CatholicaPlummer, Bethada Náem nÉrenn I (1922) — Irish text, 3 recensions. Translated into modern English.
1 It had been prophesied and foretold that a noble, worshipful high saint would come into Leinster — into Glendalough in particular — to expel and banish heathendom by the preaching of God’s word; to heal lepers, and the blind, and the deaf, and the lame, and folk of every other malady; to awaken the dead, to bring low the strong, to raise up the poor; to banish plague and pestilence, to check thieves and evil deeds and many unknown monsters; and to teach people every error they held against the will of God.
2 Patrick son of Calpurnius, high apostle of Ireland, prophesied this Kevin thirty years before his birth: that he would build a chief city in the aforementioned glen for the feeding of guests and strangers and pilgrims; and that he would bring with him to Glendalough some of the soil and relics of the apostles and of the righteous who are in Rome. And it is written in this life that it is the same for anyone to go to Rome to obtain forgiveness from God for his sins as to visit the relics and bed of Kevin, together with repentance and humility and lowliness of heart, as is customary.
3 Finn son of Cumhall prophesied the same likewise — that it was Kevin who would defeat the awful great monster that was destroying all in Loch Lagha in the same glen, and that he would drive it into the second lake. So people and cattle and folk of every disease go to be healed and cured beneath the water of Loch Lagha, in honour of God and Kevin.
4 Now when every one of these prophecies was fulfilled, and the prophesied one came — Kevin, son of Caoimhlogha, son of Caimet, son of Rimeda, son of Cuirb, son of Fergus of the red hand, son of Meisin Corb, son of Con Corb. And his mother was the fair Caoimell, daughter of Cenn Finnán, son of Cis, son of Luighdech; and that Caoimell was mother of Caomhán, of Sanct-lethán, and of Nad Chaoimí of Tír dá Ghlas; and of Caoimille of Cell Chaoimille; Mionchloth, sister of Kevin’s mother — of her was born Colmán son of Crimthán.
5 At the time of Kevin’s conception there came no pangs of distress nor unclean temptations to his mother, as come to other women, for the child she bore was pure, constant and righteous. And the high king of righteousness — the king of heaven — sent two angels with golden lamps in their hands to baptise him. And the angels named him Caoimhghin — that is, “fair, shining birth.” And the angels told the women to carry the boy to be baptised to the noble ordained patron, Crónán, in the Fortuatha of Leinster; and he baptised him thereafter, and offered himself to Kevin as his servant, that all might believe in him the more. And he prophesied that kings and lords would believe in him, and that he would work miracles and great wonders.
6 The boy was then brought to the rath in which he had been born. And God wrought miracles and great wonders in honour of God and Kevin upon that rath: for though frost and snow may lie heavy on every side of it, it never enters it; and cattle and livestock always find grass in it in cold, snowy weather.
7 A pure-white cow came to the infant to suckle him, and none knows from what byre or pasture it came, nor where it went. At the times of fasting and abstinence the child would drink his mother’s breasts only once. The angel bade Kevin go into the order of monks to study, and he passed through the degrees until he was a chosen priest.
8 Then the angel told him to go into the waste glen that had been prophesied for him — along the shore of the lake. Great was his courage then at parting from the glory and delight of the present world, and to be alone listening to converse with the angel who ministered to him. He used to lie at night upon bare flags on the edge of the lake, the skins of wild beasts for his clothing. And he used to go through the lake without a boat to the little rock, to say Mass every day, and was without fear or dread above the lake.
9 There was a terrible, wondrous monster in the lake, and it had often put hounds and men of the fían-bands of Ireland to flight. Kevin took his psalms and prayed to the Lord, and drove the monster away from him into the second lake — namely Loch Lagha; the lake in which the monster was, it is there that every distress is now relieved, both for men and for cattle; and they all leave their diseases there, and the diseases and sicknesses go into the other lake to the monster, so that it does harm to no one. And when the monster turns from one side to the other on high, the lake rises level with the peaks of the mountain, and he who beholds it does not reach even a moment(?). Seven years was Kevin without food but nettles and sorrel. Kevin was for many years without seeing any human being; and he used to be in the lake up to his girdle saying his Hours.
10 Once when Kevin was reciting his Hours, his psalter fell from him into the lake. Grief and great vast sorrow seized him. And the angel said to him: “Be not sorrowful,” said he. Then the otter came to Kevin, and brought him the psalter out of the depths of the lake without a line or letter being drowned.
11 The angel told Kevin to go to preach and proclaim God’s word to the peoples, and not to be hiding himself any longer. There was a wealthy farmer in the territory of Leinster whose name was Díoma son of Fergna; it was fated for him to find Kevin. One of the farmer’s cows broke away to the patron, and licked his feet, and her milk was immense beyond the other cows.
12 When Díoma heard that, he sent the herd-boy to find out how the cow came to have this abundant milk. The herd-boy found Kevin in a hollow of a cave, and the cow licking his feet. And Kevin asked him to conceal him. “Not so,” said the herd-boy, “for I must give Díoma a true account.” And Díoma would take tidings by force from the herd-boy, since Kevin had offered him heaven for concealing him.
13 Then Díoma and his children went to the hollow in which Kevin was, and they made a wattled litter for him out of reverence and honour. And the wood was thick, and it lay flat upon the ground, letting a broad level path open for the litter to pass through; it rose up again through the angel’s miracles. Kevin promised hell and a short life to everyone who would ever burn green wood or dead wood of that wood. A son of Díoma’s was out hunting, and came not to carry the patron; his own hounds killed him and ate him afterwards. Kevin revived that boy, and told his father and his brothers to become life-retainers to Kevin, and to offer themselves to him, both men and cattle. And they were pilgrims from the territory of Meath.
14 Kevin blessed them after their pardon, bringing them out of the cave by force(?), as had been prophesied of them. Kevin always made an hospitaller in his church for the children and descendants of Díoma, though they were pilgrims out of Meath. It was then that Kevin founded his chief city in the glen.
15 Kevin went during Lent into a narrow pen standing upon a bare flag, fasting forty days a month(?), and he in cross-vigil to God. A blackbird hopped into the patron’s hand, and made a nest, and he let the birds fly out (when fledged).
16 The angel told Kevin to leave that pen. Kevin said: “It is not pain too great for me to endure for the sake of the king of heaven, who endured every pain on behalf of the seed of Adam upon the cross of the Passion.” — “Come out of the pen,” said the angel. — “I will not go,” said he, “until I obtain from God the deliverance of my successor and my monks, and the remission of my tribute, and the freedom of my church within and without.” The angel gave him seven fulls of the glen on the Day of Judgement; and a rod of red gold in Kevin’s hand. It is madness and folly for everyone who hears Kevin’s miracles not to be tributary to him, for God gave heaven to every one who should be buried in Kevin’s earth; and God gave him nine souls every Saturday, to bring them out of the pain of hell, if the accounts are told aright. Everyone moreover who dies on Friday and is buried on Saturday under Kevin’s earth shall receive remission for his soul.
17 Many a king and lord of the kings of Ireland, and of the kings of Britain, have chosen their burial in Glendalough for that reason, for love of God and Kevin. The relics of the apostles are beside Kevin’s pen, to go with him on the Lord’s charges to the Judgement of doom.
18 No saint in Ireland obtained Kevin’s abundance from God save Patrick alone, for Kevin brought the soil of Rome with him as was told. Glendalough moreover is the fourth best Rome of burial in Ireland.
19 One day Kevin saw a young warrior running toward him, and himself a cleric. He discerned by his voice and by his appearance that he had done an evil deed and kin-slaying. Kevin carried him back across his back(?), and found the young warrior dead as he had said before(?). And he revived him, so that he made a monk of him.
20 Now the things that the afflicted and diseased people desired and asked — Kevin used to give them: blackberries in the stubble, and apples on willow-trees, and a fresh cress-brook always to be found on rocks in the winter.
