood

retired with a refluent course, and the dryness returned, nor was there

hurt or damage seen in the vessels or in the furniture of his dwelling.

And they who looked on saw that sparks of fire instead of drops of

water were sprinkled from the fingers of the holy child, and that the

waters were licked up and absorbed thereby; and the Lord, "who collects

the waters as in a heap, and lays up the depths in his treasury," who

had worked such great works through his beloved child Patrick, is

praised of all; and the child also is magnified who was so powerful in

Him, great and worthy of all praise.

CHAPTER V.

_How he produced Fire from Ice._

Though Saint Patrick, in his childish years, sometimes thought as a

child and acted as a child, yet do his illustrious works declare how

precious was he in the eyes of Him who was for us born a child.  And on

a certain day, the winter then freezing everything, the boy Patrick,

being engaged in their sports with boys of his own age, gathered many

pieces of ice in his bosom, and bore them home, and cast them down in

the court-yard; but his nurse, seeing this, said to him that it were

better he had collected wood for the hearth than have played with

pieces of ice.  And the boy, speaking with the tongue of an aged man,

answered unto her: "It is easy for the Lord, who created all things,

even from these to supply the hearth; and at His nod, so that faith be

not wanting, it is easy for fire to prevail over water; and that thou

mayest know," said he, "how possible are all things to them who

believe, thy faith shall be an eye-witness of that which I say unto

thee."  And he heaped together the pieces of ice, like brands for the

fire, and he prayed, and, making the sign of the cross, he breathed on

them, and immediately fire went forth, and, lighting the ice, produced

long streams of flame; yet not only did the hearth give warmth to all

who came near, but it ministered much cause of admiration, for out of

the mouth of the boy Patrick was seen to issue flame instead of breath,

that he might plainly appear to be illuminated within by the infinite

light of the divine grace.  Nor does this miracle much fall short of

that ancient miracle which the Scripture records to have been performed

by Nehemias; for when he brought back into the land of Juda the people

of the Hebrews after their long captivity, restored to freedom by

Cyrus, the King of Persia, he commanded the place to be searched out

wherein their fathers had hidden the fire of the sacrifice; in which,

when discovered, the fire was not found, but thick water; the which

Nehemias commanded to be brought, and the sacrifice to be sprinkled

therewith; and immediately a great fire was kindled, and it consumed

the holocaust and burned the hard stones.  So was the congealed water

burned up by the power of the same fire which, proceeding from water,

did burn to ashes the sacrifice and the stones of the altar.  Therefore

is the strangeness of this miracle to be admired, the holiness of

Patrick to be venerated, and in all these things the power of the

omnipotent God to be adored; and herein by a most evident sign did the

Lord illustrate Saint Patrick, whose preaching afterward inflamed many

that had been frozen in unbelief with the fire of faith and of the

charity of God.

CHAPTER VI.

_How the Sister of St. Patrick was healed._

On a certain day the sister of Saint Patrick, the aforementioned

Lupita, being then of good stature, had run about the field, at the

command of her aunt, to separate the lambs from the ewes, for it was

then weaning time, when her foot slipped, and she fell down and smote

her head against a sharp flint, and her forehead was struck with a

grievous wound, and she lay even as dead; and many of the household ran

up, and her kindred and her friends gathered together to comfort the

maiden wounded and afflicted; and her brother came with the rest,

compassionating his sister, but confiding in the divine medicine; for,

drawing near, he raised her, and, touching with his spittle the thumb

of his right hand, he imprinted on her forehead, stained with blood,

the sign of the cross, and forthwith he healed her; yet the scar of the

wound remained as a sign, I think, of the miracle that was performed,

and a proof of the holiness of him who, by his faith in the cross of

Christ, had done this thing.

CHAPTER VII.

_How he restored to Life his Foster-Father._

The husband of Saint Patrick's nurse, who had often-times borne him an

infant in his arms, being seized with a sudden death, expired.  And his

wife, with many others of the household, ran thither, and to Patrick,

who was standing nigh, bursting into tears, she thus spake: "Behold, O

Patrick! thy foster-father, the bearer of thine infancy, lieth dead;

show now, therefore, on him thine enlivening virtue, even that which

hath been wont to heal others!"  And the boy of holy disposition,

compassionating the tears of his nurse and the miserable state of his

foster-father, approached him lying there lifeless, and he prayed over

him and blessed him, and signed him on his head and on his breast with

the sign of life, and he embraced him, and raised him up, and restored

him unto her alive and safe.  And all who beheld this miracle gave

praise to God, who worked such works in Patrick.

CHAPTER VIII.

_Of the Sheep released from the Wolf._

While Saint Patrick was a little boy, his aunt entrusted him with the

care of the sheep, and to these he diligently attended with his

aforementioned sister.  For in that age no reproach was attached to

such employments when the sons of the chief men discharged the duties

of a shepherd; as the patriarch Jacob and his sons truly declared

before Pharao, that they, like their forefathers, were keepers of

sheep; and as the lawgiver Moses and the illustrious King David long

time labored in the shepherd's occupation.  But as the boy Patrick was

one day in the fields with his flock, a wolf, rushing from the

neighboring wood, caught up a ewe-lamb, and carried it away.  Returning

home at evening from the fold, his aunt chided the boy for negligence

or for sloth; yet he, though blushing at the reproof, patiently bore

all her anger, and poured forth his prayers for the restoration of the

ewe-lamb.  In the next morning, when he brought the flock to the

pasture, the wolf ran up, carrying the lamb in his mouth, laid it at

Patrick's feet, and instantly returned to the wood.  And the boy gave

thanks to the Lord, who, as he preserved Daniel from the hungry lions,

so now for his comfort had saved his lamb uninjured from the jaws of

the wolf.

CHAPTER IX.

_Of the Cow freed from an Evil Spirit, and Five other Cows restored to

Health._

The aunt who had nursed Saint Patrick had many cows, one of which was

tormented with an evil spirit; and immediately the cow became mad, and

tore with her feet, and butted with her horns, and wounded five other

cows, and dispersed the rest of the herd.  And the owners of the herd

lamented the mishap, and the cattle fled from her fury as from the face

of a lion.  But the boy Patrick, being armed with faith, went forward,

and, making the sign of the cross, freed the cow from the vexation of

the evil spirit; then drawing near to the wounded and prostrate cows,

having first prayed, he blessed them and restored them all even to

their former health.  And the cow, being released from the evil spirit,

well knowing her deliverer, approached with bended head, licking the

feet and the hands of the boy, and turned every beholder to the praise

of God and the veneration of Patrick.

CHAPTER X.

_Of the Water turned into Honey, and of his Nurse restored to Health._

The nurse of Saint Patrick, being oppressed with illness, longed much

for honey, by the taste whereof she trusted that her health might be

restored.  It was sought by all who stood round her, but obtained not;

and when she was told thereof, she longed so much the more earnestly

for that which she could not have, and complained that she was

remembered and assisted of none.  But her young charge, the illustrious

boy Patrick, was grieved for her, and, putting his trust in the Lord,

he commanded that a vessel might be filled with fresh water from the

fountain, and brought unto him; and he bended his knees in prayer, and,

rising, blessed it with the sign of the cross, and gave it to the woman

desiring honey.  And immediately the water was changed into the best

honey; and the woman tasted, and her soul was satisfied, and she was

relieved from her infirmity.  Thus did Patrick change water into honey

in the name of Him who, at Cana in Galilee, changed water into wine.

CHAPTER XI.

_How the Fort was Cleansed._

On a certain promontory overhanging the aforementioned town of Empthor

was erected a fort, the ruins of whose walls may yet be traced.  And

the governor thereof had reduced the nurse of Saint Patrick under the

yoke of slavery, and compelled her to be a servant unto him.  And among

other servile works enjoined to her, he had commanded her to clean with

shovels all the offices within the fort, and to carry forth the soil

from the stables.  But the woman, having an ingenuous mind, and

understanding that all power was from God, and that all things were

ordained of God, made of her necessity a virtue, and patiently bore the

servitude imposed on her.  Then the boy Patrick, compassionating his

nurse's affliction, besought the Lord that he would vouchsafe to set

her free from the labor of this servile work; and behold, as he prayed,

all the dwelling-places therein were cleansed without an human hand,

and neither within nor without could any remains of the soil be found.

And the governor and all who saw or heard this miracle marvelled; and

the nurse was released from slavery through the merits of her

foster-child.  Nor is this miracle beheld only at stated seasons, or

once in every year; for even to this day does it appear to be

continued.  And the dwellers and the neighbors bear witness that if

within the precincts of the fort as many cattle as the place could hold

were gathered to abide there together, not even the least portion of

soil could therein be found.  And the place, being in the Valley of

Clud, is called in the language of that people Dunbreatan--that is, the

Mountain of the Britons; and the miracle cannot be unknown to those who

desire to be informed thereof, inasmuch as so often it is published

abroad by all the dwellers in that country.

CHAPTER XII.

_Of the Religious Conversation of Saint Patrick._

And the boy Patrick grew up precious in the sight of the Lord, in the

old age of wisdom, and in the ripeness of virtue.  And the number of

his merits multiplied beyond the number of his years; the affluence of

all holy charities overflowed in the breast of the boy, and all the

virtues met together made their dwelling in his youthful body.

Entering, therefore, and going forward in the slippery paths of youth,

he held his feet from falling, and the garment that nature had woven

for him, unknowing of a stain, he preserved whole, abiding a virgin in

the flesh and in the spirit.  And although the divine unction had

taught him above all, the fit time being now come, he was sent from his

parents to be instructed in sacred learning.  Therefore he applied his

mind to the study of letters, but chiefly to psalms and to hymns and to

spiritual songs, and retaining them in his memory, and continually

singing them to the Lord; so that even from the flower of his first

youth he was daily wont to sing devoutly unto God the whole psaltery,

and from the vial of his most pure heart to pour forth the odor of many

prayers.  Thus wearing out his tender body in fastings, in many

watchings, and in the pious exercise of holy labors, he offered up

himself a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God; and thus

passing his days in the flesh, against the flesh, and above the flesh,

in his conversation he represented an angel.

CHAPTER XIII.

_How Saint Patrick was Carried into Ireland._

As, according to the testimony of Holy Writ, the furnace tries gold and

the fire of tribulation proves the just, so did the hour of his trial

draw near to Patrick, that he might the more provedly receive the crown

of life.  For when the illustrious boy had perlustrated three lustres,

already attaining his sixteenth year, he was, with many of his

countrymen, seized by the pirates who were ravaging those borders, and

was made captive and carried into Ireland, and was there sold as a

slave to a certain pagan prince named Milcho, who reigned in the

northern part of the island, even at the same age in which Joseph is

recorded to have been sold into Egypt.  But Joseph, being sold as a

slave, and being after his humiliation exalted, received power and

dominion over all Egypt.  Patrick, after his servitude and his

affliction, obtained the primacy of the especial and spiritual dominion

of Ireland.  Joseph refreshed with corn the Egyptians oppressed by

famine; Patrick, in process of time, fed with the salutary food of the

Christian faith the Irish perishing under idolatry.  To each was

affliction sent for the profit of his soul, as is the flail to the

grain, the furnace to the gold, the file to the iron, the wine-press to

the grape, and the oil-press to the olive.  Therefore it was that

Patrick, at the command of the forementioned prince, was appointed to

the care of the swine, and under his care the herd became fruitful and

exceedingly multiplied.  From whence it may well be learned that as the

master's substance is often increased and improved by the attention of

a diligent and fortunate servant or steward, so, on the other hand, is

it reduced and injured under an idle or unprosperous hand.  But the

holy youth, heartily embracing in his soul the judgments of the Lord,

made of his necessity a virtue, and, having in his office of a

swineherd obtained solitude, worked out his own salvation.  For he

abode in the mountains, and in the woods, and in the caves of the

wilderness, and having leisure for prayer, and knowing how kind was the

Lord, freely and more freely did he pour forth the incense of his

supplications in the presence of the Most High; and an hundred times in

the day and an hundred times in the night did he on his bended knees

adore his Creator, and often did he pray for a long time fasting, and,

nourishing himself with the roots of herbs and with the lightest food,

did he mortify his members which were stretched upon the earth.  Nor

him could heat, nor cold, nor snow, nor hail, nor ice, nor any other

inclemency of the air compel from his spiritual exercises.  Therefore

went he forward daily increasing and confirming himself more strong in

the faith and love of Christ Jesus; and the more weak and infirm he

appeared, so much the steadier and more powerful was he in fulfilling

the commands of the Lord.

CHAPTER XIV.

_Of Milcho's Dream, and of its Interpretation._

And Milcho beheld a vision in the night; and behold, Patrick entered

his palace as all on fire, and the flames issuing from his mouth, and

from his nose, and from his eyes, and from his ears, seemed to burn

him.  But Milcho repelled from himself the flaming hair of the boy, nor

did it prevail to touch him any nearer; but the flame, being spread,

turned aside to the right, and, catching on his two little daughters

who were lying in one bed, burned them even to ashes; then the south

wind, blowing strongly, dispersed their ashes over many parts of

Ireland.  And Milcho, awaking, meditated with himself on his couch what

prodigy might this remote vision portend.  On the morrow, Patrick being

called before him, he declared unto him his dream, entreating and

abjuring him that if he knew he would unfold its interpretation.  And

Patrick, being filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, answered unto

Milcho: "The fire which thou sawest to issue from me is the faith of

the Holy Trinity, with which I am entirely illumined, and which I shall

endeavor to preach unto thee; but my speech will find in thee no place,

for thou wilt, in the blindness of thine heart, repel from thee the

light of the divine grace, and thou wilt die in the darkness of thy

unbelief; but thy daughters shall at my preaching believe in the true

God, and, all the days of their lives serving God in holiness and in

justice, shall, in a pious end, rest in the Lord; and their ashes, that

is, their relics, the Lord revealing them and making of them signs,

shall be carried into many places through Ireland, and shall give the

blessing of health to many who are infirm; and thy dream is true, and

its interpretation is true, and all shall be fulfilled in due time."

Thus having said, Patrick departed to his accustomed labor; and all

these things happened unto Milcho and unto his daughters even as

Patrick had foretold.

CHAPTER XV.

_Of the Angel Victor appearing to Saint Patrick._

And six years had now passed when, under the direction of the Lord, he

had thoroughly learned the Irish tongue, and with prayers and with

tears he unceasingly besought of God that he might be released from

slavery and restored to his country.  And on a certain day appeared

unto him, while praying, an angel of the Lord, standing on the crag of

an overhanging rock, and announcing that his prayers and his fastings

had ascended as a memorial before God; and the angel added thereto that

he should soon cast from his neck the yoke of servitude, and, after a

prosperous voyage, return to his own parents.  And the servant of God

looked on the angel of God, and, conversing with him face to face

familiarly, even as with a friend, asked who he was, and by what name

was he called.  And the heavenly messenger answered that he was the

ministering spirit of the Lord, sent into the world to minister unto

them who have the heritage of salvation; that he was called Victor, and

especially deputed to the care of him, and he promised to be his

helpmate and his assistant in doing all things.  And although it is not

needful that heavenly spirits should be called by human names, yet the

angel, being beautifully clothed with an human form composed of the

air, called himself Victor, for that he had received from Christ, the

most victorious King, the power of vanquishing and binding the powers

of the air and the princes of darkness; who had also given to his

servants made of the potter's clay the power of treading on serpents

and scorpions, and of vanquishing and bruising Satan.  And in their

mutual colloquy the angel showed unto Patrick an opening in the ground

that had been delved up by the swine, and therein he directed him to

look for gold with which he might redeem himself from the hands of his

cruel master; and he added that a ship to carry him over to Britain was

ready in a harbor two hundred miles distant, and which, by the divine

will, could not have a favorable wind until he should arrive.  And the

vision of the angel, thus saying, disappeared, and his speech ended;

and, as the inhabitants assert, the marks of his feet appear even to

this day imprinted on the rock in the Mountain Mis, in the borders of

Dalnardia; and an oratory is erected there in honor of St. Patrick,

wherein the devotion of the faithful is wont to watch and pray.

CHAPTER XVI.

_How St. Patrick was Redeemed from Slavery._

And Patrick went to the place which the angel had pointed out unto him,

and he found therein no small weight of gold.  Wherefore he addressed

for his ransom his hard and cruel master, and with the offering of the

yellow metal induced his mind, greedy of gold, to grant unto him his

freedom.  Therefore, being by the aid of Mammon solemnly released from

his servitude, he went his way rejoicing, and hastened toward the sea,

desiring to return to his own country.  But Milcho repented that he had

dismissed a servant so very necessary unto him, and, falsifying his

agreement, pursued Patrick that he might bring him back and reduce him

to his former slavery, as Pharao pursued the Hebrews.  But by the

divine will, wandering both in his mind and in his course, he found not

him whom he sought.  Foiled, therefore, in his attempt, he returned

with grief and with shame.  And his sorrow was much increased, for that

not only Patrick, having obtained his freedom, had escaped, but the

gold which was the price of his freedom, on returning home, he found

not.  And with this the law accords; for to him who has served six

years in slavery, the law directs that in the seventh year shall his

freedom be restored.

CHAPTER XVII.

_How he Relieved those who were Perishing of Hunger._

And Saint Patrick, guided by his angelic guide, came unto the sea, and

he there found the ship that was to carry him to Britain, and a crew of

heathens who were in the ship freely received him, and, hoisting their

sails with a favorable wind, after three days they made land.  And

being come out of the ship, they found a region desert and inhabited of

none, and they began to travel over the whole country for the space of

twenty-four days; and for the want of food in that fearful and wide

solitude were they perishing of hunger.  And Patrick, through their

whole journey, was preaching unto those pagans the Word of God, and

disputing with them and persuading them unto the faith of the Holy

Trinity and the kingdom of heaven; but they, even as the deaf adder

that listens not to the voice of the charmer charming wisely, closed

their ears against the Word of God until misery gave them understanding

to hear.  For hunger yet more heavily assailing and oppressing them,

the greater part are said to have thus spoken: "Behold, O worshipper of

Christ! how wretched are we with want and misery, and our eyes fail us

for every need; now, therefore, implore for us thy God, whom thou

describes! and exaltest as all-powerful, that His bounty may relieve

us, and we will adore and glorify His greatness."  And Saint Patrick

answered unto them: "Believe in and confess the God who giveth food

unto all flesh, and by whom, when He openeth His hand, ye shall be

satisfied from His goodness."  And he prayed earnestly, and behold, as

he prayed for them, suddenly an herd of swine appeared, and they saw

wild honey, and therewith they were sufficed even to fulness, nor from

that day through their whole journey did ever a supply of food fail

unto them.  And this great miracle being seen, they all gave thanks

unto God and held Saint Patrick in the highest reverence.

CHAPTER XVIII.

_Of his Fast continued for Twenty Days._

And all things succeeding prosperously, and their provision much

abounding, these men soon forgot the Lord who had saved them from the

straitness of hunger, and, ungrateful for the benefits extended unto

them by the divine bounty, they sacrificed of their food to devils, and

not unto God, imitating herein those Samaritans whom the Book of Kings

records to have worshipped God, yet not to have the service of their

idols.  Wherefore it seemed good to Saint Patrick to eat no earthly

food for twenty continual days, and, albeit he was much entreated

thereto, he would in no wise join with them in their meals, lest he

should appear to be contaminated with their sacrifices.  And the power

to endure this abstinence was given unto Patrick by the Lord, who had

theretofore enabled Elias the prophet to fast forty days.

CHAPTER XIX.

_How he Overcame the Temptation of the Enemy._

The wonderful Ruler of all things, the more he exalts with signs and

with wonders his elect whom he loveth, the more does he, according to

the Apostle, suffer them to fall into divers temptations, that they may

learn and know how to preserve their strength in God, who is their

maker, and trust to nothing in themselves or of themselves.  Wherefore

Patrick, the beloved and the elect of God, is suffered by the divine

will to be grievously tempted of Satan, to increase the confusion of

the tempter and the glory of him who was tempted, and lest he should be

lifted up by the greatness of his miracles or his fastings.  For in the

night season the prince of darkness rushed on him, and oppressed him as

with the weight of a huge stone, and, falling on him, the tempter took

from him all sense and motion, causing to him darkness and heaviness,

and for the space of three days ceased not to torment and lash him

beyond human power to endure.  But the saint in his tribulation cried

unto the Lord, thrice in His name invoking Elias, the prince of

prophets, unto his aid.  And Elias, being sent of the Lord with a great

brightness, freed him from the pressure of the enemy that hemmed him

round, and, wonderfully illumining him both within and without,

refreshed the powers of his limbs and his senses.  And the enemy of

mankind, being put to confusion, was compelled to own himself

vanquished by Patrick, and that ever after he could have no power to

prevail against him.

CHAPTER XX.

