¹ A certain king in the northern part of Britain, entangled in pagan errors, had by his wife a beautiful daughter, who, often hearing the preaching of God’s servants, deserved to come to the knowledge of the truth, utterly renouncing the worship of idols. And although she had not yet obtained the grace of baptism, yet she strove to keep the way of God’s commandments with a devout and humble mind; given to frequent prayers and almsgivings, as much as was permitted her for fear of her pagan father, she diligently applied herself to ecclesiastical discipline and good works. Venerating, admiring and loving the fruitful virginity of the Virgin Mary, and desiring with presumptuous boldness and a certain womanly rashness to be made like her and imitate her in conception and childbearing, she began often to beg the King of heaven and the Lord about this with assiduous prayers. And when a space of time had elapsed, she was found to be with child: and magnifying God, she simply believed her desire fulfilled. For what was born in her she received of human embrace: but she many times asserted, and bound herself by oath, that she had it not in her conscience by whom, or when, or how she had conceived. For the people of St Kentigern’s diocese, foolish and senseless, are not afraid even now to assert that he was conceived and born of a virgin. But who or in what manner the sower ploughed or sowed the land, since at the Lord’s giving of graciousness the earth brought forth the best fruit, we deem it indeed absurd to search further.

² And when the king inquired of his daughter with threats and blandishments who had got her with child, she protested on oath that she was free of all male company. So the king, offended, constantly affirmed that he would not have the law promulgated by his ancestors broken. For it was a law kept from ancient days in that nation, that a girl found guilty of fornication and pregnant in her father’s house should be thrown from the brow of a mountain, and her corrupter be punished with death. So the girl was set by the king’s command on the mountain top, called Dunpelder by the inhabitants, that she might be cast down and torn limb from limb. But she, groaning heavily and looking up to heaven, implored the mercy and help of the Redeemer with many tears, her hands raised to heaven. And when she fell cast down from the mountain, she was not dashed nor hurt, but descended to the earth with a placid and gentle glide. Then the pagans, ascribing this to the magic arts of the Christians, with the king’s consent exposed the girl alone and destitute of all human help in a little boat made of hide without any oars, several miles out upon fortune and the sea. Yet He who commands the winds and the sea protecting her, the little boat ran much more swiftly to another port than if it had been driven by any sailing course or by the effort of many rowers. And the girl, coming out of the boat in a place called Collenros, was seized by the pangs of childbirth, and brought forth without the aid of any midwife.

³ At the same hour St Serf, intent on prayer after matins, heard angelic choirs resounding mellifluous praises and lauds to God in the air. And in the morning, coming to the place and seeing the mother with her son, he said in his native tongue: “Mochohe, Mochohe,” which in Latin means “my dear one, my dear one”; and he added: “Blessed be he who has come in the name of the Lord.” So he received them, and nursed them, and baptised them, and called the mother Taneu, and the boy Kientiern, which is interpreted “chief lord”. So the boy of good disposition profited in the disciplines of letters and in the exercises of the holy virtues, and was beloved above all his companions in the eyes of St Serf; and him he called by custom Munghu, which in Latin means “dearest friend” — by which name the common people are accustomed rather frequently to call him and invoke him in their necessities even to this day.

⁴ The saint’s fellow-pupils, seeing that he was loved by his spiritual father more than all, hated him, nor could they speak anything peaceably to him. They laid snares for him, railed at him, envied and disparaged him. A certain little bird, called a “robin” for the redness of its little body, accustomed to take its food from St Serf’s hand, to sit upon his shoulders and head or lap, and to attend him while he prayed or read, showing him affection by the beating of its wings and the sound of its voice — this bird they handled among themselves, tore its head from its body and killed it, not fearing to lay the crime on the absent Kentigern. But the boy, taking the bird in his hands and applying its head to its body, poured out a prayer to God and impressed the sign of the cross: and the bird, restored to life, leapt forth applauding in its usual manner to meet the old man returning to the church.

⁵ Now St Serf had appointed that each of the boys in the week of his turn should carefully keep the fire alive under the ashes when they went to sleep, lest any negligence for lack of light should occur in the divine service by night. It happened on a certain solemn night, while the boy Kentigern in his turn was keeping the fire, that his fellow-pupils, blinded by envy, secretly extinguished all the fire within the monastery bounds. At the time of the vigils Kentigern, finding the monastery fire extinguished, took a branch of a certain green hazel and, a blessing given in the name of the holy Trinity, breathed upon it: and at once, fire being sent from heaven, the branch produced a huge flame and began to burn without harm to itself. And when candles had been lit from it, the light was no longer seen in the branch.

