¹ St Kebius was sprung from the people of the Cornish; his father, named Solomon, was a prince of the army. When St Kebius was seven years old, he was given over to letters, and for twenty years he was devoted to liberal studies in his own region. Then, crossing the sea, he remained with Hilary, bishop of Poitiers, for fifty years, giving light to the blind, cleansing lepers, and healing paralytics, the dumb, and those possessed by demons. And having received the episcopal degree from Hilary, he was admonished by an angel to return to his own country. And when he had come there, he was asked to come to receive the kingdom of Cornwall: but he utterly refused to accept the power of the present world.

² After this he came with ten of his disciples and descended into the meadow of King Ethelicus, pitching his tent there. And the king sent to see who they were who had presumed to descend into his meadow. And the messenger returning said: “They are monks.” And the king at once arose with all his household to drive the monks out of his land. And straightway he fell from his horse on the way, and his horse died, and the king and all his household were made blind. Then the king prostrated himself upon his face and gave his body and soul to God and to St Kebius his servant. And at once, through the prayer of the man of God, they were all healed, and his horse was restored to life. And the king gave the man of God two churches; and having blessed the king, he came to Menevia, and crossing from there into Ireland, dwelt four years on a certain island where he built a church.

³ Now his cousin, named Kengarus, was old, for whom the man of God bought a cow with its calf, because on account of his age he could eat no other food. And it came to pass that the calf of that cow strayed into the crop of a certain rich man; and his servants, coming, tied the calf to a tree. And when the saint sent that it should be loosed and they mocked his entreaties, he prayed the Lord that the calf might return to its mother. And the Lord heard his petition and wondrously released the calf to its mother, together with the tree to which it had been tied and with its roots.

⁴ And an angel appearing to St Kebius said: “Go from this island towards the east.” The saint said: “May God blot out that rich man from this island.” And the angel: “So shall it be.” And the saint, coming to the southern part of the region and building an oratory, dwelt there forty days. And the rich man, hearing that he dwelt there, sent to him: “Go,” he said, “to another place: that land is mine still.” Then the saint fasted three days, that God might show him what to do about it. To him the angel said: “Go towards the east.” And coming to the eastern part, he dwelt there seven days. Hearing which, that rich man came to the man of God and said: “Go to another place.” Then the saint said: “I beg almighty God to show me what I should do.” To him the angel: “Go to the right.” And when he had gone there, the rich man came yet again and said: “Kebius, go across the sea.” Then the saint, angered, said: “Let your name be blotted out from this island.”

⁵ Then St Kebius ordered his disciples to fashion a boat from cut timbers. When this was done, that rich man came and said: “Enter the boat without hide, if you are servants of God.” And the saint said: “God is wonderful in his saints, the God of Israel: he shall give power and strength to his people; blessed be God.” “Put,” he said to his disciples, “the boat upon the sea.” When this was done, he entered the boat, which lacked a hide, with his disciples; and at once a great tempest came upon the sea, and his disciples feared greatly, and St Kebius began earnestly to beg God. At his prayer God divided a certain rock in two parts, and the boat sprang upward between the two rocks; and at last they landed on the island of Mona. Then St Kebius struck the rock with his staff: and at once water began to flow out most abundantly.

⁶ And he sent his disciple named Caffo to fetch fire. And when he asked fire of a certain smith, the smith refused to give it unless he would carry it in his bosom. And the fire being placed in his bosom, he returned to his master, carrying the fire without harm to his garment.

⁷ The king of Gwynedd went one day to the mountains for the sake of hunting, and seeing a doe, urged his hound to seize it. It ran swiftly to St Kebius’ cape for refuge, the king following it. And the king said: “Let it go.” To whom he: “I will not let it go, unless you give it refuge for its life.” “If you do not let it go,” said the king, “I will drive you from my land.” The man of God said: “It is not in your power to drive me from this land, but it is in the power of God. Yet nevertheless I will let it go to you, if you will offer to almighty God and to me all the land which it shall have circled before your hound.” And when the king had assented, the hound followed it round the circuit of the territory, and it returned again to the cape of the holy man of God.

⁸ After this a strife arose between the king and the man of God, but the king could not withstand him. So he granted his castle to the man of God, to God and to St Kebius in perpetuity. And at last the man of God, in a good old age, full of good works, departed to the Lord on the eighth of November.

A Further Story #

¹ [Added in the Tiberius manuscript.] A certain old man sitting in a cave had a proved disciple, whom when on one occasion he had instructed in manners, he was overcome by sleep. But when the disciple had long been sitting, he was driven by the trouble of his thoughts to depart and sleep: and yet he resisted his thought seven times. At last the old man, waking, found him sitting beside him and said: “Have you not departed until now?” And he: “No, because you had not dismissed me, father.” The old man said: “Why did you not wake me?” And he: “Lest I should perhaps trouble you.” And the old man dismissed him. And while he sat alone, he was in an ecstasy of mind: and look, a certain one showed him a glorious place, and a seat in it, and upon the seat seven crowns. And he asked him who showed these things whose they were. And he: “Your disciple’s: and the place and the seat for his manner of life, but these seven crowns he has deserved this night.” Hearing this, marvelled and trembling he said to the disciple: “Tell me what you did this night.” And he: “Forgive me, father, for I did nothing.” But the old man, thinking that in humility he would not confess, said: “Believe me, I shall not rest until you tell me what you did or what you thought this night.” “Forgive me,” he said, “father: I did nothing except only that, driven by the motion of my thoughts to depart and sleep seven times, yet because I had not been dismissed by you, I did not depart.” And the old man understood that as often as he had resisted his thought, so often he was crowned by God.