¹ There was a certain man in the region of Connacht named Sedia who, since he could not have children, came with his wife to certain holy men to pray to the Lord on account of their barrenness. Then those saints devoutly asked the Lord that he would deign to grant those people who had come to them the conception of a good son, and said to them: “Go in the name of the Lord to your own places.” And on the following night, before they came together, the man saw a white star falling from heaven into the mouth of his sleeping wife, and she in a vision saw a bright moon descend into her own mouth.

² When the little child was born and had reached boyhood, while he was pasturing his father’s eight sheep and eight ewes, he saw one day eight very hungry wolves; and pitying them, he gave them the eight ewes, and they were at once devoured by them. Not long after, when he saw his nurse — that is, his mother’s sister — coming to him on account of the ewes, in fear he cried out to the Lord saying: “Lord, help me.” And the Lord heard the prayers of the holy boy and sent eight ewes to the sheep just as they had been before.

³ The holy boy Aidus, who was also called Aidanus by many, used to read aloud in the fields; and when a hunter with dogs was pursuing a stag in that place, the exhausted stag turned aside to the boy and knelt on the ground before him as if begging help from him; and while the dogs ran about everywhere in vain, the stag escaped unharmed.

⁴ On another day St Aidus and his foster-brother Molassus were reading together in one place, and thinking of going on pilgrimage they did not know where to go. Now there were two great logs lying before them; and inspired by God, they said to those logs: “In the name of the Lord, reveal to us what we shall do, and show us what is to come for us.” And at once those logs fell to the ground, one towards the north and the other towards the south. So Molassus chose an island towards the north, while Aidus went as far as the borders of the Leinstermen. And when Aidus was on a certain mountain and wished at the end of the day to come to the place where a certain holy man named Airedus dwelt, angels came down and lifted him in their hands, brought him to the desired place, and set him down before night came.

⁵ There was a certain boy beside a lake named Bos, who was drowned in the depth of the lake together with two other boys. And when Aidus was asked to raise them, he walked upon the lake with dry feet, went to the place where the boys had been drowned in the lake, and praying there raised them to life.

⁶ St Aidus then, having crossed the sea prosperously, came from Ireland to St David in Britain; and remaining with him for a long time, he worked many miracles. Now on a certain day, while he sat reading, the steward Ychonomus came to him saying: “Rise and take the cart, so that you may go with the brethren to carry the necessary loads.” But he, rising quickly, left his book open in his haste; and although a heavy rain came down, it did not harm the book until St David should find it. The steward also told him to hold two untamed oxen; but they were at once made tame and domestic under his hand. And the steward gave the saint a yoke without straps; and the yoke stuck to the necks of the oxen without straps, as if it were bound with strong straps. And St David, meeting him, said: “Why did you leave your book open under the rain?” Hearing this, he prostrated himself before St David and did not rise until the elder commanded him; nor was the word “rise” even spoken to him. Now the brethren came to the house, Aidus remaining prostrate on the shore. But when David asked where the boy was, they answered that they had not seen him except when they had left him prostrate on the shore. Then brethren sent to the shore found the sea full and risen up around the prostrate saint; and they drew him into the ship with a rope.

⁷ At another time Ychonomus, moved by envy and plotting to kill St Aidus, sent him with a layman and a vehicle to bring wood from the forest, and persuaded the layman to kill the saint in the woods. And when the saint bent down to gather the wood, the layman swung a blow with a raised axe towards his head; and look, his hands remained in the air, held upright and withered. Then the layman, acknowledging his guilt, was healed and loosed through the prayer of the saint. But when this was divinely revealed to St David, he at once arose and ran to the river, and saw innumerable hosts of angels around Aidus as he came. And St Aidus, seeing St David waiting for him from afar, came quickly through the river and through rough ways where no man had walked before, by a straight path to the place where he saw David standing; and a cross has been erected there to this day. And when St David began to rebuke Ychonomus, Aidus said: “It is not necessary that you should rebuke him; for if you rebuke him, he will die at once, and no one will know his grave”; and so it came to pass.

⁸ A king’s son who was blind, lame and deaf was brought to St Aidus and healed of all his infirmity. A man was brought to him having a face without eyes or nose; and he blessed his face, and the Lord gave him eyes and a nose.

⁹ Now the Saxons came to war against the Britons, and Aidus, being asked, went with the Britons to the battle. The Saxons, seeing him, were turned to flight, and while he prayed, not one of the Britons fell that day. For as long as the servant of God Aidus dwelt in those regions with St David, the Saxons did not dare to come there or to harm the people. But certain Saxon robbers entered the village where the servant of God dwelt to harm the inhabitants. Learning this, he blinded them with his imprecations; and returning with great difficulty, having harmed no one, they remained stricken with blindness for a whole year.

