¹ Here begins the Life of Saint Molassi of Damyns

² After, by the working of divine grace, through the preaching of Saint Patrick, the darkness of unbelief had been driven from the island of Ireland, and the brightness of evangelical truth and of the Christian faith had succeeded it, the Lord did not cease to raise up for that same island men outstanding in faith and charity from among her own sons, who might instruct her in the way of the commandments of God. Among these, shining indeed with divine grace, the blessed Lasrianus—whose solemn feast we celebrate today with due veneration—like a burning and shining lamp [John 5:35], inasmuch as he was kindled by the fire of the Holy Spirit, flashed with miracles and most clearly shone with every virtue.

³ Therefore Saint Lasrianus, servant of Christ, renowned for miracles and enriched with virtues, was foretold by blessed Patrick, legate of Ireland, sixty years before he was born. “This land,” he said, “twisted by the roughness of woods and mountains, has been assigned by the Lord to a holy man to be born after the cycle of sixty years, who will level the hearts of its inhabitants—hearts exceedingly rough—by the sacraments of the Catholic faith, and will call them back to the paths of justice”.

⁴ After the appointed time, therefore, his mother, named Mugnea, saw a vision full of mystical meaning: namely, that she had brought forth seven apples, most beautiful in form and delightful in fragrance. The seventh apple, among the woman’s hands, grew so greatly that she could scarcely grasp it with her fingers. She, therefore, awaking from sleep, did not delay at once to tell her husband what she had seen. He, hearing the vision as one foretelling good things, commanded his wife to reveal it to no one among men, saying: “You will indeed bear a son, who by the splendor of wisdom and the fragrance of virtues will surpass us and all our kin.” But the woman, keeping these words in her mind and memory, soon drew near to the time of giving birth.

⁵ At that time there was there a certain magician, who prophesied to the mother concerning the child, saying: “If you delay,” he said, “the birth until tomorrow, the son who shall be born from you will be honored by all.” Therefore the woman, going out from there, came to the shore of a nearby lake, and there upon a certain rock awaited the will of God. God therefore closed her womb, and she did not give birth until on the following day light was restored to the world. Yet God did not for this reason await the time of bearing the child because of any constellation of the heavenly bodies, but in order to fulfill his own good pleasure.

⁶ And when the boy was born, he was led to a bishop named Euchodius, that he might be baptized by him; and afterwards he received the priestly order. Therefore he, while he still remained in childish years, praised God without ceasing, so that prophetic saying seemed fittingly to be fulfilled in him: “Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings you have perfected praise” [Psalm 8:2; Matthew 21:16]. But the child tasted nothing of idolatrous or other unclean foods. And when he came to boyhood, imitating his Master Christ, he humbly obeyed his parents.

⁷ But after he had diligently learned the divine page under the teaching of Saint Finnian, being divinely inspired he came in due time to the land long before marked out. And he, made a monk among monks, chose a desert place, namely that which is called Damynis, that there with his own he might devoutly serve God. And since, according to the Gospel, he wished to multiply the talents entrusted to him by God [Matthew 25:16–17], passing through many regions, by the power of the word he converted a populous multitude to the faith of Christ and strengthened them by miracles.

⁸ At a certain time, when one of the monks was preparing bread for necessary use and had no fire with which to harden the prepared bread, the man of God Lasrianus, having compassion on his imprudence and moved by piety, took two pieces of wood in his hands, breathed upon them with a blessed mouth, and miraculously kindled fire in them, and by that fire the bread was baked.

⁹ A certain virgin, weighed down by pain of the womb, came to him, asking from him healing in the honor of Christ. And when the man of God marked her womb with the sign of the saving cross, he at once restored her to her former health.

¹⁰ The man of God Lasrianus, with his monks, at a certain time of famine were greatly worn down by hunger for the space of forty days and as many nights, so that they took no bodily food at all, except only so much grain as each one could hold in the palm of his hand, and besides herbs and the fruits of trees. And although outwardly they thus endured the utmost poverty, inwardly nevertheless, refreshed by the sweetness of the evangelical word, they unceasingly comforted themselves by mutual holy conversations.

