Brigid

ON ST. BRIGID, VIRGIN, THE WONDER-WORKER OF SCOTLAND, AT KILDARE AND DOWN IN IRELAND.

In the year of Christ 523.

Preliminary Commentary.

Brigid, Virgin of Scotland, in Ireland (St.)

BHL Number: 0000, 0198, 0199, 6517

By I. B.

Section 1. The feast day and celebration of St. Brigid.

[1] Two most holy virgins of the same era adorned the Church: Brigid in Ireland, Genevieve in Gaul. So that while the wisest of men were forming the most fierce peoples -- the Scots there, the Franks here -- by their learning and integrity of life to embrace the precepts of Christian discipline, these women both compelled the other sex by their own example, and indeed men themselves as well, to surrender to the truth by their wise innocence St. Brigid, a most celebrated virgin and the effective eloquence of miracles. Of Genevieve we have already treated on January 3. Brigid, however, is celebrated on the Kalends of February, with such accord of popular devotion that not only the Scots and the Irish, both of whom contend that she belongs to their own nation, but also the English, the Belgians, and the Germans venerate her with quite exceptional reverence. Among the Scots, Irish, and English. Concerning the Scots, English, and Irish, Hector Boethius testifies in book 9 of his History of Scotland: "The memory of this same virgin has become so celebrated for posterity, on account of her remarkable piety, that the Scots, Picts, Irish, and the English who have their settlements near those nations have always held her, among the women whom the Christian Church has enrolled in the number of the Saints, in the highest veneration after the Virgin Mother of God. Churches sacred to the name of Brigid among these peoples are almost as many as those of scarcely any of the saints -- with very many churches dedicated to her certain evidence of this fact." Even more extravagantly, John Leslie in book 4, under Conval, the 47th King: "The Scots, Picts, Britons, English, and Irish have everywhere pursued St. Brigid with such veneration that you may see more churches erected to God in her memory among all of them than in memory of all the rest of the saints combined." Following both, George Conn says: "The memory of this virgin has become so celebrated for posterity that no woman after the Mother of God has the Scots venerated with equal devotion." John Colgan, in appendix 4 to the Life of St. Brigid, chapter 16, enumerates nearly sixty places distinguished by the name of St. Brigid, drawn from the catalogues of only five Irish dioceses, although there are many more whose catalogues he had not obtained, and in those very places there are other churches, chapels, and altars dedicated to her, even though the towns or places themselves do not bear her name. He acknowledges, however, that some of the places he lists may have received their name from another Brigid. For in chapter 1 of the same appendix he enumerates many other Brigids, illustrious for holiness of life and the honor of public worship, of whom we shall mention some below. But most of the places listed by him are more likely to have been consecrated to this Brigid, by far the most celebrated of all. How many churches must have existed in all the rest of Ireland, in all of Scotland, in England, and in the surrounding islands, dedicated to her honor, before the madness of heretics destroyed the greater part of those monuments of ancestral piety! And yet the feeling of ancestral piety has not been entirely erased even from the minds of the heretics themselves. To this day in Scotland, not only Catholics but most of the heretics as well are accustomed, on the vigil of St. Brigid, to adorn one room in each house with exquisite neatness, and to furnish in it a bed as sumptuously as they can. A serious and trustworthy man who reported this to me said that he had asked them what that bedspread was supposed to mean, since they had already repudiated the veneration of saints according to the tenets of their newfangled sect. They replied that the bed was being prepared for the bride of Christ, Brigid, and that they retained the custom received from their ancestors. Would that they might some day resume all the rest of their ancestors' piety!

[2] Among the Belgians. Since very many religious men formerly migrated from Scotland and Ireland, and also from England, into the Belgian and German provinces -- some for the sake of disseminating the faith, others for the sake of more peacefully cultivating piety among strangers, and most of them trained in Scottish institutions -- the veneration of that holy virgin was propagated hither to peoples then, for the most part, devoted to pastoral and agricultural pursuits, and never long idle from the use and handling of arms, yet of such a character that their simplicity both strove to merit and was able to merit her help; for she had formerly performed very many miracles in connection with rustic produce -- milk, butter, lard, honey -- and with the herds themselves, or otherwise for the relief of country folk; and she professed, as is reported in the first Life, chapter 10, number 60, that she was more inclined to benefit common people and the humble, because all common folk serve God and all call upon Him as Father, while the powerful, with the exception of a few chosen by God, are serpents and children of blood and children of death. Yet she did not on that account abhor just wars, nor did she fail those who asked for help. By Ecclesiastical Office. Devotion to her was increased by new benefits continually conferred upon various peoples, so that most of the Belgian churches were accustomed to celebrate her feast with Ecclesiastical Office, as can be seen in the ancient Breviaries of the Canonical Hours: Antwerp, printed in 1496; Brussels, 1516; Saint-Omer, 1518; Liege and Bruges, 1520; Therouanne, 1542; Utrecht; and others.

[3] And also among the Germans. The same devotion exists among the Germans. Stephen White, a most learned priest of our Society, who taught Theology for many years in Germany, in his learned and notable work -- not yet published -- which he entitled Vindiciae of Old Scotland, or Ireland, has the following in book 3, chapter 12: "Among the Saints who are special patrons of Germany, Peter Cratepolius lists Brigid, saying that she is most celebrated in Germany; and truly so. For, even if there were no other evidence, it would be sufficient that there is not today, nor has there been for nearly a thousand years, any Cathedral church or diocese of Catholics in that most vast and extensive region where every year on February 1 the Office or Canonical prayers and the Mass are not publicly said in the choir and at the altar concerning the Virgin Brigid. Nor was I able to see in Germany any of the Calendars which are struck anew everywhere every year, both by heretics and by Catholics, for the variety of dioceses and provinces, in which I did not see the name of the Virgin Brigid." So says that man, inquisitive in no ordinary degree.

[4] That her memory was celebrated among other peoples as well is clear from all the Martyrologies which proclaim her name on this very day. The ancient Roman Martyrology, bearing the name of St. Jerome as its title in the Trier codex which we have used, but augmented (as is evident even from this), if it was originally begun by St. Jerome, mentions her thus: Inscribed in the Martyrologies on February 1. "In Scotland, of St. Brigid the Virgin." The same is found in the very ancient manuscript Martyrology of Bruges, the manuscript of St. Mary's Utrecht, the manuscript of Centula bearing the name of Bede; and the manuscript Florarium, but in the latter it is added: "who died in the year of salvation 518." The manuscript of the monastery of St. Martin at Trier, itself very ancient: "In Ireland, of Brigid the Virgin." Usuard: "In Scotland, of St. Brigid the Virgin, whose life was illustrious for miracles." With a notable encomium. The published text of Bede, Ado, and other manuscripts: "In Scotland, of St. Brigid the Virgin, whose life was illustrious for miracles. When she touched the wood of the altar in testimony of her virginity, it became green." This encomium is less satisfactory to us; for she did not touch the wooden foot of the altar in testimony of her virginity; rather, while the holy Bishop who had imposed the veil upon her was reciting prayers, she herself with bowed head held the wooden foot of the altar with her hand, "and from that hour that foot remains green forever, without any decay and without failure," as is said in the first Life, chapter 3, number 16. Better, therefore, the Roman Martyrology, Bellinus of Padua, Molanus in his additions to Usuard, and most of the Belgian Martyrologies inscribed under the name of Usuard: "In Scotland, of St. Brigid the Virgin; when she touched the wood of the altar, in testimony of her virginity it immediately became green." Maurolycus has the same and adds: "in the time of Justin I." Wandelbert, monk of Prum, who wrote over 800 years ago:

"Brigid, a powerful virgin, sanctifies for herself the first Kalends of February, To be celebrated with the wondrous favor of the Scots."

So reads the manuscript of Cusa. Molanus and others read: "celebrated with favor." Rabanus in his Martyrology mentions her thus: "Also in Ireland, the birthday of Brigid the Virgin, which birthday is proclaimed to be one of great merits and holiness." Better the manuscript of St. Maximin: "In Ireland, of St. Brigid the Virgin, who is proclaimed to be of great merits and holiness." For it is not apparent by what reasoning the birthday itself could be called of great merits and holiness, since her mother was still a pagan and was serving a magician -- unless someone should wish to assert what Jerome de Villavitis, a Canon Regular, in his book which he calls Daily Bread, has taught without any solid foundation: that she was sanctified in her mother's womb -- as though the miracles that soon occurred were arguments of her present holiness, and not rather of her future holiness. Notker has the same as the manuscript of St. Maximin, and adds: "so much so that when she touched the wood of the altar in testimony of her virginity, it became green." The ancient manuscript of Liessies: "In Scotland, the birthday of St. Brigid the Virgin, who from her earliest years was joined to Christ by love. She, living most holily in her chaste resolve, shone forth with many miracles." The ancient manuscript of the monastery of St. Martin of Tournai has nearly the same. In short, there is scarcely any Martyrology that does not proclaim her name. But some list her on January 31, the feast having been anticipated, no doubt, on account of the feast of St. Ignatius the Theophorus. In the Cologne Martyrology printed in 1490, under July 14, the following is found: "Likewise, on the third weekday after the feast of St. Margaret the Virgin, is the commemoration of St. Brigid the Virgin." That is to say, on that day -- or rather, as Gelenius writes in his work on the greatness of Cologne, book 3, Syntagma 29, section 3 -- on the third weekday after the feast of St. Peter in Chains, a procession and holiday of the parish of St. Brigid at Cologne is transferred.

Section 2. The Acts of St. Brigid.

[5] Brigid has obtained no less celebrity from the writers of her Life. So many have committed her deeds to writing. Her Life written by many. Chilienus, or whoever is the author of the metrical Life which we shall give in third place, attests this in the Prologue:

"Many have written the virtues of the nourishing Virgin: Doctor Ultanus, and Eleranus exulting. Animosus by name described many books Concerning the life and studies and merits of the Virgin."

Whether or not the works of these authors survive, and whether they were in Irish or in Latin, I would not wish to guess rashly. St. Ultan, Bishop of Ardbraccan in Meath, as John Colgan relates from an ancient writer, comprised the miracles of St. Brigid in one book; and Colgan holds this to be the same Life which he gives in third place and we give first. How sound the argument is on which he bases this conjecture

is not worth inquiring into at greater length. He says that the same Ultan died on September 4, in the year of Christ 656, and was enrolled in the number of the Saints. Ussher places his death in the year 657; others in 662 -- those who think that the hymn in praise of St. Brigid was composed by him in the time of the two sons of Aed Slane; for on the authority of the ancient annals, Dermitius II and Blathmac, sons of Aed II, assumed the kingship of Ireland in the year 658 and held it for seven years.

[6] St. Aleranus, or Alleranus, in certain codices Aierranus, St. Eleranus the Wise. in others Eleranus and Heleranus, surnamed the Wise, perished in the pestilence of the year 664 or 665, of which we treated on January 20 in the Life of St. Fechin the Abbot, and Bede in book 3 of his History of the English People, chapter 27. He is venerated, according to Colgan, on August 11. Of his genius, says Ussher in On the Origins of the British Churches, chapter 17, we have remaining a single and quite slender monument, inserted in the younger Sedulius's commentary on Matthew, and thus entitled: Here begins the typological and tropological interpretation of the Genealogy of Christ, which St. Aileranus, wisest of the Scots, expounded. Mention of Aileranus is made in the Life of St. Fechin, chapter 2, number 8, in these words: "These miracles, lest they should occasion any scruple of doubt in anyone, have been confirmed on the report of the wise man Aileranus, and with many other faithful persons likewise attesting the same."

[7] We shall present five Lives of St. Brigid in all. The First, from an ancient manuscript of the Church of Saint-Omer, fivefold edition given here: carefully collated with that which Stephen White had formerly copied by his own hand from an ancient codex of the monastery of Ripes, or am Hof, dedicated to St. Magnus, in the suburb of Regensburg at the foot of the bridge, 1. whence? and sent to Heribert Rosweyde. We communicated a copy of this to Hugh Ward of the Order of Friars Minor, and Colgan, having collated it with the manuscript of Saint-Aubert at Arras, the Irish manuscript of the Monastery of the Island of Saints in the County of Longford, and another from the Charterhouse of Cologne, published it, testifying that another copy existed in the monastery of the Dunes at Bruges -- though he does not indicate whether he actually used it. The Life of the holy Virgin, with the same beginning, exists in an ancient Legendary of Kaiserswerth. The author briefly encompassed a great many miracles, but did not pursue the entire course of her life in sufficiently orderly or explicit fashion. This fault is present in almost all the Lives of ancient Irish Saints that we have so far obtained: so that their writers seem to have wished only to heap up confusedly and in bulk those things which could especially excite admiration, full of miracles: while passing over examples of virtues, either because these were commonly known or because, described in the vernacular tongue, they circulated in the hands of religious men. Most of Brigid's miracles, however, furnish a notable proof either of charity toward God and neighbor, or of trust in divine aid, or of self-abasement, or of other virtues.

[8] The Second, Rosweyde had transcribed from a very ancient codex of D. Preudhomme, a Canon of Arras: which we collated with the manuscripts of the monasteries of St. Maximin at Trier, 2. by Cogitosus, Wiblingen in Swabia, and Bodeken in Westphalia; and with the editions of Heinrich Canisius from the Eichstatt manuscript, and of John Colgan from the manuscripts of Saint-Hubert and Saint-Amand. The author is commonly called Cogitosus, because in the Epilogue he writes thus: "Pray for me, Cogitosus, a blameworthy descendant." But those words are lacking in many copies. Nor is it rightly concluded from them, as some think, that he was a blood relative of St. Brigid, because he calls himself a "descendant"; nor, however, as others would have it, that he had spent a dissolute youth: rather, thinking humbly of himself, as pious men are wont to do, he assumed the title of "blameworthy descendant." Colgan reports that he is inscribed in the calendars of the Saints under April 18. He is a notable writer, inasmuch as he relates gravely not only what he heard but also what he saw. For in chapter 7, number 34, he writes thus: "She is known to have always worked other miracles, which we have not only heard of but have also seen with our own eyes." He was himself perhaps a member of the great and most illustrious monastery of St. Brigid, and from the regular school of the Bishop of Kildare, as he says in chapter 8, number 37.

[9] He was not, however, a contemporary of St. Brigid, nor perhaps even of her era: for in the Prologue, number 1, he professes that he is making known things written long after handed down by his predecessors; and in number 2 he shows that he wrote not a short time after the founding of the Church of Kildare, still less a few years after Brigid's death, but when several Abbesses had succeeded her, and several Bishops had succeeded St. Conleth: "By the merits of both," he says, "their episcopal see and their convent of maidens, as if a fruitful vine spreading everywhere with growing branches, has taken root throughout the whole island of Ireland. Over which the Archbishop of Irish Bishops and the Abbess, whom all the Abbesses of the Scots venerate, rule by happy succession and perpetual rite." How could that be called, as it were, a long-propagated happy succession, if when the author was writing only the third Bishop from St. Conleth, or Conlaid, was sitting, and only the third Abbess from St. Brigid? Moreover, how restored the church already was, as is narrated in chapter 8 -- is it credible that this should have happened within a few years after Brigid's death? Finally, by the very argument from which Colgan thinks it can be firmly established that this Life was composed before the year 700, when the Archbishop of Leinster sat at Kildare; we are led to conclude that it was done much later. For, he says, the Bishop of Kildare was then Archbishop of Leinster: but that dignity was conferred on the See of Ferns around the year of Christ 700 at the request of King Brandub: therefore he wrote earlier. For how otherwise would he have been unaware of this, and asserted that an Archbishop sat at Kildare?

[10] But Colgan himself acknowledges, in Appendix 4 to the Life of St. Patrick, part 3, that St. Fiacc, or Fiec -- a disciple of that Dubtach who, in the hall of Tara, was the first to rise before St. Patrick despite the prohibition of King Loegaire -- was Archbishop of Leinster and lived until the year 520 or 530. Therefore St. Conlaid, who is said to have died in the year 519, was not Archbishop. But we shall treat of the era of St. Fiacc on October 12, on which day he is venerated together with his son St. Fiachrius. The archiepiscopal dignity of Fiacc is confirmed by the author of the tripartite work on the life of St. Patrick, part 3, number 21, in Colgan; namely, that it had seemed right to St. Patrick that he should not only be the first of all the Leinstermen to be ordained as Bishop, but also that he should be set over the whole province as its supreme prelate. And the writer who published scholia on the Irish hymn of the same St. Fiacc, who sat before at Sletty, concerning the life and virtues of St. Patrick -- himself also a very ancient writer -- has this: "And afterwards Fiacc was consecrated Bishop by the same Patrick, and at length was appointed Archbishop of Leinster: which office his Comarbs, that is, successors, have exercised from that time onward." That See was at Sletty, or Sleibhte, in Leix, or the Queen's County, near the river Barrow, formerly called Birgus, now the Barrow, as is clear from the same tripartite work and from Ussher.

[11] In the year of Christ 598, Branus Niger, or Brandub, King of South Leinster, after the year 598 at Ferns, a man of the greatest shrewdness and highly skilled in warfare -- as we said in the Life of St. Aidan, or Maedoc, on January 31, chapter 4, number 24 -- slew the King of Ireland, Aed son of Ainmire, having defeated him in battle, and inflicted a very great slaughter of the noble men of all Ireland along with him. Then, having received the kingdom of all Leinster, and not only that, but also all Ireland as far as Callachair, after the slaying of Aed son of Ainmire; delivered from a grievous illness by the prayers of St. Maedoc, and snatched from the peril of eternal damnation, "he gave great offerings to St. Maedoc, and a field in which the man of God might build a monastery, which is called Ferns; in which St. Maedoc is buried... Then, a great synod having been held in the land of the Leinstermen, King Brandub decreed, with the consent of both laity and clergy, that the Archbishopric of all the Leinstermen should always reside in the See and Chair of St. Maedoc. And then St. Maedoc was consecrated Archbishop by many Catholics."

[12] As the metropolitan dignity was transferred from the See of Sletty to that of Ferns, so from the latter it was transferred to Kildare: then at Kildare: but at what time this was done, I have not yet been able to discover. The author of the fourth Life, divided into two books, writes in book 2, chapter 1, number 3, speaking of Brigid: "There she built a great monastery of very many virgins: and there a very great city afterwards grew up in honor of the most blessed Brigid, which is today the Metropolis of the Leinstermen." And Cogitosus in chapter 8, number 39: "This is the greatest city and the Metropolitan one." And in his Prologue, he calls its Bishop the "Archbishop of the Irish." In the collection of ancient Irish letters, which Ussher published at Dublin in the year 1632, letter 34 is that of the Waterford men to St. Anselm, Archbishop of Canterbury; among others subscribing to which are Samuel, Bishop of Dublin, and Ferdomnachus, Bishop of the Leinstermen. Ussher proves elsewhere, from the ancient Annals, that this man was Bishop of Kildare, in which annals the following is read under the year 1101: "Ferdomnach, Bishop of Kildare, rested in peace." Concerning the era of Cogitosus, therefore, there is no certainty. This also argues that he was not so close in time to that age: that, as the simplicity of the ancients was already fading, he concealed the fact that she was born of a slave mother, although the writer of the first Life expressly states this, whether he was St. Ultan or someone else.

[13] The Life which we give in third place, composed in verse, was published by Colgan from a Monte Cassino manuscript, collated with three manuscripts: 3. Metrical, one from the Vatican library, one from Cardinal Antonio Barberini, and one from Luke Wadding. Colgan complains at length that it is mutilated and torn, and swarms with foul scribal errors. He says that the author is indicated in the catalogue of the Monte Cassino library in these words: "In the manuscript codex marked with the letter F, number 232, on shelf 8, to the left, in the second row, in the 15th position. The first treatise is... The fourth and last: the Life of Brigid, Virgin of Kildare, by the monk Chilienus composed in verse by Chilienus, a monk of the monastery of Inis Keltra." Keltra, or Inis Keltra, is an island in the lake of the Shannon, or the river Sinne, called Derg, above the city of Laon, or Killaloe, in Thomond, or North Munster, adjoining Connacht. On that island there was a monastery, and that this author was a member of it you might conjecture from the fact that in chapter 9, number 63, he introduces mention of it incidentally, as follows:

"Another miracle seems to me very worthy of wonder, a monk of Keltra, which occurred in the great wave of the river Shannon; within which is Keltra, a community duly of men prudent, flourishing in the sacred rule of Benedict."

Colgan conjectures that this Chilienus is St. Coelanus, or Coelenus, a monk of Inis Keltra, whom he says is venerated on July 29 and lived before the year 750. What prevents us from subscribing to this conjecture is that he calls Brigid's mother a "Countess," as though he were ashamed of her servile origin; and in number 7 he describes her gathering flowers, as do her companions elsewhere, and has other things I am not sure are sufficiently consonant with the simplicity of the ancient Irish Saints. Diligently, however, mutilated. as is clear from the prologue, he examined what had been written before; would that his complete work survived!

[14] To this we append another Life, formerly communicated to us by Hugh Ward: 4. in two books, which Colgan also published from Ward's collections. Ussher frequently cites it in his work On the Origins of the British Churches, and its writer is called by him now anonymous, now unpublished, now "the ancient author who described the Acts of Brigid in two books." He lived before the year of Christ 1152, when the dignity of Archbishop was conferred upon Gregory, the Bishop of Dublin and predecessor of St. Laurence: for, as was indicated above, he writes that Kildare was in his time the Metropolis of the Leinstermen. Were Colgan not persuaded that Chilienus, the writer of the metrical Life, was St. Coelanus, who died before the year 750, he would suspect the author of this fourth Life to be that Animosus praised by Chilienus. written in the 10th century, For the name Anmchad, or Anamchod, formerly familiar among the Irish, he says is rightly rendered into Latin as Animosus. There was indeed, as the same writer reports, an Anmchad, Bishop of Kildare, who ended a life holily led in a good old age in the year 980. It is most probable that this Life was written at approximately that era, perhaps by Bishop Animosus, long after the body of St. Brigid had been translated to Down -- and therefore the author supposed she had been originally buried there (book 2, chapter 12, number 82) -- but before the metropolitan dignity had been transferred to Dublin, which the men of Kildare perhaps claimed for themselves more eagerly than others reverently acknowledged. But whoever this writer was, or in whatever century he lived, he carefully collected the deeds of Brigid, and reports many things about the kings, peoples, and cities of Ireland that were neglected or unknown to others.

[15] We add a fifth Life from an ancient codex of the Irish Seminary of the Society of Jesus at Salamanca, which is in our possession: a copy received from us was published by Colgan, 5. by Laurence of Durham, as it seems, who confirmed our conjecture about the author. For I had already written beforehand that the author appeared to be Laurence of Durham, who (as Bale reports from Leland, and after him Pits and Vossius) wrote the Life of St. Brigid in prose and proved himself a truly forceful rhetorician. He himself indicates his era when in chapter 1 (which is mutilated at the beginning) he speaks thus: "But after England began to have Norman lords" -- which occurred in the year of Christ 1066, upon the death of St. Edward the Confessor -- and shortly after: "Scotland, however, and Ireland, having lords of their own nation, written at least in the 12th century: have neither entirely abandoned nor exercised this custom of theirs as of old." Therefore before the year 1171, in which, as Matthew of Westminster writes, "Henry II, King of England, crossed over into Ireland: where the archbishops and bishops received him as king and lord, and swore fealty to him." And indeed Vossius and Bale write that the Durham author flourished around the year 1160; Pits says he died in that year. Some say he was set over the monastery of Westminster by Henry, after Gervase the Abbot, a kinsman of the King himself, had been removed from office for having squandered the goods of that most noble monastery in youthful fashion.

[16] Besides these Lives of St. Brigid, Colgan published another composed in Irish verse and translated into Latin, to which the anonymous writer who added the preface says it was another in Colgan, composed by St. Brogan, surnamed Cloen, in the time of Lugaid, King of Ireland, son of Loegaire: "because," he says, "St. Ultan of Ardbraccan asked St. Brogan to describe the virtues and Acts of St. Brigid in metrical style. For it is he who collected the Acts of St. Brigid for him." But if, as Ussher reports from the Annals of Ulster, Lugaid, or Lugaidus, perished in the year 508, how could that verse have been composed while he was reigning, in which Brigid, who did not die until fifteen years after him, is invoked together with the Saints of Kildare as though already enjoying the blessed life in heaven? I pass over the fact that St. Ultan, as we wrote above, died in the year 657 or rather 662. Colgan anticipates this objection and says that, on the authority of certain Annals, Ultan lived to the age of 180. He also reports that Brogan is venerated on September 18 among the people of Ossory.

[17] Finally, the deeds of this admirable Virgin have been treated by very many others: Capgrave, Surius, Vincent of Beauvais in book 2, chapters 29 and following; St. Antoninus, part 2, title 12, chapter 7, section 1; Haraeus, Lippeloo, Ribadeneira, Rosweyde, and many others elsewhere. Silvanus Razzi in volume 1 of his work on women illustrious for sanctity, and very many others, some of whom are enumerated by Colgan in Appendix 3 to her Life, chapter 1. We shall append from Silvester Gerald, nearly a contemporary of the Durham author, and from the ancient Acts of certain Saints, some supplementary materials omitted or differently related in those five Lives.

Section 3. The Homeland of St. Brigid.

[18] Brigid born of the Scots, That Brigid was sprung from the Scottish race, modern writers no less than the ancients agree. The controversy is whether she was born in that region which, as part of ancient Britain settled by frequent colonies of the Scots, alone now retains the name of Scotland; or in Ireland, which was also called Scotia, as St. Isidore of Seville testifies (Origins, book 14, chapter 6), because, as Orosius also writes in book 1 of his History, it was inhabited by the Scottish peoples. (whose homeland is Ireland, And Bede in book 1 of his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, chapter 1: "This" (Ireland) "is properly the homeland of the Scots." Concerning the homeland and birthplace of St. Brigid, the Scottish historians -- John Mair, Hector Boece, John Leslie, George Conn -- express nothing definitively. But Thomas Dempster, followed by David Camerarius, contends that she has nothing whatever to do with Ireland. The Irish claim her vigorously for themselves; and many foreign writers favor them, among whom specifically our own James Gretser in book 1 of On Blessings, chapter 8: "St. Brigid the Virgin," he says, "from old Scotia, that is, Ireland." And in book 3, chapter 9: "Concerning St. Brigid, the Irish Virgin," etc. -- tacitly retracting what he had previously written to the contrary in the Dedication of his Basilikon Doron, or Exegetical Commentary on the Monitorial Preface of James, King of Britain.

[19] That the whole matter, however, may be more clearly perceived -- namely, of what nation she was, where she was born, educated, consecrated to the divine service, where she died and was buried -- this must first be observed: that all of Ireland was formerly divided into five kingdoms: Munster to the south, Leinster to the east, Connacht into several kingdoms divided) or Connaught to the west, Ulster to the north, and Meath, or Mide, situated in the very center of almost the whole island. And that division still obtains, as do the names: nor are these found anywhere among the Scots of Britain. From these, however, the truth must especially be elicited: because the common name of Scotia was formerly shared, as John Mair acknowledges. Antonius Possevinus of our Society calls Brigid a Leinsterwomen in his Apparatus. Concerning her father, Laurence Surius writes: her father a Leinsterman, "There was among the Irish a certain man, Dubtach by name, a Leinsterman by race." The same is found in Francis Haraeus, Silvanus Razzi, and others, from her ancient Acts.

[20] Dempster, in his Ecclesiastical History of the Scottish People, book 2, number 144, writes that Dubtach is corruptly called a Leinsterman instead of a Ladenian, not a Ladenian and Viceroy of Caithness, for he was, he claims, Viceroy of Caithness, and bravely drove back the Saxons when they invaded. In his Digression against beggarly fabrications, page 5, he says that Dubtach ruled the Orkneys, had his domicile in Caithness, and under King Congal successfully drove back the Saxons together with Hengist, lest they occupy the islands, as John of Fordun the Benedictine relates in detail in his Scottish History. as is gratuitously invented, It is remarkable that Ussher, who cites Fordun's manuscript Chronicle very frequently, nowhere mentions the service rendered by Dubtach as a commander to King Congal in the war against the Saxons. He does indeed report, from Bede's book 1, chapter 15: "Having joined battle with the enemies who had come to the front from the north, the Saxons won the victory"; and he notes in his Chronological Index under the year 450 that those enemies who came from the north are said by some writers to have been Scots, by others Picts and Scots, by some Picts alone -- which seems to be drawn from Bede, who writes thus in book 1, chapter 5: "As swarms of the aforementioned peoples poured together into the island, the population of newcomers began to grow, so that they became a terror even to the natives who had invited them. Then, having suddenly made a temporary alliance with the Picts, whom they had already driven far off by fighting, they began to turn their arms against their allies." But even if we granted that the Scots too, together with the Picts, had waged war against the Saxons, (since at that time the Ladenians as they had done previously against the Britons, still Dubtach at least, if he was a Ladenian and governed Caithness and the Orkneys, ought to have been called a Pict, not a Scot. For those whom Ptolemy calls Gadeni -- in certain copies, as Camden testifies, Ladeni -- had their seat between the river Tweed and the Firth of Edinburgh. There are several small districts in that area: one is Lothian, or Lothien, or Lauden; though under that one name Camden reports that all were comprehended by writers of the Middle Ages, and it was called Pictland, and the Picts held Caithness) or the homeland of the Picts. Caithness too (which the Catini seem to have held, erroneously called Carini by Ptolemy), a region facing the Orkney Islands at the furthest bounds of Britain, was then the territory of the Picts. For "the Scots, arriving," says Bede in book 1, chapter 1, "made a home for themselves in the northern part of the Clyde estuary"; and of course it was not until some centuries later that they subjugated the eastern regions of the Picts. But whence did Dempster get the notion that Dubtach was Viceroy of Caithness? From the Life of Brigid, he says, written by Cogitosus and published by Canisius: citing Cogitosus in bad faith: for Cogitosus, he claims, professes that she was born in the further part of Britain. From this it does not follow that her father presided over that province, nor even that he dwelt there, since his mother, having been sold to another master, bore her daughter in a foreign land. Nor, however, does Cogitosus write that, but only that she was born in Scotia. With the same good faith, I believe, he wants her to be called a Ladenian, rather than what all the manuscripts and printed editions have: a Leinsterman or Laginian.

[21] I would weary the reader if I wished to enumerate all the places, cities, and regions which Brigid is recorded to have consecrated by her presence and miracles in the five Acts which we present. There is scarcely a single chapter in them in which several do not occur. And indeed the fourth Life, in book 1, chapter 1, number 2, having reviewed the royal lineage of her father, she herself was regarded as a Leinsterwomen, has the following concerning the posterity of Eochaid the White: "And his descendants dwell there to this day; they are now numbered among the Leinstermen and are called Leinstermen. Among them was a certain chieftain, great and powerful, named Dubtach." Then in chapter 5, number 52: "After this, Brigid went forth with her companions to travel in the province of the Connachtmen, being unwilling to dwell in her own land, that is, in the region of the Leinstermen." And in book 2, chapter 1, number 1: "A great controversy now arose among the Leinstermen concerning the absence of St. Brigid. For they... wished that so great a grace of God should be in their region: for it was from there that St. Brigid was born." And in the first Life, chapter 15, number 94: "A great dispute arose among the Leinstermen concerning the absence of the Saint, that she should return to her own people. Then Brigid came with them. And when they came to the river Shannon, and recalled to Leinster, they found there by the Ford of Lua two peoples seated on either side of the bank, that is, the descendants of Niall and the peoples of the Connachtmen." You will search for these in vain in modern Scotland; just as the rest of what you find here passim: the regions of Meath, the Munstermen, the Ulstermen; the plain of Brega or Breagh, Liffey, Teffia, Gesille, she spent time in other parts of Ireland; Hay; the kings Cairpre and Conall, sons of Niall; the rivers Liffey, Shannon or Sinne, and others.

[22] But Dempster believes he can blow away all these with a single breath, as it were, writing thus in his Digression: "The fair-minded reader sees how ridiculous are Leinster, Kildare, the Liffey, Down, and six hundred absurdities." I think no one is so sharp-sighted as to see that, or to judge it credible, when the arguments he heaps up there have been weighed -- (with no Scottish writers objecting, and especially that birth of Brigid in the further part of Britain, fraudulently asserted from Cogitosus's history. He would more effectively undermine that argument drawn from the Lives if he could establish the one point that they were all composed by Irishmen. But the Irish too will seize upon this: if Brigid was born and lived in British Scotland, or Albany, among those Scots who had occupied part of that island, why did none of them write her Life? Or if one did write it, why is it not brought to light? Or at least some testimony more ancient than the age of Hector and Leslie? We shall give below, from a Breviary printed for the use of the distinguished Cathedral Church of Aberdeen, and accordingly of the whole Church of Scotland, especially the ancients) at the expense of Walter Chepman, an Edinburgh merchant, published on the Kalends of February in the year from the birth of Christ 1509, the twenty-second of James IV, King of Scots, the Lessons concerning St. Brigid, in the first of which she is said to be "born of good and most prudent Scottish lineage": but beyond that not a word from which it might seem possible to conclude, even in appearance, that she was not born, raised, and died in Ireland.

[23] A Scot, however, Nor do I think it pertains less to the honor of the most noble Scottish nation if someone celebrated for the fame of virtue in Poland, Belgium, or Italy was begotten of Scottish parents, not Irish, than if born in the very heart of Scotland itself. We establish for certain, with even the Irish conceding, that she was born of Scottish blood, not from the stock of those Britons who held the island of Ireland before the coming of the Scots -- unless perhaps these immediately merged into one people through intermarriage: so that, just as when the Franks occupied Gaul, all were indiscriminately called Gauls and Franks, insofar as the aboriginal Irish are distinguished from the Scots: although for several centuries the distinction of origin was maintained among the nobles, as to who were of Roman and who of Frankish lineage -- so all began to be called Irish and Scots indiscriminately; though the appellation of Scots was the more honorable, on account of the commendation of military valor. Whether all the Scots subsequently departed, leaving the island to the aboriginal Britons, I do not inquire. They were certainly not driven out by arms, being the most warlike of men; nor did they, I think, voluntarily abandon the most fertile soil. Yet those were the bravest and most worthy to be known henceforth by the name of Scots alone, or principally, who left Ireland and sought new settlements in the northern part of Britain -- whether this happened, as Gerald writes, when Niall the Great held the monarchy of Ireland, with the six sons of Muiredach, King of Ulster, as leaders; or, as the Scots say, many centuries before.

[24] So much for the race and homeland of St. Brigid. The place of her birth is indicated by the author of the fourth Life, book 1, chapter 1, number 8, in these words: born in the village of Faughart, "The village in which St. Brigid was born is called Faughart of Muirthemne, which is in the province of Ulster, namely in the region called Conaille Muirthemne. St. Brigid now holds that village, in whose honor a monastery of Canons exists there. There is that church and its cemetery, where formerly was the house and court in which the Blessed Brigid was born. The stone upon which the most holy Bride of Christ was born stands behind the sanctuary, and it is honored with veneration by the inhabitants of that land, because many signs are worked upon it through the merits of St. Brigid." St. Bernard mentions this place in his Life of St. Malachy, chapter 25, number 56: "There came once," he says, remembered by St. Bernard; "three bishops to the village of Faughart, which they call the birthplace of the Virgin Brigid, and the fourth was Malachy." Ussher reports from the Life of St. Monenna, written by Conchubran (which we have not seen), that Monenna built a church at Faughart on the occasion of St. Brigid's birth,

and there set Orbila, also called Servila, as Abbess over one hundred and fifty virgins. In the Life found in Capgrave, the monastery over which she placed Orbila is said to have been built where afterwards a monastery: on a certain mountain. The same Ussher reports that the village of Faughart is situated within two miles of the town of Dundalk, in the County of Louth, and in the territory formerly called Conaille Muirthemne, and the Plain of Muirthemne (in which the Conaille people chiefly flourish, from whom also St. Monenna was descended), today called Maghery Conaill; and that it is still called by the whole neighborhood "Faughart of Brigid." In that district of Conaille Muirthemne, two sisters of St. Patrick, Lupita (or Lupuit) and Tigris, were formerly sold, as Florence of Worcester writes under the year 388. Ussher elsewhere calls this village Fachaird.

[25] Born there, then, Brigid was carried as an infant to Connacht. For, carried as an infant to Connacht, as the first Life, chapter 1, number 5, states: "Afterwards that magician who had bought her mother set out with his handmaid to the region of the Connachtmen and dwelt there, because the magician's mother was of the Connachtmen, but his father was of the Munstermen." The same is found in the fourth Life, number 10. educated in Munster. Then, as in the first Life, number 7: "The magician with all his household set out for his own homeland, which is in the regions of the Munstermen, where he had his father's inheritance." And when she had grown, as chapter 2, number 9, states, she returned to Leinster.

Section 4. By Whom and Where Was She Veiled? Her Habit and Rule.

[26] When Brigid came of age, she vowed her virginity to God and received the monastic habit from a bishop. She received the sacred veil, as the Scots believe, on the Isle of Man, The Scottish writers -- Hector Boece in book 9 -- assert that this happened on the Isle of Man, or Mona (which lies in the Irish Sea between the English province of Cumbria and the Irish province of Ulster): "She, having scarcely passed her fourteenth year, fled to the Bishop of Sodor on the Isle of Man (the name of this man, like that of many others, has perished through the antiquity of time), spurning her paternal fortune, which was very great; begging with prayers not without tears that she be consecrated to perpetual virginity by pontifical authority. The Bishop received Brigid with wonderful kindness, consecrated her a Virgin to God, and gave her to wear a white tunic, girded with a leather belt; with a head covering of white linen, square, falling from the neck to the shoulders." The same is reported by Leslie, Dempster, Camerarius, and Conn. And none of them gives the bishop's name.

[27] The first person recorded to have imbued the Isle of Man with the Christian religion is St. Patrick. So Jocelin in his Life, in Colgan, number 92: converted by St. Patrick, "St. Patrick, seeing in Ireland a harvest indeed plentiful but laborers few, crossed over into Britain to acquire for himself fellow workers in the Lord's field and collaborators... Sailing back to Ireland, having appointed as Bishop St. Germanus he turned aside to convert the islands of the sea: among which he converted Eubonia, that is, Man, then subject to Britain, to Christ by his saving preaching and exhibition of signs... He promoted a certain disciple of St. Patrick, a holy and wise man named Germanus, to the rank of bishop, and set him over the newly founded Church of that people to govern it, and on a certain promontory (which is still called the Island of Patrick, because he himself stayed there for a time) he established the episcopal see." Ussher, in his Chronological Index, assigns this to the year 447. The Bishop of Man, who is called the Bishop of Sodor, now has his see on a small island, as Camden writes on page 839, near Rushen, or Castletown, a town on the southern coast of the island. Whether St. Germanus sat there or on the western side, facing the port of Strangford, I do not quite determine. Certainly on the map of Man in Speed's Theatre of Britain, Kirk German, or the church of Germanus, is seen to whom in the year 474 St. Connidrius succeeded, near Peel Castle, surrounded on all sides by the sea; and not far from it, at the promontory, Kirk Patrick, the church of Patrick, which is perhaps the place Jocelin indicates. Ussher assigns the death of Germanus to the year 474. Colgan says he is venerated on July 3. then St. Romulus, That he was enrolled among the Saints is clear from the same Jocelin, number 152, who writes thus: "There were on the Isle of Man two holy bishops, called Connidrius and Romulus, whom Patrick himself had consecrated and sent there to govern and instruct the people of that island in the faith of Christ, after the death of St. Germanus, the first bishop of the same island." Colgan says that St. Connidrius, or Conderius, is venerated on November 17; St. Romulus, or Romailus, on the following day.

[28] Ussher writes in his Chronological Index that Machaldus succeeded these men after their deaths, in the year 498. He had been in the province of Ulster, in Mac-Gynnis, or, then St. Machaldus, formerly a robber, as the author of the tripartite work on the life of St. Patrick has it in book 3, number 60, Mag-inis, now called Down, the chief of robbers. When he had wished to mock the sanctity of St. Patrick, having ordered his companion Carbanus, or Caruanus, to pretend to be sick or dead, and the latter had meanwhile truly died, baptized by St. Patrick; he was struck with terror, begged for pardon, and received baptism. Then he wished to have a form of penitential life prescribed for him by Patrick, who commanded him to give all his possessions to the poor, then, with his feet bound in iron fetters and the key thrown into the sea, to board a boat covered with hide, without rudder or oars, and so commit himself to the providence of God. Carrying this out with great fervor of spirit, he was borne by a favorable wind to Man, was instructed in piety and letters by SS. Conderius and Romulus, was freed from his fetters when the key was found in a fish, and at length, as the same author of the tripartite work writes, "when the aforesaid bishops had died, he succeeded them in the pontificate of the same island and became a man of most celebrated sanctity." The author of the third Life of St. Patrick in Colgan, number 73, adds: "And in those regions there exists to this day a great city of the holy bishop Maguild." In Jocelin's era it had already been destroyed, perhaps in the Norwegian wars; but the remains of its walls could still be seen, bearing his name. Perhaps at the place where Speed's Theatre of Britain locates Maghhaulesheade, that is, the promontory of St. Machaldus, facing the seaside town of Workington in Cumbria. But concerning St. Machaldus we shall say more on April 25.

[29] [She was believed to have received the veil from him, an error arising from similarity of names;] Since the name of this Machaldus was celebrated even among the Scots dwelling in Britain, and since it was established from the Acts of St. Brigid that she had been invested with the sacred veil by Bishop Maccaille, hence the opinion arose, as Ussher conjectures, that she had received it from the Bishop of Sodor, or (as he is called in the tripartite work) of Ard-Eubonia, that is, the hill of Eubonia, or Man, which, as Camden testifies, "rises more densely in the center with mountains, among which the loftiest is Snaefell, from which on a clear day Scotland, England, and Ireland can be viewed." Nor is it far from the promontory of St. Machaldus which we mentioned. But since Brigid appears to have been veiled long before he became bishop, Boece perhaps deliberately concealed the bishop's name for this reason; or truly, as he writes, the name had been obliterated by forgetfulness among the Scots.

[30] Where and by whom she received the veil, the first Life shows in chapter 3, number 16, in these words: "The holy Brigid, therefore, having taken three maidens with her, journeyed to the borders of the descendants of Niall, when she received it in Meath from SS. Mel and Melchu, to two bishops, Mel and Melchu, who were disciples of St. Patrick, and dwelt in the towns of Meath. And they had a certain disciple named Maccaille, who said to Mel: 'Behold, holy virgins are outside who wish to receive the veil of virginity from your hand.' Then he brought them in before the bishop; and Bishop Mel, gazing upon them, suddenly a pillar of fire appeared from the head of Brigid." St. Mel had his episcopal see, as we shall say on February 6 from the Life of St. Patrick, in South Teffia, in the place called Ardagh, in the County of Longford, between the rivers Inny and Shannon. The place, however, where Brigid was consecrated to God by the solemn episcopal blessing is indicated by Ussher from Tirechan, the writer of an unpublished Life of St. Patrick, who notes that St. Patrick built a church at the head of Carmel in the plain of Teloch; "in which Brigid received the veil under the hands of the son of Caille in Huifniuch of Meath."

[31] from St. Maccaille, Bishop. Moreover, it was not Mel, or Mele, the bishop himself who imposed the veil upon her, as the first Life seems to suggest, but Maccaille (whom Tirechan, just cited, calls "the son of Caille," because Mac in Irish signifies "son"), as Cogitosus reports in chapter 1, number 5, and the Durham author in chapter 7, number 44, etc. The same is found in Brogan's verse: "St. Maccaille placed the veil upon the head of St. Brigid." Colgan cites the following from an ancient Calendar of Cashel: "St. Maccaille, who is venerated at Cruachan Brighele in the region of Offaly, it is he who gave the veil to St. Brigid." The passage agrees with what he draws from other Martyrologies. What region Offaly, or Ifalgia, or Hifalgia is, the author of the tripartite work indicates in book 3, number 56, writing thus: "After these wonders, the holy man took his leave and again blessed the Munstermen: and betook himself to the region of Leinster which is called Hi-failge." For Meath itself is often reckoned as part of Leinster, when all Ireland is divided into only four parts. Colgan says that Maccaille (who is called Machillus by Surius, Machilenus by the Durham author, Macca by Heinrich Canisius, and by others Maccalle, Machille, Mackelle, and Maccille) is venerated on April 25, the day on which the feast of Machaldus, Bishop of Man, is also celebrated.

[31] Some inquire what particular institute of monastic life Brigid embraced. Cogitosus in chapter 1, number 5, writes that a white mantle and a white garment were placed upon her venerable head by Bishop Maccaille. clothed in a white habit. From this certain writers conclude that she was a Canoness, by a feeble argument indeed. For we have shown on January 17, in the Life of St. Anthony, section 15, that the Egyptian monks were accustomed to wear the melote, or white sheepskin tunic. Their manner of life was transplanted to Italy, Africa, and Gaul: whether the color of their garments also was, we shall see elsewhere. Concerning the monasticism of St. Patrick we shall treat on March 17. It is probable that whatever he himself had received, whether at Tours under St. Martin, or at Rome, or on the islands of the Tyrrhenian Sea, he transmitted to the Scots in Ireland. Various holy men afterward established their own particular rules. Benedict Haeften in his Monastic Disquisitions, book 1, treatise 6, disquisition 3, enumerates eight Rules of Irish Saints: namely those of St. Patrick, St. Brendan, St. Ciaran of Clonmacnoise, St. Columba of Iona, St. Comgall, St. Adamnan, St. Brigid, and St. Molaise. He says these are enumerated in the Life of St. Ciaran written in Irish, which Colgan also cites in Appendix 3 to the Life of St. Brigid, chapter 2. In the very brief Latin version, compiled without sufficient critical judgment, no mention is made of a Rule, which however Ussher reports from ancient documents (page 1050) was written by him. That some Rule, Her Rule, whether composed by Brigid herself or prescribed for her by St. Patrick or another Bishop, was in force in Ireland can be inferred from the prologue of Cogitosus. He writes thus: "And by prudent management she cared for their souls in a regular manner in all things" (those who, as he had said before, flocked to her from all the provinces of all Ireland, in innumerable multitudes from both sexes, and voluntarily made their vows), observed in many monasteries. "and was solicitous for the churches of many provinces adhering to her," etc. And shortly after: "And the Abbess, whom all the Abbesses of the Scots venerate, rules by happy succession and perpetual rite." Lest anyone think that veneration was paid to the Abbess of Kildare by the rest solely on account of the repute of her virtue, and not because they were subject to her or had been propagated from her house as from a nursery, the same Cogitosus had written before: "And by the merits of both" (Brigid and Conlaid) "their episcopal see and their convent of maidens, as if a fruitful vine spreading everywhere with growing branches, has taken root throughout the whole island of Ireland." These words seem to signify a manner of life and a Rule common to many monasteries. Even more clearly is this proven by what is found in the fourth Life, chapter 12, number 81: "And foreknowing by the prophetic Spirit the place of her resurrection, she established her city and monastery, and the places that were under her care throughout Ireland." Haeften, in the place cited above by us, writes that a compendium of St. Brigid's Rule, written in the Irish language, was in the possession of the Irish Franciscan Fathers at Louvain. Colgan testifies that three short works of St. Brigid were in his keeping at the Louvain monastery, concerning which more below in section 11. But he does not list a Rule among them.

Section 5. The Monastery of Kildare and Other Monasteries of St. Brigid.

[32] Her monastery at Kildare in Leinster, The principal monastery of St. Brigid was Kildare, or Kildara, which afterwards grew into a large city, adorned with the title of County by the Kings of England after they had gained possession of the kingdom of Ireland. This County extends quite broadly, between the river Boyne and the County of Dublin. The city of Kildare is about twenty miles distant from Dublin. It was graced, says Camden, "in the earliest cradle of the Irish Church, by the Virgin Brigid, venerable for sanctity and virginity... a thousand years ago, a disciple of St. Patrick, most celebrated throughout Ireland, England, and Scotland." Cogitosus treats at length of the monastery and city of Kildare. Concerning its foundation and name, the following is found in the fourth Life, book 2, chapter 1, number 3: "When the most glorious Virgin Brigid had come to her own country (which is also more briefly recorded in the first Life), she was received with great honor and the joy of the whole province, and a cell was assigned to her at once, in which she, the holy one of God, thereafter led an admirable life. There she built a great monastery of very many virgins; and there a very great city grew up in honor of Blessed Brigid, which is today the Metropolis of the Leinstermen. That cell is now called in Scottish Killdara, but in Latin it means 'Cell of the Oak.' named from an oak, For there was a very tall oak tree there, which St. Brigid loved greatly and blessed; whose trunk still remains, and no one dares to cut it with iron, and whoever can break off something from it by hand considers it a great gift, hoping through it for God's help; (afterwards celebrated for miracles) because many miracles have been wrought through that wood, through the blessing of Blessed Brigid. And by whatever name the cell was called, the city also is called by the same."

[33] From this you may refute what Dempster writes about the name of Kildare in his Ecclesiastical History of the Scottish People, book 4, number 385: not from St. Daria the widow, that the county of that nation and the capital of Leinster was called Kildare from the relics of St. Daria, a widow and mother of St. Ursula, which had been brought into Ireland. Our Hermann Crombach, in volume 2 of the Martyrdom of St. Ursula, book 3, chapter 4, incorrectly cites Dempster or a virgin: as if he derived the name Kildare from the name of another St. Daria, a virgin from the company of St. Ursula, a third part of whose relics was given to the monastery of Glastonbury in England by Henry I, Abbot of Glastonbury and Bishop of Winchester, who died in the year 1171, in the fortieth year of his pontificate, as Ussher reports. Ussher, however, on page 626, considers this to be the same virgin who in the catalogue of Glastonbury relics is said to have been the mother of St. Ursula. But Crombach says: "Others hold that the city received its name from an oak. Yet not improbably some derive the word rather from Daria, mother of St. Ursula, whom Ferrarius follows, citing in his support the Irish Calendar and Breviary, which also attribute her nativity to the Irish. I know that some make St. Brigid the foundress of Kildare; but what prevents attributing the first origin of the town to Daria, even if it was afflicted and nearly destroyed by various barbarian incursions, until, when St. Brigid was born there, it began to grow famous again, wondrously increased in space and inhabitants within a short time?" But I do not wish to speculate. O what a fitting conclusion, excusing those matters in which memory or reason had failed him! For indeed he cites not only Dempster but also Ferrarius incorrectly. The words of Ferrarius in the general Catalogue, under October 21, are: "In Scotland, of St. Daria, mother of St. Ursula the Virgin." He adds in the Notes: "From the Calendar and Breviary of Scotland. After her, the city of Kildare in Ireland is thought to have received its name." He cites a Scottish, not an Irish, Calendar and Breviary -- although in the Aberdeen Breviary no express mention of Daria is made. Nor does Ferrarius testify that the nativity of Daria was attributed to the Irish. Nor was Brigid born at Kildare. What barbarians, then, after the deaths of Daria and Ursula (if they originated there) devastated Ireland? We do not read of any, although the Irish themselves, or the Scots, waged continual wars among their own peoples.

[34] It seems to me, indeed, that St. Brigid's monastery was built in the open field beside an oak, not in an ancient town. Afterwards, however, both while Brigid was still alive and after her death, as innumerable mortals flocked thither, buildings were erected, as happens, either for receiving pilgrims or for exposing goods for sale -- especially provisions. So we see very many towns in Belgium arose from monasteries, it grew into a city, because they either distributed alms generously to the needy or were celebrated for the fame of their miracles. The towns of Saint-Ghislain, Saint-Amand, and Saint-Mauront; Maubeuge, Nivelles, Stavelot, Malmedy, Echternach, (as elsewhere passim) Wormhout, Gladbach -- to omit others -- were

originally monasteries, and some in deserted places; now they are towns, not small ones. That Kildare became a city especially after the death of St. Brigid is indicated by the words already cited from the fourth Life: "and there a very great city grew up in honor of Blessed Brigid." And then: even while Brigid lived: "And by whatever name the cell was called" -- namely while Brigid was alive -- "the city also is called by the same." It began, however, to be a city even while she was alive. So the same Life, book 2, chapter 8, number 47: "After this she set out on a journey to come to her city in the land of the Leinstermen," and number 49: "When St. Brigid had reached her city," and chapter 3, number 15: "Whom Blessed Brigid chose as first Bishop in her city of Kildare." The reason why to the city of Kildare, which lacked walls but was adorned with the privilege of sanctuary together with its suburbs, such a multitude of people flocked, Cogitosus explains in number 39: "And who can count the diverse crowds and innumerable peoples from all the provinces of Ireland flowing together? a very great concourse there. Some on account of the abundance of feasts, others for the spectacle of the crowds, others for the healing of their infirmities, others arriving with great gifts and offerings for the celebration of the feast of St. Brigid, who, falling asleep on the day of the Kalends of the month of February, February 1, confidently cast off the burden of the flesh and followed the Lamb of God into the heavenly mansions."

[35] What we have reported about the etymology of Kildare is illustrated by the first Life, chapter 6, number 43, where the following is found: The etymology of Kildare: "On the eve of a certain feast, one of her disciples came to St. Brigid in the Cell of the Oak." For this is Kildare, or Celldara, that is, the cell of the oak or the sturdy oak. For Dear, in the old language of the Scots, or Irish, as Ussher reports on page 627, signifies oak. Colgan says it is written Dair in the nominative, Dara in the genitive. The same word is used by Bede in book 3 of his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, chapter 4, where, speaking of St. Columba of Iona, he writes thus: "He had, moreover, before he came to Britain, built a noble monastery in Ireland, which from the abundance of oaks is called in the Scottish language Dear-mach, a related name elsewhere. that is, the Field of Oaks." Concerning this monastery, St. Adamnan in the Life of St. Columba, chapter 3: "The blessed man founded a monastery in the interior of Ireland, called in Scottish Dair-mag, by divine inspiration." And in book 2, chapter 39, he calls it the Field of Oaks: "Proceeding," he says, "through the plain of Brega, he came to the monastery of the Field of Oaks." That was in Meath, where also the plain of Brega is. So much for the name of Kildare, which is also called Dara, and its bishops are called Darenses, in James Ware's book on the Bishops of Leinster.

[36] Other monasteries of Brigid, in Meath, Other monasteries were erected by Brigid, or at least administered under her direction. First, in Meath, where she had received the sacred veil, as is related in the first Life, chapter 3, number 16; and that monastery had, as number 22 states, a church and a hospice. The Durham author treats of it more fully in chapter 6. It is perhaps the same one in which, coming from Ulster, she dwelt, as is related in the fourth Life, book 2, chapter 6, number 29: "And she came to the plain of Breagh in the region of Meath: and while she was dwelling there in a certain cell," etc. In the same Life, book 1, chapter 5, number 52, the following is found: "After this, St. Brigid went forth with her companions to travel in the province of the Connachtmen, Connacht. being unwilling to dwell in her own land, that is, in the region of the Leinstermen: and she dwelt there in the plain of Hay, building cells and monasteries round about. Then she received the parish which she had prophesied of in her infancy, saying: 'This will be mine, this will be mine.'" That prophecy is related in chapter 1 of the same Life, numbers 14 and first Life, chapter 1, number 7. Thence, returning to Leinster, she built Kildare. Afterwards, having set out for Ulster, she seems to have remained there for no small time; and again in Meath she worked many miracles while dwelling there in a certain cell, as we have just reported. She also stayed in Munster with her maidens for a long time, Munster. near the sea, as is said in book 2, chapter 7, number 40. And in number 43, she went forth with her companions into the plain of Cliach, situated in Munster, "and dwelt there in a certain place for a time." Then in chapter 8, number 47: "Blessed Brigid did many other things in the regions of the Munstermen, and marked out many places and monasteries there." Finally, in chapter 12, number 81: "Knowing that the time and day of her reward was at hand, and foreknowing by the prophetic spirit the place of her resurrection, she established her city and monastery and the places that were under her care throughout Ireland."

Section 6. Did St. Brigid Dwell at Glastonbury?

[37] But it is doubtful whether she ever dwelt at Glastonbury in Britain, and at Abernethy At Glastonbury in England in Scotland. Glastonbury, or as many write Glasconia, is a marshy island in the County of Somerset, formerly called Avallon in British, from the abundance of apples; later Inis-witrim, or Inis-gutrim, that is, the Glass Island. The Saxons, with the same meaning, called it Glasten-ey; for glas means glass and ey means island. And the most ancient monastery on that island, where the first preachers of the Gospel together with St. Joseph of Arimathea are said to have dwelt, was called Glastonbury, or Glastiberia, that is, the Glass City, in which, as Camden, on the authority of nearly all the ancient writers, many lived holily; attests, the holiest men gave themselves to the worship of God -- and especially Irishmen, who were supported by royal stipends and instructed young men in piety and the liberal arts. For they embraced the solitary life so that they might devote themselves to the sacred letters with greater tranquility and exercise themselves in the bearing of the cross by a secluded manner of life.

[38] St. Patrick is said to have died there. Therefore, as the most ancient writer of the Life of St. Dunstan, cited by Ussher on page 895, some St. Patrick died there: writes: "The Irish pilgrims honored the aforesaid place of Glastonbury, as did other throngs of the faithful, with great affection, and especially on account of the Blessed Patrick the Elder, who is recorded to have happily rested in the Lord there." Whether this is to be understood of the Great Patrick or of the Elder, commonly called Sen-Patrick, whom Ussher reports from the Connacht Annals as having died in the year 454; or of the younger Patrick, whom Jocelin calls the "little son" of the Great Patrick and reports that, returning to Britain after the death of his uncle, he passed away and was honorably buried in the church of Glastonbury -- but the men of Glastonbury contend that the Great Patrick himself was buried there. And William of Malmesbury, in Speed's Apparatus to the Councils of Britain, writes among other things: "He rests on the right side of the altar of the old church, in a stone pyramid which the diligence of posterity has covered with silver. Hence the custom grew among the Irish of frequenting the place to kiss the relics of their patron: Brigid visited his relics, whence the most celebrated report is that both St. Indractus and Blessed Brigid (natives of Ireland of no small renown) once journeyed hither." Brigid, having left behind certain of her personal belongings (namely a necklace, a wallet, and weaving implements, which are still displayed as a memorial of her holiness and cure various diseases), "whether she returned home or received her rest there is uncertain. The other" -- that is, Indractus -- "was martyred near Glastonbury," etc. We shall give the Life of St. Indractus on February 5.

[39] Concerning the arrival of St. Brigid at the island of Glastonbury, a certain anonymous Glastonbury chronicler, cited by Ussher on page 900, writes: "In the year from the Incarnation 488, St. Brigid came to Glastonbury: and on an island near Glastonbury, and she dwelt on the island of Bekery, which is called Little Ireland, and in the English language Bryde-hay, she stayed for a long time until advanced old age. But whether she died there or returned thence to her homeland, we do not know for certain." Another Glastonbury writer also cited by Ussher says: "This St. Brigid," he says, "tarried for some time through a number of years on a certain island near Glastonbury where there was an oratory consecrated in honor of St. Mary Magdalene, called Bekery, or Little Ireland. And having left behind there certain of her personal belongings -- a wallet, a necklace, a bell, and weaving implements (which are displayed and venerated there as a memorial of her holiness) -- she returned to Ireland, and there not long afterwards rested in the Lord and was buried in the city of Down." The island on which St. Brigid is said to have dwelt, as the former writer states, was called by the English Bride-ay, or more properly Bride-eye, that is, Brigid's Island; by the Irish, Bek-ery, or Beg-ere, that is, Little Ireland. There was another Beg-ery, or Begerin, or Little Ireland, an island in County Wexford, on which St. Ibarus, or Hibarus, dwelt, as Ussher reports from the Life of St. Abban on pages 794 and 1062.

[40] But would the writers of her Life have concealed the fact that Brigid dwelt at Glastonbury, not a Leinsterwomen, and indeed for many years, when they so carefully traced not only her distant journeys to Ulster, Connacht, and Munster, but even to nearer places in Leinster and Meath? Did not perhaps that opinion among the men of Glastonbury, concerning Brigid's sojourn among them, arise from the fact that certain relics of hers were preserved there? Or should it rather be understood of a later and different Brigid, which the less informed posterity mistakenly transferred to that ancient one whose name was more celebrated? There was indeed another Brigid in Britain, but she too was Irish, of whom the following is reported by Ussher on page 705 from the Life of St. Cuthbert, Bishop of Lindisfarne, translated from the histories of the Irish: but a younger one, "St. Columba, the first Bishop of Dunkeld, received the boy Cuthbert; and together with a certain maiden named Brigid, of Irish origin, retained and for some time educated him." educated with St. Cuthbert after the year 640. This is a different Columba from the Abbot of Iona, and a different Brigid from the one of Kildare; since this one is recorded as having been educated by the Bishop of Dunkeld after the year 640, forty years and more after the death of the Columba of Iona, and nearly one hundred and twenty years after the death of Brigid of Kildare. For it is established from Bede's epitome of the History of the English People that St. Aidan, Bishop of Lindisfarne, died in the year 651, and that Cuthbert, still a youth, saw his soul being led into heaven by an angel while he was tending the flocks committed to his care in the remote mountains.

[41] The same Brigid appears to be the one who was a disciple of St. Modwenna, or Monenna, then a disciple of St. Monenna, and herself also illustrious for miracles. The Life of Monenna, however, which we shall give on July 5 from Capgrave, needs no small correction. For who would think it probable that Monenna, a disciple of St. Patrick, foundress of several monasteries while he was still alive, and therefore born around the year 460 at the latest, was the teacher of St. Osith, when Osith was betrothed to Sighere, King of the East Saxons, who assumed the kingship around the year 664? The compiler of her Life does indeed wish Monenna to have lived 130 years. But not even so could he extend her life beyond the year 590, or indeed even to 565, if she was born in the time of Pope Celestine, as the more ancient writer Conchubran is reported by Ussher on page 705 to state. Two Monennas are recorded as having lived in the era of St. Patrick: the first was his own sister Darerca, also called Moninna, not contemporaries of St. Patrick, mother of St. Mael (of whom more on February 6) and of other saints; mention of the other is made in the Life of St. Enda the Abbot on March 21, in these words: "At this time, while St. Darerca the Virgin, who was called by another name Monynni, was residing in her monastery which is called Belslebhe," etc. This seems to be the monastery which in the Life of St. Monenna in Capgrave is said to have been called Celliscline, from the cells built on the slope of a mountain. Ussher testifies that the church of this monastery, situated in the County of Armagh, is still called Kilsleeve, or Chelle-sleue, that is, the Cell of the Mountain. Both of these Monennas were much earlier than the one to whom Osith was entrusted to be trained in good morals, but the one who instructed St. Osith as is related in her Life on October 7; and this one had built two monasteries near the forest called the Arden: one in a place called Polesworth, the other in the residence called Streneihal. The forest of Arden (as the Life of Osith and Ussher call it; Camden calls it Arden) lies in the northern part of the County of Warwick, where also Polesworth is, at which, says the same Camden, "the Irish virgin Modwenna, of outstanding reputation for sanctity, built a convent for sacred virgins."

[42] When this Monenna flourished must be determined from the era of Osith. daughter of the Sub-king Frithwold Osith was the daughter of King Frithwold and Wilteburga, daughter of Penda, King of the Mercians. Penda, at the age of fifty, "assumed the title of King among the Mercians" in the year of Christ 626, as Malmesbury says in his work On the Deeds of the English Kings, book 1, chapter 4; he perished in the year 655. His son Wulfhere, after his brother Peada, took up the reins of government in the year 657 and held them until the year 675. flourishing around the year 670, His sister Wilteburga, therefore, married to Frithwold, bore Osith to him. With the support of this Sub-king Frithwold, as the Worcester chronicler writes under the year 675, St. Erkenwald, who was made Bishop of London in that year, endowed the monastery of Chertsey, which he had founded before his episcopate, with wealth and monks. Of the same St. Erkenwald, or Erkenwold (of whom we treat on April 30), Malmesbury says in book 2 of On the Deeds of the English Bishops: "He founded two monasteries, one for himself, the other for his sister St. Ethelburga," of whom on October 11. "His is called Chertsey, which through the support of a certain Frithwold, who served as Sub-king under Wulfhere, he endowed with wealth and monks." This Frithwold, then, the father of Osith, lived during the reign of Wulfhere. "At the same time," says Bede in book 3, chapter 30, "Kings Sighere and Sebbi governed the province of the East Saxons, although they themselves were subject to Wulfhere, King of the Mercians." to Sighere, King of the East Saxons, This Sighere, or Sigerus, called Sigherius by Malmesbury, son of Sigebert the Small, grandson of Seward, who in the year 664 relapsed into idolatry, in the year 664, when the province was being afflicted by a deadly plague, "together with his portion of the people, abandoning the sacraments of the Christian faith, was converted to apostasy," says Bede in the same passage. When King Wulfhere learned of this -- that the faith of the province had been partly profaned -- but soon converted, "he sent to correct the error and recall the province to the faith of truth Bishop Jaruman... who, acting with great diligence... traversing widely in every direction, led both the people and the aforesaid king back to the way of justice." Malmesbury calls this bishop Ierumanus. He was the predecessor of St. Chad, Bishop of Lichfield.