21 Hunters went through the glen and loosed their hounds at a wild boar, and it fled to Kevin’s protection; and the hounds’ feet stuck to the ground, so that they could not follow their native enemy while under the patron’s protection.
22 There was Colmán son of Coirpre, son of Cormac, son of Ailill, son of Dunlang, son of Énda Nia, in the kingship of Uí Muiredhaigh — for the fairy folk used to take his children from him through druidry. A son was born to him afterwards. He sent the boy to be baptised to Kevin; and placed him under the patron’s protection. And Kevin loved the infant, and took him as his foster-son thereafter.
23 There was a lack of milk in Glendalough at that time. Kevin saw a doe and her fawn, and he bade her give half her milk and her milking to his foster-son — namely Faolán son of Colmán, from whom are Clann Tuathail, that is, the Uí Fhaoláin. Now a wolf came to the doe and killed her fawn. Kevin wrought great miracles then. He bade the wild wolf stand in the fawn’s stead beside the white doe. In the hollow stone which is above Droichet na h-Eillte, the doe used to leave the child’s portion of her milk and milking every day, until in that wise Faolán was reared, by the miracles of God and Kevin.
24 His foster-father said to Kevin: “We shall not be in one place, for it is prophesied of you that you shall do great wonders.” After that he went his way.
25 One day when Kevin had gone to tend sheep with a young herd-boy, a band of poor hungry folk came to him to ask food of him in God’s honour. He killed eight wethers for them for the sake of his honour and his shame; and the count of the flock was not the less.
26 Kevin was at Cell Iffín throughout the Lent. The otter used to bring a salmon every day to the community for their sustenance. Cellach thought that a fine honourable garment could be made of the otter’s skin. The otter perceived the thought, though it is a beast. And it never did that service for the monks again from that time. When Cellach saw that, he told the thought to Kevin. Kevin banished him to Cell Cheallaigh.
27 God saved Kevin’s honour on that occasion. The seed that was sown at Cell Iffín in the morning was ripe before evening. So it was in that wise that his monks were fed.
28 Musicians came to Kevin to ask food of him, and the patron had no food at that time. And he told them to stay with him. They did not stay. And they set about mocking the cleric. Then their harps were turned into stones in requital for the mockery of the saint; and their shapes still remain upon the causeway to the west of the church.
29 Two women were travelling within Kevin’s termon-land. Thieves fell upon them, and the women did kin-slaying(?), and they struck the heads off them. It befell that Kevin found them, and he revived them afterwards, and made black nuns of them in his own church.
30 Kevin prophesied that treachery and kin-slaying would be done in his church; and he prophesied the plundering of the church and its desolation. Kevin promised that each of those things would be avenged — that is, a short life, and hell at the last. Four diseases he chose to be made endurable(?) upon the body of every person who should violate his church and his successors and his sanctuary: namely cancer, and scrofula, white leprosy, and madness; neither physicians nor leechcraft can relieve these diseases — only the Saviour Jesus Christ.
31 It is the duty of Kevin’s successor to carry and maintain his schools and the people of his relics, and to levy his tribute upon everyone of the Leinstermen, both high and low. In this wise Kevin left the protection of his assembly and of his people, both high and low, both friend and foe; safe and sound and inviolate to them all, coming and going, without summons, without question, without suit, without judgement, without suit of debt from one upon another etcetera.
The Life of Kevin as the monk who was his own disciple, whose name was Solomon, wrote it #
1 Kevin sought much of Ireland,
and the angel with rightness(?) —
to obtain a place in which to make his devotion;
he made no stay until he found it.
2 Kevin went over the mountains
with the angel — swift was his speed;
he built a city among the glens;
heavenly God blessed it from above.
3 Where Kevin made his devotion,
the Gaels grew fast beside him;
since then they are seized with dread
often in the saints’ dwelling.
4 A glen without barn or stack of grain,
but rough rocks above it;
a glen in which no man prospers who withholds(?),
the Lord’s grace is in it.
5 A cold, monster-haunted, awful glen,
the glen of the two lakes as it once was,
Finn of the hundred warriors prophesied
that it would be at last a russet marsh.
6 Patrick son of Calpurnius prophesied
that the glen of the relics(?) pleased him;
“beside its flank, whoever shall desire it,”
“a saint shall make his dwelling there.” Kevin sought.
7 Thirty full years
after his prophecy from the sage(?),
that was the time when was born
the saint whose name was Kevin.
8 The mother of the boy perceived not
that she should conceive him;
women go without question, without pain,
with him to be baptised by Crónán.
9 God sent an angel from heaven
before the infant was baptised;
and he declared through pure intention
that his name should be Kevin.
10 The angel met the women,
to say to them without contention:
“It is on me that dear God has imposed
to come to baptise the infant.”
11 “From me more honour does God bestow
upon the infant, who shall be a high saint;
I am the mighty angel who is not weak,
who shall attend him without ceasing.”
12 “Lift up the infant, O women,
for it is I who am praying for him;
I shall baptise without boasting or vaunting
in the high name of the Trinity.”
13 Twelve angels, as was fitting,
God sent from the west in his honour;
a taper of gold with a gleaming flame
was in each angel’s hand.
14 That was their attendance from heaven
while the baptism was being performed;
it is he who bound his fosterage aright —
his own angel accompanying him.
15 “That is the name which God fashioned in heaven,
which shall cleave to the infant —
consider, O women of bright service,
that his baptismal name is Kevin.” He said.
16 The angel said to the women:
“Forsake not Crónán’s errand;
show the infant to him;
he will tell you the truth.”
17 “Why have you brought, O women,
your little infant to me?”
“Nobler is he who baptised than I;
it is beyond me to baptise him.”
18 “The baptism that God ordained from heaven,
it is that which was done upon the infant;
his own angel knows of it,
it is he who shall serve him faithfully.”
19 Crónán prophesied,
and rejoiced over the infant;
and he said: the lands shall be
strenuously under Kevin’s tribute.
20 “I offer myself from the breast of the king of heaven(?) —
myself to you likewise —
that all may esteem you the better,
since I shall be your first servant.”
21 Then his own angel appeared(?)
after that, on a radiant errand;
he was like a bright sun,
like a strongly blazing fire.
22 When the infant’s errand was ended,
two beloved angels were brought(?);
the gentle kindly women go
with him to the rath where he was born.
23 Holy is the rath where Kevin was born;
it is the rath that gives the infant;
neither snow nor hoar-frost has ever concealed
its sod where he was born.
24 The winter snow when it comes
hinders the grazing of others’ cows;
through God’s grace in the uncovered rath
cattle find food enough.
25 A pure-white cow was also given
to nourish the infant;
a cow that none knew from which it came,
nor the fold where it went.
26 At every fast-day’s due hour,
and each day’s fasting to its close(?),
his mother’s breasts — holy the constraint —
he drank them but once.
27 His own angel also used to come
to visit him, delightfully;
he used to be instructing him continually
until it was time to put him to learning.
28 He parted from friends — holy his errand —
his own angel guiding him;
seven years the boy spent as a craftsman,
dwelling in the order of monks, being taught.
29 He followed his order, though rugged its rule,
and learned secretly;
he went through the noble orders of priesthood;
he obtained every saying he sought.
30 His angel said to him steadily:
“On you there shall be no remaining here;
go dwell thus in a desert glen
of which Finn made prophecy.”
31 Finn’s prophecy was fulfilled,
and that of Patrick son of Calpurnius;
he came round the shore of the stone lake(?),
where it was fated for Kevin.
32 “Now it is near to my heart —
I give thanks to God —
my coming to a glen that is fair and strong,
where none but my angel shall serve me.”
33 He was fleeing from the world;
fear and peril seized him;
he preferred — since it was not wrong —
to go straight to heaven.
