¹ “Populus qui sedebat in tenebris vidit lucem magnam,” that is, the people who sat in darkness beheld a great light, and “Et sedentibus in regione et umbra mortis lux orta est eis,” that is, upon those who dwelt in the land and in the shadow of death a light has arisen, and from this light came their illumination.

² The Holy Spirit, the Spirit nobler than every spirit, namely the Spirit who inspired the Church both of the Old Law and of the New Testament with the grace of wisdom and prophecy, it was this Spirit who spoke these words through the mouth of the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos. Concerning whose praise Jerome says, that is, Saint Jerome says this in his praise: “Quod non tam dicendus est propheta quam evangelista,” that is, that he ought rather to be called an evangelist than a prophet, because of the clarity and fitness with which he proclaimed the tidings of Christ; for “ita enim universa Christi Ecclesiaeque mysteria ad lucidum prosecutus est ut non eum putes de futuro vaticinari, sed de praeterito historiam dicere,” that is, with such clarity did he set forth all the mysteries of Christ and of the Church that one would think he was not prophesying of future things but recounting a history of things already past. One of these clear predictions, which here is set forth in the manner of a declaration of the past, is this: “Populus qui sedebat in tenebris vidit lucem magnam,” the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. This saying of the prophet has two contexts, according to the place where he had first said, “Primo tempore alleviata est terra Zabulon et terra Neptalim”, and after these words added, “Populus qui sedebat in tenebris vidit lucem magnam,” the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light. According to the historical sense, the people of Israel, taken captive by the Assyrians and sitting in the darkness of captivity, saw a great light, that is, the rays of redemption, namely Ezra, Nehemiah, Joshua, Zerubbabel, and the other leaders who led the people out of captivity. And “Et sedentibus in regione et umbra mortis lux orta est eis,” those who dwelt in the land and in the shadow of death, upon them a light arose, from which their illumination came. “Sedentibus,” that is, those who were settled, because they were fixed and immovable in evil; “in regione,” that is, in the plain of Shinar, where Babylon is; “in umbra mortis,” that is, in sin and in the temples of idols and images.

³ According to the spiritual understanding, however, this passage is to be understood of the people of the Gentiles, who formerly sat in the darkness of ignorance and sin. “In regione,” that is, in the human will, each person bringing forth the delights of his own heart, and “in umbra mortis,” that is, in sin, which is the shadow in which they dwelt. “Vidit lucem magnam,” that is, they beheld a great light, namely the light of Christ and the Gospel preached by the apostles. Of himself Christ said, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness”, and of the apostles he said, “You are the light of the world”. Christ, therefore, is the true light which enlightens every man that comes into this world, but the apostles are a light kindled by Christ; Christ is light without beginning, but the apostles are light with a beginning. It is fitting also to say that God is called Light, for John says that he is the true light through which the whole world is enlightened. For night lay upon the world until Christ, who is the Sun of righteousness, scattered his rays through the world, that is, through the apostles and their holy successors. Thus great darkness lay upon the hearts of the heathen until the Sun of Righteousness, Jesus Christ, poured out his radiance to enlighten the world through his apostles, his saints, and their righteous successors. One, then, of the rays and flames which the Sun of Righteousness, Jesus Christ, sent into the world, the ray and flame and precious stone and shining lamp which enlightened the western part of the world, was Sanctus Patricius Episcopus, that is, Saint Patrick, holy bishop, high bishop of the west of the earth and father of the baptism and faith of the people of Ireland, some account of whose earthly lineage, miracles, and wonders is set forth in the churches of Christians on the sixteenth day before the Kalends of April, according to the reckoning of the solar month.

⁴ As for Patrick, then, his origin was among the Britons of Ail Clúade, that is, Dumbarton. His father’s name was Calpurnius, and he was an archpriest; the name of his grandfather was Potitus, and he was a deacon. His mother was named Concess; she was of the Franks and was a kinswoman of Martin. This holy Patrick, however, was born in Nemthor, and the flagstone on which he was born, if anyone commits perjury beneath it, pours forth water as though lamenting the false testimony, but if the oath is true the stone remains in its natural state.

⁵ Now when the holy Patrick was born, he was brought to a blind, flat-faced youth to be baptised. Gornias was the priest’s name, and he had no water with which to perform the baptism. So, with the infant’s hand, he made the sign of the cross upon the earth, and a well of water burst forth from it. Gornias washed his face with that water, and his eyes were opened, and he read the order of baptism, though he had never learned letters. God worked a threefold miracle for Patrick in that place, namely, the well of water springing from the earth, the opening of the blind youth’s eyes, and his reading of the order of baptism without having known letters before then, and Patrick was baptised thereafter. Moreover, a church was founded over that well in which Patrick was baptised, and the well stands by the altar and has the form of a cross, as the wise relate. Thus in Nemthor that boy was reared, and he grew in good works and in the miracles which God worked through him, for from his childhood he had been endowed with God’s grace, even before he knew how to discern between good and evil and before he was able to trace the path of truth. As he himself declares in the Book of Epistles, saying, “And He had pity on my youth and ignorance, and He took care of me before I knew Him and before I could distinguish between good and evil, and He strengthened me and comforted me, as a father does his son.”

⁶ Many miracles and wonders did God work through Patrick in his boyhood, but we shall declare only a few out of the many.

⁷ Once upon a time Patrick was staying in his foster-mother’s house. The winter season came, so that a spate and flood of water filled his foster-mother’s dwelling, and the vessels and household gear were floating about, and the fire was extinguished. Patrick, however, cried out to his foster-mother, as is the custom of infants when they ask for food. Then his foster-mother said to him, “This is not what troubles us; there is something else that we would rather do than make food for you, when even the fire itself is not alive.” Nevertheless Patrick, when he heard these words, sought out a certain place in the house into which the water had not come, and he dipped his hand into the water, and five drops flowed from Patrick’s fingers, and from these he immediately made five sparks, and the fire blazed up and the water vanished. God’s name and Patrick’s were magnified by that miracle.