⁶ St Serf’s cook, his vital spirit breathing its last as the trouble of sickness increased, was buried according to custom. And on the following day, at the instigation and prayer of all the disciples and enviers of the saint, the old man Serf, adjuring Kentigern by the holy and terrible name of the Lord, commanded him in the virtue of holy obedience to attempt at least whatever he could for the raising of his servant. But the youth, shuddering at the adjuration, ordered earth to be cast from the tomb, and prostrating himself implored with tears the mercy of the Lord, saying: “Lord Jesus Christ, life and resurrection of the dead, who kill and make alive, bring down to hell and bring up again, whom life and death serve, who raised Lazarus of four days — raise up this dead man, that your holy name may be glorified, blessed above all for ever.” And without delay, he who had been buried, rising from the dead, afterwards recounted the punishments of the reprobate and the joys of the just which he had seen, and converted many from evil to good, and confirmed the good by his words that they should profit to better. He asserted that he had been exempted from human affairs with unspeakable grief and brought before the tribunal of the dread Judge: and there had seen many, sentence received, cast headlong into hell, others destined to purgatorial places, and some raised with great exultation to heavenly joys. And when he was tremblingly awaiting his own sentence, he heard that he was the man for whom the beloved of the Lord, Kentigern, was praying; and he was bidden by a certain radiant man to be brought back to his body and restored to his former life and safety, and diligently admonished by that same guide to watch henceforth over a more corrected life. For that same cook, assuming the religious habit and profiting from virtue to virtue, survived seven years. And on the cover of his tomb it is inscribed in letters how he was raised by St Kentigern.

⁷ So the holy conversation of Kentigern, which afforded an example of profiting to many, was to his enviers a seed-bed of greater hatred. The man of God therefore, understanding their envy, and likewise fearing the favour and honour of the people, resolved to leave the place; and it was revealed to him that his purpose would be pleasing and acceptable in the eyes of the Lord. So secretly departing, he came to the river Mallena, which, its channel overflowing by the incoming tide of the sea, utterly took away all hope of crossing. But the Lord who divided the Red Sea and once brought the people of Israel through the midst of it on dry feet, himself divided the river Mallena for his servant, and the waters were as walls on his right hand and on his left. Then, crossing a little arm of the sea by a bridge, he saw the waters with a sudden rush fill the channel and deny passage to any. And that place was impassable thereafter, and the bridge, covered by the sea’s waters, afforded no one the means of crossing thereafter. The Mallena also, leaving its course, thereafter bent itself into the channel of the river Ledon; and so the two rivers, divided until then, were joined from that day.

⁸ And look, St Serf, guiding his aged limbs with a staff, followed the fugitive, stood upon the bank, and wailing cried out: “Alas for me, dearest son, light of my eyes, staff of my old age: why do you desert me? why do you abandon me? Bethink you, I beg, how I took you when you were poured from your mother’s womb, nourished you, taught you, brought you up until this hour: do not forsake my grey hairs.” But the saint, melting into tears, said: “You see, father, that what is done is of God, and we cannot change the counsel of the Most High or disobey his will.” “I beg you,” said Serf, “that as you did before, by your prayer you divide the sea and bare the ground, that crossing alone I may come to you over the dry. For I will become to you instead of a father a son, instead of a teacher a disciple, and your inseparable companion to the end of life.” Then the saint, wet with much weeping, said: “Go back, I beg you, my father, and instruct your disciples by doctrine and example and correct them by discipline. May the Rewarder of all good things reward you for all the benefits you have shown me. For you have fought the good fight and have now finished your course. But I will go where He sent me who separated me from my mother’s womb.” And so, a mutual blessing given, they parted from one another. And St Serf soon departed to the Lord in a good old age.