_How he was again made Captive, and released by the Miracle of the

Kettle._

But Patrick, departing from the company of his fellow-travellers that

he might prove how many are the tribulations of the just through which

they must enter into the kingdom of heaven, fell into the hands of

strangers, by whom he was taken and detained; and while his spirit was

afflicted within him, the Father of mercies and God of all consolation

sent the angel Victor in the wonted manner to comfort him, promising

that in a short time he should be released from the hands of his

captors; and how truly was made the angelic promise did its speedy

fulfilment show, which followed even in the space of two months; for

the barbarians sold him to a certain man in the neighborhood for a

kettle--how small a purchase for so precious a merchandise!  But when

the vessel that had been bought with such a price was filled with

water, and placed as usual on the hearth to dress their victual, behold

it received no heat; and so much the hotter the fire burned, so much

the colder did it become; and fuel being heaped thereon, the flame

raged without, but the water within was frozen, as if ice had been

placed under instead of fire.  And they labored exceedingly thereat;

but their labor was vain, and the rumor went everywhere through the

country; and the purchaser, thinking it to have been done by

enchantment, returned his kettle to the seller, and took Patrick again

into his own power.  And the vessel thereon received the heat, and did

its accustomed office even naturally, and showed to all that this

miracle happened because Patrick had been unjustly oppressed; and

forthwith they who had taken him let him go free.  Thus, by the

heavenly power being released from the hands of strange children, was

he, after his long captivity, restored to his parents; and they,

beholding him, rejoiced with exceeding great joy, and at the return of

their son did their spirits revive as the spirits of one awakening from

a heavy sleep, and they besought of him, with entreaty of many prayers

and the abundance of many tears, that he would not again bereave them

of his presence.  Therefore, that he might show the honor and the

submission due unto his parents, he abided with them certain days.

CHAPTER XXI.

_Of Saint Patrick's Vision._

And a short space of time being passed, the while he was settled in his

lather's house, he beheld in a vision of the night a man of comely garb

and countenance, bearing many letters as if from Ireland, and holding

out to him one of them for him to read--which taking, he read, and

found therein thus written: "THIS IS THE VOICE OF THE IRISH."  But when

he would have continued to read, he seemed in the spirit to hear the

Irish infants which were yet unborn crying unto him with a loud voice,

"O holy youth Patrick! we beseech thee come unto us, and abide with us,

and release us!"  And Patrick, being pierced therewith in his heart,

could not finish the letter; but awaking, he gave infinite thanks to

God, for he was assured by the vision that the Lord had set him apart,

even from his mother's womb, had by His grace called him to convert and

to save the Irish nation, which seemed to desire his presence among

them.  And on this he consulted the angel of great counsel, and through

the angel Victor he received the divine command that, quitting his

father and his country, he should go unto France, there to learn the

doctrine and the discipline of the Christian faith.

CHAPTER XXII.

_How he dwelt with the blessed Germanus, and how he received the Habit

from Saint Martin._

Being thus instructed and directed of heaven, though both his parents

resisted and would have detained him, he, with the faithful Abraham,

quitted his country, his kindred, and his father's house, and, passing

through his native Britain, he went into France.  And lest his labor

should be fruitless, or that he might not attempt to teach what he had

not thoroughly learned, he attached himself to the blessed Bishop

Germanus, and, for his greater progress in the Christian faith and

learning, abided with him for the space of eighteen years, reading and

imbibing the Holy Scriptures (as in the acts of the blessed Germanus is

recorded).  And each had received the divine command--Patrick that he

should abide with Germanus, and the holy bishop that he should retain

and instruct the youth.  For he was a prelate, in his descent, in his

nobility, in his life, in his learning, in his office, and in his

miracles most illustrious; and from him the several degrees of the holy

orders, and at length the sacerdotal dignity according to the canons,

did Patrick receive.  With the like purpose did he some time abide with

the blessed Martin, Archbishop of Tours, who was the uncle of his

mother, Conquessa.  And as this holy luminary of the priesthood was a

monk, he gave to his nephew, Patrick, the monastic habits and rules,

the which he most devoutly assumed, and adorned by his life, and

persevered therein.  And bidding farewell, they departed the one from

the other, forasmuch as Martin was enjoined by the angel to go into a

certain island.  And Saint Patrick, returning to the blessed Germanus,

remained with him many days.

CHAPTER XXIII.

_Of the Flesh-meat changed into Fishes._

But Patrick, having now become a monk, forgetting all things that were

past, applied to the future, and, as if little accounting his former

conversation, hastened to the height of perfection.  For by incredible

abstinence, by his lengthened fasts, and by the exercise of his other

virtues, he afflicted himself, and continually bore in his heart and on

his body the mortification of that cross which his habit displayed.

But the most high Pastor, who intended to raise him to the head of the

holy Church, that he might learn to think humbly of himself, to walk

with the lowly, and to bear with the weak, permitting him to feel his

own inferiority; so that the more deeply he was fixed on the foundation

of true humility, the more firmly he might stand in the height of

perfection.  For a desire of eating meat came upon him, until, being

ensnared and carried away by his desire, he obtained swine's flesh, and

concealed it in a certain vessel, thinking rightly that he might thus

satisfy his appetite privily, which should he openly do he would become

to his brethren a stone of offence and a stumbling-block of reproach.

And he had not long quitted the place when, lo! one stood before him

having eyes before and eyes behind, whom when Patrick beheld, having

his eyes so wonderfully, even so monstrously, placed, he marvelled who

he was, and what meant his eyes fixed before and fixed behind, did

earnestly ask; and he answered, I am the servant of God.  With the eyes

fixed in my forehead I behold the things that are open to view, and

with the eyes that are fixed in the hinder part of my head I behold a

monk hiding flesh-meat in a vessel, that he may satisfy his appetite

privily.  This he said, and immediately disappeared.  But Patrick,

striking his breast with many strokes, cast himself to the earth, and

watered it with such a shower of tears as if he had been guilty of all

crimes; and while he thus lay on the ground, mourning and weeping, the

angel Victor, so often before mentioned, appeared to him in his wonted

form, saying, Arise, let thine heart be comforted; for the Lord hath

put away thine offence, and henceforward avoid backsliding.  Then St.

Patrick, rising from the earth, utterly renounced and abjured the

eating of flesh-meat, even through the rest of his life; and he humbly

besought the Lord that He would manifest unto him His pardon by some

evident sign.  Then the angel bade Patrick to bring forth the hidden

meats, and put them into water; and he did as the angel bade; and the

flesh-meats, being plunged into the water and taken thereout,

immediately became fishes.  This miracle did St. Patrick often relate

to his disciples, that they might restrain the desire of their

appetites.  But many of the Irish, wrongfully understanding this

miracle, are wont, on St. Patrick's Day, which always falls in the time

of Lent, to plunge flesh-meats into water, when plunged in to take out,

when taken out to dress, when dressed to eat, and call them fishes of

St. Patrick.  But hereby every religious man will learn to restrain his

appetite, and not to eat meat at forbidden seasons, little regarding

what ignorant and foolish men are wont to do.

CHAPTER XXIV.

_How in his Journey to Rome he Found the Staff of Jesus._

And being desirous that his journey and all his acts should by the

apostolic authority be sanctioned, he was earnest to travel unto the

city of Saint Peter, and there more thoroughly to learn the canonical

institutes of the holy Roman Church.  And when he had unfolded his

purpose unto Germanus, the blessed man approved thereof, and associated

unto him that servant of Christ, Sergecius the presbyter, as the

companion of his journey, the solace of his labor, and the becoming

testimony of his holy conversation.  Proceeding, therefore, by the

divine impulse, or by the angelic revelation, he went out of his course

unto a solitary man who lived in an island in the Tuscan Sea; and the

solitary man was pure in his life, and he was of great desert and

esteemed of all, and in his name and in his works he was Just; and

after their holy greetings were passed, this man of God gave unto

Patrick a staff which he declared himself to have received from the

hands of the Lord Jesus.

And there were in the island certain other solitary men, who lived

apart from him, some of whom appeared to be youths, and others decrepit

old men, with whom when Patrick had conversed, he learned that the

oldest of them were the sons of the youths; and when Saint Patrick,

marvelling, enquired of them the cause of so strange a miracle, they

answered unto him, saying: "We from our childhood were continually

intent on works of charity, and our door was open to every traveller

who asked for victual or for lodging in the name of Christ, when on a

certain night we received a stranger having in his hand a staff; and we

showed unto him so much kindness as we could, and in the morning he

blessed us, and said, I am Jesus Christ, unto whose members ye have

hitherto ministered, and whom ye have last night entertained in His own

person.  Then the staff which He bore in His hand gave He unto yonder

man of God, our spiritual father, commanding him that he should

preserve it safely, and deliver it unto a certain stranger named

Patrick, who would, after many days were passed, come unto him.  Thus

saying, He ascended into heaven; and ever since we have continued in

the same youthful state, but our sons, who were then infants, have, as

thou seest, become decrepit old men."

And Patrick, giving thanks unto God, abided with the man of God certain

days, profiting in God by his example yet more and more; at length he

bade him farewell, and went on his way with the staff of Jesus, which

the solitary man had proffered unto him.  O excellent gift! descending

from the Father of light, eminent blessing, relief of the sick, worker

of miracles, mercy sent of God, support of the weary, protection of the

traveller!  For as the Lord did many miracles by the rod in the hand of

Moses, leading forth the people of the Hebrews out of the land of

Egypt, so by the staff that had been formed for His own hands was He

pleased, through Patrick, to do many and great wonders to the

conversion of many nations.  And the staff is held in much veneration

in Ireland, and even unto this day it is called the staff of Jesus.

CHAPTER XXV.

_How he Journeyed unto Rome, and was made a Bishop; and of Palladius,

the Legate of Ireland._

The God of our salvation having prospered Patrick's journey, he arrive

at the city which is the capital of the world; and often, with due

devotion, visiting the memorials of the apostles and the martyrs, he

obtained the notice and the friendship of the chief Pontiff, and found

favor in his sight.  In the apostolic chair then sat Pope Celestine, of

that name the first, but from the blessed Apostle Peter the

forty-third; but he, keeping Saint Patrick with him, and finding him

perfect and approved in faith, in learning, and in holiness, at length

consecrated him a bishop, and determined to send him to the conversion

of the Irish nation.  But Celestine had sent before him, for the sake

of preaching in Ireland, another doctor named Palladius, his

archdeacon, to whom, with his coadjutors, he gave many books, the two

Testaments, with the relics of the Apostles Peter and Paul and of

numberless martyrs; and the Irish not listening to, but rather

obstinately opposing, Palladius in his mission, he quitted their

country, and, going towards Rome, died in Britain, near the borders of

the Picts; yet, while in Scotland, converting some to the faith of

Christ, he baptized them and founded three churches built of oak, in

which he left as prelates his disciples Augustine, Benedict, Sylvester,

and Sulomus, with the parchments and the relics of the saints which he

had collected.  To him with more profitable labor did Saint Patrick

succeed, as is said in the Irish proverb, "Not to Palladius, but to

Patrick, the Lord vouchsafed the conversion of Ireland."  And the Pope,

being certified of Palladius's death, immediately gave to Patrick the

command, which hitherto, keeping more secret counsel, he had delayed,

to proceed on his journey and on the salutary work of his legation.

CHAPTER XXVI.

_How he Saw and Saluted the Lord._

And shortly after he had received the episcopal dignity, the angel

Victor appeared unto him, then abiding in Rome, and commanded him that

he should hasten his journey into Ireland, that he might gain unto

Christ the people of that country, as the Lord had willed.  But

Patrick, judging himself to be unequal to such a work and to such a

labor, answered that he could not and would not attempt it unless he

should first behold and salute the Lord.  Therefore was he conducted by

the angel unto the mountain Morion, bordering on the Tuscan Sea, nigh

unto the city of Capua; and there, even as Moses, did he merit to

behold and salute the Lord, according to his earnest desire.  Who, I

pray you, can estimate in his mind the merit of Patrick?  What tongue

can sufficiently praise him to whom, while yet living on earth, it was

given to behold the King of Glory, whom the angels desire to behold

face to face, and who was permitted to declare unto men what he had

been taught from the lips of the Most Highest?  And the Lord promised

unto Patrick that He would hear his prayers, and that He would be his

assistant in all his acts to be done by him.  Therefore, being by the

vision and by the divine colloquy strengthened unto the ministry

enjoined to him of heaven and confided to him by our lord the Pope, he

vehemently longed to complete the same, and speeded his journey toward

Ireland with twenty men deputed unto his assistance by the Sovereign

Pontiff, and who were renowned for their lives and for their wisdom.

Yet turned he out of his way unto the blessed Germanus, from whom he

received chalices, and priestly vestments, and many books, and other

matters unto the divine worship and ministry pertaining.

CHAPTER XXVII.

_Of the Miraculous Voyage of the Leper._

When the blessed Patrick, speeding his journey toward Ireland; was

about to embark with his disciples at a British port, a certain leper

standing on the shore met the holy man, beseeching in the name of the

Lord Jesus that he would carry him over in his ship.  The man of God,

abounding with the bowels of compassion, listened to the prayers of the

poor leper; but the sailors and the others that were of the ship

forbade him, saying that the vessel was already enough loaded, and that

_he_ would be to them all at once an encumbrance and a horror.  Then

the saint, confiding in the power of the divine mercy, cast into the

sea an altar of stone that had been consecrated and given to him by the

Pope, and on which he had been wont to celebrate the holy mysteries,

and caused the leper to sit thereon.  But the pen trembles to relate

what, through the divine power, happened.  The stone thus loaded was

borne upon the waters, guided by Him, the head-stone of the corner,

and, diverse from its nature, floating along with the ship, held

therewith an equal course, and at the same moment touched at the same

shore.  All, then, having happily landed, and the altar being found

with its freight, the voice of praise and thanksgiving filled the lips

of the holy prelate, and he reproved his disciples and the sailors for

their unbelief and hardness of heart, endeavoring to soften their stony

hearts into hearts of flesh, even to the exercising the works of

charity.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

_How he beheld Devils._

And when the saint with his people drew nigh unto the shore, he beheld

a multitude of devils gathered together in the form of a globe,

surrounding the whole island, and setting themselves against him even

as a wall to defend their own citadel and to oppose his entrance.  But

his heart was not moved, nor did he tremble at the presence of these

deformed ones, knowing that there were many with him more powerful than

with them, even unto his triumph and their overthrow.  Therefore stood

he fixed in faith as Mount Sion, because mountains of angels were

around him, and the Lord encompassed His servant great and mighty unto

the battle.  And the holy prelate, knowing that all those enemies were

to be quelled by him through the virtue of the cross of Christ, raised

his sacred right hand, and made the sign of the cross, and, telling

unto his people what he beheld, and confirming them in the faith,

unhurt and unterrified passed he over.  Thus clothed with strength from

on high, mightily did he exercise the armor of the power of God to the

overturning of the powers of the air, who raised themselves against all

height and against the wisdom of the Lord, being always ready to punish

their disobedience and their rebellion, as will more plainly in the

following chapters appear.

CHAPTER XXIX.

_Of the River sentenced to perpetual Sterility._

The man of God landed with the companions of his voyage within the

borders of Leinster, in the port of Innbherde, where a river flowing

into the sea then abounded with many fishes.  And the fishermen were

quitting the water, and drawing after them to the bank their loaded

nets, when the servants of the holy prelate, being wearied with their

travel and with hunger, earnestly besought that they would bestow on

them some of their fishes; but they, barbarous, brutal, and inhuman,

answered the entreaty, not only with refusal, but with insult.  Whereat

the saint, being displeased, pronounced on them this sentence, even his

malediction: that the river should no longer produce fishes, from the

abundance of which idolaters might send empty away the worshippers of

the true God.  From that day, therefore, is the river condemned to

unfruitfulness, so that the sentence uttered by the mouth of Patrick

might be known to proceed from the face of the Lord.

CHAPTER XXX.

_How the Dry Land was turned into a Marsh._

And going forward, he arrived at a place which was called Aonach

Tailltion, and there he made ready to refresh himself and his people,

and to announce the office of his ministry.  But the idolatrous

inhabitants, not enduring the presence of the man of God, gathered

together and violently drove him thence, as the light of the sun is

intolerable to the weak-eyed.  Yet the God whom Patrick bore about him,

and glorified in his body, permitted not that an affront offered unto

His servant for the sake of His name should go unpunished; but quickly

did he bring on them his deserved wrath, inasmuch as for the wickedness

of them who dwelt therein the Lord converted their fruitful land into a

salt marsh; and the sea, with the foreflowing of an unwonted tide,

covered it, and, that it might even for ever be unhabitable, changed

the dry land into a plashy lake.  Then the saint, going unto a small

island not far from the main shore, abided there certain days, and it

is called unto this time Saint Patrick's Island.

CHAPTER XXXI.

_Of his coming into Ulidia, and of the Prophecy of the Magicians on his

coming._

And the blessed Patrick, embarking with his people, steered toward the

northern parts of the island, that he might overcome the northern

enemy, and expel him from those hearts where he had fixed his seat.

And the north wind fell, and the south wind arose, that he might go

into the quarters of the north, and plant therein the garden of the

Lord, breathing sweet odors; and the desire had come into his mind to

bring unto the knowledge of truth the king, Milcho, who was yet living,

to whom he had formerly been a servant, and to make him a servant of

the true King, whose service is a kingdom.  But forasmuch as the ways

of man are not in his own power, but as his steps are directed of the

Lord, he landed on the coast of Ulidia, that the vessels of mercy might

there be gathered together.  But Patrick being come forth on the dry

land, a multitude of heathens met him who were waiting and expecting

his coming; for the magicians and soothsayers, either by divination or

by prophecy, had foreknown that the island would be converted by the

preaching of Patrick, and had long before predicted his arrival in

these words: "One shall arrive here, having his head shaven in a

circle, bearing a crooked staff, and his table shall be in the eastern

part of his house, and his people shall stand behind him, and he shall

sing forth from his table wickedness, and all his household shall

answer, So be it! so be it!  And this man, when he cometh, shall

destroy our gods, and overturn their temples and their altars, and he

shall subdue unto himself the kings that resist him, or put them unto

death, and his doctrine shall reign for ever and ever."  Nor let it

seem strange or incredible that if the Lord inspired or even permitted

the magicians should thus foretell the arrival and the several acts of

Saint Patrick, since the soothsayer Balaam and the King Nabuchodonosor

plainly prophesied the coming of Christ, and since the devils that bore

testimony to the Son of God.  But when they said that he should from

his table sing forth wickedness, evidently doth it appear that he who

never stood on the truth, but who from the beginning was a liar and the

father of lies, did in his blasphemy utter these things through their

mouths.

CHAPTER XXXII.

_How a Fierce Dog was suddenly Tamed; of the Conversion of Dichu; and

how a Fountain rose out of the Earth._

But the chief King of Ireland, named Leogaire, the son of Neyll,

recollecting the prophecy, gave command unto his subjects that as soon

as Patrick should land they should forthwith expel him from the

country.  And the saint, being then in the harbor called Innbherslan,

went alone out of the ship, and immediately the people, infidel and

dog-like in their manners, excited a very fierce dog to bite him even

unto death.  But the dog, being at the sight of the man of God entirely

stiffened like a stone, stood fixed and without motion, plainly showing

that the worshippers of stones were like unto the gods which they

worshipped.  The which, when a certain man named Dichu, who was

powerful of strength, gigantic of stature, and savage of mind, beheld,

he brandished his sword to destroy the saint.  But the Lord interposed

His protecting arm, and all his strength withered in him, and he

entirely stiffened, so that he could move neither his foot to go

forward nor his hand to strike.  And he, experiencing in himself such a

miracle, suddenly is changed into another man, and from proud becoming

humble, mild from fierce, from an infidel a believer, he is, with all

his household, at the preaching of Patrick, baptized in the Christian

faith.  Thus he who had been in that country its first and principal

opposer became its first professor, and even to his latest age

continued its most devoted follower.  And as his soul was loosed from

the chains of sin, so were his limbs loosed from their heaviness, and

all their strength was restored unto him.  Behold, therefore, the

miracle which the Book of Kings relates to have been formerly wrought

on Jeroboam did Patrick more profitably renew on Dichu; for when that

king was sacrificing unto idols, and stretched out his hand to seize on

the prophet who was reproving him, forthwith his arm stiffened, which

on his repentance the prophet healed, yet did not he when healed

forsake his error; but Dichu, for the increase and for the evidence of

his devotion toward his new faith, gave unto Saint Patrick the place

wherein this miracle had been declared, to erect thereon a new church.

In this place, at the request of Dichu (but for what cause I know not),

did the saint build the church, having its aspect against the north,

and looking toward the southern point.  Perchance that by this mystical

structure the worshippers of idols might be persuaded from the northern

coldness of unbelief unto the meridian fervor of the faith and the

charity of Christ--the which to this day is called Sabhall Phadruig,

that is, the Barn of Patrick; for in process of time he builded there a

fair monastery, into which he introduced monks that had passed their

novitiate; and for their use he not long afterward, by his prayers,

produced a fountain out of the earth.  Of this monastery did he appoint

his disciple, Saint Dunnius, to be the abbot, wherein when he had

returned from his mission, he abided with him not a few days.

CHAPTER XXXIII.

