¹ Blessed Piran, who by some is called Keranus, is called Piran in Cornwall where he rests. For he was of the first saints of Ireland, and flourished at the time when blessed Patrick, sent by Pope Celestine, converted the people of Ireland to the Lord. Piran then drew his origin from the Ossory province of Ireland, his father being Domuel and his mother Wingella. And after the boy had been conceived in his mother’s womb, one night his mother, resting in her bed, saw as it were a star brighter than the rest falling into her mouth. And when the infant had been born and reared, he went to an island named Clera, and served God there for thirty years in great abstinence and holy works.

² Now on a certain day a hawk, which is also called a sparrow-hawk, descending with a rush, with its talons seized a certain bird brooding on its nest before Piran and carried it into the air. Seeing which, he blessed it: and straightway being released by the hawk, it began to brood again upon its nest.

³ At length setting out for Rome, reading the holy scriptures and learning the ecclesiastical rule, he remained there fifteen years and received the episcopal degree. In those days that great St Patrick was in Italy: who, taught by the Holy Spirit, said to blessed Piran: “Make haste before me, beloved son, and build yourself a place in the midst of the island upon the bank of the river Waran: for it pleases God, and he has foreseen that in that place the honour of your holiness may be declared to men; yet coming at last into Britain, you shall await the blessedness of the common resurrection and eternal life serving God even to the end of your life.” To whom Piran humbly answered: “Perhaps I shall not find that place, which is unknown to me.” Patrick said: “Go, son, secure; the Lord shall be with you, and in whatever place your bell shall sound of itself, there without all doubt establish your place.” Piran therefore coming into Ireland, his bell, beside the same river, with no one touching it, gave a clear sound. And a boar, a fox, a badger, a wolf, and a hind with her fawn, coming humbly to him, served him obediently.

⁴ Now on a certain day blessed Piran’s fox stole figs, and wishing to eat them carried them with him to his former habitation. Then Piran sent the badger into the woods to seek the fox with the figs. Who, going to the fox’s lair and finding him, cut off his ears and tail with his teeth and violently pulled out his hair. Then the fox, following the badger, came with the figs unharmed to St Piran at the ninth hour: to whom he said: “Why have you done so great an evil, not enduring want of food and drink?” And the fox, doing penance, fasted three days.

⁵ After the faith had grown in Ireland through the preaching of the holy bishop Piran, many, kindled by his example into the love of God, leading the hermit life, gave up all worldly things in following God; among whom was a certain man named Brendan, who established his place not far from Piran. Now Piran had one cow, which the prefect of the king of Leinster stole; and when he had come to a certain mountain, mist and darkness surrounded him so that he could see nothing as though blind, and wandering here and there he fell into a certain river and was drowned, and the cow returned to St Piran. And when he wished to give it to Brendan, and he would not accept it because he had resolved never to have a cow; Piran devised how he might bring it about that Brendan should accept that cow. And feigning sickness, he asked a little milk to be given him by Brendan. And Brendan blessed a vessel full of water, which was straightway turned into new milk as though newly milked. Which Piran receiving, blessed: and it was turned back into water. Hearing which, Brendan willingly received the cow from Piran. To whom Piran, giving thanks for the gift accepted by him, said: “Truly I say to you that every year even to the end of the world God shall give your place one cow with its calf.”

⁶ For when St Geranus, serving a certain tyrannous and unbelieving king, had nothing to bestow on the poor, he gave them the king’s bathing-vat; and so the enraged king cast him into prison; and afterwards said to him: “If you wish me to let you go free, seek me seven cows without horns, shaggy and red, with white heads.” And such being sought and not found, he came at length to St Piran, and found two Brendans, holy men, with him. And rejoicing for his own boy he said: “What have you at hand, that it may be given to our guests tonight?” “I,” he said, “have nothing but a pig’s shoulder; and I think it is a fast-day and the time of Lent.” To whom Piran said: “Set it before our guests that they may eat, and it shall be made for them bread and vegetables, fish and honey, oil and wine.” Now there was among the guests a certain layman, who in pride disdained to eat with the rest. To whom blessed Piran, as though offended for his pride, foreseeing the future in the spirit of God, said: “In punishment of this your pride, in that you have disdained to eat with our other guests, you shall eat the flesh of an ass in the Lenten fast before Easter, and in that hour, slaughtered and beheaded by your enemies, you shall be an alien from God’s kingdom.” And it was done so.

⁷ And the next day Geranus, going with the man of God’s blessing beside the bank of a certain river, found seven cows without horns, shaggy and red with white heads: and gave them to the king for his liberation. And on the following night they vanished and were nowhere afterwards seen in that land.