34 After that he slept not on a pillow,
but a hard circlet of stone under his head;
as though he were a wild man without hardness(?),
he kept himself hidden in a hard cave.
35 Kevin was among the stones
on the lake’s edge, on a bare bed,
and his lean side against a stone,
in the glen without a hut over him.
36 Hard was his bed upon the flag —
lying thus in the morning, bare(?) — ;
he asked for nothing that would be easier;
though it was hardship, therein he would be.
37 In the awful glen of the branching trees,
the saint’s clothing was not soft —
the skins of the wild beasts
about him, among the hills he would be.
38 Kevin used to go upon the broad water
without ship or boat every day,
to say Mass upon the little rock —
a place that pleased God.
39 He used to have no man with him —
alone beneath the tree-tops;
his clergy were the angels;
right-sweet to them was the saint’s converse.
40 He was without terror, without fear,
in the cave answering God,
and the lake beneath him like a sea
foaming against the rock beside him.
This section is not numbered in the MS, but the repetition of the first word “aiccmeil” after line 24 shows that it forms a separate poem.
41 Great was the monster of the small lake
for doing evil and slaughter;
often it routed the fían-band,
and Finn himself with many a struggle.
42 Kevin visited the lake of the sorceress(?)
early, as God willed;
and he cast the monster into Loch Lagha
while listening to the Hours below.
43 Kevin was caught without reproach(?)
reciting his psalms around it early;
the good saint sent without loathing
the terrible venom of the monster out of the lake.
44 That was the deadly black lake
in which was the savage many-monster;
to-day it is a holy miraculous lake
that makes every labour be ended.
45 Kevin sent plagues upon the Gaels’ cattle —
holy was the shoot —
and putting them through the lake to cleanse them,
so that they carry not away their disease.
46 The bounteous lake spares them
from disease with many an ache;
it goes into the stream to the monster —
the water without loathing before it. Great was.
47 Strong is the bond that Kevin set —
he routed the monster of the bright lake;
he bound fast and firmly
its body in the lair where it is.
48 “When it turns from one side to the other
every year, the monster that is therein,
the lake rises blood-red on high
level with the rock above it.”
49 Of the wonders of Loch Lagha —
great is the peril to him who beholds it;
one day and night after it
it will not remain alive(?).
50 Though many be the tokens(?)
that Kevin left in his glens,
he himself is ready to relieve(?)
everyone who buys them(?).
51 Seven years in close hiding-places,
pleasant years
beside his tribe(?),
without food but Cáel Fáithe(?).
52 Kevin for a length of years
in hidden places in the woods —
and he saw no man,
and no man saw him therein. Strong.
53 Long from friends was Kevin
among the rocks steadfastly;
the righteous man saw his order alone(?) —
was brought to the shore of the bright lake.
54 In the night he used to arise without fear
to do devotion in his cell;
there he used to do his Hours early
in the lake habitually up to his girdle.
55 At the end of a night upon the snow
he arose, as was his custom, early;
after singing his psalms with victory,
his psalter fell into the lake.
56 His psalter fell down the slope
from Kevin of the hard devotion;
no letter of reading was obliterated,
the water nor the clay did not reach them.
57 The angel came to converse
with Kevin, full of grace;
he waited for him, until an otter brought
his little book to him out of the lake.
58 The holy angel said to him:
“you shall not be alone in the glen —
since it is fated for you that men shall see you —
keep not yourself hidden any longer.” Long.
59 There was a farmer of a hundred cows
in the territories of Leinster of the ships(?);
he was the hundred-strife champion
whose name was Díoma son of Fergna.
60 For him it was prophesied
to find Kevin in the glen;
it was not long thereafter
until the patron was found by him there.
61 Until a cow of Díoma’s cows found her way
to Kevin in the hollow of the tree;
until an angel stretched out to protect him,
as he sent(?) with men backwards.
62 She was not grazing the wilderness,
but licking the saint’s feet;
she used to give somewhat more milk
than half the cows of the stead where she was.
63 With Díoma great was the wonder
at the grazing which the cow did;
he told his herd-boy to follow her,
and to find out the reason for it.
64 Díoma told his household
to follow the cow early;
they found not her track before them
upon the slope above Glendalough.
65 When Díoma’s people came
eagerly to graze in the glen,
their herd-boy met a fruitful tree(?),
he found Kevin at peace there.
66 Kevin offers to the herd-boy
reward for concealing it from all;
he offers heaven, for he was able,
and never to come into reckoning.
67 “Díoma’s cow shall come,” said the herd-boy,
“coming from you to meet it in the glen;
your concealment is not in my power,
since you are to be seen openly therein.”
68 The herd-boy found the means(?)
— Kevin in the fresh wood where he was,
he with the cow together
and going in the night to his house.
69 It was not of his own will that the herd-boy admitted it(?) —
to Díoma the demand of the cow;
in his lios they bound him very hard
until he told him the reason.
70 Díoma said to his good children
to go into the glen where the cow was found;
that they should find the pure saint,
and that they should all believe in him.
71 With Díoma great was the rejoicing —
to find him in the cave at last;
he said to his children in seemly wise:
“Let us make a litter for him neatly.” There was.
72 “True now is Finn’s prophecy,
and that of Patrick son of Calpurnius,”
said Díoma to them joyfully;
“it is we who have found the prophesied one.”
73 “O Kevin, it was fated for us
to bring you out of your little cave;
let us journey further into the glen —
he who shall not fail or end you(?).”
74 While going as his escort(?) through the wood
Díoma spoke the matter boldly:
“Let not the litter be allowed to be destroyed
through the firm close wood.”
75 Then the trees of the oak-wood bow down
to the honoured tree(?), holy the vision;
through the patron’s miracles the wood lay down,
and it rose up again.
76 The generous angel came to Kevin
to his due service, as was his custom;
he held the fresh wood lying down
until he found the right path across it.
77 “Hell and shortness of life
Kevin leaves to every man
who shall ever burn its green wood
or its dead wood from henceforth.”
78 Kevin’s people lift him in the litter —
Díoma’s great children of the fierce onslaught —
until they reached the middle of the glen,
where he made the firmness of his order.
79 The saint works a miracle at once
upon the very proud children of Díoma:
whoso went against his grave-command,
his body he sent into hard steps(?).
80 Díoma son of Díoma(?) without sense
did not forsake his hunting for the patron;
since he believed him not, no luck prospered him —
he became his own hounds’ portion.
81 “Have you heard of Cellach son of Díoma,
how he found death upon the litter without weariness?”
Kevin sent him back to his dwelling(?)
into his life again.
82 Though the litter was destroyed,
their escort’s course was not delayed;
it was Kevin who helped, though he had suffered death,
he let him not slip from his charge(?).
83 When the boy had risen from death,
the first word he said to all was:
“He who brought me out of every strait —
I shall never forsake him till the doom comes.”
84 The counsel he gave to his friends,
Kevin was pleased to say it;
they came gently to pray to him,
and his heart was filled with love for them. True.
85 “O Díoma, since for you it was fated
to take me from my little cave —
forsake me not through other displeasure,
for the prophecy is no lie.”
86 “Though against my will you took
me from my little tree-cave,
whatever mercy you do,
it is for yourself and your children.”
87 “If you do my counsel,
you shall have help yet —
my church and my successorship
with the Leinstermen in honour.”
88 Díoma said — pilgrims
here out of the territories of Meath:
“There we are who have submitted
to you, O sage of the king of heaven!”
89 “All that we have has been given
to the world without return;
there we are seeking of you,
to make your city.”
90 Much dispute did Kevin make
with Díoma’s children in the cave —
to come with them and with their father,
not to be in the city under them(?).
91 Kevin hears the children’s plea
and the reason for which they gave him honour;
Kevin forgave the son of Fergna
earnestly what they had done against him.
92 In this wise did Díoma’s children
bind themselves to Kevin;
he gave them everything they asked
until the end of the world.