[43] After the death of St. Modwenna, Blessed Osith (as is related in her Life) was returned to her parents, the Sub-king Frithwold and Wilteburga, sister of King Wulfhere, betrothed around the year 673, and daily advanced in virtue and character. When she had reached marriageable age, the King of the East Saxons, Sighere, importuning the maiden's parents, asked that the virgin be given to him as wife. Although unwilling and reluctant, she was handed over to that king with nuptials furnished in royal splendor. And when for many days, by a praiseworthy sort of guile and the opportune pretext of various occasions, she had repressed the king's desire, then consecrated to God: at length she received the religious habit and veil from Ecca and Bedwin, Bishops of the East Angles. Malmesbury calls them Baldwin and Heta; Bede in book 4, chapter 5, calls them Aecci and Badwine. The Worcester chronicler writes that they were ordained in the year 673. From this you may correct what is stated in the Life of St. Osith -- that she was killed by Danish pirates in the year 653 -- since she appears to have been scarcely born before that year.

[44] From all this it is clear that St. Modwenna, the teacher of Osith, died after the year of Christ 660, when Osith had not yet reached marriageable age; and that Columkillus, or Columba, Bishop of Dunkeld, who resolved the controversy arising from her burial, was still alive. A disciple of this Monenna was Brigid, as we said; she was probably the one who was educated by the same Columba. She is recorded to have accompanied her teacher when she visited her monasteries; That Brigid, set over a monastery; and she herself, having built a convent, became Mother of many virgins, for whom Monenna obtained garments by divine aid when, as the north wind blew and they were afflicted by extreme cold, they kept vigil in devoted prayers. This one, therefore, may seem to have sojourned for a time at Glastonbury, either while Monenna was residing near the forest of Arden in the County of Warwick, as was said above in number 41; or while she was staying on the island of the Trent, or was in the territory of the West Saxons, in which Glastonbury also lies. dwelling for a time at Glastonbury. Nor is it without significance that when very many Irish people were accustomed to visit the city of Glastonbury frequently as pilgrims for the sake of prayer and devotion, Malmesbury mentioned together, above in number 38, St. Indractus and Brigid, as though he had found them noted together in ancient records as having come there at about the same time. And indeed Indractus, as we shall say in his proper place, came there in the time of the Blessed King Ine, who was called to the rule of the West Saxons when Caedwalla departed for Rome, at the beginning of the year 689. Clearly, therefore, that Brigid and Indractus were contemporaries.

Section 7. Did St. Brigid Dwell at Abernethy among the Picts?

[45] Now we must inquire about Abernethy. Strath-Earn is a province of Scotland, which takes its name from the river Earn: of the Britons

for in the old British language, as Camden is authority, Straith-Ern signifies the Valley of the Earn. The Earn rises from a lake of the same name and mingles its waters with the Tay, the greatest of all the rivers of Scotland. St. Brigid dwelt at Abernethy, the royal city of the Picts, Where the Tay already flows more broadly toward the sea, on its right bank it looks up at Abernethy, or Abernethy, formerly the royal seat of the Picts and a populous city, as the same Camden states. The Scottish historians report that Brigid dwelt here, but in ambiguous words which we shall faithfully reproduce, so that it may be clear that these reports do not at all apply, as they wish, to the Elder Brigid. For what Dempster in his Digression and Camerarius write -- that the Elder Brigid died there -- they do not prove. Leslie, whom they cite, says only that the Scots had hitherto rightly believed they honored her body in the collegiate church of Abernethy. Hector Boece writes of her in book 9: "She died at length, after very many works of wondrous sanctity, in the eighteenth year of King Conran. Her body, they say, was carried from the Hebrides to Down (a town in Ireland) and buried in the same place with Patrick, the Apostle of the Irish. Our countrymen (for they too claim the same honor for themselves) constantly assert that the funeral of the blessed Brigid was carried to Abernethy (the place then had another name) where she was also buried; into a most ornate church, established with Canons and Priests for performing the divine offices, dedicated to her name." But whence did Hector learn that Abernethy had another name at that time?

[46] John Mair writes thus in book 2, chapter 14: "St. Columba came to Britain when Brude, a most powerful king, was reigning among the Picts. there received by King Garnard, Garnard, son of Domnach, succeeded Brude, and he built the collegiate church of Abernethy, after Blessed Patrick had introduced St. Brigid to the place. This king offered to the Blessed Virgin and to Blessed Brigid, together with nine virgins who had come with her, possessions which the Provost and Canons now hold. In that era the episcopal see was at Abernethy, and it was the royal seat of the Picts. Some report that it was built twenty-six years and nine months before the Church of Dunkeld; others, 244 years. But lest I present the uncertain as certain, I proceed hesitatingly there." So Mair, drawing from Fordun's Scotichronicon, whose words Ussher cites on page 712. But they wrongly suppose that Brigid was introduced to Abernethy by St. Patrick under the successor of King Brude. For St. Columba came to Britain, as Bede writes in book 3, chapter 4, "in the year of our Lord's Incarnation 565, when Bridius (or Brude), son of Meilochon, a most powerful king, was reigning over the Picts, in the ninth year of his reign." But seventy years had already elapsed since the death of St. Patrick, and forty since that of Brigid. Therefore it was another Brigid who was introduced to Abernethy, by whatever bishop. Nor is that inexcusable error, which Mair did not dare to correct yet did not wish to affirm, about the Church of Dunkeld being founded 244 years after that of Abernethy. For if we set the beginning of the latter at around the year 600, after the death of King Brude, it would follow that the Church of Dunkeld was built around 844, when the kingdom of the Picts had already been overthrown. What if, then, the church was not founded until around the year 700 (for Garnard reigned at that time)? But we have already shown above that shortly after the year 640 a bishop named St. Columba, or Columkillus, presided over the Church of Dunkeld. Dunkeld is an episcopal city of Scotland on the river Tay in the province of Perth, which Hector asserts was formerly called the Castle of Caledonia.

[47] The nine virgins whom we mentioned above from Mair as companions of St. Brigid, around the year 700 Fordun, as cited by Ussher on page 712, says died within five years and were buried on the north side of the said church. That they flourished at the end of the seventh Christian century and the beginning of the eighth, when Eugenius VII was ruling the Scots in Britain and Garnard the Picts, Boece narrates in book 9, folio 180, as follows: "While Eugenius VII was alive, the sanctity of Donald, a man of Scottish blood, had very great power in stirring people to piety. with 9 virgins, He lived in the solitude of Ogilvy, about six miles from the town of Alyth, among the Picts, distinguished for the sanctity of his life. He had nine daughters: the elder was named Mazota, the second Fincana; the names of the rest have been abolished by time. Living a most austere life, their food was barley bread and their drink water; they refreshed themselves with meager food only once a day, who from the wilderness devoted to almost perpetual prayer, or to agricultural work by which they might sustain their slender existence... After the death of their father, the virgins (for their mother had passed away by a natural death long before), not thinking it safe to inhabit the wilderness without a guardian of their chastity, had come to Abernethy; approached Garnard, King of the Picts, seeking a place to dwell, so that they might more freely serve Christ, to whom they had consecrated their virginity from a tender age, being removed from the company of men. The king, acceding to the pious requests of the virgins, freely bestowed on them houses built at Abernethy with an oratory, and revenues from the neighboring fields for their expenses. There, after leading a religious life most pleasing to God, they rest in a blessed end and were buried at the root of an immense oak. The place is pointed out even in our own age, held in great veneration by the Christian people who flock thither for the sake of religion. At that time Abernethy was a most populous town of the Picts, by the name of Otholinia, adorned with the seat of the chief bishop of that people; but afterwards it was demolished and burned, except for the churches of the saints and the residences of the priests, by the arms and flames of the Scots when they brought the Pictish nation to ruin -- so much so that it never returned to its former distinction and splendor. Eminent authors of our history write that the aforesaid nine virgins flourished in that town not under the reign of King Conran with the Blessed Brigid (as is the common opinion), but in the time of Eugenius VII."

[48] So far Boece; from whom it is clear that Garnard did not succeed Brude immediately, but a hundred years later. distinct from the Brigid of Leinster, Further, it was the common opinion when Hector was writing 122 years ago that those nine daughters of St. Donald had dwelt at Abernethy during his reign together with St. Brigid -- not the Brigid of Leinster but a much younger one, though the uneducated may have confused them. In the Aberdeen Breviary printed in the year 1509, a kinswoman of Garnard, under the day of December 23, there is found the Life of St. Mazota, the eldest of these sisters, in which it is said that the illustrious King of the Picts, Garnard son of Domath, won a victory over his enemies through the prayers of Blessed Brigid his kinswoman, and summoned her to Abernethy from Ireland (whither she had perhaps gone after the death of St. Monenna), who also obtained victory for him, and at Abernethy, which is situated not far from the river Tay on its southern side, he built a basilica in honor of almighty God and the inviolate Virgin Mary; in which, and persuaded him to piety: through the preaching of Blessed Brigid and her virgins, the aforesaid king with all his household were baptized in the faith of Christ. These seem to be stated hyperbolically, because the king perhaps at their persuasion adopted the Roman canon of celebrating Easter, from which the Picts and most of the Scots had previously recoiled; which Naiton, or Nectan, his successor, caused to be observed throughout all the provinces of the Picts, as Bede testifies in book 5, chapter 22. In the same Breviary, Mazota is said to have died in the year of Christ 716. And under July 15 the following is found: "Of the holy nine virgin daughters of St. Donald in Scotland, under King Eugenius VII, in the year 712 or 716."

[49] Leslie also treats of the same virgins under Eugenius VII, whom he writes died at Abernethy in the eighteenth year of his reign, which was the year of our salvation 716: when, during the reign of Garnard (as Boece writes), with whom he had a treaty and alliance for as long as he lived, he visited the most holy company of virgins and endowed them with rich gifts. King Nectan gives Abernethy to her. Garnard's successor Nectan, as Camden testifies on page 705 that he read in an ancient fragment, "gave Abernethy to God and to Brigid until the day of judgment, with its boundaries, which are set from the stone at Abertrent to the stone near Carful, that is, Lochfol, and thence as far as Ethan." But if any of the Scots finds our conjecture about the younger Brigid less probable, we shall say that what the aforementioned kings donated was consecrated to the memory of the elder, and perhaps some part of her relics was also brought there.

Section 8. When Did St. Brigid Die?

[50] So much for the domiciles of St. Brigid; now we must inquire where and when she died. Concerning the year of her death, Ussher reviews several mutually conflicting opinions of writers, and after him Colgan. The Elder Brigid is said to have died in the year 518 or 521 There are three principal views: some hold that she died in the year 518 of the common era, in the reign of Justin the Elder I -- so the author of the fourth Life, as we shall show below, Sigebert of Gembloux in his Chronicle, and Constantius Felix. Others say the year 521: Marianus Scotus, Florence of Worcester, and many more recent writers. Others finally say 523: Ussher, Colgan, and those cited by them. Four chronological markers are adduced by them: or 523. the first, that she survived St. Patrick by thirty years. So the fourth Life, book 2, chapter 12, number 82: 30 years after St. Patrick. "In the eightieth year of her age, and the thirtieth year after the death of St. Patrick the Archbishop... she most happily departed." And number 81: "Traveling, she blessed all Ireland on every side, just as the holy Bishop Patrick had commanded as he was dying, saying: 'For thirty years after my death, Blessed Brigid, bless Ireland.'" Ussher cites on page 883 the Testament of St. Patrick, in which the Saint foretells and commands this same thing to Brigid. And this chronological marker is followed by all who assign the death of St. Brigid to the year 521, for they establish that St. Patrick died in the year 491, in the first year of the Emperor Anastasius. Very many who write that St. Patrick came to Ireland at the age of sixty and cultivated it for an equal number of years seem to confirm their calculation. Since, however, he was sent there by Pope St. Celestine, who died on April 6, 432, it is necessary that this occurred in the year 431.

[51] The writer of the fourth Life of St. Brigid followed the same computation, although in certain points either he himself or the scribe who copied the exemplar which we used, and which Ussher also used, made errors. For he has the following: "After a brief space of time, amid a multitude of saints, in the eightieth year of her age and the thirtieth year after the death of St. Patrick the Archbishop, The author of the fourth Life of St. Brigid corrected. while Muirchertach Mac Erca was reigning in the kingdom of Ireland at Tara -- whom Tuathal Maelgarb succeeded in the kingdom -- in the first year of the Emperor Justinian, with Pope Hormisdas sitting on the Apostolic See, and in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 548, with the angels of God visiting her, she most happily died." First, the error in the year of Christ is manifest: for Pope St. Hormisdas did not survive to the year 548, since, as is found in the book on the Roman Pontiffs, "he was buried in the basilica of the Blessed Apostle Peter on the 6th of the Ides of August, in the consulship of Maximus," that is, in the year of Christ 523. Therefore 518 must be restored; and thus it will agree with Sigebert. In the year of Christ 518, on July 9, Justin, not Justinian, assumed the Empire; Justinian did not succeed his uncle until the year 527. The same year 518 was the fourth year of Hormisdas, who was elected in the consulship of Senator, that is, in the year of Christ 514; and the sixth of Muirchertach, or Murchertach, son of Erca, King of Ireland, whom Tuathal Maelgarb succeeded in the year 534, as Ussher reports from the Irish Annals on page 947. Concerning King Tuathal, who is mentioned here, there is discussion in the Life of St. Finan, Bishop, on September 9.

[52] Ussher gives his reason for not at all agreeing with those who write that St. Patrick died in the year 491: namely, that St. Patrick is commonly believed to have been born, baptized, and died on a Wednesday; St. Patrick died in the year 493, on a Wednesday. and March 17 did not fall on a Wednesday in that year, but it did in the year 493, when the Dominical letter was C. But this argument does not tell against the writer of the fourth Life, since he states that St. Brigid died in the year 518, thirty years after St. Patrick, and therefore places Patrick's death in the year 488, in which year the Dominical letter was C and March 17 fell on a Wednesday. Sigebert seems to have observed none of these chronological markers, since he holds that Patrick died in the year 491 and Brigid in 518 -- only twenty-seven years after him. Others who assign Brigid's death to the same year 518 are guided by a different reckoning: for they hold that she survived Patrick by sixty years; for what is read in the Irish Annals -- that in the year 458 "the Elder Patrick rested" -- they wrongly interpreted as referring to the Great Patrick, and judged the thirty-year interval established between the deaths of the two to be corrupted, restoring it to sixty. But concerning St. Patrick, whom many writers cited by Ussher on page 881 hold to have died in the year 493, we shall treat on March 17.

[53] A second chronological marker indicating Brigid's death is reported by Colgan in Appendix 4 to her Life, chapter 7: namely, that she herself also, in the Annals of Roscrea which he cites, St. Brigid died 523, February 1, on a Wednesday. and in a Life written in Irish, is said to have been invested with the sacred veil on a Wednesday and to have died on the same day. But the Kalends of February, on which day both the writers of her Life and all the Martyrologies place her death, fell on a Wednesday neither in the year 518 nor in 521, but in 523, when the Dominical letter was A. Nor does that marker, if true, fit any other nearby year except 517 and 534, which diverge too greatly from the other indicators given by the author of the fourth Life. Colgan miscalculates when he thinks that in 528 the Kalends of February fell on a Wednesday; they fell on a Tuesday. A fourth chronological marker of St. Brigid's death is established by some from the fact that she died four years after St. Columba was born. Colgan confirms this marker; Ussher refutes it: we shall examine it in connection with his Life on June 9.

[54] It is therefore more probable that Brigid died in the year 523, on the Kalends of February, a Wednesday, thirty years after the death of St. Patrick. But in what year of her age? The eightieth, says the author of that fourth Life. Ussher on page 884, following ancient chronicles, and Colgan following the most ancient Martyrologies, in the 70th year of her age. think she was only seventy years old, so that she would appear to have been born in the year 453.

Section 9. The Burial and Translation of St. Brigid.

[55] That the relics of St. Brigid formerly said to be preserved at Glastonbury, and those at Abernethy, were said in sections 6 and 7 to have been those of another Brigid, nearly two hundred years later, a kinswoman of Garnard, King of the Picts: she is not buried at Glastonbury, or if they were those of our Brigid of Leinster, they were transported there later from Ireland -- from which her Life writers do not record her as ever having set foot outside, still less as having died elsewhere. For what Boece reports, cited above in section 7, number 45 -- that her body was transferred from the Hebrides (as if she had died there) to Down -- he proves by no testimony of any older writer.

[56] Cogitosus, in chapter 8, number 37, implies that she died at Kildare. Certainly he reports that in his time her body was religiously guarded there: but at Kildare: "In which" (the church of Kildare), he says, "the glorious bodies of both, that is, of the Archbishop Conleth and of this most flourishing Virgin Brigid, placed on the right and left sides of the decorated altar, in monuments adorned with various ornaments of gold and silver and precious gems, with golden and silver crowns hanging above, and various images with diverse engravings and colors, rest in peace."

[57] Afterwards the relics of St. Brigid were transported to Down and placed in one tomb with the bodies of SS. Patrick and Columba, later translated to Down, on which Silvester Gerald testifies in his Topography of Ireland, distinction 3, chapter 18, that the following distich was inscribed:

"In the town of Down, in one tomb are entombed Brigid, Patrick, and the pious Columba."

Camden renders the beginning thus: "These three in Down," etc. Down is, as he says, "a town of truly ancient memory, distinguished by an episcopal see, in East Ulster." It is mentioned by Ptolemy as Dunon among the inland towns of Ireland -- perhaps this very one, though not in its proper position. It was formerly called by another name, and then in the era of St. Patrick, Dundalethglas. In the hymn of St. Fiacc the Bishop concerning the Life of St. Patrick, strophe 22, and in the third Life of the same in Colgan, chapters 88 and 91: Dunlethglaisse. (formerly called Dundalethglas In the fourth Life in the same, chapter 91: Castrum Lethglasse. In the Life of St. Columba by Magnus O'Donnell, book 1, last chapter: Dundaleathglas. In the first Life of St. Brigid, chapter 9, number 56: Lethglasse and Ladglaisse; and in other manuscripts, as we shall note there: Ledchladus and Lechtadus. The origin of the name is indicated by Jocelin in the Life of St. Patrick, chapter 38. For when Loegaire, King of Ireland, had ordered the hostages of Dichu, a nobleman, to be killed by thirst because he had heard that Dichu had accepted the Christian faith, Patrick prayed, and an angel came and "freed them from the house of prison and from the hand of the enemy. For from the place where they were imprisoned, which was at a very great day's journey from the city of Down, from a miraculous event) through the vast air, just as once the prophet Habakkuk, transporting them,

he set one of them down at the place where the church of St. Patrick at Down is now built; the other on a nearby hillock, surrounded by a tidal marsh; and he broke apart the chains with which they were bound, each separately. And both places have received their name, that is, Dun-da-leath-glas, from the broken chains to this day." The Irish words mean, says Colgan: Dun a fortress, da two, leath half, glas a chain, lock, or fetter. Dundalethglas therefore means: the fortress of the two half-chains, or fetters.

[58] The author of the fourth Life of St. Brigid, book 2, chapter 12, number 82, holds that she was originally buried there: "And coming," he says, "into the northern part of Ireland, namely into the province of Ulster, the most holy Brigid was immediately seized with pains, and after a brief space of time... she most happily died; and she was buried in glory and honor, in one sepulcher with the most Blessed Archbishop Patrick, according to their wish, in a city situated in the region of Ulster near the sea, named Dun-da-lethglas, which in ancient times was called Aras Kealtair, son of Cuithechar, Count of Conchobar son of Nessa, King of Ulster." Colgan in the Index reads Aras-Kelchur; in the Life, Kealtair. Ussher on page 888: Arascealtair. It is more probable that she was buried at Kildare and that her relics were kept there for several centuries, then later transported to Down, a fortified city. The same happened with the relics of St. Columba the Abbot, as also with St. Columba; which at the beginning of the ninth century from Christ's birth were still on the island of Iona, as is clear from the Life of St. Blathmac, which we gave on January 19 as written by Walafrid, in which the following is found:

"A certain island is shown on the shores of the Picts, Suspended in the wave-tossed sea, named Iona, Where the holy Columba of the Lord rests in the flesh. He sought this place with the desire of suffering the wounds of Christ: For there a numerous pagan host of Danes Is accustomed to arrive, driven by malignant furies."

And after much more:

"And having slain the remaining companions with savage ferocity, They came to the holy Father, compelling him to surrender The precious metals wherein the holy bones of holy Columba Lie; and indeed, lifting the chest from its place, They set it from the tomb in the excavated earth, Under the dense turf, already aware of the wicked plague."

[59] That irruption of the Danes into Ireland and the neighboring islands began before the year of Christ 800, as Ussher testifies from a certain Welsh chronicle, in which under the year 795 they are said to have ravaged the greater part of Ireland as the Norsemen ravaged Ireland, and also to have laid waste Rathlin. This is one of the Hebrides, or Ebudae -- a small island near Ireland, commonly called Racline, as Camden testifies; called by Ptolemy Rhicina, by Pliny in book 4, chapter 16 Ricnea; by St. Adamnan in book 2 of the Life of St. Columba, chapter 41, Rechrea; and by others under other names. What the Scots and Irish suffered from these pagans over the course of a hundred and fifty years, Ussher reviews in his Chronological Index from various annals and Acts of the Saints. Colgan enumerates the disasters of the city and monastery of Kildare in the Kildare Chronicle, in Appendix 5 to the Life of St. Brigid, chapter 2. I shall select a few. in the ninth century of Christ; In the year 835, "Kildare was despoiled by the Norsemen of Inbher-dega, and the church was half consumed by flames." In the year 836: "Norse fleets, one of thirty ships at the river Liffey, the other having sailed up the river Boyne, despoiled the plain of the Liffey and the plain of Brega, and all the churches and convents through those districts, and the nobles and the common people, driving off the flocks and herds." In 883: "Kildare was plundered by the Norsemen." In 887: "Kildare was ravaged by the Norsemen." In 895: "Kildare was plundered by the same." In 924: "Kildare was plundered first by the Norse colony of Wexford, then by the Dublin colony." Many such plunderings of both the city and the province gave the inhabitants occasion to flee to safer places and to carry away with them the relics of the saints.

[60] Furthermore, since in the same Chronicle under the year 863 it is said that St. Kellach, son of Ailill, Abbot of Kildare and of Iona, died in the kingdom of the Cruithni, or Picts, I am led by no slight conjecture that by him, or certainly in his time by someone else, the relics were conveyed to Down -- those of St. Brigid from Kildare and those of St. Columba from the monastery of Iona, or Hy -- and there placed in the tomb of St. Patrick. The writer of that fourth Life testifies that this had been foretold long before by St. Brigid, in book 2, chapter 5, number 25: "And Brigid said to St. Patrick: as she herself had foretold. 'From one sepulcher you and I, Father, and the beloved of God, St. Columba (who has not yet been born), shall rise again.'" And indeed he acknowledges that the relics of St. Columba were brought there a long time afterwards: "To the fortress of Leathglasse," he says, "(where St. Patrick himself is buried, and Blessed Brigid, and the relics of the most blessed Abbot Columba were placed in one sepulcher after many years) he went forth." The author, hearing that they were laid at Down and perhaps that the fame of miracles was being celebrated, and reading that it had once been divinely revealed to her while still living that she and St. Patrick would be entombed there, supposed that this had happened as soon as they departed this life -- especially since the ancient church at Kildare had been consumed by flames, no trace of her sepulcher survived, only the memory of her dwelling remained, and the now-decayed trunk of the ancient oak (beside which she had first founded her cell) still stood. Concerning the first burial of St. Patrick (for this too is a matter of controversy), we shall treat on March 17; concerning St. Columba the Abbot, on June 9.

Section 10. The Discovery of St. Brigid; Second Translation; Third and Fourth Translation of the Head.

[61] As the years passed, the piety of the local people and of the citizens of Down themselves seems to have grown cold regarding this venerable treasury of sacred bodies. There the bodies of her and of SS. Patrick and Columba were discovered, Certainly the burial place was unknown; and at length it was revealed, not without a heavenly portent, in the year 1185. The time and manner of this discovery are indicated by Silvester Gerald in his Topography of Ireland, distinction 3, chapter 18, writing thus: "St. Columba and St. Brigid had been contemporaries of Patrick; and in Ulster, in the same city, namely Down, the bodies of all three were laid to rest. And in our own times, in the year in which the Lord Count John first came to Ireland -- as if in a triple vault, with Patrick lying in the middle and the other two on either side -- with John de Courcy then presiding there and managing the affair, these three noble treasures were found and translated by divine revelation."

[62] The English had not long before occupied Ireland, partly under the pretext of restoring Dermot, King of Leinster, and partly (as Henry II had already written to Pope Adrian) for the purpose of subjecting the people to Christian laws Ireland previously occupied by the English, and eradicating the nurseries of vices. And indeed John de Courcy had subjugated the city of Down and the neighboring district of Ulster in the year 1177, having defeated King Rory Dunleavy in battle. King Henry of England, who had himself gone to Ireland in October of the year 1171 and had been received by the bishops and princes as King and Lord, sent John, Earl of Moreton, his son, to establish the possession of the island, in the year 1185. So Roger of Howden: "Then the Lord King came as far as Windsor, and there on the Sunday on which is sung Laetare Jerusalem, to govern which John, son of Henry II, was sent in 1185, which in that year fell on the day before the Kalends of April, he made John his son a Knight, and immediately sent him to Ireland, and thence appointed him King." Easter fell that year on April 21, and the Dominical letter was F -- all of which agrees with the chronological indicators given by Howden, and with what he adds: "An earthquake occurred on the day after the Sunday of Palm Sunday, namely the 17th of the Kalends of May." Matthew Paris briefly describes that expedition of John: "In the same year, John the King's son, having been girded with the arms of knighthood by his father at Windsor on the day before the Kalends of April, crossed over into Ireland." More fully does Silvester Gerald, who accompanied John as a sort of tutor for his youth, relate events in book 2 of the Conquest of Ireland, chapter 31.

[63] In that year, then, the bodies of SS. Patrick, Brigid, and Columba were discovered. Concerning them, Ranulph of Chester writes in book 5, chapter 4: "The contemporaries of Patrick were the Abbot Columba, who is also called Columkillus, and St. Brigid, whom Patrick veiled and who survived him by sixty years. These three are buried in Ulster, in the same city of Down, as in a triple vault. Their bodies were discovered in the first year of the coming of the Lord John, son of King Henry II, to Ireland. when the bodies were found, On their tomb these verses are inscribed: 'These three in Down,' etc." That he says Brigid survived Patrick's death by sixty years, we have noted above was reported by those who, reading in the Irish Annals that in the year 458 "the Elder Patrick rested," understood this of the Great Patrick. Although in Ranulph's copy it is evident that sixty was written instead of thirty through the carelessness of the scribe, since in book 5, chapter 4, he writes that Patrick died in the first year of the Emperor Anastasius, which was the year of Christ 491. And of Brigid he writes in chapter 5, under the year 521: "In this year the holy Virgin Brigid died in Ireland." Nor do Gerald and Ranulph correctly make St. Patrick a contemporary of St. Columba, since Patrick died twenty-six years before Columba was born, at the age of 120.

[64] The history of the Discovery, from the ancient Ecclesiastical Office of that day, published in Paris in 1620 along with other texts, is recited by Ussher and Colgan; and it has seemed good to give it here: "Recounting with worthy praises the Translation of the glorious Patrons of Ireland -- Patrick the Archbishop, Primate and Apostle of Ireland, and St. Columba the Abbot, and the holy Virgin Brigid -- let us celebrate it with the devotion of a pious mind. For it is reported that at the time of the conquest of Ireland by the English, there was a certain Malachy, a man of great merit and of holy life and conduct, Bishop of Down, where the bodies of the aforesaid were then buried. revealed to Bishop Malachy by a heavenly light, This bishop, assiduously persisting in prayers, besought God almost daily to deign to show him where so precious a treasure -- namely the relics of the said saints -- lay hidden, and that it might be made manifest in his time. And when one night he was praying most earnestly in the church of Down, he saw as it were a ray of the sun passing through the church, illuminating the place of burial of the said holy bodies."

[65] "The bishop, greatly rejoicing at the aforesaid vision, prayed more intensely that that ray should not depart until he should find the hidden relics. And then rising from there and obtaining what was necessary, he approached the illuminated ground and dug there until he found the bones of the three aforesaid bodies. And those upon which that ray shone he placed separately in boards, and having thus enclosed them in boards he replaced them underground in that spot. At that time there presided in Ulster a knight of great probity, John de Courcy, the conqueror of that land, who was greatly devoted to God and His service. The matter reported to the Pope, The said Malachy narrated his vision and his actions to him point by point. With his consent and great assistance, a devout supplication was sent to Rome to the Supreme Pontiff to obtain the translation of the said holy relics."

[66] "The Pope himself, inclining his ears to the aforesaid supplication, sent John, Cardinal Priest of the title of St. Stephen on the Caelian Hill and Legate of the Apostolic See, to Ireland. He, in the church of St. Patrick at Down, on the 5th of the Ides of June, after due reverence and services had been performed, translated the aforesaid relics from the place where they had been buried and re-deposited by Malachy, to an honorable place in the same church prepared for this purpose. At the time of their translation in the said church, there presided together with the said Legate fifteen bishops, solemnly translated, with abbots, provosts, deans, archdeacons, priors, and very many other orthodox men, decreeing that the day of the Translation of the said saints should be celebrated with an annual feast decreed by all the faithful of Christ established throughout Ireland on the 4th of the Ides of June each year, and transferring the feast of St. Columba to the day after the Octave of those relics.

'Come, you who languish; the pool at Down is stirred; It heals bodies and sick minds alike.'"

[67] A date mentioned here, as Ussher observed, seems to need correction. For the feast of St. Columba the Abbot is not usually celebrated on the 4th of the Ides, or the 10th day of June, but on the 9th, or the 5th of the Ides, as is clear from all the Martyrologies. Although in the additions to Usuard from the Cologne Charterhouse published over 130 years ago, and in the Martyrology of Canisius and Ferrarius, the Translation of St. Patrick is assigned to June 10. In the Catalogue of Irish Saints published by Henry Fitzsimon, the Elevation of St. Columba is assigned to June 10, that of St. Patrick to June 11. Since in the Office just cited it is said that the feast of St. Columba was transferred by decree of the bishops, lest the solemnity of the Elevation of the Relics or its Octave be impeded, it is probable that this occurred on June 9, June 9, which was a Sunday that year. To what extent that decree was subsequently observed in other churches of Ireland must be investigated from the ritual books of each, if indeed they survive.

[68] The Malachy mentioned here is not that St. Malachy whose Life St. Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, composed -- who was first Bishop of Connor, then Primate of Armagh, and afterwards, having installed Blessed Gelasius as his substitute, undertook the administration of the diocese of Down, which ambition, as St. Bernard says, had merged into one with that of Connor, leaving to another bishop the See of Connor, which seemed more ready and was considered the principal one. For that Malachy had departed this life in the year 1148. Rather, this was another Malachy, who is called Malethias of Down by Howden and is mentioned along with the aforesaid Primate Gelasius, Nehemiah of Connor, and other bishops and princes and abbots, through the efforts of the same Malachy, Bishop of Down, as having received Henry II, King of England, as Lord of Ireland at the assembly of Waterford in the year 1171. The same man accompanied the camp of Rory, King of Ulster, and was captured in the battle in which John de Courcy defeated him, as the same author Howden reports, but was soon released at the request of Cardinal Vivian. Jocelin also remembers this Malachy in his prologue to the Life of St. Patrick: "We are constrained," he says, "by the commands of the most reverend Thomas, Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of all Ireland, and of Malachy, Bishop of Down, to undertake this work; with the additional entreaty of the most illustrious John de Courcy, Prince of Ulidia, who is known to be a most special lover and venerator of St. Patrick, and whom we judge it most worthy to obey." More concerning de Courcy will be said in connection with the Life of St. Patrick on March 17.

[69] From what we have already said about the time of the Translation, Ussher dissents in his Chronological Index under the year 1186, writing thus: in 1185, not 1186 "An embassy having been sent to Pope Urban III by Malachy, Bishop of Down, and John de Courcy; through Cardinal Vivian, the Papal Nuncio, on the 5th of the Ides of June, the day sacred to the memory of St. Columba, the translation of the relics of Patrick, Brigid, and Columba was accomplished." Colgan cites and approves this in annotation 3 to the Life of St. Patrick by Jocelin; yet in annotation 1 he is greatly mistaken when he writes that this Translation occurred in the first year of the arrival of John de Courcy in Ireland, adding that Matthew of Florence relates that he came to Ireland in the year 1185. But Matthew is not speaking of de Courcy, but of John, the younger son of King Henry, sent to Ireland in that year. De Courcy had already been in possession of power in Ulidia, or Ulster, for some time; he, as Howden testifies, in the year 1177, on which the 11th of the Kalends of June fell on a Sunday (the Dominical letter being B), "besieged and took the city of Down, which is the chief place of Ulidia."

[70] Gerald, who was in Ireland at the time, writes that the relics of SS. Patrick, Columba, and Brigid were discovered and translated in the year in which John, the King's son, came to Ireland. But he came, as we have shown, in the year 1185. Therefore they were discovered and translated in the same year; and indeed on June 9, which was a Sunday that year. For it is customary for solemnities of this kind to be performed on Sundays, so that the people may attend with greater frequency and devotion. At that time Lucius III was Pope, who died at the end of the year on November 25, with Urban III succeeding him. Since Ciaconius writes that Vivian Thomas, Cardinal Priest of the title of St. Stephen on the Caelian Hill, was present at Urban's election, through Cardinal Vivian: Ussher's conjecture becomes probable that for "John," the Cardinal of the same title mentioned above in number 66, "Vivian" should be substituted. Vivian was admitted to the sacred college in September of the year 1173;

he was sent to Scotland in 1176 and was, as Howden writes, on Christmas Day on the Isle of Man with King Guthred; "and after Epiphany he crossed over to Ireland and landed at Down in Ulidia; and as he was walking along the coast toward Dublin, he met the army of John de Courcy, who laid hands on him and held him; but John de Courcy freed him." He was perhaps sent to Ireland again because he was already known to de Courcy and to his father-in-law, the King of Man; and he had brought it about that de Courcy entered into a lawful marriage with Affreca, granddaughter of Muirchertach, King of Ireland, by whom he already had offspring.

[71] That monument of these three saints was, as Camden states in his description of Ireland, the violator of their monument punished. reportedly demolished by Leonard Grey, Lord Deputy under Henry VIII. And it is certain that when Grey was brought to account for his misgovernment of the province and condemned to death, among other charges it was objected that he had profaned this church of Patrick. He calls it Patrick's church because, although it had previously been dedicated to the Holy Trinity, de Courcy wished it to be held sacred to St. Patrick, having placed an image of him at the principal altar and setting aside a chapel for the Holy Trinity, as is reported in the Annals of Ireland in the same Camden under the year 1204. Leonard Grey, Marquess of Dorset, was struck with the axe on June 25, 1541, as the English Annals have it.

[72] What happened to the sacred relics at that time, however, we have not yet been able to ascertain. The head of St. Brigid was translated to Neustadt, The head of St. Brigid was translated to Neustadt, or Neapolis, in Austria -- but much earlier, as we believe, although we do not know by what particular circumstances or in what manner this occurred. Neapolis, or the New City, was founded by Leopold VII of that name, the fourth Duke of Austria, who had succeeded his brother Frederick in the year 1198 and died in 1216. Cuspinian writes that the reason for its construction was to prevent the Hungarians from continually invading Austria through the river Leitha; and that it received its name because, on account of continual fires, it was renewed almost every year and appeared new and reborn from the new buildings -- an episcopal city of Austria: whence its coat of arms: white walls with a new tower on a red field. Whether this reason for the name should be considered probable on the sole authority of Cuspinian is uncertain; since it seems to have been so called from the beginning because it was genuinely recently built, not because it was afterwards disfigured by repeated fires and then renewed. The same city was later adorned with an episcopal see by the will of Frederick III. Hither, then, the head of St. Brigid the Virgin was brought and deposited in the chapel of the imperial fortress, enclosed in a chest secured with three keys.

[73] But the Emperor Rudolf II gave it to John Borgia, son of Blessed Francis Borgia, who was ambassador of Philip II, King of Spain, to Rudolf himself and previously to his father Maximilian II. John transported it, along with very many other relics of the saints, to Spain in the year 1587 and assigned them to the house of the Society of Jesus at Lisbon, thence to Lisbon, as a perpetual monument of his goodwill toward our Order. The Translation of all those relics was accomplished the following year, 1588, on January 25, as we stated under that date, listing the names of the saints to whom they belonged. Incorrectly, however, the person who then published the annual letters of the provinces of our Society wrote that this solemnity occurred on the feast of St. Roch -- the error perhaps arising from the fact that the church and house of the professed are dedicated to St. Roch. The pomp of this Translation was of such a kind that Manuel de Campos, who described it by order of Archduke Albert of Austria, then governing Portugal on behalf of King Philip, confesses that after the solemnity with which the relics of St. Vincent the Martyr were once brought to Lisbon, with distinguished pomp, nothing of this kind had been done there with equal magnificence, popular attendance, and piety. The book written about it by Manuel we deliberately defer to another day, since we have so much material about St. Brigid that a volume of almost full size could be compiled about her.

[74] There were twelve biers in all on which those sacred relics were carried in procession, and the tenth was adorned with two heads enclosed in silver cases -- one of St. Vedast, the other of a virgin from the company of St. Ursula -- together with another silver casket artfully made in a silver bust-reliquary. and embellished with gems and gold, containing the relics of thirty-four saints. But most prominent was the bust, or half-figure, likewise fashioned from silver, adorned with gold and various engravings, within which was the head of St. Brigid the Virgin. Pope Sixtus V granted a perpetual jubilee in that church on four days each year: namely, the feast of St. Brigid, the Finding of the Holy Cross, St. Ursula, and St. Gregory the Wonderworker.

[75] Some relics at Cologne. At Cologne, as we said in section 1, number 4, St. Brigid has a parish church. But in other churches certain relics of hers are reported to be preserved: in St. Gereon's, as Giles Gelenius testifies in his work on the Greatness of Cologne, book 3, Syntagma 2, section 2, page 265, reliquary 14; likewise in St. Mary's ad Gradus, as the same writes in book 3, Syntagma 7, section 4, reliquary 22. Elsewhere he treats of another Brigid, Virgin and Martyr, from the company of St. Ursula.

Section 11. Certain Perpetual Miracles of St. Brigid.

[76] It is pleasing to append, to the honor of St. Brigid, certain perpetual miracles (if it is permissible so to call them) -- certainly wondrous things Wonders of Kildare: and above the laws of nature -- which Silvester Gerald writes flourished at Kildare in his own time, and for many centuries before, in his Topography of Ireland, distinction 2, chapters 3 and following.

"At Kildare of Leinster, which the glorious Brigid renders illustrious, there are many miracles worthy of remembrance. Among which the first to present itself is the Fire of Brigid, which they call inextinguishable -- not because it cannot be extinguished, the perpetual fire of St. Brigid, but because so solicitously and carefully do the nuns and holy women tend and nourish the fire with fuel constantly supplied that from the time of the Virgin, through so many courses of years, it has always remained unextinguished; and although so great a heap of wood has been consumed here in so long a time, with the ashes never increasing; the ashes have never increased."

[77] "While in the time of Brigid twenty nuns served the Lord here, she being the twentieth, after her glorious passing, only nineteen have always remained, and they have not increased the number. guarded by the Saint herself every twentieth night; Since they guard the fire in turn, one each night in order, on the twentieth night the last nun, having placed the logs, says: 'Brigid, guard this fire of yours. For this night falls to you.' And thus the fire being left, in the morning, the fuel consumed in the usual manner, it is found unextinguished."

[78] "This fire is surrounded by a certain hedge of virginal and circular form, within which no male enters; and if any should presume to enter inaccessible to men, (which has sometimes been attempted by certain rash persons), he does not escape divine vengeance. Likewise it is permitted only to women, and these not by the breath of their mouths, nor to be fanned by blowing: but only by bellows and fans, to blow upon the fire."

[79] "Likewise, through the curse of the Virgin, goats do not breed here. no offspring of goats there: There are also here most beautiful meadows which are called Brigid's pastures, into which no one has dared to send a plough. Concerning these it is accounted a miracle that although the animals of the whole province have grazed the grass down to the bare ground in the evening, most fertile pastures: in the morning no less abundance of grass appears, as if about those pastures it had been said:

'And as much as the herds crop in the long days, So much does the cool dew restore in the brief night.' Virgil, Georgics 2, verse 201"

[80] "From the time of Brigid, a certain excellent falcon frequented that place, accustomed to perch on the top of the church tower, a long-lived and tame falcon, whence it was called by the people 'Brigid's Bird' and was held in a certain veneration by all. At the beck of the citizens or the soldiers of the garrison, like a tame bird domesticated for the purpose, it was accustomed to pursue ducks and other birds, both of the fields and of the rivers, around the plain of Kildare, with no small delight of the spectators, and to force them from the air to the ground with its innate swiftness. For what place was left for the wretched little birds, when men occupied the land and the waters, while the hostile bird, a heavy tyrant, held the air? A remarkable thing about this bird was that around the church it frequented, it would not admit a mate; but at the season of love, withdrawing far from there and in the mountains of Glendalough, a symbol of chastity, finding a mate according to custom, it indulged nature. Which done, it would return alone again to the church -- displaying to ecclesiastical men, and especially to those who within the bosom and enclosures of churches are assigned to the divine offices, a sign of chastity. On the very first departure

of the Lord Count John from Ireland, the bird, which had endured through so many centuries finally killed: and had delightfully adorned Brigid's place, at last -- while perching incautiously on its prey and not sufficiently avoiding the approach of humans -- was struck by a certain peasant with the stick he was carrying. From which it is clear that disaster must be feared even in prosperous times, and that little trust should be placed in a long, delightful, and beloved life."

[81] a book written for a miracle, subtly and elegantly, adorned with figures, "Among all the miracles of Kildare, none more miraculous occurs to me than that wondrous book, composed in the time of the Virgin (as they say) at the dictation of an angel. This book contains a concordance of the four Evangelists according to Jerome, in which there are almost as many different figures, distinguished by diverse colors, as there are pages. Here you may see the face of divine majesty divinely impressed; there the mystical forms of the Evangelists, now with six wings, now four, now two; here an eagle, there a calf, here a human face, there a lion, and other figures almost infinite in number. If you look at them superficially and in the customary manner with less than keen attention, they will seem more like smudges than engravings, and you will observe no subtlety at all where there is nevertheless nothing but subtlety. But if you invite the keenness of your eyes to a more penetrating examination and penetrate far more deeply into the secrets of the art, you will be able to discern intricacies so delicate and subtle, so exact and close, so knotted and bound together, and so illuminated with colors still fresh, that you will truly affirm that all these things were composed by angelic rather than human diligence. The more frequently and carefully I examine these things, the more I am struck as if by something new each time, and I behold ever more and more things worthy of admiration."

[82] "On the first night, the morning after which the scribe was about to begin the book, the angel showing the designs to the painter, an angel appeared to him in his sleep, showing him a design of a certain figure impressed on a tablet which he held in his hand, and saying: 'Do you think you can impress this figure on the first page of the book which you are about to write?' The scribe, lacking confidence in such subtle art and in the knowledge of so unknown and unaccustomed a thing, answered: 'By no means.' The angel said to him: 'Tomorrow tell your mistress with Brigid praying: that she may pour out prayers to the Lord for you, so that He may open the eyes of both your mind and your body to see more keenly and to understand more subtly, and may direct your hands to draw correctly.' When this was done, the following night the angel appeared again, presenting the same figure and many others to him. All of which, with the aid of divine grace, the scribe immediately perceived and faithfully committed to memory, and impressed them in their proper places in his book to perfection. Thus, therefore, with the angel presenting, Brigid praying, and the scribe imitating, that book was written."

[83] The same Gerald, in chapter 48 of the same second distinction, has the following: "At Kildare, a certain archer from the household of Earl Richard, leaping over the hedge, blew upon Brigid's fire with his mouth. The violation of the sacred fire punished by death; He immediately recoiled and began to go mad, and to whomever he met, blowing in their face, he would say: 'See? This is how I blew on Brigid's fire.' Running likewise through the houses of the whole village, wherever he found fire, repeating the same words, he blew it out. Finally, however, he was caught by his companions and bound; he begged to be led to the nearest water. Being led there, his mouth dried out, and he drank so much that he burst in the middle between their hands and expired."

[84] "Another man, as he attempted to enter the fire enclosure, having already placed one leg over the hedge, was pulled back and restrained by his companions; another with lameness: that foot with its leg immediately withered. And so for as long as he lived thereafter, he remained lame and feeble."

[85] So far Gerald. How religiously those nuns guarded that fire of St. Brigid, we have frequently read in the Lives of the Irish Saints that fire consecrated on Easter night, the custom of preserving fire among the Irish. especially by a bishop, was customarily guarded with care throughout the entire year, as we shall say in the Life of St. Ciaran of Saigir on March 5; or if the fire had otherwise been elicited by divine power at the prayers of some saint, as can be seen in the Life of St. Kevin. From one of these two causes the rite of the Kildare virgins seems to have derived. Certainly at the time when (as we said above) the barbarians plundered and burned Kildare, when even the body of Brigid itself was carried elsewhere and the memory of the event had been abolished, it is difficult for us to believe that this fire was not extinguished and the zealous care of maintaining it not discontinued. Nor is it surprising that Gerald could be persuaded that it had persisted from the times of St. Brigid, when it had lasted for so very long a time, consecrated by the other prodigies which he commemorates.

[86] The mountains of Glendalough which Gerald writes that long-lived falcon was accustomed to visit at the mating season, we take to be those which Camden mentions in the southern part of the County of Dublin, in which valleys, called Glynns, lie sunken, hollow and shaded with trees. Glendalough, an episcopal city among the mountains. In one of these St. Kevin dwelt, as we shall say in his Life on June 3, "which is situated amid the hollows of the highest mountains, irrigated by beautiful waters; for two lakes and clear streams flow together from both sides... and that valley was formerly called in Scottish Glean-De; but now it is called Gleann-da-loch, that is, the valley of two lakes... And in that very place a famous and religious city grew up in honor of St. Kevin, which is called by the name of the aforesaid valley in which it stands, that is, Gleann-da-lach; and that city is in the east of Leinster, in the region called Fortnatha." That city was episcopal, but having been joined to the archdiocese of Dublin, it is now desolate, as Camden testifies, who calls it Glandilaugh.

[87] Richard, from whose household Gerald writes that sacrilegious soldier came, was the Earl of Pembroke, Richard, the Conqueror of Ireland. who with a picked band of English and Welsh nobles came to Ireland under the pretext of restoring Dermot to the kingdom of Leinster, in the year 1169 on the eve of St. Bartholomew's Day, as the Irish Annals have it; he subjugated no small part of the country and died at Dublin in the year 1176. John, the King's son, departed in the same year 1185 in which he had arrived in Ireland, as the same Irish Annals in Camden report; and at that time the Kildare falcon was killed.

[88] Bale trifles in his usual fashion, writing thus about this Brigid in century 14 of the Writers of Britain, number 11: "At the dictation of a certain angel, they say she produced one book of her revelations. 'With the angel dictating, Brigid praying, Books of Revelations wrongly attributed to this Brigid by Bale. and the scribe recording, the book was composed,' says Gerald of Wales in book 2 of the Wonders of Ireland, chapter 39." We gave in number 82 the very words of Gerald, from the comparison of which the reader will perceive Bale's reliability -- he who calls it a book of Revelations, while the other calls it a Concordance of the Four Evangelists. "But" (adds Bale) "such is the obscurity of the words that the glosses of silly women or the interpreters of old wives' tales are needed to elucidate them." And shortly after, in the appendix: "The dark dreams of this Diana, or, as they call them, Revelations, were magisterially expounded in the schools of Oxford and in public lecture halls by great Doctors of their age: Thomas Stubbs the Dominican, Richard Lavynham the Carmelite, and still many others of that kind, around the year of our Lord 1370, believed and expounded by learned men, so that these sophisters might cloud the truth of God, clearer than the sun, with such ravings of silly women." So writes this man of petulant pen. In an earlier edition (which we have not seen; Colgan cites it) he writes that she left to posterity twelve books of Revelations. Gesner rashly believed Bale, and our own Possevinus believed Gesner: both write that this Brigid, a Scot, composed most obscurely her twelve books of Revelations. But the Doctors whom Bale says expounded the Revelations of St. Brigid in the schools, he himself shows elsewhere to have transcribed or explained the revelations of St. Bridget, the Swedish widow. For in century 7, chapter 1, enumerating the writings of Richard Lavynham, among other things he has thus: "Seven books on the Revelations of Bridget. 'Amazement and wonders have been heard.'" John Pits describes the work thus: "Notable determinations publicly delivered at Oxford and London in support of the book of the Revelations of St. Bridget, seven books. 'Amazement and wonders have been heard.'" since they were those of St. Bridget the widow: But with these words, "Amazement and wonders," etc., the Prologue to the books of the revelations of St. Bridget of Sweden begins. Among the writings of Thomas Stubbs (whom Pits calls Stubs, and Leander Alberti calls Stolbez), Bale and Pits list: "One book on the Revelations of Brigid. 'Blessed and venerable Lady.'" But we think this too pertains to the Swedish Birgitta, who flourished in Stubbs's era. Leslie says admirably in book 4 of his History of Scotland: "Some ignorantly confuse our Brigid with Bridget of Sweden, in whose name many revelations are inscribed." We are therefore all the more surprised that Thomas Dempster not only attributes to these authors an exposition of the revelations of St. Brigid the Virgin, but also refers to St. Brigid the Scot the indices to the revelations of St. Bridget and to the prophecies of the same which Alan de Lynn is recorded to have composed around the year 1420, as found in Bale and Pits.

[89] Furthermore, the writings of this Brigid (besides the Rule, which we treated in section 4, number 31) are enumerated as three by Colgan in Appendix 3, chapter 2, Certain writings of St. Brigid the Virgin. which he testifies are in his possession in the Irish language: namely, a Poem on the virtues of St. Patrick; a Quiver of Divine Love, containing pious aspirations; and a verse Epistle to St. Aidan son of Degill, in which she dissuades him from pilgrimage. The same Colgan mentions this epistle in Note 49 to part 2 of the Tripartite Work on the Life of St. Patrick.

Section 12. St. Brigid Honored with Gifts by Saints. Some Inquiries concerning St. Gildas.

[90] From the Lives of other saints, some things concerning the deeds of St. Brigid seem here to be appended that were omitted by the writers of her Acts. various gifts given to St. Brigid by saints: First, we shall give from the Acts of the saints themselves the gifts either conferred upon her by saints or obtained for her divinely, and the honors paid to her.

[91] St. Ailbe, or Helveus, Bishop of Imlech, or Emly, in Munster (who is reported to have preached the religion of Christ to the Irish together with certain others before St. Patrick, from St. Ailbe the Bishop, 100 sheep. and to have lived to a very great age, as will be said on September 12) -- he once, as is related in his Life (which Hugh Ward communicated to us from an Inishmore manuscript), "came to a plain called the Liffey, where St. Brigid was staying in the church called Kildare; and when they had greeted each other in sincere charity, Brigid said to St. Helveus: 'Behold, Father, I do not have sheep with which the handmaids of Christ might be clothed.' Helveus said to her: 'Be at ease, O Brigid, obtained by prayers, for you shall have sheep.' Then the pious Father, desiring to fulfill his promise, prayed to the Lord, and was heard for his reverence. For the Lord had given him a hundred white sheep, needing no shepherd, which he bestowed upon St. Brigid. And these needed no shepherd, but went by themselves to pasture and likewise returned to the fold."

[92] At another time also, when St. Helveus and Brigid were at Currach Liffey, Brigid said to him: "I have no wine for the sacrifice of the altar." likewise a vessel of wine, Helveus said to her: "Bring me a vessel, that you may receive wine." Brigid replied: "I have no vessel in which to store it." Then a glass vessel full of wine was sent from heaven into the bosom of St. Helveus, and he gave this vessel with the wine to Brigid. In the Kilkenny manuscript codex, this latter miracle is narrated thus: "St. Ailbe went to visit St. Brigid, who was in the plain of the Liffey, and stayed with her for several days, devoting themselves to the mysteries of God and speaking divine words between themselves daily. When they were at prayer together in one place, sent down from heaven to one praying: on a certain day a glass vessel full of wine was cast from heaven between them, but it fell nearer to St. Ailbe. St. Ailbe received it and gave it to St. Brigid; then they gave thanks to God. And thence St. Ailbe came to the borders of the Munstermen, having taken leave of St. Brigid." The place which is here called Currach Liffey is called Curreth Liffey in the Salamanca manuscript.

[93] Two Brendans are recorded to have flourished among the Irish in the sixth Christian century: the one, son of Finlog, about whose seven-year voyage marvelous things are written, as we shall say in his Life on May 16; the other, somewhat older, son of Neim or Nein, the founder of that monastery which in Scottish is called Birr, as St. Adamnan writes in the Life of St. Columba, book 3, chapter 3, and in the heading of chapter 11. Birr is, as Ussher writes, in the King's County. This Brendan, as is narrated in his Life which we shall give on November 29, from St. Brendan of Birr the Eucharist was sent to her at Easter, sent the Eucharist to St. Brigid in a wondrous manner. "There was with Brendan a certain unbelieving layman, who did not believe that the bread and wine offered upon the altar were the true body and blood of the Lord. On Easter night, when Brendan offered the Body of Christ, that layman came to receive a portion of the sacrifice from the table and saw hands above and a chalice full of blood, and being terrified he refused to receive. Then holy Brendan sent that holy sacrifice through an angel of God to St. Brigid. by the ministry of an angel: For she had vowed that on that Easter night she would not receive the sacrifice from anyone except from St. Brendan." That vow of the holy Virgin was an ardent desire to receive the sacred mysteries from Brendan, whose fame of sanctity she had heard, though he was much younger than she in age.

[94] A contemporary of this Brendan was St. Gildas, surnamed the Wise, who flourished in so great a reputation for virtue that King Ammericus, or Ammireus, or Ammireach, of Ireland (who assumed the monarchy in the year 566 and administered it for three years) summoned him to Ireland to restore ecclesiastical discipline, which had somewhat slipped and declined. When she had learned of the fame for wisdom and virtue of this man, who was not very advanced in age (for, having been born in the year of Christ 493, as we showed from his own writings on January 29, he had scarcely completed his thirtieth year when Brigid died), she congratulated him on his distinguished beginnings and asked that some small gift be sent to her by him as a pledge of his sanctity and the friendship contracted between them. This is related thus in the Life of St. Gildas, chapter 2, number 10: "When Blessed Brigid, who at that time was distinguished and dwelling on the island of Ireland, presiding as Abbess over a monastery of virgins, a renowned virgin, heard the fame of Blessed Gildas, she sent a messenger to him with words of entreaty, saying: 'Rejoice, holy Father, and be ever strong in the Lord; I beseech you to deign to send me some token of your sanctity, so that your memory may always flourish perennially among us.' a bell from St. Gildas, cast by his own hands; Then St. Gildas, having received the holy virgin's embassy, made a mold with his own hands by the process of casting and fashioned a bell according to her request; and he sent it to her by the messenger she had dispatched. She received it with joy, and gladly accepted it as a heavenly gift sent to her from him."

[95] These last events, in the manuscript Life of St. Gildas which we cited as sent from Rouen, in section 4 of his feast on January 29 -- although we did not then judge it worthwhile to give it in full -- in that Life, then, the last portion about the bell sent by a messenger is expressed thus: "Then St. Gildas, having received the holy Virgin's embassy, made a mold with his own hands by the process of casting, and fashioned a very small bell according to her request; and when it was completed, he approached the seashore, and cast it into the waves, saying: 'In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, cross this channel of the sea, that you may be borne by waves and wind more swiftly to the feet of the blessed Virgin Brigid.' This was found to have been accomplished immediately at the command of Blessed Gildas: and in the very place where the consecrated virgin was standing on the seashore, across the sea it was immediately found. which is fancifully said to have floated across the sea to her. She received it with joy, and recognized it as sent from Blessed Gildas, and gladly accepted it as a heavenly pledge of salvation from him. After this, Blessed Brigid returned to her monastery and announced this miracle, wrought by the Lord, to her maidens and virgins; and entering the oratory together with the same virgins, she gave thanks to the Lord for the greatness of St. Gildas and the receipt of his pledge." So the unsophisticated writer, or interpolator of the ancient Life, interpreted what he had read or heard -- that the bell was sent across the sea from Gildas to Brigid -- as meaning it was cast into the sea and carried at once to Ireland by divine power.

[96] there was only one Gildas, born in the year 493: Furthermore, that St. Brigid called Gildas "Father" in this passage leads John Colgan, in his Appendix to the Life of St. Gildas, chapter 2, to conclude firmly that Gildas was then an old man and therefore different from the Gildas who wrote about the destruction of Britain. For this one, he thinks, was born in the year in which the defeat was inflicted on the Saxons at the siege of Mount Badon, which he places, following Ussher and the Westminster writer who followed Geoffrey, in the year 520; we place it in 493,

that is, in the forty-fourth year from the coming of the Saxons to Britain, as Bede -- much older than all those cited by Ussher -- testifies in express words in book 1 of his Ecclesiastical History of the English People, chapter 16. Caradoc of Llancarfan is said to have written the Life of some older Gildas, whom he calls Albanius and contends was much more ancient than the one we have already mentioned, who was born thirty years before the death of St. Brigid. But the monk of Rhuys, who composed his Life nearly a hundred and forty years before Caradoc, recognized only one Gildas. We too have subscribed to his view, until it should happen that we see the book of Caradoc; prepared frankly to change our opinion if it is established that there were two British Gildases -- which indeed the arguments collected by Colgan, most of them from Ussher, do not prove. They are as follows: 1. that Gildas is called by certain more recent writers a disciple of St. Patrick -- what arguments suggest that another, older Albanius existed, which cannot fit our Gildas, born in the very year Patrick died, or even later. 2. He is established by Albert le Grand of Morlaix, in his history of the Saints of Armorican Brittany, as a contemporary of St. Winwaloe, or Guenole, who flourished around the year 460. 3. He came to Gaul during the reign of Childeric, who died in the year 480. 4. He is called "Father" out of reverence by Brigid. 5. He brought the bell he had cast to Pope Anastasius, who died in the year 498, when the other Gildas was scarcely five years old. 6. He was a contemporary of St. Cadoc and directed schools under him in the year 463. 7. He came from Ireland when his brother Huel had been killed by King Arthur in the year 508, and this cannot be understood of the younger Gildas. 8. He directed schools at Armagh in Ireland, and indeed in the year 498. 9. He foretold the sanctity of St. David, Bishop of Menevia, before he was born; and David flourished while Patrick was still alive. 10. He studied in Wales under St. Finnian, Bishop of Clonard, who, having traveled outside Ireland for thirty years, then opened a most famous school which very many Irish saints attended. 11. The acts of the two are discrepant. 12. One is said to have died near Glastonbury, the other in Gaul.

[97] It is not our intention to examine and refute each point more carefully; nor does it matter whether the bell sent to Brigid was a gift of the one or the other. Nevertheless, what we said elsewhere seemed to us the case -- that there was only one Gildas, they are refuted: called Albanius by some and Badonicus by others, and by the rest the Wise -- so far from appearing that we should change our opinion, the evidence rather confirms it. For let him be called a disciple of St. Patrick, seeing that he learned the divine letters in Ireland, or Ire, and imbibed the teaching handed down by Patrick. Are not those called disciples of SS. Augustine and Thomas who profess to follow and defend their teaching, especially if they have also adopted the same way of life? As for the claim of Albert that the elder Gildas was Irish by race and founded the monastery of Rhuys in the year 399 and then attended the funeral of King Gradlon in 405 with St. Winwaloe, already as Abbot and formerly the King's Chancellor -- this is not adequately proved, and one would have to concede that Gildas lived at least 160 years. Concerning St. Winwaloe we shall inquire on March 3. Nor does the carelessness of the monk of Rhuys, who writes that Gildas came to Gaul during the reign of Childeric, son of Merovech, favor Colgan's position, if, as Albert is our authority, Gildas was already active at the court of Conan, King of Armorica, in the age of the elder Theodosius. Moreover, whence did Colgan get the idea that the bell was given by Gildas to Pope Anastasius II? The Life of St. Cadoc on January 24 and the Life of St. Gildas in Capgrave say "Alexander." Since, then, no Alexander sat at Rome for several centuries before and after Gildas, and Colgan himself admits that the Pope's name was corruptly expressed, even if we concede that perhaps only the first letter was formed, from which the scribe made "Alexander," how does it follow that "Anastasius" rather than "Agapetus," who lived in our Gildas's time, should be restored? Harpsfield writes that Cadoc died in the year 570, and Colgan himself says he finds this more persuasive than what others have reported -- 491 or 500; thus he acknowledges Cadoc to have been roughly contemporary with our Gildas.

[98] The Huel who was slain by Arthur was the king, not the brother of some elder Gildas, as can be clearly gathered from the very words of Caradoc, as cited by Ussher. For he writes thus: "Gildas, a most holy man, was a contemporary of Arthur, king of all Greater Britain, whom he loved with devotion and always wished to obey. His twenty-three brothers, however, resisted the aforementioned rebellious king, unwilling to suffer a lord, his brother Huel killed by King Arthur: but they frequently routed and expelled him by assault and battle. Huel, the eldest born, a constant warrior and most famous soldier, obeyed no king, not even Arthur. He afflicted him and stirred up the greatest fury between the two. He very frequently came from Scotland, set fires, led away plunder with victory and glory. Wherefore the universal king of Britain, hearing that the valiant young man had done such things and was doing the like, pursued the most victorious young man, the best (as the natives said and hoped) future king. In a hostile pursuit and in a warlike encounter, on the island of Anglesey he slew his enemy and plunderer. After that killing Arthur returned as victor, rejoicing greatly that he had overcome his most formidable foe." Here we have that Huel, or Hoel, or Howel, was older than Gildas and was killed by Arthur while still a young man. Now whether Arthur assumed the kingdom in the year 516 or 508, how can it be thought, as those writers wish, that Gildas was born in the year 427 and that his elder brother, eighty years later, was still a young man and the best future king (as was hoped) when killed by Arthur?

[99] Everything fits our Gildas aptly. Born in the year 493, he learned his letters in Britain; when he was thirteen or fourteen years old, he set out for Gaul, where did Gildas study and teach? whence returning seven years later, he taught for some years in Britain; then he went to Ireland and attended the schools of various teachers; and at the very time when Howel was waging war with Arthur (which was perhaps the occasion for Gildas to leave Britain), he was discharging the office of teaching with distinction in the metropolitan city of Armagh. Caradoc himself testifies, as cited by Ussher: "Gildas, the historiographer of the Britons, then (when Howel was killed), remaining in Ireland, directing a school and preaching in the city of Armagh, heard that his brother had been killed by King Arthur." Returning to Britain and reconciled with the king, he taught for one year under St. Cadoc; and having been ordained to the priesthood, whether there or previously in Ireland, he preached the Gospel widely throughout Britain with enormous fruit of souls. It was at this time that Brigid appears to have sent to him, when he was already twenty-seven or twenty-eight years old.

[100] St. Finnian, who left Ireland at the age of thirty and, having spent thirty other years abroad, returned to his own people and opened a school at Clonard in Meath -- and so great was the fame of his learning that monks, priests, and bishops flocked to hear him from every quarter -- St. Finnian was his student. heard Gildas teaching in Britain, either after his return from Gaul, around the year of Christ 514, or rather when he had returned from Ireland after Howel's death. St. Finnian was still alive in the year 565, when St. Columba, or Columkillus, departed from Ireland, as Colgan rightly observes. Therefore there is no necessity to invent some older Gildas, since Finnian could have been a student of the one born in the year 493. Finally, the Acts of both Gildases are not so different that they cannot all fit one person, as has already been shown. For what is said about the elder having died near Glastonbury was perhaps believed on account of relics brought there, as we said before regarding St. Brigid. Whether Gildas predicted the sanctity of the not yet born St. David, we shall discuss on March 1, where we shall give his Life, in which the seer is called only a holy man who was setting forth the word of God to the people. But the age of David himself must also be treated there, since he is recorded to have been a first cousin of St. Cadoc and of Brochmael, who was still living after the year 600.