¹¹ At the same time two lepers came to the man of God, humbly begging that they might obtain food and lodging from him. Whom, as a lover of hospitality, he received with joy, and quickly called the cellarer of the monastery, saying to him: “Go,” he said, “and feed them sufficiently, for they are very hungry.” To him the cellarer said: “You know, father, that today we have no food in the monastery from which anyone can be satisfied.” Then the man of God said to the cellarer: “Go to the common storehouse, and turn to your right, and whatever food the guests shall ask for, by God granting it and you perfectly believing, you will find.” The cellarer obeyed the father’s command, entering the storehouse; and, as the man of God had foretold, he found sufficient food and drink for the guests. For by this food miraculously found, not only the lepers, but also the brothers themselves were sufficiently refreshed.

¹² On a certain occasion, when the sons of Deglan visited the holy man Lasrianus, he said to them: “Write me the Gospel, if you please, brothers.” And since they did not dare to resist the fatherly command, and sought a copy from which to write, he who supplied the exemplar granted only the space of one day. Therefore the Lord, wishing to make his saint glorious, prolonged two natural days under the light of one day, as though they were one single day. But those men obeyed the word of the man of God, and wrote the volume of the four Gospels in so great a time.

¹³ Not many days later one of the monks saw the holy father naked in the water and praying. But he, when he perceived that he had been seen by the monk, blushing said to him: “Go down into the water, that standing together there, we may pray to our God.” And when the monk obeyed, entering the water, he was by no means able to remain there, because that wave burned him like fire. To him blessed Lasrianus said: “Change,” he said, “your place, and approach me from the other side.” And when he had changed his position, that water which before had been boiling was turned into icy cold, so that not even there could the monk stand for a little while. Then, while Lasrianus was praying and the monk was doing penance for his rashness, the water was returned to its proper nature.

¹⁴ On a certain night in spring, when Saint Lasrianus with his monks was lodging in the house of a certain petty king, it happened that at the hour of supper, as a flame rose up, the house of the lodging in which they were began to burn. And when the man of God perceived this, he commanded his men to flee to the arms of prayer, lest the whole house perish by fire. This being done, he himself lifting his hand marked the house with the sign of the saving cross, and that fire-belching flame, as though it had never been, disappeared. But the king, admonished and fortified by so unusual a miracle, offered that region to God and to Saint Lasrianus in perpetuity.

¹⁵ But a certain petty king, cruel and impious, instigated by a diabolical spirit, whose name was Conall the Red, unwilling to believe in Christ, persecuted his disciple. And when he desired to exercise his malice against the man of God and his own, he hastened with a great cavalry to his monastery, in order quickly to destroy him with his men. Then the merciful God, exalting the humble and humbling the proud, cast their horses down to the ground, and they were not able to go any farther. And when thus the sons of Belial were frustrated of their desires, sending their horses back to their own, they ran most swiftly on foot. Therefore, leaving the horses behind, the petty king himself with his band hastened to uproot the saint of God from his land. At that time Saint Lasrianus was on a certain island of a lake which in Irish is called Loch Erne.

¹⁶ Therefore the faithless men, full of wickedness, arriving at the shore of the same lake, and taking a bull from the king’s magician, roasted with poison, brought it as an alms to the holy man with his companions in order to poison them. But while they themselves were sailing, the bull by divine command was restored to life, and at once, plunging itself with impetuous fall into the whirlpool, overturned the little boat, and as many as had been in it were carried into the deep by the just judgment of God. And those who had escaped the shipwreck returned to their own with shame and sadness.

¹⁷ Then one of his own men, returning to the petty king, reported to him that two of his horses had been overtaken by sudden death. When the faithless petty king heard this, he sent a messenger to the man of God, that he might hasten to restore his horses from death. And since the man of God cared more for the salvation of souls than for his own labor, he came to the place where the horses were rather being flayed than raised up, and by the power of almighty God restored them to life. And after he had thus miraculously raised the horses, turning to the tyrant he said: “If,” he said, “you believe in Christ the King, and are baptized in his name, your sons will reign after you.” And the tyrant said: “I indeed am not ungrateful to you for such a gift, because by hereditary right I ought to reign in this land, since my father, my grandfather, and my great-grandfather and great-great-grandfather were kings there.” And when the man of God saw him hardened in malice, he is said to have pronounced sentence upon him: “Your sons,” he said, “and your whole posterity shall be deprived of the kingdom forever.” And having said this, the man of God returned to his monastery.