93 “At that time men were few(?) —
upon this side of the world —
God has granted,” said Kevin,
“that pilgrims should come to my help.”
94 Kevin makes hospitallers
of the kings’ seed faithfully;
he forsook them not, though generous(?),
for they were the true foundation of his church.
95 “I Kevin shall be a protection to them,
to whose seed the men came.”
To Díoma, since the kinship is near,
he gave his steward for ever(?) O Díoma.
96 Kevin used to make a place of devotion
which no saint before him ever practised;
he used to go into his pen every Lent —
a judgment in which he found favour from God.
97 He used to stand upon a bare rough flag;
cold upon his feet though it wounded;
the music of angels was around him,
that was his feast in the strong pen.
98 Forty days each month(?) without food,
or more, though great his strength —
until a blackbird hopped quickly from a bough
and made a nest in the saint’s hand.
99 Kevin remained in the pen
alone, though great the pain,
with the blackbird’s nest upon his palm,
until he brought out its birds.
100 God sent the angel to say
to Kevin of the hard devotion:
“Come out of your narrow pen without refusal
into the striving of the wretched world.”
101 “Alas! the pain is too great a treasure —
my hand like a thread(?) beneath the blackbird;
blood in his palm, in his side, in his foot —
the king of heaven shed for my sake.”
102 The angel said bear witness(?) — :
“Be not in your pain any longer;
depart without respite from your bond —
your suit is ready with God.”
103 Kevin said to the angel:
“Greater is my bond — I shall not go in my time(?)
until I obtain for the people of my tribute
their freedom from Jesus son of God.”
104 “you shall have that,” said the angel —
“go out of your bond without dread;
seven fulls of glen on every side
to yourself on your being brought to the doom.”
105 That shall be Kevin’s reward,
as the Gaels shall hear in his day;
he shall get on the Day of Judgement without delay
everything that was promised him.
106 Every boon that God granted to Kevin,
and that his angel asked in heaven,
He gives him to-day without contempt —
faithfully everything he sought.
107 God gave power to Kevin,
as He gave to every saint on earth,
that he should be stern over his assemblies,
as the children of Adam tremble.
108 When the judgement of doom shall come,
every man shall be fearful of the tumult;
the people of the glen shall not be in battle-bondage(?),
but as a mist beneath the tips of the rods(?).
109 Kevin shall bring with him to paradise
his own true household without reproach;
after the judgement of the great king,
and his rod of red gold in his hand.
110 That is Kevin’s standard(?);
it will be better for everyone who shall have it —
in his hand on the day of doom nobly,
in the gathering that shall be stately before God.
111 Whoever hears Kevin’s power
while he lives in the world —
unless he is tributary to the patron,
he does no greater foolishness. He gave.
112 God gave him everything he sought
until the end of the world;
He gave heaven to the soul of every fair body
that should be under Kevin’s pure earth.
113 Nine souls every noble Saturday,
of the souls owing him tribute,
they go with gentle errands
among the holy angels of Jesus.
114 Those who are buried on Saturday
beneath the wall of the true prince,
free from hell without lies
they are after dying on Friday.
115 The kings of Ireland have chosen,
and their queens continually,
to be put in the noble church
where are virtues for ever.
116 There are the relics of the bishops
under earth till the great day of doom,
beside Kevin’s pen of devotion —
to go with him into the assemblies.
117 To go with him on the day of judgement
was their hearty desire;
and they shall be in suit with Kevin,
for angels shall be awakening them.
118 The angels followed him
in his suit beneath the branches of the bushes(?);
he was the true unfailing well —
his wonders are long-renowned.
119 Long-renowned are Kevin’s wonders
throughout Ireland west and east;
God did not do for any other saint
more of them all than for him(?).
120 Kevin goes to the court of Rome;
afresh he brought his victories with him;
and he obtained without concealment from the pope
a pilgrimage and a great-fair privilege(?).
121 Great is Kevin’s pilgrimage,
if men did it aright:
to go seven times to his assembly is equal
to going once to Rome. He gave.
122 It is he of the hundred-churched church(?),
O comely hedge-encircled Kevin,
Rome of Latium without flaw,
in the west of the poor world.
123 With the four quarters of Ireland
it was their desire to come to his right(?);
on a pilgrimage to Kevin’s pilgrimage,
to the gathering of the assembly he made.
124 Kevin brought with him the soil of Rome
to put in his cemeteries victoriously;
and he makes of the fair glen without concealing
a church of saints in which hosts believe.
125 The fourth cleansing port of souls(?)
that is best across the eastern sea —
Patrick and Finn prophesied
Kevin to his friends for ever.
126 Glendalough shall be full of angels —
the glen of the hard-suiting battle;
a glen on which God has not put contempt;
a glen that is faithful to the Lord.
127 High above every church is Kevin’s city,
the friend of Leinster as far as Leth Cuinn;
a victorious, sepulchred, very rough place,
hilly, wooded, lofty, round.
128 Great is the tribute of Kevin’s church;
sad is the tale that the Gaels chew upon;
bounteous Rome, city of the angels,
too ready was he to bless his hand(?).
129 There he made the beginning of his devotion
before he laid hand upon any other saint(?);
and he made of the glen of the sharp fían-bands
a church in which there should be a no-mean assembly.
130 The privilege of Leinster is Kevin’s assembly;
the comfort of the Gaels, and fair of hue;
though a man seek the dewy world(?),
tearful is every assembly but it.
131 Whoever shall bestow anything upon my assembly
for love of Kevin, as is fitting —
life and luck and prosperity,
and heaven at last shall be his reward.
132 He left to his school of sweet-mouthed monks,
and to the clerics of his relics,
his tribute to be gathered without enslavement,
since God gave freedom for his sake.
133 They dare not fight at the assembly,
nor proclaim cauldron nor right(?);
nor murder, nor theft, nor rapine —
but to go whole from it and come.
134 Whoever should destroy the assembly
that Kevin left — not feeble his power —
hell and shortest life
for ever — no escape for him.
135 The three blessings Kevin obtained
for the host of his great-miracled assembly:
heaven, and life, and health —
and welcome from God as he asked.
136 Kevin desired to be in the wilderness,
to satisfy the bright angel,
until he stayed under the rocks of the little rock —
many other quarters he sought(?).
137 These are some of Kevin’s doings;
the God of heaven is not displeased with them;
and the angels guiding him
and teaching him as he desired.
138 It is I Solomon, Kevin’s foster-son,
who was in peril in the eastern land;
when my master came to help me —
much of the world he sought. It is.
139 Though many be the tokens(?)
that Kevin left in his glens,
he himself is ready to relieve
everyone who purchases them.
140 There is no chronicle of the old men,
nor in their good men now —
there is no mass in it at last(?),
but that its vigour is slender and nimble(?).
141 It is not devotion nor divine office
that the clerics do in their churches;
because of the evil of their sense(?)
they are about destroying one another.
142 More numerous are the dependent churches
than the patrons of the country;
their true foundation has perished
and their miracles are extinguished.
143 There are the virtues and miracles
of Kevin, without knowledge of their price;
since faithful men do not remain
to tell their power.
144 But unless they are found written
in a charter in other lands,
certain it is they will be forgotten
in the termon of Kevin of the glen.
145 The clerics of every holy church
go with relics continually;
not like Kevin of the glen
— his relics are bound for ever(?).
146 For he left in the world
of his miracles — holy the cause —
his relics are being treasured,
to be obtained in a bond not usual(?).
147 Give an offering to the cleric’s son
who has relics in his keeping,
for love of the great stainless saint,
and you shall receive tribute in your raiding(?).
148 There is tribute upon the relics of Kevin:
woe to him who goes to lie with them without dread(?);
they leave for ever, though it be hard(?),
their progeny side-forfeited to others(?).
149 Woe to him who earns violently
a curse from Kevin’s relics —
unless there be protection with his virtue(?)
to go without respite from the world.