⁸ At another time, when Patrick was playing among his foster-brothers, especially in the season of winter and cold, he gathered a lapful of icicles and carried them home to his foster-mother. Then his foster-mother said to him, “It would be better for us if you brought a bundle of firewood, so that we might warm ourselves by it, than what you have brought.” Then he said to his foster-mother, “Believe that it is within God’s power that even icicles should burn like firewood”; and quicker than speech, when the icicles were placed on the fire and when he breathed upon them, they immediately flamed like firewood. God’s name and Patrick’s were magnified by that miracle. Once, as Patrick and his sister Lupait were herding sheep, the lambs suddenly came to their mothers, as is their custom, to drink milk. When Patrick and his sister saw this, they ran quickly to separate them. The girl fell and struck her head against a stone, so that death was near to her. Now when Patrick returned, he saw his sister lying there, with death close upon her, and he grieved greatly, and at once he raised his sister up and made the sign of the cross over the wound, and healed her without any sickness. Nevertheless, the marks of the scar were still visible there, and then they came home together as though no harm had happened to them.

⁹ At another time, when Patrick was with the sheep, a wolf carried one of them off from him. His foster-mother blamed him greatly for this. On the next day the wolf brought the sheep back whole to the same homestead; and that restitution was strange indeed, namely that it came from the wolf’s teeth, contrary to its usual food. When Patrick’s foster-mother saw that God’s grace was growing in him, shown in miracles and wonders, she loved him greatly, and she was unwilling to go anywhere without having him with her.

¹⁰ Once upon a time his foster-mother went to milk the cow, and he went with her to drink a draught of fresh milk. Then the cow went mad in the byre and killed five other cows, for a demon had entered her. Great sorrow came upon his foster-mother, and she told him to bring the cows back to life. Then he restored the cows to life so that they were whole again, and he healed the mad one. Thus God’s name and Patrick’s were magnified thereby. Now the Britons held a great assembly, and he went to it with his foster-mother and foster-father. It came to pass that his foster-father died at the assembly. All fell silent at this. His kinsmen wept and his wife lamented, saying, “My boy, why hast thou allowed the man who was carrying thee to die?” But the boy, when he saw him, ran to his foster-father, put his arms around his neck, and said to him, “Arise, and let us go home.” At Patrick’s word he rose at once, and they went home together, completely restored.

¹¹ The children of the place where Patrick was reared were accustomed to bring honey from the combs to their mothers. Then his foster-mother said to Patrick, “Although every other child brings honey to his foster-mother, you bring none to me.” Patrick then took a vessel to the water, filled it, and blessed the water, so that it was turned into honey; and it healed every disease and every ailment to which it was applied, and they kept it as a relic.

¹² Once the reeve of the king, that is, of the Britons, came to inform Patrick and his foster-mother that they were to go and cleanse the hearth of the palace of Ail Cluaide. Patrick and his foster-mother went. Then an angel came to Patrick and said to him, “Make prayer, and that work will not be necessary for you.” Patrick prayed, and afterward the angel cleansed the hearth. Then Patrick said, “Though all the firewood in Britain be burned in this hearth, there will be no ashes from it on the morrow.” And this is still fulfilled.

¹³ At another time, the reeve of the king, that is, of the Britons, came to Patrick’s foster-mother to demand tribute of curds and butter, but she had nothing to put toward the tribute. Then Patrick made curds and butter out of snow, and these were taken to the king. When they had been shown to the king, they were turned again into their natural state of snow. Then the king remitted the tribute to Patrick continually.

¹⁴ Now this is the reason for Patrick’s first coming to Ireland. There were in exile seven sons of Fechtmaide, that is, seven sons of the king of Britain, and they went raiding in Armorica. It happened that some Britons of Strathclyde were travelling to their kinsmen, that is, to the Britons of Armorica; and during the raid Calpurnius, son of Potitus, Patrick’s father, and his mother Concessa, daughter of Ocbass of Gaul, were slain. Patrick was then taken captive in the raid, along with his two sisters, Lupait and Tigris. The seven sons of Fechtmaide then put to sea, with Patrick and his two sisters in captivity. They sailed around Ireland northwards, landed in the north, and sold Patrick to Miliuc son of Buan, king of Dál Araide. His two sisters were sold in Conaille Muirthemne, and he and his sisters knew nothing of one another. Now there were four men who bought him, one of whom was Miliuc; from this he received the name “Cothraige,” because he served four households. He bore four names: “Sucat,” the name given by his parents; “Cothraige,” when he was serving the four; “Magonius,” from Saint Germanus; and “Patricius,” that is, pater civium, from Pope Celestine. When Miliuc saw that he was a faithful servant, he bought him from the other three so that Patrick might serve him alone, and Patrick served for seven years in the manner of the Hebrews. He was entrusted with the herding of swine, and this was an error on the part of the one who so appointed him, for it was more fitting that Patrick should be a shepherd of sheep, that is, of the sons of life. This was later fulfilled in a mystical sense, namely, that he became the shepherd of the Church. And he endured many tribulations in the wilderness of Slemish.

¹⁵ Patrick served him faithfully until the seventh year of his servitude had begun, according to the custom by which Hebrew slaves were accustomed to be set free and restored to liberty. He was assigned by his master to the feeding and guarding of a herd of pigs, which under his care increased in a remarkable way with fruitful offspring. Nor did the herd grow more in offspring and number than the swineherd meanwhile grew in virtues and merits, concerning which there exists clear testimony set forth from his own truthful mouth, as is evident from the book of his Epistles, where he says: “Every day I used to feed the cattle, and I prayed frequently during the day, more and more; and the love of God grew in me, and fear of Him, and faith, and the Spirit was increased; so that in one day I would pray up to a hundred times, and likewise at night; and I would also remain in the woods and on the mountain, and before dawn I was awakened to prayer; through snow, through frost, through rain I poured forth prayers; nor was there any sloth in me then. But now I see that at that time the Spirit was fervent within me.” Now when he says that the Spirit was fervent within him, without doubt it was the Spirit of sevenfold grace, who comforted him in adversities and invited and trained him for those arduous exercises of heavenly virtues and sublime works which he later practised, as he himself elsewhere indicates, saying: “I heard certain ones singing within me, and I did not know who they were.” And among the innumerable benefits bestowed upon him from heaven from childhood, not to be counted among the least is that most gracious condescension of the Lord, by which He deigned to visit and refresh him with daily apparitions and familiar conversations of the angel Victor, who used to comfort him in hardships, direct and instruct him in his actions, and teach and prescribe for him the manner of praying and fasting he was accustomed to do so.

