Chapter One #

¹ Here begins the life of Saint Mochua, abbot.

² A man illustrious by birth was he, named Mochua, son of Lonan, drawing his origin from the Lugnenses of Connacht. This man in his early age was very warlike, and always had victory over his enemies. For thirty years he lived thus as a layman, before he undertook the warfare of Christ. But when those thirty years were completed, admonished by divine inspiration and struck by the dart of divine fear, he was converted to the faith of Christ, and, having become a monk, he assumed the clerical habit. His uncle gave him a certain estate, which Saint Mochua ordered to be burned with all its goods, lest the servant of Christ should have any share from the alms or possessions of a sinner.

³ After this, the man of God came by divine providence to the place where today is Tech Mochua, which is indeed his principal seat. This place he built in the name of the Lord, and adorned it with many signs and miracles.

⁴ Among the notable miracles of this same holy man, the following is famously remembered. For there was a certain noble and wise cleric, named Colman Ela, who, one day, when he was walking around his cell at Glenn Ussen, was then puffed up with a spirit of pride concerning his own condition, the beauty of his body, and the depth of his learning, and thought worldly thoughts about himself. But after he had sat down on his bed in this state of exaltation, he committed all his knowledge to forgetfulness, as if he had previously known absolutely nothing.

⁵ Being therefore astonished at this and greatly wondering, he fasted the following night, earnestly begging God that He would deign to remove from him the spirit of ignorance and restore his former knowledge. And an angel appearing to him in sleep said: “Colman, why do you fast? What do you ask that God may give you?” Colman answered: “I ask that the knowledge which I formerly had may be restored to me by God.” And the angel said: “That which you seek, you shall have.” And Colman said: “To whom has God entrusted the care of me?” And the angel said: “Go to Saint Mochua, who will free you from the pride and ignorance of your mind.”

⁶ Therefore Colman, setting out on the journey with fifteen other honorable clerics, arrived by a straight road at the cell of the man of God. He found Saint Mochua clothed in rustic attire, carrying bundles of rods upon his shoulders, outside the settlement. And when Saint Mochua looked upon Colman, he greeted him. And when they had thus exchanged greetings with one another, look, suddenly a certain little bird, alighting upon the top of those rods, chirping as it were, sang a single verse. When this was heard, Saint Mochua asked Colman what the little bird had sung. Colman replied that he did not know.

⁷ Saint Mochua said: “You relate something wondrous; for I, who have never known the Scriptures, understand what it sang.” And again he said: “This,” he said, “is what the bird said: ‘No word of the wisdom which you once had cleaves to your mind.’” Then Colman said: “I confess,” he said, “that I know nothing; and therefore God has sent me to you that I may be healed.” Then Saint Mochua said: “Let the unclean spirit which dwells in you go out from you. For thus it was permitted to him to dwell in you for a time.” Immediately, when the command of the man of God was heard, the demon departed from Colman, and his knowledge was fully restored to him. For when he recognized the fault of his own pride, and his heart was enlightened by the light of grace, the prince of darkness was put to flight.

⁸ Then, after this miracle was shown, Saint Mochua led Colman and his companions to his cell, and he ordered his own people that fire be brought for a bath for them. But one of the clerics of Saint Colman said: “We are not accustomed,” he said, “to be warmed by earthly fire, nor is our bath usually prepared with it.” When this was heard, Saint Mochua, stretching his clean hands toward heaven, asked for fire from heaven. And his prayer was heard. For a burning stone fell from heaven through the roof the house where they were, and fell into the hearth; from it an abundant fire was produced for the needs of the brethren.

Chapter Two: How Saint Munnu Was Cured of Leprosy #

¹ At another time, a holy man named Munnu, while he remained in his cell for three days, was deprived during that same period of the angelic vision by which he was visited daily. And when, after three days, the angel of the Lord presented himself to the man of God, and was asked by him why he had made so great a delay, he replied: “The saints,” he said, “the citizens of heaven, held a common assembly and council, awaiting the soul of a certain holy man named Molua, who has entered upon the way of all flesh. And this was the cause of my delay, that I did not come to you at the usual time.”