¹⁸ But the petty king did not escape the sentence of the man of God with impunity; for when he was sitting in his own house on a chair as it were of pestilence, immediately in the presence of those standing by he was struck with blindness. Then the pagan, feeling in his own body the scourge of the living God, rebuked the magicians who could not heal him, nor do such signs as Saint Lasrianus was doing. Therefore he sent again for the man of God, that he might come to him and restore to him the light of his eyes. Accordingly Saint Lasrianus came to him, and after instructing him sufficiently in the faith of Christ, baptized him; and then through the grace of baptism he received health of both man and soul. Seeing therefore that he was wonderfully healed, the king offered himself and his possessions to God and to his servant Lasrianus as an evening sacrifice.

¹⁹ At another time also, when Lasrianus was going out into a certain remote land, some clerics met him; and looking at their books, he wished to write one of them, but he had no pen with which he might write the book. Therefore, lifting up his hands to the birds flying above him in the air, one feather fell down, with which he wrote the desired book.

²⁰ Not many days later, when the holy man was setting out upon a long journey, the boy who was carrying his books, on a burning day, was weighed down by no small thirst. And when the pious father saw a certain woman milking cows, he asked drink from her, that he might relieve the boy’s thirst. She, assenting to his request, moved by mercy, said to him: “Not only to the boy, but also to the others who are with you, I will give drink.” After they had drunk of the milk, the woman said to the man of God: “I,” she said, “am barren; pray to God for me, that I may be able to bear a child.” To her Saint Lasrianus said: “Call your husband.” When he had been called, he ordered him to bring water from a nearby spring. But the saint blessed the water that was brought to him and gave it to the woman to drink. After she drank, she conceived and bore a son, who so advanced in life and in learning that he was afterwards ordained bishop; and his name was Fynnchad.

²¹ Therefore blessed Lasrianus, instructed by the divine Spirit, resolved to visit the apostolic see. Setting out on his journey, he visited his companion, namely Saint Edanus, before he crossed the sea. To him Saint Edanus said: “If,” he said, “you give me half a part of the relics, I will take upon my shoulders the perils of your journeys.” Therefore, while they were mutually promising such things and blessing one another in turn, Lasrianus, with a favorable voyage, came to the desired port.

²² Then it happened that a certain venomous serpent, formerly most harmful to men, became so familiar to him that it took food from his hand yet did him no harm. Afterwards, when he came to the city of Saint Martin and desired to enter the church there, he found it sealed with seven seals. And since the man of God could not enter the church, he told the doorkeeper to open the door of the church. But he, unwilling to obey the command of the man of God, and despising the orders as those of a stranger and unknown man, look, at once the church, although firmly closed, by divine command was opened of itself.

²³ After these things and many other miracles performed on the way, arriving at Rome at evening, he found the city sealed with all its bolts. And when he wished to enter it and found no entrance, look, a great earthquake took place, so that all the bars of the city were opened of themselves. But the Roman people, marvelling and inquiring into the cause of the earthquake, came together the next day into one place. Then a certain man, standing in the temple, while the others were silent, said with a loud voice: “While I was sealing the gate, a certain cleric from the West came with his companions to the gate; and when I denied him entrance, at once an earthquake took place.”

²⁴ Therefore, when the holy man had been summoned to the Roman people, the supreme pontiff commanded him to preach to the people. But he, obeying the fatherly command ascending the chair, sought the Gospel of Christ. And the Romans answered, testing him: “He who opened the gates of the city before you can give you a book, if he wills.” But blessed Lasrianus prayed to God, with bent knees; and look, suddenly an angel of the Lord, with all seeing it, brought him a book, leaving it open on the chair. While he was still speaking to the people and asked for a cymbal, they answered: “From him from whom you received the book, from him also ask the cymbal.” And when he asked this from the angel, he likewise obtained it. And when he celebrated Mass and preached the word of Christ to the people, turning to them he said: “Whichever of these gifts you wish to choose, possess that.” But the people, after taking counsel, answered him: “It shall not be so; but whatever of these seems more dear to you, carry back with you to your homeland.” When he heard this, Saint Lasrianus said: “This little Gospel,” he said, “I will gladly carry with me.”