¹⁶ Moreover, near Mount Mis in Ultonia, the angel Trias Thaum. was accustomed to visit him frequently during the time of his servitude; where the footprints of him, appearing in the form of a bird, impressed upon the rock, are seen and frequented with great devotion and veneration by the people. Saint Patrick’s master, Milcho, had three children, one son and two daughters, who, on account of the great sweetness of character of the holy youth and the grace of God shining forth in all his actions, showed him every office of kindness and pursued him with an intimate affection of love; marvellously delighted with his conversation and presence, they often visited him, continually bringing what was necessary for the refreshment of his body. Toward them Patrick also responded with reciprocal affection, repaying temporal sustenance with spiritual nourishment. For he instructed them in the first principles of the Christian faith, and what he had learned under the teaching of the instructing angel he soon gently instilled into their ears and souls. While these things were being done secretly, Milcho saw a marvellous vision in his sleep. For he saw Patrick as though entering his house, and a flame going forth from his mouth, nostrils, ears, and eyes, and him entirely as if transformed into fire, threatening and striving to burn him up and consume him with a like fire. Yet he himself seemed to repel those flames from himself, so that they did him no harm, but turned to the right and burned his son and two daughters lying in one bed, and utterly reduced them to ashes, which ashes a strong wind seemed to lift up and scatter throughout the regions of Ireland. Terrified by this vision, Milcho summoned Patrick and begged him, if he were able, to explain the interpretation of the vision to him. Therefore, when the whole vision had been recounted in order, Patrick, enlightened by the Holy Spirit, said to Milcho: “The fire which you saw going forth from me is the faith of the most holy Trinity, by which I am wholly enkindled and illumined, and by whose preaching I shall afterwards strive to make others illumined and inflamed. But my preaching will not bear fruit in you; for you are obstinate. You will repel from your mind the light of heavenly grace that comes from you, and you will die in the darkness of unbelief. But your son and your two daughters will embrace the proclaimed truth of the faith, and the fire of the Holy Spirit, kindling them, will drive away from them every vice and sin; and after they have served the Lord in holiness and justice all the days of their life, and have come to rest in a holy end, their ashes and relics will be carried throughout Ireland and will cure very many diseases and infirmities.¹ Now this son of Milcho is Bishop Guasact, who is today at Granard in the region of Carbre; and the two daughters are two Emerias, who lie in Cluanbronaigh.

¹⁷ And at that time the moment of the redemption of the man of God from his servitude was drawing near. For that pagan people were accustomed to grant freedom to slaves who had been manumitted in the seventh year of servitude, unless they themselves should willingly wish to serve longer. Milcho, however, devised every means by which he might keep Patrick in his service. And to this end he resolved to join to him a wife, even against his will; and he arranged that she should be shut in by night in the same place with him. Saint Patrick preached to the girl the faith of Christ, and the excellent fruit and beauty of Christian virtues, especially of chastity, prayer, and devotion. Therefore they passed the remainder of the night sleepless, persevering continuously in prayer.

¹⁸ But when day dawned, and Patrick saw on the girl’s forehead a certain scar and the trace of a wound previously received, he asked her the cause and origin of the scar. She replied: “I, when I was a very small girl, was in Nemthor, my native town in Britain, and I struck my head severely against a stone, by which accident I received a deadly wound; but my brother, named Suchat, who was then present, marked my forehead with the sign of the cross, and immediately the wound was healed and I was restored to health.” Patrick, however, smiling, said: “I am your brother, who also healed you; and by the divine mercy it was brought about by goodness that we have now come together again after so great a separation and servitude as we have suffered. Then, extolling the divine mercy, they immediately withdrew to the wilderness and solitude.

¹⁹ While Patrick was living in solitude, the angel Victor appeared to him; and commanding him to go to Italy to learn the Scriptures, he said: “Hasten, behold, your ship is ready.” But it was not nearby; rather, as he himself says in the book of the Epistles, it was perhaps two hundred thousand paces away, where a route had never been known. Patrick replied to him: “I do not think that the Lord whom I serve will grant me permission to depart.” The angel said: “Try whether He will grant you leave.” Patrick, however, complied with the angelic admonitions. But Milcho refused to grant permission to him who asked it, unless first the weight of gold, measured with a just balance, should be paid to his head. To him the holy youth replied: ‘My God is able to provide what you demand.’ And immediately he withdrew again into the wilderness, where an angel appeared to him in the form of a bird, in a place called Schirec Archaile, in which even to this day his footprints are seen impressed in the stone; and to him the angel reported Milcho’s reply. The angel then commanded him to watch on the following day for the tracks of a certain pig from the herd, warning him that in the hollow of the earth dug up by it he would find a certain mass of gold by which he might be redeemed from the hand of his cruel master. Patrick, obeying the angel’s instructions, found in the designated hollow a not inconsiderable weight of gold; and when he had offered it to his greedy master, having been granted the freedom he desired, he was permitted, free, to go wherever he wished.

²⁰ Patrick therefore, having been emancipated, joyfully set out on the journey to which he had been directed by angelic admonition. But Milcho, looking not to faith or uprightness, but chiefly to advantage, soon regretted that he had lost a slave so useful, and so necessary, he regretted having dismissed him. Wherefore, violating the agreement, he took care to pursue the one departing immediately and to bring him back home against his will. But it came about by God’s prompting that what he had wickedly conceived he was not able to carry out in deed. For Patrick, turning aside to the familiar solitude of the wilderness, could not be found by his pursuers. There was added also, as a sign and increase of his grief, the most just punishment of a heinous crime. For the gold which he had wickedly exacted as the price of freedom, shortly after granting liberty he could nowhere find.

²¹ Patrick, however, with fear of servitude adding wings, running a great course, in the space of one day came from that place as far as the mouths of the river Boyne, where he met a certain man called Kienanus, surnamed the elder; who, by a wicked and unjust bargain, exchanging the vessel of election for a vessel of boiling, sold him to certain merchants for a bronze cauldron. But by a miracle that followed, it was made manifest and proved how unjust this trade had been. For when Kienanus carried the cauldron home and hung it on the wall, his hands so stuck fast to it, as if glued, that he could not draw them back by any force. And when his wife wished to help her husband, her fingers likewise stuck fast; and finally when the whole household ran together to help their master, the hands of them all became so stiff and clung to the cauldron that they could by no force be torn away, until at last, acknowledging the guilt of the crime they had committed, they were converted to repentance, and, the cauldron having been restored, they took care that Patrick should be given back his freedom.