_Of the Evil-doer Swallowed up by the Earth._

And in that church the holy prelate stood before the altar on a certain

day, celebrating the divine mysteries, when an evil-doer, a bondsman of

Satan, thrusting with accursed boldness a rod through the window,

overturned the chalice, and sacrilegiously poured out on the altar the

holy sacrifice.  But the Lord instantly and terribly avenged this

fearful wickedness, and in a new and unheard-of manner destroyed the

impious man.  For suddenly the earth, opening her mouth (as formerly on

Dathan and Abiron), swallowed up this magician, and he descended alive

into hell.  And the earth, thus disjoined and rent asunder, closed on

him again; but to this day a ditch yet remaining declareth the judgment

of the divine wrath.  But the holy sacrificer, being struck with

sorrow, mourned with heavy mourning over the chalice that had been

filled; and the chalice, with the divine sacrifice entire therein,

stood erect before him, being raised by the divine Power, nor did any

trace of the offering remain to be seen.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

_Of the Aged Man restored unto his Youth._

And Dichu had a brother named Rius, far advanced in years and in

unbelief, the tabernacle of whose body, for very age, was bending unto

the grave; and this man heavily grieved for the death of the magician

and for the conversion of his brother.  And his wisdom was wholly of

this world, and he believed in no life but the present life; for he

thought that he had lost his brother, who, believing in Christ, labored

with all his strength after the glory to come, which he had revealed to

his followers.  Therefore for many days he opposed and troubled

Patrick, and strove to stop his mouth, lest he should spread abroad the

Word of God, and increase the number of the believers.  But the saint,

desiring to gain him unto Christ, met him with true and lively

arguments, persuading him from the very kinds and natures of all

created things to believe that God was the Creator of all; and, that he

might the more thoroughly lead him into the way of truth, he promised

unto him a miracle, saying, "Now that the power of all thy limbs and of

all thy senses fail thee, and are nearly dead, and that thy life is

almost gone from thee, if Christ should restore unto thee the strength

of the grace of thy early youth, wouldst thou not be bound of right to

believe in Him?"  And the man answered: "If thou canst through Christ

perform on me such a miracle, forthwith will I believe in him."  Then

Saint Patrick prayed, and, laying his hand on him, he blessed him, and

immediately he became beautiful and strong, and flourished again as in

his early youth.  And great marvel seized on all who witnessed this

miracle, and their mouths were opened to the praise of Christ and to

the veneration of Saint Patrick.

CHAPTER XXXV.

_Of the Death of Rius._

And Rius, being renewed outwardly in his body and inwardly in his

spirit, brought with him his three brothers, and came with very many to

be purified at the healing font.  And after these things, Saint

Patrick, observing him to be thoroughly freed from sin, and knowing how

sin besets the slippery path of human life, inspired of the Holy

Spirit, said unto him: "Choose, now, whether in this valley of tears,

this world of tribulation and sorrow, shall thy years be prolonged, or

whether, the misery of this life being instantly ended, thou wilt be

carried up by the angels of light, and enter into the joy of the Lord

thy God."  But he, trusting that he should behold the mercies of the

Lord in the land of eternal life, answered: "I choose, and I desire to

be dissolved, and to be with Christ for ever, rather than to continue

in the habitations of sinners."  And he received the sacrament from the

hands of the holy bishop, and, commending his spirit unto the Lord, he

was brought unto eternal rest.

CHAPTER XXXVI.

_Of the Death of Milcho._

But Saint Patrick, confiding his affairs to his beloved Dichu, set

forward to visit Milcho, his former master, even his tormentor; for so

had he long intended in his mind, that by his preaching he might truly

convert unto the infancy of the Christian faith him now grown old in

his evil days.  And Milcho, this man of envious heart, this minister of

death feared lest the preaching of Patrick should penetrate a breast of

stone, and that by his clear and fiery eloquence, or by some

irresistible miracle, he should be compelled to believe.  Therefore

held he it as base and shameful to submit unto the doctrine of one who

had formerly been his servant, and to be bound unto the unused worship

of the Creator rather than his accustomed idolatry.  So when he heard

that the priest of the Most High was approaching, this child of

perdition gathered together all his substance, and cast it into the

fire; and then, throwing himself on the flames, made himself an

holocaust for the infernal demons.  And the holy prelate, beholding

from a neighboring mountain the deadly end of this wicked prince, saw

his soul, in the form of a fiery serpent, plunged into hell; when,

contemplating the infinite depths of the judgments of God, with heavy

tears and sighs uttered he these words: "Of this king, who, lest he

should believe in the Creator of heaven and earth, hath thus doubly

damned himself, the posterity shall not inherit his kingdom, but shall

be bound in servitude that never may be loosed."  And all this came to

pass even according to the word of the man of God, for none of his race

ascended after him to the throne of his kingdom; but in a short time

all his generation quickly perished; from the face of the earth by the

sword or by famine, or by captivity and the lowest servitude.  Thus

visiteth the Lord the sins of the fathers on their children; and thus

is put the axe unto the tree of death, lest it should bring forth

branches of iniquity.  Yet as God is able of stones to raise up sons

unto Abraham, and to produce from thorns roses, the two daughters of

Milcho were, by the inspiration of the Lord and by the preaching of

Patrick, converted unto the faith.  And each, after they were purified

by the healing water, was called Emeria; and they lived a holy and

religious life, and after their deaths they were buried in the place

which is called Cluainbroin, and, as Patrick had long before

prophesied, were celebrated for many miracles.  Then the saint returned

unto the house of Dichu, where he abided not a few days, and by

preaching the Christian faith, and by working signs and miracles, he

profited much people.

CHAPTER XXXVII.

_Of the Holy Mochna._

And there was a youth of virtuous disposition named Mochna, and he was

a swine-herd whom Saint Patrick had met near the town of Ereattan while

he was preaching in those parts, and to him, the Spirit having revealed

that he was destined to be a vessel of election, did the saint preach

the way of salvation.  And the youth, even at his first preaching,

believed; and Patrick, when he had baptized him, taught unto him the

alphabet, and, having blessed him, sent him to be instructed in

learning, and went his way.  But the youth, through the divine grace,

learned in one month the whole Psaltery, and, before the year had

ended, arrived he at the knowledge of the Holy Scriptures.  And after

some time Patrick returned to the aforementioned village, and Mochna

met him there.  And while sitting together, they conversed on holy

things; behold, a staff sent from heaven fell between them, and the

head thereof rested on the bosom of Patrick, and the point thereof on

the bosom of Mochna.  And the saint, gratulating the youth on the gift

thus miraculously bestowed, said unto him: "Now, my best-beloved son,

shalt thou know by this pastoral staff that the guardianship of souls

will be committed unto thee."  But he refusing and alleging his

ignorance and the imperfection of his youth, the saint is reported thus

to have said: "Seek not thou to excuse thyself for that thou art a boy,

since unto all those parts whither the Lord sendeth thee shalt thou go;

and what he commandeth unto thee, that shalt thou speak."  Therefore

through the several degrees did Patrick at length consecrate him a

bishop, and placed him over the church of Edrum.  And he profited much

the church of God by his conversation and by his example, and, being

renowned in virtues and in miracles, was called to heaven.  And he was

buried in that church wherein he had worthily served the Lord, and

wherein, adorned with manifold miracles, he had accustomed himself to

live in Christ.  And the staff is in that church still preserved, and

is called by the Irish "the flying staff."  And as Saint Patrick had

advanced this man from the care of swine unto the episcopate, a swine

is yearly taken from that territory, and paid unto the church of Down.

CHAPTER XXXVIII.

_Of the Hostages of Dichu which were Freed by an Angel._

Leogaire, a man of leonine fierceness, with a high and swelling heart,

rose above himself in the pride of his exploits, for that he seemed to

himself to hold the land by the strength of his arm and the firmness of

his valor.  And he took hostages of all the provincial chiefs bordering

on his kingdom, and among others he held in his power the sons of

Dichu, lest any of them should raise the head to defend themselves, or

the heel to offend him.  For he, being rooted in the errors of

idolatry, strenuously favored the magicians and the soothsayers; and

his neck was stiff and his head was stubborn against the true religion.

But when he understood that Dichu, with all his household and kindred

and people, had turned unto Christ, and renounced the gods of their

country, even the devils, his mind and his eye were inflamed with the

fury of his wrath.  Therefore, being moved in his mind, he gave order

that the hostages of Dichu should be punished in a manner mainly

destructive; for he forbade drink to be given to them, to the end that

they might perish of thirst.  And the Spirit revealed this unto the

saint, and he disclosed it unto Dichu, and advised him to seek from

Leogaire the respite of at least ten days until Patrick should appear

before him.  Yet could he not, as directed by the man of God, obtain

the respite even of one day, but rather did his entreaties more

vehemently blow up the flame, and exasperate the heart of the king with

the fire of fiercer rage, which when the prelate heard he betook

himself to his accustomed arms of prayer; and behold, on the following

night an angel appeared and gave unto them to drink, and satisfied

their thirst.  And from that hour not any suffering of thirst came on

them; and when a few days had passed, at the prayers of the saint, the

angel again appeared, and freed them from their prison-house and from

the power of their enemies.  And from the place wherein they were

confined he bore them through the air, as was formerly the prophet; and

he left one of them in a place in Down, where is now erected the church

of Saint Patrick, and the other on a neighboring hill surrounded by a

marsh of the sea; and he broke asunder the chains wherewith they were

bound, and each place is even to this day, from the broken chains,

called Dun-daleathglas.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

_Of Saint Benignus, and of the Prophecy which was made of him._

And the Passover was nigh, the festival of the Christians, whereon the

Life that died, arising from the dead, became the first-fruits of the

resurrection of the dead.  Therefore was it near to the heart of the

holy prelate to solemnize this solemn day, which the Lord had appointed

a day of joyfulness to the dwellers on earth and the dwellers in

heaven, on the fair and spacious plain called Breagh, and there, by

evangelizing the kingdom of God, and baptizing the people of his

conversion, to gather together the elect race unto Christ.  And he

embarked in a vessel, and arrived in a harbor nigh unto this plain,

and, committing the care of the vessel unto his nephew, Saint Lumanus,

he there landed, and went to the mansion of a certain venerable man

named Sesgnen, therein to pass the night.  And he gladly received the

saint, hoping that salvation would be brought unto his house by such a

guest, nor did his hope fail unto him, for when Patrick preached the

word of salvation he and all his household believed and were baptized.

And the venerable man had a son, whom the saint purified with the

healing water, and, taking the name from the occasion, called Benignus;

and as was his name, so were his life and his manners; and he was

beloved of God and of man, worthy of honor and of glory on earth and in

heaven, and he steadfastly adhered to the holy prelate, nor ever could

be separated from him; for when the saint, being weary, would lie down

to rest, this unspotted youth, flying from his father and from his

mother, would cast himself at the feet of the holy man, and enfold them

in his bosom, and ever and anon would he kiss them, and there would he

abide.  But on the morrow, when the saint was arrayed for his journey,

and, with one foot in his sandal, the other on the ground, was

ascending his chariot, the boy caught his foot with fast-closing hands,

and besought and implored that he might not leave him.  And when his

parents would have separated him from the saint, and retained him with

themselves, the boy, with wailing and lamentation, cried out, Away,

away, I entreat ye!  Release me, that I may go with my spiritual

father.  And the saint, observing such devotion in his tender heart and

body, blessed him in the name of the Lord, and, bidding him ascend with

him the chariot, prophesied that he would be, as indeed he was, the

successor of his ministry.  And this Benignus succeeded Saint Patrick

in the primacy of all Ireland, and, being illustrious for his virtues

and his miracles, at length he rested in the Lord.

CHAPTER XL.

The Fire that was Lighted by Patrick.

And the saint, on that most holy Sabbath preceding the Vigil of the

Passover, turned aside to a fit and pleasant place, called Feartfethin,

and there, according to the custom of the holy church, lighted the

lamps at the blessed fire.  And it happened on that night that the

idolaters solemnized a certain high festival called Rach, which they,

walking in darkness, were wont to consecrate to the prince of darkness.

And it was their custom that every fire should be extinguished, nor

throughout the province should be relighted until it was first beheld

in the royal palace.  But when the monarch, Leogaire, being then with

his attendants at Teomaria, then the chief court of the kingdom of all

Ireland, beheld the fire that was lighted by Saint Patrick, he

marvelled, and was enraged, and enquired who had thus presumed.  And a

certain magician, when he looked on the fire, as if prophesying, said

unto the king: "Unless yonder fire be this night extinguished, he who

lighted it will, together with his followers, reign over the whole

island."  Which being heard, the monarch, gathering together a

multitude with him, hastened, in the violence of his wrath, to

extinguish the fire.  And he brought with him thrice nine chariots, for

the delusion of foolishness had seduced his heart and persuaded him

that with that number he would obtain to himself a complete triumph;

and he turned the face of his men and his cattle toward the left hand

of Saint Patrick, even as his magicians had directed, trusting that his

purpose could not be prevented.  But the saint, beholding the multitude

of chariots, began this verse: "Some in chariots, and some on horses;

but we will invoke the name of the Lord."  And when the king approached

the place, the magicians advised him not to go near Saint Patrick, lest

he should seem to honor him by his presence, and as if to reverence or

adore him.  Therefore the king stayed, and, as these evil-doers

advised, sent messengers unto Patrick, commanding that he should appear

before him; and he forbade all his people that when he came any one

should stand up before him.  So the prelate, having finished his holy

duties, appeared; and no one stood up before him, for so had the king

commanded.

CHAPTER XLI.

_Of the Holy Man named Hercus._

But a certain man named Hercus, the son of Degha, who had heard many

things of Saint Patrick, rose up in the sight of all, and did him

honor.  Therefore the prelate blessed him, and promised eternal life

unto him; and he, believing in God, received the grace of baptism, and,

leading his life renowned for virtues and for miracles, after a while

he was made a bishop, and died in the city of Slane.

CHAPTER XLII.

_How the Magician was Destroyed._

And there was in that place a certain magician named Lochu, who was

highly favored with the king, and he uttered blasphemies against the

Lord and his Christ.  For being driven mad by the delusions of devils,

he declared himself to be a god; and the people, being dazzled with his

cheats, and stubbornly adhering to his pernicious doctrine, worshipped

him even as a deity.  Therefore he continually blasphemed the ways of

the Lord, and those who were desirous to be converted from idolatry did

he labor to subvert in their faith, and to pervert from Christ.  And

almost in the same manner as Simon Magus resisted Saint Peter did he

oppose Saint Patrick.  And on a certain time, when he was raised from

the earth by the prince of darkness and the powers of the air, and the

king and the people beheld him as if ascending into the heavens, Saint

Patrick thus prayed unto the Lord: "O omnipotent God! destroy this

blasphemer of Thine holy name, nor let him hinder those who now return

or may hereafter return unto Thee!"  And he prayed, and the magician

fell from the air to the earth at the feet of the man of God, and his

head was stricken against a stone, and, bruised and wounded, he

expired, and his spirit descended into hell.

CHAPTER XLIII.

_Of the Miraculous but Terrible Rescue of Saint Patrick._

But the king, being much grieved at the death of the magician, burned

with anger, and, with all the manifold multitude of his people, he

arose to destroy the saint.  And he, beholding their violence, and

singing forth with a loud voice, began this verse from the Psalms: "Let

God arise, and let His enemies be scattered, and let them who hate His

face be put to confusion."  Then the Lord, the protector of His chosen

ones in the time of need, saved from this multitude his faithful

servant; for, with a terrible earthquake, and with thundering and the

stroke of the thunderbolt, some he destroyed, some he smote to the

ground, and some he put to flight.  Thus, as was said by the prophet,

"The Lord shot forth His arrows, and He scattered them; He poured forth

His lightnings, and He overturned them."  For He sent among them,

according to the prophecy of Isaiah, the spirit of giddiness; and He

set the idolaters against the idolaters, like the Egyptians against the

Egyptians; each man rushed on his fellow, and brother fought against

brother, and the chariots and their riders were cast to the ground and

overturned; and forty and nine men were slain, and hardly did the rest

escape.  But the king trembled at the rebuke of the Lord, and at the

breath of the spirit of His anger, and ran into a hiding-place with

only four of his people, that he might conceal himself from the terrors

of the face of the Lord.  But the queen, entreating for the pardon of

the king, reverently approached, and, bending her knee before Saint

Patrick, promised that her consort should come unto him and should

adore his God.  And the king, according to her promise, yet with a

designing heart, bended his knees before the saint, and simulated to

adore the Christ in which he believed not.  There, with the tongue of

iniquity and the heart of falsehood, he promised that if on the morrow

he would vouchsafe to visit his palace, he would obey all his precepts.

But the man of God, though the Lord suffered not the wickedness which

this unworthy king had conceived in his heart, confidently trusting in

the protection of the Lord, assented to his entreaty.

CHAPTER XLIV.

_How the Saint Escaped the Deadly Snares._

And the king, bidding farewell to the bishop, returned to his palace,

and in the several places through which the saint was to pass he laid

an ambush; and divers rivers crossed the road, which might in many

parts be forded, nigh unto the shallows whereof he placed nine chariots

with some of his murderous servants, that if the saint should escape

the one he might meet with the other, and so that in no wise could he

pass unharmed.  But on the morrow Patrick, with eight persons only and

the boy Benignus, going in a straight road to Teomaria, where the king

then resided, passed through them who had laid snares for his life; and

their eyes were bound, that they could not behold him; but to their

sight appeared eight stags with one hind passing over the mountains;

and thus, the Lord being his protector, did the saint and his

companions escape the contrivers of his destruction.  Therefore he came

unto the royal city, and found the king at supper with his companions.

And at his entrance no one arose excepting a certain bard of the king

named Dubhtach, who devoutly saluted the saint, and besought and

obtained of him that he should be made a Christian.  And Dubhtach the

first among them all believed in the Lord, and it was remembered to his

justification; for, being baptized and confirmed in the faith of

Christ, the strains that erewhile he had poured forth in the praise of

his false gods, now converting to a better use, he composed more

excellent poems unto the praise of the All-powerful and the honor of

His saints.

CHAPTER XLV.

_Of the Poison mingled in the Wine._

But the King Leogaire, fermenting with the gall of wickedness and

deceit, knowing and marvelling how often the saint had escaped his

snares, turned himself to other inventions, and whom he could not slay

with the sword he plotted to destroy with poison.  Therefore, by the

hand of a certain evil-doer named Lugaich Mael, he gave his cup unto

Patrick, whereof, that servant of Satan mingling poison with the wine,

did the saint drink.  But the man of God, taking the cup and invoking

the name of the Lord, bended it forward, and all that was deadly

therein poured he into the hollow of his hand unmixed with the rest of

the liquor; then making the sign of the cross, what remained he

blessed, and, to the confusion of the poisoner and the admiration of

all who sat around, drinking thereout, he received neither hurt nor

damage.

CHAPTER XLVI.

_Of the Fantastic Snow._

Then, being utterly covered with shame, did the magician more and more

grieve; and lest he should appear to be vanquished, he challenged

Patrick to bring down signs from heaven.  And the saint answered that

he would not tempt the divine will; but the magician by his

enchantments sprinkled all those parts with the coldest snow, and

afflicted all the inhabitants with cold.  And the saint urged him,

urging and pressing that he would remove the snow from the earth and

the cold from the inhabitants; and thus compelled, the magician

confessed that by all his enchantments he could not do that thing.

Therefore, O impious man! said the saint, out of thine own mouth will I

judge thee, and prove that thou art the worker of wickedness and

minister of Satan; thou who canst cause evil only, and canst not at all

produce good.  Then raising his consecrated hand, blessed he the plain

and all the places around in the name of the Holy Trinity; and

forthwith all the fantastic snow which could not melt in the accustomed

manner vanished.  And all around marvelled, confessing the hand of the

Lord working in Patrick, and detesting the deceitful works of the

magician.

CHAPTER XLVII.

_How the Darkness was Dispersed._

And the magician, beholding how his art was scorned and set at small

account, once again by his enchantments covered the places that had

been whitened with snow, even with a palpable cloud of thick darkness.

And fear and trembling came on all whom it covered, or at least they

experienced how closely it shaded them from the brightness of the true

faith.  Nor let it be marvelled that strangers to the darkness of the

true light which illuminates every man entering this world should be

involved in the darkness of magicians, who, with blind and hardened

heart, worshipped the prince of darkness.  And Patrick in his wonted

words addressed the magician, that he would make this cloud to pass

away; but the magician answered even as before.  Then did the son of

light pour out a prayer unto the Eternal Light, the Sun of Justice, and

immediately the material sun arose and shone forth, and the darkness

was dispersed.  And the people which had hitherto sat in darkness, now

beholding the great light, proclaimed their thanks and their praises,

and magnified Patrick, who was the preacher of the Eternal Light.

CHAPTER XLVIII.