150 Whoever it be against whom shall be pronounced
the curse of my monks, of my relics —
though he be lord of Fail openly,
though he be a man of orders, though a servant;
151 if it be a curse direct,
it shall sever trees with stones(?);
if there was ever any beauty of form,
he shall be decayed who shall not be in his right form.
152 My church — if it be violated,
from kings it shall be perilous;
its torment beyond is stored up,
and its life is without joy. Though many.
153 “Whatever wrong is done —
is done or shall be done —
its vengeance falls surely
upon their strength by whom it is done.”
154 Kevin made this rann,
not as a falsehood he made it,
to obtain freedom for his poor
from the evils of every pool(?).
155 The privilege which the Gaels left
to Kevin without reproach, without tribute —
the church to which they gave freedom,
they are putting it under bondage again.
156 “A time shall come at the world’s end” —
though I am infirm of spirit —
“when my zealous church shall be despoiled
and left under its full burden(?).”
157 “I shall go after the spoliation” —
I, Kevin, to the greatness of the spoliation —
“the king who does not kill me here(?),
their journey shall be avenged.”
158 “I shall kill them afterwards without respite —
them upon the hill on high —
woe to him who earns, before going over,
shortness of life and hell.”
159 “Every king who shall break our covenant,
and did not fulfil for me as he promised,
shall be dragged among devils,
and his soul tormented beyond.”
160 “Every king who shall die under my rule(?)
— I myself shall be above him —
and it is he who shall make welcome to his soul(?),
through friendship of the church they honoured(?).”
161 Kevin chose four diseases —
not for his friends did he ordain them —
as a bond upon the people who plunder his church,
to destroy them all by his will:
162 cancer, and scrofula of the throat,
white leprosy with many a wound,
madness — which brings trouble upon hosts —
through the virtues of relics and bells.
163 These are the savage diseases
that find no healing herb;
whoever it be on whom they bring these wounds —
physicians and herbs shall not relieve them.
164 Sparks(?) that burn trees and stones,
and that checks the madness of every fierce stream;
the wrath of Kevin is with every servant
who is spoiling his high church.
165 He shall set the church’s signs
upon the pagans of Glen Gadhal(?);
their mouths backwards upon their necks —
he hides it not for the devil’s creatures.
166 Strong also is the power
which God the Father gave to Kevin —
to send the cows into confusion(?)
that gave no termon to his holy church.
167 “In the hour when the Gaels forsake
Kevin’s privilege without levy,
he shall leave them ruined
beyond every Gael, sorrowful.”
168 “Woe to the Gael who leaves in his camp
a plundering of Kevin of the hard devotion;
his grace and prosperity are ended —
every good departs from him at last.”
169 “He gives short life to his body,
and their souls to the black devil;
diseases from which no health is found
in presence of the filth he has committed(?).” He did.
170 His foster-father grew angry with Kevin
— long his trespass would have been forgotten —
because he did not bring fire diligently
to him to say Mass.
171 “A vessel in which to carry it to him”
he asked of his foster-father, and he gave it not;
“unless you find another place,
bring the fire in your bosom.”
172 Kevin did at his foster-father’s word
willingly, and brought
to him, since he ceased not from kindling it,
the full of his bosom of embers.
173 It is what put heat in the fire(?),
which none has concealed from another;
the angel came to defend him,
and saved him from burning the cloth.
174 “With you he has listened, not with me;
you are the more beloved of God;
you are full of the Holy Spirit —
I shall not be beside you.”
175 “Surely you are, as I think,
loved faithfully by God;
since our course is not the same to the saints’ assembly(?),
we shall not be in one place henceforth.”
176 A righteous guide to Kevin —
that his guide was God’s angel,
both day and night,
to bring him into the royal dwelling where he was.
177 That was the beginning of Kevin’s journey —
without dust, without deceit;
God sent the angel to help him
and saved him from plunder and wrath. He did.
178 One day as Kevin went
with his sheep to the mountain,
a band of poor folk came to him,
going to famine without food.
179 As they came to him at once
they begged alms for God’s love;
Kevin answered readily —
he had no food in the wilderness.
180 They start to go off quickly,
and could not remain for pride(?);
he detained them until mealtime — holy the deed —
and gave them food abundantly.
181 Kevin gave the seven wethers to the poor,
without fault to his course;
the flock was not the less by their count,
and God (for shame) healed(?). (?)
182 Every day to the monks
a little otter — great its service —
at Cell Iffín without reproach(?)
brought a salmon during the Lent.
183 When Cellach saw the otter
with the salmon for the community,
he thought it would be good for the church
to make a garment of its skin.
184 The saints perceived the shadowing(?)
of what Cellach had agreed;
the otter forsook them from there,
and brought no salmon to the monk.
185 Cellach confesses his sins
to the noble-cunning workers(?);
after that, though hard the judgment,
Kevin sent Cellach away.
186 Kevin made a prosperous cast(?)
for his monks in their excellence,
to save himself from shame
and from the reproach of the enemy.
187 The seed that was cast at early morn
at Cell Iffín — holy the grace —
from it, imperishable(?), in the night
the workers were fed in turn.
188 More unskilful were the singers(?),
who stayed not with Kevin for pride;
since they found no food ready,
they could not remain for it(?).
189 Kevin made stones
of the sweet-voiced harps;
and he gave grief to their players —
it made them angry, not deserved(?).
190 The musicians departed(?),
who stayed not steadfastly till their fill;
their harps remain, not as an offering,
as little stone-heaps beneath every man’s feet.
191 He gave them no forbidding command(?),
but let them go of their own will;
well did Kevin help them from shame,
and made a cause of laughter for them. He did.
192 The good king of Uí Fhaoláin sent his son
to Kevin to be baptised;
and to be with him as a foster-son —
to him was his desire to come.
193 There were no cows or milking-yards(?)
with the people who were in the glen,
that they might get milk for the foster-son;
there was a scarcity of milk there.
194 Kevin saw the doe
and a little fawn beside her;
he prayed God to give half her milk
to provide his foster-son therewith.
195 The doe came to the stead
to the monk, as it had not been custom;
she gave to the fawn and to his foster-son
her own fill of milk rightly.
196 Her milk was poured out wholly
upon a hollow stone, until it was full of it;
that is the certain name of the place —
Inis Eillte — from that onward.
197 One day as he came from the rock,
though long, he went shortly(?);
the wolf(?)-brute of destruction killed
the doe’s only fawn, alas.
198 A miracle was wrought by Kevin
upon the hound(?), though ugly its look;
he sent in place of the fawn(?) — he set —
the wolf in the doe’s place(?).
199 The doe stayed peaceably,
with the holy monk beside her,
and the wolf before her(?) —
as though it were nursing her fawn.
200 Cáoineóg, a fairy woman of power,
followed the king’s son here;
she and her women are in stones
there above the church’s lake.
201 The fairy folk used to carry off the children
of that king, though strong the dolour;
the child that was baptised to Kevin
he sent through the fairy-folk’s power(?). He did.
202 The heads of the two women upon their bodies
Kevin openly put back;
he brought them safe from death to life,
though full was the strangling of their blood(?).
203 “O Kevin, you have come swiftly
to bring us safe from sudden death;
we shall be at your will while we live;
we shall not part from you in our time.”
204 Kevin brought the women alive to the church(?),
the women whose heads had been cut off;
and he made of them black nuns —
pious, devout, in his church.
205 So he avenged the kin-slaying
which enemies wrought in his church;
after what they had found of evils,
he set their heads upon their bodies. Heads.
206 Kevin sees a devout, mindful
poor cleric — though ill his look —
coming running over the rocks,
his voice a-tremble.
207 Kevin recognised the sinner’s voice
though he had never seen him before;
he knew certainly by his drone(?)
that he had killed his companion on the mountain.