²² After these things Patrick returned to the sailors who were to carry him across to Britain; by them he was gladly received and admitted to the ship already about to set sail. The ship, committed to the ocean, began to be violently shaken by a great storm and to suffer the threat of a terrible shipwreck. But while the man of God was praying to his Lord, who commands the winds and the sea, soon the storm ceased. There followed a violent shaking and a storm; and with the winds blowing according to their prayers they made land in the desired port of Britain. When they had gone ashore, they found the region dry, empty, and deserted across vast stretches of land. Passing through this immense wilderness for a space of twenty-five days, and with their provisions failing, they began to be pressed by hunger to no small degree. Then their leader said to Saint Patrick: “Behold, Christian, we are worn out by hunger and close to death, unless provision for sustenance is made without delay. Since therefore the God whom you preach is powerful and merciful, pray that He may come to the aid of our misery and by some refreshment of food deliver us from present destruction.” Then the servant of Christ, firmly trusting in the Lord’s mercy, said: “You must believe with full and steadfast hearts in the God of heaven, who gives food to all flesh, that all things are possible; and I promise that by His generosity you shall be filled.”

²³ While Patrick was speaking these and similar words, and soon after was fervently praying to the Lord, who at the request of Moses once rained flesh like dust and manna from heaven upon Israel suffering hunger in the desert, so now, at the intercession of His faithful servant, He sent from heaven to these men perishing from hunger in the vast wilderness a herd of pigs and an abundance of wild honey. Refreshed by this provision, they escaped the danger of death and completed the journey they had undertaken through the wilderness. But the barbarous men, ungrateful for the saint’s benefit, sacrificed part of the pigs, given by the true God, to their idols. For this reason the holy man, unwilling to taste the flesh of those pigs, fasted for a full space of twenty days; and at length, by the gift of divine grace, it came to pass that he suffered no less hunger on the first day than on the last. Whereupon those pagans, seeing these things, began to proclaim and extol the power of God in His servant Patrick. Wonderful is God in His saints, whom He now glorifies with signs and wonders, and now allows to be afflicted by various adversities and temptations, so that they may know all their power to be His and that their strength comes from God. Therefore He also permitted His beloved servant, already made illustrious by signs and virtues, to be most grievously tempted by an angel of Satan. For while he was free from sleep, the tempter rushed upon him as he lay, and with the enormous weight of an oppressive stone so crushed and ground him down that he left him utterly deprived of the movement and function of all his limbs. Placed in these straits, unable to call upon anyone with his mouth, he invoked in spirit, once and again, the prophet Elijah to come to his aid. And Elijah, standing by him, freed him from all pressure and assault of the enemy, and his strength was restored to him completely. Yet throughout the whole remainder of his life he could not shake off the memory of this terrible event, as he himself relates in the book of his Letters. After so many adversities and hardships, Saint Patrick returned to his homeland, where he remained only three months; when behold, it pleased the Lord to test him with a new adversity. For other British raiders invaded and devastated his country and led him away captive.

²⁴ In this now third captivity he remained only two months, when it pleased divine goodness, with the eye of its mercy, to visit his hardships with the relief of alternating consolation. For the angel Victor came to him, who comforted him with assurance of his imminent deliverance and made him secure, and opened a way by which, going forth from bondage, he returned to his own people. Then Patrick returned to his homeland and friends, who begged him to remain with them henceforth, saying: “You have suffered many labours, adversities, and hardships up to this point; now rest, and stay among us, and no longer wander from land to land.” But he did not acquiesce in their counsels, on account of the many visions with which he was continually visited. For whenever he desired to take the rest of sleep, he seemed to see constantly before his eyes the island of the Irish, so that he perceived the speech and cry of children in the forest of Fochlad, saying: “Come, holy boy Patrick, and walk among us.”

²⁵ Moved by these and similar visions, and as the holy man was encouraged and stirred by the Holy Spirit toward the conversion of the Irish, having now reached his thirtieth year of age, he resolved first to set out for Rome, the citadel and teacher of Christian doctrine and faith, so that from the fountain of true wisdom and orthodox discipline he might draw the streams with which to water the dry hearts of the pagan people; for it was neither fitting nor permitted that he should present himself as a teacher of heavenly doctrine unless he had first acted as a disciple in the chief school of that same discipline. He therefore set out beyond the Iccian Sea until he came into Gaul, and onward as far as the Alps and the southern region of Italy, where he found Saint Germanus, at that time the most distinguished bishop of Europe; and with him he studied the ecclesiastical canons, after the manner of the Apostle Paul at the feet of Gamaliel, and there he served God in labours, fastings, chastity of life, contrition of heart, and love of God and neighbour.

²⁶ Afterwards Saint Patrick set out for Tours to Saint Martin, that he might tonsure him as a monk; for up to that day he had been shorn only in the manner of servants. But when he received the monastic tonsure from Saint Martin, he renounced all the cares and pleasures of the world and consecrated himself wholly to prayer and abstinence, so that he resolved never to eat meat. Yet on one occasion, being grievously tempted, he could not restrain himself until he had taken pork; and lest the other monks should be led astray by his example, he hid it beneath a cask. But after he had thus left the meat behind, there came to meet him a certain being having eyes both on his forehead and on the back of his head. But Patrick, looking more closely at him and greatly marvelling at his condition, asked him what such a monstrous form and appearance signified. He replied: “I am a servant of God, and with the eyes which are ordinarily placed on the forehead I see the ordinary actions of men; but with the eyes placed on the back of my head I see a monk hiding meat beneath a tub so that he may not be discovered.” And having said these things, he immediately disappeared. But Patrick, pierced with compunction of heart, fell to the ground and, pouring himself out in prayer like a great sinner, begged forgiveness for his offence. Then the angel Victor appeared to him, saying: “Arise, take courage, for the Lord has taken away your sin.” Therefore Saint Patrick, rising up, renounced from that time forward the eating of meat, so that during the whole remainder of his life he tasted no flesh. Yet he still humbly besought the Lord to show him by some evident sign that his guilt had been remitted. The angel therefore commanded that the meat be brought forth into the midst before the monks and thrown into water. Patrick did this, and the meat, when afterwards taken out of the water, was found to have been changed into fish. This sign Patrick was afterwards accustomed to recount frequently before his disciples, in order to encourage them to overcome the temptations of gluttony.