[101] So much for St. Gildas and the bell sent to St. Brigid. With another kind of homage St. Fintan, monk of Rheinau, honored her memory when she had already been received into heaven, St. Fintan on St. Brigid's feast distributed meat to the poor, as is related in his Life on November 15: "On the feast of St. Brigid the Virgin, he gathered no small crowd of poor people, as was his custom, and ordered all the meat he had to be cut into portions according to the number of those assembled.

But when this was done, behold, so many poor people came unexpectedly to eat. The blessed man gave thanks to God at their arrival; and trusting in the generosity of God, who satisfied five thousand men with five loaves, he had the portions distributed -- which he had previously ordered to be prepared according to the number of those first assembled. But although the number of the needy was doubled, and nothing of the meat was added either by him or by anyone else, divinely multiplied. nevertheless each person's portion was found from that same small quantity of meat."

Section 13. The Benefits of St. Brigid toward Various Saints.

[102] Next we shall recount the benefits which Brigid herself bestowed on other saints, omitted by the writers of her Acts. And first, the baptism procured for St. Tigernach is thus related in his Life: "Cormac, a noble man, born in Leinster, had begotten a son from the daughter of King Eochaid, whom he served. The father, soon carrying the child on his shoulder, hastened to travel swiftly to his homeland. St. Brigid recognizes the absent St. Tigernach, And when the father with his infant was entering the city of Blessed Brigid, before they came within her sight, the blessed Virgin at once perceived them by the revelation of the Spirit and made it known to her household, saying: 'Honorable guests are now approaching us, whom we ought to receive joyfully.' The holy Virgin herself, going out to meet them, then has him baptized by St. Conlaid, embraced the child in her bosom and had Bishop St. Conlaid baptize him. The blessed Virgin, imposing a name on him, said: 'He is the grandson of many kings; let him be called Tigernach.' When this was done, the father set out with the child for his homeland, and there he raised him with diligent care."

[103] Then a little further on: "Having founded a monastery and left brethren in it, he set out for his spiritual mother, who had once lifted him from the baptismal font, namely Brigid, then has him consecrated as bishop: now dwelling in the monastery of Kildare. She, admonished by mystical signs and by the Spirit revealing to her that her spiritual son was worthy of the pastoral honor, convened bishops and had him promoted to the order of the pontificate. And so great a privilege was granted to the aforesaid Virgin by the clergy of the Irish Church and by the people, that whomever she chose for ordination was unanimously chosen by all."

[104] From these you may correct what Colgan writes in Appendix 5, chapter 2: that St. Conlaid was first made Bishop of Kildare in the year 500. For if he, already a bishop, baptized St. Tigernach, this must have happened before the year 480, when did each event occur? since St. Certennus, or Mac Carthainn, Bishop of Clogher in the province of Tyrone, died in the year 506, and St. Tigernach succeeded him and placed his see in the town of Clones. For I do not think Colgan would concede that he was adorned with the episcopal dignity before the age of twenty-six; therefore the infant was not baptized only after the year 500, yet he is recorded to have been visited when already inaugurated as a bishop by St. Duach, or Dubtach, Archbishop of Armagh, whom Colgan says died in the year 512, and Ussher, on the authority of the ancient Annals, in 514. To untie this knot, Colgan, when citing from our Salamanca codex the things we have narrated about St. Tigernach, deliberately suppressed the name of St. Conlaid, saying only: "she had him baptized by the bishop." But the manuscript has: "she had him baptized by Bishop Conlaeth." We have used another copy in which "Collaid" was written instead of "Conlaid."

[105] In the Life of St. Finnian of Clonard, which we shall give on February 23, She offers gold to St. Finnian, the following is found concerning Brigid: "After this, St. Finnian came to Kildare to St. Brigid, where he labored for some time in reading and preaching. But when he had received permission to depart, St. Brigid offered him a golden ring; but because he despised all temporal things, he refused the ring. predicting perhaps that he will be in need: Then St. Brigid said: 'Shortly you will have need of gold.' St. Finnian replied: 'My God, when He wills and when there is need, will give me gold from His own treasure.' then refused Having received a blessing, St. Finnian departed thence. After this St. Finnian came to the place called Fortchern Arbrech; and when he had washed his hands in a certain spring there, later given from heaven to one in need: he found upon his palm the ring which St. Brigid had offered him at Kildare. Then Casyn, son of Naiman, came to him and devotedly gave himself and his fields to Finnian; and he complained before St. Finnian that the king was demanding an ounce of gold from him for the land. The aforesaid ring, therefore, weighing a fair ounce, was given to the king for the land; and thus all that land freely remained with St. Finnian." He who is here called Casyn son of Naiman is called Cassanus, son of Nemain, in the Salamanca manuscript. Colgan testifies that he is enrolled among the saints in the Martyrologies under March 1, on which day, however, he omitted him. What is recorded here seems to have taken place before Finnian went to Britain, from which he did not return until after the death of Brigid, according to what was said in the preceding section -- unless perhaps what is said in the first Life, chapter 17, number 105, and in the fourth, book 2, number 69, about gold sent in a similar manner to St. Hinne the Virgin, was wrongly transferred to Finnian, or what happened to her was attributed to him.

[106] That another person was assisted by the salutary counsel of St. Brigid is narrated by Colgan from a certain Cataldus's Hagiologium, in Appendix 2, number 46. "There was a certain monk of Fermoy, familiar with Blessed Brigid, she recognizes distant events by a marvelous vision: who once turned aside to the monastery of the holy virgin for the sake of hospitality. As he was sitting at table, Brigid entered, having knocked at the door, and said: 'Do you have, Brother, a confessor?' And when he replied that he did, she added: 'Pray for him now, then.' 'Why is that?' asked the brother. 'He has died,' said Brigid; 'and when you had reached about the halfway point of your meal, I perceived that he had perished. How so?' asked the monk. Brigid answered: 'When you had finished half your meal, I saw you as if headless, and the food you had eaten descending through your throat into your stomach as through the gullet of a decapitated man; because from the very moment your Confessor died, your body appeared without a head, like a trunk. she urges him to choose a Confessor: Therefore do not continue to taste anything more until you take a new confessor; for a corpse with its head cut off is a man without a Confessor, or spiritual Father.'"

[107] St. Aidan, or Maedoc, whose Life we gave on January 31, was succeeded in the year of Christ 632, as Ware and Ussher write, by St. Moling. St. Brigid, when invoked, assists St. Moling in dangers. We shall give his Life on June 17, in which it is narrated that he obtained various concessions from the Kings of the Ui Neill for his own Leinster people, and encountered many dangers from which he was miraculously delivered. To this perhaps pertains what Colgan relates from another Life of his in Appendix 2, number 22, in these words: "And the holy elder Moling, knowing this, told his companions to go more swiftly on their way, praying to the Lord. And he himself began a holy hymn in the Irish tongue, in which he named many saints in prayer and praise, beginning from virginity and ending in the same -- that is, making first mention of the most blessed Virgin Brigid, and mention of Mary the Mother of God at the end. And when the Saint was finishing his canticle, he and his companions were nearly captured by their pursuers. His companions now despairing of the safety of their bodies, but he himself trusting in Christ, a luminous cloud fell from heaven between the enemies and the Saint; and they were no longer able in any way to see or pursue the Saint of God. St. Moling's canticle for a prosperous journey. And thus the holy Bishop Moling escaped with his companions from the territory of the Ui Neill. That canticle of St. Moling is always held in honor in Ireland, which good men sing when undertaking a journey; and through the grace of St. Moling and of the other saints whose memory is sung in it, Almighty God delivers them from various dangers."

[108] Another blessing St. Brigid, together with St. Aidan, bestowed from heaven upon a certain sick man, which is thus narrated in the cited Life of St. Aidan: "There was a certain man, sick for thirty years in the borders of the Northern Leinstermen, named Finan. He, in a vision on the feast of St. Maedoc, saw a wondrous chariot descending from heaven to the city of St. Maedoc at Ferns; in which there was a holy elder, he appears to St. Finan together with St. Aidan, and they predict his death. most beautiful of countenance, in clerical garb, and a most illustrious veiled Virgin with him; and they gave honor to one another, as

Section 14. Miracles of Doubtful Authenticity Ascribed to St. Brigid.

[109] Certain things also are ascribed to St. Brigid which do not seem to accord sufficiently with her era. St. Aed, son of Brecc, is recorded as having been familiar with her, and yet he was younger than St. Canice, St. Aed was younger than St. Canice, who was born in the year 527. who never saw Brigid, having been born four years after her death. For Aed, as is said in his Life, "was nourished as a small boy in his mother's house in the land of the Munstermen; and then, still a youth, while seeking a herd of swine in the woods, he found St. Brendan of Birr in a certain place writing a Gospel, and St. Canice arriving. The saints, speaking and greeting one another, saw the boy approaching. When Brendan saw him, he rose to meet him and received him with great joy. But Canice reproached the Saint of God for rising at the arrival of a small child," etc. And more clearly in the Life of St. Aed from the Kilkenny codex, Colgan gives under February 28: "On a certain day the blessed boy Aed, walking alone in the wilderness, found in a certain hidden and remote island cell two holy senior abbots, St. Brendan of Birr and Canice, reading the Gospel." And then: "But holy Canice rebuked blessed Brendan because he had risen at the arrival of an unknown boy."

[110] Afterward, however, as though he had already been a bishop during Brigid's lifetime, the following is narrated: he is said to have freed St. Brigid from a headache; "And therefore, as the learned say, whoever is troubled by a headache, upon invoking the name of St. Aed, is healed. For when St. Brigid was suffering from a most severe headache, invoking the name of St. Aed the Bishop, she was immediately healed of the headache until the day of her death, as she was accustomed to say: 'The invocation of the name of St. Aed has healed me of the most grievous pains in my head.'" Colgan recites the same from the codex of Inis, or the Island of the Saints, which however he acknowledges under February 28 requires more examination. But in that Life which he published there from the Kilkenny codex, it is only said: "A certain holy Virgin, having excessive pain in her head, invoked the name of St. Aed while situated far from him, and was immediately made well from the headache until her death."

[111] In the same manuscript Life which is in our possession, the following is found: "At another time St. Aed went to St. Brigid and said to her: likewise that she received from her a Gospel obtained from heaven, 'I do not have a Gospel; can you provide one?' She answered: 'This is not easy for me.' Then St. Brigid, rising, stretched out her hands in prayer; and as they prayed together with one accord, a Gospel was sent down into the lap of St. Brigid; and she gave it into the lap of St. Aed the Bishop, as they gave thanks to God, praising and blessing the Lord." Perhaps another, younger Brigid was meant.

[112] Nor does what Colgan narrates from the Life of St. Brendan of Clonfert obtain greater credence with us -- a truly remarkable tale, and not unlike the marvels which he is recorded to have seen in his seven-year voyage. He was somewhat younger than St. Brendan of Birr, of whom we have treated above, When did St. Brendan die? as is evident from the latter's Life, where the following is found: "Then the younger Brendan said to the elder of Birr." Ussher writes that the Birr Brendan died in the year 571, the other in 577, or at most 583. He must certainly have reached this last year if, as is related in his voyage narrative, he found a monk on a remote island who had set out thither from the death of St. Patrick and had spent ninety years there. But what Ussher says -- that Brendan was then ninety-three years old, from which it would follow that he came into the world in the year 490 -- is not sufficiently proved to us. For in the fourth Life of St. Patrick found in Colgan, the following is given in chapter 79: "The blessed Apostle Patrick, among other gifts, was full of the spirit of prophecy, and he prophesied concerning the saints born after the death of St. Patrick, who would exist in those regions after his death; and he revealed their names and the times in which they would be born -- as of St. Senan, who was born forty years later, and of St. Brendan, who was to arise one hundred and twenty years after the blessed man's death," etc. The same is related about Brendan in the Tripartite Work, part 3, chapter 47. But it is clear that an error has crept into the numbers; perhaps 513. otherwise he would not have been born until the year 613. Colgan thinks it should be restored to read "twelve years before the blessed man's death," that is, 481. But it is expressly written "who would exist after his death." St. Senan indeed is said in the first Life of St. Brigid to have flourished in reputation for holiness during her lifetime, which is not entirely certain, as we shall note regarding chapter 17 of that Life; for what is there said about Brigid having sent him a gift is attributed in Senan's Life to another Brigid from the family of the Mac Tailidar. But St. Brendan was perhaps born thirty years after St. Patrick's death -- that is, in the very year in which Brigid also died -- for X is easily distorted into C. What if that C was added through a copyist's carelessness, and only XX had been written before? In the Life of St. Columkille, certainly, four founders of monasteries from Ireland are said to have come to him: "Congall, Canice, Brendan, Cormac." But Canice, or Canicus, is said to have been born in the year 527, a contemporary of Saints Congall and Columba, and Congall in 516, as we shall relate in their Lives on October 11 and May 10; and both were contemporaries and friends of St. Columba. Since, then, Brendan is numbered with them, and indeed in third place, is it plausible that he was so much older than both?

[113] However that may be, let us set forth what is narrated about Brigid in the Life of St. Brendan, found in Colgan, Appendix 2 to the Life of St. Brigid, number 18. "On a certain day when the holy elder was upon the sea, he is said to have heard a beast imploring St. Brigid's aid in a human voice, he saw two beasts now fighting, now swimming in rapid pursuit. But one was pursuing the other in a wondrous battle; and the beast that was fleeing, when it was nearly caught and overcome, said in a human voice in the direction of St. Brendan: 'I commend myself to the protection of St. Patrick, Archbishop of the Irish.' The other likewise said in a human voice: 'His protection will avail you in no way.' The fugitive said: 'I commend myself to the protection of St. Brendan, who is here present.' The pursuer said: 'The protection of Brendan will truly profit you nothing.' Again the fugitive said: and the other yielding, 'I commend myself to the protection of the most holy Virgin Brigid.' Then the pursuer immediately turned back, saying: 'I dare pursue you no longer, because you have commended yourself to the protection of St. Brigid.' Afterward that wretched creature escaped unharmed. The holy Brendan then praised St. Brigid, giving glory to God. And arriving in Ireland, he went out to St. Brigid; and narrating to her about the aforesaid beasts, he questioned her and said: 'Why do the sea beasts fear you, O Virgin of God, more than other saints?' The Virgin of God answered him: 'What is the frequency of your attention to God?' St. Brendan said: 'At every seventh step of mine, at the least, I think of God; and sometimes for a long interval I think of nothing other than God.' St. Brigid said to him: 'Then sometimes you think of earthly things, sometimes of God. because the Saint always thought of God: But I, truly, from the day I fixed my mind upon God, have never turned it back to earthly things. The more a person attends to God and loves Him, the more do animals fear that person.' And St. Brendan, edified by this saying of the most blessed Virgin Brigid, after they had exchanged blessings, went on his way."

[114] But what sort of thing is it that beasts not only speak with a human voice, but also recognize Brendan himself, and Brigid who is absent, and Patrick who has long since departed this life? But let us grant -- even though no cause for so great a miracle is apparent -- that God, who once admonished Balaam by giving speech to a donkey, wished here to instruct Brendan by the same means; to what extent is this credible? or certainly that something of this kind was presented to him through a dream or imaginary vision. Yet how could he be called "the holy elder" when, at the time of Brigid's death, he was only thirteen years old -- or, as we think more probable, thirty-three, or finally, according to Colgan's reckoning, forty-two? But this whole narrative belongs to that class of stories which are found in very great numbers in the Acts of the Irish Saints -- stories committed to written records by excessively credulous and unlearned writers on the uncertain report of posterity. Someone had heard either that wild beasts had been tamed by Brigid's command and had fled to her as suppliants, or that men of bestial savagery had experienced the benefit of her aid when invoked -- things which certainly did happen. From this someone invented the tale that actual beasts had sought her help in words and were thereby saved. What is added, however -- that beasts were subject to her because she continuously kept her mind fixed in the contemplation and love of God -- is consistent both with her piety and with the infinite charity and munificence of God toward His saints.

Section 15. Lessons Concerning St. Brigid, from the Ancient Aberdeen Breviary, Printed in the Year 1509.

[I] St. Brigid, whom God foreknew according to His own image and predestined, St. Brigid's parents: born of a good and most prudent Scottish lineage, begotten of her father Dubthach and her mother Brocca, from childhood grew up devoted to good pursuits. For the maiden, chosen by God, full of the manners of sobriety and prudence, ever advanced toward better things. When sent by her mother to collect butter from the milk of cows, as other women did, she distributed it all to the poor; and when the others had returned the collected produce of the cows, alms divinely compensated: she herself, inflamed by the fire of God, turned to the Lord; and God, on behalf of His Virgin, restored the butter in abundance. Finally, when her parents wished to betroth her, she chose chastity; and pronouncing her vow before a most holy Bishop, she touched with her hand the wooden foundation that supported the altar -- chastity attested by dry wood turning green; which wood, in commemoration of the former Virgin, remains green to the present time, as if it had not been cut down and stripped of bark but were fixed in its roots, and flourishes and heals the sick to this very day.

[II] The holy Virgin Brigid, seeing that the time of her betrothal was pressing upon her, besought the Lord to send upon her some disfigurement, so that at least in this way she might escape the insistence of suitors. sight sacrificed to preserve her: Then one of her eyes burst and melted in her head. Having therefore received the sacred veil, Brigid together with other holy veiled virgins devoted to God dwelt in the town of Meath, where the Lord deigned to work very many miracles through her prayer. She healed a certain guest named Marcus. From one measure of grain she provided beer sufficiently for eighteen churches from the Lord's Supper until the end of Easter. very many miracles: To a certain leper woman who asked for milk, since she had none, she offered cold water; but the water was converted into milk, and having drunk it the girl was healed. Then she cured a leper and gave sight to two blind persons. It happened that while traveling out of necessity she fell into a ford; and her head being broken, blood flowed out, with which two mute women were anointed and received their speech. After this a precious vessel of the King slipped from a servant's hand and shattered; and, lest the servant be condemned, it was restored whole by Brigid. And when a certain leper woman refused apples, at Brigid's prayers the orchard was utterly dried up, and the apples recently left within completely vanished. Then, traveling on in her chariot, she saw a certain poor man with his household carrying wood with great toil; and taking pity, she gave him her horses, and she with her maidens sat down by the road; and she said: "Dig beneath the nearby turf, that water may burst forth for the sake of travelers." a spring elicited: Immediately, when the turf was removed, a gushing spring flowed forth. This done, a chieftain passing by gave Brigid two horses.

[III] As Easter day was approaching, Brigid said to her maidens: "Which of you will wash our sick sisters?" And when they all refused, being young girls, the sick healed by washing: Brigid entered and, washing them with her hand, healed them of their infirmity; one of whom was paralyzed, another possessed by a demon, and another leprous.

[IV] While St. Brigid was staying in a certain stranger's house, it happened by chance that everyone went out. a paralytic and mute person cured: And certain persons came asking for bread, and Brigid, looking around, said to a boy lying nearby who was paralyzed and mute -- which, however, she did not know: "Boy, do you know where the key is?" And he answered: "I do." Brigid said to him: "Rise and serve them." And so it was done. In one house she cured twelve sick persons.

[V] At a great council, a certain woman laid upon a bishop the charge of being the father of her child. When blessed Brigid had signed the woman's mouth with the wood of the Cross, calumny repelled from the innocent: she swelled from the crown of her head to the sole of her foot, and yet she did not confess the truth. Brigid said: "Speak, little infant, who is your father?" And the child answered: "The Bishop is not my father, but a certain man at the far end of the council, the last and base and vile." miracles wrought by her girdle: In those days a certain Virgin came to St. Brigid seeking alms from her. Brigid said: "Take a cow and lead it away." She replied: "A cow will profit me nothing; thieves will come and take it from me." Brigid said: "Take this girdle, and dipping it in water and sprinkling, you will heal the sick." Having received it she departed, and from the sick persons she healed she gathered great gains and distributed them to the poor of Christ.

[VI] In a time of famine Brigid went to a bishop of the Iberians, to beg grain from him. disobedience divinely punished. He, during the season of Lent, having no other bread, set before her hard stone bread with lard; and she ate it together with the bishop. But two of her maidens, unwilling to eat meat, hid it. But the meat was turned into two serpents. Whereupon they were severely rebuked by Brigid before the bishop. Then, as they repented and they all prayed, the serpents were changed back into bread. After many such admirable deeds, Brigid departed to the Lord.

LIFE I OF ST. BRIGID, BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR, from the Manuscript of the Church of Saint-Omer, and Others.

Brigid, Virgin of Scotland, in Ireland (Saint)

BHL Number: 1455

By an Anonymous Author, from Manuscripts.

CHAPTER 1. The Lineage, Birth, Infancy, and Presages of Sanctity of St. Brigid.

[1] There was a certain nobleman, of Leinster stock, named Dubthach, who purchased a maidservant named Broetsech. She was beautiful in appearance, of good character, and good in her service. St. Brigid's mother was a servant, Her master Dubthach desired her and lay with her, and she conceived by him in her womb. When his own wife Dubthach learned of this, she was greatly distressed and said to her husband: "Cast out and sell that servant girl, hateful to the mistress, lest her offspring surpass my own." But the husband did not wish to sell the servant, for he loved her greatly; for she was perfect in all her ways.

[2] On a certain day the man and the servant sat together in a chariot and went out past the house of a certain druid. The druid, hearing the sound of the chariot, said to his servants: "See who sits in the chariot, for the chariot sounds as though under a king." Then the servants said: (her sanctity foretold by a druid, "We see no one but Dubthach in the chariot." The druid said: "Call him to me." When he was called, the druid said: "The woman who sits behind you in the chariot -- does she have a child conceived in her womb?" Dubthach answered: "She does." The druid said:

"O woman, by what man did you conceive?" She answered: "By my master Dubthach." He said: "Guard this woman well, then, for her offspring shall be wondrous." Dubthach replied: "My wife compels me to sell this servant, for she fears her seed." The druid said: "The seed of your wife shall serve the seed of the servant to the end of the age." And to the servant the druid said: "Be steadfast in spirit, for no one shall be able to harm you; for the grace of the infant shall free you. For you shall bear a radiant daughter, who shall shine in the world as the sun at the zenith of the sky." Dubthach said: "I give thanks to God, for until now I have had no daughter, but only sons." So Dubthach and his servant returned to their home. And Dubthach loved his servant all the more after the words of the druid. Then his wife, angered together with her brothers, pressed Dubthach hard to sell the servant in a distant region.

[3] In those days, at God's prompting, two holy bishops coming from Britain entered the house of Dubthach, and Bishop St. Mel, of whom one was called ^b Mel and the other Melchu. And Mel said to the wife of Dubthach: "Why are you sorrowful? The offspring of your servant will surpass you and your seed. But love that servant as you love your sons, for her offspring will greatly benefit your seed." When the wife persisted in her fury, there came a certain ^c druid ^d from the Ui Neill, inspired by God, and purchased the servant of Dubthach; but he did not sell the child that she carried in her womb. So the druid went with the servant to his own region; and on that night when he entered his house, and foreshadowed by a globe of fire, a certain guest, a holy man, came, praying to God through the whole night, and he saw repeatedly during the night a globe of fire in the place where the servant slept; and he reported this to the Poet in the morning.

[4] On a certain day the druid invited ^e his king and queen to supper, but the queen was near the time of giving birth. Then the friends and servants of the king asked the same druid when the queen should bear her child. The druid said: "If she were to give birth tomorrow at sunrise, the child would have no equal on earth." But the queen gave birth to a son before the appointed hour. When morning came and the sun rose, the servant of the druid came to the house, carrying a vessel full of freshly drawn milk; and when she had placed one foot across the threshold of the house, she is born upon the threshold of the house, and the other foot outside, she fell seated upon the threshold and bore a daughter. For thus the prophet had foretold, that this servant would give birth neither inside the house nor outside it; and with that warm milk which she was carrying, the body of the infant was cleansed.

[5] After these things, the druid went with the servant to the region of ^f the Connachta and dwelt there, because the druid's mother was from the Connachta, though his father was from ^g the Munstermen. On a certain day the servant went out to milk the cows at a distance, a presage of her future greatness, and left her daughter sleeping alone in the house. Then the house appeared to be ablaze with fire; and all ran to extinguish the fire, but when they approached the house, the fire was not visible; and they saw the girl rejoicing in the house, with a beautiful face and rosy cheeks; the house seen to burn, and all said: "This girl is full of the Holy Spirit." On another day, the druid and the servant and the rest with them were seated in a certain place, and a covering for her head, and suddenly they saw a cloth touching the girl's head burning with the blaze of a flame; and when they stretched out their hands quickly, they did not see fire.

[6] On yet another day the same druid, sleeping, saw ^h two clerics clothed in white garments pouring oil upon the girl's head, completing the rite of baptism in the customary manner. baptism and name indicated in a vision; And one of them said: "Call this virgin Brigid." On a certain night this druid was keeping vigil after his custom and observing the stars of the sky, and throughout the whole night he saw a column of burning fire rising from the small dwelling a column of fire above the house, in which the servant slept with her daughter; and he called to himself a certain man, who likewise saw the same thing.

[7] On a certain day the voice of the infant was heard praying to God and stretching out her hands to heaven; and a man greeted her, and she answered: "This shall be mine; this shall be mine." Hearing this, he said: "Truly this is a prophecy, with which the infant has answered, for these places shall be hers forever." This was afterward fulfilled, the infant prays and prophesies, for ⁱ a great parish of St. Brigid exists today in those regions. When the inhabitants of that region heard this, they gathered before the druid, saying to him: therefore she is expelled from Connacht, "You remain with us, but let the girl who prophesies that our regions will be hers depart from us." The druid answered: "I will not abandon my servant with her daughter, but will rather leave your land." Then the druid with ^k all his household departed for his homeland, which is in the regions of the Munstermen, where he had the inheritance of his father.

[8] refusing the druid's food, The holy girl found the druid's food repugnant and vomited daily. The druid, observing this, sought the cause of her nausea, and finding it said: "I am unclean, but this girl is full of the Holy Spirit; she does not accept my food." Then he chose a white cow and assigned it to the girl; a certain Christian woman, a very devout virgin, milked it, and the girl drank the milk of that cow, she is nourished by a pious virgin on the cow's milk, and did not vomit it, her stomach being sound; and that Christian woman nurtured the girl.

CHAPTER 2. St. Brigid's Wondrous Generosity toward the Poor. Freedom Obtained for Her Mother.

[9] When the holy girl had grown, she served in the house, and whatever her hand touched she serves her mother's master, to his profit; she returns to her father, or her eye beheld of foods, it increased all the more. After this a thought entered her heart that she should return. The druid, knowing this, sent messengers to her father to tell him: "Receive your daughter as a free woman." Then he rejoiced greatly and came to the house of the druid and led his daughter away, and her Christian nurse followed her.

[10] Her nurse, being ill, sent St. Brigid and another girl with her to the house of a certain man, to ask for a draught of beer for the sick woman; and obtaining nothing from there, they returned to their own house. she heals her nurse with water changed into beer, Then St. Brigid turned aside to a well and filled her small vessel with water, and it became the finest beer; and when her nurse had tasted it, she arose in good health.

[11] Not long afterward a certain venerable guest came to the house of her father; she gives portions of meat to a dog, her father arranged to cook meat and gave his daughter five portions to be cooked. He went out, and the guest slept inside. Then a hungry dog came into the house, and Brigid gave it one portion, and when it came again she gave it another. The guest saw this but remained silent; she, however, thought he was sleeping. Afterward

her father came into the house and found five portions intact. The guest then narrated to him what he had seen. And they said to one another: "We are unworthy to eat this food; it is better that it be given to the poor." the number remaining whole.

[12] A certain devout widow, dwelling in a nearby village, asked her father that St. Brigid might go out with her to a synod which had been convened on the Plain of the Liffey; and permission was given by her father. They set out on the road. Then a certain holy man at the synod, she goes to the synod, sleeping, saw a vision, and rising said: "I saw Mary, and a certain man standing with her, who said to me: 'This is Holy Mary who dwells among you.'" where she is shown in a vision to a holy man as St. Mary, And when this holy man had narrated this at the synod, immediately the widow arrived with St. Brigid. Then the Saint said: "This is the Mary whom I saw, for I clearly recognize her form." Then all glorified her as a type of Mary.

[13] After this St. Brigid went out to visit her mother, she visits her mother, whom she had left with the aforementioned druid. But her mother at that time had been separated far from the druid's house, and twelve cows were with her for collecting butter. And after St. Brigid came to her mother, she distributed butter daily to the poor and to guests, she gives butter to the poor, as to Christ and the Apostles, and she divided the butter into twelve parts, as if for the twelve Apostles; and one part was made larger, which she gave to Christ, saying: "Every guest is Christ." On another day the druid came with his wife, having a large vessel to be filled with butter. When St. Brigid saw the large vessel, she was confused and her face blushed with shame, for she had no butter except the measure of one day and half a measure of another. When they entered the house, the Virgin served them with a joyful spirit, she serves the others, washed their feet, and generously refreshed them with food. After this she entered her storeroom, she fills a large vessel from a little butter, adored the Lord, and brought out the small quantity of butter she had. When the druid's wife saw this, she scorned it and laughed, saying: "What you have brought out is little." The Virgin answered: "Fill the vessel; you shall have butter." Then by the power of God, from this small quantity of butter the large vessel was filled. When the druid saw this miracle, he said to St. Brigid: "This vessel full of wonderful butter shall be yours, and the twelve cows that you milked shall be yours." and thus, the druid being converted, she obtains freedom for her mother. St. Brigid said: "Let your cows be with you; leave my mother free to me." The druid said: "Behold, I offer you the butter and the cows and your mother." Then the druid believed in the Lord and was baptized. And holy Brigid gave all that had been offered to her by the druid to the poor, and returned with her mother to her father.

[14] After this Dubthach considered selling his daughter, she gives whatever she can to the poor, because she committed many thefts -- for whatever she saw, she secretly gave to the poor. On a certain day he took her with him in his chariot to go to ^c the King. When they had come to the king's hall, Dubthach left the chariot near her and went in to the King. A poor man came to St. Brigid, even her father's sword, and she gave him the royal sword of her father, which the King had given him. Then Dubthach said to the King: "Buy my daughter, that she may serve you." The King answered: "For what reason do you sell her?" Dubthach said: "Whatever her hands find, they steal." who wishes to sell her. The King said: "Let her come to us." Dubthach went out to her and said: "Where is my sword?" She answered: "I gave it to Christ." Her father was angry and wished to kill the Virgin. The King said to her: "Why did you give my sword and your father's to the poor?" She answered: the King delighted by her wondrous saying, "If my God had asked you and him of me, I would have given you, if I could, with all that you possess, to Him." Then the King said: "This daughter, as I see, Dubthach, is ^d too great for me to buy, and too great for you to sell." Then the King gave the Virgin another sword to give to her father. he gives her another. So Dubthach returned to his house, rejoicing, with his daughter.

CHAPTER 3. Virginity Vowed to God; the Veil Received. Various Transformations of Things.

[15] Not long afterward, a certain ^a honorable man came to Dubthach to ask for his daughter in marriage; and this pleased her father and brothers. But Brigid refused him. lest she be forced to marry, she prays to be made unsightly. When they pressed her severely to be joined to a husband, she besought the Lord to bestow some disfigurement upon her body, so that men would cease seeking her. Then one of her eyes burst and melted in her head. She chose rather to lose the eye of her body than that of her soul, she loses an eye, and loved the beauty of the soul more than that of the body. When her father saw this, he permitted her to be veiled; and with her eye restored she was healed upon receiving the veil.

[16] The holy Brigid, then, taking with her ^b three maidens, went to the borders of the Ui Neill, to the two bishops Mel and Melchu, who were disciples of St. Patrick and dwelt in the towns of ^c Meath; and they had a certain disciple named ^d Maccalle, who said to Mel: "Behold, holy virgins are outside who wish to receive the veil of virginity from your hand." Then he led them before the Bishop; a column of fire appearing above her head, and Bishop Mel, looking upon them, suddenly saw a column of fire rising from the crown of Brigid's head. When the prayers had been read, Brigid bowed her head and grasped with her hand the wooden foot of the altar; and from that hour that wood remains forever green, without any decay by her touch, the wood is rendered forever green, and without any deterioration; and her eye was healed when she received the veil. Eight other virgins received the veil together with St. Brigid; and those virgins with their parents said to Brigid: she receives the veil from the Bishop, "Do not leave us, but remain with us and take a place to dwell in these regions." she recovers her eye. Then St. Brigid remained with them.

[17] On a certain day three devout and pilgrim men came to Brigid with her maidens, and she refreshed them with food and cooked bacon. But those men, while eating the food, hid three portions, being unwilling to eat the bacon. On the next day, Brigid greeting them said: she perceives hidden things, "See what food you have remaining." When they looked, they saw those three portions of bacon had become three loaves of bread. bacon changed into bread. On another day two of these men went out to ^e necessary work, but the third, the younger, remained in the house. When St. Brigid saw him she said: "Why did you not go out with your brothers to work?" He answered: "Because I do not have one hand." Brigid, seeing his hand -- for he was maimed -- she heals a cripple, healed him; and immediately he went out after his companions to work.

[18] When the day of Easter was approaching, St. Brigid wished to prepare a feast for all the churches that were around her in the surrounding towns of Meath. She, however, had no material for the feast except ^f a single measure of grain, for there was a scarcity of bread in those times in that region. she brews a very small quantity of beer, She made beer from that one measure in two basins, for she had no other vessels. That beer was then divided by measures and carried by Brigid to the eighteen churches that were around her; and from it, on Holy Thursday and on Easter, which suffices for many, and through the week until the close of Easter, it abundantly sufficed for all.

[19] she heals a leper, sprinkled with blessed water. At the same Easter a certain leper came to St. Brigid, asking from her a cow. But she, not having a cow, said to him: "Do you wish that we ask God that you may be healed of your leprosy?" He answered: "This

is better for me than all gifts." Then St. Brigid blessed water and sprinkled the body of the leper; and he was healed, giving thanks to God, and he remained with Brigid until his death.

[20] On another day one of St. Brigid's maidens was sick with pain, likewise a sick woman, water changed into milk, and being grievously ill, she asked for a little warm milk; but there was no cow among them. Hearing this, St. Brigid said to another maiden: "Fill a cup with cold water and give it to the sick woman to drink." And when she had done this, the vessel became full of warm milk, as if it had been freshly drawn at that hour. When the sick woman had drunk it, she was healed.

[21] two paralytic women, healed by blessed water and salt. Two virgins of St. Brigid's kindred, who were paralyzed and lived in a nearby place, sent to her that she would come and cure them. She went out to them and blessed salt and water; and taking these, they were healed.

[22] Finally, two blind Britons with a leprous attendant who served as their guide a leper and two blind men, by blessed water, came to the oft-mentioned holy Brigid and stood at the doors of the church in which she was, seeking healing from her. She said to them: "Wait a little, enter the hospice, and eat, and we shall pray for your health." But they, indignant, said: "You heal the sick of your own kindred, but us, as strangers, you neglect to cure for Christ's sake." Then she, having received the reproach, went out to them from the church, carrying with her blessed water; and as she sprinkled them with it, immediately the leper was cleansed and the blind men received their sight, praising God and giving thanks.

[23] On a certain day a woman came, bringing a cow as an offering to Brigid; when absent, she helps those who invoke her, but its calf, having strayed, remained in a very dense forest, so that they could not drive the cow without it. Then with one voice they cried out, saying: "O Brigid, help us!" And immediately the cow became gentle and calm of mind, and proceeded by a direct route all the way to Brigid. Then she said to them: "Do not be anxious about the calf; for it will come after its mother, following her footsteps."

[24] On another day, after the week of Easter was completed, she converts water into the finest beer, St. Brigid said to her maidens: "Has the beer failed which we prepared for the solemnity of Easter? For I am concerned about our Bishop Mel and about the guests of Christ." The maidens answered: "God will provide." And when they had said this, maidens came into the house carrying a vessel full of water on their shoulders; and they gave it to Brigid to bless in the customary manner. But Brigid, thinking that there was beer in the vessel, said: "We give thanks to God, who has given this beer to our Bishop." And thus that water was converted into beer, and was immediately made like the finest wine.

c. Saint-Omer MS: Midi.

CHAPTER 4. The Miraculous Cure of St. Brigid, and of Others through Her.

[25] At the same time St. Brigid was tormented by a pain in her eyes. Hearing this, Bishop Mel she suffers from her eyes, sent to her that she should come to him, so that both might go to seek a physician who would cure her. Brigid said to him: "I do not wish to seek bodily medicine; but nevertheless we shall do what you wish." It happened that while Bishop Mel and Brigid were traveling to seek a physician, falling from her chariot she is injured, St. Brigid fell from her chariot in the ford of a certain river, and her head was wounded by a stone, and blood flowed copiously; from this blood, mixed with water, two mute women were healed, two mute women cured by her blood, and their tongues were loosed. It happened after this that the physician whom they were seeking met them on the road. He, when he had touched the Virgin's head with his hand, said: "O Virgin, the Physician who is far better than I has healed your head. He found no place from which He might draw blood. she is divinely healed. Always seek that Physician who is able to drive disease from you." Then the Bishop said to her: "Never again shall I urge you to seek a bodily physician."

[26] After these things the holy Bishops Mel and Melchu with St. Brigid proceeded to the plain of ^b Tethba, because those bishops had ^c a great monastery there. While the Saint was staying there with her companions, on a certain day the King of Tethba was not far from them at a banquet, and a certain servant approached to take from the King's table a precious vessel of wonderful workmanship she restores a broken vessel by her prayers, and costly material; and this vessel was called by the ancients the Sevenfold Chalice. That vessel fell from the servant's hand and was shattered. Then the King in anger ordered him to be bound and put to death. Hearing this, Bishop Mel went to intercede for the wretch. But the King did not release him. Then Mel, carrying the fragments of the broken vessel, came to St. Brigid; and she prayed to God, and the vessel was restored and made whole again, and the wretch was set free. The fame of St. Brigid filled that whole region.

[27] There was in that region a certain holy virgin ^d named Brigid, who sent to St. Brigid, asking her to come to her house. a sick woman healed by the water in which her feet were washed. Then Brigid went to her house, and she received her with great joy and washed her feet; and from that water in which her feet were washed, a certain virgin who lay sick in the house was healed, and immediately she arose and served with the rest. And when food was set before them, St. Brigid began to gaze intently at the table. Then the holy virgin Brigid said to Brigid: she sees a demon, "I perceive a demon sitting at ^e your table." Brigid said: "If it is possible, I wish to see it." St. Brigid answered: "That is not impossible, but first let your eyes be signed, so that you may be able to endure and look upon its face." And when her eyes were signed, and shows it to the other, after signing her eyes, she saw the enemy in a foul and black form, with an enormous head, and through all its openings flame and smoke were exhaled. Then St. Brigid said to it: "Speak to us, demon." And it answered, saying: "O holy Virgin, ^f I cannot speak to you nor scorn your commands, because you do not scorn God's commands, and you are affable to His poor and His least ones." Brigid said: "For what reason have you come here?" The demon answered: and likewise to the other, by whom it was harbored through sloth, "I dwell here with a virgin, and on account of her sloth I have a place in her; and ^g when a virgin came here to be blessed, I remained here." Then that virgin was called to them, and Brigid signed her eyes, and she saw the horrible monster; and she was afraid and trembled. Brigid said to her: "See whom you have been accustomed to nourish for many years." And from that day that virgin was freed from the demon.

[28] On a certain day on the plain of Tethba, a certain woman brought a small gift of apples to St. Brigid; and in that same hour, before the woman had left the house, cursing trees, she renders them barren, lepers came asking for them. Then Brigid said: "Divide these apples among them." Hearing this, the woman snatched back her apples, saying: "I brought these apples for you and your virgins, not for lepers." This displeased St. Brigid, and she said: "You do wrong in forbidding alms to be given; therefore your trees shall bear no fruit forever." Then the woman, going outside, looked at her orchard and found

no fruit, though she had left it full of apples at that very hour, and it remained barren forever.

[29] At another time St. Brigid was traveling through the plain of Tethba, sitting in her chariot. Then she saw a certain husband with his wife and all their household and with many cattle, she gives her horses to those in need, laboring and carrying heavy loads; and they were weary in the heat of the sun. Then, taking pity on them, she gave them the horses of her chariot for carrying the loads. She remained sitting by the road with her maidens; and Brigid said to them: "Dig beneath the nearby turf, that water may burst forth; for others are coming who have food but are thirsty without drink." she perceives absent things. Then they dug, and a stream burst forth. After a little while, another chieftain came by the same road with a great company of foot soldiers and horsemen; and he, she elicits a stream, hearing what St. Brigid had done with the horses, offered her two untamed horses; but they were immediately tamed, untamed horses given to her are instantly made gentle, as though they had always been under a chariot. After this, the disciples and household of Bishop St. Patrick came by the same road and said to Brigid: "We are laboring on the road; we have food, but we lack drink." Then the companions of Brigid said: "We have prepared drink for you -- the water of the stream. For St. Brigid foretold that you were coming." Then all ate and drank, giving thanks to God in common and glorifying Brigid.

[30] Two leprous men followed St. Brigid as she went with a great crowd; she, as was her custom, received them kindly. she heals hands that had stiffened from fighting. But the wretches quarreled and struck each other. The hand of the one who first struck his neighbor was bent and could not be straightened again. The other's right hand, raised up to strike, could not be curved back to his side. The hands of the wretches therefore stiffened and remained immobile until St. Brigid arrived. Then the lepers did penance, and Brigid healed their hands.

[31] At another time St. Brigid's chariot was ^h brought out, she places a sick man in her chariot and heals him, so that a sick man might be conveyed in it, one who was gasping at the very boundary of life. When he was being carried in St. Brigid's chariot, they came in the evening to the place where the Saint was. And on that night the sick man improved, and on the next day, blessing God, he walked. she gives the chariot and horses to lepers. Lepers came running up, asking for the chariot. And it was given to them with its horses.

[32] St. Brigid was asked to go to another church in the region of Tethba, to celebrate Easter day there. But the Lady of that church said to her maidens on the day of the Lord's Supper: "Which of you will wash our elders and sick today?" she heals a paralytic woman by washing her. And all the young women made excuses, being unwilling. Then St. Brigid said: "I wish to wash the wretched and sick ones myself." There were in one house four sick women: one paralytic who lay immobile, another an energumen full of a demon, a third blind, a fourth leprous. Then Brigid first began to wash the paralytic woman, and she said: "O Brigid, pray to Christ that He may heal me." And Brigid prayed, and immediately she was healed.

[33] Another church in the same region asked St. Brigid to remain there for some days. But it happened by chance that all the household went out, and Brigid was left alone with a boy who was mute and paralyzed. she cures a mute and paralyzed boy. But Brigid did not know that the boy was mute and paralyzed. And at that same hour laymen came seeking food. Brigid said to the boy who was lying there: "Do you know where the key to the kitchen is?" He said: "I do." Brigid said: "Rise and give it to me." Then he arose and gave her the key, and he served food to those guests along with her. The household returned and marveled at the boy speaking and walking, and he narrated how he had been healed. Then all gave thanks to God.

CHAPTER 5. Journey to St. Patrick: There an Innocent Man Is Defended, a Pagan Converted, and Others Assisted.

[34] Then the holy Bishops Mel and Melchu said to St. Brigid: "Do you wish to go with us to the plain of Bregia, to greet St. Patrick?" Brigid answered: "I wish to speak with him, that he may bless me." she goes to St. Patrick. Then the holy bishops and Brigid set out on the road. A certain cleric accompanied them, having a large household and cows and carts and many loads, as they went toward the plain of Bregia; but the bishops did not wish it, lest their journey be slowed by the number of their cattle and loads. Brigid said to them: "Go ahead of us, for I will remain and have compassion on these people." Then she remained, she joins the peasants as a companion at their request, and said to the household: "Why do you not place the loads on the carts?" They said: "Because our brother, who is paralyzed, and our sister, who is blind, lie sick in the carts." When night came they ate and slept; but Brigid alone fasted and kept vigil. she heals a blind woman and a paralytic by fasting, vigils, and prayers. When morning came, she poured the morning dew upon the feet of the paralytic, and immediately he arose in health, and the blind woman received her sight. Then they placed the loads on the carts and proceeded on the journey they had begun, giving thanks to God.

[35] As they walked along the road, they saw a certain commoner who was milking the cows alone with excessive labor. Brigid said: "Ask him why he labors alone without a helper." He said: "Because my whole household is in pain. In one house twelve sick persons lie." Then Brigid told her maidens to milk the cows with him. likewise by fasting and blessed water, twelve sick persons. The commoner asked that they accept a meal in return for their labor. They accepted and ate by the bank of a certain river, except for Brigid alone, who fasted. Then St. Brigid blessed water, sprinkled the commoner's house, and healed all the sick who lay in it.

[36] From there they came by a direct route to the place called ^b Tailtu, where the holy bishop was sitting with an assembly of many bishops; and in that council a very great inquiry was being conducted. A certain woman who had fallen into sin was saying that the infant she had borne was the child of a certain bishop among the disciples of St. Patrick, named ^c Broon; but he denied it. Then all at the council, hearing of the marvels and works of St. Brigid, said that this inquiry could be ^d resolved through her. Therefore the woman was brought with her infant at her breast to Brigid outside the council. Brigid said to her: a woman laying a charge upon Bishop St. Broon, "By whom did you conceive this child?" She answered: "By Bishop Broon." Brigid said: "I do not believe it is so." Then Brigid, humbling herself before St. Patrick, said: "Father, it is yours to resolve this inquiry." Patrick answered: "My dearest daughter Brigid, be so good as to reveal the truth." at St. Patrick's bidding. Therefore holy Brigid, signing the mouth of that woman with the sign of the Cross of Christ, immediately her whole head swelled along with her tongue; she convicts her, but she did not repent. Then Brigid blessed the infant's tongue, saying to it: "Who is your father?" The child answered, walking about:

"Bishop Broon is not my father, but a certain man the infant, signed by her, revealing the true father, who sits at the far end of the council, the last and base and vile." Then all gave thanks to God, and Brigid was magnified; and the woman did penance.

[37] As that day drew toward evening, all departed here and there to their lodgings; but Brigid with her companions went to the water. Then a certain commoner invited her, saying: invited by a certain man, "I have a new house; I wish that you with your companions be the first to enter it, to consecrate it." St. Brigid went out with him, and he served her with the greatest joy (for he had seen the miracle that Brigid had performed that day at the council), and he set food before her. Then St. Brigid said to her maidens: "The Lord has shown me that this man is a pagan." One of her companions answered: she divinely perceives he is a pagan, "What you say is true. For he above all others has strongly resisted St. Patrick and his disciples, and has refused to be baptized." Then Brigid said to him: and converts him. "We cannot eat your food unless you are first baptized." Then, struck with compunction by God, he believed with his whole household and was baptized by Bishop Broon, a disciple of St. Patrick.

[38] On the following day Patrick said to Brigid: "From this day it is not permitted for you to travel without a priest; her charioteer is ordained a priest by St. Patrick. let your charioteer always be your priest." He then ordained a priest named ^e Natfroich; and he was St. Brigid's charioteer for his whole life. In those days a certain layman came to St. Brigid, carrying his paralyzed mother on his shoulders; and when he had arrived at the place where Brigid was in her chariot, he set his mother on the ground in the shadow of St. Brigid. by her very shadow she heals a paralytic woman. And when the woman touched her shadow, she arose, saying: "I give thanks to God, because when I touched your shadow, O holy one of God, I was healed at once, feeling no pain."

[39] In the course of that time, certain men came to St. Brigid, leading a man possessed by a demon, bound with chains. When he perceived that he was being led to Brigid, he fell to the ground, saying: "You shall not carry me to Brigid." They said to him: "Do you know the place where Brigid is sitting?" He answered: "I know, and I recognized it at once, and I will not go to her"; and he told them the exact name of the place where Brigid was; and they could not move him from the ground. approaching the demoniac, she puts the demon to flight from afar. Then, having taken counsel, some of them went to Brigid and asked her to come to him. Brigid came with them. And when the demon saw Brigid coming toward him from afar, it fled from the man (for whenever demons saw St. Brigid coming from elsewhere to their places, they were afraid and fled); and the man was made well, and gave thanks to God.

CHAPTER 6. Trust in God's Help, Proved by Various Outcomes.

[40] At the same time St. Brigid was being entertained at the church of St. Lasrea. On a certain day toward evening St. Patrick came with a great crowd to be entertained at that church. Then the household of that place was thrown into confusion, and they said to Brigid: "What shall we do, since we do not have food for so great a crowd?" St. Brigid said to them: "How much do you have?" They said: "We have only twelve loaves, a little milk, and one sheep which we have cooked as food for you and your companions." Brigid said: "These will be sufficient for the many of us. For the holy Scriptures will be read to us, through which we shall forget bodily food." Then from that small quantity of food the two companies ate together, that is, those of Patrick and of Brigid, and they were satisfied; with a few provisions she satisfies many, so that much was left over. and they left behind greater remains than the supplies had been that St. Lasrea had offered. And afterward holy Lasrea offered both herself and her place to St. Brigid in perpetuity.

[41] While St. Brigid was being entertained in the same place, a certain husband came, asking St. Brigid to bless water for him, with which his wife might be sprinkled; for his wife hated him. blessed water reconciles spouses. Then Brigid blessed the water, and the house was sprinkled, and the food and drink and the bed with the water, while the wife was absent; and from that day she loved her husband with exceeding love as long as she lived.

[42] In those days a certain virgin of God from the Ui Gais came to St. Brigid, seeking alms from every house. Brigid said to her: "You shall carry my cloak, or a cow lent to me by someone." she gives a girdle to a beggar woman. The woman said: "It will not profit me to receive these; for thieves will come on the road and take them from me." Brigid said: "You shall carry my girdle. For you have told me that many diseases exist in your region, and through my girdle dipped in water, in the name of Jesus Christ, you will heal them, and they will give you food and clothing." with which she cures diseases and grows rich. She took the girdle and first went to a sick boy whom his parents loved dearly, and she healed him. And good garments were given to her. And so she did throughout all the years of her life. For she healed all sicknesses and received great profits, and from those profits she bought fields, and became wealthy, and gave to the poor.

[43] Before the day of a certain feast, one of her disciples whom Brigid had nurtured came to St. Brigid at Kildare, bringing her alms. When she had delivered the gift, she said: "I will return to my house, so that your parents may come to pray with you through this night; [she promises that the goods of those who devote themselves to prayer will be guarded by God,] and I will remain to guard the house and the cattle." Brigid said: "Not so; rather you remain here, and let the parents come hither. The Lord will guard your property and your house." The parents came, as she had said, and all together celebrated the feast with St. Brigid. But at midnight thieves came to their house, knowing that the inhabitants had gone out to St. Brigid, and they stole the cattle. When they came to the river Liffey, and she obtains that their cattle are marvelously preserved, they found the river swollen with an abundance of water, and they could not drive the cattle across. As they labored for the greater part of the night, they took counsel and tied all their garments on the heads of the cattle, and likewise their weapons; and from the middle of the river the cattle turned back, carrying the spoils of their enemies upon their heads, and running across the plain of the Liffey, with the men naked behind them. They did not return to their own home, the thieves confounded, but in a straight course came at first light to the city of Brigid. Many recognized those cattle and the thieves. Then the thieves gave praise to God and did penance at St. Brigid's in her city. The commoner, rejoicing with his cattle, went out to his house and gave thanks to God.

[44] Another girl likewise, before the day of a certain feast, came to St. Brigid with a similar offering, she obtains that another's house and cows are likewise divinely guarded, and when she had received her gift she said: "I will go to my house, because I have left in it only our foster-father, who is very old and paralyzed, and there is no one to milk the cows or guard the house." St. Brigid said: "Stay here tonight; God will guard your house, and let the cows remain unmilked." Then she stayed, and on the next day, having received the Eucharist, she returned and found the cows and calves grazing separately in the fields, sound of mind and without weariness; and she saw the old man without sleep, who up to that point had not seen the night, nor slept, nor felt any interval of time, as if the girl had left him at that very hour.

[45] At that time St. Brigid made a great feast

in honor of the Lord's feast; but she distributed this feast to the poor. At this her household was saddened, and the people, as was their custom, came for the feast day. Then Brigid prayed to the Lord. Behold, in that same region a certain commoner, a very wealthy man, was conveying a feast in a wagon to his King for the feast day. [she gives to the poor the provisions prepared for her household; others are unexpectedly supplied.] He lost his way, and a fog covered him, and he did not recognize the road he had known before, until by a straight course he arrived at the gate of St. Brigid. When St. Brigid learned of this, she went out to meet him and inquired about his journey. He, admonished by God, offered all these things to St. Brigid, saying: "For this reason the Lord caused me to lose my way in my own country; I will prepare another feast for the King." When the King heard this, he offered that commoner with all his household to serve St. Brigid in perpetuity. The same King also sent another wagon full of provisions to St. Brigid as a supplement for the holy feast, by which the great assembly of all the people was abundantly satisfied.

[46] A certain queen came to St. Brigid with good gifts, among which was a silver chain of fine workmanship, having at its top the figure of a man. The maidens seized this chain and hid it among their treasures. But Brigid distributed everything to the poor. One day a poor man came to Brigid, she gives a silver chain to the poor, and she, having nothing, went to the treasury of the maidens and found the aforesaid chain and gave it to the poor man. When the maidens learned of this, they came to Brigid saying: "We have lost through you what God sent us; for you give everything to the poor and leave us destitute." Then Brigid said to them: "Seek the chain immediately in the place where I regularly pray in the church; which is afterward found in the temple and kept as a memorial. perhaps you will find it there." When they searched for it, they found a chain of the same form and showed it to Brigid. Then Brigid said to them: "Did I not tell you, 'Seek it'?" And the maidens always kept this chain with them as a testimony of the miracle, and they never sold it.

CHAPTER 7. Perils of the Journey Averted. Grain Multiplied from Heaven.

[47] Bishop ^a Coalian, a Prophet of God, who dwelt on the right side of the plain of the Liffey, came in a chariot to St. Brigid and stayed with her for some days. she is visited by St. Coalian; she blesses his chariot as he departs, On a certain day, wishing to return to his place, he said to Brigid: "Bless our chariot carefully." And she blessed it. But his charioteer, while yoking the chariot, forgot to place the ^b linchpins against the wheels. Then the chariot swiftly traversed the plain. When the Bishop, after a great part of the day, looked at the chariot, which is miraculously preserved, he saw that it had no linchpins. Then he leaped from the chariot, and falling to the ground gave thanks to God and blessed St. Brigid, recalling her blessing.

[48] On a certain day St. Brigid was passing through the plain of the Liffey, and another holy virgin was sitting with her in one chariot. The charioteer was preaching the word of God to them. Brigid said to him: [she bids the charioteer preach, saying God will care for the chariot; and it proceeds, though the horse shakes off the yoke.] "Do not preach to us with your face turned toward us; put your reins behind your back. Our horses will go by a straight route to our home." And so it was done. For the horses went by a straight road across the plain. While the charioteer was preaching diligently to the virgins, and they were listening with attentive ears and eager minds, one horse removed its head and neck from the yoke and walked free behind the chariot without their knowing. Then the King, who sat beside the road on a high place, said to all sitting around him and marveling: "Brigid sits in that chariot, heedless of the horses, attending only to the Lord in her mind." Then the horse, hearing the outcry of the marveling crowd, came to the chariot then resuming its place of its own accord, and placed its neck under the yoke by itself. Then the outcry of the King and the people was raised, and the wondrous miracle was spread abroad through the whole region, and they glorified God and St. Brigid.

[49] A certain leper from ^c the Ui Neill came to St. Brigid, seeking from her a cow. She said to the herdsman: "Give him a cow." The herdsman said: she gives a cow and a calf to a poor man, "What sort of cow shall I give him?" Then they chose the best calf, and releasing it, the best of the cows ran to it with great lowing, and they loved each other so much that hardly anyone could separate them. which the cow loves as her own. And the cow whose calf had been taken loved another cow's calf in turn as her own. The leper said to Brigid: "I cannot drive the cow alone to my province." Brigid said to her charioteer: "Go with the leper." Now the charioteer was at that hour cooking meat in a cauldron. The charioteer said: "Who will cook this meat?" she has him conveyed on a two-day journey in an instant of time. Brigid said: "You yourself will return swiftly to it." And so it was accomplished, as she said. The charioteer went with the leper on a journey of two days in a single instant of time, and in the same instant promptly returned, and found the very meat in the cauldron not yet cooked. And all marveled that the charioteer was able to traverse a journey of two days in the instant of a single hour. But God granted this to the will of St. Brigid.

[50] There was a scarcity of bread on the plain of the Liffey at another time. Brigid was asked by her household for grain, and to go to the plain of ^d Gesill to Bishop St. ^e Ibar, to seek grain from him. she visits Bishop St. Ibar. Brigid obeyed the will of those asking and set out on the road. Holy Ibar rejoiced with great joy at the arrival of St. Brigid; but he had no food at the arrival of guests except ^f dry bread and pork. Then Bishop Ibar and St. Brigid ate bread and bacon in the time of Lent before Easter. [she eats the bacon set before her by him in Lent, which is turned into serpents for the disobedient.] Two virgins from the companions of St. Brigid did not eat their portions of bacon, and those portions were turned into two serpents. When this was reported to St. Brigid, she severely rebuked those virgins before Bishop Ibar and ordered them to remain outside and fast with tears. Brigid said: "Let us also fast with them and pray to the Lord"; and so they did. And those two serpents were turned into two ^g eucharistic loaves for Easter and for the Nativity of the Lord. Bishop Ibar said to St. Brigid: "For what reason have you come here in the time of Lent?" Brigid answered: "To seek from you a supply of grain." Then Bishop Ibar, smiling, said: "O Brigid, if you could see and knew how little grain we have, you would not carry home even a small gift of grain." Brigid said: "I do not think so, she fills Ibar's granary with wheat, by the power of God, but twenty-four wagonloads stand in your granary." And so it increased by God's will. Ibar had had very little, but twenty-four wagonloads were found there, just as Brigid had said. They divided between them: twelve wagonloads for Ibar, and Brigid returned to her home with twelve wagonloads.

CHAPTER 8. Health and Various Benefits Conferred upon Lepers and Other Sick Persons.

[51] A certain king came to Brigid to celebrate the solemnity of Pentecost. When he had kept that night there, she is visited by a king, he rose very early in the morning to go to his home. They traveled swiftly in chariots and on horseback. But holy Brigid, after the day's solemnities were completed, came to the table, and abundant food was set before all. Now a most haughty leper, at the devil's instigation, refused St. Brigid's food, as was his wont, she complies with the will of a haughty leper, unless Brigid should give him the spear of the aforesaid king, who had returned to his house early that morning. Then all said to the leper: "You saw the spear yesterday; why did you not ask immediately for it to be given to you?" He said: "Because today I began to covet it." Then St. Brigid and all entreated him to eat, but they did not prevail. Brigid also refused to take food until the insolent leper should eat. Then Brigid sent horsemen after the King, to ask of him his spear. They rode swiftly and, crossing one hill, found the King at the ford of a certain river, and made known their request. Then the King was glad and gave them his spear, saying: "If St. Brigid had asked for all my weapons, the journey of certain persons is delayed by her merits, she would have obtained them immediately." Then the horsemen sent by Brigid inquired where the King had been delayed from the beginning of the day until that hour. One of his companions said to them: "We were not delayed, but always traveled swiftly on our road. We know, however, that St. Brigid, by the will of God, held us back, so that the pressing demand of the leper might be quickly resolved." Then all praised the Lord and Brigid; and the King swiftly went on his way, not as before. And the messengers promptly returned to Brigid with the King's spear, and she gave thanks to God.

[52] When St. Brigid was in a certain church and sat near the door of that place, she saw a man walking by the riverbank, very much bent over under a load. Taking pity on him, she said to her maidens: "Let us go to that man and carry the load with him." As they went, Brigid said to him: "Give us the load that weighs you down and bends you so severely." He answered and said: "No load bends me, but an ancient pain from my youth." That man asked the name of the Virgin. by fasting and prayers she heals a hunchback, He was told that it was St. Brigid. He said: "I give thanks to God, for I have found the one I sought." And he said to her: "I wish you to fast by day and night and to ask God that my body may be straightened." Brigid said: "Come to the guesthouse and rest there this night, and I will do what you wish." Then St. Brigid fasted that night after first commanding him to wash in the river, and prayed to the Lord for him. When morning came, she went out to the guesthouse and said to the bent man: "Go to the water of the river and wash yourself in the name of the Savior and pray to God, and you will straighten your neck; and do not come out until I tell you." And as she said, so he did, and he was healed, and gave thanks to God, who had raised him up after being bent for eighteen years.

[53] After this St. Brigid went out with Bishop St. Patrick to the northern part of Ireland. On a certain day St. Patrick was preaching the word of God to his people; but at that hour St. Brigid fell asleep. And after she had awakened, Patrick said to her: "O Brigid, why did you fall asleep during the word of Christ?" When she heard this, she sought pardon, bending her knees and saying: "Forgive me, Father; forgive me, holy Lord. For at that hour I saw a dream." Patrick said: "Tell us what it was." Brigid said: "I, your handmaid, saw ^a on the road plows plowing this island, and the sowers sowed what was holy, and immediately it grew and began to ripen, and streams of fresh milk filled the furrows; and those sowers were clothed in white garments. After this I saw other plows and black plowmen, [she foresees heresies to come in Ireland at the end of the world, St. Patrick expounding the vision.] who overthrew that good harvest and tore it up with the plowshare, and sowed tares, and streams of water filled the furrows." Patrick said: "O Virgin, you have seen a true and wondrous vision. We are the good plowmen, who with the plows of the four Gospels cleave human hearts and sow the word of God and the milk of basic teaching. But at the end of the age evil teachers will come, agreeing with evil men, who will overturn our teaching and lead astray nearly all people."

[54] On another day also, a certain leper came to St. Brigid, asking that his garments be washed with water in her company. Brigid said to him: "I will do what you ask." [she obtains that a disobedient maiden is punished with leprosy for an hour; she heals another leper.] The leper said: "I have no other garments except my own to be washed." Brigid said to one of her maidens: "Give your garment to the leper until his clothes are cleaned." But that disobedient maiden was struck with excessive stench and leprosy for the space of one hour. Another maiden gave her ^b cloak to the leper. Then the leper, after he had removed his garments, was cleansed of his leprosy.

CHAPTER 9. Events at St. Patrick's. His Burial Foreseen.

[55] At that time St. Brigid with her maidens took a church site, and then the scarcity of bread during Lent was pressing upon them. On a certain night eight thieves came to steal the four horses which Brigid and her companions had. Then one of the virgins she allows the horses to be led away by thieves at night, who was without sleep said to Brigid: "Our horses are being stolen." Brigid said: "Let them be; I am aware; those who are taking them are more numerous and stronger than we are." Then the thieves, having taken the four horses, went to the house of a certain man dwelling in a nearby place among the common people, and they entered his granary and found in it forty measures of winnowed grain, and they stole the whole number of measures, carrying them on the four horses and on their own shoulders. And they came to the dwelling of the virgins;

for thinking they had come to their own home, they entered the small hut, tying the horses in a hidden corner, and they fell into a deep sleep after their vigil. When morning came, behold, the men from whom the grain had been stolen came to the dwelling of the virgins and said to Brigid: "Thieves have stolen our grain, and we have followed the tracks of the thieves and the horses up to your door. [they themselves unwittingly bring back the grain they had stolen from elsewhere; but they are freed by St. Patrick.] We pray you not to hide them." Then Brigid went out to the thieves and roused them, saying: "Why have you brought stolen goods to us?" They said: "Because we thought we were coming to our own house." Then St. Brigid sent to Bishop St. Patrick, who was staying nearby. Patrick came to them at once, and the thieves were set free, and they did penance; and the others offered their grain to Brigid and her virgins. For they knew that it had been given to the virgins by God.