_How the Magician and his Garment were consumed, and Benignus and the

Garment of St. Patrick preserved unhurt._

But the magician, loving darkness rather than light, and darkening

himself in the delusions of his darkness, stubbornly persevered in his

malice, and still contentiously affirmed that his wicked and perverse

opinions excelled the doctrines of the saint.  And the king feared that

the works of the magician would be overturned, and he proposed a

certain trial to be made between them: "Let your books be plunged into

the water, and he whose writings are blotted or effaced, let his

preaching be disbelieved; but he in whose writings no blemish shall be

found, let his preaching be admitted and confirmed."  And Patrick

assented to this decision, but the magician refused; for he affirmed

that Patrick worshipped the element of water for a god, inasmuch as he

baptized with water in the name of his God.  Then the king changed the

trial, and appointed that each book should be cast into the fire, and

that of him whose book should remain unhurt the doctrine should be

received of all.  And the saint accorded to this sentence, but the

magician, distrusting himself, accorded not; for he said that Patrick

worshipped, in their turn, now the fire, now the water, and that

therefore he held propitious to him either element.  And Patrick

replied that he adored no element, but that he worshipped the Creator

of all the elements.  While, therefore, the dispute waxed high, and the

people varied from the one side unto the other, the wisdom of the Lord

inspiring them to distinguish the light of the true faith from the

darkness of idolatry, and the soundness of holy doctrine from the

vanity of magical delusion, a new trial by fire is sought out.  Then

with the agreement of all, and Patrick and the evil-doer consenting, in

a new manner a new house is builded, whereof the one-half is made of

wood which was green, the other of wood which was dry and eaten of

worms; and the boy Benignus and the magician, each being bound hand and

foot, are placed over against each other, the boy, arrayed in the

magician's garment, is placed in the dry part of the building, and the

magician, clothed in the robe of Saint Patrick, is placed in the green

part, and the fire is put thereto.  And behold an event marvellous and

much unwonted!  The fire, furiously raging, consumed the magician, even

to ashes, with the green part of the building wherein he stood; and the

robe of the saint wherewith he was clad was neither scorched nor

soiled; but the blessed youth Benignus, standing in the dry part

thereof, the fire touched not, yet reduced to a cinder the garment of

the magician that wrapped him round.  Behold, therefore, herein

repeated the miracles which are recorded in the Holy Writ, as when the

three youths were cast into the furnace, the fire burned only their

bonds, and hurted not themselves; so destroyed it the magician, with

the green part of the house, yet hurted not the vest of Patrick, and,

leaving the boy with the dry part of the house uninjured, it consumed

the garment of the evil-doer.

CHAPTER XLIX.

_Of Many who were Swallowed up by the Earth, and how the rest were

Converted unto God._

But the heart of Leogaire was hardened, as was formerly the heart of

Pharao before Moses against the commands of the Lord.  For though so

many miracles had been wrought, he feared not to provoke the high God,

and to offend his servant Patrick.  Therefore, showing himself to be a

second Nero, in revenge for the death of the evil-doer, he appointed

several of his people to destroy the saint.  And, as is testified by

the Holy Writ, a wicked prince always hath wicked ministers, many of

his servants put themselves forward, voluntary, prompt, and earnest to

so great a sacrilege.  But God, the all-powerful protector of His

beloved, armed the zeal of the creature against these senseless

idolaters, and ere they could effect their wickedness he swept them

from the earth and destroyed them.  For the earth opened and swallowed

them up, and so many of the people of Teamhrach as were consenting

thereto; and the abyss opened its mouth and devoured them, even alive.

And they who remained, and all the dwellers of that land seeing or

hearing of these things, feared with mighty fear; and, lest they should

be punished with the like punishment, they believed in Christ, and

crowded together unto the font.  And the king trembled, and threw

himself at the feet of Patrick, and besought pardon, and promised that

he would thenceforth obey him.  And the saint forgave him; yet, though

he a long time instructed him in the faith of the Lord Jesus, in no

wise could he persuade him unto baptism.  Therefore he dismissed him,

that, following his free will, he might go on in the inventions of his

own heart, nor seem to be compelled unto the faith; yet, at the

revelation of the Spirit, what he foreknew of the king and his

posterity thus was prophesied by the saint: "Since thou hast always

resisted my doctrine, nor ceased to afflict me beyond measure;

moreover, since thou thoughtest scorn to believe in the Creator of all

things, therefore art thou the child of perdition, and thou, with all

that were partners in thine offence, shouldst justly, even at this

instant, go into eternal punishment; but since thou humbly besought of

me forgiveness, and, like the King Achab, hast humbled thyself before

my God, the Lord will not at this time bring on thee the evil which

thou hast deserved; yet shall none of thy seed sit on thy throne after

thee, but they shall become servants unto thy brother, who will believe

in Christ, and to his posterity for ever and ever."  But the queen

believed in Christ, and was baptized and blessed of Patrick, and at

length, with a pious end, rested in the Lord.  And he went forward with

his people, baptizing in the name of the Holy Trinity all those who

believed, while the Lord assisted and confirmed his labors with

manifold miracles.

CHAPTER L.

_Of the Sisters and the Nephews of St. Patrick._

And the saint had three sisters, memorable for their holiness and for

their justice, and they were pleasing unto the Lord; and of these the

names were Lupita, Tygridia, and Darercha.  And Tygridia was blessed

with a happy fruitfulness, for she brought forth seventeen sons and

five daughters.  And all her sons became most wise and holy monks, and

priests, and prelates; and all her daughters became nuns, and ended

their days as holy virgins; and the names of the bishops were

Brochadius, Broichanus, Mogenochus, and Lumanus, who, with their uncle,

Saint Patrick, going from Britain into Ireland, earnestly laboring

together in the field of the Lord, they collected an abundant harvest

into the granary of heaven.  And Darercha, the youngest sister, was the

mother of the pious bishops, Mel, Moch, and Munis, and their father was

named Conis.  And these also accompanied Saint Patrick in his preaching

and in his travel, and in divers places obtained the episcopal dignity.

Truly did their generation appear blessed, and the nephews of Saint

Patrick were a holy heritage.

CHAPTER LI.

_How Saint Lumanus Sailed against the Wind and the Stream._

And Saint Patrick, having sailed over from Ulidia, came unto the

territory of Midia, at the mouth of the river Boinn, among barbarians

and idolaters; and he committed his vessel and its tackle unto his

nephew, Saint Lumanus, enjoining him that he should abide there at the

least forty days, the while he himself would go forward to preach in

the interior parts of the country.  But Lumanus, abiding there the

messenger of light, and being made obedient through the hope of

obtaining martyrdom, doubled the space of time that was enjoined unto

him, which no one of his companions, even through the fear of their

lives, dared to do.  Yet was not this child of obedience disappointed

of his reward.  For while he received the seed of obedience, he brought

forth unto himself the fruit of patience, and deserved to fertilize

strange lands, even with the seed of the divine Word, to the

flourishing of the flowers of faith and the fruits of justice; and the

more devotedly he obeyed his spiritual father, the more marvellously

did the elements obey him.  And having fulfilled there twice forty

days, and being wearied with the continual expectation of the saint's

return, on a certain day, the wind blowing strongly against him, he

hoisted the sails, and, trusting in the merits of Saint Patrick, even

by the guidance of the vessel alone passed he over unto the place where

he was appointed to meet him.  O miracle till then unheard and unknown!

The ship, without any pilot, sailed against the wind and against the

stream, at the bidding of the man of God, and bore him with a

prosperous course from the mouth of the Boinn even to Athtrym; and He

who formerly turned back the stream of Jordan unto its fountain did,

for the merits of Patrick, guide the vessel against the wind and

against the stream.

CHAPTER LII.

_How Forkernus and his Parents were Converted and Baptized._

And Saint Lumanus having landed at the aforementioned town of Athtrym,

he converted unto the faith of Christ first Forkernus, the son of a

certain great man who there ruled, then his mother, a Britoness by

nation, and lastly his father, Fethleminus, and in a fountain which by

his prayers he produced out of the earth, even before their eyes, did

he baptize them and many others.  And these things being done, the holy

prelate, in the twenty-fifth year before the foundation of Ardmachia,

there builded a church, to the endowment and the enrichment whereof

Fethleminus, that faithful servant of Christ, gave by solemn gift

Athtrym and Midia, with many farms, and then crossing the river, he

builded a habitation for himself and for his people, and there did he

piously finish his days.  And Lumanus, being consecrated the bishop of

this church, sent his novice, Forkernus, to be instructed in letters,

and, when he was sufficiently learned, advanced him to the priesthood.

And as the day of his death approached, he went with Forkernus unto his

brother Brocadius, and commanded Forkernus on his obedience that he

should, after his decease, take on himself the government of the church

over which he presided.  But he, refusing and protesting that it

accorded neither to reason nor to justice that he should in the church

of his father take on himself the guidance of souls, lest he should

seem to hold in heritage the sanctuary of the Lord, his father and

pastor bound him thereto by his iterated commands.  Why need we many

words?  Lumanus would not bless him until he had promised to undertake

this office.  And at length Lumanus, having departed from this light

unto the mansion of eternal light, Forkernus, as enjoined, took on

himself the care of his church; and after he had presided over it only

three days, he committed it unto a certain stranger, by birth a Briton,

named Cathladius.  Thus did the man of God fulfil the command of his

father, and thus he took care that he should not set the example of

selling the rights of the church or the heritage of his parents.  But

all the revenues of this church were by Lumanus transferred to Saint

Patrick and his successors, and for ever after given unto the church of

Ardmachia.

CHAPTER LIII.

_Of the Prophecy of St. Patrick on Coyrbre, and of the Unfruitfulness

of a River._

And Leogaire had two brothers, the elder of whom was named Coyrbre,

like unto him in cruelty and unbelief, if, indeed, any one could in

that country be found like him, who contemned and condemned the law of

the Most High; and the younger was named Conallus, who retained no more

of his birth than does the fish of the sea or the rose of the thorn.

But Patrick having gone to Coyrbre, who then abided in the place called

Tailltion, that he might convert him unto the Christian faith, if in

any wise from that stone could a son be raised up unto Abraham, yet he,

his heart being hardened against belief, intended the death of the

preacher who would have preached life unto him, and even in the middle

of the river he scourged the servants of Patrick; and the saint,

knowing him to be obstinate in his error, and to be abandoned of God,

thus prophesied unto him: "Since thou hast refused to bear the yoke of

Christ, whose service is freedom, no one of thy posterity shall attain

the throne of thy kingdom, but in perpetual servitude shall they serve

the seed of thy younger brother, Conallus.  And this shall be to thee a

sign that the Lord will fulfil the word which He has spoken through my

mouth: the river near thy mansion, which, with the abundance of its

fishes, is wont to feed thee and thine household, from henceforward,

even for ever, shall produce no fishes."  And the word of the man of

God obtained, for all his posterity became subject unto the posterity

of his brother Conallus, and they came unto the throne of his kingdom;

and the river, which is called Seyle, even to this day beareth no

fishes.

CHAPTER LIV.

_Of Conallus, and of the Prophecy of Patrick concerning him._

And the saint, leaving those children of darkness in the anger and

blindness of their hearts, and the depth of their error, turned his

steps towards Conallus, who was to be the child of the truth.  And he,

rejoicing and giving thanks, received him as the angel of peace and of

delight, and opened the ears of his hearing unto the words of

salvation, and, through the laver of the regeneration and renovation of

the Holy Spirit, deserved he to be incorporated with Christ.  Whereby

are we plainly showed that the Heavenly Potter out of the same clay can

form at His will one vessel unto reproof and another unto honor.  Then

Conallus, being comforted and confirmed in the Catholic verity, offered

unto the saint his dwelling-house, and his land, and his farm, and

besought of him with many prayers that for the spreading of the

Christian faith he there would build a city for him and for his people;

and he said he would build a habitation for himself on the borders

thereof.  And the saint, praising so great charity in his novice, lest

he should seem to reject his entreaty, builded there a city, which is

now called Domnhach Phadruig--that is, the City of Patrick; and

touching it with his staff, he marked out the dwelling-place of

Conallus, which is now called Rathyr-tair.  And the saint blessed him

in the name of the Lord; and among other things which were to happen

unto him, thus did he prophesy: "Happy and prosperous shall be this

dwelling-place, and happy shall be they who dwell therein; nor shall

the blood of any man, save only one, be shed in it; and the Lord,

giving His blessing, shall bless thee, and He shall confirm thy throne

and multiply thine empire, and the seed of thy brother shall serve thy

seed for ever and ever."  And all these things which the saint

prophesied were not in the event disproved.

CHAPTER LV.

_Of the Altar of Saint Patrick._

And it was near to the heart of the saint to visit Connactia; and

chiefly for the vision which he had heretofore beheld in his sleep,

wherein he was called by the infants of that country, even in their

mothers' wombs, he desired there to evangelize the kingdom of God.  And

he purposed to travel round the whole island, that he might convert it

unto Christ; and the saint, being prepared to his journey, blessed

Conallus, and in memorial of himself he left in the aforementioned city

his altar of stone, for the relieving of the sick and for the working

of miracles; but when he proceeded on his journey, the altar followed,

nor to the eyes of any man was it visible how it was carried; but, as I

account, it was carried along the path of the saint by the power and

the virtue of Him at whose nod the prophet was carried from Judea into

Chaldea.  Thus did the Corner-Stone, Christ, that He might show unto

all the holiness of Patrick, cause this holy stone to be moved without

human hand.  And the prelate, looking back, beheld the altar thus

marvellously borne after him, and exulted in the Lord, and returned,

and placed it in a fitting place.  And from that day did it remain

fixed, yet ceased it not to shine in miracles, as if the virtue of

Patrick had remained in it or flowed from it.

CHAPTER LVI.

_Of the Images destroyed from Heaven, and of the Fountain produced from

the Earth._

And the King Leogaire, being devoted to the worship of devils, with a

great part of his people who much desired to please him adored a

certain idol magnificently formed of silver and gold, and which was

raised in a field called Maghfleidh.  And the idol was named

Ceancroithi--that is, the head of all the gods, for that it was by that

foolish people accounted to utter responses.  And around this image

stood twelve inferior gods, made of brass, as if subject unto it.

Therefore Saint Patrick turned toward this place, that he might

overturn the idol, and by his preaching convert its worshippers to the

worship of the Creator.  But when he could not prevail, neither could

he recall those idolaters from the folly that was fixed in their minds,

he betook himself to his accustomed arms of prayer.  And from a

neighboring hill beholding the idol, he stretched forth in prayer his

spotless hands unto God, and lifted against it the staff of Jesus, when

suddenly, by the power of God, the idol fell on its left side, and all

the silver and the gold poured from it broken and powdered into dust;

but on the hard stone of the image was seen impressed the mark of the

staff, though it had touched it not; and the earth swallowed up the

twelve inferior gods, even to their necks, and their heads continue

above the ground unto this day.  Thus what human strength could not

accomplish was done by the divine power; and many beholding it believed

in the true and living God, and being baptized, according to the

apostle, put on Christ, And in that place Saint Patrick by his prayers

produced out of the earth a fountain of the clearest water, wherein

many were afterward baptized.

CHAPTER LVII.

_How the Darkness was Dispersed._

And the saint, having overturned the idols, held on the way that he

purposed; and the fame of his holiness, going before him, announced his

coming.  And when he drew nigh unto Connactia, two magicians, the sons

of Neyll, the one whereof was named Mael, the other Cabhlait, heard of

his approach; and they were both bound in the bonds of Satan, nor were

they less germane in the exercise of their evil deeds than in the germ

of their native generation.  These men by their enchantments covered

the whole country with thick darkness for three continual days, whereby

they hoped to prevent the entrance of Patrick into that place.  But the

son of light, in whose heart the morning star that never sets

perpetually shone, while he lifted up unto heaven his heart and his

hand and his tongue in prayer, the light-streaming rays of the sun,

shining forth, dispersed the magic darkness; and, finding free entrance

into Connactia, with all his strength he labored to open to those

unworthy enemies of the truth the door of faith.

CHAPTER LVIII.

_Of the Virgins who went unto Heaven._

And of Leogaire were born two daughters, like roses growing in a

rose-bed.  And the one was of a ruddy complexion, and she was called

Ethne; and the other was fair, and she was called Fedella; and they

were educated by these magicians.  And early on a certain morning, the

sun having just arisen, they went to bathe in a clear fountain, on the

margin whereof they found the saint sitting with other holy men; and

regarding his countenance and garb, they were struck with wonder, and

enquired of his birth and his residence, taking him for an apparition.

But the saint admonished them rather to believe in his God than to

enquire of his descent or his dwelling-place.  Then the damsels,

desiring to know more assuredly of God, earnestly questioned about His

power, and His riches, and His glory.  And the Saint instructed them in

the Catholic faith, truly affirming him to be the Creator and Ruler of

the heavens, and the earth, and the sea, and of all that is therein;

and that He had one Son, with Himself coeternal, coeval, and

consubstantial--everywhere reigning, governing all things, possessing

all things; and promised he also unto them that they should exchange an

earthly and transitory kingdom for a heavenly and eternal kingdom; for

that if they obeyed his counsel, they should unite with the Celestial

King in pure and indissoluble union.  And when he had thus preached

unto them with persuasive eloquence, the damsels believed in Christ,

and he baptized them even in that fountain.  Thus being made

Christians, they besought the saint that according to his promise he

would show unto them the face of Christ, their beloved Spouse.  And the

saint thus answered: "Ye must first, with the mouth of your heart and

of your body, devoutly receive the flesh and the blood of your Spouse,

so that, being quickened with the living food, and having tasted of

death, ye may pass from this impure world unto the starry

bride-chamber."  Then the virgins, believing in the word of the man of

God, devoutly entreated and received the Eucharist, and, immediately

falling asleep in the Lord, they quitted their earthly tabernacles, and

went unto their heavenly Spouse.  And their friends and their kindred

gathered together and bewailed them for three days, as was the custom

of the country, and returned their sacred remains unto the womb of the

mother of all human kind.  And on that spot was erected a church, which

is now collated to the metropolitan seat of Ardmachia.  And the two

magicians, for that they had educated the damsels, were sorely grieved

at their deaths, and reproached the saint with bitter and angry words;

but he, touching the harp of David, and preaching unto them the kingdom

of God, converted them unto the faith, and they were baptized.

CHAPTER LIX.

_Of the Magician Struck by Lightning, and of Twelve Thousand Men

Converted unto Christ._

And after these things had come to pass, a great and solemn council was

held in a solemn place by the people of that province gathered there

together, whereat the seven sons of Amhlaich, a man eminent for his

birth, his dignity, his riches, and his power, were present with a

numerous train of their followers.  Then the saint, that he might gain

many of that multitude unto Christ, threw himself into the midst of the

assembly, and took the spiritual armor of the power of God unto the

extirpation of idolatry.  But when this renowned preacher unsheathed

the sword of the Spirit to the destruction of devils and the salvation

of man, a certain magician named Rochait with all his strength

endeavored to slay him.  Lest, however, his wicked attempt should

accomplish the yet more wicked deed, the hand of the Almighty, sending

on him fire from above, consumed this child of hell, and smote him with

lightning, even in the presence of all.  And beholding this marvellous

and fearful miracle, the seven sons of Amlaich, with twelve thousand of

the people, believed in Christ, and were baptized, and constantly

remained in the Catholic faith which they had taken on them.  And the

two daughters of a certain nobleman named Glerannus, who were then

unborn, are said to have invoked the saint, and were with the rest

converted unto Christ, and were baptized even in their mother's womb.

And they afterward, living a holy and religious life, in a pious end

rested in the Lord, and after their deaths proved by many miracles that

they were with the saints in heaven.  And Saint Patrick placed over

this newly-converted people a prelate named Mancenus, and he was

learned and religious, and well versed in the Holy Scriptures.

CHAPTER LX.

_Of another Magician whom the Earth swallowed up._

And the Lord ordained unto Saint Patrick strong and frequent conflicts

with the magicians, that he might conquer and know how prevailing was

the wisdom of Him in whose name all their endeavors were foiled.  For

as, according to the apostle, Iannes and Mambres resisted Moses, so did

very many evil-doers resist Patrick.  Therefore, on another day, in the

place of the aforementioned council, another but not a different

evil-doer, at the instigation of Satan, arose with the like fury

against the saint, that he might destroy him.  But the right hand of

the Lord, which erewhile had smote his enemy with consuming fire, was

magnified in strength, and in His manifold power swept this evil-doer

from the face of the earth.  For the earth, cleaving asunder, opened

her mouth and swallowed up the magician who had so often defiled

himself with so many evil deeds, and, closing again, plunged him into

the abyss.

CHAPTER LXI.

_How another Magician is Sunken up to the Ears, and again is Raised up._

And the deadly end of this evil-doer being discerned by one who was

germane unto him in his flesh and in his mind, and who was not able to

succor his brother when perishing, therefore sought he to avenge his

destruction on Patrick as his destroyer; and being enraged against the

saint, he sought to put him to death.  But the Lord fought for Patrick,

and the earth in like manner opened and swallowed up the magician, even

to his ears.  Then the man, being almost swallowed up in the earth,

implored pardon of the saint, and promised that he would believe in

Christ, and that he would obey his doctrine.  And the saint, being

moved with pity, prayed for him unto the Lord; and immediately the

earth cast him forth, and raised him.  And the unmerciful man, being

mercifully saved, gave thanks unto the power that had saved him, and

believed in Christ, and received the grace of baptism.  Thus doth the

Lord, distinguishing between the light and darkness, severely condemn

the reprobate and obstinate in evil, and mercifully saveth those who

fly unto his mercy.

CHAPTER LXII.