²⁷ Autissiodorum was the name of the city of which Saint Germanus was the chief and noble bishop; the island was called Aralanensis, in which Saint Patrick was being instructed by him. He was thirty years old when he came to Saint Germanus, and he devoted another thirty years to letters and disciplines, and afterwards in Ireland he devoted sixty years to preaching and to the instruction of the people. At a certain time, when Saint Patrick was in the Tyrrhenian Sea, he came to a place where there were three other Patricks. For these men were in a certain solitary cave between the mountain called Trias and the sea, and he asked them for permission to remain with them. They replied that they were unwilling to grant this unless he would draw water from a nearby spring. For in that place there was a certain beast which caused great harm to men. Patrick, however, consenting, came to the spring, and when the beast saw him it rejoiced, giving signs as if of joy, and showed itself gentle and tame toward him. After this, drawing the water, he carried it home with a blessing. Previously those three holy men used to receive three half-loaves sent from heaven as their daily provision; but then, by the indulgence of divine goodness, a fourth was immediately added after Patrick’s arrival. And he remained with them for seven years, and they formed among themselves a bond of spiritual friendship and brotherhood.

²⁸ Then, when Patrick was sixty years old, and had learned wisdom, an angel came to strengthen him, whose name was Victor, for he was a helper to him from the time he was in bondage with Miliuc and in everything else that befell him. He said to him: “It has been commanded to you by God to go to Ireland, to strengthen faith and belief, so that through the multitude of the Gospel you may reach the harbour of life; for all the Irish are calling you: it is fitting and right in their eyes that you should come to them.” After that Patrick took leave of Germanus, and he gave him his blessing, and a senior went across the sea with him from Germanus for his protection and testimony, Segetius by name, and a consecrated priest, and he was the one who was in charge of the ordering of the Church under the hand of Germanus.

²⁹ Patrick then went out upon the sea with nine men. At that time he landed on an island, and he saw a new house with a married couple dwelling in it, and he saw an old, withered woman on the threshold of the house, resting on her hands. “Why is the old woman like this?” said Patrick. “Her infirmity is great.” The young man answered him and said: “She is my foster-mother.” “If she is your mother,” said Patrick, “her virginity is as you see it, and her infirmity comes from that.” “What manner of speech is that?” said Patrick. “It is no wonder,” said the young man, “for we have been here since the time of Christ. Someone came to us from Him while He was among men on earth, and we made a feast for Him. He blessed our house and blessed us ourselves, and that blessing did not pass on to our children, and so we remain here without age and without decay until the Judgment, as was promised to us long ago. It was foretold to us,” said the young man, “that you would come, and God left us here until you should come to preach to the Gaels, and He left a sign for us, namely, that we should give you a staff.” “I will not accept it,” said Patrick, “until He Himself gives me the staff.” Patrick stayed three days and three nights with them, and afterwards went to Mount Hermon in the neighbourhood of the island. There the Lord appeared to him and commanded him to go and preach to the Gaels, and He gave him the staff of Jesus, saying that it would help him in every danger and in every unequal conflict in which he might be. And Patrick asked three boons of Him: that he might be at His right hand in the kingdom of heaven, that Patrick himself might be judge of the Gaels on Doomsday, and that as much gold and silver as the nine companions could carry should be given to the Gaels for believing.

³⁰ Now the chief who was in Rome at that time was Caelestinus, the forty-second successor of Peter. He sent Palladius, an archdeacon, with twelve men, to preach to the Gaels, for it belongs to Peter’s successor to bring benefit to Europe, just as Barnabas went forth from Peter to preach to the Romans. When Palladius came into the territory of Leinster, namely to Inver Dea, Nathi son of Garrchu opposed him and drove him away. Palladius baptized a few people in that place and founded three churches: Cell Fine, in which he left his books, the casket containing the relics of Paul and Peter, and the writing tablet on which he used to write; the House of the Romans; and Domnach Airte, in which are Sylvester and Solonius. As he was returning, sickness overtook him in the land of the Picts, and he died of it there. When Patrick heard this and knew that God had granted to him the apostleship of Ireland, he then went to Rome to receive ecclesiastical orders; and Caelestinus, abbot of Rome, was the one who conferred orders upon him, with Germanus and Amatho, king of the Romans, present with them.

³¹ On the same day Auxilius was ordained, and Iserninus, and others of Patrick’s household. Then also the name Patricius was given to him, a name of power as the Romans understood it, namely, one who releases hostages. Thus he released the Gaels from their bondage and slavery to the Devil. And while the orders were being read out, three choirs responded to one another: the choir of the household of heaven, the choir of the Romans, and the choir of the children from the wood of Fochlad. This is what they all sang: “All we Irish beseech thee, holy Patrick, to come and walk among us and to free us.”

³² Now when Patrick came from Rome he went to Inver Dea in Leinster. However, Nathi son of Garrchu came against him, and Patrick cursed him. Sinell son of Findchad, however, was the first who believed in God in Ireland through Patrick’s preaching; therefore Patrick bestowed a blessing upon him and upon his descendants. In those days these things were done as has been said. At that time there was a certain fierce heathen king in Ireland, namely Loegaire son of Niall, whose dwelling and royal stronghold were at Tara. In the fifth year of the reign of Loegaire son of Niall Patrick came to Ireland; in the eighth year of the reign of Lugaid he died. Patrick came in the eighth year of the reign of Theodosius, the forty-fifth from Augustus. Caelestinus was chief for eight years, as Gelasius says. This cruel king, namely Loegaire son of Niall, had wizards and enchanters who foretold by their sorcery and heathen practices what was to come. Lochru and Lucatmael were their chiefs, and they were the originators of that art of false prophecy. They foretold, then, that a prophet of an evil law would come over the sea to their land and teach, that a few would oppose him and a multitude would receive him, that he would find love and reverence among the men of Ireland, that he would cast kings and lords out of their dominion, that he would destroy all the images of idols, and that the practice he would introduce would abide in Ireland for ever and ever. Two or three years before Patrick’s coming they used to prophesy this:

³³ “Adze-head will come over a fierce sea; his mantle with a hole for the head, his staff crook-headed, his dish in the east of his house; all his household shall answer, ‘Amen, Amen.’ Adze-heads will come who will build cities, who will consecrate churches, pinnacled houses of song, many conical caps and a realm full of croziers.”

³⁴ “So,” said they, “when these signs come, our worship and our heathenism will be destroyed, and the faith and belief will be exalted.” And as it was prophesied and prefigured, so it came to pass and was fulfilled. Now when Patrick had completed his voyage and his ship made harbour at Inver Dea in Leinster, he brought his vessel to land. Then he resolved to go and preach to Miliuc. This seemed fitting to him, since he had once rendered service to Miliuc’s body, that he should now render service to his soul. So he turned his mast toward the land and went on a prosperous voyage eastward along the coast of Ireland until he anchored at Inver Domnann. He found no fish there and laid a curse upon it.

³⁵ He went to Patrick’s Island and sent to Inver Ainge. Nothing was found for him there, and so he laid a curse upon it also, and both places are barren.