[56] St. Patrick on a certain day was preaching the word of God to the crowds and to St. Brigid. Then they saw a cloud of great brightness descending from the sky to the earth on a dark, rainy day, and gleaming with immense lightning, and it remained for a short space of time in a nearby place beside that crowd. And after this it went out to the citadel of Lethglasse, where Patrick is buried, she herself explains a portent designating his burial, and lingering there for a longer time, it vanished. And the crowds did not dare to ask Bishop Patrick what this wonderful vision meant, but they asked St. Brigid. Brigid said: "Ask Patrick." Patrick, hearing this, said: "You and I are equals; reveal this mystery to them." Brigid said: "The cloud, as we believe, is the spirit of our Father St. Patrick, who has come to visit the places where his body will rest after his departure and be buried. For in a nearby place his body will rest for a short time, and after this it will be carried to be buried in the citadel of Lethglasse, and there his body will remain until the day of judgment." and she prepares a linen shroud for him. Then Patrick said to Brigid that she should make with her own hands a linen cloth with which his body would be covered after his departure, desiring that he might rise to eternal life from that linen cloth. And so Brigid made the linen cloth, and in it the body of St. Patrick was wrapped, and it rests in that place.

[57] There was a certain noble, wealthy, and good man on the plain of ^d Meath who was afflicted with a most grievous pain and pestilence, and he could not be cured by physicians. He sent to St. Brigid, asking her to come to him, and she came. When she saw his house from afar, she stood and said: "From whatever direction the wind comes to this house, it brings with it a curse and disease upon this man." she sees that a certain man is ill because of curses. Hearing this, he said: "I have done no harm to any person, neither to clerics nor to craftsmen." Then his herdsman said: "I have heard all those around you cursing you with one voice, as it were, because your farmer, in enclosing your fields with hedges, changed all the roads -- smooth and straight as they were for the inhabitants -- into rough, uneven, and thorny paths." [curses heaped upon him on account of altered roads; he is healed when they are restored.] Hearing this, St. Brigid said: "This is the cause of your pains." Then all the roads were converted back into smooth roads, and all travelers blessed him. And the man was healed, and gave thanks to God and Brigid.

[58] On a certain day St. Brigid was sitting on the edge of the town of ^e Machae with her maidens, and she saw two men carrying a full vessel of water with them. When they had drawn near, they asked Brigid to bless the water, she blesses water, and she blessed the water and the men. As they were going, it happened that the vessel fell to the ground on its side, which, when the vessel falls, is neither broken nor spilled, and the vessel was not broken, nor was the water poured out, which St. Brigid had previously blessed. St. Patrick ordered that water to be preserved and distributed to all the churches of that region, the preserved water heals diseases, so that it might be added to the Eucharist of the blood of Christ, and so that the sick might be sprinkled with that water for their healing. And so it was done; and they praised the Lord and Brigid.

[59] St. Brigid also sent to St. Patrick, that he might preach the word of God to her. she hears St. Patrick preaching for three continuous days. When he with his disciples and she with her maidens had come together in one place, Patrick did not cease speaking for three days and nights, nor did the sun set on them, but all thought it was a single hour. A certain man, unaware of what was happening, came from elsewhere and said to St. Patrick: "Why do you sit here for so long?" Patrick answered: "What is the hour of the day now?" The man answered: "You have been here for three days." Patrick said: "We would have been here for forty days and nights, had not someone come from outside; we would have felt no weariness or hunger, by the grace of God." Then they returned to their own places.

CHAPTER 10. Offspring Obtained for the Queen. Security and Victory Obtained for Duke Conall.

[60] After all these things St. Brigid came to the plain of Bregia; and while she dwelt there in a church, the wife of the son of King Conall came to her to entreat for herself, because she was barren, and she brought with her a silver cup. But Brigid did not go out to greet her outside the church, but sent a maiden. she obtains a son for the queen, but predicts he will be bloodthirsty. Then the maiden said to Brigid: "Why do you not pray to the Lord for the queen, that she may have a son, when you so often pray for the wives of commoners?" Brigid said: "Because all the commoners serve God, and all seek the Father. But the sons of kings are serpents, sons of blood, and sons of death, with the exception of a few chosen by God. But nevertheless, because the queen has adjured us, go and tell her that she shall have offspring, but it shall be bloodthirsty and of a cursed stock, and shall hold many kings' domains." And so it was done.

[61] On a certain day a madman met St. Brigid, running from place to place, driven by frenzy, who afflicted all those walking through those places. St. Brigid said

to him: "Preach to me the word of the Lord Jesus Christ." she bids the madman preach to her, and he complies. The madman said: "O Brigid the Virgin, I will fulfill your commands. Love God, and all will love you; honor God, and all will honor you; fear God, and all will fear you." And when he had said this, he fled with a cry.

[62] At that time Conall, son of Niall, came to Brigid as she was walking on the road and said to her: "O holy Virgin Brigid, bless me carefully, lest my brother Corpre kill me, for he hates me." Brigid said: she blesses two brothers who are at enmity, "I will bless you. Let your household go ahead, and we will follow them. For it is not fitting for us to walk with them." Then they went ahead. And as all were ascending a hill, one of the virgins said to Brigid: "Alas, Brigid, what shall we do? Behold, Corpre comes behind us; and these two brothers will now kill one another." Brigid said: "Our God will not allow it to happen thus." And when Corpre had come, he said: "O holy Brigid, bless me, because in these parts I fear my brother Conall." Then they all passed by together, and they did not recognize one another. nor do they recognize each other. God blinded their eyes, so that they would not recognize each other, on account of St. Brigid. And Brigid blessed them, and Conall and Corpre kissed one another, not recognizing each other. And each one went on his way, and all magnified the name of God and of Brigid.

[63] Again at another time the aforesaid Conall came to St. Brigid, surrounded by his warriors, bearing malignant ritual marks, and said to Brigid: "We need your blessing; for we wish to go into distant regions, she blesses those breathing slaughter and marked with superstitious signs, so that these bonds of ours may be loosed; for the loosing is to slay and kill enemies." Brigid said: "I pray to my Almighty God that you may put aside these marks of the devil, as you wish, and be harmed in nothing, and offend no one." And Christ swiftly fulfilled this wish. For they went out into the region of the Cruithni and stormed a certain fortress there and set it on fire, as it seemed to them; and they thought they had killed and beheaded many men. And they came to their homeland with noise and great jubilation and with the heads of enemies. but instead of enemies they strike at shadows. When day broke, the heads and the blood were not visible; neither on their garments nor on their weapons did any blood appear. They said to one another in astonishment: "What has happened to us? Where are the things we were seeing?" Then they sent messengers to the fortress they had burned, to inquire whether anything had happened to them. The messengers questioned the inhabitants of that fortress, saying: "Did anything unusual happen to you?" They said: "No, except that we found burnt stubble this morning and the fortress destroyed and stones gathered together from every direction by the waves, but we saw no one, nor did we perceive who had done this." The messengers returned and reported these things to Conall.

[64] Then Conall and his men laid aside their ritual marks and did not act against God and Brigid. And this pleased Brigid, the marks having been laid aside, and she said to Conall: "Because you have laid aside your marks for my sake, in whatever danger you invoke me, I will defend you, and you will escape unharmed." And this promise was fulfilled. she obtains victory for them. For at the turn of the year Conall went out with a great army into the regions of his enemies and made a very great slaughter there, and returned to his homeland with great triumph. When he was weary, he entered another fortress. Then his companions said to him: "If we remain in this place, our enemies will come and kill us." Conall said: "I am weary; I cannot go out from here. St. Brigid promised me that she would defend me in every danger. and she protects him in danger. I believe that what she promised is true; I commit myself with my companions into her hands this night." Immediately that night the enemies came after them; and when they had come near to the fortress where Conall was, they sent three men to reconnoiter the fortress. They entered the fortress and saw there a great company of people sitting in clerical garb, with a fire in their midst and open books before them -- for the army had arranged the heads of the slain so that each man had a head placed before him. Therefore the men appeared as though they were studying open books. The scouts returned with such a report. the scouts being divinely deluded by a false appearance. And again they sent three other men, more sagacious, and they likewise saw clerics with open books, just as the first ones had seen. Then the army of enemies returned to their own region, and messengers were sent back to retrieve the heads, who reported these things to Conall.

CHAPTER 11. Slaughters Prevented. Superstition Condemned. Other Miracles.

[65] At another time St. Brigid was asked to go out to the king who was on the plain of Bregia and to free another man who had been bound by the king. Brigid said to the king: "Release to me the bound man, and I will give you a price for him." The king answered: she acts on behalf of the accused, in vain at first. "Even if you had given me the whole plain of Bregia, I would not release him, but would immediately slay him." Brigid barely obtained that the life of one night be granted to him. Then Brigid that night sat in a nearby place with the kinsmen and friends of the bound man, and she was without sleep. His companions said to the king: "Unless the prisoner is killed this night, he cannot be killed tomorrow, for Brigid will free him. Let us therefore adopt a plan: let us seize him by force from your hands and kill him without your counsel, and you will be blameless." But Brigid knew this plot; soon, warned in a dream, therefore at the beginning of the night a vision appeared to the prisoner, and he saw Brigid standing beside him, who said to him: "Behold, evil men plan to kill you this night; and when you are dragged by them to be slain, call upon my name most frequently; and when the chain has been removed from your neck for your execution, turn aside toward us to the right, and you will find us immediately." The man awoke, and at once they came and snatched the prisoner from the king's hands and loosed the chain so that he might be slain. But he, being freed, went out to Brigid, while they, as they believed, killed the man and cut off his head. she miraculously frees him. On the next day the head and the blood were nowhere to be seen. Then all stood amazed in astonishment. When the sun rose, Brigid sent to the king, asking that the prisoner be released to her. The king, hearing these things, did penance and released the prisoner free.

[66] On a certain day there came to Brigid ^a certain

idle and vain men, wearing diabolical marks upon their heads and seeking to kill someone, and they asked to be blessed by Brigid. She in turn asked them to lift a heavy load with their ^b labor. They said: "We cannot put down our marks unless someone holds them, she signs superstitious marks with the Cross, lest they fall to the ground." She took them and marveled greatly at the forms of the signs, and she signed them with the sign of Christ. They then went on their way. Seeking to shed blood, they found a certain commoner and after a vain semblance of slaughter, and slew and beheaded him. But that commoner went out safe and sound to his home; and they searched for his head or body or blood and did not find them. They said to one another: "On account of St. Brigid we kill and yet do not kill a man." she obtains that they are cast aside. This deed was spread abroad through the whole region. And they abandoned their marks, glorifying God and magnifying St. Brigid.

[67] A certain king with his women came to St. Brigid on the plain of the Liffey to be blessed by her, and she blessed him carefully. When the king had returned to his road, she blesses a king, on the following night, weary from the journey, he slept with all his companions and guards. Then a certain man who was the king's enemy came and entered the fortress and the house, and taking a candle from the candlestick, sought the king and found him sleeping; and seizing the king's sword from the pillow beside him, and frees him from death, he plunged the sword into his heart three times, and immediately took to flight. Then all, feeling the outpouring of blood, arose and made a great lamentation, thinking the king was dead. But the king was sleeping in a deep sleep, and afterward, waking, he consoled them, and though slightly wounded he remained whole, saying: "The blessing of St. Brigid, who blessed me today, has kept me safe." On the next day also he came to St. Brigid with many gifts, and reconciles him with his enemy, and she made peace between the king and the enemy who had stabbed him, and between their kindreds in perpetuity, God granting it through the merits of St. Brigid.

[68] After this St. Brigid wished to go out into the regions of the ^c Munstermen as a pilgrim, together with Bishop ^d Erc, a disciple of St. Patrick, since the kindred of Erc was from the Munstermen. When they had set out on the road, Brigid said to Bishop Erc: she sees a battle being joined in another province. "Show me, venerable Father, under what part of the sky your people dwell." And when he had shown her, Brigid said to him: "Now a battle is being waged there between one people and another." Erc said: "I believe that what you say is true. For when I came here from them, I left them in discord." Brigid said: "Your people are now being put to flight." Then one of Erc's household rebuked her, saying: "How can you see a battle across great stretches of land?" Bishop Erc reproved him, lest he blaspheme the Holy Spirit. Erc said to Brigid: and she causes two others to see it also. "I pray you, sign my eyes and those of this boy, that we may see what you see." Then she signed their eyes, and they saw the battle with their own eyes. Then the boy said to the Bishop in a tearful voice: "Alas, alas! My lord, behold, now before my very eyes two of my brothers are being beheaded."

[69] After this they proceeded by the desired road to the mountain, and there Brigid with the Bishop in the middle of their journey suffered from hunger and thirst, she obtains food for her hungry companions, exhausted by excessive weariness. One of the boys said: "He would show great mercy who would give us some relief." Brigid answered: "I desire with an eager heart to provide you with relief. If therefore you wish to be satisfied with food and drink, await here the help of the Savior. I see a house in which alms are being prepared to be offered to a certain church as an offering in God's house; they will come here at this hour. For behold, a meal is now ready in their packs." While she was still speaking, those carrying the alms arrived. And they, recognizing that Bishop Erc and St. Brigid were sitting there and suffering from hunger, were very glad and offered them their alms, saying: "Accept the alms that God has sent you. For we have no better church than you." Then they gave thanks to God she elicits a spring, and ate there; but they had no drink. Brigid said: "Dig into the nearby ground." And digging, they found a clear spring, and that spring remains there to this day under the name of Brigid. Then all glorified God and St. Brigid.

[70] Then they came to the plain of Femin, and there they found a great synod, she heals many sick persons, and they were detained for some days at the synod. The Bishop therefore narrated to the synod the many miracles of Brigid. Then a severe pestilence was devastating the people, and all asked Brigid to visit the sick. The Bishop said: "The holy one of God shall not enter the places of pestilence, but bring your sick to her." Then they brought to her the lame and lepers and demoniacs and all the sick, and in the name of Jesus Christ Brigid healed them all.

CHAPTER 12. The Obstinate Reproved; Others Rescued from Dangers.

[71] After these things St. Brigid went out to another man who was near the sea, not far from the place where Bishop Erc dwelt. And she remained with her maidens for some years, as is narrated. Not far from them a certain anchorite dwelt, who avoided the faces of women, wholly devoted to God and perfect. Afterward that anchorite wished to go to a certain island, and entering upon his way he found Brigid near the place. The companions of the anchorite therefore said: "Let us go to St. Brigid, [the hermit, not wishing to see a woman, does not allow his companions to visit Brigid,] that she may bless us." The anchorite answered: "You know my vow -- that I wish to see no woman?" Then they rose from their seats, where they had been sitting while saying these things, and they forgot all their baggage on the road, and they traveled a whole day's journey. When evening came they sat in a certain lodging, and then they remembered their baggage, therefore they lose their packs, and said: "We have lost our baggage because we did not turn aside to Brigid so that she might bless us; and for this fault we will fast this night." When morning came they returned to Brigid, and found their baggage in her house. which Brigid gathers up and returns the next day. For Brigid had commanded her maidens, saying: "Go and bring the baggage of the servants of God, which is on the road near us, lest it perish." When they had returned to Brigid, they spent three days and nights in the praises of God and in the preaching of the word of God. Then the anchorite and his companions set out on the road, and Brigid went out with them. When St. Brigid saw their heavy loads, she had pity on them. and she procures horses for their transport. Then at that hour they saw two horses descending from the mountain toward them, and they placed their loads upon them. And when they had come nearly to the end of their journey, Brigid said to them: "Release the horses

which you have been holding." Then the horses fled, and no one knew whence they were or whose they had been.

[72] Brigid returned to her home; the anchorite, however, went out to his island. But a certain layman entered that island with his wife and sons and daughters. The anchorite, who avoided seeing any woman, asked the layman to leave the island, but could not prevail. For the layman said that he had a field on that island from his paternal inheritance. Then the anchorite sent to Brigid, asking her to come to him. She came, and fasting, asked the layman, when the layman is unwilling to accede to his request, but could not prevail. On the next day a great eagle came and snatched away the infant child of the layman's wife. The wife, weeping and wailing, came to Brigid. Brigid said to her: "Do not weep, for the child is alive; the eagle has set it down on a certain shore upon the ground." Then the wife went out and found the child thus. She came to Brigid and repented. But the layman remained obstinate and dwelt near the shore. On the next day she compels him by a twofold miracle, a wind suddenly came and lightly carried him across the sea to the nearest port. Then the layman, stricken in his heart, did penance and vowed himself to God and Brigid, that he would not enter the island again unless the anchorite should permit him.

[73] On another day devout guests came to the seashore. Then Brigid said to a certain man of her household who was a fisherman and was accustomed to killing sea-bulls: "Go to the sea, in case you might bring back something for the guests." Then he went out [she preserves the fisherman, snatched far away, by her merits, and suddenly brings him back, together with the escaped prey,] and took with him a sea-harpoon. Immediately a sea-bull met him, and he hurled the harpoon and fixed it in the bull. A rope was hanging from the harpoon, and the harpoon was fixed in its head, and the ropes were bound around the man's hands. The bull, gravely wounded, dragged the man in his boat across the sea; and the bull did not stop until it reached ^a the shores of Britain. Then the rope was cut against the rocks of the shore, and the man remained in his boat on the shore. The bull, however, returned with the harpoon into the sea and came by a direct course to the shore of that place where St. Brigid was, and there it died. The man, with a prosperous voyage, arrived in his boat at the sixth hour and found the dead bull with the harpoon on the shore; and returning home he told them of his voyage. Then all gave thanks to God and to Brigid.

[74] After this St. Brigid came with her maidens to the plain of ^b Cliach and dwelt there in a certain place. Then a certain maidservant came to Brigid, fleeing from her mistress. The mistress followed her, wishing to take her back. But Brigid asked the mistress to release the maidservant; when the mistress is unwilling to leave the servant with her, her hand withers, but the mistress refused, for the maidservant wove many garments. Then the mistress held the hand of her maidservant and dragged her violently from Brigid's side, and this displeased Brigid. When they had gone a little distance from St. Brigid, the right hand of the mistress withered -- the hand with which she had held the hand of the maidservant. When the mistress saw that she could not move her hand, which she heals, she wept and did penance and released the maidservant free to Brigid, and was healed.

[75] St. Brigid was asked to go to a certain king on the plain of ^c Cliach, to free a man who was in chains with the king. Brigid went out and entered the king's house, but she did not find the king at home; his friends were there, that is, the man who had fostered the king, with his wife and sons. And Brigid saw harps in the house and said: "Play for us on your harps." The king's friends answered: "There are no harpists in this house now, by her blessing she confers upon certain persons skill in playing the harp, but they have gone on the road." Then another man who was among the companions of St. Brigid said jestingly to the king's friends: "Play for us yourselves, and let St. Brigid bless your hands, so that you may fulfill what she commands you, and obey her voice." The king's friends said: "Let us do it; let Brigid bless us." Then they seized the harps, and the unskilled harpists played with skill. Then the king came to his house and heard the sound of music, and said: "Who is making this music?" One answered: "Your foster-father and foster-mother with their sons, at Brigid's bidding." The king entered the house and asked to be blessed by Brigid. Brigid said to him: "You in turn release the bound man to me." Then the king freely gave her the prisoner. she obtains freedom for the prisoner. The king's friends were harpists until the day of their death, and their descendants for many generations were held in honor by kings.

[76] Two lepers came to St. Brigid, asking to be made well. Then St. Brigid prayed, she heals a leper, blessed water, and told them to wash each other in the holy water; and so it was done. Immediately one was healed and was clothed in his washed garments. Brigid said to him: "Now you wash your companion also." But he, seeing that he was cleansed and had clean garments, refused to touch the leprosy of the other, and boasted of his own health. Brigid said to him: "What you wanted him to do for you, it is fitting that you do likewise for him." But he refused and objected. Then Brigid arose and cleansed the leper herself, [likewise the other, washing him herself; the first being struck with leprosy on account of his pride,] and gave him clean garments. He who had first been healed said: "Now I feel sparks of fire upon my shoulders." And immediately his whole body was struck with leprosy on account of his pride; but the other was healed on account of his humility. And rejoicing, he gave thanks to God, who had healed him through the merits of St. Brigid.

[77] On a certain day St. Brigid was walking with her virgins in a level place and saw a certain ^d young scholar running swiftly, and she said to him: "O young man, where are you running so quickly?" He answered: praying for a certain man, she leads him to the religious life, "I am running to the kingdom of God." Brigid said to him: "Would that I might merit to run with you to the kingdom of God. Pray for me, that I may be able to do this." The scholar answered: "Pray to God that my course may not be impeded, and I in turn will pray for you, that you and a thousand companions with you may go to the kingdom of God." Then St. Brigid prayed to God for the young man, and in those days he did penance and was devout until the day of his death.

[78] Two lepers therefore came to Brigid seeking alms. She had nothing to give them; the one cow she had she gave to them. she gives a cow apiece to two lepers. One of them gave thanks to God, but the other was proud and ungrateful, saying: "Unless the cow is given to me alone, I will not carry half of it." Then Brigid said to the humble leper: "Wait here with me a little while for what the Lord may send us; and let the proud one have the cow." Then he went out with the cow, but alone he could not drive it. At last, worn out with labor, he returned to Brigid and with many insults slandered St. Brigid, saying: "Because you did not give your cow from the heart, therefore I alone could not drive it; you are too harsh and unkind." But St. Brigid consoled him, but the other, ungrateful and proud, perishes with the cow, yet could not soften him; and this displeased St. Brigid, and she said to him: "You are a son of perdition; you will drive the cow, but it will not profit you." On that same day a certain man came to St. Brigid with a cow as an offering. Then the two lepers drove two cows and went out to a certain water, and the river swept away the proud one with his cow into the deep, and he was swallowed up; nor was his body ever found. But the humble one escaped with his cow.

[79] After this St. Brigid came to the plain of ^e Cliach in the borders of the Leinstermen, to help the poor of her kindred there. When she had come in her chariot across the plain of ^f Femin, they found a certain man fencing a field. Brigid's charioteer said: "Permit us, that St. Brigid may pass in her chariot through your field, and afterward you may surround your field with a fence." That man answered: "No; go around the field." Then Brigid said: "Let us do as he says, lest any harm befall on account of that man." Then the charioteer was forcing the horses to cross the fence. falling from the chariot she is injured. But the man, seeing this, in a fury struck the horses' noses; and as the horses kicked, St. Brigid and the charioteer fell from the chariot, and were hurt, and the horses stood still in one

place. Then Brigid said: "Did I not tell you that we should avoid this man, because I saw him to be a man of pestilence and death?" Then the man took up the work he had begun, making light of the crime he had committed, and immediately he fell to the earth and died. the one who caused the fall being suddenly struck dead.

CHAPTER 13. Grain Obtained for the Needy. Those Wandering on the Road Assisted.

[80] St. Brigid therefore came to the farthest borders of the Leinstermen and entered the province of ^a Labraid, and there she dwelt in a certain place. she heals a leprous woman sprinkled with blessed water. Then a certain woman came to her with her leprous daughter, to be healed by her. Then Brigid prayed and fasted, and blessed water, and ordered the leprous daughter to be sprinkled with the water; and immediately she was cleansed of her leprosy and gave thanks to God and Brigid.

[81] Certain devout men came to Brigid and preached the word of God. After this Brigid said to her cook: "Prepare the best meal for the guests." The cook answered: "What sort of meal shall I give them?" Brigid said: "Give them bread and butter and onions and many dishes." praying, she obtains food for the guests, for seven days. The cook answered: "I will do so; but first go out to the church." For the cook had none of the things Brigid had named. Brigid said to the cook: "Sweep the floor of the kitchen, close it, go to your house, and pray in it; and I will go to the church." At the sixth hour Brigid clapped her hands and called to her: "The time has come for the guests to be refreshed. Go to the kitchen, and whatever you find in it, give to them generously." Then the cook, opening the kitchen, found all the foods that Brigid had named; and those foods did not fail for seven days, and they were sufficient both for the guests and for all of Brigid's household. No one knew where those foods came from or who had brought them, except Brigid and her cook.

[82] At another time a chorus of virgins came to Brigid, having a complaint, likewise aquatic herbs at their springs, and said to her: "Why are there no aquatic herbs in this place, which holy people are accustomed to use?" For this reason, on the following night St. Brigid prayed to the Lord. When the maidens arose in the morning, they saw the springs abounding beyond measure with these herbs; and passing through long stretches of places, they found in those places an excessive abundance of those herbs which had previously been unseen in those places. God gave her what she asked.

[83] As the fame of St. Brigid grew through many regions, certain people came to her from afar, bringing gifts to her in chariots and on horseback; but by chance they came into dense forests. Night fell upon them, and not knowing the road, they wandered in the forests, and they could not carry the chariots through the forest. she perceives absent things. Then St. Brigid knew of their distress and prayed to the Lord for them, and said to her maidens: "Light a fire and heat water for the guests." [she obtains that a light is divinely borne before those wandering at night in the forest.] That night was a dark one. Then the leader of those men who were traveling saw a great lamp which went before them on the road until they arrived at the house. Then Brigid went out to meet them, and together they gave thanks to God, and they remained there for three days, praising the Lord. After this they returned by the same road by which they had come on that aforesaid night, and they saw that the places were rough and uneven, and they could not carry the chariots on their shoulders, and with the greatest labor they escaped; because no one of the experienced knew there to be a road in those places, but Christ on the aforesaid night had made those places smooth and bright on account of St. Brigid's prayer.

[84] In like manner a certain bishop named Broon, whom we mentioned above, came with women to St. Brigid, with chariots and horses and with a great company of attendants. They too came into dense forests and wandered, not knowing the road, as we have described happening before. Then a winter night fell upon them. But holy Brigid, knowing this, said to her maidens: she prays for others who are wandering, "Let us pray to the Lord for the guests who are laboring as they come to us, that God may have mercy on their labors." I am about to tell a truly wonderful thing. Then those guests in the middle of their journey suddenly saw the place of Brigid, as they thought, and they saw Brigid joyful with her maidens, coming to meet them in peace. She suddenly led them into a great house with chariots and horses, and they seem to themselves to be magnificently received by her, and removing their shoes she washed their feet, and refreshed them with an abundance of food; she also prepared beds and lodged the guests, and everything that guests needed Brigid did for them with her maidens, as they perceived. But when morning came, Brigid said to her maidens: "Let us hasten to meet the wandering guests near us, who stayed this night in the forest." Then they hurried and found the guests sitting in the forest, which was actually done the next day, and with great joy they led them to her house, and they fulfilled all the duties of hospitality which had been shown to the guests in the night; and together they gave thanks to God.

[85] Holy Bishop Broon returned to his own region and carried with him chrism from St. Brigid. He dwelt near the sea. On a certain day the Bishop was working on the seashore, with one boy accompanying him, and the chrism had been placed on a rock on the shore. her chrism untouched by the tide of the sea. The sea came to its full height. Then the boy remembered the chrism and wept. The Bishop said: "Do not weep, for I believe that the chrism of St. Brigid will not perish." And so it was fulfilled. For the chrism was found dry upon the rock, unchanged by the waves of the sea; and when the sea receded, they found it just as it had been placed.

CHAPTER 14. The Protection and Intimacy of the Guardian Angel. Victories Promised to a Beneficent King.

[86] After this St. Brigid came to the house of her father Dubthach, wishing after a long time to visit her parents; and her father rejoiced greatly at her arrival and asked her to remain in his house that night, three times roused by an Angel, and she stayed. During that night the Angel of the Lord came and roused Brigid, and coming again roused her a second time; the third time he roused her somewhat more urgently, saying: "Rise quickly and rouse your father and his household and your maidens; for enemies are approaching and wish to kill your father with his household, but on your account God does not will this. Go out now, she frees her father and his household from the enemy, for this house will immediately be burned." And when all had gone out, the enemies immediately came and set the house on fire. Then her father said: "O holy Brigid, your blessing has kept us this night from present death." Brigid said to him: "Not only on this night, a certain person who had done violence being punished, but until old age no blood shall be shed in your dwelling. For when a certain man wished to strike a virgin, the hand he had stretched out stiffened, and he could not draw back his hand until he released that virgin."

[87] On the next day one of her maidens said

to St. Brigid: "Would that an Angel would always help you, as he did on this past night." Brigid said: "Not only on this night, [she is always cherished by the help of an Angel; daily she hears heavenly songs and the Masses of absent saints,] but through my whole life I have had his help in all things. For daily he brings me joy, since through him I daily hear the sounds of heavenly songs and the spiritual singing of organs. The Masses of saints which are celebrated far away on the earth for the Lord, I can daily hear through him as if I were nearby; and he offers my prayers to God night and day, and he hears me always, both in his presence and in his absence. I will now demonstrate this to you by two examples. she gives blessed water from the Angel to a leper woman, At a certain time a certain woman, leprous and sick, asked me to bring her water and to minister mercifully to her in other necessities. I blessed a vessel with water and gave it to her, saying: 'Place it between you and the wall, and let no one besides you touch it until I return.' which yields every flavor. My Angel blessed that water in my presence, and it was converted into every flavor that the leper woman wished. For when she wished for or desired honey, the water had the taste of honey; when wine, or beer, or milk, or other liquids, the same water was changed in turn into their flavors according to the sick woman's desire. Likewise, when I was a little girl, as a child she was helped by the Angel, even at play, I made a stone altar in girlish play, and the Angel of the Lord came and pierced the stone at the four corners and placed four wooden feet beneath it. These two things about my Angel, O maiden, I have shown you, that you may glorify our Lord."

[88] At the same time St. Brigid's father asked her to go to the King of the Leinstermen, so that the sword which the King had given to her father for a time might be given to him permanently. she asks the King to give her father a sword. St. Brigid therefore went out to the King on the plain of the Liffey. When she was sitting at the gate of his city, one of the King's servants came to her, saying: "If you free me from the yoke of this King, I will be your servant forever with all my people, and I and my kinsmen will be Christians." Brigid said to him: "I will ask on your behalf." Then Brigid was called to the King, and the King said to her: "O Brigid, what do you wish from me?" She said: "That your sword be given to my father, and a servant for herself. and that you release one of your servants to me." The King said to her: "What will you give me for these two great requests?" Brigid said: "If you wish, I will give you eternal life, and your descendants will be kings through the ages." she promises him long life and victory. The King said: "The life which I do not see, I do not seek; about the sons who will come after me, I do not care. But give me two other things: that I may live long in this present life which I love, and that I may be victorious in every place and battle. For we have constant warfare against the Ui Neill." Brigid said to him: "These two things shall be given to you -- long life and victory in every battle." Not long after, he went out with a few men onto the plain of Bregia; and when he saw the multitude of enemies, he said to his men: "Call upon Brigid for aid, that the Saint may fulfill her promises." and the event followed, not without a portent. And they cried out to heaven. Then immediately the King saw St. Brigid going before him with her staff in her right hand, and a column of fire burned from her head to heaven. Then the enemies were put to flight. The King with his household gave thanks to God and to Brigid. After this, the King fought thirty battles and won them all, and fought nine campaigns in Britain successfully, and payment was given to him by many kings to fight alongside them, because he was invincible. But it came to pass after his death even after death, in his lifeless body, that the Leinstermen came together and took counsel, saying: "Let us place the dead body of our King among us in a chariot and fight around the corpse against the enemy." And so they did. Then the Ui Neill were put to flight. For the divine gift through St. Brigid remained in the King.

CHAPTER 15. Rapture. Knowledge of Hidden Things. Miraculous Crossing of Rivers.

[89] On another day also a certain holy man came to the house where Brigid was praying alone, and he found her standing and stretching out her hands in prayer toward heaven; and she saw nothing else, nor heard anything. rapt in ecstasy. At that same hour a great cry from the inhabitants of that place rang out, for at that very hour the calves had rushed to the cows; but the Saint did not hear this, intent upon God in a transport of mind. Then the man left her at that hour, lest he disturb her prayer. At another hour he returned to her and said: "O holy one of God, why did you not run at the cry of the people?" She said: "I did not hear that cry." The man said to her: "What else then?" Brigid answered: she hears Mass in Rome; thence she seeks the order of the Mass. "In the city of Rome, near the bodies of Peter and Paul, I heard Masses, and I greatly desire that the order and whole rule of these be brought to me from Rome." Then Brigid sent wise men, and they brought from there the Masses and the rule. Likewise, after some time, Brigid said to those men: "I perceive that certain persons have changed the Masses at Rome she divinely understands that something has been changed in them, since you came from there; go again." And they went out and brought back what they found.

[90] On a certain rainy day Brigid came to her house. When the rain stopped, a ray of sunlight came into the house through the wall, and Brigid placed her garment upon that ray, thinking it was a cord. Then another preached the word of God in that house, and Brigid was attending to the word of God, and until evening she hangs her garment on a ray of sunlight, and into a great part of the night her mind was inebriated with the word of God, and she forgot present things. That ray, upon which Brigid had placed her garment, remained until the middle of the night. lasting until midnight. Then one of those who were in that house said to Brigid: "Take your garment from the ray of sunlight." And she said: "I thought it was a cord, not a ray." Others also came that same night to the plain of the Liffey, and shining outside, and said that they had seen that ray illuminating the plain until they came to St. Brigid at midnight. Then all gave thanks to God and praised St. Brigid.

[91] After this St. Brigid went out to make a pilgrimage in a certain region with companions journeying with her, and they dwelt on the plain of Au. On a certain day, therefore, she approached the altar to receive the Eucharist from the hand of a bishop, and looking into the chalice from above, she saw in it a prodigious apparition, that is, she saw the shadow of a goat in the chalice. she wondrously detects a boy's theft. One of the bishop's boys was holding the chalice. Then Brigid would not drink from that chalice. The bishop said to her: "Why do you not drink from this chalice?" Brigid revealed to him what she had seen in the chalice. Then the bishop said to the boy: "What have you done? Give glory to God." The boy confessed that he had committed a theft in the goat pen and had killed one of their goats and partly eaten it. The bishop said to him: "Do penance, and pour forth tears with weeping." He obeyed the commands and did penance. Brigid was called again and came to the chalice, and she saw nothing of that goat in the chalice. For tears had absolved his guilt.

[92] At another time in the same region, a certain decrepit woman was sick unto death, and all the virgins of that place came to her to keep vigil she attends a dying woman and pray with her in the house, and St. Brigid came with them. Then one of the virgins said: "Let her garments be removed from her, lest she die in them, and we have to labor washing them in a time of snow and cold." St. Brigid forbade this, saying: "She will be with us for a short time; show mercy for a brief hour." she relieves others of the labor of washing the dead woman's garments. When the soul of that old woman departed from her body, her garments were seen outside the house, and no one saw who had carried them out.

For the charity of Brigid's heart wished both things: that the sick old woman should not be stripped of her garments in the great cold, and that they should not labor in washing them; for she freed both from the cold. Then all praised God and St. Brigid.

[93] While St. Brigid was dwelling there in a certain church, she frequented a pool of water. On a certain night when there was snow and ice, while all were sleeping, Brigid came to the pool with a certain maiden, at night she prays in a frozen pool, and she was in that pool that night, praying and weeping; and what she did on that one night she always wished to do on all nights and make it a habit. But the mercy of Christ did not allow this to continue longer. afterward the pool dries up at night and is full by day. On another night they found the pool dry without water, and found nothing but sand. But at the first hour of the day, coming to the pool, they found it full of water as it always was; similarly on the second night the pool dried up again, but by day it was filled, so that God might manifest to all the great virtue of the Virgin Brigid.

[94] There arose therefore a great petition among the Leinstermen about the Saint's absence, that she should return to her own people. Then Brigid came with them. When they came to the river ^e Shannon, they found there near ^f the Ford of Lua two peoples sitting on either side of the bank, that is, the Ui Neill and the peoples of the Connachta. Then the maidens of St. Brigid asked all of them to be carried across the river, but could not prevail. A certain very wicked man said to them: "Give me one of your cloaks, and in my boat I will carry you across the river." The maidens said: "No; we will now enter the river, and the blessing of St. Brigid will keep us safe." At the same hour the maidens said to St. Brigid: [she signs the river with the cross and crosses it with her companions without a boat.] "Sign this river in the name of Jesus Christ, that it may become gentler and lower for us." Then St. Brigid blessed the river; and with the two peoples standing by, as we said, she entered the river with her maidens, and the channel of the great river did not reach even to the virgins' knees -- the river that even the strongest men could not cross without a boat. All therefore praised God and St. Brigid. And before St. Brigid entered the river with her maidens, certain other clerics boarded a small raft, ^g confessing their inexperience in sailing, and said to Brigid: "This raft can carry one of your maidens with us." Then Brigid ordered one of her maidens to go ahead of her with them across the river. The maiden said: "Bless me carefully, for I am afraid of being separated from you in the river." Brigid said to her: "Go in peace; the Lord will keep you." Then they sailed, and in the middle of the river the boat was submerged under the water while all looked on. blessing a maiden, she rescues her from the danger of drowning. But the maiden, placed in danger, called upon the name of St. Brigid for help, and Brigid blessed her and prayed for her as she sat upon the waters. And the water carried her on her seat to the port with dry garments. Then all confessed the wonderful and almighty God through the holy Virgin Brigid.

[95] When St. Brigid had come to her homeland, she was received with great honor and joy by the whole people. At a certain time there was a scarcity of bread among Brigid's virgins in the place where they dwelt. Then a certain man who lived in the eastern part of the plain of the Liffey, she sends her maidens to bring grain, a good and generous man, came to Brigid and said to her: "Let your maidens come with me, to bring you some measures of flour." Then the maidens went with him, and afterward returned from him with their loads. When they came to the river Liffey, they found it full beyond its banks; there was a great abundance of water, and they could not cross with the swelling waves. Then the virgins stood stupefied, not knowing what to do. So they threw themselves upon the ground beside the bank of the river and she obtains that they are miraculously carried across the river, and with one voice invoked St. Brigid for help. Immediately they were translated from the place where they were to the other bank of the river together with their loads; but how or in what manner they were translated they did not know. Then the maidens came to St. Brigid and narrated the miracle that had been done for them; and she commanded them to tell it to no one; but it could not be concealed.

CHAPTER 16. The Fruit of Temptation Overcome. Various Miracles in Bringing Aid to the Wretched.

[96] St. Brigid had a certain foster-daughter named Darlugdach, who on a certain day, not keeping custody of her eyes, saw a man and desired him, and he likewise loved her. After this the virgin one night arranged to meet that man; and on that very night the virgin was in bed with St. Brigid. St. Darlugdach, who, her eyes being ill-guarded, was tempted, When St. Brigid had slept a little, the virgin arose; and when she had left the bed, a wonderful disturbance of thoughts rushed upon her, and she had a great conflict in her heart, of fear and love. For she feared God and St. Brigid, and she was burning with a vehement fire of love for the man. She therefore prayed to the Lord to help her in such distress. Then she found from God a good counsel and filled her two shoes with coals of fire and plunged her feet into them. she burned her own feet. And so it came to pass that fire extinguished fire, and pain conquered pain. Then she returned to bed. Blessed Brigid was aware of all these things, but kept silent, so that the maiden might be tempered and tested for a while. On the next day the maiden confessed her sin. Brigid said to her: she heals her feet and promises the gift of continence. "Because you fought valiantly this night and burned your feet in the present, the fire of fornication shall not harm you again in the present, and the fire of hell shall not burn you in the future." Then Blessed Brigid healed her feet, so that no mark of the burn appeared on them.

[97] On another day St. Brigid called her reapers to her harvest; and on that very day there was great rain, and throughout that whole province the rains poured down abundantly; she keeps her reapers free from rain. Her harvest alone remained dry without the impediment of rain. And while all the reapers of that region were prevented from their work by the rain, her reapers, without any shadow of darkness, the whole day from sunrise to sunset, by the power of God, performed their work unceasingly in clear weather.

[98] On another day, when three bishops arrived and were being entertained by her, for hospitality, she obtains an abundance of milk from God, since St. Brigid did not have the means to feed them, aided by the manifold power of God, she milked one cow three times in one day, contrary to custom; and what is usually expressed from the three best cows was miraculously expressed from one cow. A certain boy, knowing about this cow, asked St. Brigid to give it to him; and she did so. After he drove it away, it became like other cows, and was just like other cows.

[99] On a certain day a woman came to St. Brigid, she confers eyes and sight upon a certain person, saying to her: "What shall I do about my son, because his father wishes to kill him on account of the blindness he suffers? For he has been blind from birth, having a flat face." Then Brigid, taking pity on the woman, ordered the boy's face to be washed in nearby water. And immediately the boy was made well -- he who was called Cretan, of whom the people of that place said he had pain in his eyes until death; but his eyes were always healthy.

[100] On another day, a certain merry fellow in the guise of a beggar came to St. Brigid, She gives seven rams to a pretended beggar, knowing that she was merciful to the poor, and with jesting words he asked her for a ram from the flock; and she gave it to him. And he came again seven times, and by his cunning asked for seven rams in the name of the Lord, in the guise of a beggar, Yet the flock is not diminished: and he obtained what he wished. But when evening fell and the flock was counted, the exact number was found: even with the seven rams added back to the flock, no more than the exact number was ever discovered. At a certain time lepers asked for beer from the Blessed Brigid. But she, seeing that she had no beer, blessed the water that had been carried for the bath, By her blessing she turns water into beer; and turned it into excellent beer, and offered it in abundance to the thirsty. At another time, St. Brigid, through the most powerful virtue of God, blessed the swelling womb of a certain woman; and as the conception vanished, she restored her to health without childbirth or pain, returning her to penance. And that woman was healed and gave thanks to God. On a certain day, when a man came to Blessed Brigid A stone into salt: asking for salt, and she did not have salt readily at hand, she took a stone and blessed it, and made salt from it, and gave generously to the one who asked; and she made him return home with joy.

[101] At another time St. Brigid lost a large portion of bacon together with other meat. And when that portion was sought, After a month she recovers meat untouched by a dog: it was found nowhere except in the place where the dog was accustomed to lie -- after a month had passed, it was found untouched and whole. For the dog did not dare to eat the property of Blessed Brigid; but the guardian, sparing the bacon and restrained by divine power against its customary habit, stood tame and docile. On another day also, when a poor man lacking food begged her, she went to the man who had cooked the meat, to seek something for the poor man. But that very foolish servant She carries raw meat in her garment without staining it: who had cooked the meats threw a piece of meat not yet cooked into the bosom of his mistress. And thus she, with the color of her white garment not darkened, but remaining in its natural color, went and gave it to the poor man.

[102] At another time, a wild boar, solitary, of the forest, and fugitive, came most gently to the herd of pigs belonging to Blessed Brigid. She herself, seeing him among her swine, She renders a boar tame by her blessing: blessed him; and thereafter he remained fearless and familiar in the herd of her pigs, because even brute animals and beasts could not resist her words and her will, but, tamed and subjected in gentle servitude, they served her as she wished. At another time, St. Brigid healed a very strong man named Lugnid of his excessive appetite: whom they say would devour an ox and a pig with sufficient bread at a single meal; for as much as he excelled in strength, so much did he surpass others in eating. She cures his enormous voracity: She made him like other men in his eating, while depriving him of no strength.

[103] On a certain night, a man was lodging with his wife in the hospitality of St. Brigid; She cures a barren woman by her blessing: and he begged her to sign the womb of his wife so that she might have a son. And so she did. And immediately his wife conceived as he slept with her, and from that union was born Echenus, an eminent Saint. That same night, a certain maidservant stole the silver crescent of that woman and fled. On the following day, when many men pursued her, she threw the crescent into a great river. Then a fish of marvelous size immediately swallowed it. The lost item is wonderfully restored to her: Fishermen also at that very hour caught that fish in their nets and immediately offered it to St. Brigid at home. When the fish was opened, St. Brigid returned her crescent to the woman. Then the aforementioned man, together with his pregnant wife, gave thanks to God and to Blessed Brigid; and Brigid went on her way.

[104] At another time St. Brigid came to a religious Virgin. Now she, having nothing else, She restores in full what was consumed by a pious hostess: prepared a supper for her from the calf of her only cow, and cut up the wood of her loom and cooked the calf. But when St. Brigid heard this, in the morning she restored the calf to her, and the wood of the loom was found renewed, just as it had been before. At another time also, she gave the Mass vestments of Bishop Conlaid to the poor, She gives sacred vestments to a poor man: because she had nothing else to give. And immediately at the hour of sacrifice, Conlaid demanded his vestment, saying: She receives similar ones by divine provision: "I will not offer the Body and Blood of Christ without my vestments." Then, when Blessed Brigid prayed, God provided similar vestments. And all who saw this glorified God.

CHAPTER XVII

Miracles of Various Kinds; Most of Them for the Relief of the Wretched. The Death of St. Brigid.

[105] At another time also, St. Brigid sent vestments in a chest over the sea, so that they might reach, across a very long stretch of sea, Bishop Senan, She sends vestments in a chest over the sea to St. Senan; who was living on another island in the sea. And he, the Holy Spirit revealing it to him, said to the Brothers: "Go at once to the sea, and whatever you find there, bring it here with you." And they, going out, found the chest with the vestments. Senan therefore, seeing the vestments, gave thanks to God and to St. Brigid. For where men could not go without great labor, there the chest went, with God alone as its guide. On another day also, St. Brigid threw a lump of silver into the river, Silver to a Virgin through the river: so that it might reach through it a Virgin named Hinna, who shortly before had refused to carry the lump herself; and so afterwards, with the Lord delivering it, she received the lump.

[106] On a certain day a certain criminal was brought forward to be executed by the King. She receives silver by divine provision, with which she frees a convict: But during the delay before the execution, St. Brigid, praying, received silver from God in her bosom, and gave it to the King in exchange for the man, and the criminal was freed from death. On another day also, she divided a single tunic between two poor men, giving half a tunic to each; and each half became a whole tunic. She gives half-garments that become whole: Nor should this be passed over in silence: that she freed a certain girl from the debauchery of her own father. For when the girl had vowed her virginity to God, and her father had compelled her to take a husband, on the night of the wedding, with the feast prepared, she left her father and her kinsmen and fled to St. Brigid. In the morning her father pursued her. She frees a virgin from a forced marriage. But when St. Brigid saw his horsemen from afar, she raised the sign of the holy Cross against him, and all were fixed to the ground. When he saw this, he immediately did penance and was released together with his men; and thus the girl, freed from her carnal spouse, She renders her pursuers immobile: was betrothed to Christ, as she had vowed in her heart.

[107] A certain King rejected a chieftain whom St. Brigid wished to be made ruler in another city; She is avenged when spurned by a King: and the King immediately fell from his chariot, and with his head dashed against the ground, he died. At a certain time, when Blessed Brigid was suffering poverty and guests were arriving at her house, she transformed nettles into butter She changes nettles into butter, tree bark into bacon: and the bark of trees into bacon. At another time also, she promised a druid who had given her his inheritance that she would meet him at the hour of his death; which she did, just as she had promised. For when he lay in his bed near death, he said to his household: "Quickly, therefore, arrange all the things that are necessary for my death. She appears to a dying druid (as she had promised) and converts him: For I see St. Brigid coming to me in white garments with many attendants." And so, truly baptized and believing in Christ, he died.

[108] On a certain night, Blessed Brigid and another holy woman named Daria were conversing with each other about Christ, and they did not perceive the night; for where Christ, the Sun of Justice, was present, Speaking of Christ, she does not perceive the night: nothing could be dark. Then Daria said to Brigid: "Bless my eyes, so that I may be able to see the world as I desire" -- for she had been deprived of her sight. Then she blessed her eyes, and immediately they were opened. By her blessing she confers sight upon St. Daria, But holy Daria said to her: "Close my eyes again; for the more absent one is from the world, the more present one will be to God." Then Blessed Brigid closed her eyes again, as she had asked. And afterward removes it at her wish:

[109] On a certain night she moved a timber of wondrous size from its place all by herself, she moves an immense timber: which previously a great many men had been unable to shift. For with the Angel of the Lord aiding her, she brought it all the way to the place where she wished. At a certain time, moreover, a woman came with her mute daughter to the church where St. Brigid was staying, and called the Virgin to her, she obtains speech for the mute girl: one named Darlugdacha, saying to her: "Help me, that my daughter may be healed of ^g her infirmity." Then she led the girl to Blessed Brigid. And Brigid said to the girl: "Do you wish to remain a virgin?" For she did not know that the girl was mute. And at once the girl replied: "Whatever you command me, she summons wild ducks to herself: I shall do." And so, persevering afterwards in virginity, she was most eloquent until her death. On a certain day Blessed Brigid saw ducks swimming in the water and from time to time flying through the air, and she summoned them to herself. Obedient to her voice, they flew to her without any fear; and after stroking them with her hand and embracing them for some time, she permitted them to depart.

[110] At another time, when a certain rustic, possessing no knowledge, saw a fox in the King's palace, supposing that it was not tame and domesticated, when a man who killed the King's fox is in peril, and that it was trained in various tricks to provide entertainment for the King and his companions, he killed it in the sight of the multitude. Then he was bound and brought before the King; and the King ordered him to be put to death (unless another fox, similar in all its cunning, were restored to him), and his wife and children and all his possessions to be reduced to servitude. When St. Brigid had learned what had happened, moved by compassion, she ordered her chariot to be yoked, and pouring forth prayers to the Lord for the wretched man, she set out on the road leading to the King's palace. Then the Lord, taking pity on him, sent ^h another fox to her; and the fox entered the chariot and came to her, she obtains a similar one by divine providence, and positioning itself beside her, sat tamely in the chariot with her. When therefore she had come to the King, she entreated him that the accused man be freed from his bonds. But he replied that he would never have mercy on him unless she restored another fox similar to the former in all its cunning. Then she brought forth the fox which God had sent her; and performing even greater tricks, it played with various arts before them all. The King, appeased, allowed the accused to go free. she delivers him: And holy Brigid, the man having been acquitted, returned to her home; and the crafty fox, cleverly moving through the crowds, ⁱ fled to the desert places and to its own den.

[111] At another time a certain man came to her and said: "Let your messengers come with me to my estate, that they may bring you some of my pigs." Now the estate where the man lived was a journey of ^k four days from the dwelling of St. Brigid. Then, as he requested, she sent messengers with him. she receives pigs offered by a certain man, with wolves as escorts: But after a single day's journey, on the border mountain, the pigs -- which she had supposed to be far away -- she perceived coming toward her, driven by wolves and directed to her along the road. And when she understood that the pigs, which the wolves were herding from the field of Femin through the great forests, were his own, and that they had been kept unharmed by the wolves out of reverence for St. Brigid, she gave glory to God. Then, joyfully receiving the pigs, he gave them to the messengers of St. Brigid. And so on the following day those who had been sent by St. Brigid returned with the pigs to their mistress, narrating to her what had happened, and glorifying God in all things.

[112] At another time, moreover, Blessed Brigid, compelled by a certain necessity, asked honey from the Lord: and in the floor of her house she found in abundance what she had sought. she receives honey by divine gift: She changed a certain river from its course to another place; she diverts a river from its bed: and ^l to this day it runs just as she arranged it. The Lord indeed worked very many miracles through His holy handmaiden, which are not written among these, on account of the weariness of the reader.

[113] When the time of her departure from this world drew near, she called her foster-daughter, named Darlugdacha, and foretold to her the day of her own death. When the latter heard this, she wished in her grief to die with her teacher. But Blessed Brigid said to her: "^m After my death you shall live happily for one year; she foretells to St. Darlugdacha the time of her death: and when the year has passed, on the anniversary of my death you shall die, so that for us who lived together in this world, the anniversary may be observed on the same day." This afterwards came to pass, as she had foretold.

[114] Holy Brigid, then, having fought the good fight and completed her happy course, departed from this light to the kingdom of heaven: she herself dies. she who was led thither by the hosts of Angels and Archangels, and placed among the choirs of Patriarchs and Prophets and Apostles, and of Martyrs and Confessors and Virgins, now possesses everlasting joys with Christ: to Whom with God the Father and the Holy Spirit remain honor and praise and glory through all ages of ages. Amen.

LIFE II

BY COGITOSUS, AS IS BELIEVED,

From the MSS of Cambrai, Weiblingen, Trier, etc.

Brigid, Scottish Virgin, in Ireland (Saint)

BHL Number: 1457

By Cogitosus, from MSS.

PROLOGUE OF THE AUTHOR.

[1] You compel me, Brothers, to undertake handing down to memory and to writing the virtues and works of the Virgin Brigid, of holy and blessed memory, after the manner of the learned. The author, having excused his lack of skill, This task imposed upon me, arduous for such delicate material, does not at all suit my smallness, my ignorance, and my poor tongue: but God is powerful enough to make great things from small, just as He filled the house of the poor widow from a little oil and a handful of meal. 3 Kings 17 and 4 Kings 4. And so, compelled by your commands, I count it enough that my obedience has not been wanting. Therefore I resolve to set forth a few things out of many, handed down by our elders and most skilled men, without any cloud of ambiguity, lest I incur the charge of disobedience: from which the greatness and quality of the Virgin, flourishing in good virtues, after others, may become known to the eyes of all -- not that the memory and mediocrity and rustic speech of my poor wit could unfold the office of so great a gift; writes the Life of St. Brigid. but the blessedness of your faith and the perseverance of your prayers deserve to receive what the talent of the writer cannot bear.

[2] Growing therefore in distinguished virtues and in the fame of good deeds, whose celebrated monastery at Kildare; innumerable peoples of both sexes, flocking to her from all the provinces of all Ireland and voluntarily offering their vows to her, she built her monastery (which is virtually the head of all the churches of Ireland, and the summit excelling all the monasteries of the Scots, whose parish, diffused through all the land of Ireland, extends from sea to sea) upon the plains of the field of the Liffey, on the firm foundation of faith: and prudently providing in regular fashion for their souls in all things, and being solicitous for the churches of many provinces adhering to her, and revolving with herself that it could not be without a chief priest who would consecrate churches and ordain the ecclesiastical grades in them, she summoned an illustrious man, a hermit, where also a bishop's see, adorned with all good character, through whom God had wrought very many miracles, calling him from the desert and from his solitary life, and going out to meet him, that he might govern the Church in episcopal dignity together with her, and that nothing of the priestly order might be wanting in her churches, she summoned him. And so afterwards, the anointed head and chief of all the Bishops, and the most blessed chief of maidens, with happy companionship between themselves and with the helms of all the virtues, they governed their principal Church: and by the merits of both, their episcopal and maiden see, like a fruitful vine spreading on every side with growing branches, grew throughout the whole island of Ireland. Which see the Archbishop of the Irish Bishops, and the Abbess, indeed formerly archiepiscopal. whom all the Abbesses of the Scots venerate, govern in happy succession and perpetual rite. Thenceforth therefore, as I said above, compelled by the Brothers, I shall attempt to set forth compendiously the virtues of this Blessed Brigid -- both those which she performed before her office and others which she accomplished during it -- for the sake of brevity, although in a somewhat disordered arrangement of virtues.

CHAPTER I

The generosity of the young Brigid toward the poor; her virginity devoted to God: both confirmed by miracles.

[3] Holy Brigid, then, whom God foreknew according to His own image and predestined, was born in Scotland ^a of a good and most prudent ^b lineage, her father being ^c Dubthach St. Brigid born of a noble family, and her mother ^d Brotsech; from her childhood she grew in the pursuits of good things. For the girl, chosen by God, full of the habits of ^e temperance and modesty, was always growing toward better things. And who could fully narrate her works and virtues, which she performed even at this age? from childhood temperate and modest: But we shall set forth these few out of innumerable examples, by way of illustration.

[4] Thereupon, when the fitting time arrived, she was sent by her mother to the work of curdling, to gather butter from the churned milk of the cows: so that, as other women were accustomed to perform this work, she too might carry it out in equal measure; she gives milk and butter to the poor; and at the appointed time she would return in full the customary measured weight of butter and the yield of the cows together with the rest. But this Virgin, most beautiful in character and hospitable, wishing to obey God rather than men, distributed the ^f milk and butter generously to the poor and to guests. And when, according to custom, the appointed time came for all to render the yield of the cows, they came to her. And while her fellow workers showed their completed work, but lest she offend her mother, the aforesaid blessed Virgin was asked to assign her own work likewise. And she, trembling with fear of her mother, since she had nothing to show -- for she had distributed everything to the poor, taking no thought for the morrow -- and kindled by the inextinguishable flame of faith and standing firm, turned to the Lord and prayed. Without delay, the Lord, hearing the voice and prayers of the Virgin, by prayer she obtains an abundance of butter from God. was present with the bounty of the divine gift, as He is a helper in times of need: and on behalf of His Virgin who trusted in Him, He restored butter in abundance. In a wondrous manner, at that very hour after the prayer, the most holy Virgin showed that nothing was lacking from her work, but abounding beyond all her fellow workers, she demonstrated that she had fulfilled her duty. And when the miracle of so great a gift was fully discovered in the sight of all, praising the Lord who had done this, they marveled that so great a power of faith had been established in a virgin's breast.

[5] And behold, not long afterwards, when her parents, in the human fashion, wished to betroth her to a man, she, inspired from heaven and wishing to present herself to God as a chaste virgin, went to the most holy Bishop of blessed memory, ^g Maccaille. she receives the veil from a Bishop: He, beholding the heavenly desire and modesty and so great a love of chastity in such a Virgin, placed a white pallium and a spotless garment upon her venerable head. And she, humbly bending her knees before God, the Bishop, and the altar, and offering her virginal crown to almighty God, by touching wood, she causes it to remain green forever: touched with her hand the wooden foundation on which the altar rested: which wood, in commemoration of its former virtue, remains green to the present time, as if it had not been cut and stripped of bark but were fixed in its roots, and it flourishes; and to this day it expels ailments and diseases from all the faithful.

c. Canisius: Dubrocho.

CHAPTER II

Various benefits divinely bestowed upon mortals through Brigid's prayers and blessing.

[6] Nor does it seem right for me to pass over the mention of that miracle which this most famous handmaiden of God, continually devoted to divine service, performed. For when on one occasion she had cooked bacon in ^a a cauldron for guests who had arrived, she gives a portion of bacon to a dog, she mercifully gave it to a fawning and begging dog; and when the bacon was drawn from the cauldron and afterwards divided among the guests, which is divinely replenished: it was found completely whole, as if none had been taken away; and those who saw this, greatly marveling, spread abroad with worthy praises the incomparable virtue of the girl's faith and the merit of her good works.

[7] And the same Brigid summoned reapers and laborers to her harvest; and on that day of the reapers' gathering, a cloudy and rainy day befell, and with rain pouring copiously from the clouds throughout all the surrounding province, and rivulets of drops running abundantly through the valleys and crevices of the earth, her harvest alone remained dry, without the hindrance or disturbance of the rains. she protects her reapers from rain: And while all the reapers of the surrounding region were prevented by the rainy day, her own workers, without any shadow of darkness or rain, performed the work of harvesting that entire day from sunrise to sunset, by the power of God.

[8] Behold, among the other miracles of hers, this deed seems worthy of admiration. For when Bishops arrived and lodged with her, and she had nothing with which to feed them, aided by the manifold power of God, she obtains an abundance of milk by divine power, for the feeding of guests: in the customary manner, more abundantly as her need demanded, she milked one and the same cow three times in a single day, contrary to custom; and what is usually expressed from three excellent cows, she, by a wonderful occurrence, expressed from her single cow.

[9] Behold, I resolve to bring this miracle also to the attention of your blessedness, in which the pure virginal mind and the divine cooperating hand appear to converge as one. For when she was feeding her sheep in pastoral work, she tends her sheep: in a grassy meadow, drenched by an excessive downpour of rain, she returned home in wet garments; and when the shadow of sunlight entered the interior of the house through its openings, she, she hangs her garment on a sunbeam: with eyes dulled, supposing the sunbeam to be a crosswise beam fixed in place, laid her wet garment upon it. And as if upon a great and solid tree, the garment hung upon that slender sunbeam. And when all the inhabitants and neighbors were struck by this great miracle, they extolled this incomparable woman with worthy praises.

[10] Nor should this be passed over in silence. When this Holy Brigid, in the field beside the flock of sheep to be pastured, was occupied with pastoral care, she gives seven wethers to a pretended pauper, a certain worthless youth, cunningly deceiving her and testing her generosity toward the poor, and changing his guise each time, came to her seven times and carried off seven wethers from her in a single day, and hid them in a secret place. And when the flock was to be directed to the folds at evening according to custom, nor is the flock diminished, having been most diligently counted two or three times, the entire number was found miraculously intact without any loss. And those who had been privy to the deed, marveling at the power of God manifestly worked through the Virgin, released the seven wethers they had hidden back to her flock. And that number of the flock was found neither more nor less, nor increased when they are restored: but whole as before. By these and innumerable similar miracles, this most famous handmaiden of God was seen to be most excellent -- not undeservedly, but with worthy praises -- on the lips of all, above all others.

[11] By a wonderful occurrence also, lepers demanding beer from this venerable Brigid, when she had none, seeing water prepared for baths, and blessing it with the power of faith, she converted it into the finest beer, by a blessing, she converts water into beer; and poured it out in abundance for the thirsty. For He who at Cana of Galilee converted water into wine, through the faith of this most Blessed one also changed water into beer. Now that this miracle has been related, it seems fitting to make an admirable mention of another.

[12] For by the most powerful and ineffable strength of faith, she faithfully blessed a certain woman who, after a vow of integrity, she frees a fallen virgin from disgrace; had lapsed through human frailty into the desire of youthful pleasure, and who now had a pregnant and swelling womb; and with the conception vanishing in the womb, without childbirth and without pain, she restored her sound to penance. And according to the saying that all things are possible to those who believe, she performed innumerable daily miracles without any impossibility.

[13] For on a certain day, when someone came to her asking for salt, she changes a stone into salt: as innumerable other poor and needy people were accustomed to come for their needs, the most blessed Brigid at that hour generously bestowed upon the petitioner salt made from a stone which she had blessed, sufficient for his use. And so, carrying salt from her, he returned joyfully to his own home.

CHAPTER III

Other benefits divinely bestowed upon her, and through her upon others.

[14] And this most powerful divine work of hers seems to me to be joined among the rest, by which, in imitation of the Savior, and as an imitator of the divine Majesty, she performed ^a a most exalted miracle. For after the example of the Lord, she too opened the eyes of one born blind. For the Lord has bestowed His own names and works upon His members: since when He speaks of Himself, "I am the light of the world," He says no less to His Apostles, "You are the light of the world." John 8:12; Matt. 5:14; John 14:12 And concerning them He added, saying, "The works that I do, they also shall do, and greater things than these shall they do." For one whom natural birth had brought forth born blind, she bestows sight on the blind; the faith of this same Brigid, comparable to a grain of mustard and similar to it, opened with a great miracle his simple and clear eyes. And so, illustrious for such great virtues, full of humility of heart and purity of mind, of moderation of manners and of spiritual grace, she merited so great an authority in divine worship and so celebrated a name above all the Virgins of her age.

[15] And on a certain day, when one of the women attached to her came from outside with her twelve-year-old daughter, mute from birth, to visit her, bowing with fitting reverence as all were accustomed to do, and advancing with humble neck to her peaceful kiss; she bestows speech on the mute; Brigid herself, affable and gracious to all, addressed her beneficially with words seasoned by divine salt; and after the example of the Savior, who bade little children come to Him, holding the daughter's hand in her own, not knowing that the girl was mute, and asking her will -- whether she wished to remain a Virgin with veiled head, or wished to be given in marriage -- when the mother informed her that her daughter could give no replies, she answered the mother, saying that she would not release the girl's hand until she first gave her an answer. Mark 10:14 And when she asked the daughter a second time about the same matter, the daughter answered her, saying: "I wish to do nothing other than what you wish." And so, thereafter, with opened mouth, without impediment of the tongue, and with its bond loosed, she spoke in health.

[16] And upon whom would this deed of hers not stir wonder, a thing ^b unheard of to the ears of many? For when she was intent in mind upon the meditation of heavenly things, as was always her custom, lifting up her manner of life from earthly to heavenly things, she left behind a not small but large portion of bacon with a dog. the bacon left with the dog is found intact a month later: And when it was searched for, not elsewhere, but in the place where the dog was accustomed to be, it was found untouched and whole after a month had passed. For the dog did not dare to eat the property of the blessed Virgin, but proved to be a patient and faithful guardian of the bacon, contrary to its usual habit, restrained and tamed by divine power.

[17] As the number of miracles grew daily -- which can scarcely be enumerated -- how great was the mercy and piety and alms-giving to the poor, who importuned her seasonably and unseasonably! she carries raw meat in her garment without staining it: For when some poor person in need of food begged her, she hastened to those who had cooked meats, in order to bring something from them for the poor person. But one of their most foolish servants, who had cooked the meats, foolishly flung a portion of the meat, not yet cooked, into the fold of her white garment; and thus, with the cloth not ^c discolored but remaining in its white color, she carried it and gave it to the poor person.