_How a huge Stone was raised by the Saint._

And the saint, passing along on a certain day, beheld a multitude of

men gathered together, that they might move from its place a very large

stone; and they had labored a long time, but in vain; for they were

wearied in their strength and fatigued with the unequal attempt, and to

raise the stone they prevailed not.  Then the saint approached, even as

a builder of the temple of the living God to be builded in the Lord;

and having prayed and blessed their work, that huge stone, which could

not be stirred by an hundred hands, did he alone remove and raise and

place in its fit place.  And the men who stood around marvelled at this

marvellous work, and were converted to believe in the God of Saint

Patrick; and they who hitherto, having stony hearts, worshipped stones,

this stone being raised by the saint, believed in the living Stone, the

precious Stone, the Corner-Stone, the elect Stone, the Stone which is

placed in the foundations of Sion; and this Stone had they long time

rejected; but now becoming themselves living stones, joined together

with the cement of the Christian faith, and following the sacred

doctrine, and being polished and purified in baptism, they grew in the

temple of the Lord.

CHAPTER LXIII.

_How the Women were raised from Death._

And wheresoever in his preaching went Patrick, the man of God, his lips

diffused the healing knowledge, and the number of the believers was

daily increased.  And the Lord assisted his faithful servant with

manifold miracles, and confirmed his doctrine, for that he falsified

not the word of God, but always sought His praise and His glory.  And

on a certain day he came to a place called Fearta, where at the side of

a hill two women who had deceased were buried.  Then the man of God,

approaching the grave, commanded the earth to be removed, and, having

invoked the name of Christ, he raised them up to life.  And the women

thus raised up, even in the presence of all around, proclaimed that

their idols were vain, and that their gods were devils, Christ alone

being the true God; and in His name they besought to be baptized, and

they attained their prayer.  And the bystanders glorified God, and

devoutly received his faith and baptism.  Thus did the most holy

prelate revive from double death the two women who were dead in the

flesh; and their resurrection from bodily death gave unto many

resurrection from the death of the soul.

CHAPTER LXIV.

_Two Women who were pregnant are with their Infants rescued from Death

unto Life._

And in these parts was a certain woman named Fidelina, yet knew she not

how to confide in Christ; and she was pregnant, and even at the instant

other travail, for lack of strength, she expired.  But as a city

builded on a mountain cannot be hidden, nor a candle placed in a

candlestick, nor the fragrance of a sweet-smelling garden, so, though

ever so much he desired it, could not the virtue of the blessed Patrick

be concealed.  For proceeding from him it drew after him many who had

been evil-disposed; and for the odor of his ointments many followed

him, so by the grace thereof the friends of the departed woman, being

attracted, brought her lifeless body unto the saint, and entreated with

lamentable entreaties that he would show now on her the power which

erewhile he had shown on others.  And forthwith the man full of God

betook himself unto prayer; and he restored the dead woman unto life;

and afterwards she brought forth a son, and in a convenient season

thereafter, with her child, received baptism; and thus was each from

the death of the body and of the soul revived by Patrick before the

people.  And all the multitude who beheld these things believed and

gave praise unto God.  And the woman related what during her death she

had seen of the glories of heaven and of the pains of hell; and her

testimony was believed, and converted unto Christ many thousands.  And

shortly after this miracle was renewed on another woman, who also died

in travail, and who was in like manner revived by the saint, and with

her child was baptized.

CHAPTER LXV.

_How he builded a Church of Clay alone._

And Saint Patrick journeyed round Connactia, spreading through all that

region the Word of God; nor ceased he from his preaching nor from his

working of miracles until all the inhabitants thereof were converted

unto the true faith.  And in many places builded he churches, and

appointed therein priests and other ecclesiastical ministers unto the

government of souls and the holy ministry.  And on a time when the

saint was intent on his wonted work, he came unto a certain plain,

which, by its fair and pleasant site, was fitted unto the building of a

church; but neither wood nor stone could be found therein.  For the

forest was a long way distant, and no axe could be found in those

parts, nor even, if found, did any of the inhabitants understand its

use.  Therefore did this holy man offer up his prayers, and, being

helped of heaven, he builded there a church of clay alone, and it was

fashioned for that time in very handsome form, and it was endowed with

the divine grace.  For well is it known to have suffered naught,

neither from the wind, nor from the snow, nor from the hail, nor from

the rain, nor from any other inclemency of the air; but from thence

even to this day is it seen to continue in its original state.  And the

seat of Saint Patrick, wherein sitting he was wont to preach, is still

shown; and manifold and marvellous miracles are reported to have been

done there.

CHAPTER LXVI.

_Of the two Rivers, Dubh and Drobhaois._

In that country were two rivers, whereof the one was called Dubh, and

the other Drobhaois; and the river Dubh was wont to abound with fishes,

but the other produced them not.  And the saint, passing nigh the bank

of the fruitful river, entreated the fishermen that out of a great

draught which they had taken they would bestow their kindness unto him.

But they, wanting charity toward the beloved of the Lord, sent him away

empty, and wholly refused unto him even one fish.  Therefore God, the

author and the lover of charity, from these fishermen, narrowed in

their hearts, and frozen with covetousness, withdrew their wonted gain,

and deprived that river of its perpetual abundance of fishes; and the

other river, which was called Drobhaois, did he immediately enrich

therewith.  And this river, as being more fruitful, so is it clearer

than all the other rivers in Ireland.  From whence a wise man may

understand that we should show charity unto every member of Christ, and

receive the friends of God and relieve them with all kindness.  For

whatever honor, whatever kindness, we show unto them, that do we

assuredly show unto Christ; so whatever we unjustly take from or deny

unto them, of that doth God attest us to have defrauded Him.

CHAPTER LXVII.

_Of the Voice that issued from the Sepulchre._

The holy standard-bearer of the Lord was accustomed to stop at the

head-stone of every Christian who was buried outside of a burial-place,

there to erect a cross; for he knew that in that country, then only

lately converted unto the faith, all the dead, by reason of the fewness

of the churches, could not be buried in consecrated ground; and

therefore the good pastor wished by that blessed token to distinguish

the sheep from the goats--namely, the Christians that were buried from

the pagans.  So might the worshippers of Christ, beholding the sign of

life, understand that a servant of the faith of the cross was there

buried, and so might they not delay to offer unto the Creator their

prayers for his soul.  Truly, a pious custom, and worthy is it of

general observance that all who were baptized in the death of Christ,

and are dead in his faith, should, when buried, have on them or near

them the ensign of the death of Him.

And it came to pass that Patrick, in going out of Connactia, beheld

outside of a burying-place which was consecrated to God the graves of

two men who had been lately buried, and he observed that at the head of

the one was a cross erected.  And sitting in his chariot, as was then

the custom, he bade his charioteer to stay, and, speaking to the dead

man as to one living, he asked him who and of what religion he had

been?  And the voice answered unto him from the grave that he had been

a pagan, altogether ignorant of the Christian faith.  "Why, then," said

the saint, "bearest thou the cross of Christ, thou who didst never

worship or acknowledge Him?"  And the voice answered: "He who is buried

near me was a Christian; and some one of your faith, coming hither,

placed the cross at my head."  Thus the voice spake, and was silent.

Then the saint descended from his chariot, and removed the cross from

that place, and fixed it at the head-stone of him who had been

baptized, and prayed for him, and went his way.

CHAPTER LXVIII.

_Of his Journey, and of his manifold Miracles._

And going out of Connactia, after having confirmed that country in the

Christian faith, he went toward the northern part of Ireland, which is

called Dalnardia; and the people therein dwelling, by his conversation,

and by his example, and by his miracles, did he convert unto the faith

of Christ and the sacraments of the faith.  Then he passed over the

mountain Ficoth, even to the great plain of Bregh, thus traversing

through Midia into Lagenia; and everywhere he preached the kingdom of

God, and certain of his disciples he advanced in fit places unto the

episcopal dignity.  But by how many miracles his journey was graced,

how many diseased persons he healed, severally to relate, not even the

pen of the most eloquent could suffice.  For divers received health,

not only by his touch or by his prayer, but even by the passing of his

shadow, as were he another Peter.  So many as were not purified by the

healing water did he labor to persuade unto baptism; so many as were

already baptized, lest their faith should be perverted by the old enemy

or subverted by heretical doctrines, did he therein confirm.  And since

faith, according to the Apostle James, is "dead without works," and

since a dead faith is no faith, this blessed preacher earnestly

persuaded the believers unto a holy and sincere faith by their diligent

working of good works.  But they who, proceeding in all wickedness,

condemned his doctrine, and, rebelling against God, obstinately

persevered in the worship of devils, often at his prayer were they by

the suddenness of divine justice destroyed, as our relation has

hitherto declared, and will declare in the following pages.

CHAPTER LXIX.

_The Prophecy of the Saint Concerning Dublinia; and the Sick Man cured._

And the saint, departing from Midia, directed his course toward

Lagenia, for the purpose of preaching there; and on his journey he

crossed a river named Finglas to a certain hill distant about one mile

from the village Athcliath, the which is now called Dublinia; and

looking on this place and on the country around it, and blessing it,

thus spake he, prophesying: "This village, now so small, in time shall

be renowned, and it shall be increased in riches and in dignity until

it be advanced the royal seat of a kingdom."  How truly he spake the

proof of this time manifestly showeth.  And he entered the village, and

the dwellers therein, having heard of the miracles which he had wrought

in the Lord, came forth joyfully to meet him; and the son of the lord

of that place, his only son, was even at the point of death, so that

many said he had already expired.  Then, at the entreaty of the father

and of the rest who flocked around him, the saint went unto the sick

man's bed, and bended his knees on the earth, and prayed, and blessed

him then dying, and snatched him from the jaws of death, and in the

sight of them all restored him.  And they who beheld this miracle

believed in the Author of life, and by the holy prelate were baptized

in His name.

CHAPTER LXX.

_A Fountain is produced out of the Earth._

And Saint Patrick, while abiding in this village, was entertained at

the house of a woman who often in his presence complained of the want

of fresh water.  For the river that ran near it was, by the flowing in

of the tide of the sea, made wholly salt of taste; nor before the

return thereof could any fresh water be obtained, unless drawn at a

great distance.  But the saint, who continually thirsted after God, the

living fountain, compassionated the grievance of his hostess and of the

multitude then newly born unto Christ, and, the rather that they might

the more ardently pant toward the fountain of life, thought he fit to

show its virtue.  Therefore on the morrow he went unto a certain place,

and in the presence of many standing around he prayed, and touched the

earth with the staff of Jesus, and in the name of the Lord produced

from it a clear fountain.  Thus with the staff in the hand of his

preacher Saint Patrick did the Lord renew the miracle which of old time

he had deigned to work by the rod in the hand of Moses striking the

rock; there the rock twice struck flowed forth abundant waters; here

the earth once pierced poured forth a pure fountain.  And this is the

fountain of Dublinia, wide in its stream, plenteous in its course,

sweet to the taste, which, as is said, healeth many infirmities, and

even to this day is rightly called the fountain of Saint Patrick.

CHAPTER LXXI.

_The Dead are raised up; the King and the People are converted; a

Fountain is produced, and Tribute promised._

The divine Providence bestoweth on this transitory world the desire of

letters, to the end that the human race, which when death arrives

cannot long continue in the memory, may through distant ages preserve

the record of great events, and recall them as if passing before their

eyes.  Therefore do those things appear to me very worthy of

remembrance which were done by Patrick, the illustrious preacher unto

the Irish nation, the holy prelate, who, by the grace of God, in his

evidences, his miracles, and his virtues, became the conqueror of the

old enemy, even to the gathering together the people of Ireland and her

kings, that they might serve the Lord; and at length he came unto the

noble city which is now called Dublinia.  And it was inhabited by the

Norwegians and by the people of the Isles, having been conceded by the

King of Ireland unto the dominion of the queen, who was the daughter of

the King of Norwegia; and in course of time was it one while allied to,

and other while warring against, the kings of Ireland.  Hither Saint

Patrick coming, found the city defiled with the abominations of idols,

and unknowing of the true Creator.  And He who burst asunder the gates

of death and of hell smoothed the path for his servant; for the king

and the people, who erewhile had said unto the Lord, Depart Thou from

us, we will not the knowledge of Thy ways, so cast down were they, so

saddened with weeping and with lamentation, that all memory of their

wonted fierceness, all their barbarous rudeness, and all the pride of

their idolatry, were utterly subdued.  Wretched was the spectacle on

that day!  The twin hope of the kingdom, the delight of the city, the

solace of the old, the companion of the young, the son of the King of

Dublinia, lay in his chamber dead; and his sister, who had gone to

bathe in the neighboring river, had that day perished in the

mid-stream.  And a tumult arose through the whole city; and the funeral

rites of the king's son being wholly neglected, all ran confusedly to

the shore; some, not even casting off their garments, plunge into the

river, some dive into its lowest depths, and others sail down the

course of the tide, lest haply the body of the royal damsel might

thitherward be hurried down.  But they who had gone out to seek beheld

in the water the damsel lying down, even as one sleeping.  They delay

not; they raise the royal maiden from the stream; they bear her unto

the chamber of her brother for her obsequies; and, according to the

superstition of the pagans, the tombs are prepared.  And a rumor

gathers in the palace that he, Patrick of Ardmachia, who in the name of

the unknown God had already raised many that were even dead, had on

that day arrived in the city.  This the king hearing rejoiced mightily;

and he caused him to come where his two children lay, and, being

already full of faith, he promised that if God at the prayers of the

saint would restore the children of his age, he and all his people

would worship him.  And all the nobles confirm the promise of the king,

and the whole city yearneth toward the faith, so that the children may

but be revived.  Then the saint, beholding the gain of souls which was

there prepared for him, poured forth his prayers, and in the sight of

the king and of the people restored to life the royal children; and

they, being made the assistants unto the faith, rising again in their

bodies, assisted in their father and in the people the resurrection of

souls.  And this king was called Alphinus, and his son was called

Cochadh, and his daughter Dublinia, and from her the city received its

name.  And he and all his people, rejecting their idols and all the

abominations of the devils, were converted unto Christ, and were

baptized at the fountain of Saint Patrick, at the southern side of the

city, which the saint, striking the earth with the staff of Jesus, had

caused to arise, to the increase of the faith of the believers;

wherefore did the saint offer there the sacrifice unto salvation; and

there, even to this day, is honor and reverence paid Saint Patrick and

his successors, the primates of Ardmachia.  And from that time the King

Alphinus and all the citizens of Dublinia vowed themselves and all

their posterity to the service of Saint Patrick and the primates of

Ardmachia, and builded one church near this fountain, and another near

the Church of the Holy Trinity, and in the city westward of the

archbishop's palace.  And they appointed a tribute unto Saint Patrick

their patron, which was unto the Archbishop of Ardmachia from every

merchant ship a sufficient cask of wine or of honey, a hook of iron, or

a measure of salt; from every tavern a vessel of mead or of ale; and

from every shop a gift of shoes, or gloves, or knives, or combs, with

many gifts of such kind.  And on that day the king and his nobles each

offered unto him a talent of gold; but the people offered even as they

could, the which did Patrick, the poor in Christ, give unto the poor,

having retained a part unto the building of churches.  Then blessed he

them with the blessings of Jacob the patriarch, and of Moses the

servant of God, like unto the age and spiritual bearing of whom he

appeared, prophesying, and praying, if their deeds agreed with their

words, that they might be unconquered and fortunate, but weak and

unhappy if ever they falsified their vows.  Which plainly was proved

when this people, becoming proud and regardless of the blessing of the

saint, neglected to pay the appointed tribute.

CHAPTER LXXII.

_Of the Sentence pronounced on Murinus._

And the saint having blessed and bidden farewell unto the inhabitants

of Dublinia, then by the power of his miracles confirmed in the faith,

preparing himself for the like work, set forward on his journey.  And

he came unto a neighboring town, which is now called the Castle Cnoc,

where a certain infidel named Murinus governed.  Him did the saint

desire to lead into the path of life; but this son of death, hearing

the fame of his virtue and of his wisdom, which he feared no one could

resist, absented himself from the saint, even as from a fierce enemy.

And the saint required him that he would at the least give unto him of

his abundance; but he, concealing himself in an inner chamber, required

him that he would at the least suffer him to sleep.  The which commands

being of each oftentimes repeated, the saint, at the inspiration of the

Spirit, understanding him to be a child of perdition, exclaimed: "Let

him sleep, let him sleep; nor until the day of judgment let him awaken

or arise!"  Then the saint departed, and the wretched man sank into the

sleep of death.  Thus when the sleeper, covered with the darkness of

unbelief, refused to awake at the heavenly voice which called him from

the dead, that he might be illuminated of Christ, he descended into the

dark grave, there to remain for ever covered with the darkness of

death.  Therefore, even to this day, it is among the Irish a frequent

imprecation on a feigned sleeper, Mayest thou sleep, as at the word of

Saint Patrick Murinus slept!

CHAPTER LXXIII.

_Foylge is punished with a double Death, and the deceiving Fiend is

driven out of his body._

And in Lagenia was a certain wicked idolater named Foylge, who was an

eminent adversary of Christ, so far forth as he was able; this child of

Belial frequently sought occasion to lay on Patrick, the anointed of

the Lord, his impious hands, for to him it was very grievous not only

to see but even to hear the saint.  To this inveterate malice was he

urged, for that the man of God had destroyed the aforementioned idol

Ceancroythi, unto the abominable worship whereof he was especially

bound.  But when he could not effect his wicked purpose, he one day

attacked the charioteer of Saint Patrick, who was named Odranus; for he

seized him sitting in the chariot, and strangled him, so that by the

one act of blood his fury might be the more fiercely excited toward

another.  And the saint, wounded in his heart, cast the weapon of his

malediction on this child of hell, who, pierced thereby, even at the

moment breathed out his soul into the infernal regions.  Of some it is

said that Odranus, foreknowing the servant of Satan to be intent on the

death of the saint, obtained that in his stead he might on that day

hold the reins.  And this he did, earnestly desiring to lay down his

life for the saint, lest, so bright a lamp being extinguished, the

people of Ireland should again walk in darkness.  And the saint beheld

his soul borne into heaven by the angels, and placed in the seat of the

martyrs.  But the old enemy, entering the dead body, showed to all a

false and feigned Foylge, as if revived unto life, and dwelled therein

as returned to his possessions and to his people.  And after some days,

as Patrick was passing nigh unto the dead man's dwelling, he called

unto him certain of the family, and asked where Foylge was; and they

answered that he was then within in the house, when the saint replied:

"The soul of Foylge, for that he unjustly slew my chariot-driver, God

justly judging and vindicating my cause, hath gone cut of his body, and

descended into hell; but Satan, to the delusion and the seduction of

mankind, hath entered into his corpse, and occupieth it as his own

proper vessel."  Then the saint forbade Satan that in that vessel he

should longer abide, or deceive mankind with so wicked a phantom.  And

forthwith, at the command of the man of God, the deceiving spirit

quitted his habitation of clay; the which, covered with worms, and

raising horror and offence to all, was carried into instant sepulture.

Nor let it be wondered that the devil should show himself in the

visible form of his accustomed instrument, the God permitting whose

judgments are an abyss; but rather let Him be feared who can destroy

both body and soul in hell.

CHAPTER LXXIV.

_Of the Saint's Prophecy concerning the Kings of Momonia._

And the saint, going out of Lagenia, journeyed prosperously forward

into the country of Momonia.  And the king thereof, who was named

Oengus, met the holy prelate, rejoicing and giving thanks in the

exultation of his heart, as on that day occasion was ministered unto

him of joy and of belief, for that in the morning, when he entered the

temple to adore his idols, he beheld them all prostrate on the ground.

And so often as he raised them, so often by the divine power were they

cast down; nor could they stand upright, but continually were they

overthrown.  And as Dagon could not stand at the approach of the ark of

the testament, so neither could the idols stand at the approach of

Saint Patrick.  And he may truly be called the ark of the covenant, who

in his pure heart, as in a golden urn, bore the manna of heavenly

contemplation, the tables of the heavenly law, and the rod of the

heavenly discipline.  And the king brought him, with great reverence

and honor, unto his palace in the city of Cassel, because his mind and

his eye had long time longed for him, by reason of the manifold

miracles which he knew had been worked by the saint.  And at his

preaching the king believed in the Holy Trinity, in the name of which

he is regenerated in the healing water of baptism.  And after he had

blessed the king by touching his head, at his earnest and devout

entreaty the saint pierced his foot with the point of the staff of

Jesus.  But the king, receiving his blessing with ardent desire, felt

in his body no pain of the wound, so much did he rejoice in the

salvation of his soul.  Then did the saint behold the wounded foot of

the king, and imprinted on it the sign of the cross, and blessed it,

and healed the wound; and, full of the prophetic spirit, thus

prophesied he unto the king: "The blood of any king of thy race who

shall sit on thy throne shall never be shed, save of one alone."  And

the inhabitants of this region, assert the prophecy to have been proved

by undeniable truth, inasmuch as history recordeth not one king of all

his posterity, even to the tenth generation, to have been slain, but

only one.  And there remained in that place a tablet of stone, whereon

the saint is said to have celebrated the holy mysteries; and it is

called by the Irish Leac Phadruig--that is, the Stone of Saint Patrick;

and on this stone, for reverence of him, the kings of Cassel are wont

to be crowned and to be advanced unto the throne of their kingdom.

CHAPTER LXXV.