³⁶ Then Benen came into his service, and Patrick slept among his household. All the sweet-smelling flowers that the gillie, Benen, found he would place in the cleric’s bosom. Patrick’s household said to Benen, “Do not do that, lest Patrick should awake.” But Patrick said, “He shall inherit my kingdom.”

³⁷ He went to Inver Boinde. He found fish there and bestowed a blessing upon it, and the estuary is fruitful. He found a wizard in that place who mocked the virginity of Mary. Patrick blessed the earth, and it swallowed up the wizard.

³⁸ Then Patrick went from Patrick’s Island, past Conaille and along the coast of Ulster, until he anchored at Inver Brennea. Then he went to Inver Slan, and the clerics hid their vessel in that place, and went ashore to put away their weariness and to rest. There the swineherd of Dichu son of Trichem found them, in the place where today Patrick’s Barn stands. When he saw the wise men and the clerics, he thought they were robbers or thieves, so he went and told his master. Thereupon Dichu came and set his dog upon the clerics. Then Patrick chanted the prophetic verse, “Do not hand over to the beasts the souls of those who confess you”, and the dog became silent. When Dichu saw Patrick, sorrow of heart seized him, and he believed, and Patrick baptized him. Thus he was the first in Ulster to receive baptism and faith from Patrick. Then Dichu offered the Barn to Patrick. Patrick said:

³⁹ God’s blessing on Dichu,
who gave me the Barn!
May he afterwards have
a heavenly home, bright, pure, and great.
God’s blessing on Dichu,
Dichu with a multitude of children.
No offspring or descendant of his
shall die whose… is not enduring.

⁴⁰ Patrick then went to preach to Miliuc, as he had said, and he took with him gold to move him to belief, for he knew that Miliuc was greedy for gold. Now when Miliuc heard that Patrick had arrived, he was unwilling to believe or to abandon the evil, heathen law in which he was abiding. He deemed it a shame to believe in his slave and to be subject to him. This was the counsel which the Devil taught him. He entered his palace with his gold and his silver, and he himself set fire to it and burned it with all his treasures, and his soul went to hell. Then Patrick stood still on the southern side of Slemish—there stands a cross in that place—and he saw the fire from afar. He was silent for the space of two or three hours. While he was sighing and groaning, this is what he said: “Yonder is the fire of Miliuc’s house,” says Patrick, “after he burned himself within his house, lest he should believe in God at the end of his life. He upon whom his destruction lies,” says he, “of him there shall be neither king nor crown prince, and in bondage shall his offspring and his seed abide for ever, and his soul shall not come out of hell until doom nor after doom.”

⁴¹ And when he had spoken these words, he turned right-handwise and went back again into Ulster, until he came to Mag Inis, to Dichu son of Trichem; and there he stayed a long while sowing belief, until he brought all the Ulstermen by the net of the Gospel to the harbour of Life.

⁴² Then Patrick went from the Barn southwards, that he might preach to Ross son of Trichem. It is he who dwelt at Derlus, to the south of Downpatrick; there stands a small town there today, namely Bright, where Bishop Loairn is, who dared to reproach Patrick for driving away a boy who was playing close by his church.

⁴³ Now while Patrick was going along his way, he saw a gentle youth herding swine. Mochae was his name. Patrick preached to him and baptized him, and tonsured him, and gave him a Gospel and a credence-table. He also gave him, at another time, a crozier that had been bestowed on them by God, that is, it fell from heaven with its head in Patrick’s bosom and its foot in Mochae’s bosom; and this is the Etech (“Winged Thing”) of Mochae of Noendruim. And Mochae promised a shaven pig every year to Patrick, and this is still offered.

⁴⁴ Now, when the high tide of Easter drew near, Patrick thought that there was no place fitter for the chief solemnity of the year, that is, for the celebration of Easter, than in Mag Breg, in the place where the chief seat of the idolatry and wizardry of Ireland was, namely, in Tara. Then they bade farewell to Dichu son of Trichem, put their vessel to sea, and went on until they anchored at Inver Colptha.

⁴⁵ They left their vessel in the estuary and went by land until they came to Ferta Fer Feicc, that is, the Graves of Fiacc’s Men, and Patrick’s tent was pitched in that place, and he kindled the paschal fire. Now it happened that this was the time at which the great festival of the heathen was celebrated, namely, the Feast of Tara. The kings, the lords, and the chiefs were accustomed to come to Tara, to Loegaire son of Niall, to celebrate that festival there.

⁴⁶ The wizards also, and the augurs, would come, so that they might prophesy for them. On that night, then, the fire of every hearth in Ireland was quenched, and it was proclaimed by the king that no fire should be kindled in Ireland before the fire of Tara, and that neither gold nor silver should be accepted as compensation from the one who should kindle it, but that he should go to death for his crime. Patrick did not know this, and even if he had known it, it would not have hindered him.

⁴⁷ As the folk of Tara were waiting there, they saw, at some distance from them, the paschal consecrated fire which Patrick had kindled. It lit up the whole of Mag Breg. Then the King said, “That is a breaking of a ban and a law of mine: go and find out who has done this.” “We see the fire,” say the wizards, “and we know that unless it is quenched on the night on which it was made, it will not be quenched until Doomsday. Moreover, he who kindled it will overcome the kings and lords of Ireland, unless he is restrained.” When the King heard that, he was greatly troubled. Then the King said, “This shall not be. But we will go,” says he, “and slay the man who kindled the fire.” Then the King’s chariots and horses were yoked, and they went at the end of the night to the Graves of Fiacc’s Men. “You should take care,” say the wizards, “not to go to the place where the fire was made, lest you show reverence to the man who kindled it; but remain outside, and let him be called out to you, so that he may judge that you are the King and that he is the subject, and we will dispute in your presence.” “It is good counsel,” says the King; “it shall be done as you say.”

⁴⁸ They came thereafter and unyoked their horses and their chariots before the Graves. Patrick was called out to them, and they made a rule that no one should rise up to meet him, lest he should believe in him. So Patrick arose and went forth, and saw the chariots and the horses unyoked. Then he chanted the prophetic verse, “Some trust in chariots and some in horses; but we trust in the name of the Lord our God”. They were waiting before him with the rims of their shields against their chins, and none of them rose up before him except one man only, in whom was a nature from God, namely Ere son of Deg. He is Bishop Ere, who is today in Slane of Mag Breg. Patrick bestowed a blessing upon him, and he believed in God and confessed the catholic faith, and was baptized; and Patrick said to him, “Thy city on earth shall be high and noble,” and Patrick’s successor is forever bound to [bend?] his knee before Ere’s successor after receiving his homage.