[18] Nor should this be without admiration among her happy deeds. For when the poor and pilgrims were flocking to her from all sides, drawn by the great fame of her miracles and excessive generosity, a certain ungrateful leper came among them, demanding to be given the best cow from the herd together with the finest calf of all the calves. Nor did she delay upon hearing his entreaty: but at once she voluntarily gave to the sick petitioner the cow she knew to be the best of all, she gives a cow to a leper, and the calf of another cow, and an elegant and excellent calf of another cow, and mercifully sending her own chariot with him, over the long road and the very broad plain, lest the sick man, weary from the long journey, suffer hardship in driving the cow, which follows, licking him as its own: she ordered the calf to be placed in the chariot behind him. And so the cow, ^d licking him with her tongue and loving him as if he were her own, with no one driving her, followed all the way to the designated places. You see, dearest Brothers, that even brute animals served her contrary to their custom.

[19] And at a certain interval of time, other most wicked thieves, who feared neither God nor men, coming from another province for the purpose of robbery, she recovers her oxen, and crossing a great river by the easy passage of their feet, stole her oxen. But the rush of the mighty river, with a sudden flood of waters, confounded them as they returned by the same way. For the river, raised up like a wall, did not permit the most criminal theft of Blessed Brigid's oxen to pass through on its own; the cattle-thieves being drowned: but submerging the thieves and dragging them along, the oxen, freed from their hands and with ropes hanging from their horns, returned to ^e their own herd and cattle-pen.

[20] Behold, here too the divine power appears. When on a certain day the most holy Brigid herself, compelled by some useful necessity, was visiting a gathering of the people, she was carried in a chariot drawn by a pair of horses. And while in her vehicle, in contemplative meditation, leading a heavenly life on earth, she was praying to her Lord as was her wont; one of the horses, leaping from a high place with brute spirit, [when a horse throws off the yoke, she is preserved with the chariot on the precipice:] falling under the chariot and unbridled, ^g violently wrenching itself free from the ^f harness and loosing itself from the yoke -- the other horse remaining alone under the yoke -- ran terrified through the open fields. And thus the divine hand, supporting the hanging yoke without a fall, and the crowd witnessing this as testimony of divine power, she followed in her vehicle, praying, and with one horse remaining under the chariot, arrived unharmed at the gathering of the people by a gentle course. And confirming her teaching with signs and miracles, she exhorted the people with salutary discourses seasoned with divine salt.

CHAPTER IV

Wild beasts made tame at her service.

[21] And this seems to us to be attributed to her virtues. When a fierce boar, solitary and wild, was terrified and in flight, she renders a boar tame by a blessing: it came with headlong speed to the herd of pigs of the most blessed Brigid; and she, seeing that it had come among her swine, blessed it. Thereafter, fearless, as if domesticated, it remained with her herd of pigs. Behold, you see, Brothers, that even brute animals and wild beasts could not resist her words and her will, but served her, tamed and subjected.

[22] For when at one time someone among others offering gifts to her, coming from a distant province, offered her fat pigs, and asked others sent along with him to go to his estate, situated at a considerable distance of land, that he might receive the pigs from him; over the long stretch of a journey of three or four days and more, she receives pigs from a certain man, she sent her companions along with him. And after a single day's journey, on the border mountain of the regions, which is called by its own name Gabor, they beheld her pigs -- which she had supposed to be in distant regions -- coming toward them, driven by wolves over a three-day journey: directed and driven along the road by wolves. And when they drew nearer and she recognized them to be her own, recognizing her own swine and seeing the wild wolves, who out of the greatest reverence for Blessed Brigid labored as suitable shepherds in driving and herding the swine from the great forests and the very broad plain of the Liffey; upon the arrival of the messengers, the wolves left them unharmed and departed in their customary manner. And thus, by this wonderful occurrence having been understood, on the following day those who had been sent returned home with the swine, narrating the wonderful deed.

[23] Likewise, of her marvelous deeds, this event seems to us by no means to be passed over without narration. For on a certain day, when a certain man, supported by no knowledge, saw a fox walking through the King's palace, and thought -- his senses being blinded -- that it was a wild beast, and was ignorant that in the King's hall it was domesticated and tame, trained in various tricks, by agility of body and subtlety of mind providing She frees a man imperiled with death for killing the King's tame fox, a great spectacle for the King and his companions, he killed it in the sight of the multitude. And then, bound and denounced by those who had witnessed the deed, he was brought before the King. And the King, angry upon learning what had happened, ordered him to be killed unless a fox similar in all the tricks that his fox had performed were restored to him; and he commanded his wife and children and all his possessions to be reduced to servitude. And when the holy and venerable Brigid had learned what had happened, moved by so great an impulse of compassion and piety, she ordered her chariot to be yoked, and grieving from the bottom of her heart for that unhappy man who had been unjustly condemned, and pouring forth prayers to the Lord, and riding through the broad plain, she set out on the road that led to the King's palace. Without delay the Lord, hearing her as she poured forth her constant prayers, sent one of His own wild foxes to come to her; She obtains a similar one by divine provision, and when it came running with the swiftest course through the open fields and drew near to the chariot of the most blessed Brigid, it lightly lifted itself and entered the chariot, and placing itself under the shelter of Brigid's garment, it sat soberly with her in the chariot. And when she came to the King, she began to entreat that the wretched and improvident man, who was held by the guilt of his ignorance, might go forth free and absolved from his chains. And when the King was unwilling to consent to her prayers, protesting that he would not release him unless such a fox, of such tameness and cunning as his fox had been, were restored to him, she brought forth her fox into the midst, And given to the King, which, performing before the King and the entire multitude all the manners and teachable subtlety of the other fox, in the same fashion as the former one, plainly played with various tricks before all. Then the King, seeing this, was appeased, and his nobles, together with the immense applause of the admiring multitude at the marvelous deed, ordered the man who had previously been guilty of the offense to be released and to go free. Nor long after, when St. Brigid, the release and liberty having been accomplished, was returning to her home, this fox, cunningly twisting itself through the crowds Which afterwards fled away: and craftily moving -- which appeared similar to the other -- fled as a fugitive to the desolate and wooded places and to its own den, eluding the many horsemen and dogs pursuing it, and fleeing through the open fields, it escaped unharmed. And all, marveling at what had been done, venerated with ever greater deeds her who always flourished with the privilege of sanctity and the prerogative of many virtues.

[24] And when on another day Blessed Brigid had seen ducks swimming with their bodily breasts in the water and from time to time flying through the air, she summoned them to come to her. And they, with their feathered flight and with such an ardor of obedience, as if they had been accustomed under human care, flew to her at her voice without any fear She calls wild ducks to herself: of the crowd. And touching and embracing them with her hand, and doing this for a certain period of time, she permitted them to return and fly into the air on their wings, praising the invisible Creator of all things through visible creatures, to whom all living things are subject, and for whom all things live, as a certain author says, in the office of service. And from all these things it can be clearly understood that every nature of beasts and cattle and birds was subject to her command.

CHAPTER V

Murders Prevented. The Present Help of an Angel.

[25] And this miracle of hers, deserving to be celebrated through all ages, must be brought to the ears of the faithful. For when she was sowing the most salutary seeds of the word of the Lord according to her custom upon all, she saw nine men in a certain distinctive guise of vain and diabolical superstition, with a clapping of ridiculous speech amounting to the greatest madness of mind. In whose ways there was destruction and wretchedness -- men who, having sworn the most wicked vows to the ancient enemy who reigned in them, thirsting for the shedding of blood, She admonishes in vain men breathing slaughter, resolved to commit the slaughter and murder of others before the Kalends of the coming month should arrive. To them the most reverend and affable Brigid preached with a honeyed abundance of words, that, abandoning their deadly errors, they might wash away their crimes through the compunction of the heart and true repentance. But they, in the dullness of their minds, refusing to do so unless they first fulfilled their vain vows, went on their way. And when constant prayers had been poured forth to the Lord on their behalf by the adorned Virgin, who wished, after the Lord's example, that all should be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth, [She brings it about, however, that they behead an image of the man, not the man himself:] those nefarious men, going forth, beholding an image in the likeness of the man whom they were supposed to kill, immediately slaying it with their lances and beheading it with their swords, as if after a triumph over their adversary and enemy, they returned with bloody and gory weapons and appeared to many. In a marvelous manner, though they killed no one, it seemed to them that they had fulfilled their vows; and when no one was missing from that province over whom they might have triumphed, no doubt persisting in anyone regarding this matter, the bounty of the divine gift accomplished through St. Brigid became known to all. And thus those men, who previously were murderers, were converted to the Lord through penance.

[26] And in this deed the Divine power was manifested through Brigid, adorned with the ineffable ornament of holy religion. For a certain Lugidus, very strong and the mightiest of men, She removes an enormous appetite, who by the great strength of his body performed the work of twelve men by himself when he wished in a single day, and likewise consumed the food that could sufficiently feed twelve men (for just as he alone could do the work of all of them, so also in eating, one man could match many) -- he begged her to pray to the Almighty Lord on his behalf, that He might moderate his gluttony by which he devoured excess, without losing the ancient strength of his body for this reason. And so Brigid herself, blessing him and praying to the Lord for him, His strength remaining: he was thereafter quite content with the food of one man, and laboring as before just as twelve workmen worked, he remained in the same ancient strength.

[27] Likewise, among her illustrious works, we ought to set forth this equally outstanding and exalted deed, known to all. A certain tree, great and immense, prepared for some use, was felled by axes in the forest by those who were accustomed to practice the craft of lumbering. For it a gathering of strong men was assembled, because of its troublesomeness She moves an immense tree to another place, and enormous mass, and the most difficult places in which it had fallen with the crashing of its branches, that they might remove it and drag it with many oxen and the machines of the craftsmen to the designated place, as the necessity of the matter demanded. And when neither the multitude of men, nor the strength of the oxen, nor the various arts of the craftsmen could move or drag that tree in any way, and all had withdrawn from it, through the most powerful faith of Blessed Brigid, similar to a grain of mustard (through which faith, as the heavenly Master teaches by the instrument of the Gospel voice, mountains are moved, With the aid of an Angel: and all things are possible to those who believe), they lifted that most heavy tree by angelic power through divine mysteries, with no mortal assistance, and without any difficulty they carried it to the place designated by St. Brigid, and through all the provinces the excellence of this great divine power was proclaimed. Mark 11:23 and 9:22

CHAPTER VI

Various Things Restored by Her Prayers.

[28] And it comes to our mind not to pass over in our silence this virtue also, which the venerable Brigid performed among her innumerable virtues. For a certain secular man, noble in his nation and of deceitful character, She rescues a woman from the danger of servitude and adultery, burning with desire for a certain woman, and cunningly thinking how he might enjoy her embrace, entrusted his own silver and precious brooch to her as a deposit, which he treacherously withdrew without her knowledge, and threw it into the sea, so that when she could not return it she would become his slave, and he might afterward enjoy her embraces as he wished. He contrived to accomplish this evil, saying that he could be appeased by no other thing or ransom By a brooch that had been thrown into the sea, unless either his own silver brooch were returned to him, or the woman herself were reduced to servitude to him, for the culpable cause of his frail desire. And this modest woman, fearing, fled as to a most safe city of refuge to St. Brigid. And when she had discovered such a cause, or was thinking what she should do about this matter, before she had completed her words, Suddenly found in the belly of a fish: someone came to her with fish drawn from the river; and when the entrails of those fish had been immediately cut open, that silver brooch which the cruel man had thrown into the sea for the reason described above was found in the middle of one of the fish. And so, thereafter carrying that brooch with her with a secure mind, and going forward to the gathering of the multitude for this charge with the infamous tyrant, and showing him his own brooch, with many testifying who were able to recognize it as none other than the very one about which the tale was told, she freed the modest woman, who clung to her, from the hands of the most cruel tyrant. And so he, afterwards confessing his fault, humbly submitted his neck to St. Brigid. And she, gloriously, this great miracle having been accomplished, giving thanks to God and doing all things to His glory, returned home to her own house.

[29] And to these miracles the glorious and most illustrious hospitality of hers with a certain faithful woman ought to be joined: by which, making a prosperous journey in the will of God, St. Brigid, in the most ample plain of Breg, when the day had declined toward evening, came to the ^b woman's dwelling and spent the night with her. And the woman, receiving her with open arms and with joy, and giving thanks to almighty God for the happy arrival of the most reverend Brigid, ^c as if of Christ Himself; since she had not, on account of her poverty, the means to feed a fire and cook food and thereby feed such guests, she cut up the wooden frame of the loom on which she wove her cloth, to feed the fire; [the calf that was eaten and the wood that was burned are restored whole to the pious hostess the next day:] and placing upon the pile of this wood her calf, which she had killed, she roasted it with good will. And when the supper had been made in the praises of God, and the night spent in accustomed vigils, she awoke the following morning after that night, and so that the hospitable woman who had lost her calf should suffer no loss of any kind from the reception and refreshment of St. Brigid, she found another calf in the same form with her cow, which the cow loved as it had the former one; and the wooden frame of the loom she likewise beheld restored before her, in such form and quantity as the former had been. And so St. Brigid, with happy progress and a wonderful miracle accomplished, bidding farewell to the household and its inhabitants, peacefully went on her prosperous way.

[30] And behold, in so great a multitude of miracles, this illustrious deed of hers is customarily admired. that she might aid three poor persons, For to three lepers oppressed with infirmities, who were asking to receive some gift from her, she bestowed a silver vessel. And lest it be a cause of discord and contention among them, if they were to divide it among themselves, she told ^d a certain man skilled in the weights of gold and silver to weigh this vessel for those three in three equal parts. And when he had begun to excuse himself, saying that he could not weigh it equally, Brigid herself, the most blessed of women, she breaks a silver vessel into three equal parts, seizing the silver vessel, struck it against a stone and broke it into three equal and similar parts, as she wished. Marvelously, when afterwards those three parts of the silver vessel were measured by weight, no part was found to be smaller or larger than another, surpassing it even by a single obol, among these three parts. And so the sick poor, without any cause for injury or envy, departed joyfully to their homes with their portions.

[31] For after the example of the most blessed Job, she never suffered the needy to withdraw from her with empty bosom. For the overseas and foreign vestments of the adorned Bishop ^e Conlaeth, which he wore on the solemnities of the Lord and on the vigils of the Apostles, while offering the sacred mysteries at the altars and in the sanctuary, she gave to the poor. And when the time of solemnity arrived according to custom, she gives sacred vestments to Christ in the form of a pauper; so that the high priest of the people might be clothed in his festal garments, St. Brigid -- who had given those former vestments of the Bishop to Christ placed in the form of a pauper -- received from Christ other vestments, similar in every respect to the former ones, both in weaving and in color, she receives similar ones from heaven: which had been brought to her in a two-wheeled chariot at that very hour, by the Christ whom she had clothed through the pauper, and she handed them over in place of the others. She freely offered other garments to the poor and received this in return for them at the opportune time. For since she was a living and most happy member of the Supreme Head, she powerfully accomplished all that she desired.

[32] ^f For this outstanding deed of hers also is not to be passed over without narration. For a certain man, compelled by some necessity and needing a measure of honey, besought her. And since Brigid herself grieved in mind, she obtains honey from God, to help the needy one, having no honey at hand to give to the petitioner, a murmuring of bees was heard beneath the floor of the house in which she then was. And when that place, in which the bees were making their sounds, had been dug up and searched, there was found in it as much as sufficed for the petitioner's need. And so, having received from her the gift of as much honey as his necessity demanded, he returned rejoicing to his dwelling.

CHAPTER VII

The Course of the River Changed. A Millstone Famous for Prodigies.

[33] Likewise St. Brigid shone with this miracle also. When the edict of the King of that country in which she lived was prevailing throughout the communities and provinces that were under his dominion and authority, that from all his regions and provinces all peoples and communities should assemble and build a wide and firm road of the branches of trees, with certain very strong fortifications, in a deep marsh, that she might free certain people unjustly burdened with labor, nearly impassable and in wet places and in swamps in which a great river ran -- a road that, once constructed, might sustain chariots and horsemen and carts and the wheels of wagons and the assault of peoples and the onslaught of enemies from every side -- when many peoples had assembled by kindreds and families, they divided that road which they had to build into their own portions, so that each kindred and family might construct the part entrusted to it. And when that most difficult and laborious part of the river fell by lot to a certain one of those nations, that nation, avoiding the hardest labor, by its superior strength compelled a weaker nation of St. Brigid's kin to work on this difficult portion in the construction of the road, while the cruel and unjust nation itself chose to build the easier part which had fallen to it, without any disturbance from the river. And when the kinsmen of St. Brigid according to the flesh had come to her complaining, prostrated by the stronger without any right of fair apportionment, she is said to have plausibly spoken to them thus: "Go: it is the will and power of God that that river should pass from the place where it is -- and where hard labors oppress you -- into that portion which they themselves have chosen." she transfers the river elsewhere, And when in the morning of that day all the people had risen to their works, that river which they had lamented was seen to have left its ancient place and channel, where it used to run between both its banks, and to have moved from the part where St. Brigid's nation was compelled to work into the part of those strong and proud men who were unjustly and most harshly compelling the fewer and weaker to labor. the former bed remaining dry. And in testimony of the miracle, the traces of the river and the empty valley where the swelling and flowing river used to run in ancient times still appear; and with the river itself having withdrawn to the other place, the former site is dried up, without any flowing waters.

[34] Not only, moreover, did she perform many miracles during her life in the flesh, before she laid down the burden of the body, but also by the bounty of the divine gift in her monastery, where her venerable body rests, other miracles are always known to be wrought -- which we have not only heard, but have also seen with our own eyes. For the Provost of the greatest and most illustrious monastery of St. Brigid, of which we made brief mention at the beginning of this little work, sent workmen and stonecutters to find and cut a millstone wherever it might be found. A millstone fashioned on the mountain, And they, without any foresight of the difficult roads, ascending a steep way, went to the summit of a rocky mountain; and choosing a large stone at the very peak of the loftiest mountain, and cutting it on every side, they shaped it into a round and perforated millstone. And when the Provost, invited by them, had come from the monastery with oxen to that mountain on which the millstone had been shaped, and since he could not drag and force the oxen along with him because of the steep ascent of the mountain, he could scarcely climb the hardest road with a few following him. Thereupon, while he and his companions and workmen were thinking how they might transport that millstone from the ridge of the loftiest mountain, since the oxen could in no way be on that steep mountain under burdens and yokes, falling into despair, with some of them saying that they should abandon the stone and that those who had shaped it had labored in vain, the Provost with prudent management and counsel faithfully said to his workmen: "Let it by no means be so; but raise this millstone manfully and cast it down the precipice from this high peak of the mountain, it is rolled harmlessly down the precipice, by the aid of St. Brigid; in the name and power of St. Brigid, for we can by no art or strength carry this great millstone through these rocky and most difficult places, unless Brigid herself, for whom nothing is impossible -- according to the saying that all things are possible to the one who believes -- carries it down to the place from which the strength of oxen can drag it." Mark 9:22 And so, casting it down with firm faith and leaving it alone in the valley, descending gradually from the mountain, sometimes avoiding rocks, sometimes leaping over them, and running through the wet places at the foot of the mountain in which neither men nor oxen could have stood on account of their depth, it progressed with marvelous escort all the way to the level places without any breakage, where their oxen were. And so from there it was carried by oxen all the way to the mill and was skillfully joined with the other stone.

[35] And so that this millstone, which was directed in the name of Blessed Brigid, might be made known to all the more, it added this further miracle, unheard of before and illustrious. For when a certain pagan and heathen had treacherously sent his grain to the mill near his dwelling through another simple man, without the knowledge of the miller who was conducting the work of grinding, and after it had been thrown and poured between the millstones, no force of the strong and directed river current, and no violent power of the waters, and no efforts of the craftsmen could move and push that aforesaid millstone in its circular and customary orbit. but it cannot be turned by any force to grind the grain of the magician; And while those who saw this were distressed about the matter, struck with excessive amazement, then, discovering that the grain belonged to a magician, they did not in the least doubt that the millstone, in which St. Brigid had wrought divine power, had refused to grind the grain of a pagan man into flour. And in that hour, removing the grain of the pagan and placing their own monastic grain beneath that millstone, the customary and daily course of the mill was suddenly restored without any hindrance.

[36] And after an interval of time it happened that ^h this mill was consumed by fire. Nor was this a small miracle: when the fire consumed the entire building preserved unharmed from the conflagration, and the other stone which had been joined to the aforesaid stone, it did not dare in any way to touch and burn this one special stone of Blessed Brigid; but without any injury from the fire, amid the great conflagration of the mill, it alone remained unharmed. And afterwards, this miracle having been seen, it was brought ⁱ on levers to the monastery, and beside the gate of the inner fortified enclosure by which the church is surrounded, it becomes famous for miracles: where many peoples gather on account of the veneration of the miracles of St. Brigid, it was honorably placed in that very gate. And it expels diseases and ailments from the faithful who touch this stone of Brigid, through which she performed the aforesaid miracles.

CHAPTER VIII

The City of Kildare. The Church of St. Brigid; her Sepulchre.

[37] Nor should the miracle wrought in the restoration of the church be passed over in silence -- the church in which the glorious bodies of both, that is, of Archbishop Conleth and of this most flourishing Virgin Brigid, placed in decorated tombs to the right and to the left of the altar, the church of Kildare (in which the sepulchres of SS. Conleth and Brigid), adorned with a varied ornament of gold and silver and gems of precious stone, and with golden and silver crowns hanging above, and with diverse images ^a with various engravings and colors, lie at rest. And in the old building a new thing is born: that is, as the church grew with the increasing number of the faithful of both sexes, renovated and enlarged: spacious in area and extended upward to a threatening height and adorned with painted panels, it has within three ample oratories divided by walls ^b of wooden paneling beneath the single roof of the greater building. In which one decorated wall, painted with images and covered with linen hangings, extends across the width of the eastern part of the church from one wall to the other wall of the church. In it separate places This wall has in it at its extremities two doorways: through one doorway, placed on the right side, one enters the sanctuary at the altar, where ^c the chief Bishop with his ^d regular ^e community 1. of the Bishop and Clergy; 2. of the Abbess and nuns, and those deputed to the sacred mysteries offers the sacred and dominical sacrifices. And through the other doorway, placed on the left side of the aforesaid transverse wall, only the Abbess with her maidens and faithful widows enters, to partake of the banquet of the body and blood of Jesus Christ. And another wall, dividing the floor of the building into two equal parts, extends from the western wall up to the transverse wall across the width. And this church contains in itself many windows, and one ornate door on the right side, 3. of lay men, through which the priests and the faithful people of the male sex enter the church; and another door on the left side, through which the Virgins and the congregation of faithful women are accustomed to enter. 4. of women: And thus, in one very great basilica, a large people in its various orders and degrees and sexes and places, with walls interposed between them, pray in diverse arrangement but with one mind to the almighty Lord.

[38] And when the old leaf of the left-hand door through which St. Brigid used to enter the church had been placed by the craftsmen on its hinges, the door is too short, it could not close the entire door, which had been restored and made new; for a fourth part of the door appeared without closure and standing open. And if a fourth part had been added and joined to the height of the door-leaf, then it could close the entire door, tall and restored. And when the craftsmen were deliberating whether to make another new, larger leaf that would close the entire door, or to make a plank joined to the old leaf so that it might afterwards suffice, the aforesaid master and chief of all the craftsmen of Ireland spoke with prudent counsel: "On this coming night we ought to pray faithfully to the Lord beside St. Brigid, that she herself may provide for us in the morning what we should do in this work." the aid of St. Brigid having been implored by the architect, And so, praying beside the tomb of the glorious Brigid, he spent the night; and rising in the morning, having first offered a prayer, pushing and placing the old leaf on its hinge, he closed the entire door. Nor was anything lacking of its fullness, nor was any superfluous part found in its size. And so Brigid extended that leaf in height it is extended. so that the entire door was closed by it, and no open space is seen in it, except when the leaf is pushed back, to enter the church. And this miracle of the Lord's power is manifestly apparent to the eyes of all who behold that door and its leaf.

[39] And who can express in speech the supreme beauty of this church and the innumerable miracles of the city of which we speak? -- if it is proper to call it a city, since it is not surrounded by any circuit of walls; yet since innumerable peoples dwell together in it, and since a city takes its name from the gathering of many people within it, this is a very great and metropolitan city; in whose suburbs, the city of Kildare, a city of refuge, with its suburbs: which St. Brigid designated with a fixed boundary, no bodily adversary is feared, nor any onslaught of enemies; but it is a most safe city of refuge, with all its external suburbs, in the whole land of the Scots, for all fugitives. In it the treasures of kings are kept, and the most excellent things of the adorned eminence are seen to be there. And who could count the diverse throngs and innumerable peoples flowing together from all the provinces of Ireland? a great concourse of peoples to it. Some indeed come on account of the abundance of feasts, others for the spectacle of the crowds, others on account of cures from their ailments, others gathering with great gifts and offerings for the solemnity of the birthday of St. Brigid: who, falling asleep on the day of the Kalends of the month of February, securely laid down the burden of the flesh and followed the Lamb of God in the heavenly mansions.

[40] ^f I ask pardon of the Brothers who read -- or rather who correct -- these things. Compelled by the duty of obedience, ^g supported by no prerogative of knowledge, Epilogue of the Author. I have run a very little way through the immense sea of the virtues of Blessed Brigid, formidable even to the most skilled men, in these few things uttered in rustic speech, among the greatest and innumerable virtues. Pray for me, ^h Cogitosus, a culpable nephew, and I beseech that by your prayer you commend me to the merciful Lord; and may God, as you pursue the peace of the Gospel, hear you.

LIFE III

By the monk Chilien, published by John Colgan from Italian MSS.

Brigid, Scottish Virgin, in Ireland (Saint)

BHL Number: 1458

By Chilien.

PROLOGUE OF THE AUTHOR.

[1] The homeland of St. Brigid, Scotland, a happy island, In the western limits is described an excellent land, written by the name of Scotland in the ancient books. An island rich in wealth, in gems, in clothing, and in gold: agreeable to bodies in its air, its sun, its soil. Scotland flows with honey and with fair milky plains, with garments and with arms, with crops, with craft, with men. There is no rabies of bears there; nor has the Scottish land ever borne the savage seeds of lions. No poisons harm, nor does a serpent creep in the grass, nor does the chattering frog sing its complaint in the lake. In which the nations of the Scots merit to dwell: a famous race of men, in war, in peace, in faith. From which was born of old the most holy Virgin Brigid -- the glory, the name, the honor of the Scots. A tower reaching to the heights of the fire-bearing sky, an inexhaustible light, the lofty crown of God. A blessed and exulting fount, reforming the hearts of the Scots, she herself refreshes, heals, nourishes, and enlivens them. A ladder prepared for men, lofty for boys and girls, and for holy matrons, it stretches to the stars of heaven. Her father was called by the name Dubthach, a man illustrious in merits, illustrious too from his forebears; noble and humble, gentle, filled with piety, made nobler by his pious offspring than by his own spouse. Many have written the virtues of the nourishing Virgin: noble birth, Ultan the teacher, and Eleran the exulting. Animosus by name composed many books the Life written by many. concerning the life and pursuits and merits of the Virgin. I shall begin from the smallest things; nor shall greater ones fail to follow: but from a meadow full of flowers I shall gather what is fitting. If one, beholding the shining stars of heaven in their order, could know them in their far-wandering course; if one on the shore could distinguish by number the tiny sands which the turbid wave of the sea had scattered upon the lands; this person could duly number the virtues of the maiden, in whom the eternal God Himself had dwelt.

CHAPTER I

Presages of Brigid's holiness: virtues and miracles in her youth; having spurned marriage and received the veil, her virginity is dedicated to God.

[2] For on a certain day, while her mother chanced to be sitting pregnant in a chariot, Her holiness foretold by a seer; not yet having given birth to the girl, and while she held the foaming neck of the snorting horse, her dusty footprints sounded far along the way. A seer had heard the noise of the wheels screeching and said: "Behold, there comes one -- a King presides over the axle." But the Countess alone was driving the carriage.

[3] And the time of birth had come, the hour had arrived, that the mother should bring forth from her womb the holy offspring. A bed was at hand, on which this nourishing mother... She is said to have lain down upon the couch, and ^a a purple flame heralded by heavenly light, covered her with a ray sent from on high, blazing. The mother herself observed the measure and the hour of things; and yet she is said to have kept silence, not knowing what the work of the fire signified, or what presages of truth it had shown there; many times: but she pondered in her silent heart. Often too they perceived a structure of ruddy flames covering the roof and the cradle of the little Brigid.

[4] At this time her nurse lay sick with fevers, and a pestilent fire was ravaging her tender limbs, and disease was disturbing her vital organs. From her parched throat she said (she could scarcely form the words): "Seek beer for me; mead would be a great delight." Brigid was then a young and beautiful girl; she is sent to the villages, she turns water into beer; indeed to seek the liquor, the Virgin of God hastening with one sister accompanying her. A certain man had beer, though he concealed it, and the fool refused to give it to the holy virgins. When they had begun to return home, Brigid caught sight of a spring and filled a cup with its clear waters. For since God is often present with His divine power to His saints -- ^b He who changed cold streams into the waves of heaven -- on account of the Virgin's merit the nature of the waters was changed: by which fevers are driven away; it was turned into cider. The Virgin offered it to the ailing woman. When the woman, unknowing of the wondrous deed, had drunk the draught, then the cold fever departed entirely. Often too, for sick boys and girls at other times into milk, wine, beer: who sought a draught of milk, she would give to the petitioner cold cups from the dew of the spring; but God Himself changed the nature of His waters into the taste of milk, or cider, or perchance wine.

[5] If by chance she beheld beer with her own eyes, she multiplies milk, butter, and beer by her touch: or had touched a little milk or butter, it grew exceedingly -- crowds could not surpass it. As she was to boys, to servants, to girls, so also was this most beautiful Virgin to all the poor with loving piety, and generous to the wretched and to orphans. She showed worthy honors to all men, she never looks upon a man's face: yet she herself had never gazed upon the face of any man.

[6] A shepherd was losing some of her father's sheep, or perhaps some of his swine; but he fell at the feet of the nourishing Virgin. She, moved by pious grief, sought to intercede with her father, [she intercedes for the faults of the shepherd and swineherd, and restores what was lost:] and took care to defend the boys with pious words -- those who were poorly entrusting her father's animals in the forests to thieves and wolves. Then the holy maiden Brigid (wonderful to tell!) would joyfully consign the complete number of the cattle; no one had noticed anything taken.

[7] On a certain day the aforesaid maiden was in pleasant meadows, while she was plucking bright flowers, carrying lilies mixed with roses in a basket. The sky had burst forth turbid with gathered showers; a cold drop sprinkled the virgin's cloak, she hangs her wet garment upon a sunbeam: and the garment hung cold upon her tender neck. Returning home, she had scattered fragrant herbs. The sun revealed its rays with clear light; she looked back with her eyes, the turbid shower had departed, and while the sky glowed red and had sent its rays within -- like a rope it was -- it penetrated the dark roof. The Virgin of God placed her garment upon the serving ray, and the ray bore the wet cloak on its summit. The most holy Virgin had made a pact with Christ, that the empty ray of the sun should bear her garment.

[8] When the Saint was in the middle vault of the temple, praying to the Father with a devout heart, the Virgin keeping a care of piety by the rule of teaching for the poor -- many came with heavy cries, striking the virgin ears with their voices, seeking food alike -- the sober Virgin descended and addressed a boy lame with a contracted knee, unknowingly she heals a lame, mute, and deaf boy: deaf in his ears, who was losing the commerce of voice, of throat, and of tongue by a perpetual disease. The Virgin, unaware of his affliction, brought forth words from her breast: "Run quickly, boy; carry now food to the petitioner." With such words the Saint addressed the seated one. And the manifest power of God accompanied the speech of the Virgin; and the lame, the deaf, the contracted one departed whole, now borne on his own steps; and the threefold disease left the boy as he went. All the people praise Christ through the deed of the Virgin, who heals so many sick with various miracles.

[9] Near to this one was a young man, who by the right of his parents was his sole concern; he was pressing on the ears of the Virgin through himself, through his father, through brothers and sisters, promising to add gifts upon gifts -- gold, purple, weights of silver, garments, the riches of his house, a thousand slaves, estates. The holy Virgin of God despised all the gifts, as the foul dung of the dark earth is trodden underfoot. she rejects marriage, "I have," she said, "a Bridegroom born alone of a Virgin, whose Father never knew a woman's bed, more beautiful than the starry heavens, more exalted than the order of the skies, for the love of Christ: fairer than the angelic minds, higher than the stars; by whose holy fragrance the bonds of death are loosed. He has enclosed precious stones in gold for me; He has placed beautiful ornaments upon my neck; to my ears He has given jeweled gold, a woven robe, a bridal chamber wrought in gold; He has shown me His own rich treasure; He has fitted these pearls to my ears; and with His own ring He has sealed me, to keep my bed chaste for Him alone, from every embrace."

[10] She spoke, and wiped her eyes with a sorrowful countenance. Behold, her brothers address her with unjust words and compel the sad father to betroth the girl. The most holy Virgin prepares to speak words in reply and to keep chaste modesty for the bridal chambers of Christ. [she curses a brother who presses the matter impudently, and procures that his eye be plucked out by an Angel:] Upon hearing such things they began to mock with words; from among the brothers one impious one rose up and struck the handmaiden of Christ as she stood with a devout heart. The perverse one himself lost one eye: ^c leaping from his head, the light mingled with blood flowed down to the earth; an Angel had struck him. The Saint then cursed that wretched brother himself, and declared that his posterity would serve in the future. She spoke, and the brothers began to beseech their sorrowful sister for the lost eye, for the misfortunes of the stricken brother. she restores it: The Virgin was likewise pierced with compunction in her heart, and restored the plucked eye, the broken fragment having been gathered. Water was lacking in the place: by the merits of the Virgin (wonderful to tell!) Christ had given a vein of water, torn from the turf of the earth, she elicits a spring: and restored the friendly light. She washed his head, and bore it in both arms. O Saint of God, to be remembered for long ages, to be venerated through many years! All the peoples offer praises of acclaim to Christ; the young man departed trembling.

[11] she designates another bride for the suitor: But then the Saint of God, bringing forth words from her breast, addressed the young man who was bringing many betrothal gifts: "Look now, young man, at the fortress on the lofty height, placed in former times near a neighboring nation, in which there rightly dwells a prudent man, sprung from proud blood, who wields great power. His only offspring by his chaste wife, a maiden of outstanding form, is the delight of her father. That beautiful girl is prepared for you, young man. Hear these things spoken to you; receive them in your ears. This is for you a chaste house and a fair shoot of lineage too. Believe; depart now -- thus your fortunes shall abide." The young man went on his way, trusting then in the words of the nourishing Virgin: the Virgin beheld the presages of events, foretelling all things with a prophetic mind.

[12] Time and the hour fly; the Virgin was growing in years, giving many signs at Christ's dictation through the years. And since this word had come to the ears of her father -- that his daughter of her own will was serving God and Christ, and that she had despised the harmful joys of the fragile world -- he thereupon arranged to send his own messengers to the Bishop's cell, with the holy maiden accompanying them. As those men were coming, by chance one man met them in the middle of the fields: she receives the veil with seven others; "Bless you," he said. "What do you seek? What do you desire? To what part do you wish to proceed?" "That the Virgin may be consecrated with a devout heart, that she may be wed to God, having taken the sacred veil -- Dubthach himself, the father of the nourishing Virgin, has sent her to the Bishop's house," they all said as one. Such were their words. That traveler answered: "I myself shall be your guide; now behold the temple." Entering together, the Bishop was then standing at the altar.

[14] On a certain day she had come to visit the holy Sisters, and turned aside to a cell in which holy maidens were then blooming with their flower. They received the Saint and prepared alike to serve her. They were prostrating themselves at her feet and pressing kisses upon her hands; they beheld sweet feasts on fair tables. But meanwhile an unclean spirit appeared before her, she sees a demon, rolling its flaming eyes, gnashing its teeth; flames furrowed its hollow throat; leaping with black and twisted legs, it stood there. Holy Brigid of God, questioning the horrible monster: "Why, accursed one, do you pervert with your wiles those whom Christ purchases as servants with His own blood? Why do you disturb the holy places of God? Why, envious one, do you creep through the hearts of the peoples with your ancient poisons? Why, accursed plague, have you entered these houses? Do you wish to set them aflame?" said the most illustrious Virgin. "One Virgin among them consents most often to my doings. She it is who provides me a warm bed in the evening, and upon the virgin couch I lie hidden the whole night long," the infernal angel then said with gaping mouth. All fell silent; for they were unable to see what he was, but the sound of the voice reached the ears of the holy women alike. Then the chief of the Sisters said: "Alas for me! Who speaks? I should wish to see the speaker." Brigid blessed the dulled sight of the Virgin. She saw and was afraid, and wished to hide her face. That maiden of whom we spoke before came trembling, and shows him to the Mother Superior, she who in the warm bed cherished the dark friend, never wishing to visit the temples of the Saints, and the wicked counselor refused to stand steadily in the choirs. and to the Virgin who often cherished him: Then the Saint, severely rebuking the wretched girl: "Why do you provide solitary places for evil spirits? Look now upon him who knows you as his friend. Why are you not ashamed to serve dark figures?" She, trembling, turned her frightened face from the guest: she being corrected, "Alas for wretched me!" she said. "I know not what I shall do." And she fell as a suppliant at the feet of the nourishing Virgin. The Virgin extended her hands to the trembling one, raised her up, and wisely commanded the Virgin to flee the serpent. she puts him to flight: He fled and left behind a putrid stench in the halls; and the virgin chorus gave thanks for the gift. On account of the Virgin's merit they offer frequent praises to Christ.

[15] After time had passed, a venerable Bishop had come to the Saint, hastening through long stretches of road beneath a dim sun; but the path deceived him in the forests. When evening had now fallen, they approached the borders of night: night rushed down, and heavy shadows rolled from the mountains. Hope of a bed fled; there remained the prospect of dwelling in the forests or returning home, and he had nothing to hope for. He brought forth words from his breast to all his companions: "Alas! Murky clouds descend from the dark sky; what shall we do?" he said. "Beseech the holy maiden." Behold, beneath the dark foliage of the forests a fire shone forth, which had scattered clear flames with a fair lamp; and he saw gleaming maidens in snow-white garments at the right of the forests, with a bright light: [she obtains by divine favor light, food, and rest for those wandering in the forests by night:] bearing fiery lamps, they went with great dignity. The elderly Bishop, suddenly marveling at the virgin bands through the pathless ways, spoke more gently: "You who are fire-bearing, you who carry lights by night, and bear trembling flames in your hands in order -- what are you? What does this light intend? Who sent these lamps? Declare it, I adjure you, tender maidens." They all answered: "At the command of our teacher Brigid we have come to you; now for you, come, we prepare a house filled with feasts and fodder for your horses." O manifest power of God! In that very place temples are shown suddenly prepared, and roofed dining halls arise in the wilderness, together with fair banquets. They raise up joyous courses, and prepare tables and wines; they spread the wooden seats with embroidered coverings; now white napkins hang from the fair cross-beams; they mark out the number of beds in due order, so that each bed should have its own master; they adorn sweet feasts in fair halls. And they set great fires in the midst of the buildings. After rest was given to the attendants, in the night the Sisters departed; they left oil for the beds and lights.

[16] For on the following day, while Phoebus illuminates the world with his twelve rays, surveying both the sea and the sky, and had likewise scattered the trembling shadows upon the earth, in the morning they perceive that they are beneath the leafy boughs of trees, and had spent the night on the grassy turf without any roof. They all arose and then saw no buildings there; they multiplied their talk and struck the air with their voices. Nor was it doubtful that Christ, through the merits of the nourishing Virgin, had then sent these great provisions into the wilderness by angelic hands, and had given ministering flames. The Bishop opens the way for his attendants through the pathless forests to the cell of the Virgin; they offer alike praises of acclaim to the Lord, and thanks to Christ for the gift. The Virgin was aware of the miracle; she receives the guests kindly and washes their feet: trained in labor, the Virgin then prepared a worthy lodging for the attendants. After she had duly refreshed the bodies of the saints with food and had sprinkled warm water upon the feet of the Bishop, she set down the Scottish cups on account of their thirst. The Saint then spoke heavenly teachings in her words; then all praised the Lord of heaven with their voices, who always grants many miracles to His saints.

[17] And after the sun, turning its ruddy chariot from the zenith, begins to survey the head of another year, after twelve signs have been completed and the time has passed, the Saint thereupon arranged to visit her own borders. A man was running in great agitation through the fields, she heals a sick woman by her shadow alone: who was carrying his mother on his neck, sick in her legs, who could not with her own hands bring food to her lips; a putrid disease was tormenting her body. The rising sun was giving splendid light to the lands; holy Brigid of God was being carried through the crossroads in her chariot; and he cast his sick mother into the shadow of the Virgin. Wondrous things I tell! They saw the old woman, with her steps made firm, immediately running on her own feet. Without delay or rest, the woman ran through the fields, until she also, prostrate with her whole body at the feet of the Virgin, gave great thanks for the gift.

[18] Another great image of her power shone forth. A dreadful leper had come to the Saint, his cold limbs spattered with black wounds; a most foul leper, scabrous and putrid matter flowed from his decaying flesh; from his ulcerous foot to his towering head, his body was covered, and his inward parts were tormented by venomous fibers, and his foul lips were furrowed by chronic phlegm; his head shone white with horrible scab beneath its covering, and deep sighs likewise wearied his breast. Yet though he was oppressed by this perpetual disease, he burned with avarice and great desire for possessions, and pain crept inwardly through the recesses of his mind. He said to the Saint: but avaricious, "In the name of Christ I wish always to have a cow; if you, holy maiden, are able now to give a milking cow, may your generosity deign to do so, that it may be kept for wretched me hereafter for the use of its milk; and Christ will give you much for so small a gift." She soothed the desirous beggar with pious words: "Dear brother, let us await the gifts of my Christ. For at present no cow is kept for me from the cattle-stall. But since God often bestows much upon the petitioner, wait a little while; receive the cow as she comes, bearing udders foaming with white milk." Then he said: "I wish, if it be your will, to go; I cannot wait now." Then the holy maiden said to the wretched man, flowing with leprosy and vile decay, whose body was covered with sores and wrinkles: "Since you are scaly, with limbs swollen throughout the skin, she heals him: your black inward parts languish greatly with poisons; yet if with nourishing faith you believe in the assistance of Christ, perhaps He will cleanse the contagion of your flesh. But first let us pray for these things with devout mind..."

[19] In a place where there was by right a community of holy Sisters, the Virgin was conveyed thither in a chariot with many maidens; for they constantly besought her in their prayers that she would visit them and bless them all with words and with her right hand. Then the humble people stretched their hands toward the stars, by the water in which her feet had been washed, and sang holy songs with sweet voices, and duly performed their service with a warm bath. One of the Sisters was gravely afflicted at home by hostile fevers; she was burning, feeble in her trembling limbs. "Bring me at once, I adjure you, dear friend, the water in which the feet of the nourishing Virgin were washed; that healing may come to my limbs from the health-giving dew; behold, I wish to be entirely drenched with the holy water." So spoke the sick woman to her companions, while she was near death, anxious, with dry thirst scarcely able to form words with her lips. A woman brought the water, sprinkled it, gave it, and tended her. For the cold drop was able to overcome the hot pestilence; the sick woman is healed: when the blessed water touched her body, it brought relief. She rose to her feet; the Virgin immediately ran. There was no delay or rest, until the venerable maiden came, trained for the service of the Saints, and ready to serve, mingled with her maidens; and she fulfilled the duties commanded along with the other attendants. The common folk in the place began to cry aloud, and filled the air with great and trembling voices.

[20] That Virgin, being asked, came with her maidens to the cell of a certain consecrated Virgin, at the Paschal season, to celebrate the feasts. The Lord's Supper was at hand, on which the Saint was accustomed to fulfill the mandate of Christ with a warm bath and to tend the limbs of the wretched with her own hands. Four Sisters, alas, on the day of the Lord's Supper she washes the sick, the wretched ones, had been besieged by great languor and various perpetual diseases: one was leprous, afflicted throughout her entire body; the limbs of another wretched one were held by paralysis; a third was blind and could have no light; an unclean spirit had publicly invaded the fourth. One house was theirs; no one wished to converse with such sick persons, nor would anyone join them. The Virgin wished to tend the limbs of the wretched women with warm waters and to wash their bodies of filth. Yet this she could not do; a stubborn will persisted: each one demanded that separate vessels be prepared for her; one refused to be drenched in the bath of another. Behold, evil lepers are accustomed always to have foolish aversions. The most holy Virgin said: "I shall fulfill all that you seek for yourselves, provided only the concord of your peace remain." So she spoke, Brigid comforting the sick with pious words -- those prostrated in body by powerful diseases. The paralytic was drawn from her bed first to be washed; she cried out with loud voices in exceeding pain: "Alas for me! Who will restore health worthy of my disease, when the limbs of my sinews and sides are thus unstrung, and will grant that I may visit that holy temple on my own feet? and by washing heals the paralytic; May the mercy of Christ bestow it!" Such were her words; she was immersed in warm waters. The Virgin then gently washed the wretched woman with a sparing hand, and more tenderly supported her body in both arms, and rubbed the torpid limbs with her holy hands. The miracle occurs: the contracted woman suddenly felt that she possessed a lively vigor; gradually the sensible body received the gratuitous health of its limbs; rising and with her steps made firm, the woman walked, and paid worthy thanks to the Lord.

[21] The three other wretched women, after they had seen the miserable one healed before the eyes of the Virgin and moving of her own accord, cried out together: "For us, most holy Virgin, if your holy hand should pass over our limbs in the bath, you will be able to confer the health of both body and soul." With these voices they all struck the ears of the Virgin. She, filled with God, washed these three with water, one after another, and the fourth also: thus in the same vessel the Virgin accomplished the work then the blind woman, by the gift of piety. Peace came to the sick, and the great power of healing. The fury of diseases was shaken off from all the maidens. The blind one was washed in the waters; the leper, she departed with opened eyes. The dreadful leprosy fled when she was sprinkled with the trembling waters. The unclean spirit at last released the one he possessed. the demoniac: Wondrous things I tell! The four wretched sick women were all healed at once by the merit of a single Virgin.

CHAPTER III

Harshness of Temper Gently Repressed.

[22] In those times a certain man, following the precepts, left behind his sweet countryside with its various dwellings. He, pricked by the fear of God, was making his way as a Teacher, laden, with his attendants through rough terrain, seeking a deserted place and the solitudes of the wilderness. These men suddenly turned aside to a cell of the Virgin. The Saint was dwelling there with her holy maidens at the time when the aforesaid priest arrived. It was the custom among the holy men of old that wherever there was a woman, they would pass by the place, and no one wished to behold a woman's countenance: these words they spoke among themselves. For this reason they were unwilling to see the Blessed one. They laid down the burdens hanging from their necks and took counsel to rest their limbs a little. Afterwards (rest having been taken) they went on in the daylight, until the sun hid its bright eyes with a dark veil the hermit's lost baggage she preserves by the power of God, and trembling shadows descended from the mountains. They had therefore left the houses of the holy Sisters on account of this scruple; and forgetfulness touched their minds: the Brothers had forgotten their own burdens. Utterly confused, they returned after their loss; the forgetful companions searched for signs of their possessions, yet found them not. At length they came sorrowfully to the cell of the nourishing Virgin; but joy filled their hearts, for the Virgin suddenly showed them everything that had been lost. Christ (wonderful to tell!), on account of the Virgin's merit, had been keeping safe all the men's burdens. and restores them: Then alike rejoicing -- Brigid and the Brothers -- they discussed the sweet gifts of everlasting life.

[23] For there was an island amid the waves, to which, if he wished, the priest could travel and dwell there even until the day of his death. Now the third day had scattered the dark shadows from the hills, and the Father himself said: "From you now, holy maiden, we seek help; we all earnestly beg -- whither shall I, a pilgrim, direct my steps? Where can I turn? Give the aid of your piety; have mercy on our labor. If you can, it would be needful for you to furnish us horses, so that the heavy burden may be loosed from our laden shoulders; she obtains horses by divine power to carry the baggage, lead us safe to the nearest shores of the sea." Filled with God, the holy maiden replied: "Behold, I will accompany you; Christ will provide prosperity and will free the laden attendants as they go." They set out together; a manifest miracle is seen. Behold, through the dark forests along a rustic path, a course of horses is at once perceived from the wilderness. Holy Brigid of God brought forth words from her breast: "Believe me, Christ will have mercy on those attendants. Your burden, which greatly wearies you here, let it be placed upon the horses; then you can go more lightly." They went thence a distance; the blessed maiden, seeing the shores nearby, said: "Unload the weight of your possessions; it will not be right to keep the horses further; which, when released, vanished: Christ gave them to me for this hour on your account. Before this no one had seen them in those parts, and afterwards (wondrous to tell!) they were never seen at any time."

[24] The pious priest came all the way to the port of the sea, crossed by ship; the island, once seen, pleased him, and he wished to dwell there. Yet a farmer stood in his face: "These are my fields; depart." The fool had spoken these words with a hardened heart. she counsels a rustic in vain not to drive the hermit from the island: The Saint had already begun to ask the man with her words to grant a small portion of his field to Christ. The evil farmer despised the words of the Virgin; with his ears blocked, he did not wish to hear these things, holding his swollen neck with a hardened breast. "I can give no portion here (I have told you); go, take your road; there is no need to scatter words further" -- and he turned his back -- "Go," he said. The Virgin of God turned her eyes with a sorrowful countenance, pondering these things quietly in her heart for a little while. Behold, beneath the vault of heaven, the prison of the winds being broken, she obtains that he be carried unharmed across the sea by the wind; they disturbed the realm of Neptune with a great blast. That evil Aeolus loosed, and did not restrain, his reins; over sea and land the tireless East Wind made its leap; behold, it wraps around the man, snatches him whole aloft -- as when Zephyr scatters the clouds swiftly from on high; no otherwise is a falcon released with loosened reins, when from the high cliffs he has spotted his prey -- the falcon flees, then beats the clear sky with his wings, scarcely caught by the eyes, he seizes the prey with his talons. So the high wind lifted and cast the wretched man through the air; and across the opposing strait of the sea it drove him, set him down afterwards upon the shore, and upon the highest mountains beyond. With his body shattered, scarcely a breath remained in his heart; with his inward parts in turmoil, sighs beat upon his breast. "Alas for wretched me now!" he said (he could scarcely form words). "What was that madness? What derangement of mind? I shall not be able to resist the words of the holy Virgin."

[25] For another matter was the cause of great grief to him. His only care was his son, whom his parents had loved exceedingly by natural right; when the boy was alone in the field, she causes the boy to be returned unharmed from a vulture, likewise safely: the little one fell asleep beneath the burning sun. Alas, it was an evil sleep! Retribution had struck the father and had not left his inward parts at peace. A wicked sea-vulture saw the boy at once and hurled its weapons at the little one, transfixed him with greedy talons; the boy hung from his garment. It carried the wretched child to the rocky cliffs of the shore. Why do I delay? God Himself is present with His divine power to His saints. He restored the boy to his father, sound and well in body. The entire island was given; the priest greatly rejoiced; he spread bright joy throughout the whole land. Brigid, the Virgin of God, proclaimed aloud her words of praise, that they might publicly offer a thousand thanks to Christ.

[26] There was once a seller whom a vain desire had twisted, so that he gave a stone wrapped in cloth to the Saint, for the stone present had falsely mimicked the form of salt. But God Himself, who knew the guilt of the wicked fraud, changed the nature of it into salt itself. All the profit the wicked man had hoped to gain by selling to the peoples, the stone, once discovered, then lost. The fool with a hardened heart had given the stone to the virgins; she changes stone into salt, salt into stones: Christ formed it for the use of salt. The salt became stone for the punishment of his crime. Holy Brigid of God (wonderful to tell!) turned all the hardness of stone into the use and taste of biting salt, and the stone provided flavor. Whence the priests, matrons, and crowd of men rightly praise the innumerable virtues of the maiden and likewise pay their vows to the Lord, the Thunderer.

CHAPTER IV

Consolations for the Needy, the Accused, and the Sick.

[27] A poor man had come, turning aside to the house of the nourishing Virgin, sustaining this needy life by the hour; stripped of all his possessions and also his clothing, he addressed the holy maiden, crying out in this voice: "Holy Brigid of God, if it is right for you to help me, restore my limbs with drink, with clothing, with food, in your mercy." Holy Brigid comforted the wretched man who was crying out with gentle words, and spoke from the bowels of piety: "Behold, I duly bestow upon you with a devout heart a garment: see, if you wish to take away a cow, the best among the cows shall now be given to you; and moreover you shall carry my cloak to keep." to a pauper asking for alms So spoke the Virgin. The pauper replied thus: "I cannot now take your gifts with me. I hasten naked to my homeland; dangers lie on every side; the road is difficult; robbers surround me on all sides. Have mercy; you can, in the name of Christ, I adjure you." And she said: "I will." The Virgin was pricked with compassion in her heart. From her virgin body the Saint removed the thread with which the Virgin was accustomed to gird her sides: "The gifts we give you now are small -- the very girdle with which we are bound -- yet great; Christ will provide joys. Receive now, Brother, the pledge of our love. Through me God had worked great signs of miracles for the people she gives her girdle, in our borders of Kildare. by which miracles had previously been wrought; Every kind of disease by which the frail race of humanity is now greatly held, or through which corruption creeps, every form of evil -- this girdle will be able to drive away a thousand afflictions; no wasting disease will be able to resist it. Let a thousand contagions creep upon the bodies of men -- it will strike them down on every side. Should their limbs lose their vigor, it will restore it, nor will anyone need to seek a physician's care. My friend, who loved me, granted this: when I deigned to touch the limbs of the suffering with my hands, Christ provided rich help to the wretched; all evil fled, and the laws of health prevailed. In the same way (believe me) if you wash these threads of mine in life-giving waters and give them to one in whom sickness dwells, I believe, with God's favor, the strife of diseases will depart, the envious cause of evil, and every present pain will go away." So spoke the Saint of God, weeping for love of the Virgin's piety and of Christ; the innermost recesses of her heart burned with the dew of fear; within, the heart was wounded with the wound of love.

[28] Therefore the poor man, carrying no small gifts of the Bride of God, set out, and the pauper joyfully directed his course all the way to his homeland. He lived for many years afterwards, and bestowed many gifts of healing upon the peoples. he too, dipping them in water, works many miracles: No harsh force of evil disease could harm -- no defect of the eyes or the head, none of the ears, teeth, or tongue, gums, or narrow throat; neither cholera nor fever nor wounds by iron impeded; black ulcers burned, moisture on stinking limbs, phlegm, or malignant blood ready to break bones -- no sickness could prevail, no force of disease could resist the waters in which the threads of the nourishing Virgin had been dipped. Why do I delay? The thread wiped away every evil, with the poor man carrying it to his homeland; it conquered all by its remedy. And that man was never poor in those times: he surpassed his elders in rich treasure, heaping up the spoils and servants of many as his wealth. He was rich in means as long as he lived through his many years; thence the fame of the Virgin was spread throughout that land.

[29] At the time when the year is adorned with fair garments, when every field brings forth bright herbs with flowers, and the fruitful tree is clothed in green leaves, and the swift rains are not sifted through the lofty clouds, nor do turbid streams break through their dry banks, but all things were blooming afresh in the summertime, and honey descended from the clear breast of the air, and white lilies grew amid the roses in the meadows -- at this time the Virgin, accompanied by her holy maidens, mounted her chariot and was borne behind the backs of the horses. The nourishing Patrick once held a council, to which Bishops went from many cities; and the Saint went with them together with her maidens. At the season when the ruddy sun surveys the burning stars of the Twins and the boundaries of Cancer blaze, when heat falls upon the earth and the fiery sun burns in the stars, while she was making her journey she beheld wretched ones going -- orphaned and crippled; then in the midst of the heats they all cried out to the carriages with weary voices: the blind and the lame, "O merciful Virgin of God, have pity on our pain." When that voice struck the ears of the holy Virgin, she heard and halted and remained there in compassion. She spent the night keeping vigil and praying much; after vigils and prayers, and early on the new morning, as the nocturnal nectar of the sun filled her palms, she washed the eyes of the blind, and bathed the lurid limbs of the lame with pure waters. Behold, healing distilled from the hands of the Virgin, hostile to diseases: she heals those washed with the dew: thereupon the light of the blind was restored to their closed eyes, and the steps of the lame were repaired by the law of health. They leaped up, took to the road, abandoning their carriages; they outdistanced their companions, whom they had prepared to outrun. The blind man himself saw; the lame man was swifter than the East Wind. They rejoiced together; they took care to pay worthy thanks; they raised their eyes and hands with their voices. She spoke words of salvation to them with pious admonitions.

[30] Thence, accompanied by her holy maidens, she continues the journey she had begun, directing the peaceful course of the horses. The sun turned its eyes, entered the dark inner chamber of night's bedroom, and closed the opening behind him; he hid his bright head beneath dyed coverings. And thence came sweet rest; while her companions sleep in a meadow at night, she keeps vigil: a sleep sweeter still oppressed the Sisters, who had gathered for themselves tender herbs with flowers; they began together to soothe their bright eyes. But Brigid kept vigil through the whole night. They slept indeed, until the golden sun, risen, surveyed the sky with light from its twelve rays and showed its ruddy face to all on every horizon. They all arose together along the open roads. Thence again, hastening with straight steps, they went to the bank of a certain river called ^a Bann. Not far from the waters of the river, in a green meadow, the maidens are said to have seen, trembling, a lone man, beside whom they placed their herds, that he might spare the people; they mingled joy with weeping. Then the journey was resumed by the holy maidens in their customary manner. ... She, filled with God, went with many accompanying her.

[31] There was in the King's hall a vessel of many colors; he marveled at the workmanship, the celebrated piece of the ancients: many cups together, wrought of seven metals; the gold-colored glass gleamed with blended amber. The mingling of the cups was hidden, the King's glass goblet, broken, but the ductile work scattered sparkling lights amid the bright gems, and the flame of its luster struck the eyes of the beholder; for these were cups of ancient manufacture. With such goblets the kings of old were accustomed to adorn sweet feasts among the peoples, in the ancient fashion -- delightful indeed, but of a very fragile form. On a certain day, while the King reclined in purple, the servants ran about, while they placed the courses upon the tables; as the attendants duly set out every kind of drink, they placed beside them a vessel of wondrous form. A certain foolish commoner had then come to be present; admiring the workmanship, he chanced to hold the cup. It slipped upon the table suddenly; fallen from on high (alas!) it fell, and with the fragments scattered among the fair gems, it was shattered, and the napkins gleamed with tiny shards. The table was sprinkled with the ruddy metals of the cups. The servants were long astounded at what had been done. The King had been in good cheer, but the breaking of the cup tormented him. He ordered (alas!) the wretched man to be shamefully bound by harsh chains about his neck, with his hands tightly twisted behind his back, and to be thrust down into the depths of a dark prison, until he should restore such a vessel, cast and fashioned.

[32] A venerable Bishop had come to the King for the purpose of presenting or pleading his own causes. when the Bishop had pleaded in vain for the one who had broken it, He then publicly heard of the loss of the broken cup and of the wretched young man bound in prison for his fault. Moved by piety, he wished to ask the King to pardon with a gracious heart, freely in the name of Christ, this harm which the fool had done. The King said: "I will not spare him -- I swear by this right hand, believe me. The very man who broke that precious cup, I will say that he shall be afflicted with various torments: either to be gnawed by rabid dogs, or fixed to a gibbet, or given as food to wild beasts; that criminal shall be given to burn in hot fires, or to be plunged beneath the flames, or with his head severed, and let his body be kept as food for the birds. Either he restores the cup, or let him know he is to lose his life -- without a doubt. And do not put further words to me." The Bishop answered again to this: "Let him be yours; if you at least allow me to carry the fragments of the cup to the cell, to be brought to the holy maidens -- this I wish." And since he desired it, the King yielded the fragments of the vessel; yet the Bishop was thereupon stricken with the grief of his heart. Hastening toward the cell of the Saint, he turned his reins; the Bishop, relating in order all that had happened, reported to the virgins of Christ and heaved deep sighs. Holy Brigid of God, with tears... She spoke: "(Alas!) great is the suffering of the flesh that is inflicted upon the wretched man." She grieved deeply with a mother's piety. And the Bishop, again repeating the account of events in order, she beautifully restores it whole, had spoken, and unfolded the fragments of the cup before the eyes of the Virgin; these he had scattered and left there. She, clasping in her pious hands the thousand fragments of that cup which the madman had shattered from its height (for the breaking of one part had dragged along the other part), fixed them as they had been, placed and set all things in order, holding each one, and joined one to one. Why do I delay? From these sharp fragments she formed the cup; the fair vessel, duly wrapped in a purple cloth, she more worthily delivered into the hands of the Bishop. The Bishop came to the King, carrying the cups in his hands -- and the vessels of one cup are said to be seven, for seven cups rose from a single base. The King gave a thousand thanks for the gift: and frees the accused: the wretched man was released; after his guilt, full grace was restored; and thenceforth Christ was the more believed to have been present in the Virgin and to have wrought such signs. A single voice rang out together, and the cry of the people ascended to the stars: "O pious Virgin of God!" they cried. "The grace of Christ!" The whole region extolled the virtues of the Virgin.

CHAPTER V

Command over Beasts and Trees. The Efficacy of the Sign of the Cross.

[33] The woman dear to God, the most holy Bride of Christ, Brigid, who left behind signs of miracles for the peoples -- she calls birds and beasts to herself: every swift species, whatever of wild animals is born in the dark forests, or whatever of birds flies, carried aloft on wings by the East Wind through the clear air -- all things came at her voice or her nod. She would handle them with her gentle hands whenever she wished, and they often willingly performed their service to her. The fury of diseases she put to flight with a simple word.

[34] One woman lamented with a severe pain of the belly (cold dropsy had seized her diseased organs) carrying her bowels full; a foul humor was growing; alas, her belly bore such an evil burden. For the livid vital parts of the wretched woman swelled badly with black poison; only a voice sounded from her throat: "Alas, what shall I do? I can do nothing, near to death. Now, behold, the day has come -- what profit is it to live in torments?" So she spoke, and fell at the feet of the Saint, declaring with her mouth: "O Blessed one, even before your mother bore you! O merciful Virgin of God, hear now with your ears the words of a wretched one who begs you; warm my torpid limbs. I truly believe that by your prayers I shall receive the perfect health of my limbs, she heals a woman with dropsy by the sign of the Cross: of body and soul, if you constantly beseech Christ." She spoke, and stretching forth both hands with tears, she writhed with her whole body before the eyes of the Virgin. The Virgin then beheld the wretched woman rolling her limbs in the dust, stretched out upon the ground, weeping with her body laid crosswise, having swollen sores and the disease of the belly, and that sad one often calling upon Christ for herself, and holding the feet and garment of the Saint at her head -- she looked upon her, grieved, touched her, and raised her with her right hand; she lifted her up, and imprinted upon her the sign of the holy Cross with her consecrated thumb, blessed her with words, and anointed her. Wondrous things I tell! Suddenly the woman obtained the perfect health of her limbs: no otherwise than when, at the rising of the sun, the shadow -- in the new morning the sun shows its ruddy face on the horizon -- the dark shadow of the trembling night (as we have said) flees; so all evil had fled, with the fountain of health poured forth. The grace of Christ distilled from the hands of the Virgin.

[35] Many miracles from the smallest occasions did Brigid, the Virgin of God, perform; these things she accomplished by words and by deeds. At the time when the forest bears its arboreal fruit, when in the laden autumn the year brings forth its crops, the field blooms with ears of grain and the vine with sweet grapes, and fruits are seen hanging from the branches of the trees -- a certain woman had apple-bearing trees and plum trees, for she was a useful cultivator of her own garden. [she punishes with barrenness the tree of a woman who refused to let the apples she had brought be given to the poor:] Suddenly, with a basket hanging from her right hand, she had come to the cell, carrying ripe apples, and she gave the fruit of her labor to the virgins of God. Holy Brigid of God immediately said that the apples she had received should be given to the poor, as she often used to do. When the old woman heard such words spoken -- she who had previously brought the gifts of apples freely -- she was distressed, confounded by excessive grief of heart, for she thought herself scorned by the Saints. Therefore, impatient, she blazed forth in great anger, took back the fruitless gifts, and violently snatched them from those poor of Christ. The greedy woman did a shameful thing, and spoke, hurling reproaches with swollen words: "When I was bringing you gifts of health, Virgin of God, why did you, with the giver despised, hastily give these things to others?" Another woman was giving large apples with plums; then the holy maiden bestowed these upon the poor, and blessed her and promised the rewards of the deed: "In the present time, flourishing, and in the future springtime, this fruit-bearing tree shall bear for you very many apples, and shall never be barren but a fruitful tree." So she spoke she rewards the other with the fertility of hers and dismissed the old woman with a glad heart. The malicious one stood with her neck hardened in her crime -- the shameless one who had snatched the apples from the wretched orphans. She said to the fool who had then taken back the gifts previously received by the poor and left the sad needy ones: "Depart now, fool, and are you not ashamed to be proud? In your orchard, which you see full in the garden, you shall find no apple hanging from the tree. Nor shall there ever be worthy fruit for you, as there was before." It befell both of them as she who knew the truth had said.