⁹ The man of God, proceeding from there, lived in great abstinence in a place named Glasgow; until the king and clergy of the Cumbrian region, with the other Christians though they were few, chose him as pastor and bishop, though he greatly resisted. And summoning one bishop from Ireland, they had him consecrated bishop after the manner of the Britons and Scots. For a custom had grown up in Britain in the consecration of bishops, merely to anoint their heads with the infusion of holy chrism, with the invocation of the Holy Spirit and blessing and imposition of hands. For the islanders, as though set outside the world, with the infestations of pagans rising up, were ignorant of the canons: and therefore the ecclesiastical censure, condescending to them, admits their excuse in this part. But St Kentigern made fuller satisfaction for the error of this rite, as will be said below. He established his cathedral seat in the city of Glasgow, and ordered there a great congregation living after the pattern of the primitive church. Now his diocese extended according to the limits of the Cumbrian kingdom, namely from that famous wall once built by the Britons from sea to sea to keep off enemies, as far as the river Forth, that is, to the Scottish sea. In the twenty-fifth year of his age he was consecrated bishop.

¹⁰ And for all the time of his life he took food after three days, and often four — namely bread and milk, or cheese or butter. From flesh and wine and all that can inebriate he utterly abstained. But if on a journey or with the king, he tempered himself from his accustomed rigour of abstinence. Yet afterwards, returned to his own, as though avenging a grave crime in himself, he enlarged his abstinence. He used next to his flesh a roughest hair-shirt; then a garment made of goats’ skins and a narrow cowl, over which, covered with a white alb, he wore continually a stole; and a pastoral staff, not rounded and gilt and gemmed, but of simple wood, only bent; having in his hand a little book, always ready for his ministry when need or reason demanded. And he lay in a stone hollowed like a tomb, having a stone for his head, and with a few ashes strewn and a hair-shirt beneath, drinking in his sleep rather than taking it, shook himself free of slumber. And so, having drunk of moderate rest, plunging himself naked into cold waters he sang the whole psalter. For neither hail, snow nor rain could deprive him of this custom, unless journeys or bodily sicknesses prevented; but even then he redeemed that work by some spiritual exercise. For every stimulus of the flesh was lulled to sleep in his body: from where also on one occasion he simply asserted to his disciples that he was no more stirred at the sight or touch of a most beautiful girl than at that of the hardest stone. In judging or reproving he regarded not the person but the case. All his substance was ever the treasury of the poor.

¹¹ Many times while he handled the divine sacraments, a snow-white dove with a beak as of gold used to sit upon his head. Often also while he stood at the sacred mysteries, a bright cloud overshadowed his head. Sometimes it was not he who seemed to stand there, but a fiery column, by whose blaze the gaze of the onlookers was dazed. Once while he was celebrating the sacred mysteries, a fragrant cloud filled the whole church, suffused all with ineffable sweetness, and restored to perfect health those labouring under various infirmities. Every Lent, separated from the sight of men, he sought desert places, taking only the roots of herbs for food: and sometimes, the Lord giving strength, he passed that whole time without the sustenance of earthly food. Yet on the Lord’s supper day, washing with tears and wiping the feet of a multitude of poor and lepers and softening them with frequent kisses, he afterwards diligently ministered to them at table. On the day of Preparation he continued day with night in scourgings with rods and nakedness and frequent genuflections. And on holy Saturday, until the hour of the Lord’s resurrection, the time of the divine office excepted, he lay hidden in a certain tomb, scourging himself.

¹² He converted to the faith those not yet reborn in his diocese, recalled apostates and heretics by his sound doctrine to the bosom of holy mother church; overthrew the images of demons everywhere, built not a few churches, marked out parishes with fixed limits; and everywhere going forth in quest of the profit of souls, he would go not borne on horseback but on foot after the manner of the apostles. And lest he should eat his bread in idleness, he was accustomed to labour in agriculture with his own hands. And once when oxen failed him, he ordered stags from the glade to come to him in the name of the Lord and plough the land in the place of oxen. And they at once obeying and made tame, used to plough the land, go to pasture, and return to their accustomed work. At length a wolf, rushing upon one of the stags wearied with labour, choked it and sated his ravenous gluttony on its carcass.