208 “O cleric — the kin-slaying was not hidden —
no wonder though your look is ill;
show me the way to the slain man,
where you have left your companion dead.”
209 Had not Kevin come by that time,
wild hounds would have eaten his body;
his soul entered the dead man when he came —
it is certain that he healed his wound.
210 Therefore Kevin obtained his fruit(?):
he helped him from the hounds, though fierce;
he took him to his house — prosperous the omen —
and made monks of them in order.
211 The first time he came over the mountain,
and tarried secretly under a bush,
Kevin — it was a treasure-trove in the little rock(?) —
many wonders he sees there. He sees.
There are no numbers in the MS to this and the following poems.
212 Fruits and health for men
Kevin left to be sought(?);
whoever reaches him
shall not be long finding help.
213 Blackberries in the stubble,
apples on the willow-trees,
and watercress from the rock —
heal sickness without delay.
214 It remains — and great is the wonder —
it is often proved:
blackberries of stock(?)
grow upon rough rocks.
215 They are not found at that season
in other quarters of the world —
watercress growing on stones —
but on the brink of Kevin’s lake.
216 God gave openly to Kevin
that they should grow on his rocks in winter;
I think it is a cause of joy —
fruits and health for men.
217 The wild boar was of sufficient speed,
and the hounds baying after it always;
when the hour of its peril came,
it went under Kevin’s protection.
218 Kevin does readily
upon the hounds at once
a binding of their paws to the ground;
their following it was not possible.
219 When the huntsmen used to come
to seek their hounds to the glens —
their wonder, without being able to slay it(?),
what were the bonds wherewith they were bound.
220 Great was their wonder at the miracle —
it was a great wonder among men —
a wild swine, and it in peril,
going under Kevin’s protection.
221 “Release our hounds, O Kevin,”
after our payment from it(?);
“keep the boar yourself without cheating(?)”
— sufficient was its speed. It was.
222 “O monk there, what is the reason
why you are so sternly against us?
They are not soft-cakes but eggs(?)
that we have upon our backs.”
223 The women conceal the soft-cakes
from the saint — though foolish the attempt;
and Kevin makes of the soft-curd(?)
stones, in testimony against the women.
224 Kevin was pleased to see
them being concealed — it was not a good reason(?);
the lumps are as stones
in the little hill opposite all.
225 Of the work-people Cellach thought
to buy them for pure silver(?);
Kevin was displeased at his answer
and avenged the women’s cause. O monk.
226 FINIS
The Life of Kevin of Glendalough here, as the monk who was his own disciple, whose name was Solomon, wrote it; and it is written here by me, Aodh Ó Dálaigh, on the twenty-first day of the month of January, A.D. 1725, at Dublin. #
1 1.— A noble, illustrious, steadfast, devout, fair-zealous patron, pure, sincere, prayerful, miracle-pure, blessed, whose name was Kevin. He came of the noble illustrious royal blood of Dál Meisin Corb, son of Con Corb, son of Moga Corb, son of Conchobar Abrad-ruad, son of Finn the poet, son of Ross the Red, son of Fergus of the sea(?), son of Nuada Necht, son of Setna Síthbac, son of Lughaidh Leith-finn, son of Breasal Bric, etcetera.
2 And it is this Kevin who blessed Glen Dá Loch in Leinster, the foster-son(?) of Kevin; and such was Kevin’s holiness that his mother felt no pang or sickness at the time of his birth; and after his birth women were sent with him to the holy Crónán to be baptised; and as the women were journeying with the infant to Crónán, an angel showed himself to them, and told them to insist upon Crónán giving him the name Kevin; and when they came into Crónán’s presence, he took the infant in his hands, and it was baptised by him, and he gave him the name Kevin at the angel’s command; and he declared to the women that this was the name dear to him by God’s will and ordinance — as Solomon the monk, who was a disciple of Kevin, says, who wrote this life:
3 R.
“That is the name which God fashioned in heaven,
which shall cleave to the infant;
consider, O women of bright service,
that his baptismal name is Kevin.”
4 And the same author says that twelve angels who came from heaven showed themselves, a shining taper in each angel’s hand of them, to Crónán while he was baptising Kevin; as the same Solomon says:
5 R.
“Twelve angels, as was fitting,
God sent down in his honour;
a taper with a gleaming flame
was in every angel’s hand.”
6 Now after the baptism the women carried Kevin with them to the rath where he was born — and that rath is called Ráth an Tobair Ghil — and there they reared him for seven years. Yet it is to be wondered at that while he was at his mother’s breasts he used not to drink them on each Friday and each fast-day save once only, and that about the hour of none. Wonderful also is that rath in which he was born — snow does not abide upon it without melting quickly.
7 After he had passed seven years, he was sent to study and be manner-trained among a community of monks, and he spent a long period of his life among them; until he came to the age of priesthood, and after receiving ecclesiastical orders he considered in his mind to forsake the world and the company of men, and to lead a solitary hermit’s life upon the waste ocean(?) or in some very secret wilderness, so that he might have no share with the world in any wise.
8 As he was setting out, an angel came to comfort him and guided him to the rocks that are on the western side of the two lakes that are in Glen Dá Loch; and he had no food but the nuts of the wood and the herbs of the earth and pure water for drink; and he had no bed but a circle of stones under his head, and a flag beneath him and a flag on each side of him, and no hut above him; and moreover the skins of wild beasts were his clothing; and he used often to go to the little rock and to the cave called Kevin’s Bed, praying to God continually and fervently.
9 And he used to return from there across to the wood that is called Cáel Fáithe, which is on the north side of the lake; and he used to spend a long time in the lake up to his girdle reciting his Hours, sometimes by day and sometimes by night; and he passed seven years in that manner, in solitude from the company of men — as Solomon says:
10 R.
“Seven years in close hiding-places,
pleasant years,
beside his tribe(?),
without food in Cáel Fáithe.”
11 And after he had been a long time in that wise, it happened that at the end of a snowy night he went as was his custom into the lake, and while singing his psalms his psalter fell into the lake, and it went down the slope; and the angel came to comfort him. The otter came with him, and brought him his book in its mouth; and the angel told him to go into the company of men and not to hide himself from them any longer. And he returned to that unfertile wilderness where he used to be before, and used to afflict and mortify himself in the crannies of rocks and in caves a long time in that wise.
12 It happened about that time that a wealthy farmer in Leinster near the glen where Kevin was, out of Meath on a grazing circuit(?) — and that farmer’s name was Díoma son of Fergna — and as Patrick had prophesied long before Kevin’s birth that one of his kindred of saints should come by whom Glen Dá Loch would be blessed; and God granted that it was the same Díoma who found him, after he had been concealing himself from men, as we have said before.
13 And this is the manner in which he was found: a herd of Díoma’s cows were grazing on the wood where Kevin was hiding himself; and one of the cows found her way to the cave in which the saint was, with the angel comforting him; and the cow fell to licking his feet all day, and at the hour of none, when she returned home with the other cows, she used to give as much milk as would be got from half the herd; and whenever the herd went into that wood the same cow would go to lick Kevin’s feet; and after coming home at evening she would give the same quantity of milk.
14 When Díoma saw that, his mind was filled with wonder, and he and all were in vast amazement; and he told the herd-boy of the cows to keep good watch and tracking of the cow the next day, so that he might know on which side of the wood was the easy grazing from which the cow got the abundant milk that she gave.
15 As for the herd-boy, he put the cows into the wood the next day where Kevin was, and he followed that cow straightforwardly until the cow reached the cave in which the saint Kevin was, and the herd-boy came up behind her; and when he came into Kevin’s presence, this is how he found him — very weak, moribund(?), unable to make the journey(?), his bodily strength being broken through abundance of devotion and mortification of body with fasting and prayers and lying upon bare flags without hut or shelter over him.