[36] Not long after these events, Brigid traveled again through the crossroads by chariot, amid many crowds, with her great retinue surrounding her on every side, publicly passing through the open fields, accompanied by her holy maidens. While the most holy Virgin was making her direct journey, a crowd of people on foot came to meet them -- mothers with children, young men with sick mothers, with weary fathers who could scarcely set down their steps, for a heavier burden hung from their wretched necks, and their laden bodies were sweating excessively in the heat. And when the careful charioteer pulled the reins aside in that place, lest any of the horses injure or trample the wretched ones, and then turning, drove the horses onward again more directly, she gives horses to the burdened and weary: the weary, wretched people, when they saw the chariot, stopped and cried out: "O exceedingly blessed is he who is carried on the backs of horses, and who could now proceed with the aid of horses alone!" They spoke these things together; the holy maiden was pierced with compassion. Thereupon, filled with God, weeping with murmuring voice, she ordered the horses with the chariot to be stopped at once on the road and to be given to the poor for carrying and conveying them. The charioteer's will was not readily inclined to this; yet he was overcome by the great piety of the maiden. The burdened people then took the horses of the Virgin, the charioteer, the chariot, and the garments; the Sisters, the diverse crowd, the people, and the Brothers followed.

[37] In the summertime, dry thirst had gripped the parched fields; Brigid (and there was no river water for drinking) -- beneath the burning sun the company of the Sisters went forth. One, more prudent than the rest, came to the Saint, murmuring: "Behold, there is hunger; no drink, no fragments of food does the company have; what could one find in the open fields? she draws a spring from the earth: What shall we do?" she said. "Or what do you wish to say?" "With your staffs," she said, "in this very place now go, men, dig the earth, cast it aside a little: that spring shall be mine. My Bridegroom is the author of waters; the hard rock will pour back rivers at the Lord's cleansing. Was it not once cut from the point of the rod? With five loaves He satisfied many thousands here. Christ has chosen that a spring shall now be found in this wilderness; it shall be a cold spring with swift streams," she said. Behold, the liquid flows forth; it suddenly bursts into a stream. The people go and eagerly drink from the clear spring.

[38] There was a public road; beside it the Saint was sitting. Suddenly, behold, a Duke came with a great accompanying troop -- of infantry and cavalry, and with many common soldiers, with chariots and broken-in frolicsome horses -- and he inquired of the crowd sitting in the countryside. And when he learned that the holy maiden was seated there, he drew up his chariot, hastening, and descended to her. He addressed her courteously and joined these words in greeting: "O merciful Virgin of God, what does your presence in these parts signify? Where do you wish to go? I see a chariot here; where are your horses? she renders untamed horses given her by the Duke tame: Have you given them to afflicted widows, or perhaps to lepers? Accept, holy Virgin, my better horses. Here I have young ones which no one could harness, untamed, to a chariot -- strong and very proud. If they now become gentle for you, keep them forever; but thus tamed, they are given entirely for your use." He spoke these words to the one sitting there. "I rejoice, behold, in God," the holy maiden replied, "for a gratuitous gift." She then ordered the charioteer to hold the reins of the horses in his hand and simply to show them a little. And when the charioteer held those reins in his right hand, behold, the swift horses leaped lightly (wonderful to tell!) with joy, and together from the field, until the young man with a gentle hand held them and placed their mild necks under the yokes to be borne and carried, and, placed under the chariot, they went more slowly -- like lambs or humble sheep, and did not move their limbs. Moreover, the people marveled at the spring running from the torn turf; they drank from the clear dew. The Duke had brought with him diverse courses of food; the whole crowd dined together, and fragments of food remained. A confused voice rang out; the crowd struck the air with praises; and one people parted from another in peace.

[39] In the signs of another sun the boundaries run, with all the moments and minutes having passed; the sun leaps along the celestial track and begins the hour. Holy Brigid was then standing with her maidens alone; they prayed together, beseeching Christ for themselves with their voices. a fat cow designated for her, A certain noble man was sick, for in his body his organs burned with a hot fever. The wealthy sick man had possessions that he might lose -- an abundance of gold and silver, weights of many things, rags, goads, cattle, and great fields. Of what use are all these joys of the present world to the wretched, when placed at the threshold of death? He, loving his own health, as the pain increased, said to his servants: "Send such a cow, the better one, to the virgins of Christ, to be kept forever." But the wretched servants were unwilling to lose this one. Another, which was poorer, in the patron's absence, but exchanged by the servants for a lean one, was sent, and the devices of malicious fraud shone forth. For on the following night a very great miracle of Christ was done: a sign, a great one, appeared to the perverse. Behold, suddenly seven evil wolves, for the crime of fraud, killed the cow of which we spoke before (wondrous things I tell, trembling as I narrate these miracles!). In the new morning, when the sun looked with its ruddy eyes upon the hollows of the earth, the mountains, the estates, and the forests, and the fleeting shadow hid, and the darkness was overcome by light, and the bright day had dawned, and the shepherd revisited the herds, he found in the middle of the field she causes the seven killer wolves to die: seven great bodies of swift wolves, suddenly struck down; and at the same time in the morning he suddenly beheld the same cow, lifeless from the beasts; he saw the cruel wounds which the evil wolves alone had inflicted, yet they did not presume to consume the flesh. They lay around the prey on every side; their livid mouths hung with bared teeth. This miracle is to be remembered for a long time in those parts: by the death of one cow of the Virgin, seven wolves were slain.

CHAPTER VI

The Property of Those Who Devote Themselves to Piety is Preserved. The Quarrelsome Are Reconciled.

[40] While a certain cell of another Virgin, noble (so it is said) and called by an illustrious name, was nearby and built in its own fashion after the ancient manner, robbers leaped in, entered by night, and seized the opportunity to drive out the oxen found there more than once; either by breaking through walls, they carried the spoils of the farmers on their shoulders and betook themselves to the forests. Whatever the evil thieves could do, they did, stealing together in the dark time of night. oxen driven off by night They turned aside to the bank of the river called the Liffey, and wished to cross the ford of the shallow stream. But then, on account of the Virgin's merit, the river was rising to the tall alders. They stood, and the burden hung from the wretched man's neck; an anxious care for the oxen gnawed at the hearts of the men; yet the men could not cross the ford on foot. Along the banks of the river they wandered for longer nocturnal hours. At length they took a belated counsel; their naked bodies were exposed; they all stripped off their garments, and gathering together, with a taut rope tied, they placed the spoil of the oxen (which we mentioned before) [by a mysterious power, she wards off from them by means of the river, which suddenly swelled, the crossing,] spread upon their horns, and drove them into the waves of the river. Holy Brigid of God, mindful of what she had promised to the maidens, sensed the losses of the house and was standing present on the bank. The river's waters prepared a battle against the cattle; immediately the men themselves, when they had followed behind, amid the waves, with outstretched arms, their shoulders bare, their hair streaming over their backs -- then you would see through the waves many barbarian fleeces floating; their beaten hides, marked with black knots, they carried on the horns and hooves of the oxen. As when the wave of the sea, with its highest billows, raises itself aloft to the heavens and licks the gleaming stars, and the whole earth trembles, about to fall in sudden ruin, when it crashes, and with the wind snatched into the foaming streams it covers the wide shores, scatters wreckage, stones, and timber -- no differently the cattle rushed upon the robbers; they sought the nearest shore, leaving the rebels behind. They carried their clothing and came at close quarters. the naked thieves pursuing them: At length, here and there, the thieves with bared chests wore out the oxen through mountains, valleys, forests, and fields. No differently a hunter with his bow, in the lofty thickets, with rabid hounds pursues the tracks of a stag; the stag slips away, outstrips the light breezes in its course. Without delay or rest, until it hides itself in the lofty thickets, it is caught neither by dogs nor by any nets. Not differently, therefore, the oxen left the robbers behind them -- stripped of their garments and weapons -- and sought the buildings where a great crowd and common people stood, celebrating the sacred rites at the cell of the Virgin. The nourishing day had come; now Phoebus had wiped away the shadows of night; from the vault of heaven he beheld such things and laughed to see the oxen running in the morning and the naked robbers, and the entire spoil having returned at close quarters to the farmers.

[41] When there was another maiden from the neighboring parts, she had come to the Saint for a similar reason, for she wished to hold in her attentive ears and with an equal heart the sweet words of her dear teacher. That maiden indeed loved the Sisters exceedingly. She said: she preserves the cows and the house of a maiden keeping vigil with her: "Would that I might stay with you this night!" She had left her own dwelling with no guardians, the cows and calves scattered and wandering through the fields, except for a wretched man whom an old disease had bent to his bed and a more severe and prolonged old age; and it was not right for him to guard the household, nor did he have any care for the property. The Saint said: "With God watching, you can rightly remain this night, maiden; do not fear to lose anything of your goods; Christ guards your roof." She stayed. On the morrow she set out again to see her home directly. O memorable power of God! O great might! There was no night there; so that not even night was perceived: always the presence of the sun -- it had been a long day of twenty-four hours. That maiden found the old man sitting alone at home, and the calves with the cows feeding contentedly together in the fields; nor had the calves yet suckled -- they forgot to seek the taste of their mothers' milk in so great a span of time. Wonderful to tell! It was a dark night where the maiden had stayed; a bright day was perceived by the calves beneath the gleaming sun.

[42] On a certain day, as the occasion demanded, Holy Brigid of God was going, accompanied by many maidens; a very great throng of diverse sexes followed, and likewise very proud lepers accompanied her, all of whom she tended with a mother's own piety. Two lepers of perverse mind were thus stirred; they quarreled indeed with all their strength, stretched out their hands, and tore at each other's hair. And as the first raised his right hand and struck the one walking, the other, turning swiftly, returned the blow the better; the hands of the lepers, which had been raised to strike, became rigid, they contended fiercely on both sides with outstretched arms, cutting each other's faces with hard blows. When she saw this, she restrained them with pious words. Wondrous things I tell! The first, who had struck his brother before, could not again extend his curved right hand. The other, no less quickly, raised his right hand to heaven to return, if he could, an equally strong blow; yet he could not strike his brother as he wished. That hand, stretched out toward the stars, became rigid once more; he could by no art bend back his suspended right hand. The hands of the lepers stiffened; they could do nothing, until the holy Virgin of God came to the aid of the two. She spoke: "O wretched men, you are brothers, purchased with the precious blood of Christ; put aside your quarrel, she heals them and repent the evil you have just done. It offends Christ exceedingly; resume holy peace." They promised together to commit no further fault; the right hands were loosed, and their limbs returned to health. Reconciled once more, they followed the Saint as she went, and gave great thanks to Christ for the gift.

[43] There was a nearby cell built in those parts for holy Virgins who were related by blood, adorned with worthy character and chaste in body. The Sisters came together with devout minds, she gives her chariot and horses to proud lepers: earnestly beseeching the Saint with humble prayers that she deign to come and bless their dwelling and whatever was in those buildings. The Virgin of Christ kindly consented to the maidens; she mounted her chariot and was carried through the broad crossroads. A man came hastening to meet them and said: "Have peace; greetings, maidens. I myself am a messenger; I announce to you the truth: that your uncle now lies sick," he said. "The very last moments of his life have now come. Send your chariot (for he will come) and your horses." They excused themselves, saying they had none prepared. "Take and carry mine," Brigid replied. The chariot was thereupon sent to the needy man, as she had said. He who was near his end was brought at once and laid down more gently on the grassy turf. Then there came lepers, swollen with their hides like goats, who struck the ears of the Virgin together with their reproachful voices, querulously demanding the chariot and its horses. The word of the Virgins was contrary to them: "If the chariot be given to you, how can we carry our sick man home?" the sad maidens said. The lepers responded together with a great outcry: "We shall go, ungrateful ones; we shall never seek anything of yours." O work of piety! So great and wondrous a will! The heart and breast of the Virgin burned with the love of Christ: she granted the chariot to the greedy lepers to keep, and bestowed upon them the horses with a devout mind. she heals the sick man: Wondrous things I tell! At once the sick man of whom we have already spoken is healed; he feels nothing of disease, nothing of pain. He proclaims the praises of Christ with extraordinary lauds: "O God most high, King of kings, supreme power, Creator enthroned on high, of earth, sea, air, and fire -- let the angelic host, the throng of men, and the multitude of beasts alike praise You; we sing praises to You; we venerate You." So he spoke, and then followed the maidens on foot.

[44] In those times a certain man, whose wife hated him, came to the Saint and sought holy water, which the merciful Virgin bestowed upon him, sanctified. The foolish woman cruelly despised her husband, hated him exceedingly, and denied the fellowship of the house; a wife estranged from her husband, for noxious aversions disturbed the wretched woman's mind. She thereupon quickly sent a priest to sprinkle the clear waters which the merciful Virgin had previously blessed with her own mouth; and then, in the presence of the husband, he sprinkled them upon the rooms, the beds, the doors, and the tables of food. And afterwards the priest himself came to the house. The woman thenceforth loved her own husband she recalls to love by blessed water with exceeding love, and never afterwards left him. Before dawn the husband happened to rise, and crossed the nearby strait by boat, driven alone by his love of salt, and labored in the briny waves. But his wife remained at home, weighed down by sleep; she did not know where or when her husband had departed. She rose suddenly; through the roads, the nearby places, the villages, a constant and almost immoderate love: the rather wide crossroads, the woman also ran about, and followed the footsteps of the one going, all the way to the shores of the sea. When she raised her head and eyes, the foolish woman saw her husband beyond, standing alone on the shore. The seething shallows of the sea, with the south winds blowing, and the waves of the river's floods, together with the lofty mountains, raised rippling lashes of foam; they dashed upon the high banks and submerged the rocks, confused the air, and touched the gleaming stars. The fire of love was vehement; it consumed the little breast of that wife, and madness twisted her mind; more and more the poison grew through her inward parts. If one man on the nearest boat had not been close enough to rescue her from the waves as she was about to perish, and to seize the wretched woman with his hands as she was sinking into the deep, she would have proceeded directly to her death amid those waves. Such was the strong love that prevailed between the two in peace; the sweet affection of wife and husband endured always until the day of death. Wonderful to tell! This miracle is reported as known to many peoples; on account of the Virgin's merit, Christ confirmed their love.

CHAPTER VII

Generosity Lavished upon the Needy, Divinely Rewarded. A Chariot Preserved from a Fall on the Journey.

[45] In those times a great crowd approached with murmuring, eager to celebrate the sacred solemnities of the saints' feast. And then holy Brigid of God, in need of things to give, chanced to see them coming; she said to her companions, compassionate with love of piety: "I would, if I could, wish to feed these crowds now; they have come from distant borders seeking sustenance. You therefore, our boys, and you, maidens, go and prepare food; she satisfies many with a scanty meal: let us feed these with loaves." The provision the maidens had was a full supply of grain. Why should I relate the rest? The attendants set out courses with a devout mind in sufficient quantity for the diverse crowds. All were satisfied by what was set before them -- the common folk, mothers with children, young men with sick fathers -- and with extraordinary praises they stretched their hands to the stars.

[46] The evil servants of the Virgin began to blaspheme this deed the more, and the maidens were saddened. Brigid had fled at once to the accustomed temple, where she was praying to God with a devout heart. when her companions murmured, the stores being exhausted, A certain noble commoner had come to the King with wagons; he, burdened, was making his way slowly along the direct road, and as he was completing his journey with foreknowledge, and was carrying many riches to the King's hall, bringing a banquet to be held for the feast of the saints, the commoner was wandering with his wagon through his own fields. Behold, beneath the starry summit of the sky, night rushed down with gathered clouds, and covered the earth; a thick mist surrounded the oxen, descending from the high mountains, and likewise enveloped the men traveling through the countryside. she obtains provisions prepared for the King, For the broad road through the fields had been known to the servants, but the dark fog struck the blinded men, until they came to the very dwelling where the Saint was staying. The Virgin immediately went out to meet those men; for she was aware of the miracle. She brought forth sweet words to the attendants. The commoner, answering, said: "God has sent all these gifts to you, Virgin. Receive with a pious heart, accepting our small offerings. For I had intended to proceed with our wagons to the King and to send a worthy feast to our lord; but God has turned my oxen in these midst of these fields to your enclosure. Such is now our will. We can restore double to the King, if he demands it. Let him take all of ours, if he wishes to take these things. These shall be yours forever; only bless us," he said. He sent men to the King to state the reasons in the order described. The King too marveled at such signs. The great hero immediately sent gifts, and gifts from him: the magnificent estate where the King was then residing, and whatever former donations there had been, the King then granted to the virgins of Christ to keep forever. That good commoner, whom we mentioned before, was delivered to the Saint with his entire kindred; he served the holy maidens without deceit thereafter.

[47] After a time not long, from those parts a certain Queen came to Brigid and besought her, groaning, for the due expiation of her sins. She offered a beautiful chain with a devout mind, a precious chain given by the Queen, on whose summit was fashioned the form of a human head; a subtle image gleamed, precious with threads of silver, and a small sphere woven with hooks shone brilliantly, set with tawny gems in alternation. This outstanding ornament the Queen offered to the craftsman's maidens. They seized it and placed it rightly among the treasures, lest Brigid give it away secretly to the poor; for she was accustomed often to scatter among the wretched whatever riches she could; and the tight-fisted servants feared this loss. On a certain day, when lepers came with harsh voice, seeking alike garments, provisions, and food -- such things by which they might sustain their needy life -- the querulous ones struck the ears of the Virgin. Holy Brigid soothed them with pious words, bidding them be quiet; but more and more they all cried out with their voices. The nourishing Virgin then restrained the wretched proud ones: she gives it to the lepers: for at once she searched through the caskets which the maidens then had -- the caskets in which they kept whatever was given -- and there she found the very precious chain. Hastening, she removed it with her hands and secretly extended it to the poor of Christ to keep. After the aforesaid chain had been given to the wretched, and was not found in the treasures, the Sisters were greatly distressed and said to their holy Mistress: "Why do we labor? Why do we thus serve in vain? when her companions grieve, You exhaust us with our own hands, making us sweat greatly; you squander everything of ours, Virgin, upon evil lepers. Is your only care then for the poor? And none for us?" The holy Virgin comforted the Sisters with pious words: "Leave aside now the foolish darts of words; always keep good peace; let patience reign among us. Go, see the place where we are accustomed to pray, to pour forth prayers often to Christ and frequently before the altar of God among the saints; perhaps I left it lying there. she obtains a similar one by divine power. Search; perhaps it lies there. Let your reproaches cease." So she spoke. But a certain one testified with her voice that she had seen a maiden handing the chain to the wretched. When the Sisters had taken the greatest care in searching, one more learned than the rest -- this Virgin was swifter than the other maidens -- went first and entered the open temple. O the memorable miracle that shone forth! She found at the altar a bright chain of silver lying on the ground before it, gleaming, and rejoiced -- similar in form, in gems, and in workmanship to the former one.

[48] A certain holy man from the neighboring people had come to the Saint -- one called by his own name Conlaid. she is visited by Conlaid: He wished to see the worthy and holy maiden. He was carried in a chariot, with a boy accompanying him. All the Sisters received the patron with devout minds. They furnished first a lodging and a warm bath according to custom, a roof prepared with feasts, seats, and fire. After they had duly refreshed their bodies with a fine meal, Holy Brigid of God, attended by her timid maidens, paid the debts of piety to the guests of Christ; they brought forth sweet words from their peaceful breast. And after that man had joyfully remained for a few days with the Virgin, and had instructed all with heavenly words, and had planted worthy seeds of everlasting life, that the harvest might grow for Christ in the future after many things, the patron wished to return to his own cell. He ordered his carriage to be duly prepared, and commanded the boy to yoke the horses' necks to the harness. But the boy (alas!) had foolishly neglected to secure the chariot with a linchpin, and had entirely forgotten to set the wheel upon the axle, as had been necessary; the cause of the danger was not known. The elder and the holy maidens went out: the elder mounted the chariot. [she blesses the chariot of the departing one, whose wheels, although not secured with linchpins, do not fall off:] "Give your blessing," he said, "now upon this our journey, and extend your holy right hand." Holy Brigid of God, filled with the bowels of piety, then blessed them and added the sign of the Cross upon them. The axle was bare, and the chariot went without a linchpin; yet the wheel did not fall off through the fields, with Christ as guardian. O manifest power of God! O great might! O blessed hand, and maiden wondrous for her signs! Upon hearing such things the spirit burns with love, and the attention of our heart is nourished inwardly with sweet words, it tends nearly to the heights in flight, it escapes to the heavenly ones, and earthly things become vile to the sight, while I now announce the deeds of this holy Virgin.

[49] This miracle itself is similar to the former; it edifies no less; if I were able to speak of it, I shall. After time had passed, the care of piety pricked her; Holy Brigid of God arranged to visit the dwelling of a certain Virgin: she visits a certain Saint: accompanied by a few maidens, she mounted her chariot and set out on a direct path. She came to the place where a certain holy Virgin was staying, and was joyfully received by the worthy maidens. The arrival of the Virgin was a cause of exultation to all, for she bestowed very many joys upon the many peoples. White lilies were scattered in the fair halls; little roses were mingled with violets and white flowers; they prepared delicacies and set out sweet cups. But first she spoke the teachings of the Saints; she reformed parched hearts with the dew of heaven abundantly. After worthy rest had been completed for the maidens -- a sweet interval of a few days having passed -- she ordered her carriage to be duly prepared; for the Saint wished to return to her own cell. The maidens and the charioteer mounted the chariot together. When they wished to pass through the open lands to the cell, Holy Brigid of God, by a heavenly blazing ray, said to the charioteer: "Bring forth a holy word, and now speak the Lord Christ to our ears. Henceforth be pleased to turn your face toward us, and behind your back you shall hold your reins tight; our horses, behold, know this road well." He, wishing to obey, turned his face toward them and spoke of the sweet words of God and the great rewards to come for the good; one horse throwing off the yoke, what things are evil, punishment shall burn away. And while they were pursuing the journey thence through the fields, coming to the bank of a river called ^b Berba, suddenly one horse that was drawing their chariot, in the middle of the river, when it felt the reins slacken, pulled its neck free from the yoke to which it was harnessed beneath the chariot. The other horse stood still, and went on alone with the chariot, she is carried in the chariot without its overturning, at an even pace, and bore the chariot through the fields. The chariot did not fall, and no one perceived any danger; they kept their ears and hearts intent upon the word. A certain King was situated on a lofty hill; from above he chanced to sit with a great crowd. And all marveled when they saw such deeds; they cried out together. The horse that was grazing perceived the commotion and sounds of the crowd; it made a leap and went more swiftly. Without delay or rest, it outstripped the very winds, followed after the chariot, until it placed itself beneath it again. No one compelled the horse then to submit its neck to the yoke of the chariot. The supreme right hand of God held the chariot through the crossroads, and the chariot did not fall; for it was carried without a horse, with Christ preserving them: on account of the Virgin's merit. Christ deigned to sustain the chariot upon the air with His hand. O great power!

CHAPTER VIII

Compassion for the Needy. The Future Foreknown. Disobedience Corrected. Provisions Divinely Obtained.

[50] If I wished to speak of the lepers and those with various diseases of the body, those crippled in their feet, those blind and deprived of the light of their eyes, whom the merciful Virgin of God healed -- they exceed all number; time flies, and one tongue cannot suffice for another. There was one leper in the buildings of the Virgin, she gives a cow to a peevish leper, ill-tempered in character, greedy, vain with murmuring; whatever evil he could see, he wished to have. He burned with avarice and blind desire for possessions: "Give me the best of the cows; give me the best of the calves; give me a guide who will now lead the cow through the crossroads with the calf (for alone I shall be unable to drive them)," he said. "I wish to have one kept for the use of milk." with a guide, Holy Brigid of God answered with a serene heart: "Do you wish to have clothing here with me as well, and food for the body? I wish to give you a cow; if it be your will, take it, depart now; peace be with you, dear brother." A certain man there had cooked provisions of meat for the orphans. She commanded the man to help the wretched leper; and she had given them a cow of the better form in the field; nor was there a calf with her, for the cow had rejected it. The leper sought to have the calf of another cow: "Give me this one," he said, "since it is larger in body than the others. If not, behold, your oxen are yours; keep them forever..." and the calf of another cow, On account of the Virgin's merit, so it is said (wonderful to tell!), the calf of another cow that the leper had sought and loved, when the leper was then going with the one sent by the Virgin, was carried in the chariot together as they went. which follows and loves this one as its own, The cow was ready; she followed the tracks of the chariot, running through mountains, valleys, forests, and rivers, burning with exceeding love for the calf, forgetful of her own. Men could not have covered this distance in two or three days; yet the leper's cow could. and covers a two-day journey in one hour: Then the man who had previously cooked the meat returned, and found the meats that he had left upon the fires uncooked; for not a single hour had passed. The other cow, entirely forgetting her own calf, began to love the one that the leper's cow had left behind. O this great power, to be remembered for a long time by all! In small matters how great the miracle appears!

[51] At the time when the nourishing holy Patrick was dying -- he who had well taught the people with the holy doctrine of Christ, and having more fully completed the years of his life, finished his course and sought the kingdom of heaven; he who once sowed the seeds of life for the nation of the Scots, cleansing their hearts with the star-born washing of baptism -- Holy Brigid knew by divine indication the day she foreknows by divine power the death of St. Patrick: on which the Father himself was to die. The Virgin said to her maidens: "Behold, sorrow, grief, every sad thing now holds our hearts -- the loss of the people's salvation. In the western borders the light has been overcome by darkness; by the death of the Bishop the lamp of the Scots shall set. Let us therefore, mourning the death of our Father, bring the last gifts of a devout mind. she prepares a shroud for wrapping his body: I wish to wrap the body of the Father in a clean linen cloth, which I have woven into a shroud with my own hands." She spoke these things weeping, and ordered the chariot to be prepared, and commanded the boys, the servants, and the chosen maidens to go and prepare what she had previously told them.

[52] When nothing else was at hand, she ordered her companions out of love of piety on a certain night to take pork. Two foolishly despised the commands of the Mistress, [she knows by divine power that the meat, turned into serpents for the disobedient ones:] and placed the pork in the bosom of a tree. In the new morning the holy Brigid, reproaching the maidens, said: "You have done wrong to hide the meat. Go, see now." When the maidens then went, they beheld two great serpents beneath the leaves; they raised their speckled breasts, with their tongues flickering their mouths, their bright necks swelling with their scaly breasts. They feared this, and the maidens threw themselves at the feet of the Virgin, and are said to have cried out with humble prayers that she would forgive the fault... The most holy Virgin began to beseech her Bridegroom to change the form of the serpents she obtains that they be changed into loaves: into the form of bread, or whatever food He Himself might wish. And afterwards the holy Virgin of God signed the serpents with the Cross. Wondrous things I tell! The Saint converted the swollen vipers into the forms of loaves, similar in the color of both. They then saw in their minds the serpents made into offerings; and thereupon the maidens, more trembling, were greatly astonished; they marveled together, beating their breasts with their hands. Therefore a priest carried with him these bright loaves, taken by hand from the oak, to be kept -- as offerings to be consumed at the Lord's Easter or on the feasts of Christ, for the servants of God and the holy maidens.

[53] After this miracle, the holy Virgin of God, hastening through the crossroads, rose and went with five chariots, she comes to St. Patrick, already dead, until they had arrived at the lofty city where Patrick then was; where there was great mourning among the peoples on account of the Bishop's death. Christ, through the tears of the nourishing Virgin, wrought this great and wondrous sign: the Bishop rose and lived again from the dead. he, returning to life, Thence sorrow, thence grief cease; thence joys arise; a concourse of people from diverse parts of the city, and there was great exultation in the virgin choir. Holy Brigid of God went forward slowly and said: "O nourishing Father, instruct us all with your words; reform our parched hearts with the dew of your teaching; scatter the lessons of the present and the future life. Behold, I have brought the gifts of our service -- the vestment which we have woven for you with our own hands. he instructs her, You, holy Father, told me to weave such a one, that your body might be wrapped in a clean shroud. Look upon your sheep, O shepherd; receive the servants who come. Behold, I have come with devout boys and maidens." And the Father answered slowly, saying: and blesses her: "Peace be with you, Virgin of God." After this, both of them spoke secretly I know not what things, or what words, to each other; His own God knows. Alas, Patrick departed again, seeking the heavenly kingdom; the Saint who has been remembered returned.

[54] It was the Virgin's custom, always for the love of Christ, to give to the poor sustenance, or whatever she had; she wished to serve all guests more than her ready ability to give possessions allowed. On a certain day the Saint was standing with her holy maidens in the praises of Christ, as she was accustomed to stand. Behold, priests came by a long road with wretched boys, weary and mud-stained; they sought to have the debts of hospitality paid to them, she obtains food in abundance from God for her guests, their weary bodies to be refreshed with food, drink, and fires. When the merciful Virgin of God saw that the Saints had come, she said: "Go, prepare food; let so great a guest be attended to." One Sister, answering more mildly, said: "What should we give, and how much? Tell us. Yet in our houses there is no portion of food that anyone could give; we have given all, and nothing remains." "Nor should you doubt, Sister; for Christ gives, has given, and will give all things -- so all must believe. Let the food-store be swept with brooms and locked." So she spoke. And again, after a small interval of time: "Run well, Sister; give food now to the petitioner," and to the poor, she said. "The house is open; whatever you find within, do not delay to give to the poor, with Christ as your guest." Now guests and Sisters alike rejoice. Why do I delay in words? A manifest miracle shone forth. An abundance of so many foods was found. Christ gave courses to the Virgins and the pilgrims; all the neighbors on every side were called, and the oblivious throng of boys was seated. Noble and great feasts of food were prepared. for many days: The food lasted for seven continuous days; yet these things were known at that time not to the peoples but only to the attendants; afterwards they were made manifest to all. On account of the Virgin's merit this manna rained down; thence the single voice of the filled and praising crowd resounded to the Lord.

[55] The merciful Virgin wished to make herself equal to the life of the saints of old, seeking the solitudes of the wilderness among mountains and forests; she sought springs of water. While the Saint was making her journey with her holy maidens, she heals many sick: she came to a certain place, full of springs and sweet herbs, where she then dwelt, and healed thoroughly the sick, the orphaned, the lame, and the leprous by the power of Christ. A throng of frequent peoples had come; nor could the flame be hidden beneath shadows, but it shone for all beneath the clear light of the sun. And while the Virgin dwelt there with her holy maidens, the tender maidens endured with unconquered mind through nights in psalms and hymns and through entire days. In the evening they sought river herbs from the springs -- those on which the saints of old were accustomed to sustain their life -- and they took cold draughts together with curling herbs. Yet in those clear springs that kind of herb was not found. herbs for the food of the Sisters Thereupon a disturbance of mind began to resound with no small murmuring in the quarters of the Sisters. When Holy Brigid of God heard such words sounding, she took care to spend the night without sleep in prayers, weeping; her Bridegroom, Christ Jesus, Himself wiped away her eyes. A spring (wonderful to tell!) she obtains them from Christ, who Himself dries her tears: in the new morning was at once filled with the desired herbs. Then they had in abundance the curling herbs in the stream which the complaining maidens had formerly sought in the spring. By the merits of the Virgin this manifest miracle shone forth; the peoples marvel, and the Sisters rejoice and are glad.

CHAPTER IX

Rapture. A Murder Prevented. Miraculous Crossing of Rivers. A Temptation Stilled.

[56] On a certain night the Saint commanded her maidens to stand firm in their prayers with devout mind. She herself, filled with God, was intent upon a heavenly secret; and while the Saint for a long time raised her eyes to the stars with silent words and with astonished ears in the temple, behold: "Be silent now," she said. praying, she sees Christ and the heavenly choirs, "Who could behold the mighty works of Christ? Do we not ourselves behold them? Now I see the broad concave spaces of heaven, earth, sea, and the high air, and the penetrable expanse above, full of children clothed in white garments. In the midst is Christ, King of kings, supreme power; and holding palms in their hands they sing hymns: 'O holy Lord, holy, and holy Sabaoth.' From the exalted seats, glory to the Father and to the Son; and hears them singing: the heavenly instruments resound with sweet-sounding song. This the children sing together, this the elders; the angelic peoples respond, Alleluia. The vision greatly soothes my inmost mind; I do not know the song at which the heavenly people rejoice."

[57] When the sun, in the new morning, lifted its saffron cloak from its breast and its ruddy face from the threshold of night, and had beheld the hollows of the earth with clear eyes, and no cloudy image of the night remained upon the land, the day was bright. she is visited by St. Ibar: The venerable Bishop Ibar, a holy man, had come to the nourishing cell to celebrate the solemnities of the Masses for all the peoples. ...

[58] On a certain night the Virgin was with her maidens; she had stayed in the house of her father, at her parent's urging. He was always opposed to the virgins of Christ; for all eagerly flee the mockeries of the world. Yet she consented and fulfilled the commands of her parents. When in the middle of the night heavy sleep fell upon their limbs, awakened by an Angel, an Angel stood beside the maiden as she lay at night; he immediately touched her and said twice and thrice: "Rise! A proud band, prepared with cruel intent, having no piety, comes with many weapons. Rise, for they hasten to kill your father and whatever men they can overcome in battle; she rescues her father and household from the peril of death, for your God Himself does not wish to bring grief upon you. Go at once! The enemy comes; this roof shall be given to the flames; they shall burn. Nothing of yours shall be touched by fire; and if anyone wishes to join his garments with yours, they shall be saved likewise, nor shall the flames be able to burn them." The Angel said this again: "Alas, rise, maiden! Go out; put aside delay; leave none of your own here -- neither father, nor servants, nor those whom the house now contains. Run through the forests, or wherever the shadow may protect you." The maiden rose, sad, remembering these words, and reported them to her father weeping. There was lamentation in the hall; the cry went up to heaven; they fled and left everything behind. Scarcely could the men cross the walls, flying; the hostile nation was already rushing around every place. Entering, they found within no man at all; their garments preserved from fire and plunder: they saw only the consecrated garments. The evil ones began to consume all the roofs at once with ruddy flames, and they are said to have burned alike. But since the sacred maidens had beforehand joined the garments of the servants and the parents with their own sacred ones, neither the fury of the enemy nor the flame could harm them; beholding all things, they supposed them to belong to priests. After the men left the roofs consumed by the flames, they were unable to deliver anyone in the buildings to death. Then the father gave thanks to his daughter for the gift.

[59] In those times the King of that nation bound and afflicted one man in chains; that man then sought the help of the Virgin, that he might go free. The ark of orphans, the faithful patroness of the wretched, Holy Brigid of God, went as a suppliant to the King's hall for the wretched man. she frees a captive, When the King heard that she was at the doors, he ordered her to come within. As soon as she beheld the face of the King in his hall, she took care, in her compassion, to plead the cause of the poor man. The King said: "If I grant this man to you with a serene mind, what gifts will you bestow upon me, Virgin of God?" She said: "By the gift of God, future life shall be given to you, and your offspring after you shall hold your kingdoms." The fierce, foolish, and proud King, unworthy of such gifts, said at such words that he was unwilling to believe in future things. "Who could believe that anyone lives after death? ... I would wish to live vigorously for many years, having promised the King a long life and victory: to be a terror to my enemies, and to win very many wars, and never to be conquered in any engagement." The foolish King said these things. The Virgin answered the speaker: "You seek lesser things; you abandon what is truly good. But believe me, God will grant all things to the one who asks. The Ruler of Olympus bestows upon you the winning of very many wars; you shall be a victor, not vanquished by any earthly foes; in wars you shall overcome wicked nations, and you shall rule your kingdoms, famous in battles and triumphs."

[60] His own brother, when he had heard the Saint speaking such words, said with a groaning heart: "O would that this promise of the nourishing Virgin might be made to me! I would lend my ears; I would be a humble servant she pledges eternal glory to this one's brother, and a kingdom on earth: of the Virgin, and I would wish to be drenched with the water of holy baptism, if I were worthy of such a gift of Christ." Holy Brigid of God answered more slowly, saying: "The great power will grant these things to you who believe -- first, a long span of time, together with future life in this kingdom; and your offspring after you shall hold your kingdoms, until the end of the age comes at last." All that the Virgin of God said came to pass.

[61] When Holy Brigid of God was alone in her chamber, she beheld Rome from afar with her own eyes; she hears Mass at Rome: she is said also to have seen the Apostolic sepulchre; she stood before the altar and heard the Masses celebrated there. She was not present in body, but perceived it by the light of the mind. The holy office pleased her, always to be kept. thence she seeks books and chant, Whence she sent priests to the city of Rome to bring back new sacred things and whatever she had heard there, wishing to hand these down to the virgins by perpetual rule. The Apostolic Father sent books, chant, and many gifts to Brigid, granted for her keeping. She handed them to her own community and turned them to the use of learning. and prescribes them for her own: In those times we read that there were twelve supreme Pontiffs at Rome during the maiden's lifetime.

[62] A great miracle of God -- yet it seems a small thing done. A certain poor woman was then burned by fevers, and the cause of her pain was growing more and more, until the end of her final age had now come. she obtains that the rags of a dying woman be washed by angelic ministry: Holy Brigid of God foretold to the maidens: "This woman is about to die; wash her rags, Sisters." There was a wind then; a turbid shower descended. The tender maidens excused themselves (they feared the cold). Wondrous things I tell! They all saw the old woman's rags going out -- all that there had been -- yet no one had carried them. And again, washed in water and brought back, they beheld them alike. The holy maidens were afraid. The Virgin was aware of the miracle; she saw what had been done. This wondrous sign, unknown to the peoples, we affirm was done by angelic hands, and we do not doubt it.

[63] Another miracle seems to me greatly to be admired, which was at the great wave of the river Shannon; within which is Keltra, a community duly of prudent men, flourishing by the sacred rule of Benedict. The Saint had come there with her maidens -- the sole hope of the wretched, the healing care of the sick. While she was present, the Brothers flowed from one side, the Sisters from the other; all agreed to cross the river in boats. Alas, the wretched maidens then arrived late; they cried out from beyond, at the bank of the river. [she obtains from God that her companions may cross the vast river without a boat:] The waters of the Shannon's stream were very turbid with continual rains, impassable to all without a boat. By chance a ship laden with many people was then crossing; young men ran and leaped, and said to the maidens: "Hear us, Sisters; take off your cloaks and entrust them to us, that we may carry you all in our boats." The young men thoroughly mocked the maidens from the stern; they struck them with unlawful words and left them on the shore. Holy Brigid of God cried out to the Sisters standing on the bank: "Take courage, trembling ones," she said. "Come now; see me standing on the bank; fear nothing evil. Christ watches in the river; Christ was the harbor and the guide of the peoples amid the waves."

[64] She beheld a man on the bank of the river with a cart; she wholly expected that this would be the reason for its weight. The Saint came with her holy maidens; she wished to lift the load herself, if it had weight.

[65] In those times there was a scarcity of bread, and a most terrible famine afflicted many peoples. Holy Brigid sent her maidens to seek grains of wheat, or whatever God Himself might give. They went all the way to the house of a certain rich man: she obtains that her companions be carried imperceptibly across the river: he gave the servants sacks full of fine flour, and at length sent the Virgin's handmaids away laden. And when, returning on their way back, they chanced to arrive, they were unable to cross the river on foot: there was no boat by which they could go through the waters. Sorrowful, they set down their burdens in that very place, fell upon their faces, and beseeching the Lord, on account of the Virgin's merit, they all cried out with their voices: "Holy Brigid of God, come to the aid of us wretches!" Wondrous things I tell! Suddenly they were carried far beyond, together with their sacks: not one of the Sisters perceived it. When by chance they lifted their heads and eyes from the ground, then they saw the full river entirely behind their backs.

[66] A certain maiden whom Holy Brigid once loved had been the most beautiful of all the Sisters: a virgin in body, yet she remained corrupted in mind. For she loved exceedingly a handsome young man with a great carnal love, and keeping the secret in her heart, she was always accustomed to sleep with the holy Virgin. The woman had spent a sleepless night in anxious thought; at length she arose -- depraved desire was overcoming her. The fire of grievous love burned in the maiden's heart. Then she said: the maiden, to overcome temptation, burns her own feet: "O Father, gracious Son of the Father, You, O Christ, are my salvation; extend Your right hand to one who stumbles. Now inspire Your counsels, and destroy my foolish ones: let virginity reign, let wicked desire depart." Christ had heard the wretched woman praying in the night; He gave her counsel and strengthened her mind in virginity. Then she placed her tender soles upon coals of fire, and silently besought Christ with words in her breast. Soon the feet of the wretched maiden burned upon the fire: shameless love departed; the pain of heart consumed her inmost being. With her hands she barely dragged her weakened body to the bed. The Saint perceived it and kept silent, permitting all. Then she said to the wretched woman, strengthening the maiden herself: "O blessed one, you have bravely overcome the evil enemy, extinguishing the flames of hell with these fires. Nor shall there be any temptation of the flesh for you after this: she pledges victory, you lie burned by fires; depraved desire is now conquered. You have likewise overcome the punishments of hell, O woman. And the very pain of your feet shall depart; no wounds of the soles shall remain: and heals her feet: believe me, little maiden." Thereupon full health of limbs followed for the maiden: on account of the Virgin's merit, Christ touched her with healing remedy. ^e

CHAPTER X

Future Events Revealed to One Sleeping. ^a

[67] On a certain day, the holy and gracious Patrick, jewel of priests, sat in the hinge of a synodal assembly. He had spoken very many words of God, the teachings of the Holy Fathers, and was strengthening the people with the law of salvation, so that the harvest of the Lord, having received a hundredfold fruit, might grow to better things, to be sprinkled with heavenly dew. The holy Virgin of God, Brigid, had come with her weary maidens to the synod of the Saints, rapt during the assembly, duly summoned to pay vows to God and obey the holy patrons. While she was sitting there, a light sleep touched her limbs: the Virgin had scarcely closed her eyes for a little while, when she told the Saints the mystic dreams she had seen: "I thought I stood alone in flowery meadows. I looked back and saw a people coming from the rising of the sun: it was a shining throng, resplendent in white garments. With four ploughs they were turning this earth, she sees future heresies, and with white oxen they were casting seeds into the furrows. Then white rivers of milk filled the furrows. I perceived seed suddenly growing from seed. And while I beheld such wondrous signs for a long time, I espied peoples coming from the region of the North, with black oxen, with dark countenances. They were constantly breaking up the fields with dark grain; they began to scatter and turn the earth with seed, with a transverse ploughshare they confounded the cultivated fields of the former sowers with black seeds and filled the earth with seed. Already the first vision greatly soothed my mind; alas, the latter one grievously disturbs all the former things."

[68] She had spoken thus to the elder. The Saint more gently consulted her, pondering all things with kindly words: "The vision of things now saddens you, O Virgin of God, with the disturbed order, and with the various sowers themselves, with white or black oxen, who cast seeds into the furrows, and all that these uncertain things signify in a figure. But nevertheless, if I am able to resolve in a few words what these things are, I shall now tell you, my daughter: the vision explained by St. Patrick: the first vision designates our own times; for we now cultivate the hearts of men with the ploughshare of the word, casting the seeds of the doctrine of the Gospels. Hence four harvests of holy souls will be seen to grow in the blessed field with a hundredfold fruit; they shall fill the granaries of Christ with angelic peoples. Alas! After us evil times of the age shall come; then the heavenly draughts of the word shall be taken from the sheep. Greedy shepherds, who will pursue their own profits more, will take care to plant not enough wheat, but ^b tares in the furrows. Then Christ will bestow upon us the joys of life." The Bishop spoke, then said: "Peace to you, O Virgin."

[69] In those times, with the holy and abiding Father, the Virgin remained, believing well in body and devout heart, and had drawn in the teachings of the Saints with the nectar of the divine word, coming from above, from the heavenly stars, from the supernal fount, and drank with great delight in these things -- Holy Brigid of God. She fell asleep and saw dreams. That Spirit who makes secret things open, who illuminates what is obscure and renders solid things penetrable, [in sleep she sees a stone softened by dew growing, another hardened and crumbling:] ^d had by pouring forth abundantly filled the Virgin's heart. She saw two great stones raised upon a mountain, and she beheld those very stones equally in a night vision; she thought they stood in the sight of Holy Patrick. A light dew descended upon them from on high, and for a long time rain poured down with trembling drops; whence one of the two stones became harder all the more, rough... and smaller, decreasing from the smallest pebbles, until by due course it was gradually reduced to nothing. But the other stone was softened by the heavenly dew; it grew exceedingly, held the broad places round about, and more and more surpassed the high mountains. Upon the very summit of the stone she beheld bright lamps, which illuminate the heavens above with their light. The vision was great, and suddenly disturbed the trembling mind of the beholding holy Virgin: she was astonished to perceive the diverse fate of the stones.

[70] In the new morning, when the sun had dispersed the black shadows, nothing was hidden on earth under the cover of night. All the maidens arose with the bright light. Brigid hastened to report to Patrick, her Patron, the dreams she had seen in the past night. The Saint said to these things: [which St. Patrick explains concerning the conversion of one King and the hardening of another:] "What you, devout Virgin, beheld through the vision of the mind, you shall see in the clear light of day. For two brothers, sprung from royal stock, whom ancient honor adorns with lofty degrees, born of the blood of nobles and the flower of their parents -- tomorrow they shall come; you shall see them in this very place. To them we shall speak the holy words of God on high, mingling the sweet draughts of everlasting life. But nevertheless one shall be foolish with a hardened heart, like a stone, and made harder than harsh and wicked adamant, and shall always depart accursed. The other, through love of God, shall convert his heart in faithfulness, and shall be blessed, following the precepts of Christ; he shall be great, shall reign over peoples, shall hold kingdoms, and his offspring after him shall hold his kingdoms, until at last the final end of the age shall come." Thus spoke that servant of God, thus did events confirm it; all things were so, which chaste Brigid had seen.

[71] Such was the power that she exercised in that time: though indeed small, it is great, because it appears wondrous. One foolish leper had come to the Saint and had been dwelling there... He presumed to ask whether the Virgin would mercifully wash the garment that his body wore and his clothing. Yet the Saint bent her tender mercy toward the foolish man. She said: "Grant me your garments now to be washed; this light thing I shall count as done for the name of Christ." Yet the leper had no other garments at that time; he sought some covering whereby he might warm his limbs. The Saint then began to ask one maiden earnestly that the woman might lend her own garment. That sad maiden refused her cloak: she heals the leper: "Though you, my mistress, should lash my back with your scourges, I shall never lend my garments to a leper." She spoke, and turned her hard brow with murmuring. Wondrous things I tell: the leprosy, which the leper had, flowing back, deservedly invaded the maiden perverse in heart: she strikes the disobedient maiden with leprosy. and that leper returned healthy in his whole body, and the white leprosy struck the maiden's skin. Then all who beheld such signs were afraid, and praised God, beat their breasts with their palms, and joyfully pressed kisses upon the Virgin's feet.

[72] After these things, Holy Brigid of God in those times built one cell for her holy virgins, in which, when she was there, she kept vigil with psalms and hymns, and worshipped Christ in her heart with many fasts. In those times there was a scarcity of bread for many (as it is reported) neighbors and maidens.

e. The rest is wanting.

LIFE IV, BIPARTITE

BY AN ANONYMOUS AUTHOR,

from the manuscript of Hugh Ward, O.F.M.

Brigid, Virgin, Scottish, in Ireland (Saint)

BHL Number: 1460

By an anonymous author, from the manuscript.

PROLOGUE OF THE AUTHOR.

[1] My mind, Brothers, is now assailed by three things: namely, by love, by shame, and by fear. For the love of writing compels me to commend the Life of the most illustrious Brigid to written records, lest the great charisms of virtues which the grace of God conferred upon her, or the very many miracles which that same grace wrought through her, should remain hidden or unheard. Yet I am held back by shame, lest (as I suppose) my very uncultivated speech or the expression of my lack of subtlety should displease wise readers or hearers. By fear I am driven even more, the Author, having excused his inexperience, indicates the reason for writing, because it is perilous for my weakness to dictate this work, since I fear the cavils of detractors and the wicked, who test my feeble talent as though tasting dishes. But since, when the Lord commanded the poor of the people to offer lowly things for the construction of the tabernacle, should we not offer something for the building of the Church? What is the Church, but the assembly of the just? How is the life of the prudent built up, except by the documents and examples of the prudent? Therefore I shall give free course to love, trample upon shame, and pardon the whisperers. But you, prudent reader and intelligent hearer, I adjure that you not concern yourself with the arrangement or texture of the verses, but attend to the miracles of God and ^a the blessedness of His handmaid. For indeed every farmer ought to eat the fruits of the furrows of his field.

BOOK ONE

CHAPTER I

The Lineage, Birth, Upbringing, and Various Presages of Holiness of St. Brigid.

[2] There was a glorious King in Ireland, by the name of Feidlimid, who was called Feidlimid Reachtmar, because he made great laws in his kingdom in Ireland: for Reacht in Irish means law in Latin. This King had three sons, whose names are said to be Fiacha Suighe, Eochaid Fionn, and Conn Keudchathach, St. Brigid's father of royal blood, who reigned in Ireland at Tara in the greatest and most abundant prosperity. After his father's death, Fiacha Suighe had three sons, namely Ross, Aengus, and Eogan, who, expelled from Tara by Arthur, son of the aforesaid Conn, seized a great region on the border of the Leinstermen and the Munstermen by their swords; but they themselves are called Munstermen. Eochaid Fionn, however, went to the Leinstermen, and in many places the King of the Leinstermen gave him lands: and his descendants dwell there to this day; they are now numbered among the Leinstermen and are called Leinstermen.

[3] Of these there was a certain great and powerful chieftain, by the name of Dubthach, who purchased a bondwoman called Broiseach. She was very beautiful and honest in character. Her lord Dubthach, loving her, made her his concubine, and slept with her, and she conceived by him. When Dubthach's own wife learned of this, she was greatly distressed and said to her husband: "Sell your bondwoman Broiseach, her mother a servant, whom you have made your concubine; for I fear lest her offspring should surpass my own." But the lord Dubthach would not do this, loving her greatly; for in all her conduct that woman was perfect.

[4] On a certain day afterwards, the chieftain Dubthach and his bondwoman Broiseach were sitting in a chariot, with their companions following them, and they came near to the house of a certain magus. When that magus heard the sound of the chariot, he said to his servants: "See who sits in the chariot, for it sounds like a chariot beneath a King." the daughter's renown foretold by a magus, Then the servants told him: "We see no man in the chariot except the lord Dubthach." The magus said to them: "Call him to me." And when he had been called, the magus said to him: "The woman who sits behind your back in the chariot -- is she pregnant?" Dubthach replied: "She is indeed." The magus said: "O woman, by what man did you conceive?" She answered: "By my lord Dubthach." The magus said to Dubthach: "Guard this woman well, for wondrous shall be her offspring." Dubthach said: "My wife compels me to sell her; for she fears the offspring of this woman." The magus said: "The offspring of your wife shall serve the offspring of this bondwoman until the end of the age." And to the bondwoman he said: "Be steadfast in spirit, for no one shall be able to harm you; for the grace of the little child shall free you. For you shall bear an illustrious daughter, who, as the sun at the zenith of heaven, shall shine in the world until the end of the age." Then Dubthach said: "I give thanks to God, for until now I have had no daughter, but only sons." Thereafter Dubthach and his concubine returned with their companions to their home; and Dubthach loved her greatly on account of the words of the magus.

[5] In those days, at God's instigation, two holy Bishops came from Britain to the house of Dubthach, one of whom was called Mael and the other Maelchu; and by St. Mel, Bishop, they were disciples of St. Patrick the Archbishop, who was then preaching the word of God in Ireland. Bishop Mael, seeing that the wife of Dubthach was sad, said to her: "Why are you sad?" And he added, knowing her cause prophetically: "The offspring of your bondwoman shall surpass you and all your progeny. But love her nonetheless as your daughter, for her offspring shall greatly benefit yours." But she still remained in her fury.

[6] She herself, now enraged, together with her brothers, who were strong and powerful men, the mistress's envy, pressed Dubthach greatly to sell his rival into a distant region. Then a certain poet from the north of Ireland, by God's will, came, and the chieftain Dubthach, fearing the wrath of his wife, who was noble, and the fury of her brothers, consented to sell her. she is sold: And the chieftain himself was greatly saddened on this account. And the aforesaid poet purchased that woman as a bondwoman. But Dubthach did not sell her offspring, declaring that she would bear a wondrous daughter in her womb. He then departed with the bondwoman to his own region. A certain holy guest came, Brigid herself again seen in a globe of fire, who prayed to God throughout that entire night and saw repeatedly in that night a globe of fire in the place where the bondwoman, the mother of St. Brigid, was sleeping. And in the morning he told this to the poet, her lord, and he rejoiced at it.

[7] At that time the poet prepared a great feast for his king; and the king himself was coming with the queen to the feast. But the queen was near to giving birth. Then the friends and servants of the King asked a certain Prophet when the favorable hour might be and foretold by prophecy, for the Queen to bring forth her offspring. He said: "If on the morrow, at the rising of the sun, the child were born, it would have no equal on earth." But the Queen, before that hour, against her own will, bore a son. When morning came and the sun had risen, that bondwoman, the mother of St. Brigid, came from outside to the house near her lord's dwelling, she is born on the threshold of the house, carrying a vessel full of freshly drawn milk; and when she had placed one foot across the threshold of the house, with the other foot standing outside, she fell upon the threshold while sitting, and most suddenly, without the force of labor pains, by the grace of God, she bore a most beautiful daughter. For that Prophet had said that the woman would bear her offspring neither inside the house nor outside it. And with that warm milk which she was carrying, the body of the good little child was washed.

[8] The greatest signs immediately followed, by the gift of God to St. Brigid, of which this is one. and at once, by touch, she resuscitates a dead boy: On the very day of her birth, a certain infant boy, born the previous night, was overtaken by sudden death. And by some event, when the holy child of God was near him, she touched his lifeless body; and immediately at the touch of the most holy infant, that baby rose alive. All who saw this said that this daughter had rightly been foretold by the Prophets. The town in which St. Brigid was born is called Faughart in Muirthemne, which is in the province of the Ulstermen, that is, in the region the birthplace, celebrated by the devotion of later generations, called Conaille Muirthemne. St. Brigid now holds that town, in whose honor a monastery of Canons is there. There is that church and its cemetery, where was the house and court in which Blessed Brigid was born. The stone upon which the most holy bride of Christ was born stands behind that sanctuary, and is honorably venerated by the inhabitants of that land, because many signs are wrought upon it through the merits of St. Brigid.

[9] Now the holy maiden rejected and daily vomited the common foods of the magus, the lord of her mother. For that man was both a poet and a magus. she is repulsed by the Magus's food, The magus himself, observing this, investigated the cause of her nausea; and knowing it, he said: "I am unclean; but that maiden is full of the grace of Almighty God, and therefore she does not accept my food." For he was then a pagan and an unbeliever, along with his household, because the faith of Christ had only recently come to Ireland; and he did not believe immediately at that time, but after a time, as you will hear. Then the magus himself chose a white cow without blemish and appointed it for the holy maiden, by the milk of a white cow, seeing the whiteness in it by God's grace. And it happened that a certain Christian woman was there, who was very devout, and is said to have been a virgin; she is nursed by a Christian virgin: the magus made her the nurse of St. Brigid. And she milked the aforesaid cow, and from its milk she nourished St. Brigid, because the blessed infant willingly received the milk of this cow. And the Christian woman diligently nursed the handmaid of Christ, loving her greatly.

[10] she is brought to Connacht: After this, the magus himself with his whole household went to the region of the Connachtmen, which is the fifth part of Ireland, and dwelt there. For his mother was from Connacht, but his father from the Munstermen. On account of his magical art he used to travel around that whole province and other provinces, and held great honor among them.

[11] On a certain day, the most blessed Brigid was left alone in the house, sleeping; then that house appeared set ablaze with fire, and everyone came around as a presage of holiness, the house in which she lay appeared to burn, to extinguish the fire; and when they had approached the house, the fire did not appear, but the house was found unharmed. They saw, upon waking her, a maiden with a beautiful face and ruddy cheeks, and all said: "This maiden is truly full of the Holy Spirit."

[12] On another day, the magus and the mother of St. Brigid, with her nurse and others, sitting outside in a certain place, suddenly saw the cloth touching the head of the maiden sitting nearby and a head-covering ablaze with a fire of flame; and as they quickly stretched out their hands, immediately they did not see fire, but the cloth was untouched, and by this is signified the grace of the Holy Spirit burning in the Saint of God.

[13] On a certain day, the same magus, while sleeping, saw two clerics, baptism by Angels, and a name indicated in a vision, clothed in white garments, pouring oil upon the head of the maiden, and completing the rite of baptism in the customary manner. One of them said to the magus: "Call this Virgin Brigid." She herself shall be full of grace before God and men, and her name shall be most celebrated throughout the whole world. When these things were said, the Angels departed. On a certain night, the same magus was awake and, according to his custom, observing the stars of heaven; a column of fire above the house: and throughout that entire night he saw a column of burning fire, rising higher than that small house in which Blessed Brigid was sleeping; and he called to himself another man as a witness, who likewise saw the same thing. In the morning they narrated this to all.

[14] On a certain day, while Blessed Brigid was still the most tender of infants, she prayed intently to God, stretching her hands toward heaven. as an infant she prophesies, Then a certain man came to her and greeted her. The blessed maiden thus answered him: "This shall be mine." The man, marveling, then told this to the magus. The magus replied: "It is truly a prophecy, what the infant answered; for these places shall be hers forever." This was afterwards fulfilled, for there is a great parish of St. Brigid in those regions today. The inhabitants of the region, hearing this, gathered themselves before the magus, saying to him: "You remain with us, along with your household; but let this maiden, who prophesies that our regions shall be hers, therefore she is compelled to emigrate from Connacht: depart from us." The magus said: "It shall not be so. Rather I shall abandon your land on account of her. For she is great in heaven, and what she has prophesied shall come to pass in time." Then the magus with all his household left the province of the Connachtmen and came to his own province, which is in the regions of the Munstermen, where he had his father's inheritance. When the holy maiden had now grown in body, but more in faith, hope, and charity, she faithfully ministered. ^k...

d. Colgan: "brother."

CHAPTER IV

Benefits Bestowed on the Wretched, Most of Them Miraculously. Deeds at the Court of St. Patrick. An Innocent Person Defended.

[37] At another time St. Brigid was making a journey through the plain of ^a Theba, sitting in a chariot. she gives horses to one who needs them: Then she saw a certain man with his family and wife, along with many cattle, laboring and carrying heavy burdens; they were weary at that time in the heat of the sun. The Virgin of Christ, moved with compassion for them, gave them the horses of her chariot to carry their burdens. The Saint remained sitting on the road with her companions; and the holy Virgin said to her attendants: "Dig in that place, and a spring will burst forth from there (for there had been no water there before); for those who will need a drink will come to us rather quickly." Then they dug, and immediately a spring burst forth. After a little while, a chieftain came along that road with a great troop of horsemen. [by absence she perceives things: she renders untamed horses given to her immediately tame:] He, hearing what St. Brigid had done with her horses, offered her two untamed horses, saying: "Let the holiness of the good Virgin make them gentle for herself." And immediately, by divine will, they were made tame, as though they had always gone under a chariot. After this, disciples of St. Patrick, Archbishop of all Ireland, came by the same road and said to Blessed Brigid: "We are very thirsty and cannot eat." Then the companions of the glorious Virgin said to them: "At the command of our Lady, we have prepared drink for you; for she herself foretold to us that you would come." Afterwards all ate from their provisions, and giving thanks to God in common and glorifying His holy handmaid, they drank.

[38] Then two lepers followed St. Brigid as she went with a great crowd, whom the holy Virgin kindly received. It happened that they quarreled before the Saint of God, and the wretches struck one another; but the hand of the one she heals their hands that were withered from fighting, who first struck his companion, once bent, could not straighten it again; the other's right hand, raised upward to strike, could not bend back, being withered. And so the hands of the wretches remained stiff and immobile until St. Brigid came and made peace between them. Then, when those lepers did penance, the Saint of God restored their hands to their former health; afterwards, receiving alms, they departed joyfully.

[39] On another day, the chariot of St. Brigid was requisitioned so that a certain sick man, who was gasping at the farthest border of life, might be conveyed in it. And when he had been placed in the chariot, he grew better, she heals the sick man placed in her chariot; she gives the chariot to lepers, and coming to St. Brigid he told her this. And on the following day, with the Virgin of Christ blessing him, he walked in good health. Certain lepers, seeing this, requested that chariot; and the Virgin of Christ gave it to them, together with her horses.

[40] The most blessed Brigid, when asked, went out to a certain monastery of nuns in the region of Theba to celebrate Easter. And the blessed Abbess of that place said on the day of the Lord's Supper to all the virgins: "Which of you will perform the washing of our sick on this day?" she washes the sick on Holy Thursday: When all the rest refused, St. Brigid said: "I wish to wash the wretched and sick Sisters." And this pleased that Abbess, who knew it was from God. There were four sick women in one house: one paralytic, who lay immobile; another possessed, full of a demon; a third blind; a fourth leprous. Then St. Brigid first began to wash the paralytic, and said to her: "O blessed Mother, pray to Christ for me, that He may heal me," she heals the paralytic by her prayers: and with the spouse of Christ praying for her, she was immediately healed in that very hour.

[41] While Blessed Brigid was remaining in the same region in a certain small cell for some days, it chanced that she alone was left with one boy in the house; and that boy was mute and paralytic. The handmaid of God did not know that he was mute and paralytic. At that very hour travelers came seeking food. Then the holy Virgin said to the boy lying there: "Do you know where the key to the cellar is?" unknowingly she heals a mute and a paralytic: He, with his tongue loosed, immediately said: "I know well." She said to him: "Arise and bring it to me." At this word the paralytic rose up healthy, and gave her the key, and he himself ministered with the holy Virgin, serving food to the guests generously, in the manner of the Irish. Then the household members, coming from outside into the house and seeing the boy speaking and walking, were greatly astonished. Then he himself told them how he had been healed. They, knowing this, all gave thanks to God, blessing His handmaid.

[42] On a certain occasion, the holy Bishops Mael and Maelchu came to St. Brigid and said to her: "Do you wish to go with us to the plain of Breagh, to visit our Patron, St. Patrick, who dwells there?" She answered: she goes to St. Patrick:

"I very much wish to speak with him, that he may bless me." Then the holy Bishops and the blessed Virgin with her companions set out on the way. A certain cleric joined them, who had a large household and cattle and two chariots, wishing to travel with the Saints lest they should suffer anything on the road. at the request of countryfolk, she joins herself as a companion: But the Bishops were unwilling, lest their journey should be delayed on account of the multitude of his cattle and burdens. And the holy Virgin said to them: "Go ahead of us; I shall remain now and bear with these people." Then, as the Bishops went on, the Saint of God stayed behind with them, and said to them: "Why do you not place all your things in the chariots?" They said: [she heals a paralytic and a blind woman by vigils, fasting, prayer, and blessed water:] "Because one paralytic and a blind woman lie sick in the chariots." When night came, they ate and slept; only the holy Virgin Brigid fasted and kept vigil. When morning came, the spouse of Christ, blessing water, poured it over the paralytic, and immediately he rose up healthy; and likewise the blind woman received her sight. Then, at the holy Virgin's command, they loaded the burdens into the carts and continued on the journey they had begun, giving thanks to God. Then the holy Virgin, having received leave and a blessing from them, went out on her own road with her companions.

[43] And seeing a certain commoner near his house, very sad among his cattle, Blessed Brigid said to her companions: "Ask him why he is so sad." He said: "Because my whole family is in pain, and no woman can milk the cows." For in his house twelve people lay sick. likewise by fasting and blessed water she heals twelve sick persons: Then the glorious Virgin told her maidens to milk his cows. While those cows were being milked, that man asked them to take a meal after their labor; and there the companions of the holy Virgin ate, but she herself fasted. When they had all finished eating, the Saint of God blessed water, sprinkled the man's house, and all who lay there in sickness; and immediately, in the presence of the spouse of Christ, all rose up well, and gave thanks to God, blessing His handmaid.