² To him Saint Munnu said: “In what merits,” he said, “did that man excel my life, that I am thus neglected and you are mindful of him?” To this the angel replied: “He did,” he said, “while he lived, what you do not do. For as long as he lived on earth, he cursed no one who was present, nor ever spoke ill of one who was absent. Moreover, he bore and commended with evenness of mind the ordering of every season according to the divine will, whether in fair weather or in storm. You also are proud, and your Lord wishes that you be humbled.”

³ To this Saint Munnu replied: “This I will gladly endure, if what I myself choose may be granted to me by my God.” And the angel said to him: “What you ask of God is granted to you.” Then Munnu said: “I choose leprosy among bodily infirmities.” Therefore, by the word of the angel, Saint Munnu was made a leper, and he endured that leprosy for as long as seven years.

⁴ When those seven years had been completed with great patience of soul, look, the same angel, returning to him, consoled the man of God, saying: “Because,” he said, “you have patiently endured your infirmity up to this point, therefore it has now been granted to you by your God both to put an end to your labors and to obtain cleansing from your leprosy.” To whom Saint Munnu again said: “To whom,” he said, “has the Lord entrusted the care of the recovery of my health?” And the angel said to him: “To Saint Mochua.”

⁵ These things having been said, Saint Munnu set out on the journey and hastened to the cell of the man of God. And when he had arrived at the place of Saint Mochua, he entered a lodging there. And going into the house and finding no one there, but seeing only a bare vestibule, he placed beneath himself a certain skin which he found there, and lay down upon it; moreover, the worms which were passing from his body across the floor he gathered to himself with a broom, and returned them to the place from which they had come.

⁶ Now while Saint Mochua was absent at that time, hastening to the cell by the Spirit revealing it to him, and seeing angelic ministration above the house in which the man of God was sitting, he immediately sent the servant who accompanied him to see who was in the house. And when he had entered the house and saw a bald leper, horrible with ulcerous sores, struck with fear and astonishment, he hurried out of the house and reported to Saint Mochua, describing the man whom he had seen there.

⁷ Hearing the description of the man, and understanding that it was Saint Munnu, the man of God said: “Truly,” he said, “Munnu is a martyr of God, who has been sent to me by God in order that he may be cured of his leprosy.” Then entering the house, he embraced the man of God; and licking him with his tongue from the crown of his head, he restored him to his former health. And—what was more difficult than the rest—cleansing his nostrils, taking them three times successively with his sacred mouth, he drew out three phlegms. But by the merits of both, as I believe, those three phlegms were changed into three talents of pure gold, which were stored in his chest like three golden apples.

⁸ After the man of God Munnu had thus been wondrously healed, he returned to his cell, praising his God.

⁹ But after blessed Munnu had already been cured of his leprosy, when he had reached the middle of the journey, the foot of one of the horses which was carrying his wagon was broken. When Saint Mochua perceived this, calling a stag from a nearby mountain, which voluntarily placed itself beneath the wagon, fulfilling the service of a gentle horse, the man of God Munnu was prosperously led to his home.

Chapter Three: How Saint Mochua Obtained Fair Weather for Saint Kyennanus While He Was Building His Church for a Year and a Half #

¹ Meanwhile, the most holy man Kyennanus, with fervor of spirit, began to build a stone church to the Lord; for before that time there had been no practice in Ireland of constructing churches from stone. At that time it happened that the work was in a certain way delayed and hindered, because the masons and the other workmen said that if rain or storm should ever flow down between the two surrounding hills during that period, they would immediately abandon the work. When this was heard, Saint Kyennanus went to each of the saints and holy women of Ireland, asking that they would obtain from God fair weather for the completion of the work.

² And although he obtained from individual saints some length of fair weather—namely, a week from one, a month from another, and three months from another—yet he still needed the space of a full year to complete the work. Therefore, one night, the man of God, fasting, asked God to reveal to him to which of the saints he should turn in order to obtain that year. And He who reveals mysteries taught him to hasten to the cell of Saint Mochua, which is now called the House of Mochua, in order to obtain his petition.