⁴⁹ Then each asked news of the other, Patrick and Loegaire. The wizard Lochru went in anger and uproar, with strife and questioning, against Patrick, and he went so far as to fall into blasphemy against the Trinity and the catholic faith. Patrick thereafter looked sternly upon him and cried with a loud voice to God, and this is what he said: “Lord, who canst do all things, on whose power all that exists depends, and who hast sent us here to preach Thy name to the heathen, let this ungodly man, who blasphemes Thy name, be lifted up, and let him die at once.” When he said this, the wizard was lifted into the air and immediately cast down again, and his brains were dashed upon the stone; he was broken in pieces and died in their presence. The heathen were struck with great fear.

⁵⁰ The king, then, was greatly enraged against Patrick and wished at once to kill him. Loegaire said this to his household: “Slay the cleric!” When Patrick saw this, the heathen rising up against him, he cried with a loud voice and said: “Let God arise, and let His enemies be scattered; let those also who hate Him flee before Him. As smoke vanishes, so let them vanish; as wax melts before the fire, so let the ungodly perish at the presence of God”. At once darkness came upon the sun, and a great earthquake and a trembling of weapons took place there. It seemed to them that the sky had fallen upon the earth; the horses fled in terror, and the wind hurled the chariots across the fields. And they rose up against one another in the assembly, so that each sought to slay the other, and fifty of them fell in that uprising through Patrick’s curse.

⁵¹ The heathen fled from there in every direction, so that only three remained, namely Loegaire, his queen, and one of his household, and they were greatly afraid. And the queen, that is, Angas daughter of Tassach son of Liathan, came to Patrick and said to him: “O just and mighty man, do not destroy the king. The king shall come to thee and shall do thy will, and shall kneel and believe in God.” So Loegaire went and knelt before Patrick, and gave him a false peace.

⁵² Not long thereafter the king summoned Patrick to speak with him apart, intending to kill him, but this did not come to pass. God revealed this to Patrick. Loegaire said to Patrick: “Come with me, O cleric, to Tara, that I may believe in thee in the presence of the men of Ireland.” And immediately he set an ambush on every path from the Graves of the Men of Ff ace to Tara, before Patrick, to kill him. But God did not permit this. Patrick went with eight young clerics, and Benen with them as a gillie, and Patrick blessed them before they went. A cloak of darkness came over them, so that none of them was seen as a man. Yet the heathen who lay waiting in the snares saw eight deer passing beneath the mountain, and behind them a fawn with a bundle upon its shoulder: this was Patrick with his eight, and Benen following them with his tablets upon his back.

The Deer’s Cry #

¹ I bind myself today to a strong virtue, an invocation of the Trinity.
I believe in a Threeness, with confession of a Oneness, in the Creator of the universe.
I bind myself today to the virtue of Christ’s birth with his baptism,
to the virtue of his crucifixion with his burial,
to the virtue of his resurrection with his ascension,
to the virtue of his coming to the Judgment of Doom.
I bind myself today to the virtue of the ranks of Cherubim,
in the obedience of Angels,
in the service of Archangels,
in hope of resurrection for reward,
in the prayers of Patriarchs,
in the predictions of Prophets,
in the preachings of Apostles,
in the faith of Confessors,
in the innocence of holy Virgins,
in the deeds of righteous men.
I bind myself today to the virtue of Heaven,
the light of the Sun,
the brightness of the Moon,
the splendour of Fire,
the speed of Lightning,
the swiftness of Wind,
the depth of the Sea,
the stability of the Earth,
the firmness of Rock.

² I bind myself today to God’s virtue to guide me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to direct me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to secure me,
against the snares of demons,
against the seductions of vices,
against the corruptions of nature,
against everyone who wishes ill to me,
afar and near,
alone and in a multitude.

³ I summon today all these virtues between me and these evils,
against every cruel, merciless power that may come against my body and my soul,
against the incantations of false prophets,
against the black laws of heathenry,
against the false laws of heretics,
against the craft of idolatry,
against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
against every knowledge that denies the body and soul of man.

⁴ Christ to protect me today against every poison,
against burning, against drowning, against deadly wounds,
so that I may receive a multitude of rewards.
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in breadth, Christ in length, Christ in height,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in the eye of everyone who sees me,
Christ in the ear of everyone who hears me.

⁵ I bind myself today to a strong virtue, an invocation of the Trinity.
I believe in a Threeness, with confession of a Oneness, in the Creator of the universe.

⁶ “Salvation is the Lord’s; salvation is the Lord’s; salvation is Christ’s”.
May your salvation, Lord, be always with us. Amen.

⁷ hereafter Loegaire went at daybreak to Tara in grief and in shame, together with the few who had escaped with him.

⁸ On the following day the men of Ireland went to Tara to carouse, for with them the Feast of Tara was a special day. As they were carousing and thinking of the conflict they had fought on the day before, they saw Patrick standing motionless in the middle of Tara, the doors being shut, as when Christ came into the dining room. For Patrick thought and said, “I will go so I might make manifest my readiness before the men of Ireland. It is not a candle under a vat that I will make of myself. So that I may see, who it is that will believe in me, and who will not believe.” No one rose up before him in the house except Dubthach Maccu Lugair, chief poet of the island of Ireland and poet of the king, and a stripling of his household named Fiacc. It is he, Fiacc, who is in Sleibte today. Now Dubthach was the first man who believed in God in Tara on that day. Patrick bestowed a blessing on him and on his descendants.

⁹ Patrick, then, was summoned to the king’s couch, that he might partake of food and be tested in prophecy. Patrick did not refuse, because he knew what would come of it. The wizard Lucat-moel went to drink with him, for he intended to avenge upon Patrick what Patrick had done the day before to his comrade Lochru. So Lucat-moel put a drop of poison into the cup that stood at Patrick’s hand, to see what he would do with it. Patrick observed this, and he blessed the cup, and the liquor curdled. He then inverted the vessel, and out of it fell the poison which the wizard had put into it. Patrick again blessed the cup, and the liquor returned to its proper nature. Thereby the name of God and of Patrick was magnified. This is what Patrick recited over the cup: “Gaibiu anis, ibiu anis, fri sia tiathib ibiu lithu, in Christo Iesu, Amen”; that is, “whether we have knowledge of it or whether we have not, it shall be drunk in the name of Jesus Christ.”