¹⁰ A certain king of the Saxons came to tempt him, saying: “I am blind and deaf.” The saint said to him: “You are neither deaf nor blind; but just as you have lied in tempting me, from this day you shall not be king, and you shall remain blind and deaf until the day of your death.” And so it came to pass.

¹¹ When at last he had returned to Ireland with St David’s blessing, he pondered in his heart, saying: “I regret that I did not ask my teacher who will be a friend of my soul in this island of Ireland.” And while he was walking upon the sea with dry feet, look, an angel of the Lord met him and said: “It is great confidence that you have done this, to walk on foot upon the sea.” And he said: “I did not do this out of confidence, but out of strength of faith.” The angel said: “It is not necessary for you to have a friend of the soul: God loves you, and there will be no mediator between you and God. But if you wish for a friend of the soul, you shall have a widow named Molue.” Then he returned to Ireland.

¹² He also remembered that he had forgotten his cymbal in the land of the Britons, and it was necessary for him to strike it at the proper hour. Without delay, he saw his cymbal, coming suddenly over the sea from Britain, laid beside him. Rejoicing at its arrival, he gave thanks to God. On another day St Aidus went in his chariot over the great sea from one place to another, and the hooves of the horses and the wheels were not dipped in the sea, but the sea was solid like the hardest earth.

¹³ And while he was grinding corn at the mill, a certain man asked flour from him, and having received what he asked, he came again in a changed guise, blinding his left eye, and asked for flour in the name of the Lord. But the man of God, recognising his deceit, said to him: “Why have you done this? I will give you flour for the name of the Lord; but you will not escape the stroke of blindness until the day of your death.”

¹⁴ On a certain day he saw a she-wolf leaping the fence and exceedingly hungry; and asking the boy whether he had food, the boy said: “I have one loaf and part of a fish.” And taking the loaf, he offered it to the she-wolf; and the boy blushed. The saint said to him: “Bring me a leaf.” When it was brought and blessed, he made bread of the leaf and gave it to the boy.

¹⁵ Now when he had drawn forth a spring from the earth by his prayers, a certain cowherd coming to him said: “Servant of God, I humbly beg you not to delay to visit my sick mother and to pray to God for her salvation.” But before he came there, that woman died. So the cowherd ran to the saint and said: “Man of God, do not trouble yourself: for my mother is dead.” He said to him: “Go and tell your mother to come to greet me.” And going, he spoke to his mother saying: “Arise, St Aidus calls you.” And at once she rose up whole, as if from sleep; and hastening to the saint, she gave thanks to God.

¹⁶ And when his ploughmen were yoking the oxen for ploughing, look, a certain leprous woman came asking that an ox be given to her. Without delay he gave her one chosen from the rest. Then the offended ploughmen said to him: “What shall we do, and how shall we be able to plough?” The saint said: “Wait a little while for an ox: it will come to you quickly.” And look, they suddenly saw an ox coming to them from the nearby sea, which, raising his voice with a bellow, humbly placed his neck into the yoke of the other ox; it ploughed with them for three months, and coming from the sea every day in the morning and raising its voice, when the work was finished it returned into the sea.

¹⁷ At another time St David sent to the man of God asking him to come to greet him. And when he had stayed with him for some time after crossing the sea and desired to return, he said to St David: “How shall I go back through the sea to my country?” And he said: “Go to the sea, and whatever animal comes to you, mount upon it and go to your monastery.” He, coming to the sea, saw a great animal in the likeness of a great horse; sitting upon its back, he came to Ireland, and the animal returned into the sea.

¹⁸ At another time he fasted for fifty days and nights, neither eating nor drinking; and his body grew larger in the fasting. And coming before the gate of a certain king, that by his prayer he might free his nephews from captivity — look, the king’s daughter died. She was raised at the prayers of the queen; but while the harsh king resisted the holy man with rough words and the saint began to curse the king, the boy who stood beside him said: “Hail, elder: pour out your curse upon this rock.” And when the saint had hurled his curse upon the rock, it was at once split in two. Seeing this, the king did penance and released his nephews free to him.

¹⁹ Once when he was sitting in a chariot, the horses which were under the chariot stood immobile, and an angel of the Lord came to him saying: “For the Lord wills that you should go to the kingdom of Connacht, to restore to health its king, worn out with great sorrows and disease.” He said to him: “I do not wish to go.” And the angel said: “Though you do not wish it, yet you shall go, because the Lord wills this.” And he said to his charioteer: “Let the horses go wherever they will.” And the horses under the chariot brought them to a certain lake, and went on with dry feet as over dry land. And having healed the king, he foretold him that in the end of his life, pressed by many sorrows, he would gain the kingdom of heaven.