³ And when he came there with fifteen clerics, he was honorably received and obtained what he had asked. For while Saint Mochua prayed and fasted, he obtained from the heavenly Giver fair weather for one year and a half for the completion of that work. Therefore, when this gift had been granted, Saint Mochua asked Kyennanus that, once the work was completed, it should be announced to him, so that he himself might come to the consecration of the church, and provide provisions for the guests for the first night.

Chapter Four: How He Carried Fifteen Clerics Across a Deep River on His Cloak #

¹ When these things had also been accomplished, Saint Mochua led blessed Kyennanus with his companions as far as a river whose name is Lán Corchaigi, which is at times a very swift torrent. And when the clerics saw that water to be deep and rushing, and judged it impassable without a boat, Saint Mochua cast his cloak upon the waters by the power of Him who dried up the waters of the Jordan by the cloak of Elijah [2 Kings 2:8], and upon it he carried Saint Kyennanus with his fifteen disciples across the river, as though on a most secure raft.

² Therefore, while Saint Kyennanus with his companions hastened toward his cell, the broad cloak of the charity of Saint Mochua, not folded or dampened in any part, returned to him.

Chapter Five: How He Raised Twelve Stags #

¹ Therefore, when the work of Saint Kyennanus had been completed, he sent a messenger to Saint Mochua, so that he might come, as he had promised, to consecrate his church. Then, when the message was heard, the holy man set out on the journey, and making his way through a mountain called Mairg, he found twelve stags there and led them with him like domestic oxen. He loaded each of them with wood, and thus brought them to the church of Saint Kyennanus.

² And when the wood was taken off the stags, the man of God ordered that water be brought upon them to boil their flesh. And this was done. After this, Saint Mochua ordered those twelve stags to be killed; however, their bones were to be kept untouched until the next day. Therefore, when the crowds of the poor and the others who were present had been fed from the wondrous hunt of Saint Mochua, on the following day the bones of the stags were gathered together before the men of God.

³ That they might rise again in their proper form, Saint Mochua commanded them by the power of Him who recalled Lazarus, already stinking, to life by a single word [John 11:43–44]. And immediately those dry bones put on flesh and skin, and received the life-giving spirit, and stretched out their limbs into the movement of their former vigor. When all these things had been accomplished to the praise of almighty God, and the church itself had been consecrated, Saint Mochua returned with those wondrously resurrected stags to the mountain from which he had taken them; and leaving them there, he came back to his cell. And those twelve stags, as is reported by many, are still seen on that mountain at certain times by some reliable persons.

Chapter Six: Concerning the Number of Churches Which the Holy Man Built, and How He Left the Same Church on Account of the Disturbance of Secular Men #

¹ Now Saint Mochua, confessor of Christ, remaining steadfastly in the same church which is called Tech Mochua, after founding in Ireland in Scotland thirty churches and constructing one hundred and twenty cells, was troubled by earthly glory and by the frequent presence and conversation of friends. Deliberating within himself, and judging that unless he abandoned that earthly glory he would by no means become a participant in heavenly glory, he therefore sought the desert and directed his steps toward Saint Patrick, toward the northern region of the land. But after traveling through many places in which he would have wished to remain, if it had been granted from above, at last by divine prompting he came into the land of the Ergallians.

Chapter Seven: How He Built the Church of Dairinnis #

¹ Having also surveyed that land, finally, by divine disposition, he came to a certain place called Dairinnis. In this place, when a long-lived traveler rang the little bell which he carried in his hand, immediately his tongue fell to the ground. When he saw this, the man of God grieved no little, because the place was mountainous and as though uninhabitable. But for his consolation an angel was sent to him, who said to him: “It has been spoken to you by the Lord your God that you should dwell in this place and there build a church.”

² Therefore, conforming himself in all things to the divine command, he dwelt in that place and there built a church in the name of the Lord, which he adorned with very many miracles both in life and in death. And he himself, remaining there for thirty years, in the ninetieth year of his life, on the ninth day before the Kalends of January, happily rested, our Lord Jesus Christ granting it, to whom be praise and dominion through infinite ages. Amen.

³ Here Ends the Life of the Most Holy Mochua