¹³ Hearing this, St Kentigern, stretching out his hand towards the wood, said: “In the name of the holy Trinity I command that the wolf which did me this harm come at once to make satisfaction.” And look, the wolf, leaping out of the wood, fell with a howl before his feet. To whom the saint: “Arise,” he said, “and in the name of Jesus Christ I command you that, coupled to the plough in the place of the stag you devoured, you plough afresh what remains to be ploughed.” So the wolf, obedient to the saint’s words and coupled to a stag, ploughed out nine acres, and was suffered to go free. And when many had come together to the spectacle, the saint opened his mouth and said: “Men and brethren, why do you marvel, seeing this thing? Believe me, before man was disobedient to his Creator, not only the animals but also the elements obeyed him. But now, for his transgression, all things being turned adverse, the lion is wont to tear, the wolf to devour, the serpent to wound, water to drown, fire to burn, air to corrupt, and earth, often made iron, to overwhelm with famine. And to crown the accustomed evil, man not only rages against man, but man himself by sinning against himself of his own will within himself. But because very many saints have been found perfect before the Lord in true innocence and pure obedience, in holiness, love, faith and justice, they recover as it were the ancient right and natural dominion from the Lord, while they are wont to command beasts and elements, diseases and deaths.”

¹⁴ And when he had distributed all the corn to the poor, taking sand he scattered it in the land instead of seed: and at harvest-time the earth produced the best wheat, and made all who heard of it praise and bless God in his saint.

¹⁵ For when on one occasion he had no victuals for the brethren, he went to the Cumbrian king named Morken; and making known the penury of his people, he humbly asked that the king’s abundance might relieve his want, according to the apostle’s counsels. But he with blaspheming mouth said to him ironically: “Cast your care upon the Lord, and he shall nourish you, since nothing is lacking to them that fear God, as you are accustomed to admonish others. But you, though you fear God and keep his commandments, lack all good things and even necessary food. But I, who seek neither the kingdom of God nor his justice — all things prosper for me and abundance of riches smiles on me, as you see. Vain therefore is your faith, and your preaching is proved false.” But the holy man, by the testimony of sacred scripture and the assertions of reason and examples, declared that many just and holy men are afflicted with want and thirst in this world, and the reprobate often raised high with the abundance of riches and the heights of honours; and he plainly taught that the poor shall be patrons to the rich, by whose benefits they are sustained, and that the rich need the patronage of the poor, as the vines need the support of the elms. At length the king, not enduring his words, answered thus: “If, trusting in your God, you can without human aid transfer to your dwelling all the corn that you see contained in the barns, I willingly consent, and will henceforth devoutly comply with your demands.” But the holy man of God, lifting his eyes and hands to heaven, poured out a prayer with tears to the Lord. And look, at the same hour the river Clyde, running beneath, began suddenly to swell and overflow its banks, and carried with it the king’s barns entire, with the corn, as far as the place where the saint used to dwell, named Mellingdenor. And all was found so unharmed by the waters that not even an ear appeared wet.

¹⁶ And when the king, instigated against the saint in hatred by his friend named Cathen, on one occasion assailed him, moved with fury, with insults and revilings and, striking him with his foot, cast him to the ground, the saint, raised up by the bystanders, bore all the injury patiently. But Cathen, the instigator of this evil, laughing mounted his horse: and falling from the horse before the gate, he expired with a broken neck. A swelling invaded the king’s feet, pain succeeded the swelling, and death followed the pain. And the sons of Belial of King Morken’s kindred rose up against the saint, conspiring for his death. So, admonished by divine revelation, he undertook a journey towards Menevia, where St David flourished in virtues; near Caerleon he converted many to the faith and built a church; and tarrying some time with St David, he received from the king of that land, Cadwallon, a place for building a monastery. And when a monastery had been built at Llanelwy, he established his episcopal seat in the same place.

¹⁷ A certain subregulus, threatening him and striving to expel him with injury from that place, and struck with blindness by God, he healed by a prayer poured out to God, and had him as a helper and protector thereafter. And there were gathered in that monastery nine hundred and sixty-five brethren, serving God under regular discipline in great abstinence. For he assigned three hundred illiterate to agriculture and the care of cattle outside the monastery, three hundred more to performing works within the monastery and preparing food; and he enrolled three hundred and sixty-five literate for the divine offices to be celebrated continually, nor did he suffer any of them easily to go out, but appointed them to remain continually as in the sanctuary of the Lord. For he divided the company by companies and choirs, so that when one choir had finished the service of God in the church, another entering should at once begin it, and when that was ended another should enter without delay. And so, one company going out and another coming in, prayer was made without intermission from that church to God, and blessing the Lord at all times, the praise of God ever resounded in their mouth.