¹⁰ Then the hosts came until they were all assembled outside Tara on the plain. “Let us,” said Lucat-moel, “work miracles before the host in that great plain.” Patrick said, “What are they?” The wizard said, “Let us bring snow upon the plain, so that the plain may be white before us.” Patrick said to him, “I have no desire to go against God’s will.” The wizard said, “I will bring the snow upon the plain, even if you do not wish it.” Then he began the chants of wizardry and the arts of devilry, so that the snow fell until it reached men’s girdles. All the rest of the Irish saw this and marvelled greatly. Patrick said, “We see this. Put it away, if you can.” The wizard said, “I cannot do that until this hour tomorrow.” “By the judgment of my God,” Patrick said, “your power stands in evil, and not in good.” Patrick blessed the plain throughout the four quarters, and quicker than speech, at Patrick’s word, the snow vanished, without rain, without sun, and without wind.

¹¹ Then at the wizard’s incantation darkness came over the face of the earth. At this the hosts cried out. Patrick said, “Dispel the darkness.” The wizard said, “I cannot do so today.” Patrick prayed to the Lord and blessed the plain, and the darkness was banished and the sun shone, and all gave thanks.

¹² They remained for a long time in this contest in the presence of the king. And just as Nero said to Simon Magus and to Peter, so the king said to them, “Cast your books into water, and we will honour the one whose books come out unharmed.” Patrick replied, “I will do so.” But the wizard said, “I am unwilling to go with him to the ordeal of water, for he has water as a god.” The wizard said this because he had heard that Patrick used to baptise with water. And the king answered, “Cast them, then, into fire.” Patrick said, “I am ready.” But the wizard, unwilling, said, “This man, in alternate years, worships as a god now water and now fire.” “That will not be so,” Patrick said, “but since you say that I worship a god of fire, you shall go, if you are willing, apart into a house completely shut up, with a cleric of my household before you, my chasuble placed around you, and your wizard’s tunic placed around my cleric, and fire shall be set in the house, so that God may give judgment upon you there.” That counsel was then agreed upon by them, that is, by the men of Ireland around Loegaire.

¹³ Then there came to Patrick the three children who were being held in hostage by Loegaire. They wept before Patrick. Patrick asked, “What is the matter?” “A prince’s pledge,” they said, “has been broken in the chief city of the Gaels, namely this: the house that is being built both for the wizard and for your servant is built thus, half of it fresh and half dry, the fresh half for the wizard and the dry for your servant.” Patrick placed his finger on the right cheek of each of the children, and he took a tear from the cheek of each child onto his left palm, and he breathed upon the tears and made three gems from them. The children swallowed the gems. “Three special gems,” Patrick said, “will be born from them,” namely Colum Cille, Comgall, and Finnian.

¹⁴ Thereafter the house was built, one side of it dry and the other fresh. Then the wizard was sent into the fresh side, with Patrick’s chasuble placed around him. Then Benen was sent into the dry side, with the wizard’s tunic placed around him. The house was then closed around them, and a bar was set… on it outside before the host, and fire was kindled within it. A great marvel came to pass there through Patrick’s prayer. The fresh half of the house was burned, and the wizard within it together with the chasuble, yet the fire did not harm the chasuble in the least. The dry half, however, in which Benen was abiding, was not burned, and Benen was preserved in the midst of the wizard’s tunic, and the tunic was burned so that it was reduced to ashes.

¹⁵ The king was greatly enraged with Patrick for killing his wizard. He rose up and wished to kill him at once, but through Patrick’s intercession God did not permit it. Thereafter the anger of God fell upon the impious people, so that a great multitude of them perished, namely twelve thousand in one day.

¹⁶ Patrick, however, said to Loegaire, “Unless you believe now, you shall die swiftly, for the anger of God will come upon your head.” When the king heard these words, great fear seized him. Then the king went into the assembly-house to his people. “As for me,” said he, “belief in God is better than what is threatened to me, namely, that I should be killed.” Thereupon Loegaire knelt before Patrick and believed in God, though he did not believe with a pure heart; and on that day many thousands believed. Then Patrick said, “Since you have believed in God and done my will, length of days shall be given to you in your kingdom; yet, as a reward for your former disobedience, there shall be neither king nor crown-prince descended from you, save Lugaid son of Loegaire,” because his mother had besought Patrick not to curse the child that lay in her womb. Patrick said this: “Until he opposes me, I will not curse him.” Then Lugaid took the kingdom and went to Achad Forchai. And he said, “Is not that the church of the cleric who declared that there would be neither king nor crown-prince from Loegaire?” After that, a fiery bolt was hurled from the sky against him and killed him, wherefore the place is called Achad Forchai, the Field of the Thunderbolt.

¹⁷ Let the miracles extend thus far to this day.

¹⁸ These are the miracles which the elders of Ireland declared and connected together by a thread of narration. Colum Cille, son of Fedlimid, first declared the miracles of Patrick and composed them. Thereafter followed Ultan, son of Conchobar’s descendant; Adomnán, grandson of Tinne; Eleran the Wise; Ciarán of Belach Duin; Bishop Ermedach of Clochar; Colmán Uamach; and the presbyter Collait of Druim Roilgech.

¹⁹ This man, then, was a just man, with purity of nature like the patriarchs. A true pilgrim, like Abraham. Gentle and forgiving of heart, like Moses. A praiseworthy psalmist, like David. A treasury of wisdom, like Solomon. A vessel of election for the proclamation of truth, like Paul the Apostle. A man full of the grace and knowledge of the Holy Spirit, like John the child. A fair garden planted with virtues. A branch of a vine rich in fruitfulness. A bright fire, fervent in heat and warmth, kindling and inflaming charity in the sons of Life. A lion in strength and power. A dove in gentleness and simplicity. A serpent in prudence and shrewdness directed toward good. Gentle, humble, and mild toward the sons of Life; stern and unyielding toward the sons of Death. A laborious and devoted servant of Christ. A king in dignity and power, with authority to bind and to loose, to free and to enslave, to kill and to give life.

²⁰ But the day of his death drew near, and he received the communion from Bishop Tassach, that provision for the journey to eternal life which he had taken by the counsel of Victor. And then, after raising the dead, after converting many people to God, and after ordaining bishops and priests in the churches, when the whole order of the Church had been duly set in place and the whole of Ireland had been converted to the faith of Christ, in the one hundred and twenty-second year of his age he fell asleep unto eternal life, and so forth.