⁸ A certain boy, Geranus’s servant, at the devil’s instigation extinguished the fire beneath the liquor of the drink of Piran’s monks. And Piran said to the brethren: “Look, our fire has been extinguished by Geranus’s accursed boy: there shall be no fire in this place until fire comes to us from God.” And that boy, slain by wolves in the wood the next day, lay dead. And Geranus coming, Piran went out: and prayer being poured out to God, fire from heaven fell into his lap, which he carried to the guest-house with his garments unhurt. And when supper was set, Geranus said: “I will not eat in this place until my boy comes to me alive.” And Piran praying, the boy, rising from death, came to them and ate with them.

⁹ Again, when the fire had been extinguished by a certain brother, he blessed a stone: and it straightway began to burn with flames: and taking the stone with bare hands, he carried it to St Rodanus (who had come to warm himself) without hurt.

¹⁰ At another time St Wingella, St Piran’s mother, dwelt not far off with her virgins, having a very beautiful foster-daughter named Bruneta, a certain king’s daughter: allured by whose beauty a certain king carried her off and kept her captive in the citadel of his castle for many days. And when Piran asked her of the king and he would not consent, he said: “I am unwilling to leave this woman to you, if it befalls me not to be waked from sleep by the voice of a stork at dawn.” For it was winter, and on that night a great snow descending covered the castle and the whole land; the place where Piran was with his men it touched not. And in the king’s citadel, unwontedly and against its nature, the stork sang sweetly and waked the king from sleep. Then the king arising prostrated himself at St Piran’s feet, and asking pardon, restored his mother’s foster-daughter to him.

¹¹ And afterwards the king, grieving that he had let her go, when he wished to carry her off, found her dead. And greatly offended, he said to Piran: “Because,” he said, “you have slain my wife, you shall not dwell in this place, but I will expel you from there.” And he: “You are not God, nor is this place yours, but God’s: and I will remain in this place.” And the king going out in wrath and great fury, saw his citadel, with the adjoining houses, burning with flames of fire. And the queen, having two sons, having forgotten her dearer son in the house, weeping and wailing said: “Into the hands of blessed Piran I commend my dearest son.” And the whole house being utterly consumed by fire, the queen’s son was found safe and unharmed. Then the king, wondering vehemently, came to Piran, and with a ready mind fulfilled whatever he commanded, and offered his two sons to serve God under his discipline. And the king departing, by Piran’s prayer Bruneta, his mother’s foster-daughter, arose alive from death.

¹² A certain king named Cohingus had seven harpers skilled in their art, who were slain by the people in a neighbouring city; for whose delay the king being much anxious, asked of Piran what had befallen them. Who said: “Those men, slain by the people, were cast into a pool of water, their harps being hung in a tree over the pool’s bank.” And at the king’s entreaty Piran going with many to the place, a fast of three days being completed, the pool was dried up, the dead men’s bodies being found in the bottom. Whom, though they had lain dead beneath the pool’s water for a whole month, St Piran, pouring out prayers to God, straightway raised up. And that pool has remained without water even to this day.

¹³ A certain king’s prefect, seizing the man of God’s pig with twenty of his companions, when they had slaughtered it and set it on the fire, could in no way see the pig. And all of them, fleeing, fell dead to the earth. Understanding which, Piran approaching said to the dead: “In the name of Jesus Christ, arise, and come with me to my place.” And when they had straightway risen from death to life, Piran, seeing the pig, raised it also. At another time the same king’s prefect, slain by a certain man, St Piran at his wife’s entreaty by his merits recalled to life.

¹⁴ St Piran’s servant, killing a certain horse, was held in bonds by King Cohingus: whom when Piran could not have him save redeemed by a price, he gave the king a great weight of gold and silver. And when Piran departed with the captive, the gold and silver vanished and could never afterwards be seen. The king therefore being offended, came to Piran, saying: “Why have you deceived me? Give me my gold and silver, for all that you gave me were phantoms and vain.” And he spoke many harsh words to the man of God. To whom Piran said: “For your gold and silver, you shall bear a curse.” And straightway the king, surrounded with darkness, fell to the earth and expired. Seeing which, a certain nephew of the king, greatly grieved, with all humility begged blessed Piran to deign to raise the king from the dead. And he praying, the king, rising from the dead, prostrated himself at St Piran’s feet, and doing penance gave him his son.