²⁵ Therefore the man of God, after correcting the rules and articles of the faith and carrying with him relics of the Roman saints, returning to his homeland, found in a certain tree the cymbal hanging which he had left at Rome. And when he recognized it, he ordered his disciples to carry it back to the place where he had left it, lest he be reproached as for theft. But look, a thing very wonderful happened. For when those who were carrying the same cymbal returned to Rome, they found the same cymbal which they had left at Rome on the very tree where they had first found it. When for the third time it was carried to Rome, then the pope, having seen and heard the miracle, ordered it to be sent back to the man of God. Hence also from the box-tree in which it was found, the cymbal was called the “cymbal of boxwood.”

²⁶ Then by a prosperous journey he came to the nearby sea. But when he found there no ship for crossing, seeing a great rock on the shore of the sea, he climbed upon it, praying to the God of heaven, to whom nothing is impossible, that he might deign to carry him over upon that rock to the desired port, just as he carries others by a ship fashioned by the hand of a craftsman for this service. Wonderful to say: the heavy rock, floating upon the sea against its nature, carried the man of God in place of a ship, and, directed by divine command, came all the way to Ireland. Hence, in witness of this miracle, the same rock, made in the form of a basin, remains in the church of Damynis even to the present time.

²⁷ Therefore, having been received as a guest by Saint Edanus, namely Moedoc, he handed over to him a part of the relics which he had brought with him from the Roman court. After this he came to his own monks, who received him with great joy. He brought with him the relics of the apostles Peter and Paul, and of Saints Laurence and Clement, which he placed in his little cemetery, so that to all who should choose burial there, it might be reckoned as Rome itself for them forever.

²⁸ But Saint Lasrianus, when he was of perfect age, went to Saint Finnian, his master, asking him that he would deign to come with him to consecrate his monastery. And when he, together with other saints, had come to his monastery, they dwelt there with him for a year. And while they were living on a certain island there which in Irish is called Inys Cometa, fire failed them. But they sent a little boy, whose name was Luranus, to a nearby place, that he might bring them fire. But he, bringing the fire with him, when a sudden storm burst forth, was drowned. But while the other saints were ignorant of this, Lasrianus cried out with a loud voice to the Lord for the raising up of the boy. And immediately the boy Luranus, as though awakened from a deep sleep, came to them with his torches kindled.

²⁹ At another time also, when he was preaching the word of God at the monastery of Bangor, he was lifted up by angels from the place where he was sitting even to the windows of the church. And on that day many through him believed in Christ, praising God in those things which they had heard and seen.

³⁰ At another time, Saint Lasrianus with his saints came to the royal city called Temoria. And when the men of God had pitched their tents there, and that night snow had fallen heavily, only the tent of Saint Lasrianus remained untouched by the snow. When King Dermicius, rising in the morning, saw this, he asked his men whose saint that tent was which had remained uninjured by the snow. They said to him: “That tent is of Saint Lasrianus, abbot of Damynis.” The king replied: “The surpassing fire of divine love shining in him causes the snows to melt.”

³¹ At that time Saint Lasrianus asked the king’s prophet, who was called Becc mac De, who was contradicting him, whether the soul of the king’s son, who had died before, was in hell or in heaven. And when the prophet answered that he was in heaven, Saint Lasrianus on the contrary said that he was in hell; and this he showed to be true before all. For God miraculously opened the eyes of those standing there, so that by a sure sign they saw the soul of the king’s son to be in the place of punishments. But the tongue of the lying magician, as a sign of his falsehood, swelled up in his mouth.

³² At the same time a great pestilence arose in the land, so that men scarcely sufficed to bury the corpses of those dying; for which reason the men of God said among themselves that each one of them should pray to God that the plague might be taken away from the people. And when Saint Lasrianus in his turn prolonged the night in prayers, and, leaving his cloak in its place, began to write, when the others rose in the morning they saw a flame of fire rising from his cloak into heaven.