[44] Afterwards St. Brigid with her companions came by a prosperous road to the place called ^b Tailten, where St. Patrick the Archbishop was present with an assembly of holy Bishops and other Saints; and Blessed Brigid was received by them with due honor. Now Blessed Brigid accepted St. Patrick, the preacher of Ireland, as her Father, she accepts St. Patrick as her Father: and he accepted her as his Daughter. For it is found that they first saw one another there. From that day the wondrous Virgin is considered, by the judgment of all, the greatest of the Saints of Ireland after St. Patrick.

[45] In that same Council a very great question arose: for a certain woman, who had fallen into fornication, was saying that the infant she had borne was the child of a certain Bishop named Bron, a woman imputing a crime to Bishop Bron, who was a disciple of St. Patrick; he, however, denied it before all. Then all in the council, having heard the wonders and works which God had shown through St. Brigid, said that this question could be resolved through her. Then, at the request of all, the woman was brought outside the council with her infant to St. Brigid. The Virgin of Christ said to her: "By what man did you conceive this infant?" She answered: "By Bishop Bron." To this, at the command of St. Patrick, with the woman bearing false testimony at the devil's persuasion, the humble Blessed Brigid came to St. Patrick and said: "My Father, it is yours to resolve this question." St. Patrick replied to her: "My dearest Daughter, deign rather to reveal it." Hearing this, St. Brigid signed the mouth of that woman with the sign of the holy Cross. [she confounds her, with her tongue and head swollen by the sign of the Cross, and the infant, signed by her, revealing the true father:] And immediately, as she was unwilling to speak the truth, her whole head together with her tongue swelled up. At once St. Brigid, turning, blessed the tongue of the infant and said to him: "Who is your father?" That little infant, before the time of speaking, said in a clear voice: "It is certainly not Bishop Bron who is my father, but that vile man who sits last in this council is my father." Then all, recognizing that man, gave thanks to God for the liberation of the innocent Bishop; and Blessed Brigid was worthily magnified, and that woman did penance before all.

CHAPTER V

Knowledge of Hidden Things. Beneficence. Austerity of Life. Journey to Connacht.

[46] As that day drew toward evening, a certain man, seeing the virtues which St. Brigid had performed that day, asked her, saying: "I have a new house; I wish that you with your companions be the first to enter it for its consecration." The Saint of God went out with him, and he ministered with great joy. As he generously set forth food, she divinely recognizes that a certain man is a pagan, St. Brigid said prophetically to her companions: "The Lord has just now shown me that that man is a pagan, and we ought not to take his food, since he himself does not wish to be baptized." One of her maidens answered her, saying: "It is true what you say. For I have heard that he above all resisted St. Patrick greatly and refused to be baptized." Then Blessed Brigid said to him: "We cannot eat your food and she converts him and his household, unless you are first baptized." Then, moved by God, he believed with his whole heart, together with his entire household, and was baptized by Bishop Bron, a disciple of St. Patrick, who was then with St. Brigid.

[47] On the following day, St. Patrick, hearing of this, said to the blessed Virgin: "From this day it will not be permitted for you to walk about without a priest. henceforward she always has a priest with her: Let there be a priest always in your company." Then St. Patrick ordained a priest named Nafrohic, who lived happily in the company of St. Brigid for his whole life. Then, having received leave from St. Patrick, Blessed Brigid returned with her companions.

[48] In those days a certain man came to St. Brigid, carrying his paralytic mother on his shoulders; and when he had come to the place where the holy Virgin was, by her shadow alone she heals a paralytic: he set his mother down on the ground in the shadow of the holy Virgin; and when she had touched the Saint's shadow, she arose saying: "I give thanks to God, for when I touched your shadow, O Saint, I was immediately healed and feel no pain." Then a cry of all arose in praise of God.

[48] Then, after an interval of time, certain men brought a demoniac, bound with strong chains, to St. Brigid; and when he recognized that he was being brought to the Saint of God, he fell to the ground, continually saying: "You shall not lead me to Brigid." They said to him: "Do you even know where you are being led, or the place where St. Brigid is?" He answered: "I know, and I know it well, approaching from a distance, she puts the demon to flight: and I shall not go to her." And he told them the name of the place where St. Brigid was; and by no means could they move him from the ground. Having taken counsel, they sent to St. Brigid, asking her to deign to come to him for Christ's name. The spouse of Christ humbly went out with them. And when the demon saw St. Brigid coming toward him, long before she arrived, he fled from the man (for demons, whenever they sensed that St. Brigid was coming to their places from elsewhere, were afraid and fled); and that man was made whole in that very hour, and gave thanks to God.

[49] Afterwards St. Brigid came to the monastery of the holy Virgin Lasra, and remained there for some days. On a certain day toward evening, St. Patrick came with a great multitude of people, preaching in that region, to the same monastery, to lodge there that night. Then the household of that place, in distress, said to St. Brigid: "Dear mother, what shall we do? by blessing, she multiplies food so that it suffices for the many: For we do not have at hand enough to feed so great a multitude." The holy Virgin said to them: "How much do you have?" When they told her how much they had, St. Brigid said: "You now have sufficient for us who are so many; for the grace of God will increase these things." Afterwards, with St. Brigid blessing them, those provisions were served to both groups, that is, Patrick's and St. Brigid's; and they were satisfied, and they left behind greater remnants than had been in that provision before, which St. Lasra had prepared for the Saints; and she offered her place to God and to St. Brigid forever.

[50] Likewise in that same place, a certain man whom his wife greatly hated by blessed water she causes a wife to love her previously hated husband, came to St. Brigid, asking her in the love of God to invoke the name of Christ so that his wife might love him. Then the Virgin of Christ blessed water and ordered his house to be sprinkled with it in Christ's name; and his house was sprinkled, and the food, and the drink, and the bed, while the wife was absent, with that water. When that woman came home and saw her husband, she immediately loved him with overwhelming love, and as long as she lived, she remained in the same love.

[51] A certain woman of the descendants of Gaissus, seeking alms through the region, came to St. Brigid; the Saint of God said to her: "I give you my cloak, or a cow that was recently given to me." she gives her girdle to a beggar woman, She said: "These things are of no use for me to take; for robbers will come along the road who will take them from me." The holy Virgin said: "Do you want my girdle? For you have told me of many diseases in your region, and through my girdle dipped in water, in the name of His Son, God will heal them; and people will give you food and clothing." That woman therefore took the holy Virgin's girdle with her, and first went to a certain sick boy, whom his parents loved greatly; by which she cures diseases and grows rich: and she immediately healed him, by God's grace, through the girdle of the holy Virgin. And so she continued through all the years of her life, healing many ailments and receiving much gain; and from those gains she purchased fields and became wealthy. She, keeping her chastity pure and distributing all her goods to Christ's poor, became a Saint.

[52] After these things, St. Brigid went out with her companions to make a pilgrimage in the province of the Connachtmen, she migrates to Connacht: not wishing to dwell in her own land, that is, in the region of the Leinstermen; and she dwelt there in the plain of Hay, building cells and monasteries round about. Then she claimed the parish which she had prophesied in her infancy, saying: "This shall be mine, this shall be mine."

[53] Blessed Brigid approached to receive the Eucharist from the hand of a certain Bishop; and gazing into the chalice from above, she saw a portent, that is, the form of a he-goat. One of the ministers of Christ was then holding the chalice. Then St. Brigid refused to drink from it. she sees the likeness of a he-goat in the chalice, The Bishop said to her: "Why do you not drink from this chalice?" Brigid then revealed to the Bishop what she had seen. Then the Bishop said to that minister: on account of a hidden sin of the minister: "What have you done? Give glory to God by confessing your sin." He then confessed that he had eaten the flesh of a stolen he-goat. The Bishop said to him: "Do penance and shed tears"; and he, obeying the commands, did penance. Then Blessed Brigid came to the chalice and did not see the prodigy in it; for the tears of that man had absolved the guilt. Afterwards, refreshed by the body and blood of Christ, the holy Bishop and the glorious Virgin Brigid returned joyfully from the church.

[54] At another time, a certain old woman there fell sick unto death; and all the Sisters of that place came to her, to keep vigil and pray beside her; and the holy Mother Brigid came with them. And while she was in the agony of death, the virgins wished to take their better garments from her, lest she should die in them. Blessed Brigid forbade this, she forbids garments to be taken from a dying woman: saying: "She will be with you for a short time; therefore show mercy, lest you appear to commit robbery." The charity and compassion of Blessed Brigid would not allow the garments to be taken from her, fearing that she might suffer cold. All who saw such great blessedness of devotion glorified God.

[55] While the glorious Virgin Blessed Brigid still dwelt in that place, she used to frequent a pool of cold water that was near the monastery. On a certain night, in which there was snow and great cold for all, the Mother herself came to the pool with one maiden, and she was in that pool until the crowing of the cocks, praying and weeping. And what she did that night, she resolved always to do on all nights and to make it her custom. But the compassion and mercy of Christ did not suffer this to be done any longer, knowing it to be beyond the strength of the Virgin Brigid. [by night she prays in a frozen pool; she is prevented from continuing, the pool being dried up at night.] For on the following night, when St. Brigid went in like manner with her companion to the pool, they found in it nothing but dry sand without any water, and marveling, they returned. At the first hour of the day, the pool was filled with its waters. Likewise on the third night the pool dried up at the arrival of St. Brigid, and on the next day it was refilled at the same hour. God did this to make manifest what affection He had toward His bride, St. Brigid -- just as toward John the Evangelist, His beloved, whom He freed from the remaining blows of punishments and bodily suffering. All who knew this magnified the power of God in His Virgin; and when they asked her not to act in this matter further against the will of God, and she herself knew it had been done on her account, she ceased from this vow forever.

a. Colgan: Natfroie.

b. The same: Guassii.

BOOK TWO.

CHAPTER I

Return to Leinster. The Beginnings of Kildare. The Goods of Those Devoted to Piety Divinely Protected.

[1] Now a great controversy arose among the Leinstermen concerning the absence of St. Brigid. For they, knowing that the course of all Ireland was toward Blessed Brigid, and the many virtues and the greatest miracles that God was working through her, wished that so great a grace of God should be in their own region; for St. Brigid was born from there. she returns to Leinster: Having taken counsel, they sent honorable persons and faithful messengers, whom she could not refuse, asking her to deign to return to her own region. The most glorious Virgin, knowing this to be from God, having set in order the places in which she then dwelt, came with them. And when St. Brigid and her companions came to the river ^a Shannon, they found two peoples sitting on either side of the ford of Luan -- that is, the descendants of Niall and the nations of the Connachtmen. For the river Shannon, which is the most distinguished river of Ireland, divides the regions of the descendants of Niall and the Connachtmen. Then the companions of St. Brigid requested of all the boatmen, but did not obtain, that they might be carried across the river; for those boatmen demanded passage-money for crossing the river. The companions of the glorious Virgin said: [making the sign of the Cross, she crosses the deep river with her companions as if by a ford:] "No, but we shall now go through the river on our own feet; and the blessing of St. Brigid our mistress will guard us, through the grace of God, who divided the Red Sea and the river Jordan for His servants." Afterwards they said to St. Brigid: "Sign the river, Mother, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that it may be made gentler and shallower for us." Then the holy Virgin blessed the river with the sign of the holy Cross; and with the two peoples, as we said, standing about the river, the spouse of Christ entered the river with her maidens, and all her companions with her; and the bed of the immense river did not reach even to their knees -- which even the strongest soldiers could not cross without a boat. All who saw this, therefore, praised St. Brigid.

[2] And before Blessed Brigid entered the river with her companions, other clerics, having purchased a small boat, embarked in it. They said to St. Brigid: "That boat can carry one of your maidens with us." Then the blessed Mother commanded one very timid maiden, who greatly feared the water, to go before her in that little boat across the river. That maiden said to her: "Bless me carefully, she blesses one and saves her when the boat sinks: my Mother, for I fear to be separated from you in the river." The holy Virgin said to her: "Go in peace; God will guard you." Then, as they were sailing, in the middle of the river the boat was submerged under the water, with all watching. But that maiden, placed in great peril, called upon the name of St. Brigid for help; and with the spouse of Christ blessing her from the shore, that maiden was carried sitting upon the waters in her seat to the harbor, and her garments were dry, as though untouched by water. Then all, praising God, wondrously placed their trust in the most holy Virgin Brigid.

[3] When the most glorious Virgin Brigid came to her homeland, she was received with great honor and the joy of the whole province, and a cell was immediately assigned to her, in which the Saint of God thenceforth led a wondrous life. There she built a great monastery of very many virgins; she builds a convent at Kildare, and there afterwards a very great city grew in honor of Blessed Brigid, which is today the metropolis of the Leinstermen. That cell is called in Irish Killdara, and in Latin it means "Cell of the Oak." or "At the Oak," For there was a very tall oak tree there, which St. Brigid loved greatly and blessed; henceforth sacred; its trunk remains to this day, and no one dares to cut it with iron, and whoever can break off anything from it by hand considers it a great gift, hoping through it for the help of God, where also a city was built: because many miracles have been wrought through that wood, through the blessing of Blessed Brigid. And by whatever name the cell was called, by that name also the city is called.

[4] Before a certain feast day, a young woman came to St. Brigid, who was dwelling in the aforesaid cell, bringing alms to the Virgin. When she had delivered the gift, she said: "I must quickly return to my home, because my parents wish to come and spend the night with you during this holy night; and I must guard the house and cattle." she pledges that the goods of those devoted to prayer will be guarded by God, The friend of Christ said to her: "It shall not be so, but you remain here; and your parents will come after you here. The Lord will guard your property and your house." And the parents came, just as the Saint had said; and together all celebrated that feast with St. Brigid. In the middle of the night, thieves came to their house, knowing that the inhabitants had gone out to St. Brigid, and they stole the cattle. When they came to the river Liffey, they found the river filled with an abundance of water, and they could not drive the cattle across the river. After laboring for the greater part of the night, and she obtains that the stolen cattle be restored, they took counsel and tied all their garments and weapons upon the heads of the cattle, intending themselves to swim after them; and from the middle of the river the animals, turning back, carried with them the spoils of their enemies upon their heads, and running through the plain of the Liffey, the naked men followed them. The cattle did not return to their own house, but ran in a straight course to the monastery of St. Brigid. And so, at the first light of dawn, when the cattle arrived there with their pursuers, the cattle-thieves confounded: the people recognized them all. Then the thieves gave praises to God, and confessing their sins, they did penance according to the command of the glorious Virgin Brigid. That man, rejoicing with his family, went out to his house; and finding all his things intact, according to the prophecy of St. Brigid, he gave thanks to the Lord.

[5] Another maiden likewise came to St. Brigid before another feast day with a similar offering, and when she had received her gift, she said: she obtains that the house and cows of another be likewise guarded: "I shall go to my house, my Lady, because there is no one there with me except my foster-father, who is very old and paralytic, and there is no one to milk the cows or guard the house." But the spouse of Christ said to her: "Stay here this holy night. God will guard your house, and the cows will remain unmilked, and no harm will come to them." Then she stayed there, and on the next day, having received the Eucharist, she returned: she found the cows and calves separately in the fields, eating with sound mind and without distress. And when the maiden said that she had spent the night with St. Brigid, the old man confessed to her that the cattle had been in the pastures all along, and that he himself had not slept, nor had he felt any interval of time -- except as if it were the very hour when the maiden had left him. The mystery of this matter God, who accomplished it, Himself knows.

CHAPTER II

Father Rescued from Danger. The Present Protection of Angels. Victory Promised to King Illand.

[6] After these things, the glorious Virgin Brigid went out to the house of her father Dubthach, wishing after a long time to visit her parents. And her father and all his kinsmen rejoiced greatly at her arrival; and her father asked her aroused by an Angel, to remain at least that night in his house, and he obtained his request. In that night, however, the Angel of the Lord came and roused Blessed Brigid from sleep, saying: "Rise quickly, and rouse your father from sleep, and his whole household, and your maidens. For enemies are approaching who wish to kill your father with his people; but on your account God does not wish this. Go out from here quickly, for the enemies who are coming will immediately burn this house." And when all had gone out from the house, she rescues her father and his household from the fury of the enemy, the enemies immediately came and set fire to the house; for they grieved that their adversary had escaped from them. Then the father and the others, seeing the conflagration, said to the holy Virgin: "Your blessing, O St. Brigid, has guarded us this night from present death. Now we know all things that were foretold about you." And Brigid said to him: "Not only in this night, but as long as you shall live, and henceforth she renders his house secure from slaughter: blood shall not be shed in your dwelling." This was afterwards proved true; for when a certain man wished to strike a certain woman there, his hand, which he had extended, stiffened and he could not draw it back, until he released the woman unharmed.

[7] On the following day, one of her maidens said to Blessed Brigid: "Would that the Angel of the Lord might always help you, as he did in the past night, freeing you and your father with his household!" The spouse of Christ said to her: "Not in that night only, but already throughout my whole life, she is always cherished by Angels, I have the help of my God through Angels in all things; for daily He grants me the joy of heart, since through Him I daily hear the sounds and spiritual songs of hymns and heavenly organs. daily she hears heavenly songs and Masses celebrated at a distance: I am also able daily to hear the holy Masses which are celebrated far away on earth for the Lord, as though they were near through the Lord Himself; and my Angels offer my prayers to the Lord night and day; and both in my presence and in my absence He always hears me. I will now show you this by two examples. At a certain time, a certain leprous and sick woman asked me she gives water to a leprous woman, blessed by an Angel, to bring her water and to minister mercifully to her in other necessities. Therefore I blessed a vessel full of water and gave it to her, saying: 'Place this between yourself and the wall; let no one except you alone touch it, until I return.' My Angel blessed that water in my presence, and it was turned into whatever taste the leprous woman wished. For when she wished for or desired honey, it had the taste of honey; when wine, having every taste from it: or beer, or milk, or other liquors, she had them in that same water; and it was changed by turns according to her will. Likewise, when I was a little girl, I made a stone altar in childish play for the Lord; and the Angel of the Lord came, in my presence, as a little girl, aided by him even in play: and pierced the stone at its four corners and placed four wooden legs beneath it. These two things about my Angel I have shown you, O maiden, so that you may glorify our Lord Jesus Christ. And thus His grace always remains with me."

[8] At the same time, the chieftain Dubthach, the father of St. Brigid, said to her: "I ask you, holy Virgin, go to our King, and ask that he grant in perpetuity the sword which he lent me for a time; for it is a very precious gift." The Virgin of Christ therefore obeyed her father and went out to the King of the Leinstermen, who was staying in the plain of the Liffey. When the Virgin of God with her companions was sitting at the gate of the King's city, one of the King's servants came to her, saying: "If you will release me, Lady, from the yoke of my lord the King, she asks from the King a sword for her father, I shall be your servant forever, with all my family, and my offspring after me; and I and my kinsmen shall be Christians." The Virgin said to him: "I shall petition for you." Then the blessed Virgin was summoned to the King. The King said to her: "Blessed Virgin Brigid, what do you wish from me?" The holy Virgin said to him: a slave for herself; "That you grant your sword, which my father has, to him forever, and that you offer that servant of yours with his family to me as a freedman." The King said to her: "O Saint, the sword you ask for is most precious; but what greater thing will you give me for these two petitions?" The holy Virgin said to him: "If you wish, I will obtain eternal life for you, and from your seed there shall be Kings until the end of the age." The King said to her: "I do not seek the life which I do not see; nor do I care about the sons who will come after me. But give me two other things: that I may be long-lived in this present life which I love, and that I may be victorious in every war; for we Leinstermen have continual warfare against the seed of Conn." and she promises him long life and victory; The most blessed Brigid therefore said to the King: "These two things shall be given to you: that is, long life and victory in every war." Then the glorious spouse of Christ, blessing the King's victory, returned with her gifts to her own place.

[9] Not long after, that King went with few soldiers into the land of his enemies, that is, the descendants of ^a Conn, namely into the plain of Breagh. A ready host of enemies met him there. And when the King saw the multitude of enemies, he said to his men: "Be strong, and call upon St. Brigid for help; whence he soon conquers many with few, for she will fulfill her promises." And crying out to heaven, they called upon the name of the holy Virgin. And then, as they rushed upon one another, the King saw as it were St. Brigid going before him into battle with a staff in her right hand, and a column of fire burned from her head up to heaven. And immediately very many of the enemies were turned to flight. The King and his men, having achieved their victory, gave thanks to God and to Blessed Brigid. After this, the King waged thirty wars in Ireland and won them all; and he fought eight battles in Britain successfully. and wages very many wars successfully, And many kings, having given gifts, sought his friendship, knowing him to be unconquered. That King was called ^b Illand Mac-Dunlaing, that is, he who was the son of Dunlaing; who slew ^c Engus, son of Naidfraich, King of the Munstermen, whom Patrick the Preacher of Ireland had baptized, together with his wife Ethne Uathach, daughter of King Crimthann, King of the Ui Cheinnselaig and the Leinstermen; who also slew ^d Ailill Molt, King of Ireland, near Tara, and reigned after him; ^e and he himself, dying, was buried at the monastery of St. Brigid.

[10] Now it came to pass after the death of Illand, who lived one hundred and twenty years, that the descendants of Niall gathered an army to devastate the borders of the Leinstermen. even after death, he served as a cause of victory for his people. The Leinstermen took counsel, saying: "Let us place the dead body of our King before us in a chariot against the enemies, and let us fight around his corpse." And when they did so, immediately the descendants of Niall were turned to flight, and a slaughter was made among them. For the gift of victory through St. Brigid still remained in the body.

CHAPTER III

Zeal for the Divine Word and Sacred Things, Divinely Confirmed. Generosity to the Needy Rewarded with Immediate Return.

[11] On another day, a certain holy man came to the place where St. Brigid was praying alone, and found her standing with her hands stretched out in prayer toward heaven. At the same hour, a great outcry of women and young men was made in that town; for at that hour calves had rushed out to the cows, and when the people separated them from their mothers, the outcry arose from that. Brigid in ecstasy hears Masses at Rome: But the Saint did not hear this, being intent upon God in rapture of mind. The holy man, seeing that Brigid did not hear the outcry, left her so as not to disturb her prayer; and after an hour, returning to her, he said: "O St. Brigid, did you not hear the great outcry that was in the town?" She said: "Truly I did not hear that outcry." The holy man said to her: "Where was your hearing?" She answered: "God is my witness: I was then hearing Masses in the city of Rome, near Saints Peter and Paul; and I greatly desire that that rite and the entire rule from Rome be brought to me." she seeks the rite of the Mass from Rome: Then Blessed Brigid sent wise men to Rome, that they might bring back from there the Masses and the ecclesiastical rule.

[12] On a certain rainy day, the glorious Virgin Brigid came from the road to her cell, and when after the rain the sun was shining, a ray of sunlight entered the house through the wall. she hangs her garment on a sunbeam, St. Brigid placed her wet garments upon that ray, thinking it was a cord. At that time a certain wise man was preaching the word of God in that house; and Blessed Brigid was greatly intent upon the divine words, and for a great part of the night the Virgin's mind, intoxicated with divine teaching, forgot the secular things present around her. the ray remaining until midnight, That ray, upon which the Virgin had placed her garments, remained until midnight. Then one of those who were in that house said to the holy Virgin: "Take your garment, O Lady, from the sunbeam." The Virgin of God said: "Truly I thought it was a cord and not a ray." and shining outside as well, showing the way: On the same day certain people came across the plain of the Liffey to St. Brigid, and night fell upon them in the plain; but that ray of the sun illuminated the way for them. And they themselves said that they had seen that ray illuminating the plain for them until at midnight they came to St. Brigid. Then all who were there raised their voices in the praises of God and praised St. Brigid, through whom God had accomplished such things.

[13] The most holy Virgin Brigid prepared a feast in honor of a certain solemnity of the Lord; she gives the food prepared for her own household to the poor, but she distributed this feast to the poor who came, before the festival. At this the household of the Virgin was saddened, for many of the common people, invited by St. Brigid, had come for that feast day. The Saint of God, seeing this, prayed to the Lord that night; and behold, in that same region a certain steward, a very rich man, was conveying a feast for the King in wagons for that same feast day. He lost his way on his most familiar roads until by a direct course he arrived at the gate of the monastery of St. Brigid. The Saint of God, knowing this by divine inspiration, went out to meet him and inquired about his journey. she unexpectedly receives others, He, admonished by God, offered his entire provision to St. Brigid, saying: "For this reason God caused me to go astray in my own region; I will make another feast for my lord the King." When the King heard this, he offered that steward with all his people to God and to St. Brigid, to serve her place forever. The same King sent again to St. Brigid other wagons full as a supplement for the holy solemnity. Then St. Brigid found the Gospel promise fulfilled, in which it is said, "He shall receive a hundredfold." With these provisions the assembly at St. Brigid's was solemnly feasted. heaped up by the King:

[14] A certain Queen came to Blessed Brigid with great gifts, among which was a silver chain that had at its top the form of a man. When these were delivered, the Queen returned with a blessing to her own place. The maidens, taking that chain from the hands of St. Brigid, placed it in the treasury of the church. she gives a silver chain to the poor, The blessed Mother immediately distributed all the rest to the poor. On a certain day a poor man came to St. Brigid; and the blessed Virgin, having nothing else, then went to the common treasury and, taking the aforesaid chain, gave it to the poor man. When the maidens learned of this, they spoke to Blessed Brigid: "We have lost, O Mother, through you what God sends us through good Christians; for you give everything to the poor and leave us destitute." Then Blessed Brigid, wishing to calm them, she obtains a similar one by divine favor, said to them: "Go, daughters, and look for a chain where I go in the church; perhaps you will find it there." And when they went out, they found there a chain most similar in every respect to that chain, and they brought it to St. Brigid, asking pardon. Then the holy Virgin said: "Give earthly things to God; God will give you both earthly and heavenly things." And the maidens always kept that chain as a testimony of virtue.

[15] The holy Bishop and Prophet of God, Conlianus, who had a cell in the southern part of the plain of the Liffey, came by chariot to St. Brigid and stayed with her for some days. Blessed Brigid chose him as the first Bishop of her city of Kildare. by blessing, she preserves the chariot without wheel-pins: On a certain day, the Bishop, returning to his own place, said to the holy Virgin: "Bless, Lady, our chariot and our journey." And the Saint blessed them. But the Bishop's charioteer, yoking the chariot, forgot to put the ^awheel-pins against the wheels. Afterwards that chariot sped swiftly across the plain. When after a great part of the day the Bishop inspected the chariot, he saw that it had no wheel-pins. Then he descended from the chariot, gave thanks to God, and blessed St. Brigid, magnifying the miracle of her blessing.

[16] On another day, St. Brigid and another holy Virgin came together, sitting in one chariot across the plain of the Liffey. The charioteer of the Virgin happened to be a holy Priest, who was preaching the word of God to the Virgins; there were no others on the road. while the charioteer preaches, she preserves the chariot, St. Brigid said to him: "Do not preach to us with your face turned toward us. Place your reins behind your back. Our horses will go by a straight path, with God guiding them, to our monastery." And so it was done. For the horses went by the straight road through the plain. While the holy Priest was preaching to the Virgins, and they were listening with attentive ears and eager minds, one horse pulled its head and neck from the yoke when one horse shook off the yoke, and walked free behind the chariot, without their knowing. Then the King of the Leinstermen, sitting near the road on a high hill, said to all standing around him and marveling at the sight: "I tell you truly that St. Brigid sits in that chariot, not caring about the horses, while she attends solely to the soul." The other horse was pulling the chariot strongly and vigorously. soon the horse resumes of its own accord: But that horse, hearing the clamor of the marveling and running crowd, came to the chariot and placed its neck under its yoke by itself. Then the voices of the King and his army were raised to heaven, and that admirable miracle was spread by them through the whole region, and they glorified God and Blessed Brigid.

[17] A certain leper from among the descendants of Niall came to St. Brigid, asking her for a cow. The Saint said to her herdsman: "Give him a cow." The herdsman said: "What kind of cow shall I give him?" she gives the best calf to a poor man, The Saint said: "I wish it to be the best of all." Then they chose an excellent calf, and releasing it, it ran to the herd with a great lowing; the best of the cows met it, and they loved each other so much that no one could separate them. That calf, however, was not of that cow, but of another; whom the best cow loves and follows as her own, yet she loved it with great love as her own, on account of the will of St. Brigid, because she wished that the poor man of Christ should take the best of her cattle. Then that leper said to the Saint of God: "I cannot alone drive a cow with a calf to my province." And the pious Mother said to a certain attendant who was then cooking meat in a cauldron: "Go and drive the cattle to his land with the leper." He said: "Who will cook the meat?" The Saint said: "You yourself come quickly back to it." And so it was accomplished, just as the Saint had said. [and he makes a two-day journey in one hour, the servant being told to return quickly:] For he went out with the leper on a journey of two days in one hour, and immediately returned in the same time, and found the meat in the cauldron not yet cooked. And all marveled at this. But the almighty Lord granted this to the will of His faithful handmaid.

CHAPTER IV

Deeds at the Court of St. Ibar. Wondrous Beneficence and Meekness.

[18] At another time Blessed Brigid was asked by her household to go to the holy Bishop Ibar, who was staying in the plain of Gessill, and to ask him for grain. Blessed Brigid, obedient to her own people, set out on the journey. The holy Ibar, who had been a sower of the faith in many places before the most blessed Patrick, rejoiced with great joy at the arrival of the glorious Virgin Brigid. As the holy Bishop Ibar and St. Brigid were dining with their companions the portions of bacon of the disobedient turned into serpents, and eating meat, two virgins among the maidens of Blessed Brigid looked with disdain at the two portions of bacon that fell to them, refusing to eat meat; and those portions were turned into two serpents. Blessed Brigid, seeing this, severely rebuked those virgins in the presence of the blessed Bishop Ibar, and also commanded them to remain outside and do penance with tears. The Saint said to her companions: "Let us also pray to the Lord for them." And when pardon was given by God, she turns them into loaves, those serpents were turned into two loaves, which the Saints ate after they were consecrated.

[19] Then the holy Bishop said to the holy Virgin: "For what reason have you come to me, Mother?" The Virgin answered: "My people say that they lack grain." The Bishop said with a smile: "O blessed Virgin, we do not have much in abundance at present." The Saint of God said: she obtains that St. Ibar's granary be divinely filled with grain: "It is not so according to the prophecy, but twenty-four cartloads stand there in your granary." And so it came to pass by God's will, for that much was in that granary -- though not much had been there before. When the Bishop ordered this to be verified, twenty-four cartloads were found there according to the prophecy of St. Brigid. And giving thanks to God, they divided it between them: twelve cartloads were left to the Bishop, and Blessed Brigid returned to her own place with twelve.

[20] A certain King came to the holy Virgin to celebrate the solemnity of Pentecost; and when he had celebrated that night, in the morning after the solemnities of the Masses he hastened with his men in chariots and on horseback to his fortress. The holy Virgin, after completing the day's solemnities, came to the table; with both rich and poor sitting before her together, a generous provision was set before all. Then a certain most arrogant leper, at the devil's instruction, refused to eat food unless Blessed Brigid gave him the spear of the aforesaid King. All said, urging him to eat: "Leper, you saw the spear yesterday; she complies with an arrogant leper, why did you not ask for it to be given to you?" He said: "Because today I desired it." Then St. Brigid and all urged him to eat, but they did not prevail. Blessed Brigid now refused to take food while a poor man was fasting before her. At once the blessed Virgin sent horsemen after the King to request his spear. They, riding swiftly, found

the King crossing the ford of a certain small river, and they indicated to him what they sought. And the King rejoiced at this and gave them the spear, saying: "If our lady Brigid were to ask for all our weapons, I would immediately give them to her." Then the messengers of St. Brigid asked and obtains the King's spear for him, where the King had tarried so long that he had not gone further. The King's companions said to them: "We tarried nowhere, but rode swiftly; yet we know that the power of God through Blessed Brigid held us back, God delaying his journey: so that the Saint of God might be quickly freed from the importunity of the leper." Then all praised God and St. Brigid, and the King, rejoicing, quickly reached his fortress. When the messengers showed the King's spear to the holy Virgin, she ordered it to be given to the leper. And giving thanks to God, all were solemnly refreshed with her.

[21] When Brigid was once at the monastery and was sitting near the gate of that place, she saw a man walking very bent over at the bank of the nearby river, and he was carrying a burden. The Saint of God, moved with compassion for him, said: "Let us go to that man and carry his burden." The Saint, coming to him, said: "Give us your burden, for it makes you very bent." He answered: "It is not the burden that bends me, but an old pain from my youth." When he asked who the Virgin was, he was told that it was St. Brigid. she straightens one who was bent, That man said: "I give thanks to God, for I have found her whom I sought." And he said to the holy Virgin: "I ask you, holy Mother, to pray to God for me, that my body may be straightened." having first commanded him to wash in the river: The blessed Virgin said: "Enter the hospice and rest in it this night, and I will do what you wish." That night the Saint prayed to the Lord for him. When morning came, she said to that man: "Go to the river and wash yourself there in the name of the Savior, and pray to God; and I tell you that you shall lift your neck. Do not depart from there until I tell you that you shall lift your neck." And doing according to the command of the holy Virgin, he was healed; and blessing his healer, he gave thanks to God, who had straightened him after he had been bent for eighteen years.

CHAPTER V

Ulster Visited, with St. Patrick: His Foreseen Burial, and Future Heresies to Come; and Other Matters.

[22] After these things, she went out with the Archbishop Patrick to the northern region of Ireland. she goes to Ulster with St. Patrick: On a certain day St. Patrick was preaching the word of God there to the people; but St. Brigid fell asleep at that hour. After the preaching, St. Patrick said to Blessed Brigid: "O holy Virgin, why did you fall asleep during the word of God?" When the Virgin heard this, she asked pardon, bending her knees and saying: "Spare me, Father; spare me, holy Lord. In that hour I saw a dream." The holy Bishop said to her: "Tell it to us, daughter." The holy Virgin said: "I, your handmaid, saw four ploughs ploughing all of Ireland; and the sowers sowed seed, and immediately it grew and began to ripen; and streams of fresh milk filled the furrows; and those sowers were clothed in white garments. she foresees future heresies in Ireland, After this I saw other ploughs, and the ploughmen were black, who overturned the good harvest, and tore it up with the ploughshare, and sowed tares; and troubled waters filled the furrows." The Bishop said to the Virgin: "Blessed Virgin, you have seen a true and wondrous vision. the vision explained by St. Patrick: This is its interpretation: We are the good ploughmen, who with the ploughs of the four Gospels cleave human hearts and sow the word of God; and streams of the milk of the Christian faith flow from us. But at the end of the age, evil teachers, consenting with evil men, shall come, who will overturn our teaching and lead astray almost all people." Then those who were there with St. Patrick and St. Brigid blessed God.

[23] On another day, a certain poor leper came to St. Brigid, asking that his garments be washed at St. Brigid's house. The Virgin said to him: "It shall be done for you as you wish." The leper said: "It is necessary for me to be naked the disobedient one punished for an hour with leprosy, as long as my garments are wet." St. Brigid said to one of her maidens: "Give your garments to the leper, since you have others, until his garments are clean." But that maiden refused to give them; and immediately the disobedient one was struck with leprosy. But after the space of one hour, when she did penance and St. Brigid prayed for her, she was made clean. Another maiden gave her own ^acloak to the leper, and she heals another leper, for fear seized them all. Then the leper, after he stripped off his garments before St. Brigid, was cleansed of his leprosy. And all who saw such things gave praises to God.

[24] In that region, during the time of Lent, St. Brigid stayed with her maidens in a certain small cell. On a certain night, eight thieves, strong men, came to steal the four horses that Blessed Brigid had with her companions. Then one who was without sleep said to St. Brigid: she allows her horses to be led away by thieves at night, "O Mother, our horses are being stolen." The Saint said to her: "Let them be, daughter; I already sense it, but those who are taking them are stronger than we." Then the robbers, having taken the four horses, went to the house of a certain commoner and stole forty measures of grain from there, loading it on the four horses and on their own shoulders. And thinking they were going to their own home, they were led back by God's will to the cell of the Virgins, and setting down the burdens from the horses, after their labor they fell into a heavy sleep in a dark corner. When morning came, behold, the men whose grain had been stolen the previous night whom they themselves unknowingly bring back with grain taken from elsewhere; came to the cell of St. Brigid, having taken up arms and following the tracks of the thieves and the horses all the way to the cell. When St. Brigid came to them, they said to her: "Our grain was stolen last night, but we have followed the tracks of the thieves and the horses to the gate of this place. We beg you, do not conceal anything of this matter." Then the blessed Virgin returned and saw the robbers sleeping, and roused them, saying: "Why have you brought stolen goods to us?" They, now terrified and astonished, said: "Because we thought, Lady, that we were coming to our own house." Then St. Brigid sent to St. Patrick, who was staying nearby, that he might come and free the robbers. but they are freed by St. Patrick: St. Patrick immediately came to the holy Virgin, and the thieves were set free and did penance; and those men offered their grain to Blessed Brigid and her Virgins, knowing that it had been given to them by God. And through these things the name of St. Brigid was spread abroad in those regions.

[25] On a certain day, St. Patrick was preaching the word of God in the land of the Ulstermen to the crowds and to Blessed Brigid. Then the people saw a cloud of great brightness descending from heaven to earth, flashing with immense splendor, and it stood for a short space of time near the people, close by. Afterwards that cloud, rising, went out to the citadel of ^cDownpatrick (where St. Patrick himself is buried, and ^dBlessed Brigid, and the relics of the most blessed Abbot Columba were after many years placed in one sepulchre), and after tarrying there for a longer time, it vanished there. his burial designated by the portent of a cloud, The crowds did not dare to ask St. Patrick what that wondrous vision signified, but they asked the gentle Virgin Brigid. The Saint said to them: "Ask our Father Patrick." When St. Patrick heard this, he said: "You and I are equals; therefore reveal this mystery to them." Then the holy Virgin said to the crowds: "In that cloud was the Angel of our Father St. Patrick, who came to visit the places she herself explains it: where his body would rest and be buried after his death. For where the cloud first stood near us, there the body of our Patron will lie unburied for some days after his death; ^ebut then it will be carried and buried in the citadel of Downpatrick, and there it will remain until the day of judgment." Then St. Patrick said to St. Brigid he prepares a linen cloth for her, that she should make with her own hands a linen shroud in which his body might be covered after his death, desiring to pass to eternal life wrapped in that linen. And so the holy Virgin did. And she said to St. Patrick: "From one sepulchre I and you, Father, and the beloved of God, ^fSt. Columba (who was not yet born), shall rise again." And in that linen the body of our most blessed Father Patrick was wrapped. and she foretells that she and St. Columba will be buried with him: And when these things were said, the crowds gave praises to God.

[26] There was a certain noble, wealthy, and good man in the plain of Armagh, who was suffering a most grievous pain and plague, and could not be cured by physicians. He sent to St. Brigid, asking her to deign to come to him. When the Virgin of God saw his house from afar, she said: "From whatever direction the wind comes to that house, the sick man, on account of curses, it brings with it a curse and disease to the master of the house." When this was reported to that man, he said: "It seems to me that I have done evil to no man." Then his herdsman, standing before him, said to him: on account of roads diverted, "I have heard, my lord, all travelers cursing you as with one mouth, because your farmers, fortifying your fields with hedges, have changed all the level and straight roads into rough and thorny ones." St. Brigid, hearing this, said: "Truly this is the cause of your pains." Then, at his command, all the roads were restored to their former condition, and all travelers blessed him. when they are restored, she heals him by prayer: And immediately that man (with St. Brigid praying for him) was healed of all his pain, and gave thanks to God and to St. Brigid.

[27] On a certain day, while St. Brigid was sitting with her maidens on the side of the town of Armagh, two men came to her carrying an open wooden vessel full of water. When they arrived, they asked the Saint of God she blesses water, to bless the water. And she blessed the water and the men. As they were going away, it happened that the vessel fell from them to the ground which, when the vessel falls, does not spill, upon its side, and it was neither broken nor was the water spilled from it, though it was open -- the grace of St. Brigid's blessing guarding it. When St. Patrick heard of that miracle, he ordered that water to be distributed to the churches of that region, and when preserved, it heals diseases: to be used for the Eucharist of the blood of Christ, and that the sick might be sprinkled with it for their healing. And so it was done; and those who were healed by that water praised God and His handmaid St. Brigid.

[28] Then, when the holy Father and St. Brigid with her companions came together in one place, [for three days and nights she hears St. Patrick preaching with others, and does not perceive night:] the blessed Bishop Patrick did not cease for three days and nights to preach the word of God to the people; nor did the sun set for them, but all thought it was a single hour. A certain man, however, knowing them to have been there for so long, came upon them and said: "Why do you sit here so long, O Saints?" The Bishop said to him: "What hour of the day is it now?" He answered: "Truly you have been here for three days and nights." Then Father Patrick said: "We would have been thus for forty days and nights if someone from outside had not told us, and we would have felt no weariness or hunger, divine grace bestowing this upon us." Then the Saints returned to their own places.

CHAPTER VI

In Meath, Offspring Obtained for the Queen. Slaughters Prevented. Superstitious Signs Dispersed.

[29] After these things, the most blessed Brigid received leave from the Archbishop St. Patrick to come to her own homeland, and she came to the plain of Breagh in the region of Meath. While she was dwelling there in a certain cell, the wife of the son of Conall, son of Niall, King of Ireland, came to her to beseech her on her behalf, because she was barren; she is visited by the Queen, and she had a silver goblet as an offering for St. Brigid. The Saint of God, not wishing to go out to her, sent one of her maidens to greet her as she waited outside. That maiden, returning to St. Brigid, said: "Why, Lady, do you not wish to come to the Queen, to pray to God for her that she might have a son, when you often pray for the wives of country folk?" The Saint of God answered: "Because country folk and the poor serve God (except a few) and ask for God. But the sons of kings are serpents, and sons of blood and of fornications, except the few chosen by God. she obtains a son for her and foretells what he will be: But since she has adjured us, go to her and say to her: 'You shall have offspring, who will be bloody and of a cursed stock, but nevertheless will hold the kingdom for many years.'" And the outcome proved it so.

[30] On a certain day, a certain madman, running from place to place, driven by fury, met St. Brigid; he afflicted all those he encountered in those places. The holy Virgin, seeing him, said to him: "Preach to me, O man, from a madman she receives excellent teachings: the word of my Lord Jesus Christ." The companions of the Saint of God, though very fearful, placed their trust in the holiness of their Lady. The madman, now made gentle, said to the Virgin: "O Blessed Brigid, I shall fulfill your commands: Love God, and all good people will love you; honor God, and all will honor you; fear God, and all will fear you." And when he had said these things, he fled with a cry.

[31] At the same time, Conall, the son of Niall, came to St. Brigid as she was walking on the road, and said to her: "O holy Virgin, bless me carefully, lest my brother Cairbre kill me, who hates me greatly on account of the kingdom." The Saint of God said to him: "Let your soldiers go before me, and I will bless you as you follow them; for it is not fitting for us to go with them." Then they went ahead, she blesses two brothers in deadly conflict with each other, and as all were going along the hill, one of the virgins said to St. Brigid: "Alas, Mother, what shall we do? Behold, Cairbre, the brother of that lord, is approaching behind us; and those brothers will now kill each other." The Saint said to them: "Our God will not let this happen to us." And when he had arrived, he said to St. Brigid: "O holy Virgin, bless me, for in these places I fear my brother Conall." Then they all went together with the Saint of God, and they did not recognize each other; nor do they recognize each other: for God blinded their eyes so that they might not recognize each other, on account of St. Brigid. And separating by different roads, Cairbre and Conall kissed each other, each thinking the other was a certain friend of his. And afterwards, learning of this, they greatly magnified the name of God and of St. Brigid.

[32] Again, at another time, the same Conall, surrounded by his bodyguards and marked with evil stigmata, came to St. Brigid, saying: "We need your blessing, O Saint of God; for we wish to go to distant regions of the land to devastate and kill our enemies." The Saint answered: "I will pray to my almighty God that on this expedition no one may harm you and no one may be harmed by you; and that you may henceforth put aside these diabolical signs." And Christ swiftly fulfilled these wishes of the Virgin. For when they heard these things, they sailed to the region of the ^aPicts, she makes it so that those wearing diabolical stigmata harm no one, which is the northern part of Britain, and they stormed a certain fortress, and it seemed to them that they burned it, and they thought they had killed and beheaded many of their enemies. And they returned to their homeland with great noise and rejoicing, carrying the heads of the enemy chieftains. But when they came to the harbor, they saw neither heads nor blood; and neither in their garments nor in their weapons did any gore appear. And they were astonished and said to one another: "What has happened to us? Where are the things we perceived?" Then, having taken counsel, they sent messengers back to the fortress they had burned, to inquire whether anything had happened to them. striking shadows instead of men: The messengers asked the inhabitants of that place, saying: "Has anything new happened to you?" And they said: "Nothing, except that we found straw burned today, and we found stones torn down from walls everywhere; but we saw no one, nor did we perceive who did this." The messengers, returning, reported these things to Conall. Then Conall, magnifying the name of God, headed for his homeland with his men. having laid aside their stigmata, she blesses them, Coming to where St. Brigid was and narrating all these things to her, he and his men set aside their stigmata according to the command of the Virgin. She said to Conall: "Because you have rejected your stigmata on my account, in whatever danger you invoke me, God will defend you through me, and you shall escape unharmed."

[33] And this promise was once fulfilled thus: for after a time, Conall himself went out with his great army into the region of his enemies, and there he wrought a great slaughter, and after victory returned gloriously to his own land. When they had come not far from that land, night was falling upon them; and Conall, seeing a certain deserted fortress, entered it. and she protects him in dangers, Then his soldiers said to him: "If we remain here near the land of our enemies, we shall be delivered to death; for our enemies will secretly follow us and, rushing upon us, will kill us as we sleep." Their lord said to them: "Night is now falling and I am weary. Know that the most blessed Brigid promised me that she would defend me in every danger when I called upon her; and I believe that what she promised would be true. Into the hands of God through her I commend myself and my companions this night." And immediately the enemies came after them that night, following their tracks. When they came near the fortress where Conall was, the enemies being deluded by a false appearance: they sent three men to reconnoiter the fortress. And those men, entering the fortress where Conall was, saw a great multitude sitting in clerical attire, with a fire in their midst and open books before them -- for the soldiers had placed the heads of their enemies before themselves, and these appeared as though they were people examining open books. The scouts returned and reported such things to their lords. And again they sent three other more keen-sighted men, and they likewise saw clerics with their open books, just as the first had seen. Then the army of the enemies returned to their own region. On the following day they sent messengers after Conall to ask for the heads, that they might be buried with their bodies. The messengers reported this to Conall, and he gave back the heads, and they returned, reporting to their lords that Conall was there with his army. Both sides, knowing such things, glorified God and St. Brigid.

[34] At another time Blessed Brigid, asked by certain people, went to the King who was staying in the plain of Breagh, to free a certain man who was in chains with the King. The holy Virgin promised to offer a petition on his behalf to the King. But the King was by no means willing to release him, promising that he would be killed that very day. she pleads for a captive, in vain: St. Brigid barely obtained that a respite of that one night be granted to him. Then St. Brigid, that night, went with the kinsmen and friends of the prisoner; while all slept, Brigid alone kept vigil. His men said to the King: "Unless that captive is killed this night, my lord King, no one will be able to kill him tomorrow, because St. Brigid will free him. Let us therefore form a plan: we will seize him by force and kill him without your counsel, and you will be blameless." The Saint of God knew of this treachery by divine revelation, and in the first watch of the night a vision appeared to the man who was in chains: he saw St. Brigid standing beside him and saying to him: "Behold, evil men are plotting to kill you this night. But when you are dragged away by them to be slaughtered, call upon my name repeatedly; and when the chain has been removed from your neck so they can kill you, turn to your right side, and you will escape from them unharmed and come to us." Afterwards, when he awoke, they came warned in a dream, she snatches him from danger, and seized him from the King's palace; leading him outside, they loosed the chains from him. But he, once freed, immediately escaped from them and came unharmed to St. Brigid. They thought they had killed him and cut off his head. On the next day, however, neither body nor head appeared, the killers deluded by a phantom: since they had been seeing a phantom. Everyone was astonished and bewildered. When the sun had risen, Blessed Brigid sent a messenger to tell the King what had happened. The King, hearing these things, did penance and relinquished all his enmity toward that man, on account of the most holy Brigid.

[35] On a certain day, some foolish men came to Blessed Brigid, wearing diabolical stigmata on their heads, who sought to shed blood. When they asked to be blessed by St. Brigid, she asked them in return [she signs the superstitious stigmata with the Cross, so they may not harm anyone,] to cease from using these vain things. But they said: "We cannot lay aside our stigmata thus." And the Virgin, seeing the forms of the signs, greatly marveled; and she signed them with the seal of Christ, not for the sake of blessing, but so that men might not perish through them. They then went away, seeking to shed blood, and finding a commoner on the road, it seemed to them that they slaughtered and beheaded him. But that man went through the midst of them unharmed to his own house, it being a phantom that appeared to them. and after a vain appearance of slaughter, Afterwards, seeking his head, or his body, or his blood, they found nothing, and said to one another: "A miracle has happened to us, done by God for St. Brigid's sake: we thought we killed the man, and yet we did not kill him." she obtains that they be cast aside: The deed was spread abroad by them through the whole region; and afterwards they themselves, glorifying God and magnifying St. Brigid, abandoned their stigmata.

[36] A certain chieftain in the plain of the Liffey came to St. Brigid to be blessed by her. blessing a chieftain, And the Saint blessed him carefully. The chieftain returned joyfully to his fortress. A certain bold man, who was an enemy of the chieftain, entered the fortress secretly that night while all were sleeping and, taking a candle from the candelabrum, sought the sleeping chieftain. she preserves him, though stabbed three times with a sword, Finding him, he saw a sword upon the pillow beside him; and taking the chieftain's own sword, he thrust it forcefully into the chieftain's heart three times, and immediately took to flight. Then all, knowing of the shedding of blood, arose and made lamentation, thinking the chieftain was dead. unharmed, But the chieftain, awakening from a heavy sleep, only slightly wounded, remained safe and sound, and consoled them, saying: "Lay aside your lamentation, for the blessing of St. Brigid, who blessed me today, has guarded me from this great danger." On the next day, the chieftain himself came to St. Brigid with great gifts, giving her thanks. and she reconciles him with his enemy: Then the glorious Brigid made peace forever between that chieftain and the enemy who had stabbed him, and between their families, through the merits of the same Virgin, by God's gift.

CHAPTER VII

Journey to Munster with St. Erc, Bishop. The Needy Variously Assisted, the Contumacious Punished.

[37] After these things, Blessed Brigid went out to the province of the Munstermen, she sets out for Munster: wishing to visit the holy places and the Saints who were there; and with her went Bishop Erc, who was a disciple of the Archbishop St. Patrick and was born in Munster. When on a certain day they were walking on the road, St. Brigid said to Bishop Erc: "Show me, venerable Father, under what part of the sky your people in Munster dwell." And when the Bishop had pointed it out, the holy Virgin said to him: "A battle is now being waged there between your people and another." The Bishop said to her: "I believe what you say, holy Mother, she sees a battle being fought in a distant province, to be true. For when I came from them to you, I left them in discord." The holy Virgin said to him: "Your people, Father, are now being turned to flight." Then one of the disciples of the holy Bishop, not believing this,

[41] The anchorite, arriving at the island, entered it; but the man whose possession that island was went out with his cattle and servants onto it, wishing to pasture his cattle there through the summer. The holy man, avoiding the sight of women, asked that man to leave the island, but did not prevail. For that man said that he held that land as his paternal inheritance. Then the anchorite sent to St. Brigid, the man, unwilling to acquiesce in her counsel in favor of the servants of God, asking her to come and help him. But when the Saint arrived and asked that man, she could not prevail either. On the following day, however, a great eagle came and snatched up the man's little son into the air. His wife, the mother of the infant, came weeping and crying to St. Brigid, seeking help. The Saint said to her: "Do not weep, for the child lives." And the eagle dropped him on the shore upon the land, she compels him by a double miracle: and so the child was found unharmed. But still that stubborn man remained and dwelt on the shore, unwilling to leave. On the following day, suddenly, by divine power, a most violent wind came and carried him with his people gently across the strait to the nearest harbor. Then that man, moved to compunction of heart, did penance and devoted himself to God and to St. Brigid.

[42] On another day, devout guests came there to St. Brigid. Then the Saint of God said to her fisherman, who was accustomed to kill sea-bulls, that is, seals: "Go to the sea, if you can bring something for the guests." He then set out by boat and took up the spear with which he used to kill sea creatures. Immediately a seal came toward him, and he, raising the spear, drove it into the bull. she preserves a fisherman carried far away, But a rope was hanging around the man's hand, attached to the spear, and the spear was fixed in the seal's head. The bull, grievously wounded, dragged the man with him in his little boat out into the deep, and did not cease until he reached the shore of a certain island situated far away in the sea. Then the rope was cut, and the man remained in his boat on the shore. The seal, however, with the spear hanging from its head, returned to the sea and came in a straight course to the shore of the place where St. Brigid was, and there it died. and suddenly brings him back, along with the escaped prey: The man, trusting in God through the holiness of his lady, attempted to sail, and by a prosperous voyage, at God's will, he came at the sixth hour to his own harbor; and he found there on the shore the dead seal with the spear, lying in a direct line; and entering the house, he narrated to all his voyage.

[43] Then St. Brigid with her companions went out to the plain of Cliach, situated in Munster, and dwelt there in a certain place for a time. There a certain bondwoman came to the Saint of God, fleeing from her mistress because she could not endure her ways. Her mistress, however, followed her, wishing to bring her back. The holy Brigid, wishing to free the wretched woman, asked her mistress to release the bondwoman free to God. But that woman refused, [she causes the hand of the woman who refuses to relinquish the bondwoman to wither; then heals it:] for the bondwoman wove precious garments. And then that mistress seized the hand of her bondwoman and dragged her violently from the side of St. Brigid. This displeased the Saint of God. And when the bondwoman had passed a little beyond St. Brigid, the right hand of the mistress, with which she had held the bondwoman's hand, withered. When she saw that she could not move her hand, she wept; and returning, she did penance and released the bondwoman free to St. Brigid; and immediately her hand was healed.

[44] At another time Blessed Brigid was asked to go to the King of that region, who was then in the plain of Cliach, to free a man who was in the King's chains. The friend of Christ, arriving at the King's house, did not find the King there; but his foster-father with his friends was in the house. The blessed Virgin, seeing harps in the house, by a blessing she confers on certain people the skill of playing, said: "Play the harp for us." The men answered her: "Lady, there are no harpists in the house at present." Then one of St. Brigid's companions said to them in a jesting word: "Let the holy Virgin bless your hands, so that you may fulfill what she commands you, and obey her voice." Then the King's foster-father with his sons said: "Let the Saint of God bless us, so that we may play the harp for her." And when the Saint blessed them, they took up the harps, and though unskilled, they played melodiously, as if they were expert harpists, and sweetly made music. Then the King came to his house, and hearing the sound of music, he said: "Who makes this music?" One of them came to meet him and said: "Your foster-father, my lord, and his sons, at the command of St. Brigid." The King entered the house, marveling at this, she obtains freedom for a captive: and immediately requested a blessing for himself from the holy Virgin. The Saint said: "In return for the blessing, release that man whom you hold in chains, free, to me." Then the King, having received a blessing from St. Brigid, freely and kindly gave her the captive. The King's foster-father and his sons were skilled harpists until the day of their death, and their descendants were harpists honored by kings.

[45] On another day, two lepers came to St. Brigid, asking to be healed. Then the Saint prayed to God and blessed water, and told them to wash one another in the holy water. she cleanses a leper washed with blessed water: When one washed the other, one was immediately cleansed and was clothed in washed garments. The Virgin said to him: "You also wash your companion." But he, seeing that he was cleansed and had washed garments, was unwilling to touch the leprosy of the other, but gloried in his own health. The Saint said to him: "What you wished him to do for you, likewise another; it is fitting that you do the same for him." But he refused and contradicted her. Then Blessed Brigid arose and, washing the leper, he was cleansed between her hands, and she clothed him in washed garments. the former being again infected with leprosy on account of his pride. But he who had been healed first said: "Now I feel sparks of fire upon my shoulders," and immediately his whole body was struck with leprosy on account of his pride. The other, the humble one, was cleansed -- as it is written: "He who exalts himself shall be humbled, and he who humbles himself shall be exalted." And he rejoiced, giving thanks to God, who had healed him through the merits of St. Brigid.

[46] Two other lepers came to St. Brigid, seeking alms. The Saint, having nothing else to give them, gave them one cow that she had. One of them gave thanks to God; but the other was proud and ungrateful, saying: "Unless the cow is given to me alone, I will not have a share of it." Then the Saint said to the humble leper: "You therefore wait here with me a little while, she gives two lepers one cow each; until the Lord sends us something; let him have the cow alone." He went out with his cow, but alone he could not drive it; at length, wearied by his labor, he returned to St. Brigid and hurled many insults at her, saying: "I could not drive it because you did not give it from the heart, being far too hard and unkind." The Saint consoled him but could not soothe him. And this displeasing to the blessed Virgin, she said to him: "You are already a son of perdition. The cow will now be gentle with you, but then it will not profit you." Then a certain man came to St. Brigid, bringing a cow as an offering, which the Saint of God gave to the other leper. Then the two lepers drove their two cows; but the ungrateful and proud one is drowned: and when they came to a certain river, the insolent leper was submerged there and swallowed up in the depths, and his body was never found. The humble one, however, escaped unharmed with his cow.

CHAPTER VIII

Return to Leinster. Provisions Frequently Obtained from God. Aid Given to Those Wandering on the Road.

[47] Many other things Blessed Brigid did in the regions of the Munstermen, she returns to Leinster: and she marked many places and monasteries there. After this she set out on her journey to come to her city in the land of the Leinstermen. When she had come in her chariot across the plain of Feamhire, they found a certain farmer preparing his field. The charioteer of the holy Virgin said to him: "Allow us, that St. Brigid may cross your field with her chariot, and afterwards you can surround your field with a hedge." That man answered: "No, but go around the field." Then the holy Virgin said: "Let us do what he says, lest something harm us on account of that man." falling from the chariot she is injured, But then the charioteer was forcing the horses to cross the field. The man, seeing this, furiously beat the rumps of the horses, and as the horses kicked, Blessed Brigid fell from the chariot and was injured; and the charioteer, falling from the horses, was also injured; and the horses stopped. Then the Saint said: "Did I not tell you to avoid this man, because I saw that he was a man of pestilence and death?" That man undertook his work again, making little of the crime he had committed against the handmaid of God. the one who caused the fall being killed: And God, avenging the injury to His handmaid, that man immediately collapsed to the ground and died there.

[48] Then St. Brigid, coming to the borders of the Leinstermen, entered the region of Labrachy; and there a certain woman came to her with her leprous daughter, that she might be healed. Then the holy Virgin, fasting, prayed, by prayer and blessed water she heals a leper: and blessed water, and ordered the leper to be sprinkled with it; and immediately, when sprinkled with the blessed water, she was cleansed of her leprosy; and she gave thanks to God, together with her mother, and to St. Brigid.

[49] After St. Brigid had arrived at her own city, certain devout men came to visit her and preached to her the divine words. After this, St. Brigid said to her Cellarer: "Prepare a meal for our holy guests." The Cellarer answered: "What kind of meal?" The Saint said to her: "Let many dishes be given to them." The Cellarer answered: "So it shall be; but you, Lady, go first to the church and pray there" -- for the Cellarer had at that time none of the things the Saint mentioned. For the exceeding generosity of the charity of Blessed Brigid distributed more quickly whatever God had given her. The Saint, knowing the reason, said to the Cellarer: "Go now to your cellar, sign it, close it, and returning, pray; and I shall go to the church." At the sixth hour, St. Brigid summoned her Cellarer and said to her: "The time has come by prayer she obtains an abundance of food for guests and the poor; for the servants of God to be refreshed. Go now to the cellar, and whatever you find there, give to them generously." When she opened the cellar, she found there all the foods that St. Brigid the Mother had named. And the food did not fail her for seven days, and was sufficient for the whole time for the guests as well as for the entire household and the poor. No one then knew of this matter except St. Brigid herself and her devout Cellarer. Whence those foods came, or who brought them, the knowledge of God knows.

[50] At another time, while Blessed Brigid was in a certain place where there were streams without aquatic herbs -- the kind that grow in streams from springs without human labor, on which many Saints in the western regions who crucify themselves in fasting subsist -- the choir of Virgins of that place came to her with a question and said to her: "Why, Lady Mother, likewise by vigil and prayer she obtains aquatic herbs for the streams: do aquatic herbs not grow in these waters, which holy men are accustomed to eat?" The devout Virgin, knowing that they wished to have those herbs, kept vigil the following night and prayed to the Lord. When the maidens rose in the morning, they saw the streams full above the water with those herbs -- that is, ^d watercress, and brooklime, and other herbs in abundance. And traveling across long stretches of territory, they found in those places a great multitude of herbs which had previously been unseen there, given by God just as His handmaid had asked. And there to this day, herbs of that same kind, by God's gift, do not fail St. Brigid.

[51] Certain men from distant places came to Brigid, wishing to commend themselves to her, and they brought with them many gifts in wagons and on horses. But on the day when they expected to reach the Saint of God, she knows things in her absence: night fell upon them in a dense forest, and wandering, they could not lead the wagons through the darkness. Blessed Brigid, knowing of their labor by the prophetic spirit, prayed to God for them and said to her companions: "Light a fire and heat water, so that the feet of the guests who are coming to us may be washed." [she obtains that a light be divinely carried before those wandering by night in the forest,] And they marveled that she spoke of men walking in the dense darkness of that night. Then a great lamp appeared to them, illuminating the way for them clearly, until they came to the monastery of St. Brigid; and the most holy Virgin went out to meet them, and all gave thanks to God. After fulfilling their vows, they returned after three days by the same road, and with great labor they could barely lead the empty wagons by day on account of the roughness of the road; and that the rough roads be made level: but Christ in that night had made the terrain level and bright for them, on account of St. Brigid praying for them.

[52] In a similar manner, the holy Bishop Bron, whom we have mentioned, came with chariots and horses and with a great multitude of people to visit St. Brigid; and it happened to them just as we said above. For a winter night, far from the monastery of St. Brigid, fell upon them outside in a dense forest. The holy Virgin, knowing this by divine insight, said to the maidens: for others wandering in similar fashion, she prays with her companions, "Let us pray, daughters, for the holy guests who labor as they come to us, that God may have mercy on their labors." Most wondrous things, dearest Brothers, I am about to tell you. Then Bishop Bron and his companions saw near them what appeared to be the monastery of St. Brigid, and they saw St. Brigid, joyful with her maidens, coming to meet them. She at once led them into a great hall prepared for them, and removing their shoes, she washed their feet, and refreshed them with an abundance of food and drink; they seemed to themselves to be magnificently received by her in the monastery; she took good care of their chariots, and preparing beds, she settled them; and the holy Virgin with her daughters provided them with all things necessary, as it seemed to them. But in the morning, St. Brigid said to her maidens in her monastery: "Let us hasten to meet Bishop Bron with his companions, who were wandering last night in the forest." Then the Saint with her companions made haste, and they found the guests sitting in the forest. which in truth happened the following day: Knowing that God had worked a miracle among them on account of St. Brigid, they narrated what had been done for them, as though the Virgin did not know; and glorifying God with great joy, they came with the Saint of God to her monastery. St. Brigid went out to them in the forest because she knew that they thought they had been in her monastery.

[53] The Bishop Bron, remaining there for some days, returned with his companions to his own region; and St. Brigid gave him a vessel of chrism, she gives her own things, even sacred ones, to pilgrims; which the Bishop received from her as a great gift. For the Saint of God would give her great possessions to pilgrims and the poor of Christ. On a certain day, the Bishop himself, passing along the seashore, to St. Bron, chrism, the Brother who had that vessel forgot it on the shore. Remembering, he came and reported it to the Bishop, weeping. The holy Bishop said to him: "Do not weep, Brother, for I believe that what the most blessed Brigid has given us, the devil cannot destroy." But the sea had come to its fullness before; and the Brother, returning, found the vessel where it had been left, not disturbed by the waves of the sea, which was not corrupted by the waves of the sea: as the sea rose and fell; and the travelers passing by had not touched it, and the vessel was found. He gave thanks to God. And when he showed it to the holy Bishop, he likewise gave thanks to God and to Blessed Brigid.

CHAPTER IX

A Prediction Made to St. Ninnidius. The Fall and Victory of St. Darlugdach.