¹⁵ In autumn-time St Piran spread a linen cloth over a certain bramble bearing blackberries, and left it there — for he foresaw in the spirit that that bramble would be necessary in time to come. For after Easter King Cohingus came to the great feast which King Concolor had prepared for him in the bounds of Ossory. Now Cohingus’s queen loved King Concolor and wished to become his wife. And King Cohingus was old: but Concolor, refusing to commit the sin, held it accursed to take the living king’s wife. And the queen, seeing herself despised, did not fear to stir up discord between the two kings; she even feigned sickness. To whom all said: “What do you wish to be given you?” The queen said: “My desire is not of this season: I wish to eat blackberries.” And King Concolor, fearing lest the queen should allure him to sin, humbly sought help of St Piran. Then Piran sent to the same bramble: and it was found full of its fruit, having the linen cloth spread over it. And the fruit being brought, the queen was satisfied, and it was as honey in the mouth of those eating. And peace being made by Piran between the kings, the queen prostrated herself at the man of God’s feet. To whom the holy man said: “I cannot defend you from a death of slaughter.” And it came to pass that the same queen was afterwards slaughtered; and King Concolor offered himself to Piran with all his power for ever.

¹⁶ When King Loigaire had come with his army to war against the king of Cashel, Piran went out to set peace between them. But the kings, puffed up with pride, refused to receive peace. Blessed Piran therefore praying, obtained from God what he could not get from men. For when the hosts had advanced to battle on either side, the wood between them was suddenly torn up by the roots, and both armies departed from each other without the fulfilment of their desire. And Piran gave the king’s army one cow and a certain pig’s shoulder: and the whole army being fed thereof they left no few remnants.

¹⁷ Certain robbers, going out to plunder and slaughter, while they hid themselves in a certain wood, a certain noble Lovanus rushed upon them. And they seeing his face feared with great fear, and despairing of being able to live, prayed that God through St Piran’s merits would help them. And suddenly that whole wood between them flashing with flames of fire, Lovanus, fearing the sudden fire, returned to his own: and those robbers, being made safe, coming to St Piran, remained with him even to the day of their death.

¹⁸ And St Piran fed St Patrick the bishop with ten kings of Ireland and their armies for three days on his eight cows miraculously slain; and the water of a spring blessed by him was turned into best wine through the same time. And a certain man raised by St Piran from death gave him his son with many lands.

¹⁹ Now St Piran on the night of the Lord’s nativity, after his people had received the sacrifice, used to go out from their hands to remote places, to the cell of St Cota the virgin, that he might bring her also Christ’s body; and before matins he would come again from the western sea as far as the city of Cluana. And St Cota the virgin’s rock, on which she alone used to pray, was in the sea, standing not far from her place amid the waves; and to that rock St Piran often walked upon the sea without a ship, with dry feet.

²⁰ Now on a certain day when Piran had come to St Cota’s cell, and a great crowd with him, they gave him there for food a pig’s shoulder: and of that shoulder Piran made wheat, honey, fish and ale; and when he had blessed the water of a spring, it was turned into best wine. Now the number of those who were fed at that supper was nine hundred and forty men.

²¹ At a certain time when St Piran sat in a great council of men, there was there King Corbanus, who had wicked and nefarious eyes: for his malice was of such a nature that whomever he gazed upon maliciously and piercingly, he straightway slew with his glance alone. When therefore a certain youth had come to the council with Piran, King Corbanus gazed long upon him maliciously, and the youth fell to the earth dead. Piran seeing this was enraged against the king: and straightway the king was made blind. Then the king prostrated himself at St Piran’s feet and prayed pardon with great humility. And St Piran praying for him, the king’s eyes were opened; and the dead youth also was raised at his prayer.

²² And when St Cota’s foster-daughter wished to join a carnal friendship with St Piran’s foster-son, and meeting in a certain wood each saw the other’s face, suddenly a dove fell from heaven between them, and terrified with exceeding fear, saying nothing to each other, they took to flight and went to their own houses. And from that day even to her death that virgin remained blind; and the youth, sent by Piran into exile over the Gallic sea, did penance seven years and learned the holy scriptures.

²³ In St Cota’s house, fire incautiously seizing a beam set in the wall, burned the house. And Piran, seeing the ball of fire mount on high from the house, with lifted hand opposed the sign of the cross to the fire: and straightway the fire’s violence ceased, and the house remained whole and unharmed. A certain girl, slaughtered and beheaded by robbers, at St Piran’s prayer arose alive and whole. Geranus, St Cota’s priest, when he had died walking on the way, being raised by St Piran’s prayers, ministered to St Cota for many years.

²⁴ Odranus and Medardus, brethren wishing to go on pilgrimage, when they had come to St Piran, Medardus wished to remain with him. To whom his brother said: “You did not tell me this, but promised to go on pilgrimage with me.” And Piran said to him: “Let God judge between us whether he shall go with you or remain with me: let him hold a dry lamp in his hand without fire and oil, and if that lamp be kindled by the breath of his mouth, let him remain with me.” Then Medardus, holding the lamp in his hand, breathed into it: and it was straightway kindled. Medardus therefore remained with Piran even to the day of his death.

²⁵ A certain matron named Ethilde, when she had fallen from her chariot and died, St Piran raised up after three days; and she offered him her land which is called “Ethilde’s Leap” even to this day.