³³ There was a certain young and wanton priest dwelling near the monastery of the man of God, giving himself in every way to the desires of the flesh. When the man of God saw him bathing himself in the water, he said to him: “I,” he said, “grieve greatly that your body, although beautiful, draws you to dark places and not to bright ones.” Then he, pierced in heart, did penance; and through the prayer of the man of God he was struck with leprosy. For that temporal infirmity was as it were a guardian of spiritual health in the soul: “For then I am stronger,” says Paul, “when I am weaker” [2 Corinthians 12:10].

³⁴ But Saint Columba visited Saint Lasrianus, his confessor, after the battle of Culdremne, asking from him wholesome counsel, how after the killing of many who had been slain there he might best merit to receive the favor of God and the remission of sins. Therefore blessed Lasrianus, diligently searching the mysteries of the divine Scriptures, commanded him that he should free from punishments as many souls as he had been the cause of the destruction of souls. And with this he commanded him that he should remain in perpetual exile outside Ireland. And from this there grew the custom that all the successors of Saint Columba should show reverence and honor to the successors of Saint Lasrianus.

³⁵ Blessed Baithinus, sleeping one night, saw a wondrous vision, whose mystery he could not understand by himself. Therefore, awakening from sleep, he made it known to blessed Columba to be interpreted, saying: “For I saw three chairs shining with exceeding splendor and flashing with marvelous brightness; of which one was golden, another silver, and the third glass.”

³⁶ But blessed Columba, since he was as it were another Daniel in the interpretation of dreams, spoke thus: “The golden chair,” he said, “which you saw, belongs to Ciarán, son of the craftsman, who by the fervor of charity and by his shining color, like gold in color and in worth, surpasses all his contemporaries. But the silver chair which you saw belongs to Saint Lasrianus himself, who gleams before the others by the brightness of eloquence and wisdom. But the third chair, namely the glass one which you saw, will be given to me by my Lord, because by nature I am fragile, and am often occupied by the love of carnal friends and kinsmen. For the more we love lower things, the less we love higher and heavenly things.”

³⁷ At another time Saint Brendan, setting out on a pilgrimage, visited blessed Lasrianus with his companions. And since Saint Lasrianus was exceedingly anxious about feeding the brothers, because bread was lacking in the monastery and a fast day had then fallen, inflamed with the fervor of charity he commanded the brothers in the name of the Lord that they should take the meats which had been prepared with thanksgiving. Obeying his command, the brothers took what had been set before them, obeying no less than they were eagerly desiring it. But a certain neophyte who was with Saint Brendan, transgressing the command, kept his portion until the morning of the following day. And when the same neophyte, rising in the morning, touched with his hand that which he had kept, immediately his fingers poured forth a bloody rain. When he saw this miracle, the man, moved to penance, acknowledged his fault, and the blood ceased; and that flesh which he had kept was at once turned into wheaten bread.

³⁸ At another time, when his disciple, named Factnatheus, had left him alone shut up in his oratory, he heard behind him voices conversing with him and answering him. And when the disciple marveled at this, returning he adjured the man of God to make known to him the secrets which he had heard. But when he was unwilling to disclose the revelation of so great a mystery, the disciple rashly swore that he would never take food unless he made him a participant in this secret. Having compassion on the rashness of the one who had sworn, the man of God Lasrianus said: “As the time of my passing from this world draws near, the most blessed apostles Peter and Paul, with the mother of my Lord Jesus Christ, have at this hour come to me to console and forewarn me, so that the tribulation and death which threaten me will not make me sad, but rather rejoicing; because the glory which God has promised to those who love him will, through the intercession of these, after the course of this life, without doubt be repaid” [1 Corinthians 2:9].

³⁹ But after these miracles and many others which are not written in this book, after the conversion of many unbelievers to the faith of Christ, and after countless conflicts against pagans and heretics, the man of God Lasrianus happily fell asleep in the Lord; who with the Father and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns for ever and ever. Amen.