16 And at sight of the herd-boy he was troubled, and asked it as a boon of him not to reveal to anyone in the world that he was in that cave. “I cannot do that,” said the herd-boy, “since I have found you, and this cow of Díoma’s comes to you every day and from you(?), and it was enjoined upon me to follow the cow so that I might know from where came the abundant milk she gives” — as Solomon says in the rann over there:
17 “After Díoma’s cow,” said the herd-boy,
“comes from you to meet it in the glen;
to hide it is not in my power —
it is you I see plainly there.”
18 When the herd-boy had gone back into Díoma’s presence, the saint begged concealment(?); and Díoma became angry at this(?), and caused the herd-boy to be bound in hard bonds until he confessed to him how he had found Kevin in the hollow of a tree; and when Díoma heard that, great joy seized him, and he told his children to make a litter, that they might go to meet the saint and believe in him;
19 and that it was what Finn had prophesied long before, that he should be blessed in that place; and the litter is made ready by them; and they journey forward until they passed through the wood, Díoma and his children, with the litter, and the herd-boy guided them to the cave where the saint was; and the wood being very rough and close, Díoma asked Kevin to pray to God that a way be made clear for them through the wood; and Kevin prayed to God asking Him to smooth a way before them, by which those children of Díoma might carry him to the glen where his dwelling(?) was, to make a church and dwelling-places for himself; and the wood bent to every side so that an easy, traversable path was made through it; and therewith Díoma and his children lift Kevin in the litter with them, and this is how the angel was bending the wood before the litter, and the wood rising into its own place after the saint, until they reached the middle of the glen, where Kevin’s church is to-day.
20 Two miracles happened at that time to two of Díoma’s children. One of them, named Díoma the Young, who refused to go under the litter — for he said he would not forsake his hunting to carry Kevin’s litter — and after taking leave of his father and his brothers, it was not long before a madness seized his hounds, and they leaped upon himself and killed him, and he was eaten by them. The second miracle: another son of Díoma’s named Cellach went under the litter and believed in Kevin; and as he was going through the wood under the litter, he fell beneath it and his soul suddenly left him. Díoma and his children were startled at this and great grief seized them.
21 When Kevin saw that, he pressed his prayer to God, asking Him to revive Cellach; and he was heard by God, so that Cellach was brought from death to life. And Cellach offered himself to Kevin on account of that miracle; and he asked likewise of his father and his brothers to give submission and honour to Kevin for the length of his days; and they took that upon themselves. “Glory to God,” said Kevin, “for He has sent you who are pilgrims out of Meath to attend me and minister to me; and I give my blessing to you and to your children, O Díoma,” said he.
22 Kevin undertook every Lent to do the rigour of devotion in his narrow pen, a grey flag for his bed beneath him, and the music of the angels was his feast; and he used to pass forty days each month in that wise(?). And one Lent while he was thus, a blackbird came from the wood to the pen and alighted upon his palm — he lying upon the flag with his hand stretched out from him; and he kept his hand so until the blackbird made a nest in it and brought out its young birds.
23 The angel came after that to visit Kevin, and told him to come out of the penance in which he was and to come among men again. Kevin said that it was a small pain to him that his hand should be under the blackbird until she brought out her brood(?), compared with the pain his Lord suffered for his sake — according as Solomon says in this rann relating Kevin’s words:
24 R.
“Alas! the pain that is the greater treasure —
my hand like a thread beneath the blackbird;
blood in His palm, in His side, in His foot —
the king of heaven shed for my sake.”
25 Nevertheless the angel pressed Kevin to come out of the pen, and declared to him that God had promised that the peril of the Judgement and of the doom should be no danger to him; therefore Solomon says this rann:
26 R.
“God gave power to Kevin,
as He gave to every saint on earth,
to be stern at the doom over assemblies,
as the children of Adam tremble.”
27 Kevin went to make a pilgrimage to Rome. He received privilege and honour from the pope, and also received power that there should be a pilgrimage at Glen Dá Loch for ever, so that the same indulgence and benefit should be for him who makes seven journeys to Glen Dá Loch as for him who makes one journey to Rome. Therefore Solomon says this rann:
28 R.
“Great is Kevin’s pilgrimage
if the age of men do it aright;
to come seven times to their assembly is equal
to going once to Rome.”
29 Now when Kevin came from Rome he brought with him some of the soil of the churches of Rome, and he sprinkled it in his own church and in his cemeteries; until on account of Kevin’s holiness, by granting pilgrimage to Glen Dá Loch, crowds of pilgrims used to come flocking from every quarter of Ireland to his church; so that it is the fourth chief pilgrimage of Ireland since then — namely, Patrick’s Purgatory in Ulster, Croagh Patrick in Connacht, Inis na mBéo in Munster, and Glen Dá Loch in Leinster, where Kevin’s church is.
30 And it is obligatory upon everyone who goes to make a pilgrimage there not to fight, nor plead a suit, nor do murder, theft or rapine therein. As Solomon says in this rann:
31 R.
“They dare not fight in his assembly,
nor plead suits nor rights,
nor murder, theft, nor rapine —
but to go whole from it and come.”
32 Yet whoever breaks the law of his church, here below according to Solomon is the hurt that comes there:
33 “Whoever should destroy the assembly
that Kevin left — not feeble his power —
hell and shortest life
and being in peril for ever.”
34 He also left three benefits to him who should keep the law of his church — namely, health, and life, and a repentant death; and not only through violating the law of his church would he incur the aforementioned hurt, but through violating the law of God and of the church; and it is not he who does the ill deed alone that will pay the price of it, but the overlord or lord who instigates the accomplice(?) to do the evil, or who gives him shelter or protection — as Kevin himself says in this rann:
35 R.
“Whatever wrong is done —
is done or shall be done —
its vengeance falls surely
upon their strength by whom it is done.”
36 Kevin left four chastisements upon the folk who should plunder his church — namely, cancer, scrofula of the throat, leprosy, and madness; and neither herb nor physician can relieve them etcetera.
37 One day Kevin’s foster-father(?) — his teacher — was about to say Mass, and he told Kevin, since he was a young boy, to go and fetch fire to light the Mass candle. “Give me a vessel in which to bring the embers,” said Kevin. When the teacher heard that he grew angry, and told him to bring the embers in the skirt of his mantle; and Kevin did so; and when the monk saw the red embers in the mantle without a single thread of the mantle taking fire — “That is true, O Kevin,” said the monk, “the grace of the Holy Spirit is upon you; and I am not fit to attend upon myself any longer(?) — rather it were fitter for me to be attending and ministering upon you.” By that miracle the name of God and Kevin was magnified in that deed, etcetera.
38 One day when Kevin went to tend his own sheep, a great crowd of poor folk met him, in need of food, going into famine. They begged alms of the righteous man for God’s love. Kevin answered readily and said he had no food in the wilderness at that time; and the poor wanted to take leave of him; but Kevin detained them, and seven wethers of his flock were killed by him, and the poor were fed until they went away satisfied. On the next day when Kevin went to visit his flock he found the full number of the wethers in the flock, not a single wether missing — so that God’s name and Kevin’s were magnified by that miracle, and that he was saved from the shame he had incurred when God’s poor came to ask maintenance of him and he had nothing in his hand wherewith to relieve them, etcetera.
39 It happened that a community of monks were at Cell Iffín or Eithfín; and the otter which had lifted Kevin’s psalter out of the lake used to bring a salmon every day to the community that was in it; and one day when Cellach son of Díoma saw the otter coming with the salmon in its mouth, he thought that the otter’s skin would be profitable to the monks; and on that account he intended to kill the otter. And thereupon the otter threw the salmon that was in its mouth away from it and went under the river, and never showed itself to the monks from that time.