²⁶ A certain king’s prefect slaughtered St Piran’s cook Cronanus: whom Piran raising after seven days from his death, said: “The man who slaughtered Cronanus shall himself perish, slaughtered by an evil death.” And it was done so. The king therefore came to Piran to ask his prefect of him: whom blessed Piran raised and kept with him. And when that king had offended Piran with harsh words, he was straightway made dumb. Then the king, prostrate at his feet, did what pleased him: and his tongue was loosed.

²⁷ Corbanus, a certain layman and Piran’s monk, fearing a death of slaughter, asked St Piran to free him from the impending death. To whom the saint said: “What you ask I cannot obtain, for you shall go out this night; and your blood being shed, I will pray my Lord for you that your soul may be freed from hell.” And it was done so.

²⁸ On a certain night Piran went out and entering cold water to pray to God; a certain pilgrim named Germanus going with him was seized with exceeding cold: but Piran blessing the water, it was made warm.

²⁹ Now St Piran in all his life was never clad in the wool of sheep, but in the skins of wolves and wild beasts. From flesh and carnal desires he manfully abstained, and drank no inebriating drink; nor did he care for sleep save a little rest. And angels frequented him with frequent visitations. He ordained countless priests, bishops and clerks. For he lived more than two hundred years in the body, without the pain which is wont naturally to afflict old men, and without diminution either of teeth or of the light of his eyes. For he was one of the twelve first bishops whom that great St Patrick, who first preached the faith in Ireland, appointed to preach the gospel in Ireland. He made friends of his enemies, and rendered good for evil. He showed indulgence, mercy and kindness to his neighbours; he worked with his hands, that he might be able to give necessaries to the needy. For he afflicted his flesh with fasts and vigils, in cold, hunger and thirst, in nakedness and chastity, charity and hospitality. From his childhood even to the day of his death he led his life in great purity, praying, reading, working and teaching; humble, affable, prudent, sober and merciful. He left nothing undone of God’s commandments; he fed the hungry, gave drink to the thirsty, received guests, clothed the naked; he taught monks to love one another, to direct the eyes of the mind to God, to desire the heavenly country.

³⁰ At length calling together his sons whom he had begotten to God, and the people, he said: “My brethren and dearest sons, it behoves me by divine disposition to go on pilgrimage from Ireland and seek Cornwall, and there await the end of my life: I cannot resist God’s will. I admonish you, brethren, to build up the place in good works and examples, because the sons of perdition and death shall come. Mortality and wars also shall come; churches shall be destroyed and desolate, and truth shall be turned into iniquity; faith shall not shine with good works, pastors shall care more for themselves than for the sheep, feeding themselves rather than the flock. I beg you, brethren, pray to God that my journey be not dark, and that I may not find my king and lord wrathful after death but mild, placable and joyful, when I appear before his face.” These and other things being spoken at length, sailing into Cornwall he made himself a dwelling, and showed many miracles to the people’s honour of God. At length, being seized with sickness, he languished; calling the brethren together, he instructed them in many discourses of God’s kingdom, and ordered a sepulchre to be prepared: and descending into the grave, on the fifth of March his soul entered the heavens with great brightness. And he rests in Cornwall above the Sabrine sea, fifteen miles from Padstow and twenty-five from Mousehole.

A Further Story #

¹ [Added in the Tiberius manuscript.] The virgin Marina was her father’s only child. And when her father had entered a certain monastery, she changed her habit, and the brethren, moved by his prayers, received his daughter as a monk, and she was called brother Marinus. At length her father, drawing near to death, confirmed her in her good purpose, and commanded her never to reveal that she was a woman. Marinus therefore used to go with the waggon and bring wood to the monastery. Now he used to lodge in the house of a certain man, whose daughter, having conceived by a certain knight, being questioned asserted that the monk Marinus had violated her. And Marinus, being asked why he had perpetrated so great a crime, confessed that he had sinned and begged pardon. And being straightway cast out of the monastery, he remained at the monastery’s gate and stayed there three years; and after the child’s weaning it is sent to the abbot and given to Marinus to rear. He received all things in great patience, and in all things rendered thanks to God. At length the brethren, pitying his humility and patience, received him into the monastery and enjoined on him all the meaner offices. And he cheerfully undertook all things, and did all patiently and devoutly: and leading his life in good works, he departed to the Lord. And when they washed his body and purposed to bury it in a mean place, looking they saw that he was a woman. All amazed and terrified with fear, confessed that they had greatly offended against God’s handmaid. All ran together to so great a spectacle and asked pardon for their ignorance and offence. And the body being honourably buried in the church, she who had slandered her was seized by a demon, and confessing her crime, coming to the virgin’s sepulchre, was delivered. And to her tomb peoples flock from all sides, and many miracles are worked.