¹⁸ There was among them a certain one named Asaph, illustrious in birth and beauty, shining from the very flower of youth in virtues and miracles, who strove continually to follow his master’s life in all holiness and abstinence. And once when St Kentigern had, as was his custom, finished his psalter naked in the waters, seized by the excessive rigour of the cold, he ordered the boy Asaph to bring him fire whereby he might warm himself. He, hastening to the oven and having nothing in which to carry the embers, took live coals in his bosom; and no sign of burning appearing on his garment, he cast them before the saint. Him the man of God held dear thereafter, delegated the care of the monastery to him, and appointed him his successor in the episcopate.

¹⁹ One day, while the servant of God was intent on prayer for rather a long time, his face appearing as of fire filled the bystanders with awe and ecstasy: for they saw his face as the countenance of an angel standing among them. When the prayer was ended, he gave himself to the gravest lamentations. And when the disciples humbly asked the cause of his sadness, sitting in silence a little while, at last he said: “Know, dearest sons, that holy David, the glory of Britain, the father of his country, has now gone out of the prison of the flesh and entered the heavenly kingdoms. Believe me, for not only did the multitude of angels bring him into the joy of their Lord, but our Lord Jesus Christ himself, going forth to meet him at the gates of paradise, crowned him with glory and honour in my sight. Know also that Britain, bereft of so great a light, will mourn the absence of so great a patron, who, while the sword of the Lord was half drawn over it for the malice of its inhabitants, opposed himself lest it be drawn forth and strike utterly to destruction. The Lord will deliver, will deliver Britain to foreign nations ignorant of God, to pagan sects, and the island shall be emptied of its natives; the religion of the Christian law shall be scattered in it until the fore-ordained time, but God taking pity it shall be restored again to its former state, indeed better.”

²⁰ Now the man of God, going seven times to Rome, unfolded in order to St Gregory, the special apostle of the English, his whole life, his election and consecration, and all the chances that had befallen him. And the holy pope, understanding him to be a man of God and full of the grace of the Holy Spirit, confirmed his consecration, which he knew to have come from God; and at his frequent petition, and with difficulty obtained, supplying what was lacking in his consecration, sent him forth to the work of the ministry enjoined on him by the Holy Spirit. But a certain clerk, a pilgrim and eloquent, met the man of God; and being asked who he was and from where he came, answered that he was a preacher of the truth and taught the way of God in truth. Whom, by the revelation of the Holy Spirit, recognising to be snared in the Pelagian heresy, when he could not turn him from the way of iniquity, declaring that the destruction of both men was near, he ordered him to be expelled from his diocese. And he, attempting to cross a certain river, drowned in the waters and descended to hell.

²¹ When all Kentigern’s enemies in the Cumbrian kingdom had been consumed by divers calamities and various kinds of diseases, the inhabitants of the region, leaving the way of the Lord and returning like dogs to their vomit, fell back to the rite of idolatry. So heaven, earth, sea and all things in them withdrew their service and accustomed aid from them, and famine prevailed over the land for a long time. At length the Lord raised up a king named Rederech, baptised by St Patrick’s disciples in Ireland, who, seeking the Lord with his whole heart, strove to restore the faith of Christ in the kingdom. He directed messengers with letters to St Kentigern, begging him in the name of the Lord and adjuring him not to withdraw his care by deserting any longer the sheep so long desolate and destitute of a guardian: declaring it unworthy that a bridegroom should abandon his bride, a shepherd his flock, a bishop his church, for whose love he ought to lay down his soul lest he become a hireling. He also announced that those who sought his life were dead.