_How Dercardius and his Companions were destroyed._

And thence the saint speeded unto Urmonia, that out of that place he

might pluck the thorns and the branches of error which, being planted

by the craft of the old enemy, had flourished there, and sow in their

stead the spiritual harvest.  And a certain man of Comdothan, named

Lonanus, freely received him, and made unto him and the companions of

his journey a great supper.  And the saint deemed right to impart the

spiritual and eternal food unto those who had prepared for him the food

which was perishing and earthly.  And during supper, while the saint

labored to fill their minds with the word of life, a certain wicked man

named Dercardius approached, and with rude and importunate speech, nay,

even with clamor, wearying the ears of the saint, afflicting his mind,

and stopping his mouth, demanded of him food.  The which the saint not

having at hand, blushed, and took unkindly the irreverence that

prevented him from preaching.  But a certain man named Nessan, who

beheld how the just man's spirit was vexed, offered unto him a ram,

which the saint bade him give to the bold importuner.  This receiving,

Dercardius returned to his companions, boasting that by his importunity

he had penetrated the stony heart of Patrick, even as the continual

dropping of water weareth out a stone.  And they slay the ram, and

dress and eat it.  And while the meat was yet in their mouths the anger

of God came on them, and suddenly avenged His servant; for the meat

turned to instant poison, and destroyed them all; wherein are we

sufficiently admonished not to offend the servants of God, lest we

offend the Almighty Himself, who will protect and defend them in the

time of their trouble.

CHAPTER LXXVI.

_Of the Quarrel of the Two Brothers._

The blessed Patrick, as the angel of peace, announcing by the blood of

Christ that peace which passeth all understanding, journeyed through

Ciarraghus.  And as he journeyed, he beheld two brothers named

Bibradius and Locradius, who, their father having then lately been

buried, were dividing the inheritance; and they at first disputed with

their tongues, and at length they attacked each other very fiercely.

And when each brandished the sword unto the death of the other, the

saint feared exceedingly, lest even in his sight the crime of

fratricide should happen.  Therefore unto the pity of these unpitying

men did he address his heart, unto prayer his mouth, unto blessing his

hand; and making their arms immovable as wood or as stone, he stayed

them in the air.  And they, beholding themselves thus miraculously

prevented, ceased from the fury of their conceived sin, and, at the

bidding of the saint telling good tidings of peace and preaching

salvation, returned unto the mutual kindness of brotherly love.  Then

he, the brothers being appeased, and his blessing being given unto

them, restored the power of their arms; and they offered him for the

building of a church the field wherein was worked this miracle.

CHAPTER LXXVII.

_Fourteen Thousand Men are miraculously refreshed with the Meat of Five

Animals._

And after that Patrick, the illustrious worker of miracles, had

fortified with his most holy admonitions the inhabitants of Momonia,

whom he had already filled with the faith, he turned to visit the

northern part of the island, the territories of the sons of Neyll, that

he might convert or confirm the dwellers therein.  And the

aforementioned King Oengus, with twelve of his tributary kings, and

other of the chiefs who were subject unto him, followed the saint with

fourteen thousand men, desiring to be fed with the bread of life and of

understanding.  And when they came unto the river Brosnach, where

Triamus the bishop, by birth a Roman, companion unto Saint Patrick in

his journey and his labors, dwelled in a place called Choibeach, he

desired to refresh all this multitude.  Therefore he first fed them all

with spiritual food, and then bade them sit down unto supper.  And

Triamus had one cow, by the milk of which he was wont to be sustained,

and he caused her to be slain for their repast.  But what was this one

among so many?  Then Patrick, the beloved of the Lord, addressed a

prayer unto heaven; and behold, two stags issued from one part of the

wood, and two boars issued from another part, and came unto him as

tamed and domestic.  And these; giving thanks unto the most high Giver,

he in like manner bade to be killed, and, having blessed, he placed

before the multitude.  And all the people ate, and were abundantly

filled; and the remnants, that nothing might be lost, were gathered up;

thus with the flesh of five animals did Patrick most plenteously feed

fourteen thousand men in the name of Him who, with five loaves and two

fishes, did feed four thousand.  For he said: "He who believeth in me,

the works that I do, these shall he do, and greater than these," that

the Father may be glorified in the Son.  And these miracles differ not,

though they vary in their number, for each was worked of the Lord, this

in Himself, that in His servant.  Nevertheless, on the morrow was found

in that field a cow like unto the one that was killed and eaten, and it

was given unto Triamus, that he might be nourished of her milk.  And

the rumor went forth among very many, affirming this to have been the

same cow revived by Saint Patrick.  We, however, say that nothing is

impossible unto God, but that this was done we neither deny nor assert.

CHAPTER LXXVIII.

_Nineteen Men are raised by Saint Patrick from the Dead._

But to these wonderful acts succeed yet more wonderful, and evidently

show in His saint the wonderful God; for the next miracle deserveth

even higher admiration.  And as Patrick was one day preaching eternal

punishment to those who resisted the commands of God, and the reward of

eternal life to those who obeyed, his words were confirmed by the

argument of an unheard miracle.  For, lest any scruple of doubt should

arise in their hearts, he revived, in the sight of all, nineteen men

who had been dead and buried in their graves, one of whom, named Fotus,

had lain in his narrow house for the space of ten years.  And all these

related the pains which they had suffered, and with one voice declared

that the God whom Patrick preached was the true and the living God.

Then the King Oengus and all his people, beholding these things,

glorified the God who is glorious in His saints, wonderful in His

majesty, and eminent in His miracles, such as are never seen on earth;

and they honored Patrick as the priest of the high God and His peculiar

apostle.  And each returned unto his home, saying, This day we have

beheld a miracle.  And they who had been revived were by Patrick

baptized, and, professing a penitent life, they took on them the

monastic habit, and, abiding with the blessed Triamus, they remained in

holiness and in faith even to their lives' end.

CHAPTER LXXIX.

_The King's Daughter becomes a Nun._

And Patrick came unto the country of Neyll, wherein reigned a king

named Echu, and he had one beloved daughter named Cynnia, whom he

intended at a fitting time to give in fitting marriage.  And the damsel

unfolded to the saint her father's purpose, and he exhorted her to

deserve the reward of virginity even an hundred-fold; therefore,

rejecting worldly nuptials, she determined to offer herself an

undefiled offering unto her celestial Spouse, and to cherish Him in her

heart.  And the king, beholding her thus steadily to preserve her

virgin purity, called unto him the saint, and thus he spake: "I had

determined that my daughter should continue unto me a long-descending

progeny for the confirmation of my kingdom and the solace of mine age;

but the succession is cut off, and mine hope is defeated by thee; if,

therefore, thou wilt promise unto me the heavenly kingdom, yet not

compel me unwillingly to receive baptism, my daughter shall become the

servant of thy God, even as thou hast exhorted her; otherwise will I

not be stopped of my desire, nor shall thy preaching prevail."  And the

saint, confiding in, and committing all unto, the Lord, faithfully

promised what the king required.  Then the damsel, being veiled and

consecrated, and serving the Lord in virginity and in the exercise of

all other virtues, brought by her example many unto His devotion; and

during her life and after her death she was renowned by divers

miracles.  And the saint commended her unto the care of the holy virgin

Cethuberis, who first of all the women of Ireland had received from him

the veil, and to whom, being placed over the Monastery of Druimduchan,

with a great multitude of virgins serving Christ, the saint himself

addressed an exhortatory epistle.  And in this monastery did Cynnia

abide, until at length with many holy virgins she rested there in the

Lord.

CHAPTER LXXX.

_The King Echu is raised from Death._

And after some time had passed, the King Echu was reduced to the bed of

sickness, and when he perceived that his strength failed, and the day

of his death approached, he sent a messenger to call Saint Patrick unto

him.  And he strictly forbade that his body should be buried until the

arrival of the saint; for that he had promised unto him the heavenly

kingdom, and especially, that the king desired to receive from him the

heavenly baptism.  Thus saying, he expired, and his body was kept for

the space of one day and one night unburied, in expectation of the

saint.  And he, then abiding in the Monastery of Saballum, which was

distant two days' journey, knew in the spirit of the king's death, and,

ere the messenger could arrive, had made ready for the journey.  And

the saint came, and mourned over the king, especially for that he had

died without baptism.  Therefore prayed he unto the Lord, and loosed

him from the bonds of double death, and forthwith instructed in the

faith him restored unto life, and baptized him, and bade him that for

the edification of the people and for the proof of his preaching he

should relate what he had seen of the pains of the wicked and of the

joys of the just.  And he told unto them many wonders, and there among

that in that heavenly country he had beheld the place which Patrick had

promised unto him; but, because he was not then baptized, he could not

enter therein; and so at the prayers of the saint his body was revived.

Then the saint enquired of him whether would he longer live in this

world, or instantly go into that place which was prepared for him; and

he answered that all the power, all the riches, all the delights of the

whole world, were to him but as the emptiest smoke compared with those

celestial joys which he had proved with the eye of faith.  But I

entreat, said he, that I may be loosed from the body of this death, and

delivered instantly from this prison-house; for earnestly I desire to

be dissolved and to be with Christ.  Thus having said, he received the

Eucharist, and, falling asleep in the Lord, went unto the place of

immortality.

CHAPTER LXXXI.

_A Man of Gigantic Stature is revived from Death._

And Patrick was journeying on a certain day for the wonted purpose of

his preaching; and he found near the road a sepulchre of wondrous

length.  And his brethren who journeyed with him beheld it; but with

their very admiration could they not believe that the body of any man

was buried in such a tomb.  But the saint affirmed that God could prove

it by the resurrection of this gigantic man, so that they did not

falter in the faith; for there was then no small doubting of the

general resurrection.  Then prayed the saint earnestly that his acts

might be accorded with his words, and that thereby he might remove from

their hearts every scruple of doubt.  Wonderful was the event, and to

past ages wholly unknown!  The holy prelate, having first prayed,

signed the sepulchre with the staff of Jesus, and awakened from the

dust the buried man.  Then stood one before them horrible in stature

and in aspect; and he looked on the saint, and, bitterly weeping, said

unto him: "How great thanks do I give unto thee, O beloved and chosen

of God! who even for one hour hast released me from unspeakable

torments and from the gates of hell!"  And he besought the saint that

he might go along with him; but the saint refused, for that no man for

very terror could stand before his countenance.  And being asked by

Patrick who he had been, he replied that he was the son of Chaiis, by

name Glarcus, formerly a swineherd of the King Leogaire; and that when

he was an hundred years of age, he was slain in an ambush by a certain

man named Fynnan Mac Con.  Then the saint admonished him that he should

believe in the three-in-one God, and in His name receive baptism unto

salvation, so that he might escape that place of torment.  And he

answered that he firmly believed in the God, whom he knew to be

almighty, and in his name desired to receive baptism.  And he said that

while he had lived he understood of the Creator from the likeness of

the created; and though he knew Him not, yet loved he Him according to

his ability.  Therefore he was baptized by Patrick, and forthwith he

expired, and was buried in his former sepulchre; and according to the

word of the saint, he was freed from his punishment.  And the saint,

considering and commending the inestimable riches of the goodness of

God, exhorted them all earnestly, faithfully, and continually to love

God, and chiefly those who knew and understood Him, affirming that this

man had obtained so great a mercy through the earnestness of the love

which, though ignorant, he held toward God.

CHAPTER LXXXII.

_Of Another Man who was Buried and Raised Again._

And a certain prince who reigned in Humestia at the preaching of

Patrick believed, and, with all his people, was baptized.  But when the

saint would have instructed him as to the general resurrection, he

could not easily bend thereto his faith, for in nowise could he believe

that the body which was once reduced into dust could ever be raised

again in the pristine state of its proper but improved nature.  So when

the man of God, that he might reclaim him from his error, showed divers

testimonies of the Holy Writ, examples, signs, and miracles, he is said

to have thus replied; "If, by the virtue of Christ Jesus, thou shall

revive my grandfather, who has now been buried many days, then will I

believe in the resurrection of the dead which thou preachest."  Then

the saint, being accompanied of the prince and all his people, went

unto the tomb, and signed it with the staff of Jesus; and he caused the

tomb to be opened, and, having prayed, to the admiration of all

present, and to the confirmation of the Catholic faith, he raised to

life the buried man.  And he was of exceeding height and of terrible

countenance, yet much inferior to the aforementioned in his stature.

And him, relating the torments of hell, and devoutly asking baptism in

the name of Christ, did the saint baptize, and, when baptized, gave

unto his entreaty the Holy Eucharist; and placed him again, falling to

sleep, but sleeping in the Lord, in his former sepulchre.  Then no one

of those present doubted of the resurrection of the dead, since it was

proved before their eyes by a testimony so credible, a miracle so

apparent.  And this and the aforementioned miracle hath the saint

recorded in an epistle, addressed to a certain friend who dwelled in a

country beyond the sea, wherein, among other things, he sayeth: "The

Lord hath given unto me, though humble, the power of working miracles

among a barbarous people, such as are not recorded to have been worked

by the great apostles; inasmuch as in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ

I have raised from the dead bodies that have been buried for many

years; but, I beseech you, let no one believe that for these or the

like works I am to be at all equalled with the Apostles, or with any

perfect man, since I am humble and a sinner, and worthy only to be

despised."  Now, let the hearer admire to what a point of perfection

this man had raised his mind, who, working so many and so great works,

yet thought so humbly of himself.  And I truly admire in the saint his

extreme humility, beyond even his raising up of the dead.

CHAPTER LXXXIII.

_Of the Boy who was torn in pieces by Swine and restored unto Life._

And another prince, named Elelius, strenuously resisted the doctrine of

the saint, nor ever opened his ears unto his preaching until misery

gave him understanding.  For on a certain day his best-beloved son was

trampled on by the swine, and torn in pieces and almost devoured.

Which when the father heard, he rent his garments, and cast himself at

Patrick's feet, and, weeping, told unto him what had happened, and

promised him to believe in his God and obey his precepts, if, in His

name, the saint would revive his son.  Then the saint commanded one of

his disciples, by name Malachia, by nation a Briton, that he should

restore unto life the dead and mangled youth.  But he, disobeying and

disbelieving the word of the saint from the faint-heartedness of his

faith, thus answered: "Who is the man that may replace the bones which

are broken in pieces, renew the nerves, and restore the flesh, recall

the spirit to the body, and the life to the dead corpse?  I will not

endeavor it, nor will I with such rashness tempt the Lord, nor essay a

work which I cannot finish."  And the saint answered unto him: "Hast

thou not read the promise of the Lord?  If ye ask anything from my

Father in my name, He will grant it unto ye: and again, If ye have

faith, though but as a grain of mustard-seed, ye shall say unto this

mountain, Move thou hence, and cast thyself into the sea, and it shall

be done."  And he answering that often had he so read, the saint

rejoined: "Since, as much as in thee lieth, thou hast rendered naught

the word of the Lord, I prophesy unto thee that thou shalt possess on

earth but a poor and slender household, and in thy church shall be the

dwelling of one man only."  Then commanded he two bishops, his

disciples Elbeus and Hibarus, that they should revive the dead youth,

adding that he would assist them with his prayers.  And they obeyed the

commands of their father, and, being aided by his prayers, they

restored the torn and mangled boy not merely unto life, but unto his

former health and unto his beauty and his strength.  Therefore the

prince believed, and with all his household and with all his people was

baptized.  And in the place where this miracle was worked he builded a

church, and, in memory of Saint Patrick, and of the two bishops, and of

the revived youth, he erected four very huge stones.  But what the

saint foretold of his disciple Malachia happened in due time.  Why,

however, he did not this miracle himself, but willed it to be done by

his disciples, is, I confess, to me and many such as I, utterly

unknown.  Yet by these things a wise man will understand that as Saint

Patrick, in the name of the Lord, raised this dead body and divers

others, so, what is still more excellent, his disciples, when enjoined

by his commands and assisted by his prayers, were enabled to work this

great miracle.

CHAPTER LXXXIV.

_The Prayers of the Saint confer Beauty on an Ugly Man._

And among the chief men of Hibernia was one named Eugenius, who had

long resisted the preaching of the saint, but, being at length

compelled by the argument of the living Word, and convinced by

indisputable miracles, he at length believed, and, by the water of the

holy font, was renewed in Christ.  And this man was rich and powerful,

but in his countenance and his person he was more deformed than all his

people.  And after complaining of his deformity unto the saint, he

besought him to banish by the sending up of his prayers the hideous

ugliness of his face, and thereby show the omnipotence of his God, on

whom all the people believed.  At length the saint, being moved with

the entreaties of the man thus ashamed of himself, asked to whose form

he would desire to be likened.  Then he, regarding the people placed

around him, preferred the form of Roichus, an ecclesiastic, the keeper

of Saint Patrick's books; and this man was by birth a Briton, by degree

a deacon, a kinsman of the holy prelate, and beautiful in his form

above all men in those countries dwelling.  Nevertheless was he a man

of most holy life, so that he might say with the Psalmist, "Lord, by

thy will thou hast added righteousness to my beauty!"  But the saint

caused them to sleep in one bed and under one covering; and, standing

over them, he lifted his pure hands in prayer.  Wonderful and unwonted

event!  When they awaked and arose, not any difference appeared in

their countenance; the tonsure alone distinguished the one from the

other.  And all who beheld admired; but more exceedingly joyful was he

who experienced in himself this miracle.

CHAPTER LXXXV.

_The Stature of the same Man is increased unto a sufficient Height._

And since the saint had gratified Eugenius by his form being thus

improved, he, confiding in his prayers, added another entreaty.  For he

was of very low stature; and therefore he besought the holy prelate

that, as man can nothing prevail by his own merits, he would, in the

name of his God, add to his stature one cubit.  Then Patrick bade him

to show the height which he desired; and he raised himself on tiptoe,

leaning on his erected spear, and stretched the ends of his fingers as

far upward as he could, and desired that his stature might reach unto

the measure of that height; and behold, at the prayers of the saint,

the man, erewhile a dwarf, increased thereto; and, lest the miracle

should be deemed the work of magic or of falsehood, in that stature and

in that form did he continue unto his life's end.

CHAPTER LXXXVI.

_Of Saint Olcanus, the Teacher and Bishop, raised out of the Earth._

A certain prince, going on a journey, heard, not without much

amazement, a voice as if the voice of an infant weeping in a sepulchre,

and, staying, he bade his people to open the sepulchre; and within he

found a living boy nigh unto the dead mother.  Him, by general advice,

did the prince raise out of the chamber of death, and bear unto Saint

Patrick, who, baptizing the child, named him Olcanus, for that he had

suffered much evil, and in a fit season sent him to be instructed in

letters.  And he, being arrived at good stature, and being desirous of

learning, went into Gaul; and having long abided there, and acquired

much learning, he returned to his country; and being so returned, he

instituted schools, and taught many scholars who in after-time were

holy bishops.  But this renowned teacher attained the episcopal

dignity, and, at length closing his life in much sanctity, was

illustrious even for many miracles.

CHAPTER LXXXVII.

_How the Tooth of Saint Patrick shone in the River._

And on a time the saint, with his holy company, passed over a certain

river named Dabhall; and for that the day declined and the evening came

on, he prepared to pass the night near the bank, and pitched his tent

on a fair plain.  And approaching the water, he washed his hands and

his mouth, and with his most pious fingers he rubbed his gums and his

teeth; but through age or infirmity one of his teeth, by chance, or

rather by the divine will, dropped out of his mouth into the water; and

his disciples sought it diligently in the stream, yet with all their

long and careful search found they it not.  But in the darkness of the

night the tooth lying in the river shone as a radiant star, and the

brightness thereof attracted all who dwelled near to behold and to

admire.  And the tooth so miraculously discovered is brought unto the

saint, and he and all around him offer thanks to the Almighty, who had

brought this thing to pass; and on that spot he builded a church, and

deposited the tooth beneath the altar.  The which is famed for divers

miracles, and even to this day is called Cluayn Fiacal--that is, the

Church of the Tooth.  And the tooth of Saint Patrick, like a radiant

star, shone by the same divine grace whereby, at the prayer of Samson,

the conqueror of the Philistines, a fountain of water streamed forth

from the jaw-bone of an ass.  And this church is distant about five

miles from the metropolitan city of Ardmachia.

CHAPTER LXXXVIII.

_The Saint Prophesieth of the Virgin Treha, and a Veil is placed on her

Head by an Angel._

While on a certain time the saint was baptizing in the holy font a

chief named Cartanus, together with his wife, he foretold unto the

woman that she should bring forth a daughter, unto whom he would give

the veil and consecrate a virgin to the heavenly Spouse.  And in the

appointed time the woman bore a daughter, who at her baptism was named

Treha; and when her tenth year was completed, the damsel journeyed

toward Saint Patrick for the purpose of her consecration, but a marsh

that crossed the way prevented her.  Fatigued, therefore, and anxious,

she sat upon the bank, and beheld afar off, with a longing eye and a

wistful mind, the place where the prelate abided.  And he, at the

revelation of the Holy Spirit, knew of the damsel's journey and of her

desire; and he prayed, and removed thence the marsh, and; passing over

with unsoiled feet, he went unto her.  And while the saint was

consecrating the virgin Treha, a veil is dropped on her head by the

angel of the Lord, and reaching even unto her lips, covering her eyes;

and the saint stretched forth his hand, willing to remove the veil from

her eyes; but the damsel humbly prevented him, saying, "I beseech thee,

my father, let the veil remain, even as it is placed on the head of

thine handmaid, that mine eyes may no longer behold the vanity of this

world, but rather may, looking inward, contemplate the brightness of

mine heavenly Spouse!"  Therefore Patrick, rejoicing at the pious

purpose of the damsel, let fall her veil; and as it was at first placed

on her from heaven, through all her life, covering her eyes like a dove

and her knees like a turtle-dove, it remained as if it were joined to

her face.  Thus did the covering of the sacred veil exclude every

alluring object from her eye, lest death should enter therewith.