40 A scarcity of food came to the monks on that account, so that they had to part from one another. And when Kevin saw that, he pressed his prayer to God that it might be revealed to him why the otter had forsaken the community. And God caused Cellach to come readily and repentantly to Kevin, confessing that he had intended to kill the otter, and that it was at that moment the otter went under the river and forsook the monks from that time. When Kevin heard that he banished Cellach from him. Understand, reader, that it was through the strength of Kevin’s prayer that God obliged Cellach to reveal to Kevin the evil intent he had of killing the otter.
41 One day musicians with their harps came to Cell Eifín, where Kevin had a community of monks, and begged a supply of food from the monks. The community had no food; and great shame seized Kevin and the community on that account.
42 Now it happened that the community had a little seed of grain left, and there was no supply for the strangers in the community; and the thing that Kevin devised with the help of the community to save them from that clamour of reproach was: to send a party of the monks to sow a field-plot in which they would set the little seed they had, so that the fruit of that seed would be the strangers’ meal at none, both for Kevin himself and all the monks. And Kevin and the other party of the monks were diverting the musicians, soothing them deceitfully in a gentle friendly manner(?); and it was none the better for them.
43 The musicians set about demanding food importunately — and there was none; and they took their leave in despite of Kevin, and made reproaches upon the community. And after Kevin’s anger, from shame, he prayed that the harps they had might be changed into stones. And thereupon, as they were going through the stream on the south side of the church, their harps were turned into stones, and they fell into the stream; and they are in that stone-heap beneath everyone’s feet from that time; and the seed that Kevin’s people cast in the morning of the same day at Cell Eithfinn — it was from its fruit, come to ripeness, that the monks were fed that same night after it; as Solomon says in this rann:
44 R.
“The seed that was cast at morn
at Cell Eithfinn — holy the grace —
from it, imperishable, in the night
the workers were fed in turn.”
45 It happened that the king of Uí Fhaoláin had a son born to him whom he sent to Kevin to be baptised; and he sent messengers to him that the boy should be kept by himself to rear him; and the reason he sent him to him was because every son that had been born to him before that had been destroyed by the fairy folk or the fairy dwellings(?). And when the child came to be baptised to Kevin, a fairy woman of power named Cáoineóg followed him, together with the women’s band of the child(?), intent on destroying him as every other son that the king of Uí Fhaoláin had before that had been destroyed by them. And when Kevin perceived that, he cursed the women, and they were turned into stones at that time; so that their forms of stone are upon the brink of the lake that is in the glen from that time onward.
46 As for Kevin and the infant: there were no cows or milking-yards in the glen at that time, and it was a great question to Kevin where he would get a beast or milk with which to rear the child; and anxiety seized him at that. Yet a glance he cast past him(?) — he sees a milch doe, and a little fawn beside her; and when Kevin saw that he prayed God fervently that the doe might be made gentle for him so as to give milk to the child. And therewith the doe comes to the stead, and comes gently to Kevin, and pours her milk upon a hollowed stone for the child and for her own fawn — so that the certain name of the place where the stone is, is Inis Eilte, from that time onward. In that wise the doe used to come every day to pour her milk upon the hollowed stone, so that the child had its nourishment every day for its rearing there.
47 However, one day as the doe went grazing through the wood, a wolf came out of a rock-cave and killed the doe’s fawn and ate it. When he saw that, he commanded the wolf to come gently under the doe in her fawn’s stead; and the wolf always did that. Thereupon the doe used to pour her milk upon the stone to feed the child as she used to do for her fawn, with nothing but the wolf standing before her breast. So it was with them continually, until the child was reared in that wise, and he was Kevin’s disciple thereafter. That God’s name and Kevin’s might be magnified in this miracle.
48 One day when two women were coming to make a pilgrimage to Kevin’s church, robbers met them on the way, and stripped them of their clothes and beheaded them. And when the tidings reached Kevin he went quickly to the women and set their heads upon their bodies, and they were revived by him. “O Kevin,” said the women, “you have healed us; we offer ourselves to you for the time we live.” Kevin took the women with him and made pious black nuns of them; and they settled in the community of regular women which was beside Kevin’s church; and they spent their lives thereafter piously, righteously, purely, prayerfully for the length of their days — until this reviving of the women came to pass, so that God’s name and Kevin’s were magnified therein from that time onward.
49 One day as Kevin was in devotion beside his church, he saw coming toward him on the mountain a poor wretched cleric, trembling limb by limb through the terror of the very great treacherous deed he had done. And when Kevin saw him he said it was no wonder that his looks were ill, because of the kin-slaying he had done — that he had killed his companion cleric while crossing the mountain; and “alas,” said Kevin, “show me the way to the place where you have left your companion’s dead body.”
50 Thereupon the cleric went back over the paths, and Kevin with him, until they reached the corpse. At that very moment wild hounds were coming from the other side to devour the body; and when they saw Kevin they fled back; and Kevin came above the body and prayed God fervently that the dead man might be revived; and therewith the soul came into the body and he was whole of his hurt. When the cleric who had done the kin-slaying saw that great miracle, repentance seized him for the evil deed he had done, and he offered himself to Kevin and put himself under his protection.
51 Kevin took him under his care, and brought both himself and the cleric he had revived to his own church, spending their lives piously and benignly. And a while after that, Kevin received them into the order of monks, so that they spent all that was before them of their lives regularly until death — that God’s name and Kevin’s might be magnified by this miracle.
52 It is also among Kevin’s miracles that garlic and watercress and many other herbs that relieve maladies used to be fresh-green through the year in the wilderness where he was fleeing from men’s company, on the western side of the rock of Glen Dá Loch — as a remembrance that he had been beside them as nourishment(?).
53 One day when huntsmen were hard upon a wild boar, and after the boar was started by the hunting party they loosed their hounds in pursuit; and when the boar perceived the hounds pursuing it, it went down the length of the glen under Kevin’s protection, the hounds following. Kevin undertook the boar’s protection, and commanded the hounds to stay from it; and thereupon the hounds’ feet cleaved to the ground, so that they could not move in any direction out of the spot.
54 Soon after that the hunting party came into Kevin’s presence; and on seeing their hounds bound to the ground and the boar under Kevin’s protection, they were seized with amazement of mind and vast wonder at that miracle, and they asked humbly of Kevin to release their hounds, and promised him that they would never pursue that boar(?) from that time forth. And thereupon Kevin released the boar into the wood; that God’s name and Kevin’s might be magnified by this miracle.
55 One day when Kevin had sent Cellach son of Díoma, who was a monk of his, upon a road that lies on the north-west side of the glen, thinking that he would meet some party(?) bringing alms of food to the monks, who were working in the church.
56 While he was on the road, women met him with soft-cakes or malt in the hoods of their cloaks. The cleric asked them whether it was soft-cakes they had. The women answered, saying that it was not, but balls of flax-thread(?). And thereupon Kevin comes up, and when he saw the women’s concealment of their soft-cakes he prayed God that the soft-cakes might be changed into stones in the presence of all; and God caused the soft-cakes to be suddenly changed into stones in the sight of all; so that they are to be seen on the same road to-day. That from that deed God’s name and Kevin’s might be magnified.
57 And Kevin was all his life in that wise, working wonders, until he died very aged after the completion of his hundred and twenty-nine years; and it was Suibhne Meann son of Fiachna, son of Feradhach, son of Muireadhach, son of Eoghan, son of Niall of the Nine Hostages, who was king over Ireland at that time; and it was in the beginning of Suibhne’s reign that Kevin died. The genealogy of Kevin.
58 Kevin son of Caoimhlogha, son of Caoimheadha, son of Cuirb, son of Fergus Lámh-dearg, son of Fothadh, son of Eochaidh Lámh-dearg, son of Meisín Corb, son of Con Corb, son of Moga Corb, son of Conchobar Abrad-ruad, son of Finn the Poet, son of Ross the Red, son of Fergus Finn, son of Nuada Necht, son of Setna Síthbac, son of Lughaidh Leithfinn, son of Breasal Bric. And et cetera.