²² So, by angelic admonition appointing St Asaph his successor, he began to return to the land of the Cumbrians with six hundred and sixty brethren. The king went forth to meet him with an immense multitude, praising God. And when the saint had blessed them, he said: “Whoever envy the salvation of men and oppose the word of God, let them depart at once in the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, lest they bring any hindrance to those about to believe.” At this word, with exceeding swiftness a huge multitude of phantoms, horrible in stature and appearance, went out from that company and fled in the sight of all; at the sight of which a great fear and trembling seized all. The saint, comforting and strengthening them, laid bare in whom they had believed, and stirred the hearts of all who stood by to believe in the living God. For with evident reason he showed idols to be the dumb and vain figments of men, to be destined for fire rather than divinity. The elements also, in which they believed divinities to inhere, he taught to be creatures, fashioned by the Creator’s ordinance for the use and ministry and aid of men. But Woden, whom they believed their chief god and especially the English, from whom they had drawn their origin and to whom they had consecrated the fourth day of the week, he asserted to have been a mortal man and a king of the Saxons, from whom many nations drew their descent; “his body,” he said, “being dissolved into dust, his soul buried in hell endures eternal fire.” And when he had preached many things pertaining to the faith to the people on the plain of a field named Holdelm, the earth on which he sat grew in the eyes of all into a high mound, and remains there to this day. And all, seeing these marvels, instructed in the faith received baptism. And when the inhabitants of Cumbria were converted to the Lord, heaven gave rain, and the earth, before barren, yielded its fruit.

²³ So King Rederech offered the dominion and principality over the whole kingdom to Kentigern, and wished that he should be named king and himself ruler of the country under him, as he knew Constantine had done to St Silvester. And so the interpretation of his name is fulfilled: for “Ken” in Albanian is “head”, “tiern” is interpreted “lord” in Latin. The queen, named Langueth, long barren, conceived by the prayer of God’s servant and bore a son; whom the saint, baptising him in memory of his father’s deed, called Constantine, who, succeeding his father, surpassed all his predecessors in riches and holiness. The country of the Picts, which is now called Galloway, he purged of idolatry and heretical pravity by his doctrine. Albany he converted, built churches, and founded many monasteries. He sent some of his disciples to the Orkneys, Norway and Iceland, to be imbued with the light of faith. Wheresoever he went or preached almost, he restored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, gait to the lame, speech to the dumb, sense to the mad; he cast out demons, raised the paralytic, cleansed lepers, and cured all sicknesses. Many times from the touch of his garments, and often from particles of his food and drink when taken, many sick obtained health; sometimes also from the shadow of his body, like a second Peter, the sick were found worthy to be cured. Never did his garments grow wet with rain, snow or hail. For when, the inclemency of the air pressing on, the pouring rain streamed down and the spirit of the storm raged round about him, standing sometimes unmoved, sometimes walking, he always remained unhurt and untouched by the injury of a single drop. And the company of his disciples very often experienced the same in his presence by his merits.

²⁴ It happened that the queen, ensnared by the beauty of a certain knight, committed adultery, and bestowed on that knight a certain precious ring entrusted to her by the king for his exceeding love. The knight imprudently set the ring on his finger; and the king, learning of this through his secretary and dissembling his wrath, summoned the knight and went hunting. When the hounds had been slipped and the companions scattered through divers places, the king directed his way alone with the knight to the bank of the river Clyde, for the sake of sleep and rest in the heat of the day. And the knight, wearied and suspecting no evil, began to sleep with arm outstretched. So seeing the ring on his finger, the troubled king, scarcely keeping his hands from the sword and from shedding his blood, gently drew the ring from his finger, threw it into the river, and waking the knight returned to his men. And when with threatening face, heaping threats and reproaches, he demanded the ring of the queen, and she, vainly sending in secret to the knight, could not produce it; when with difficulty a three days’ respite had been won from the nobles, she was committed to prison. But the queen by a messenger made known the deed to St Kentigern with tearful prayers, and begged safety and help from him, her only advocate. And the holy bishop, learning the whole matter before the messenger’s coming, ordered the messenger to hasten with a hook to the bank of the river Clyde and bring back to him the first fish drawn out, namely the ysicius, which is also called the salmon. When this was done and the fish had been gutted, the ring found in the fish’s belly he sent to the queen, and she offered it to the king with exultation.

²⁵ The king, grieved at the injuries brought against the queen and begging pardon on bended knees, swore he would inflict the heaviest vengeance on the informers. To whom the queen: “Far be it from me, my lord,” she said, “that anyone should suffer any ill on my account: but I forgive you with all my heart, if you remit all rancour of your mind, as I do, to my accuser.” So all admiring the queen’s clemency, Kentigern being summoned she confessed her guilt and took care to amend her life thereafter.