²⁰ While he was writing out a certain psalm for a certain boy, the boy saw him suddenly ascending by a golden ladder set between heaven and earth, carrying the boy’s booklet with him; and after a long delay he returned, and the boy could not bear the splendour of his face. And he said to the boy: “See that you do not presume to reveal this to anyone during my life.” “If you do not hide from me,” said the boy, “why you went out, I will disclose to no one what I saw.” “I,” he said, “went out to the joy which the family of God made at the coming of St Columba, my friend.”

²¹ Certain deceitful and crafty men, hiding their own garments in the woods, were demanding clothes from the man of God. He said to them: “Wait a little while, until you receive garments.” Then he secretly sent to the places where their garments had been hidden, and gave them their own clothes that were brought. But they, recognising their own clothes, went away ashamed.

²² When a certain man named Sarau had slain the king of the Leinstermen and the man of God heard of it, he said: “Would that the hand which slew the king might fall from that man’s side — but only after penance truly done”; and so it came to pass. For that Sarau lay day and night beside the king’s tomb, beating his hands together, until the king from the tomb said to him: “O brutish Sarau, what you did is forgiven you.” And at this word, Sarau’s hand fell from his side. Then St Aidus went to the king’s tomb, and pouring out prayer to the Lord, raised him up. The king said to him: “If you will give me the kingdom of heaven, I beg you that I may now go to heaven.” Then, having received the eucharist, he slept in peace.

²³ A certain needy man from whom the king was demanding much tribute came to the man of God, seeking help from him. Then he gave half a measure of barley into the lap of the petitioner, and it was at once turned into the finest gold. And the man of God said: “Give this to the king, and you shall be free.” But the king, seeing so much gold, said: “Who gave you this gold?” “St Aidus,” he said, “gave it to me.” The king said to him: “This gold I do not accept, but to God and St Aidus I release you free for ever.” And when he returned, the holy man, receiving the gold changed back into barley, commanded it to be sown in the ground.

²⁴ While the holy man was washing his hands at a spring, certain of the brethren said among themselves: “No man can provoke St Aidus to discord.” Then one of them said: “I can provoke him.” And seizing him, he threw him into the spring. And seeing that the saint’s garments were dry without any drop of water, he said: “I repent of what I did.” The saint said to him: “You did well to repent; for if you had not repented, you would have been swallowed up by the earth. Now, however, redeem your sins with prayers and tears: for on the fortieth day from now you will die.”

²⁵ When a certain girl had died, he sent his minister with his staff; and when he touched her, she rose again. There met the holy man a certain man named Colmanus, whose horse had died; and he gave him his own horse. And look, another horse sent by God came at once to the man of God. And when Colmanus returned, his own horse rose up alive and whole to meet him.

²⁶ At last in a good old age, full of works pleasing to God and of virtues, he departed this world, on the day before the first of March. For this saint is called “Aidanus” in the life of St David, but in his own life, as is plain above, he is called “Aidus”, and at St David’s church in Menevia he is called “Moedok”, which is Irish; and his feast is kept there in great veneration.

A Further Story #

¹ There was a certain monk adorned with every flower of virtue, to whom the Lord provided daily food: for every day, entering his cave in the desert, he found bread of wondrous sweetness and whiteness; and having eaten, he gave thanks to God and turned to his prayers and hymns. And when he began to glory in his own merits, a certain small sloth of mind at once crept into him, and after this negligence grew, so that he became slower to prayer; and when he had rendered but little service of psalmody, his soul, as though wearied by excessive labour, made haste to rest. For there was now a certain hidden, foul and wicked thought in his heart. When after his prayers he took food, he found the bread set on the table later than usual, and did not understand that he was gradually falling. And when he was goaded by the fire of heavy lust, he found his bread at last fouler than usual. Thoughts and the goads of lust took hold of him, and it was as if the image of a woman were already present and lying with him, which he seemed both to embrace and to have prostrate for base uses. And when he took food, he found the bread filthiest and dry and as it were gnawed all over by mice. Then he groaned and shed tears, but not so plentiful that they could quench the flame of so great a fire. And when thoughts surrounded him on every side, he rose at night and made his way to the city. But when day came, he saw a certain cell of the brethren, where he rested, being weary. And when he had rested a little refreshed, they began, as was their custom, to seek a word of edification from him as from a most learned father, and asked him how a man might escape the snares of the devil and drive off the foul thoughts cast into him. Then he taught them fully; and returning into himself, he said: “How is it that I warn others and am myself deceived? Come now, wretch,” he said, “do what you warn others to do.” And perceiving that he had been miserably overthrown, he returned to his cave and lay in sackcloth and ashes with tears, until an angel appearing to him said: “God has received your penance and is again merciful to you; but take care lest, puffed up, you be deceived again.”