CHAPTER LXXXIX.

_Saint Patrick Prophesieth of the Sanctity of Saint Columba._

A certain prince named Conallus sought and obtained a blessing from the

saint.  And with the like purpose came also his younger brother,

Fergus, who was one of the most powerful chiefs of the country.  And

him, the holy prelate, having prayed, blessed, and laid his hand upon

his head with much solemnity and with peculiar devotion.  But Conallus,

who was elder in birth and in dominion, seeing that the saint had

blessed his brother more earnestly and more devoutly than himself,

wondered and grieved mightily.  Therefore Patrick, observing his face

unusually clouded, explained the cause of this so solemn benediction,

and, prophesying, said unto him: "I have blessed thy brother Fergus for

the sake of the blessed child that will be born of his race.  For his

son Fedhleminus will beget a son who will be called Columba--a name

well fitted to his birth, since even in his mother's womb will he be

filled with the Holy Spirit.  Forasmuch as he will be enriched with the

treasures of the divine wisdom and grace, rightly will he be called the

bright and shining lamp of his generation, and the prophet of the Most

Highest; and from the time that he cometh to the age of understanding

never shall a purposed falsehood issue from his lips."  How truly was

this prophecy made of Saint Columba, who is called Coluimcille, and was

the founder of an hundred monasteries, he who would more fully know,

let him read the volume that has been written of the saint's life.

CHAPTER XC.

_The River is Divided in Twain, and Blessed._

On a certain time Saint Patrick came unto a deep and impassable river

named Boallus; and as neither boat nor vessel was at hand, he prayed

and divided the river in twain, and made unto himself and his followers

a free passage.  And raising his right hand, he blessed the river, and

even to this day the eastern part of the stream can be passed by

horsemen and by footmen; yet over the western part cannot any pass

unless in some vessel.  And being so blessed, this river abounded in

fishes beyond all others.  Then to his disciples marvelling, and

seeking to know the cause of this so great miracle, did the saint

answer: "The yet unborn son of life, who will be named Columba, after

the lapse of many years will live in this place, and the water thus

divided will, for several purposes, be needful unto him and his

fellow-militants in Christ, while its abundance of fishes will minister

food unto his brethren."  And Saint Columba being after many years

born, when he became a man builded there a stately monastery, and by

his dwelling and by his works approved the prophecy of Patrick.

CHAPTER XCI.

_The Prophecy that Patrick made unto Connedus._

And Saint Patrick visited the country of the Turturini, where he abided

for the space of seven weeks; and in that little space builded he seven

churches, one whereof he called the Lord's Church.  For this was his

custom: that wheresoever he abided on the Lord's day, if he founded a

church there, he called it Domnhach--that is, belonging to the Lord.

And over one of these seven churches he appointed one of his disciples

named Connedus, a good and holy man, by degree a presbyter, and learned

in the divine law.  And he, undertaking the government of this church

rather from obedience than from ambition, abided there only one week,

and then quitting it hastened to Saint Patrick.  And the saint

enquiring the cause of his so speedy return, he answered that he could

not patiently endure the absence of his beloved father.  "Nor is it to

be wondered," replied the saint, "since in that place there are not

children of life, but men of blood and devourers of cattle, of whose

sword thou standest in dread, and fearest that thy blood will be poured

out.  Return, return securely, nor tremble before their face; for the

blood of no man shall in that place be shed, even from generation to

generation."  Therefore, receiving this answer of Saint Patrick, the

venerable Connedus returned unto the government of his church; and, as

the dwellers in that country declare, the word of the saint has been

confirmed by many proofs.

CHAPTER XCII.

_Of Mannia and the other Islands Converted unto God._

The saint, beholding in Hibernia that the harvest was great, but the

laborers few, passed over into Britain to obtain assistance in the

field of the Lord.  And forasmuch as the pest of the Pelagian heresy

and the Arian faithlessness had in many places denied that country, he,

by his preaching and working of miracles, recalled the people unto the

way of truth.  And many are the places therein which even to this day

bear witness to his miracles and are imbued with his sanctity.  And he

brought away with him many learned and religious men, thirty of whom he

afterward advanced unto the episcopal office.  Returning to Hibernia,

he touched at the islands of the sea, one whereof, Eubonia--that is,

Mannia--at that time subject unto Britain, he by his miracles and by

his preaching converted unto Christ.  And among his miracles very

conspicuous was this: a certain evil-doer named Melinus, like Simon the

magician, asserting himself to be a god, and attempting the air with a

diabolical flight, at the prayers of the saint fell headlong, and was

dashed in pieces, and so perished.  And the saint placed as bishop over

the new church of this nation a wise and holy man named Germanus, who

placed his episcopal seat in a certain promontory unto this day called

Saint Patrick's Island, for that the saint had there some time abided.

And the other islands being converted unto the faith, he placed over

them bishops from among his disciples--one over some, many over

others--and then he returned to Hibernia; for the saint was accustomed

to appoint bishops not only in cities, but even in towns and the more

crowded places, lest any who had been baptized should be deprived of

episcopal confirmation.  And this did he provide that the faithful

might always have present unto them one who could minister the

episcopal office; while the diocese, being not too extended, needed not

to withdraw from them the presence and the care of their pastor.  But

the dwellers in some of these islands, being aliened from the faith,

afterward renounced the law of God which Patrick preached unto them;

and therefore unto this day are they deprived of the special gift of

God which, through the prayers of Patrick, freed from all venomous

animals the islands that persevered in their faith.

CHAPTER XCIII.

_Of the Saint's Prophecy concerning Six Priests, and of a Skin which he

bestowed to them._

Six priests, who were led by their unanimous desire of learning the

Scripture and of visiting holy places, quitted Hibernia to travel

beyond the sea, when by a happy chance they met the saint returning out

of Britain; and he blessed them with bended knees entreating his

benediction, and foretold that they all would be bishops.  And the

saint observing one of them, who appeared elder and stronger than the

rest, carrying in his bosom all their volumes, for that he had nothing

wherein he might bear them in his hand, bade that a seal-skin should be

given unto him on which he was wont to stand while he was celebrating

the Mass, that he might make thereof a satchel.  And they, receiving

with manifold thanks the gift of the holy man, prosperously journeyed;

nor from that day forth was there among them any want; but whether in

travelling or abiding in the schools, they always found an honest

sufficiency.  Therefore they knew that the saint assisted them with his

prayers, and that the Lord, through his merits, continued unto them His

mercy.  But in process of time, having thoroughly acquired all holy

learning, they returned to their own country; and shortly after,

according to the word of the saint, they were all made bishops.  And

the names of these holy prelates were Lugacius, Columbanus, Meldanus,

Lugadius, Cassanus, Ceranus; but to mention the names of the bishoprics

we for good reason omit--for in many instances we avoid the names of

places and of persons, that we may not, by their uncouth barbarousness,

occasion disgust or horror to cultivated ears.  However, these prelates

profited much the church of God by their conversation and by their

example, and closed their lives in much holiness; for they were wont to

relate many miracles to have been worked by the aforementioned

seal-skin, the which even to this day remaineth entire, and is

preserved as a relic in memory of Saint Patrick.

CHAPTER XCIV.

_Saint Patrick Continueth his Preaching Three Days._

And Saint Patrick preached to many people gathered together from divers

parts unto a place in Hibernia called Fionnabhair, which, being

interpreted, is the White Field.  And for three continual days and

nights he read and explained to them in their order the four holy books

of the evangelists; and all who heard him accounted that not more time

had passed than the space but of one day--so happily were they

deceived, so profitably were they delighted, by the words of grace

which proceeded out of his mouth.  O profitable, delightful deception!

whereby falsehood is excluded and truth induced; whereby the time is

beguiled, and the night is stolen away, and one day is made to appear

as three days.  Nor let the reader admire for that I call it a

deception when the prophet exclaimeth unto his Creator, "O Lord!  Thou

hast deceived me," and when the Apostle Paul sayeth unto certain of his

disciples, "Being crafty, I deceived you with guile."  Kind deception

which saveth souls!  Blessed seduction which induces unto God!

CHAPTER XCV.

_Of the Vision of the Blessed Brigida, and its Explanation._

And the blessed Brigida was at these meetings; and at one, having

reclined her head, she slept.  And the holy prelate forbade that any

one should arouse the beloved of God until she herself would awaken; so

did it appear how evidently what is said in the Canticles agreed with

her; "I sleep, but mine heart waketh"; for that his heavenly Spouse

revealed unto her all His mysteries.  And when the holy virgin awaked,

he enjoined her that she should tell unto them all what she had beheld

in her vision.  And she, obeying the command of the saint, said: "I

beheld an assembly of persons clothed in white raiment; and I beheld

ploughs, and oxen, and standing corn, all white, and immediately they

became all spotted, and afterward they became all black; and in the end

I beheld sheep and swine, dogs and wolves, fighting all and contending

together."  Then Saint Patrick expounded the vision, and said that the

whiteness pertained unto the state of the world as it then was; for all

the prelates and servants of the church were then fruitful and diligent

in faith and in good works, even according to the evangelic and

apostolic doctrine.  And the things which were spotted belonged, as he

said, to the time of the succeeding generation, which would be pure in

faith, but stained with evil works.  And the blackness, he said, was

the season of the following generation, when the world would be

profaned, not only with evil works, but with the renunciation of the

Christian faith.  And the contest of the sheep and the swine, of the

dogs and the wolves, he pronounced to be the controversy of the pure

and impure prelates, of good and of bad men, which, after the lapse of

many years, would at length come to pass.  And having said, he

departed.  Now, that the vision of the virgin and the interpretation of

the saint are proved by indisputable truths no one, I think, will doubt.

CHAPTER XCVI.

_Of the Angels of God, of the Heavenly Light, and of the Prophecy of

Saint Patrick._

The blessed Patrick was accustomed to visit frequently all parts of

Hibernia, and, as opportunity permitted or discretion required, to

abide therein.  Wherefore he abided for seven years in Momonia, and as

many in Connactia; but he dwelled a much longer time in Ultonia,

wherein, first announcing the kingdom of God, he had brought its

inhabitants unto the faith of Christ, and whose country he had more

frequently in his perlustrations illustrated with his holy presence.

And whithersoever he went he converted unto the faith or confirmed in

the faith all his hearers.  And on a certain time he was journeying

through that part of Ultonia which is called Dalnardia; became unto a

place named Mucoomuir, when his disciple, the aforementioned Benignus,

stayed his steps, and gazed upward, as contemplating something

wonderful in the heavens.  For he beheld radiant choirs of angels

surrounding the place with heavenly brightness; and he heard them with

unspeakable melody singing the praises of the Creator.  And he,

intently contemplating these wonders, was filled with inward joy; yet

understood he not what meaned the angelic presence, the glittering

light, the celestial psalmody.  But after a short season it vanished

from before his eyes, and he, following the holy prelate, hastened his

course, that he might overtake him.  And when the saint enquired of his

delay, he related unto him his heavenly vision.  Then the saint,

instructed of heaven, expounded this effusion of light and this angelic

choir: "Know ye, beloved children, in that place shall a certain son of

life, named Colmanclus, build a church, and gather together many who

will be the children of light and fellow-citizens of the angels.  And

he will become the prelate and the legate of all Hibernia; and being

eminent in his virtues and his miracles, after he shall have closed the

darkness of this life, he will be conveyed by the angels of God unto

eternal light and eternal rest."  And in that place, after the process

of time, all those things happened according to the prophecy of the

saint.

CHAPTER XCVII.

_The Temptation of the Nun is Subdued._

The venerable Benignus, among the other endowments wherewith the divine

grace had endowed him, excelled in the song of a sweet voice, so that

he penetrated the hearts and the ears of all who heard him.  But as a

virtue or gift which is given from on high becometh unto many the odor

of life unto life, yet unto others the odor of death unto death, so out

of the melody of his voice did the tempter minister the occasion of

sin.  For a certain nun, while she was delighted with the sweet singing

of Benignus, entertained at length a more earnest desire toward the man

of God, who nothing knew of this unhallowed flame, which hardly could

she control in her bosom.  And the more vehemently did it burn for that

the strict discipline which was instituted by Saint Patrick, and the

difficulty of the very attempt, prevented the damsel from any secret

conversation with Benignus.  Therefore, taught by woman's cunning,

feigned she extreme illness, and withdrew as unto her sick-bed, and

besought that from Benignus she might receive spiritual counsel and the

holy communion.  For he had then attained the priesthood, and was held

in great veneration as one who adorned with his holy life the priestly

office.  But Saint Patrick, at the revelation of the Spirit, was not

ignorant of what distemper did the nun labor.  Whereupon he called unto

him Benignus, and bade him that he should visit the sick damsel and

minister unto her soul's health.  And he, obedient unto his spiritual

father, having besought and obtained his blessing, entered the house of

the complaining damsel, and made the sign of the cross, as was Saint

Patrick's custom at entering any house, that so he might overcome the

snares of the enemy of man's salvation.  Wonderful was the event, and

marvellous; unwonted, indeed, yet exceedingly profitable.  The damsel,

raising her eyes at his entrance, beheld Benignus, very terrible in his

stature, and his face as breathing forth flames; and she beheld herself

bright with fire both within and without, and Saint Patrick standing

nigh, and covering his head with his hands.  And from that hour, even

unto the end of her life, was the fire of human love extinguished in

her bosom, as if her body were of stone or wood, and not of flesh.  And

afterward she loved Saint Benignus with a pure and a saintly love, and

she confessed that through his merits Saint Patrick had snatched her

from the fire of hell.  Now, for me, I do much more admire this

quickening and refreshing of the soul unto life than the raising up of

any man from death.

CHAPTER XCVIII.

_Of Saint Comhgallus, and the Monastery foreshowed of Heaven._

Oftentimes did Saint Patrick travel through Ultonia, very earnestly

teaching unto its inhabitants the Catholic faith.  And not seldom he

turned, for the sake of rest for himself and his holy company, unto a

certain hill situated in a valley where afterward was builded the

Monastery of Beannchor.  And sitting there, they beheld the valley

filled with heavenly light and with a multitude of the host of heaven;

and they heard, as chanted forth from the voice of angels, the psalmody

of the celestial choir.  Then did all who beheld this wondrous vision

earnestly entreat of Saint Patrick that in that place, consecrated of

heaven, he would build a church.  But the saint refused, and prophesied

unto them: "When threescore years have passed away, then shall a son of

life be born, and his name shall be Comhgallus, which is, being

interpreted, the Beautiful Pledge; for he shall be beloved of God and

of man, and beautiful in his manners and in his merits; and he shall

happily go forward, and reign with Christ, and be accounted among His

pledges.  And in this place, which is fore-showed by the heavenly

light, shall he build a church, wherein he shall collect innumerable

troops of the children of life, to be bound by the yoke of Christ."

And of all these things which Patrick foretold, not one jot hath passed

unfulfilled.  But at the prophesied time Comhgallus was born, and in

the ripeness of his years and of his virtues, even in that place named

Beannchor, he builded a most stately monastery, wherein he brought

forth unto Christ many thousands of holy monks.  And this saintly

place, so fruitful of saints, even as a vine increasing the sweetness

of its odor, extended its shoots unto the sea and its branches beyond

the sea; for it filled with monasteries and with pious monks Hibernia,

Scotia, and many islands, and even foreign regions, inasmuch as we

gather from ancient writers that one of the children of Beannchor,

Luanus by name, founded of himself an hundred monasteries.  And

another, named Columbanus, a man most holy, and filled with the

abundance of all graces, as having instituted many monasteries, may be

accounted the father of innumerable monks.  And he first presided over

the renowned Monastery of Luxovia, in Gaul, and then over that of Bobi,

beyond the Alps, wherein, having shone with many miracles, he now

resteth in peace.  Thus is the prophecy of Saint Patrick seen to be

fulfilled.  But of the antiquity of the church of Beannchor needless is

it to speak further here, inasmuch as it is most amply described in the

acts of those holy saints, Comhgallus, who was the first abbot of that

place, and Malachia, the bishop, who was the legate in Hibernia of the

apostolic chair.

CHAPTER XCIX.

_The Saint Prophesieth of the Obstinate Fergus and of his Children._

And the saint came unto Assul, which was within the territories of

Midia, where it seemed good to him in a fitting place to build a

church.  But a certain wicked man, named Fergus, who therein dwelled,

was to him an especial hindrance, that he might not accomplish his

purpose.  Then the saint, willing to express the hard-heartedness of

this man rather by signs than by words, with the staff of Jesus made

the sign of the cross on a stone there placed, and immediately the

surface of the stone appeared divided into four parts, and showed the

form of the cross thereon portrayed.  Yet did this man, stiff-necked,

and of heart more hard than stone, refuse to be melted unto penitence;

but his wife, who was then in travail, entreated pardon of the saint,

and fell at his feet.  And the saint, beholding him thus hardened in

perverseness, spake unto him with prophetic voice: "Even thus, had it

so willed, could the power of God have dissolved thee at the word of my

mouth.  But since thou canst not, nay, wilt not, believe, though the

long-suffering of God hath led thee unto repentance, shalt thou,

according to thine impenitent heart and the hardness of thine

obstinacy, treasure up stores of wrath which right soon shall come upon

thee.  Quickly shall God consume thee from the face of the earth, nor

shall any of thy seed reign ever in this land, nor in any other land

shall they prosper, save only the infant alone which thy wife now

beareth in her womb, for on him shall my blessing come."  And all these

things which were prophesied of the lips of the saint unto the father

and unto the offspring did happen.

CHAPTER C.

_The Malediction of the Saint is laid upon the Stones of Usniach._

And with the like intention of building a church, this servant of

Christ turned unto a certain very renowned place named Usneach.  But

two brothers, by name Fiechus and Enda, ruled in those parts; and unto

them and unto their offspring the saint prophesied, if they would so

permit him, many blessings in this world and in the next; yet not only

turned they their ears from his entreaty and from his preaching, but

violently expelled him from the place.  Then the saint, more grievously

taking the hindrance of his purpose than his own expulsion, began to

cast on them and on their seed the dart of his malediction.  And

Secundinus, his disciple, caught the word of his lip, and, ere he could

finish, entreated and said unto him: "I beseech thee, my father, that

thy malediction be not poured forth on these men, but on the stones of

this place!"  And the saint was patient, and he was silent, and he

assented.  Wonderful was the event!  From that day forth are these

stones found useful unto no building; but if should any one thereunto

dispose them, suddenly would the whole work fall down and tumble into

pieces.  And they admit not the heat of any fire, nor, when plunged

into water, do they hiss like other stones; whence it hath become a

proverb in that country, when at any time a stone falleth from a

building, that it is one of the stones of Usneach.  But Enda repented

of the injury which he had offered unto the saint, and cast himself at

his feet, and besought his pardon, and obtained and deserved it.  And

he had nine sons, the youngest of whom, named Cormacus, he offered unto

Saint Patrick, to be subject to the divine command, together with the

ninth part of all his land; and another brother of his, named Leogerus,

was converted unto the faith, and gave unto the saint, with his nephew,

fifteen villages.  And Saint Patrick baptized the boy, and educated and

instructed him; and the boy increased in years, in wisdom, and in

holiness, and at length, being renowned in virtue and in miracles,

rested he in the Lord.

CHAPTER CI.

_Of the Woman in Travail, and of her Offspring._

A certain prince, named Brendanus, who was then lately baptized,

earnestly besought the saint that he would bless a certain pregnant

woman; for he believed that his blessing would much avail unto her and

her offspring.  And the saint, assenting to his petition, raised his

hand; but suddenly, before he had given the word of blessing or had

made the sign of the cross, he drew it back.  For, at the revelation of

the Spirit, he knew that her child was conceived of Coirbre, of whom he

had prophesied that not one of his succession should remain.  But why

the saint thus did the prince marvelled, and unto him the man of God

delayed not to declare the mystery nor the cause thereof.  Then did he

the more earnestly entreat the saint that at least he would in some

other manner vouchsafe to bless the woman and her offspring.  And

Patrick, raising his right hand, blessed her, and said: "The infant

which thou bearest in thy womb shall not reign, for the word that in

the name of the Lord I have spoken on Coirbre and on his seed shall

stand fixed; yet shall he be one of the chiefs of the land, and very

needful shall he be unto the king and unto the kingdom."  And what the

saint foretold without doubt happened.

CHAPTER CII.