²⁶ A certain king of Ireland, hearing of King Rederech’s liberality and munificence, sent a jester skilled in his art, wishing to test whether the truth answered to the fame so widely diffused. And when, a certain solemnity being completed, the king offered him handsome gifts, and he, refusing to accept them, asserted that he had enough of such things in his own land; being asked what he wished to receive, he said: “If you wish me to depart well rewarded, let there be given me a dish full of fresh mulberries.” And the king, fearing lest his honour and fame be impaired if the jester departed unrewarded, related all to the holy bishop. And, though it was winter time, the man of God poured out prayers to God, and showed a bush full of fresh mulberries. And taking the dish and filling it with the mulberries, he gave it to the jester. Seeing this miracle, after a few days the jester, leaving his art and entering the way of a better life, devoted himself to the divine service.

²⁷ St Columba, who is called Columkill by the English, famous for his virtues in that monastery which he had built on the island of Iona, hearing of the holy man’s fame, desired to come to him, visit him, see him and have his friendship. And going out from the monastery with a great company of disciples, when he drew near to the place where the holy bishop dwelt, he divided all his disciples into three companies. In like manner also the bishop, his people divided threefold, went forth to meet them with spiritual songs. In the first company were the younger, in the second the more advanced, in the third old men venerable in comely grey hairs; and they sang, saying: “In the ways of the Lord great is the glory of the Lord,” and “the way of the just is made straight, and the path of the saints prepared.” On St Columba’s part they sang: “The saints shall go from virtue to virtue; the God of gods shall be seen in Sion,” with alleluia. And Columba said to his disciples: “I see a fiery column, in the fashion of a golden crown, descending upon the holy bishop over the third choir, and the light of heavenly brightness above him.” And the saints, drawing near to one another, ran into mutual embraces and holy kisses.

²⁸ There came with St Columba certain sons of Belial, accustomed to thefts and sins: seizing a ram from the flock of the holy bishop, the shepherd being wronged, they cut off its head. But the ram, running back to the flock with hasty pace, fell down dead; and the head, changed into a stone, stuck firmly to the hands of him that held it. So the sons of iniquity, confounded, prostrated themselves before St Kentigern’s feet and begged pardon with tears. He, kindly rebuking them, admonished them to commit fraud, theft or sacrilege no more, absolved them of the guilt, and giving them the body of the ram sent them back to their own. But the head, turned into stone, is kept in testimony of the miracle in the same place even today. As a sign also of mutual love, each of the saints received the other’s staff: and the staff which St Columba gave the bishop was held in great reverence for a long time at Ripon in St Wilfrid’s church.

²⁹ When many men could not raise a certain stone cross of wondrous size in the Glasgow cemetery, at the saint’s prayer poured out to God an angel, descending from heaven in the night, erected that cross, blessed it, sanctified it, and departed. For there many afterwards deserved to obtain perfect health by divine power through Kentigern’s merits. He raised another cross in those parts of mere sea sand, which no inclemency of the air can anywhere dissolve: where those oppressed with various sicknesses, the mad and those vexed by demons are healed. And he built a mill on the river Glade, which presumes to grind no stolen corn, nor can anyone turn either its millstone or its wheel after the ninth hour of Saturday until the Lord’s day is celebrated.

³⁰ The man of God, at last worn out with exceeding old age, when the frame of his sinews had almost withered and been dissolved, sustained his chin and jaws with a certain linen band carried round the middle of his head and under his chin, that he might be rendered readier to utter what he wished. Then, calling his disciples together, he exhorted them concerning the observance of holy religion, mutual charity and peace, hospitality, and assiduity in reading and prayer; concerning the decrees of the holy fathers and the ordinances of the holy Roman church to be firmly kept, he gave and left them strong precepts. And certain ones who had loved him more dearly, prostrating themselves with tears, said: “We know, father and lord, that you desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ; but have pity, we beg, on us whom you have begotten in Christ. Whatever we have offended in human frailty, we have ever taken care, confessing in your sight, to amend at the judgement of your discretion. Pray therefore the Lord that it may be granted us to depart with you from this vale of tears to the joy of your Lord. For we believe that whatever you shall ask of God, the Lord will give you. For it seems unfitting to us that a bishop without clergy, a shepherd without any of his flock, a father without sons should enter the joys of his Lord.”

³¹ But the saint, moved with pity, gathering his breath as he was able, said: “Let the will of the Lord be done concerning us all, and as he knows better and it shall please him, let him dispose of us all.” And look, an angel of the Lord, appearing with ineffable splendour and brightness, shone round about him and said: “Kentigern, chosen and beloved of God, exult and rejoice, for your prayer is heard and the divine ear has heard the preparation of your heart. For it shall be done to you concerning your disciples as you wish. Tomorrow you shall go out of the body of this death to life unfailing, and the Lord shall be with you and you with him for ever. And because your whole life in this world has been a continual martyrdom, it has pleased the Lord that you should have an end of life milder than other men. Have a warm bath prepared for you for tomorrow, in which entering you shall render your spirit into God’s hands in peace without heavy anguish. After you also those brethren, having entered the bath and loosed from the bonds of death, shall penetrate the heavenly kingdoms with you in the splendours of the saints.” As the angel departed, a fragrance of wondrous odour inestimably sprinkled the place and all who dwelt in it.

³² So the man of God, entering the prepared bath, lifting his eyes and hands to heaven, as though dissolved into a placid sleep, with head inclined gave up his spirit. And when the holy body had been raised from the bath by the disciples, each of the brethren, before the water grew cold, immersed in the bath departed with the holy father to the heavenly mansions. So St Kentigern, when he was a hundred and eighty-five years old, in the hundred and sixtieth year of his episcopate, glorious in signs and wonders, departed to the Lord on the thirteenth of January.

³³ At his tomb in the church of Glasgow, sight is restored to the blind, hearing to the deaf, gait to the lame, speech to the dumb, cleanness to lepers, health of members to the paralytic, sense to the mad. The impious sacrilegious, perjurers and violators of the peace of his church, and polluters of the holy place, are punished with condign penalty. A certain man of Glasgow, secretly leading off a cow by night, was found dead by divine will, the cow living and tied to his feet. Many also, having perpetrated the contagion of carnal sin, not fearing to profane the holy place with polluted steps, have sometimes been chastised with sudden death, often mutilated in their members, or punished with an incurable disease.

A Further Story #

¹ About the infancy of St Kentigern, the priest of a certain basilica came to a certain solitary, that he might consecrate the offering for him to communicate. But a certain man, coming to that solitary, grievously accused the priest. And when he came again to him, the scandalised solitary did not open to him. And look, a voice was made to the solitary saying: “Men have taken my judgement to themselves.” And as though made in an ecstasy of mind, he saw as it were a golden well and a golden bucket and a golden rope and very good water: and he saw a certain leper drawing and pouring out in the vessel: and he desired to drink and did not drink, because he who drew was a leper. And look, again a voice to him saying: “Why do you not drink of this water? What concern has he who fills? For he only fills and pours out in the vessel.” And the solitary, returning to himself and considering the power of the vision, called the priest and had him sanctify the offering for him as before.

A Further Story #

¹ There was a certain abbot and gardener, who spent all his labour on almsgiving and retained for himself only as much as sufficed for his own sustenance. But afterwards Satan put it into his heart, saying: “Gather yourself some money, that when you grow old or fall sick you may have means for expenses.” And he gathered, and filled a flask with coins. Now it happened that he fell sick and his foot rotted; and he spent what had been gathered on physicians, and it availed him nothing. Afterwards one of the expert physicians came and said to him: “Unless you cut off your foot, your whole body will rot and bring on imminent death.” But that night, returning to himself and doing penance for the things he had done, he groaned and wept, saying: “Remember, Lord, my former works which I used to do with labour in the garden, from where I ministered to the poor.” And when he had said this, an angel of the Lord stood by and said to him: “Where are the coins which you gathered? and where is the vain hope and thought which you handled?” He answered: “I have sinned, Lord: forgive me, and henceforth I will do this no more.” Then the angel touched his foot: and straightway he was healed.

A Further Story #

¹ Abbot Isaac came into the congregation of the brethren and saw a certain one of the brethren guilty of a fault, and condemned him. But when he had gone out to the desert, an angel of the Lord came and stood before the door of his cell, saying: “I do not suffer you to enter.” And when he asked the cause, the angel said: “God sent me to say to you: where do you command me to send that guilty brother whom you condemned?” And at once the abbot did penance, saying: “I have sinned: forgive me.” And the angel said: “Arise, God will forgive you; and keep henceforth that you condemn no one before God condemns him.”