_The Bishop Saint Mel catcheth Fishes on the Dry Land._

And the aforementioned Mel, a man of exceeding desert, who with his

most holy brothers, Munius and Kiochus, had come from Britannia unto

Hibernia, being promoted by Saint Patrick himself unto the episcopal

degree, became the assistant in the preaching.  And he, like the

Apostle Paul, labored to live by the labor of his own hands; and what

was given unto him by the rich bestowed he on the poor.  And with this

blessed man, as being her nephew, Lupita, the sister of Saint Patrick,

abided in one house (for such was the custom of the primitive church),

that by his conversation and example she might profit in the exercise

of all holy duties.  And after some time had passed, when the pious

prelate, as he was wont, would arise in the middle of the night to

confess unto the Lord, this holy woman would compose herself to sleep

and cover herself with the skins in his bed.  And they suspected not

that any evil suspicion would be formed thereof, for they accounted of

the minds of others from the purity of their own conscience.  But some

one, holding this her familiarity with the bishop to be naught,

divulged it abroad.  And as the tongue of the people is ever open unto

the spreading of scandal, it could not long lie hidden from Saint

Patrick.  Then he, desiring to try whether so the matter was, repaired

unto the house of the bishop.  But Mel, preferring to prove his

innocence by a token rather than by an oath, ploughed up the earth on a

certain hill, and took by the ploughshare many and large fishes out of

the dry land; and these he offered unto the saint as a miracle, that no

suspicion might continue in the beholders, inasmuch as such a token

could not ever be showed by an impure hand.  And the sister of Saint

Patrick, gathering her vest around her bosom, filled it with live

coals; and these she carried a sufficient way, and shook them thereout

before the saint without any mark of a scar or of other hurt, proving

thus her innocence.  Then the saint, beholding these evident proofs,

pronounced each to be pure and justified; yet took he care to ordain

what to them and to many others would be right profitable.  And first

addressing the bishop, he bade him that he should thenceforth plough on

the land, and fish in the water, lest he should seem to tempt the Lord

his God; then, that he should not presume to glory in any miracle

worked by him through the divine grace; and, lastly, the saint gave

command that the men should be divided from the women, and that

distinct dwellings and oratories should be builded for either sex.

Thus truly, as Saint Patrick said, the name of God would not through

them be dishonored among the nations to whom they preached it; nor

would in such case occasion of scandal be given unto the weak, nor

cause of reproach afforded.  And what he ordained and appointed, that

did Saint Patrick make to be observed.

CHAPTER CIII.

_The Footprints of Certain Virgins are impressed on a Stone._

And on a certain day the saint veiled and consecrated and espoused unto

the heavenly Spouse four virgins standing on one stone.  Then did an

event marvellous and unwonted appear.  Even unto this day are seen

impressed on the hard stone the footprints of the virgins which were

consecrated unto God, that to all it might be seen how deeply could the

prayer or the preaching of the saint penetrate even stony hearts.  And

hereby may we understand that they who, for the love of Christ, contemn

the world, should continue in the hard way, that they might attain Him

unto whom they have approved themselves.  And the place wherein these

virgins were consecrated is called Tedna; and for the servants of the

Lord is there builded a church, which at this day pertaineth unto the

metropolitan seat of Ardmachia.

CHAPTER CIV.

_The Earth is raised in the midst of the Stream._

And Saint Patrick, for the sake of passing thereover, came unto a very

great river named Synnia, between Midia and Connactia, which was

impassable of all, save only by vessels.  And he long time sought a

vessel, but found it not.  Then prayed he unto the Lord, who erewhile

had made a way through the sea and a path through the deep waters, and

immediately the earth at the divine bidding was raised in the middle of

the stream, and to the saint and his company it afforded a free

passage.  And when they had reached the bank, his charioteer dropped

dead; and on that spot was a church builded, which to the church of

Ardmachia now of right belongeth.

CHAPTER CV.

_Of the Altar and the Four Chalices discovered under the Earth._

In that place where the prayers of Saint Patrick had dispersed the

darkness which had been raised by the magicians, a church was builded,

wherein he promoted one of his disciples, named Ailvius, unto the

priesthood, that he there might minister.  And he complained unto the

saint that the matters needful for his ministry were wanting unto him.

Then the saint, instructed of heaven, showed him under ground an altar

of wonderful workmanship, having at its four corners four chalices of

glass, and enjoined him to dig them forth carefully, lest perchance

they should be broken; and the priest did accordingly, and found all

things as the saint had foretold.  But by whom this altar was made, or

with the chalices there deposited, to me is yet unknown.  Some,

however, think that they were placed there by Palladius or his

associates, being placed there after his departure.

CHAPTER CVI.

_A Treasure is Twice discovered in the Earth by Swine._

It seemed good unto the saint to build in a certain plain a church,

wherein he might gather together unto God the people of his conversion;

for the which purpose he entreated from the owner of the inheritance

that a place should be prepared, promising unto him the portion of

eternal life.  But the man, accustomed to the magicians' arts, held as

naught that portion so worthy to be desired, requiring rather gold, for

the which he cherished an accursed appetite.  And the saint replied

that at that season gold had he none, for that he had expended all

which he had possessed in the building of churches and in relieving the

poor.  But when he could no otherwise prevail, having first prayed, he

went unto a hole in the earth which had been delved up by swine, and

therein found he as much gold as he required, and gave it in exchange

for the land.  And there was another man possessing a neighboring

field, the which the saint earnestly entreated might be given unto the

said church.  Wherefore this man answering as even did the other, again

the saint repaired unto the delved hole, and found therein an equal

weight of gold, and gave it to the man for the purchase of his field.

Thus did the Lord thrice show unto Saint Patrick gold in the earth

delved up by swine: once for his own redemption from captivity, twice

in this place for the enrichment and endowment of a church.  And the

latter of the two brothers, Ono by name, was touched in his heart, and

not only restored the gold unto the saint, but even gave unto him for

the founding and building of a church his own house, his inheritance,

and all his substance; and the place is called Alfind, wherein to this

day is held the seat of a bishop.

CHAPTER CVII.

_Saint Patrick prophesieth of the two Brothers._

But what the saint at the revelation of the Spirit foretold of the two

brothers should not be passed over in silence.  For to the elder, who

had preferred Mammon and gold before his prayers, he predicted that he

and his seed should in a little time lose the possession of their

inheritance; and to the younger, for the devotion of his soul toward

him, predicted he many good things--that he should in that land be the

coadjutor of kings, and that of his race the holiest priests of the

Lord should be born.  And none of those things which the saint foretold

in anywise failed in the event.

CHAPTER CVIII.

_The Penitence of Asycus the Bishop._

And over this church Saint Patrick placed one of his disciples named

Asycus, who was both in habit and demeanor a monk, the first bishop.

And he, at the advice of the saint, instituted therein a college of

monks, the which he governed with the privileges of an abbot.  But this

man, on a certain time, while he ought to have spoken the truth,

backsliding with a slippery tongue, uttered forth a falsehood.  And

immediately he set himself against his own face, and in the bitterness

of his sorrow banished he himself, and, flying from human-kind,

remained in solitude, and abided he there seven years beheld of none.

And his monks sought him long time; and at the end of the seventh year

they found him in the depth of a valley, and they strove even by force

to bring him thence unto his church, and to compel him as a bridegroom

unto the bosom of his spouse.  But the bishop in nowise yielded unto

them, accounting himself no longer worthy to exercise the priestly

office; since from his mouth had issued a purposed falsehood, the which

the sacred canons define to be sacrilege in the mouth of a priest.

Whereby it is to be considered how deeply should they repent who of

their own fault have fallen into the heaviest offences, when this holy

man so deeply repented of, and so strictly atoned for, one falsehood

alone.  Alas! what hearts of clay do they bear unto the resistance of

sin, but what hearts of stone unto repentance!  For many men, wicked,

sinful, abandoned in their lives (the which cannot be observed without

grief), take on themselves the cure of souls, and think to wash away

the guilt of others with their own denied hands; who, being themselves

bound with the chain of mortal sin, desire to loose others' bonds, and

thus heap on themselves increased offence.  These men, being placed

under the spiritual control, can repent of and atone for their own

guiltiness, but, when seated in the pastoral chair, bound are they to

account for the faith of all those who are entrusted to their charge.

Since, then, the words of a priest must be either a truth or a

sacrilege, terrible is the judgment on those priests whose tongue is

defiled with falsehoods and with perjuries.  Thus much let us show, as

speaking by digression, how earnestly not only crimes and evil deeds,

but even falsehoods, are to be avoided by all Christian men, and

especially by the pastors of souls.  Now let us return unto the thread

of our sacred story.  The aforementioned monks, unwilling to separate

from Saint Asycus, continued with him even unto the end of his life;

and after he was buried, building there a monastery, served they the

Lord in holiness and in truth.

CHAPTER CIX.

_The Tempest of the Sea is Composed._

While on a certain time Saint Patrick was preaching unto the heathens,

for the sake of instructing and baptizing them, he made in that place a

long stay.  But his disciple Benignus was grieved thereat; and the

saint declared that he would not depart until his disciples and pupils

should arrive from foreign regions.  And one day he beheld the sky to

grow dark, and the ocean to be perturbed and shaken with a strong wind.

Then the saint, covering his face for very sorrow, showed unto his

attendants his sons which were born unto him in Christ laboring under

grievous peril; and he was sorely afflicted for them, and feared he

chiefly for his young pupil, the son of Erchus; but when every one said

that the vessel could not endure so violent a storm, forthwith the

saint betook himself unto prayer.  And after a short space, even in the

hearing of them all, he bade the winds and the waves, in the name of

his God, to rest from their wrath.  O wonderful event! and worthy of

admiration.  Forthwith the wind surceased, the ocean became silent, the

tempest is appeased, and a great calm is made.  And on that day the

aforementioned brothers happily landed, and told unto all around what

they had suffered from the elements which were turned unto their

destruction, but afterward composed by the powerful prayers of the

saint.

CHAPTER CX.

_The Miracle of the Waters is Repeated._

And at another time the aforementioned brothers, for the purpose of

visiting Saint Patrick, took their way on foot over the sands of the

sea-shore.  And as they walked along, communing on the way together,

behold, the flowing-in of the tide surrounded them, and, preventing all

escape, smote them with the fear of death.  Then the saint, instructed

of heaven, saw their peril, and, showing it unto his disciples,

professed that he grieved for them.  Then, having prayed, he commanded

the tide of the sea, by the powerful virtue of his word, speaking in

the name of the Lord God, that it should instantly retire, and leave

unto his sons who were about to visit him a safe and quiet passage.

And forthwith the sea obeyed the voice of the man of God, and retired;

and this company of brothers, rejoicing and lauding God, came unto

Saint Patrick, and, for so great a miracle, turned the hearts of all

which heard them unto the praise of the God who worked such wonders in

His saints.

CHAPTER CXI.

_Of the Cowl of Saint Patrick which remained untouched by the Sea._

And on a time, having sailed on a certain way, Saint Patrick landed

with his religious men, and, going out on the dry land, perchance he

left his cowl on the shore.  And being landed, they sat together, and

conferred on heavenly things, and refreshed themselves with the comfort

of mutual colloquy.  Then the sea, rising as it was wont, covered the

surface of the sands, and was nigh unto bearing with it and carrying

away the cowl of the prelate.  And this the saint observing, in the

name of Him who hath power in heaven and on the earth, in the sea and

in all the deeps, enjoined the tide of the sea that it should not touch

his cowl or bear it away.  Wonderful was the event!  The

flowing-forward of the sea filled the whole accustomed space, save that

spot alone whereon the cowl lay, and that did it leave untouched.  And

after the tide had receded, the saint caused the cowl to be brought

unto him; and the miracle excited all who beheld it unto the praise of

God and the veneration of Saint Patrick.  And thenceforward were they

all more ready to submit unto Him whose commands the mute element was

thus sent to obey.

CHAPTER CXII.

_Of the Veil that was sent from Heaven._

And there was a time when Patrick was about to consecrate two virgins

in a field within the territory of Cregrus, and a veil sent from heaven

dropped into the bosom of the saint, the which, devoutly receiving, he

offered unto the virgin so soon as she was consecrated.  But she,

deeming herself unworthy of a commendation so holy, said unto him:

"Since this most excellent and powerful gift, descending from the

Father of Light, is not sent unto me a sinner, I account it right that

thou, on whom it has fallen, shouldst keep it or bestow it on another

who is worthier than me."  Then the saint, applauding the virgin's

lowliness, placed the veil on her head, enjoining that she should wear

it continually until she should be introduced unto the chamber of her

heavenly Spouse.  And the virgin obeyed the command of the saint, and,

living a holy life, at length she rested in the Lord.

CHAPTER CXIII.

_Of the Holy Leper, of the New Fountain, of the Angelic Attendance, and

the Prophecy of Patrick thereon._

And Saint Patrick, induced by his holy custom, retained with him a

certain leper, unto whom with intent devotion he ministered all things

needful for the sake of Christ.  Even with his own hands cleansed he

his sores, and refreshed in him either man with fitting food.  For the

leper, the health of his body being almost destroyed, earnestly studied

to preserve the health of his soul, and was continually intent on

prayer and on rendering thanks unto God.  But when wasted with his

leprosy, he feared lest he should become an offence unto all, and

privily and humbly he withdrew himself from society, and lived solitary

in a hollow tree that he by chance had found.  And while he sat there

alone he beheld a certain man passing by, and he called the man unto

him, and asked him of his religion; whom, answering that he was a

Christian, he besought that for the love of Him in whom he believed he

would not delay to go unto the nearest place which was full of

bulrushes, and, pulling up the bulrushes by the roots, to bring unto

him a bundle thereof.  And at his entreaty, or rather, at his

adjuration, the man went unto the place; he pulled up a bulrush, and

immediately a clear fountain burst forth; and he bore the bulrush unto

the leper, and related of the new fountain.  Then the leper rejoiced

and gave thanks unto God, and said unto him: "Knowest thou not, most

dear brother, that our Lord Jesus Christ brought thee hither that thou

mayest wash my body in the water of that fountain, and bury me there?"

Thus the leper said, and, raising his eyes and his hands towards

heaven, he expired; and the man washed his body in the fountain, and

beheld no mark of leprosy thereon, and committed it without spot to the

sepulchre, and departed.  And after some days Saint Munis, the devout

bearer of many relics of saints, was returning from Rome, and of

necessity abided there for one night.  And in the silence of the

night-season he beheld a great light to cover the place, and he heard

angels hymning and watching even until the morn around the tomb of the

buried leper.  And all these things reported he unto Saint Patrick,

saying that he wished to remove the body from that desert place.  But

Saint Patrick forbade this to be done, foretelling that a certain son

of life, named Keranus, but as yet unborn, should there dwell, who

should fill that place with a worthy company of holy men, and exalt the

body of the saint with much honor.  And what Patrick foretold in the

course of time came to pass; the place is between Midia and Connactia,

and therein is situated the city of Cluane, in which even to this day

is an episcopal seat.

CHAPTER CXIV.

_Of the Lake which was removed by Saint Patrick._

The aforementioned Saint Munis, being returned from Rome, disliking

after so long a journey the fatigue of any further travel, besought

Saint Patrick that as he had provided rest for his brethren who

possessed churches, so he would provide for him a dwelling suited unto

contemplation.  Therefore the saint, knowing that although he loved

internal quiet, nevertheless he would be right profitable unto the

salvation of many, offered unto him a fitting place, saying: "Behold a

hill; behold a valley; build and inhabit where it seemeth pleasant unto

thine eyes; yet know thou this: if thou wilt build in the valley, thou

mayest bring many souls unto God; but if thou abidest in the hill, thou

wilt gain not so many, by reason of the vanities and delights which

will attract their eyes, and for very many other causes and reasons."

And Munis, foreadvised and forewarned by the Holy Spirit, answered

thus: "Neither of the hill nor of the valley do I complain, but of the

neighboring lake, nigh unto which is a royal dwelling; for the crowding

thither of courtiers and of other secular persons would unto me be an

exceeding trouble, and a disturbance unto the Sabbath rest of my mind."

Then Saint Patrick, encouraging him, said that God would easily remedy

this trouble, and, retiring a little space, poured he forth powerful

and prevailing prayers in the presence of God.  And on the following

night the Lord removed the lake, with all its dwellings and dwellers

thereon, so far distant that his servant sustained thence neither

trouble nor damage.  And Saint Munis, abiding there, builded a church,

unto which Saint Patrick bestowed certain relics of the holy Apostles

Peter and Paul, and of very many saints, and other ornaments, the which

were necessary unto its ecclesiastical ministry.  And for his

conspicuous virtues he was afterward, although reluctant thereto,

advanced unto the episcopal office, for he was renowned for many

miracles; and at length he rested in the Lord.

CHAPTER CXV.

_Patrick understandeth the Conscience of Saint Fiechus, and blesseth

him._

There was a certain youth, named Fiechus, a scholar of Dubhtachus the

bard, and he was docile of disposition, subtle of wit, florid of

eloquence, and beauteous of form.  And a few years before he espoused a

damsel who then had lately deceased, of whom was born unto him one only

son.  Him walking with his aforementioned tutor did the saint meet,

and, the Spirit revealing it unto him, at the moment, even with the

glance of his eye, understood his conscience, and in the presence of

all exclaimed: "Behold the husband of one wife, who, according to the

apostle, may worthily be advanced unto the priesthood, nay, even unto

the episcopate!"  Then began he to expound unto Fiechus the doctrines

of the faith, and advised him unto baptism.  And the youth marvelled at

the words of grace which proceeded from the lips of Saint Patrick; and

chiefly for that so soon the saint had divined his secret and

understood all the passages of his life.  Therefore he believed, and

took on him baptism; and after his tutor had long time withstood, but

at length consented, he devoted himself unto the direction of the holy

bishop.  And the holy bishop blessed him, and gave unto him the

alphabet written with his own hand.  And being thus blessed, in one day

he learned the whole Psaltery, and in a short time, the spirit of

wisdom and knowledge inspiring him, he sufficiently understood the

Scriptures; for no delay can there be where the Holy Spirit descends to

be the teacher.  And Saint Patrick advanced him unto the ecclesiastical

order, and, after he had worthily ministered in each degree,

consecrated him the bishop of the Church of Scleptus.  And Fiechus was

eminent in his life, in his learning, and in his miracles; and being

directed by the angelic command, he took on him the habit of a monk,

and builded in his episcopal seat a stately monastery.

CHAPTER CXVI.

_The Chariot is, by the Decision of the Angel, sent unto Fiechus._

The blessed Patrick gave order that a chariot should be prepared unto

Saint Fiechus, for that he, being weighed down by infirmity, could not

go on foot to visit his diocese and discharge his episcopal duties.

For he was reduced with exceeding abstinence, and moreover he was

afflicted with a disease in his hip.  And Saint Secundinus, this

observing, felt in his mind certain worldly feelings, and was

displeased, and insisted that the chariot should rather be given unto

himself than unto Fiechus.  And the holy prelate, seeing his

displeasure, sought rather to satisfy him with a sign than by argument,

saying: "Be not displeased, most dear brother, at this little gift

which we have given unto our brother and fellow-bishop, lest occasion

of reproach should be afforded to the evil one; for this our brother,

who is infirm, needeth the chariot more than doth any one among us.

But that I may not seem to err in my judgment, let this matter be left

to the heavenly decision."  Then the angel, appearing at the prayer of

the saint, bade the horses to be yoked unto the chariot, and to be sent

forward without a charioteer; and at whichsoever they should stop, to

him should the chariot be given.  And it was done as the angel

commanded, and the saint bade the chariot to be yoked; but the horses,

no man guiding them, went through irregular and devious paths, and came

in the evening to the dwelling of Secundinus, and, being unyoked, were

turned there to pasture.  And in the morning, no man yoking them, they

were yoked to the chariot, and in like manner going unto the mansion of

a certain other saint, there they stayed the night.  And on the third

day they hastened unto Saint Fiechus, and stayed there, and evidently

showed that they were intended for him.  Yet would not the saint ascend

the chariot, until the angel had certified him that unto him the gift

was sent.  And at another time was this miracle in like manner repeated

of two horses which were by Saint Patrick himself intended for Fiechus,

and to be yoked unto his chariot.

CHAPTER CXVII.

_The Several Offices of a certain Monastery are appointed by an Angel._

And at another time the angel commanded the aforementioned Fiechus that

he should build a monastery on the other side of the river, assigning

unto all the offices their fit and proper place; that where a boar

should appear unto him, there should he build a refectory, and where a

stag should be seen, an oratory.  And the saint replied unto the angel

that he in no wise could undertake such a work, unless Patrick, his

father and pastor, should come and approve thereof.  And his words

displeased not the angel; for in them he saw the affection and the

obedience which Fiechus bore in Christ unto the man of God.  And after

a few days were past, the angel so advising, Patrick assisted Fiechus,

and in the place which is called Forrach builded they a monastery, even

according to the direction of the angel.  And therein Fiechus presided

as abbot; nevertheless throughout his diocese did he fully exercise the

episcopal office.  And every year, at the beginning of the fast of the

Lent time, he went alone out of the monastery, with five barley loaves

mixed with ashes for his support, and abided in the wilderness through

all that sacred season.  But on the Sabbath day which is called

Palm-Sunday, or sometimes at the Supper of the Lord, he was wont to

return unto his monastery for the discharge of his holy office, always

bringing with him the half of one loaf yet uneaten.  And he sent before

him unto God threescore saints, whom when he followed he was buried in

Scleptus.  And his son aforementioned imitated his father in wisdom and

holiness; and having in another place attained the episcopal degree, he

rested in the Lord.

CHAPTER CXVIII.

_The Prophecy of Saint Patrick concerning the Men of Callria._