[54] On a certain day, when the glorious Brigid was a little distance from the monastery in the plain of the Liffey, toward the east, a certain young scholar came along a nearby road, and seeing St. Brigid, he lifted his garments and began to run swiftly and in a buffoon-like manner. St. Brigid said to one of her virgins: "Call him to me." With difficulty he turned aside to her; and when he came, the holy Mother said to him: "Where are you running so fast?" He answered, saying: "Today I must enter the kingdom of God, and I am running toward it." The Saint said: "Would that I might deserve to run with you today to the kingdom of God. Pray for me, Brother, that I may reach the kingdom of God." The scholar answered: "And you, O Saint, pray to God that my course may be constant toward the kingdom of God; and I in turn will pray for you, she leads St. Ninnidius, still a young man, into the religious life, that you and very many with you may go to the kingdom of God." And then, with St. Brigid praying for him, he was filled with the grace of the Holy Spirit, and being converted, he did penance and became a most devout man until his death. He was called Ninnidius, the son of Eathach, from the region of Muli, and he is numbered among the greater Saints of Ireland. St. Brigid said to him: "On the day of my death, I shall receive from your hand the communion of the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ."

[55] St. Ninnidius, wishing from that day to keep his hand most pure -- the hand from which the most blessed Brigid had prophesied that she would receive the Divine viaticum on the day of her departure -- fashioned around it a narrow bronze sleeve, with a lock and key, lest it should touch his body or be touched by anything unclean. Hence he bears his surname: for he is called in Irish Ninidh ^d Lamghlan, which in Latin means "Ninnidius of the Clean Hand." Thereafter the holy Elders, against his will, saw to it that he was ordained, which, though he was ordained against his will, so that what the Divine word says could be spoken of him: "Behold the great Priest." He then sailed across to the regions of the Britons, wishing always to leave Ireland, knowing himself that what St. Brigid had said was true, and while he sojourned outside Ireland, declaring that she would not depart from this world until she received communion from his hand. And entering a ship, he cast the key of his hand into the deep, lest it should ever be opened. But it happened as Holy Scripture says: "There is no wisdom, there is no prudence, there is no counsel against God." Prov. 21:30 For when the day of the most holy Virgin Brigid's reward drew near after a long time, St. Ninnidius, then sailing in the British sea, was driven by God's will and the force of the winds toward the Irish shores; [he was cast back upon it by a storm, and the key was found with which he had locked his bronze-covered hand;] and a great fish was brought to him, and when it was cut open, the key of the lock of St. Ninnidius's hand was found within it. And Blessed Ninnidius, seeing that all these things had come to pass by divine foreordination, was pricked in his heart and said: "It is not fitting for me, a mortal, to act any longer against the will of the living and almighty God." And hearing that Blessed Brigid was ill, he went to her, and at the hour of her falling asleep she received the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of the living God, from the most pure hand of St. Ninnidius, at last it came to pass, just as she herself had prophetically foretold. The remaining course of St. Ninnidius's life, and the miracles which God's grace wrought through him, are contained in his own Life.

[56] At another time a certain man, who dwelt in the eastern region of the plain of the Liffey, who was a good and generous man, came to Blessed Brigid and said to her: "Let your messengers come with me, Lady, and they shall bring you some measures of grain." When they had returned from him with their loads, they found the river Liffey full beyond its banks with ^e flood, and they could not cross because the waters were swollen: [she obtains that her people be carried across the river without their knowing it:] for there was no bridge or boat near those places. The ford of that river, when it is not in flood, is crossed by men and animals. Then they sat upon the bank, calling upon Blessed Brigid for help. And straightway the power of God, by the grace of St. Brigid, conveyed them all together across the river to the other bank, with all their goods. How or in what manner they had been carried across, they did not know. Coming then to St. Brigid, they narrated to her the miracle that had been wrought for them. But the Blessed one commanded them to tell no one.

[57] On a certain day one of the Virgins, who was called the foster-daughter of St. Brigid, Darlughdacha by name, not keeping good watch over her eyes, saw a certain soldier and was captured by love for him; St. Darlugdacha, who was tempted by keeping poor watch over her eyes, and he likewise loved her. On a certain night, while St. Brigid was staying in a certain settlement among the people, that Virgin Darlughdacha was among the others with her, and that soldier came to the very house in which St. Brigid was with her companions. And Blessed Brigid and the Virgin Darlughdacha were lying separately in one room, and the soldier and the Virgin Darlughdacha made an agreement between themselves. When therefore St. Brigid had fallen asleep for a little while, that Virgin arose to go to her assignation. And going forth from the bed, a wondrous turmoil of thoughts rushed upon her, and she had a great and inexpressible struggle in her heart, lest she succumb, between love and fear; for she feared God and her foster-mother St. Brigid, and she burned with a most vehement fire of love for the man. And turning back to herself, she prayed to the Lord to help her in her great distress. she had burned the soles of her feet, And the grace of God inspiring her, she filled her two shoes with live coals of fire and thrust her two feet into them; and so it happened that fire extinguished fire, and pain conquered pain. And thus she returned to her bed with her feet burned. Blessed Brigid, being awake, saw this, but nevertheless kept silent, so that the maiden might be tested by the temptation. On the following day the blessed maiden confessed her sin. [she promises victory over temptations, and heals her soles with the sign of the Cross:] To her the holy Mother Brigid said: "I saw your struggle, daughter; but because you fought manfully and burned your feet in this life, the fire of the flesh shall not tempt you again, and the fire of hell in the world to come shall not touch you." Then Blessed Brigid, taking the burned feet of the blessed Virgin and signing them with the sign of the holy Cross, healed them, so that not even a trace of the burn appeared on them, as if fire had never touched them.

CHAPTER X

Grain Obtained from Heaven for Hospitality. Wondrous Generosity. Various Miracles.

[58] On a certain day Blessed Brigid sent her reapers into the harvest. But beginning at the third hour, a dense rain appeared throughout the whole province, she keeps her reapers free from rain: and from then it poured forth the entire day. And while all the reapers of that region were thus prevented by the rainy day, the harvest of the most blessed Brigid alone was reaped without interruption and without a shadow of darkness, all day long, by the power of God and the working grace of the holy Virgin, under clear skies without ceasing.

[59] On another day a certain Bishop with a great crowd of companions visited St. Brigid; and the blessed Virgin, wishing to refresh him, did not have at hand what she wished to serve him. But the manifold power of God, for the exercise of hospitality, she receives grain divinely, once more: wishing to help her, suddenly bestowed upon her the means to refresh all of them sufficiently. Similarly, when two other Bishops arrived at the Saint of God on the same day, not at the same time, refreshment was found. The holy Virgin had a certain cow which gave a supply of milk most incredibly abundant. A certain greedy man, knowing this, asked the Saint of God that it be given to him as his neighbor. And the charitable Mother gave him that cow. But before he led it to his own estate, likewise an abundance of milk from one cow, and afterward from another: it became like the other cows. Thereafter a certain man gave another cow to St. Brigid, which, by God's gift, became such in its abundance of milk as the aforementioned one had been.

[60] On yet another day a certain woman came to St. Brigid, saying: "Lady, what shall I do about this son of mine? For he is nearly a miscarriage, and blind from birth, having a flat face; and therefore his father wished to kill him." Then Blessed Brigid, taking pity on the woman, for a certain child she obtains eyes and sight by washing him in water: ordered the face of the little boy to be washed in nearby water; and at once he was made whole, the Lord granting health on account of St. Brigid. He was called Crimthanus, and he lived a long time.

[61] While St. Brigid was outside one day in the heathland beside the flock of sheep of her monastery, a certain jesting man, knowing her to be most merciful toward the poor, she gives seven wethers to a pretended pauper, came for sport and at the playful urging of others, in the guise of a poor man to her, and asked for a wether out of charity. And the Saint of God ordered a wether to be given to him. And on that same day, changing his garb, he came seven times, and asking for seven wethers in the name of the Lord from the Saint, he obtained them by cunning in the guise of a poor man, as he wished. But when evening came, the full number of the flock was found, nor is the flock diminished: with seven wethers added by God secretly to the innocent flock; for although those who took the first wethers were not truly poor, yet they had been given in Christ's charity as if to a beggar.

[62] On a certain day some lepers, thirsting from the road, anxiously begged Blessed Brigid for beer. she converts water into beer by a blessing: But Christ's handmaid, seeing that she could not immediately find beer, blessed water that had been carried for a bath; and it was converted by God into excellent beer, and was abundantly served to those who thirsted.

[63] On another day, when a fierce boar had been chased by many dogs and hunters, it came exhausted to the herd of swine of the most blessed Virgin. The Saint, seeing it among her swine, commanded it to remain tame with them; and thereafter the wild creature remained fearless and familiar in the herd of swine of the Saint of God. she orders a boar to remain tame among her swine: For brute animals and wild beasts obeyed her words and her will, and served her in subjection and gentleness.

[64] At a certain time the glorious bride of Christ, Brigid, cured a most fierce and mighty man named Luguid of his excessive eating: she cures an enormous voracity: of whom they assert that at one meal he would eat an ox and a pig, with sufficient bread and drink. For as much as he excelled in strength, so much did he surpass others in eating. The grace of God through St. Brigid therefore made him equal to other men in eating, deprived of none of his strength.

[65] A certain man with his wife was spending the night in one lodging with St. Brigid; and he asked the Saint of God to sign with the holy sign the womb of his wife, she cures a barren woman by a blessing: who had no child, that she might have a son. And the blessed Virgin blessed the womb of that woman with the sign of God. On that very night the man, sleeping with his wife, a distinguished ^a Saint was conceived. That night a certain maidservant of that man's wife stole her silver crescent brooch; she restores a lost ornament to her: and this displeased St. Brigid, fearing lest the woman should say that she had been deceived by the Saint's household. And on the morrow that maidservant fled, and many pursued her; and being unable to escape, she cast that brooch into the river. But a fish of wondrous size immediately swallowed it. found in a fish: Fishermen at that very hour caught that fish in a net, and straightway brought it as an offering to St. Brigid, and when the fish was cut open the brooch was found in its belly; and the Saint ordered it to be given to its mistress. Then that man with his pregnant wife gave thanks to God, blessing the holy Virgin.

[66] On another day St. Brigid was clothed in a white garment, and a certain beggar came asking for some meat from her; and at once the Saint of God went out to the cook; she carries raw meat in her garment without staining it: and he foolishly cast a raw piece of meat into the lap of the holy Mother. And carrying it in her lap, she meekly gave it to the beggar. But as a sign of the Virgin's charity, the garment, by the grace of God, remained white as if it had been untouched by blood. On a certain day Blessed Brigid set down a piece of meat in a certain place, wishing to preserve it for the poor. But a dog, coming to it, sat down beside it she sets down meat, which a dog guards untouched: and in no way touched it; for the dog did not dare to eat what the holy Virgin had set aside, but restrained by Divine power, he proved to be a suitable guardian, sparing the meat, contrary to his usual habit.

[67] At another time St. Brigid visited a certain religious Virgin, who led a solitary life with a few companions, having one cow with a calf. That Virgin, wishing to prepare supper for Blessed Brigid, she restores in full what her devout hostess had consumed: and being unable otherwise to find meat, had the calf of her cow killed and prepared from it. And when there was not sufficient wood for cooking, she had the wood of her loom burned. Blessed Brigid, hearing of all these things, prayed to the Lord that night; and the Lord, by her prayer and His great power, renewed all things in the morning: a calf of the same size and form came playing and lowing to its mother, and the wood of the loom was found whole, just as it had been before.

[68] When some poor people came to St. Brigid and asked for alms, she gives sacred vestments to the poor: the Saint of God, having nothing else at that time, gave them the Mass vestments of Bishop Conlaed, which she had in her keeping. When the holy Bishop came at the hour of sacrifice, he sought his vestments, saying: "I am unable to celebrate the body and blood of Christ without my vestments." Then, as Blessed Brigid prayed from her heart, by prayer she obtains similar ones: God manifested His mercy there on account of the charity of the holy Virgin. For in that very place vestments most similar appeared by the gift of God; and the holy Bishop, receiving them, and all who saw, glorified God.

CHAPTER XI

The Ready Service to Her of Sea, Rivers, Wild Beasts, and Angels. Various Transformations.

[69] At another time also, Blessed Brigid prepared Mass vestments for the holy Bishop Senanus; and since they were separated from each other by a great distance, and the Saint of God was then staying near the sea, she placed them in a chest and ordered the chest to be cast into the sea, trusting in her heart that God would guide it to St. Senanus. St. Senanus dwelt on a certain island situated at the mouth of the ocean, surrounded by a wide strait, in the western region of Ireland. she sends vestments to St. Senanus, far distant, in a chest that floated to him: And by Divine guidance that chest sailed around Ireland to the port of the aforesaid island, to the holy Bishop, across many stretches of sea. Where now experienced sailors in great ships cannot sail without the greatest labor, the chest of the two Saints, with God alone as helmsman, sailed. And the holy Father Senanus, one day, the Holy Spirit revealing it to him, said to his Brothers: "Go as quickly as possible to the sea, and whatever you find there, bring it here with you." They, finding the chest there, brought it to their elder. And Bishop Senanus, telling his Brothers that it was a gift from St. Brigid, gave thanks to God silver cast into a river for St. Hymna the Virgin: and blessed the Virgin of Christ. Now St. Brigid had given a mass of silver to the blessed Virgin Hymna, but the Virgin did not accept it. The holy Mother, seeing this, cast it into a certain river; and the mass came by the river to the cell of the blessed Virgin Hymna, and thus afterward, with God guiding and granting it, she accepted it.

[70] A certain man, condemned to death, was led out, by the King's command. But the most merciful Virgin Brigid caused delay in his execution, asking for his life. Then pure silver was cast down from above by God into the Virgin's lap, and she herself paid it to the King for the wretched man: she frees a condemned man with silver divinely bestowed: and so the condemned man was freed from death through the Saint of God. On yet another day St. Brigid divided one of her tunics between two poor persons, and each received half of the tunic; but by the working of God's grace, [she gives half a tunic to two persons, which becomes whole for each: she pierces a rock with her fingers: a King who spurned her is divinely punished:] according to the desire of the holy Mother's heart, at that very hour a whole tunic was found with each of them.

[71] On another day Blessed Brigid pierced a very hard rock with her fingers, having a very great need, which we now pass over for the sake of brevity. A certain King had expelled a certain Prince from his city, who was a friend of Blessed Brigid. And the Saint of God asked the King on his behalf, that the King would allow him to remain in his principality; and the King refused and did not listen to her. And on that very day, by Divine will, the King fell from his chariot and died from a blow to his head.

[72] At another time, when a multitude of guests had gathered and the provisions were very scanty, [she changes nettles into butter, bark into bacon: she appears to a dying magician (as she had promised) and converts him:] Blessed Brigid changed nettles into butter, and the bark of trees into the richest and sweetest bacon, by the cooperating grace of God. To a certain magician, St. Brigid, who had offered his inheritance to God, promised to meet him at the hour of his death. And so it happened: when that magician lay in his bed awaiting death, he said to his household: "Arrange quickly all things that are necessary, for I see St. Brigid in a white garment with many companions coming to meet me." And then at last he was baptized in Christ, and died a believer in God.

[73] On a certain day Blessed Brigid and another Virgin, named Daria, were conversing together about Christ, [while speaking of Christ, she does not notice the night: by a blessing she confers sight upon St. Daria,] but they did not notice the night; for where the Sun of Justice was present, nothing was dark. But St. Daria had been deprived of her eyes from birth; she said to St. Brigid: "Lady, bless my eyes, that I may be able to see the world, as I desire." Then the Saint blessed her eyes, and at once they were opened; and she looked upon the world, and St. Daria said to St. Brigid: "Close my eyes again; for the more absent a person is from the world, the more present they will be to God." afterward she takes it away at her request: And St. Brigid, signing her eyes, they were closed again, just as she had asked.

[74] she moves an immense timber: On a certain night St. Brigid, alone, aided by God's help, moved from its place a nearly immovable timber of wondrous size, which in daytime very many men could not move; for an Angel of the Lord, together with Blessed Brigid, brought that timber to the place to which the Saint wished it taken. by the aid of an Angel:

[75] A certain woman once went with her mute daughter to the church of St. Brigid, and arriving there called to her a certain Virgin named Darlughdacha, of whom we made mention above, saying to her: "Arrange it, good Virgin, that my daughter may be healed through St. Brigid." Then the Virgin, leading the daughter of the petitioner with her, she obtains a voice for the mute girl, unknowingly: placed her before the sight of Blessed Brigid, and did not indicate to her that the girl was mute. And the holy Mother, seeing her and thinking that she had the power of speech, said to her: "Which do you prefer, daughter: to remain in virginity for God, or to be joined in marriage?" And at once, her tongue loosed, she answered: "Whatever you shall tell me, Mother, that I wish to do." And afterward she remained in virginity until death under the care of St. Brigid, and was very eloquent. she summons wild ducks to herself: On another day, St. Brigid, seeing ducks swimming in a certain river and sometimes flying through the air, called them to herself. When a multitude had gathered, the ducks, obeying the voice of the most holy Virgin, came flying to her most tamely and without any fear. The tender Mother for a little while now stroked them with her hand, now embraced them, and then permitted them to return to their own places.

[76] On a certain day a certain rustic went with great foolishness from the village to the King's palace, and saw there a tame fox running about, and thinking that it was neither tame nor familiar, he killed it in the palace in the sight of the multitude. a rustic who had killed the King's fox and was in peril: That fox was trained and clever in various arts of play, and provided an amusing spectacle for the King and his Companions. Then the man was bound and brought before the King. The King commanded him to be cast into prison, to be killed at the fitting time; and his wife and offspring and all that he possessed were to be given into the King's service. And when some interceded for him, the King said in anger: "Unless another fox, similar in all the cunning of that one, is restored, it shall be as I have said." When St. Brigid had heard these things, and was praying to God with entreaties for that wretched man, she set out on the road to the King's palace. a similar one divinely obtained, And without delay the Lord sent to her one tame fox from the wild ones, which immediately, climbing into the chariot, was most gentle beside St. Brigid, and placing itself under her garment, sat soberly in the chariot with her. When the Saint of God had come to the King, she began to entreat him that the improvident wretch might be released from his bonds to life. and offered to the King, But the King, unwilling, said to her that he would not release him unless the Saint had restored for him a fox most similar in all the tricks of the other. Then the Virgin of God brought forth her fox into the midst, which, performing all the habits and tricks of the other, played with various arts before the King and the people. And the King, appeased thereby, released the condemned man to go free. she sets him free: But when the Saint of God was hastening to her cell, that cunning fox, slyly mingling itself into the crowds outside in the streets, fled to deserted places and to its own den, and escaped unharmed though horsemen and dogs pursued it far. And all who saw these things marveled at the power of God through the blessed Virgin.

[77] A rich man, coming from elsewhere to St. Brigid, said to her: "Let your messengers come with me, Lady, to my estate, that they may bring you fat swine." That man lived far from the city of St. Brigid, a journey of four days' travel, [she accepts offered swine from a certain man, driven by wolves over a long distance:] namely in Munster, in the land of Naudesi, in the plain of Femhin. But the messengers of St. Brigid, going with him, found his swine on the first day, safe, driven by wolves at God's command. For out of reverence for the blessed Virgin Brigid, God caused the wolves to drive the swine unharmed through the vast forests, away from the rapacious wolves. And that man, recognizing them to be his own swine, marveled greatly with all the others, and assigned them to the messengers of St. Brigid, giving glory to God. And so the next day they came with the offered swine to St. Brigid, and narrating the miracle they had heard, in the presence of God's servant who already knew, they gave thanks to God.

[78] On yet another day, when the blessed Virgin Brigid was compelled by necessity to seek honey, she asked for God's help, and honey appeared to her on the floor of her house, very pure and sweet. she receives honey divinely: For God, whom the Virgin always held in her heart, heard her swiftly. The Virgin of God, seeing this, gave thanks to her Creator with all her strength. On a certain day the glorious bride of Christ, Brigid, changed the course of a certain river to another, more suitable place, by God's permission, and the first bed of that river appears dry to all even to this day.

[79] When the most blessed handmaid of Christ, Brigid, was now weighed down by venerable old age, she diverts a river from its former channel: her foster-daughter, the proven Virgin Darlughdacha, said to her one day: "My Mother and Lady, I wish to depart with you at once to the kingdom of God." To her the holy Mother replied, saying: "It shall not be so; she foretells to St. Darlugdacha the time of her death: but you shall succeed me for one year, and when that year is ended, on the day of my death you shall die; and under a single celebration your feast and mine shall be kept."

CHAPTER XII

Epilogue of the Writer. The Death and Burial of St. Brigid.

[80] Here, dearest Brothers, we set a limit to writing or narrating the miracles and virtues of the most blessed Mother Brigid; for we would daily have found always something new worthy to be set down on paper about her alone. For such miracles through her from God do not now cease, after death she is illustrious for miracles even in the writer's age: nor shall they cease until the end of the age, such as you have heard through her during her lifetime. Through these few things that have been written, you who are about to read and hear can know what manner of woman and of how great merit before Almighty God the most glorious Virgin was.

[81] Now she herself, knowing that the time and day of her reward was at hand, as death approaches, and foreknowing by the prophetic spirit the place of her resurrection, she established her city and monastery and the places that were under her care throughout Ireland, and she told her companions that she wished to visit the sepulchre and relics of her Patron, St. Patrick the Archbishop, before her death. she visits her monasteries: But she herself knew that she would not return in the body, and making her journey she blessed all Ireland on every side, just as the Bishop St. Patrick had commanded when dying, saying: "For thirty years after my death, Blessed Brigid, bless Ireland."

[82] And when the most holy Brigid came to the northern region of Ireland, namely to the province of the Ultonians, she falls ill in Ultonia: she was at once seized by pains, and after a brief space of time, among a multitude of Saints, in the ^a eightieth year of her age and the thirtieth year after the death of the Archbishop St. Patrick, she dies in the eightieth year of her age, while Muirchertach Mac Erca reigned at Tara over the kingdom of Ireland -- whom Tuathal Maelgarb succeeded in the kingdom -- and in the first year of the reign of the Emperor Justinian, while Pope Hormisdas sat in the Apostolic See, and in the year from the Incarnation of the Lord 548, with the Angels of God visiting her, she died most happily. And she was buried in glory and honor, in one sepulchre with the most blessed Archbishop Patrick, she is buried at Downpatrick, according to their will, in a city situated in the region of the Ultonians near the sea, named Dun-da-lethglas, which in ancient times was called Aras Kealtuic, son of Cuitheachyr, a Commander of King Conchobar, son of Nessa, of the Ultonians. Nevertheless the grace and honor and See of St. Brigid remain in the city of Kildare, in the land of the Leinstermen, through the ages. Therefore the most holy and most glorious Virgin Brigid departed from this life on the Kalends of February, after perfect victory, amid the choirs of Patriarchs, Prophets, Apostles, Martyrs, Confessors, and holy Virgins, and amid the hosts of Angels and Archangels, to the eternal crowns of the Heavenly King, into the heavenly Jerusalem, and to the kingdom without end, where eternal rewards would be bestowed upon her by our Lord Jesus Christ, who with God the Father and the Holy Spirit lives as Lord and reigns as God, through all ages of ages.

LIFE V

By Laurence of Durham From the Salamanca MS.

Brigid, Scottish Virgin, in Ireland (St.)

BHL Number: 1461

By Laurence of Durham. From MSS.

CHAPTER I

The Servant-Mother of St. Brigid. Presages of Sanctity.

The beginning was missing.

[1] She assails the man with bitter words; she presses persistently for the sale of the girl, swearing that one of two things must happen: [St. Brigid's master resolves, at his wife's instigation, to sell her pregnant mother,] either the sale of the girl or her own separation from him. At length the woman's persistence breaks the man's resolve: and mounting his chariot, he takes with him the girl who was pregnant by him, and sets out to sell her according to the custom of that land. For a custom had grown up from ancient times among the English, Irish, and Scots, that they frequented markets for the sale of human beings more than of other merchandise; by the ancient custom of the nation: and it was counted a great source of praise among them to have sold many people. And what is crueler than the savagery of wild beasts: mother against daughter, son against father, brother against sister, son-in-law against mother-in-law, husband against wife -- forgetting at once both nature and grace, they very often practiced this wickedness. But after England began to have Norman Lords, the English never suffered this from foreigners, which they had often suffered from their own people; and in this regard they found strangers better for themselves than they themselves had been. Scotland and Ireland, however, having lords of their own nation, have neither entirely abandoned nor practice as formerly this custom of theirs.

[2] Dubtach, therefore -- to bring the narrative back to the point from which it digressed -- passing near the dwelling of a certain great man, was summoned and admitted to him; his daughter's sanctity is foretold by a certain great man, and after much conversation the man inquired about the woman: who she was, and by whom she had been made pregnant. Dubtach answered that she was his, and that he was the cause of her swelling womb. Then the man said: "She will bear you a daughter, great indeed in chastity, but preeminent in charity; who assuredly will have narrower boundaries to her country than to her fame. For just as the sun surpasses the stars in its brightness, so she will surpass the Virgins of this region by the merit of her virtue. Whence it is fitting that she find you generous, she who carries a public joy in her womb." Dubtach replied: "My wife is an obstacle to me, preventing my concubine from finding me generous and humane; for if that girl is not sold, my wife will be lost." Then the man, turning to the pregnant woman, said: "Good reason for hope bids you be of good spirit; for though you may at some time be given into captivity, you will not be able to remain a captive for long. For the daughter whom you will bear, by the merit of her virtue, will free her mother from the bond of captivity." the freedom of the mother through her; Having heard these things, Dubtach was pricked in his heart and returned home; and with many words he barely at last satisfied his wife concerning the young woman.

[3] A few days later, two Bishops from Britain came to his house as guests; and receiving them with joy, he made the hospitality of his house more pleasing by the cheerfulness of his countenance. For a good face is the best seasoning for food and drink. When thereafter the table had been set and the young woman mentioned above was serving, one of the Bishops, Mel by name, seeing the wife of Dubtach sitting sadly at a distance, asked likewise by St. Mel the Bishop, why, when all others were rejoicing, the mistress of the house alone displayed a sad spirit, with a mournful face and a rather ungracious expression. She immediately cried out: "I am not the mistress, but she who serves you is." The Bishop replied: "You speak the truth unknowingly in calling her mistress; for she truly carries a mistress in her womb -- not only of your offspring, but of all Ireland. And that you may hear another thing that is true: you have borne three sons, a fourth remains to be born from your womb, who, as he will be last in birth, so he will be first in wickedness. After him, let no hope of further offspring draw you on, for henceforth you shall be bound by the misfortune of barrenness."

[4] Having heard these things, from foolish she straightway becomes enraged, and knowing no matronly shame, nor regarding marital reverence, she expresses her malicious mind in shameful words. At length, after hurling many insults at her husband, by the fury of the jealous mistress, she swears that Dubtach shall that very day lose either the slave-girl or his wife. "For no longer," she said, "shall this woman under the guise of a slave-girl hold the place of one who rules; and I, mistress in name only, shall be dishonored with a slave-girl's degradation. If you prefer your wife, today the slave-girl shall be sold; if the slave-girl, today your wife shall be lost." And while she raged like a frenzied beast, and spewed forth ever more quickly the worst she could devise, there arrived, for the purpose of lodging, a certain man from the remote parts of Ireland, who, admiring the prudence of the serving maiden, earnestly began to beg that, if she were for sale, she should be sold to him rather than to another. Dubtach then, having endured both the madness of his importunate wife the mother is sold: and seeking to secure the guest's goodwill, offered the girl for sale to him, just as he requested. When the Bishops heard this, they said: "Her you may sell, for she is under your authority; but the daughter whom she carries in her womb, do not sell, for she is under God's authority." Accepting this willingly, he so sold his concubine into servitude that he wished her daughter to be free from servitude.

[5] And turning to his angry wife, again her freedom is foretold; he admonished her to put on a more cheerful countenance, saying that the young woman, once taken away from there, would never return a second time. One of the Bishops rebuked him, saying: "It is very foolish to speak what you do not know, and to pronounce a certain judgment upon uncertain things. This girl, whom you have said will never return to this land -- know that she is not being led away from here so wretchedly as she will return here happily. For she carries enclosed in her womb that by which she will be absolved from the bond of servitude." After this the oft-mentioned young woman was led far away, hoping for no protection among strangers except the Lord's, promising herself no consolation except the mercy of God: since He it is who alone considers toil and sorrow, and abandons no one who hopes in Him -- rich or poor, master or servant, citizen or exile. the daughter's sanctity is foreshown by a pillar of fire: On that very night, the first which she spent in the unfamiliar house of her new master, in the silence of dead of night a certain fiery column was seen to rise from her bed and to extend itself up to the roof of the house. He who had seen it reported it in the morning to the master of the house, and thereby persuaded him that she ought to be treated humanely, she around whom the working of Divine grace had been so clearly shown.

CHAPTER II

The Birth of St. Brigid. Other Signs of Her Future Sanctity.

[6] In the course of time the King of that province, and the Queen, who was near to giving birth, were invited to that same house. The Queen, hearing that a certain man who could foretell the future was staying nearby, summoned him to her and asked on what day and at what time of day he foresaw her becoming a new mother. He said: "Before the rising of tomorrow's sun, two infants will be born in this house; but the one who is later in birth is prior in dignity. at the predicted time, The time of birth will suit the children well enough: for after this evening's sunset, one, the lesser, will be born; and tomorrow, when the Dawn appears, the other will appear at birth, who, distinguished by the splendor of virtues, will spread the rays of fame in every direction." Scarcely had he left the threshold of the house when the Queen, seized by sudden pains, cried out: "What means this great haste of my delivery? Why does the child strive to come forth into the light? If it hastens to be born, why does it so rush ahead? (the Queen vainly trying to prolong her delivery to that time) Do the fates teach that this is fitting -- that this night the Queen should bring forth a lowborn child, and some slave-girl should bear a noble offspring on the morrow? It shall not be so; for although the time of giving birth presses, although pain increases my pain, although the fates will that before the rising of tomorrow's light a son or daughter be born to me, yet I, unless it breaks through my side, will not be a mother before I see tomorrow's dawn." She spoke as she wished; but it did not happen as she wished. For before midnight she gave birth. And indeed it can be a great lesson for the poor, that not all things which Kings wish, they are able to accomplish.

[7] Therefore, amid the straits of childbirth, the aforesaid maiden performed the office of midwife for the Queen, and she herself received the newborn infant, nursed and washed the child, and took care of it among the others -- indeed, more diligently than the rest. When the Queen's pains had subsided and she ought to have been refreshed with food, the maiden went out to prepare it. Already the sunrise was close at hand when she, going out, Brigid is born: bore a daughter before she reached the Queen; and she immediately bathed the newborn infant with milk. When the man who could foretell the future heard of this, he extolled this birth with many praises, saying that the newly born Virgin would be of great merit before God, who would relinquish all the pleasures of the world for God. He also said that through this daughter of a captive woman all Ireland was to be freed from the captivity of sin. again her sanctity is foretold: His words, which were to have their effect afterward, received testimony from the frequent miracles divinely performed during the very first cradle-days of her infancy. Of these it seems fitting to append a few to what has been related.

[8] On a certain day, therefore, while she lay swaddled in her cradle in the manner of infants, her mother and the rest of the household went out on some business, leaving the little girl there alone. And behold, after a short time the house in which the little one lay began to present to the eyes of onlookers the appearance of fire; so indeed that simultaneously and equally from every part of it the fire seemed to rage -- indeed, that the house itself seemed to be entirely converted into fire. [and as a presage of the same thing, the house in which she lay seemed to glow as if with fire, from without,] When those who were working on one side and those who were on the other saw this, they left what they had gone out for and flew at once to rescue the house, as it were. But when they arrived there, they found the appearance of fire, but no fire at all. While all were astonished, murmuring among themselves about so strange and unprecedented a thing, some returned to the work they had left; but the mother of the infant, accompanied by some of the others, entered the house itself. and within, As it had appeared from without, so it appeared also within; and as the roof, so the walls and foundations presented to them one color, one appearance, and one miracle.

[9] Their admiration is thereafter increased by a more wondrous thing -- namely, the face of the Virgin striking back the eyes of the beholders with incredible brightness; God assuredly working around the newly born Virgin especially the face of Brigid, such things as He had once worked around the lawgiver Moses: whom, when He had chosen as the minister of His will in the bush that displayed the form of fire but not the substance of fire, He afterward illuminated his countenance with such brightness as once that of Moses: that the children of Israel could not look upon his face except with a veil interposed.

[10] Nor, however, do we say this to equate her with the supreme of the Prophets, but to show briefly that what was done around the lawgiver and what was done around the Virgin are of Divine gift. For God chose her for the salvation of the Irish, as He chose him for the salvation of the Hebrews. And He who appointed him to speak before Pharaoh, Himself loosed her tongue into words so that she might speak in her infant age. For lest it should be too little that the Virgin displayed an unwonted splendor in her face, she herself spoke contrary to nature, before the natural time of speaking came to her. Now one of those whom we said had entered the house she speaks while still an infant, ran to the head of the household and informed him of the novelty of the thing. Though a pagan by profession, yet keen in intellect and experienced in many matters, he reflected that such a miracle could not occur without a cause of certain mystery. Whence he immediately sent the man back to investigate more carefully what she was saying. When he arrived and asked what she had said, she herself replied: "This shall be mine." And repeating this same thing again, she fell silent. When the man, having returned, reported this to the one by whose command he had gone thither, he said: and prophesies that place to be her future possession: "It cannot fail to come to pass -- what this Virgin, or rather through this Virgin, the foreknowledge of God has foretold. This place, in which we are, shall be hers; and she who appears to have been born from my slave-girl, it is destined that she shall one day be my Lady -- and not only mine, but of all my posterity." Let no one consider what we say impossible; for God can speak whatever He wills through the mouth of a little infant, He who once spoke what He willed through the mouth of an ass.

CHAPTER III

The Baptism of St. Brigid. Her Upbringing. Her Holy Childhood.

[11] As time proceeded, the aforesaid head of the household had one night retired to his bed for the purpose of rest. three Clerics entering by night through the closed door baptize her: And behold, after midnight, he alone of those lying about observed three men, tonsured in the manner of Clerics and also clothed in white garments, enter that very house. He watched and marveled that men of such venerable countenance and garb should enter another's house at such an hour, and that the door being closed, entrance should lie open to them; and what they were seeking, what they were doing, and what they were saying, he watched in silence. They then straightway approached the Virgin, brought forth what they had carried with them, and pouring water upon her, they performed over her the entire rite of baptism, just as the Catholic Church is accustomed to do. When this had been so accomplished, one of the three approached the man who had been observing all these things and said: they tell the father to call her Brigid, and that she will be a saint: "You must call this Virgin Brigid. And because she has been chosen before God, she shall be of singular merit; she shall have a title befitting the merit of her sanctity, and she shall rightly be called Saint not only by the inhabitants of this land, but also by the various peoples of the nations." Having said this, accompanied by his companions, he departed.

[12] Astonished by such unheard-of events, he spent the remainder of the night sleepless, she is kindly treated by her mother's master, though a pagan, pondering with more careful attention of mind both what he had seen and what he had heard; and the more clearly he saw divine things being done in the Virgin's presence, the more diligently he devised what kindness he might show her. When day dawned, he informed his wife of each thing as it had occurred; and she likewise, though entangled in pagan error, yet naturally gentle and moderate, spurred on by constant entreaties and good exhortations her husband's good intention toward the Virgin. Then a woman suitable for nursing the Virgin was sought; sought, she was at length found; found, she was immediately assigned to the Virgin's service, he assigns a Christian nurse to her: that together with her mother she might attend to her, and in the capacity of nurse take care of her in all things with dutiful devotion. The necessities for the Virgin, her mother, and the nurse were sufficiently provided, the masters of the house having a paternal affection for the little infant. Her mother, however, they did not yet restore to freedom, because they themselves were not yet freed from paganism.

[13] Brigid therefore grew, but not so much in age as in grace; for God (who alone is He to whom no one can say: "Why do you act thus?") granted her the gift of presenting, even as an infant, an angelic countenance, as if presaging some great future good. Her face displayed cheerfulness, her limbs displayed beauty; and moreover, the things that seemed to be around her endowed with an angelic countenance, she causes her master to grow wealthy: professed increase by daily growth. Whence it happened that the oft-mentioned master of her mother became very wealthy in a short time. And he himself, with the subtle intellect that was his, understanding this, ordered her, after she had been weaned, to be brought up on suitable foods. But when this was done as he had commanded, she vomits his food, because he is a pagan: she vomited up the food she received. Her mother and nurse, thinking the cause of this to be nothing but chance, prepared and set before her food similar to the earlier ones, humbly asking that a good omen attend them. But the same thing happened with these as had happened with the former ones: for she immediately rejected all the food she had taken, her stomach as if indignant, and thus caused her mother great grief and despair. Although the Virgin continued to do the like for a long time, yet she grows, she received increase and beauty of body just as if food, diffusing through her limbs, were multiplying both more abundantly.

[14] If the rarity of the thing should bring any listener's admiration to the point of incredulity, let him hear, and if he wishes, [as another Virgin in England lived twenty years without food, on the Eucharist alone:] go and see a certain Virgin living in the southern parts of England, who in her father's house has passed her twentieth year without the reception of any food -- except this: that on Sundays only she is sustained by communion of the Lord's body, and because even that can scarcely pass through her throat, she afterward takes a little holy water to drink, to make the passage easier. On Thursdays she tastes, rather than drinks, a little water; and apart from the like, for the course of so many years she has neither eaten nor drunk anything else, nor has she had any appetite for eating or drinking. Whence, though deprived of bodily strength and having lost the ability to walk, yet sound of mind and fair of limb, she has not lost the ability to speak. And since what is more wondrous produces more witnesses to its truth than the village in which the Virgin lives has inhabitants, that lesser thing in Brigid -- who is beyond doubt the greater -- cannot justly be disbelieved as impossible.

[15] In the case of this Virgin of our own time, however, what God does, He alone knows the reason why He does it so. But it has been proved that Brigid could in no way retain food she had taken, for the reason that the food of a pagan man was in no way suited to a Virgin so eminently Christian. Brigid is nourished on the milk of a cow: When, therefore, that man perceived this same thing about Brigid with his subtle insight, he separated one cow from his herd and gave it to her to be milked separately for her use, ordering that food be made for her exclusively from its milk. This was done, and from then on she ceased to suffer the accustomed loss of nourishment.

[16] When the years of infancy had passed, she so spent her childhood years that she fell into no childishness. For she applied herself entirely to more honorable pursuits, even in childhood she is mature, and shrank no less from old women's follies than from girlish games, and in her tender face displayed matronly gravity. Some marveled at the prudence of her mind, others at the moderation of her speech, prudent, and no less at her hatred of things to be avoided, while all marveled at her courage in doing what ought to be done. Secular men too were astonished that their company was shunned by her. Wanton women grieved that they were looked down upon as unworthy. But Virgins dedicated to God rejoiced that they were frequently visited by a Virgin of good purpose.

[17] And since she learned that modesty is the companion -- indeed, the guardian -- of all virtues, modest, she embraced it with unceasing devotion, so that not only did her speech, her look, her countenance, her works, her habit, and her gait publicly proclaim discipline, zealously cultivating purity of heart: but also into the secret place of her heart she admitted no stain of any dishonest thought. For she considered nothing more unfitting than to adorn that which lies open to the eyes of men, while making the secret of the heart -- which cannot escape the Divine gaze -- a hiding-place for impure thoughts. And to conclude many things briefly: just as she shunned nothing that was to be sought, so she sought nothing that was to be shunned.

CHAPTER IV

The Stepmother's Hatred of Brigid. The Nurse Healed by a Miracle.

[18] When thereafter the fame of such a daughter struck her father's ear and heart alike, he broke out in exclamations of joy and divine praise, glorifying God in his heart and with his lips for a daughter in whom he heard that God was working wondrously and in manifold ways. she is recalled to her father's house: The father burns with desire to see his daughter; he counts her absence a loss, whose presence was attended by a multitude of virtues. Messengers being sent, therefore, the agreement once made regarding the sale of her mother is revoked; the Virgin is led away to the grief of her masters, and at last presented to her father's eyes -- accompanied by her nurse, but her mother, as before, remaining in servitude.

[19] The father therefore, receiving his arriving daughter as a father should, bore himself toward her the more affectionately, the more truly he proved by his own observation what he had shortly before learned by report. But since the devil is accustomed -- as far as permitted -- to attack all whom God loves here, either by himself or through his agents, he inflamed Brigid's stepmother with such great envy against Brigid that she adopted a stepmotherly disposition toward her injury. Accordingly, whatever the Virgin said or did, the stepmother twisted it by malicious interpretation to an evil sense; she is beaten by her father's wife: and she often raged against the innocent one with words as well as with blows. Nor content with her own malice, she drew her husband by secret accusations from his former affection into open fury; and she made her father too she finds harsh: the father into a stepfather, the lover into a persecutor, the well-wisher into a maligner, the good man into a bad one. Since, however, she could not prevail upon him to sell the girl into slavery, she began to press him to assign her to menial duties. Why say more? she is ordered to tend the swine: He did to her in his own house what he had been unwilling should be done in another's house -- namely, being misled, he imposed upon his own daughter the office of swineherd.

[20] But holy Brigid, calling to mind the sufferings of Christ, armed herself against her father's injuries she bears everything patiently: and her stepmother's plots with wholesome reflection, reckoning that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, which Christ will reveal in His Saints. Having the care of the swine in such a way that she did not neglect the love of God, she did outside what she had been accustomed to do at home: either praying to God, or working something for the needs of the destitute.

[21] When on a certain day the herd of swine, wandering here and there, had strayed a little distance from the Virgin, two sows stolen, it happened that two men of malicious mind were passing through there; and seeing the opportunity, they conceived mischief and accomplished iniquity -- namely, stealing two sows. And when they proceeded on their way, they saw Dubtach coming toward them in the distance; recovered by the father and hidden: fearing him greatly, they took to flight and tested what their feet could do. Dubtach, however, arriving and finding the sows left behind by the fugitives, recognized them as his own; and having carefully hidden them, he went to his daughter with a cheerful face and peaceful words, concealing his angry mind. At length, however, his words tended to where his mind tended: and he asked the Virgin whether the number of the flock committed to her was whole or diminished. she shows him that none are missing from the flock: But she, having unbroken faith in God, asked him to see for himself what he wished to know; and when he counted carefully, he found the number complete -- even including the sows he had hidden. And marveling at the deed, he returned home.

[22] Blessed Brigid the Virgin, just as she embraced patience amid adversities, so amid the glory of her merits she embraced humility, attributing whatever virtue she wrought to God, not to herself; she grows in virtues through humility, knowing that nothing good is done except through God, and that none should be exalted for good deeds except God. And because she did not receive the grace of God in vain, but zealously cooperated with Him who worked in her, she was daily advanced from good things to better, from better to the best. And the more humbly she presented herself before the eyes of the Divine Majesty, and becomes illustrious for miracles: the more excellently did Divine mercy render her before men through the glory of miracles as well. Whence, among her other deeds, she is recorded to have done this, which we too judge worthy of remembrance.

[23] A pain of severe illness seized her nurse, which, though she suffered it grievously from the illness itself, yet from another cause she suffered far more grievously: she ministers to her ailing nurse, namely, that she saw Brigid in her father's house, like a stranger, dishonored with menial tasks -- the same Brigid whom she had seen in another's house honored with fatherly affection as if she were a daughter. For it is so ordained by nature for nurses, that to those to whom they give the milk of their flesh, they always also give the affection of their mind. Holy Brigid, mercifully sharing in the sufferings of her nurse, and comforts her, showed herself a nurse to her nurse: for she strove to sit by her bed day and night, to restore her with food and with wholesome words, and to show her every possible kindness. So great was the power of the devotion and charity of the one ministering upon the one who was ill, that the Virgin alone supplied to her the father, parents, and homeland which the nurse had once left for love of her. For this one alone sufficed more than all of them, because she alone loved her above all others. and procures necessities for her from others: She ministered to the sick woman without recompense, she bestowed necessities upon her without disgust, and without the help of her own people -- because what the Virgin could not obtain by her own labors, she received from the generosity of others.

[24] But where human help failed the Virgin's needs, the merciful author and lover of virginity, God, was present. For whoever possesses virginity of heart and body has God as a helper in himself -- which was proved in Brigid's case at that time. For when her nurse, worn out by a burning thirst, asked that beer be given her to drink, St. Brigid sent two girls to a certain neighbor of her father to ask for beer, thinking him likely to be more generous in this than her stepmother, since if he did not wish to give the beer freely, he would at least refuse in a seemly manner. And so he did. When the girls returned to the Virgin empty-handed, she converts water into beer, she herself, conceiving God in her whole mind, immediately drew water from a nearby spring, brought it, blessed it with the impression of the saving sign, and powerfully converted it into excellent beer, as was afterward proved by those who drank it. She then gave a little of it to her nurse to drink. by which the nurse recovers: The sick nurse drank, and was immediately restored from her illness. And so great was the agreement between the drink and the desired cure, that to have drunk of that beer was to have received health. Those who were present, astonished indeed, extolled the Virgin's faith and the power of this deed everywhere with worthy heralds of praise.

CHAPTER V

The Mother Bestowed with Freedom. Beneficence Confirmed by Miracles.

[25] But because the whole life of the wicked is sin, and the malicious one fashions for himself material of malice from everything he either hears or sees, Brigid's stepmother counted the report of her virtue's fame as her own infamy, the stepmother more enraged: and reckoned the honor of her whom she appeared to persecute as her own disgrace. Whence, by the Virgin's good, the wicked woman sinks to worse; by her virtues, the stepmother becomes more vicious; envying the praises of her stepdaughter, she was drawn into more detestable behavior. For when she heard both what had happened outside concerning the stolen sows and what had occurred at home concerning the ailing nurse, her envy began to be transformed into hatred, and she poured forth the whole venom of her malice against the innocent one. And now she counts it too small a thing to burden the Virgin with the disgrace or labor of one duty; and for this reason, now imposing the office of cook, now of baker, now of swineherd, sometimes of shepherd, she is oppressed with various and menial labors: sometimes of reaper, often of weaver, and other tasks yet more menial than these, both at home and outside, she plots to crush her with the magnitude of labor and the reproach of servility.

[26] But holy Brigid, reckoning no work servile except sin, patiently admitted the exercises of labor, prudently carried them out, and commendably completed them. Accordingly, at a certain time, when her father had received some men as guests, preparing food for guests, Brigid was summoned to prepare their meals; nor did she delay to carry out the command of her master by action. She placed a cauldron over the fire, put water into the cauldron, and upon the water pieces of meat, as many as seemed necessary. And while she was attentively engaged in this task, a bitch with puppies lying beside her came to the Virgin, begging for food by such gestures as she could. What was the merciful Virgin then to do? Should she provide food for the needy beast? But both the quantity and number of those same meats were not unknown to the stepmother. Should she refuse, then? But to refuse consolation to one in need would be nothing other than to contradict herself. For being always kind, always merciful, always gentle and benign, she always overflowed with such compassion that she extended fellow-feeling not only to the needs of men but also to the want of beasts. Whence, valuing more the mercy innate in her than another's cruelty, she gives two portions of meat to a dog: and pitying the hungry beast more than fearing her stepmother's madness, she gave to the hungry creature portions of the aforesaid meats (for she had nothing else at hand). A second time likewise the dog came; and as the Virgin had been on the first occasion, so she proved no different on the second. Just as a honeycomb overflowing with honey easily distills the sweetest liquid with a gentle motion, so this Virgin, full of natural compassion, was most easily moved to pity by destitution.

[27] Afterward, when her father sat at table with his guests, which are found whole in the pot: he ordered the dishes of boiled meats to be set upon the table. The Virgin did what her father had commanded: for trusting in God, she set before the diners the meats, and they were found to have increased both in quantity and number by as much as they had previously been mercifully diminished. The guests, astonished by such a miracle (for the meats which they themselves had previously seen diminished, they now saw set before them without any diminishment), informed Dubtach of each thing as it had occurred. He, reflecting on both what he had heard before and what he then heard about Brigid, at last remembered that he was a father, and held his noble daughter -- freed from menial duties -- in love and veneration. she is treated more honorably by her father: For it seemed unbecoming to him for a man to wish to dishonor one whom God appeared to honor, and for a father's affection to be alienated from a daughter for whom strangers showed fatherly regard.

[28] The blessed Virgin, therefore, perceiving that her father was turning a fatherly spirit toward her, began not so much to glory in the prosperity that smiled upon her, as to be solicitous day and night about her mother's servitude. For she knew, according to the Apostle, that if anyone neglects the care of his own, and especially of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever. 1 Tim. 5:8 Whence she set her devout mind to visiting her mother; with his permission, she then laid her proposal before her father's ears, and having received permission, she prepared herself and her necessities for the desired journey. At length she satisfied her desire, she visits her mother with her nurse and a brother: having been joined on the road by companions: her nurse and a certain brother of hers. For since anyone is thought to live by whatever morals his companions delight in, this prudent Virgin, providing good things not only before God but also before men, admitted at home and abroad no one's companionship that could give the malicious any suspicion of evil.

[29] When at length the blessed Virgin reached the desired place, by her arrival she brought great joy to the masters of the house, great joy to the household, and the greatest joy to her nurse. she is cheerfully received by her mother's masters: For God had taken pity on her, and was directing all her works. When she had obtained a private conversation with her mother, she began to investigate more carefully what toil she endured, under what manner of masters, and for what recompense. she finds her well treated by them: She heard that her masters generously bestowed upon her much kindness in exchange for little labor; for she was compelled to endure no labor at all. She had freely received twelve cows to milk, the milk of which she either curdled into cheeses or churned into butter.

[30] Having heard these things, she offered praises and thanksgivings to God, the author of all good things, and the daughter began to ask that this labor be assigned to her in place of her mother. When the mother rested she herself undertakes her labor: and the daughter labored, the abundance of her goodness and kindness frequently invited a multitude of the poor to seek food from her. She, wishing no one to go away unconsoled, responded to the needs of each according to her ability, generous to the poor: fulfilling the saying of the Wise Man: "If you have much, give abundantly; but if you have little, take care to share willingly even from your little." Tob. 4:9

[31] But since some, by speaking ill of the good, sometimes earn well of the bad, a certain flatterer went to the mistress of the house, asserting that Brigid was not doing what she was expected to do. For all that milk which she ought to have been turning into cheeses and butter, she is accused of prodigality: she was, with a vain mind and a prodigal hand, pouring out for the use of the destitute -- he himself supposing that he would be richly rewarded for such words. Although this flatterer could neither benefit himself by speaking well nor harm the Virgin by not speaking well, he nevertheless inclined the woman's mind to test what she had heard. For who would not be moved by a loss to themselves? Accordingly the mistress entered the workroom, and her husband with her, commanding a certain very large vessel to be filled with butter. But holy Brigid, though much was demanded and she had little, nevertheless brought forth confidently what she had in a small container, asking that the generous hand of Divine mercy be present; with a little butter, signed with the Cross, she fills a great vessel: and having made over it the sign of the holy Cross, the great vessel was filled from the small amount, and it could be filled more quickly than it could be emptied.

[32] When she asked that the full vessel be accepted, the head of the household replied: "Let him whom you wish to give it to accept it. For this vessel and these twelve cows I grant to you, and whatever you please to have done with all of them, behold, you are free to do." And she said: "If what I most desire were permitted to me, my mother, restored to liberty, would depart with me." Willingly assenting to her request, she obtains freedom for her mother: he said: "I hand over to you your mother, absolved from the yoke of servitude; and it is pleasing to give her in such a way that it is not displeasing to have given the former gift. Let your mother go free with you, and let the animals be driven away; have as many servants and maidservants as suffice for the animals and also to serve you all in common. Besides this, your God shall likewise be my God, she converts her mother's master: for abhorring pagan vanity, I desire the Christian truth." And not long afterward he fulfilled his words with deeds, and through the bath of regeneration and renewal of Jesus Christ, he with his whole house deserved to be incorporated into Christ the Lord. the twelve cows given to her by him, she gives to the poor: Blessed Brigid, however, giving all the things that had been given to her to the poor, brought her mother back to her father's house with great joy and with the great favor of all.

CHAPTER VI

St. Brigid Rescued from the Danger of Servitude.

[33] Since there is nothing easier to incite than womanly envy, and nothing more difficult to calm, Brigid's stepmother could not look with equanimity upon the return in freedom of the concubine whom she herself had caused to be sold as a slave with no hope of return. by the stepmother, who envied the mother's freedom, She then devised doing to the Virgin what had been done to her mother -- repaying her for her mother's freedom with the heavy yoke of servitude. Why say more? The noble mistress lays slavish snares, and being not well-intentioned in her concern about the good Virgin, she diligently investigates what she cannot find: either any shameful word or any dishonest deed of hers. But when the matter does not proceed according to her wish (for Brigid's entire life was virtue), she strives to make evil out of her good, and interprets her virtue as vice. [she is accused before her father of dissipating his goods under the guise of almsgiving:] For she accuses Brigid of giving much to the poor while having nothing; and since she had nothing of her own, she claimed that Brigid was stealing what belonged to others. At length the venomous beast assails her husband, saying that through his daughter his house was being reduced to destitution. "For she," she says, "stripping the paternal home of all its furnishings, enriches another's -- cruel indeed under the guise of piety; and so exercising mercy toward others that she will bring her father, unless precaution is taken, into great misery. This evil must be guarded against before it arrives. For it is foolish to be unwilling to provide for yourself until you begin to be in want, and not to be willing to think about misery until you are miserable. What then is to be done? Let this daughter of yours be sold, lest the household that depends on you perish with you. If you delay to chastise her with the yoke of servitude, she will not delay to cast you down into the reproach of destitution." Whispering these and similar things to her husband, the woman by feminine guile unmans his manly spirit, infects him with her cruelty, and causes him to make his daughter a slave.

[34] So, so once was Daniel, that man of desires, circumvented by his enemies; and when he could not be accused for any good deed, he was accused of praying to God contrary to the King's command. Dan. 6 But she is accused of giving alms for God's sake contrary to her father's welfare. Whence he is delivered to be devoured by fierce lions; she, however, is led to be sold to foreign men. But since each was found faithful before God, God freed both -- him, that he might not be devoured, and her, that she might not be sold. For when her deceived father was leading the Virgin to be sold, she is led to the King, to be sold to him or to some nobleman: he turned his chariot toward the King's court, which he had learned by report was sojourning in a nearby castle; wishing to sell his noble daughter to none but the King or some nobleman. The father, therefore -- or rather, from a father turned persecutor -- having arrived at the desired place, left his daughter outside the doors in the chariot, and himself went in to greet the King.

[35] When he sat down after greeting the King, and hearing and saying many things, the conversation between them at length descended from great matters to small: from military affairs to rustic occupations, from the affluence of the rich to the poverty of the poor, from the tranquility of free men to the vexation of slaves. And when the King said that neither prospers well without the other -- for the land is not cultivated unless peace is defended, nor is peace well defended unless the fruits of the land are furnished to its defenders; and that it is a settled truth that servants need masters and masters need servants -- Dubtach interjected: "I have outside a Virgin for sale, and if it please the King to buy her, I believe she will not secure for herself the last place among the King's maidservants." The King, hearing this and inquiring who she might be, she is offered for sale: received the answer from Dubtach that she was his daughter. And the King said: "If she is your daughter, why do you intend to sell her?" "She steals all the furnishings of my house," he replied, "and to make me a pauper, she enriches the poor from my substance." When those sitting with the King heard this, they said: to the wonder of the nobles: "The good fame of your daughter, running through all Ireland, has made her a person of great esteem among us. And it is strange that you alone convict her of vice, whom all others affirm to be full of virtues." Without delay the King ordered her to be brought into his presence.

[36] But holy Brigid, while her father was delaying in the palace, gave to a certain poor man asking for alms the sword of her father. Afterward, therefore, her father came, and learning what had been done with the sword, she gives her father's sword to a poor man asking for alms: was exceedingly grieved -- both because it was a fine sword and because the aforesaid King of the Leinstermen had given it to him. For the gift of a King, however small, is more pleasing than a large sum of money acquired elsewhere. At length, the father, considering it unbecoming both to pursue the beggar and to rage against his daughter, brought her before the King, indicating his loss. The King, admiring the reverend gravity in the young countenance and the moderation in her attire -- neither too fine nor immoderately squalid -- said: "Why did you give the sword to the poor man, she wisely renders to the King the reason for her act: which I had given to your father?" And she said: "Do not marvel that I gave what I could, for if I were able to do the same, I would distribute to the poor as to my Maker whatever both you, O King, and my father possess. For whoever distributes temporal riches to the poor for God's sake lays up eternal riches."

[37] Then the King, turning to Dubtach, said: "This Virgin is too great and too good to be sold or bought. And since she is more precious than any gold or silver, I have no price with which to purchase her. For this good sword, however, which she gave to the needy, the King gives her father another sword: she is made her own mistress: I will give you an excellent one. But if you will trust my counsel, you will leave her to her own choice." Instructed by the King's words and honored with gifts, Dubtach returned home, and allowed his daughter to go free wherever she wished.

CHAPTER VII

Virginity Defended by Disfigurement; Confirmed by the Reception of the Veil and by Miracles.

[38] Blessed Brigid, however, reflecting that nothing is more slavish than to abuse liberty once received, and escaping from human servitude, she lives more austerely and more holily: transferred herself entirely to the Divine; and as though whatever she had previously done were too little, she weakened her body with more frequent vigils and more severe fasting, while she more fervently expanded her mind in the contemplation and love of God. Imitating also the skill of bees, which wander through the pleasantness of gardens and gather varied nectar from many flowers, which by a certain blending and quality of their own spirit they transform into a single flavor, this holy Virgin made the rounds of the dwellings of holy Virgins; she imitates the virtues of others: and whatever good she saw in one or another, she transferred to her own benefit -- for she imitated the humility of this one and the patience of that; from one she learned frugality, from another mercy. And to include many things in a few words: whatever belonged to all, she made her own. She so overflowed with charity she ministers to the sick: and untiring compassion that whenever she learned that any handmaid of Christ was confined to a bed of sickness, she would immediately visit the ailing woman, nor would she be separated from attendance upon her until the woman either recovered her strength or ended her life.

[39] And when one day she was hastening to one woman the more swiftly because she had heard that she was more severely ill, she encountered her brothers on the road, of whom one, named Bacchenus (of whom, to speak of many things briefly), being like his mother, one of her brothers wishing to compel her to marriage, began to incite the others to malice: "This is our sister," he said, "who, running about from place to place with I know not what superstitious vanity, abhors the company of men; she flees from that for which God made her, and with a stubborn mind she lives, and intends to live, in such a way that she would have neither her grandfather become a father nor her uncles become brothers. She sets her vanity before God's institutions, she prefers her own laws to the laws of nature; and to our shame as well as our loss, she esteems the abominable barrenness of sterility above an abundance of children. But, brother men, let us restrain this great folly, and consulting not her will but our common interest and hers, let us seek some nobleman (and surely one will be easy to find) who may be her husband, a son-in-law to our father, and a champion and friend to us all."

[40] The others, rebuking him, said: "It is not manly, nor does it become brothers, to rage against a virgin sister -- especially one who has chosen heavenly things in place of earthly, things permanent in place of things transitory, God in place of a man as her spouse. And since she has set all things below Him, the other three protesting, let us not hinder this purpose which aspires to God; let us not trouble a Virgin who pursues virtue; let us not undertake what would be shameful for us either to have accomplished or to have been unable to accomplish. For it is dishonorable for brothers to recall their sister from an honorable purpose. Yet if we were to try, and her constancy were to frustrate our efforts, would it not be most disgraceful that one Virgin did not yield to four men? Let our sister therefore serve God, whom she has resolved to serve; and let us love her good above our own, because if we try to act otherwise, we shall assuredly do so to our own harm." These and similar things the three inculcated upon the fourth, but they seemed to be casting words to the wind.

[41] When, making no progress, they broke out into mutual disputes and insults, St. Brigid, calling upon God as her helper, earnestly begged that He would both recall the quarreling brothers to fraternal peace and protect her with the right hand of His protection. Without delay: from God she obtains the loss of an eye: one of her eyes appeared as if struck out, and no small amount of blood afterward flowed from her injured head -- so that the brother whom her former beauty had provoked to seek a husband for her might be recalled from so foolish an intention by this new disfigurement.

[42] When the other three, who had contended against their brother on their sister's behalf, saw her face so changed and so quickly, they grieved and said that this would never have happened to her if she had not been importuned about contracting a marriage that was against her will. They also complained that they had no water the three brothers sympathizing with her: with which they might at least wash her face, which was covered with blood; and if they could not provide the remedy they wished, they might provide what kindness they could. The Virgin of Christ, therefore, perceiving that Christ was present as her defender, did not wish to leave her brothers unconsoled when they were anxious about her comfort; and trusting not a little in the great mercy of the Almighty, she commanded them to dig the ground where they stood. All fulfilled her commands, and that same One who once at the striking of His Prophet had wondrously brought forth water from the rock in the desert she elicits a spring by her prayers: now powerfully brought forth water from dry ground at the request of His handmaid.

[43] The three brothers, therefore, applauding such a miracle, prepared themselves with devout minds for attendance upon their sister, and with sufficiently dutiful hands. Having washed her blood-stained face more carefully, they found both her eyes -- both the one and the other -- unharmed. having washed with it, she recovers her eye: Whence, immediately kindled to joy and thanksgiving, they invited that fourth brother -- no less the son of his mother in character than by nature -- to rejoice with them; and they rebuked and accused him when he dissembled. St. Brigid, seeing that no verbal correction brings correction to a fool (for it is not what is heard but what is felt that corrects a fool), by cursing him tore out one of his eyes; and cursing her obstinate brother, she tears out his eye: and so, with the fool thus chastised, she carried on without impediment the journey she had begun and the work she had proposed.

[44] Not long after this, seven Virgins of good purpose were joined to the aforesaid Virgin, with a like mind and a salutary devotion, with seven Virgins, wishing to be formed in spiritual disciplines both through her and with her. For it was a single word on the lips of many that the Holy Spirit was working in manifold and wondrous ways through Brigid, through whom Brigid was always prospering in all things. She, embracing their holy will to conform to her own, for whom she had recommended the conventual life, judged it most useful for them as well as for herself that, sealed to Christ by the imposition of the sacred veil, they should live the life and follow the rule of a convent. What had pleased one pleased all; and reckoning even a small delay a great loss, they hurried together and with similar fervor to Bishop Machilenus of blessed memory, asking to be consecrated and signed to Christ by his blessing.

[45] The Bishop, however, not knowing their manner of life, and believing that these delicate Virgins aspired to a rigorous life from some impulse of spirit rather than from the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, she approaches the Bishop and requests the veil: when he hesitates, refused to do what he was asked to do, knowing, according to the Apostle, that hands should not be laid on any man hastily, and that not every spirit should be believed, but spirits must be tested to see whether they are of God. When the holy Virgin saw that the Bishop feared what was safe, she turned with hope and prayer to the familiar defenses of her prayers, she prays to God: invoking the Spirit of consolation as her Comforter, that He who had Himself inspired in them this desire would also deign to bring it to the desired effect. 1 Tim. 5:22; 1 John 4:1

[46] Why say more? "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, soon a fiery column appearing over her head, to all who call upon Him in truth." For so that her interior fervor might appear through outward signs, a fiery column shone above her head, which, growing up to the roof of the church (for she had withdrawn with her Virgins into the church to pray), was a cause of exultation and admiration to those who beheld it. The Bishop, marveling at this miracle, inquired of his people with more diligent questioning: the Bishop, having learned that it was Brigid, from what parents this Virgin was born, by what name she was called, with what character she had conducted herself from infancy. One of the Clerics explained to him that this was Brigid, daughter of Dubtach, worker of wondrous things. When the Bishop heard this and saw that she had come to him whom good fame had long preceded, imposes the veil upon her and her companions: he himself now began to ask that she do what she had asked him to do. And straightway, by the imposition of the sacred veil, he sealed her together with her Virgins to Christ. For a man can joyfully carry out that work to which he sees himself invited by heavenly signs.

[47] It happened, however, amid the very sacraments of blessing, that the holy Virgin touched with her hand the wood by which the holy altar was supported -- wood which, being fixed by no roots and covered with no bark, seemed to be consumed by age and decay. she herself, touching the dry wood, makes it green: At her touch it is recorded to have received such power that it was seen both to turn green at once, and afterward, amid the flames of the fire by which that same church was consumed, and afterward amid the flames, it remained unharmed: it could in no way be consumed. So, so does the Almighty Lord now work in the new Testament such things as He had previously wrought in the old, loving His own in both and bestowing upon them His merciful power and His powerful mercy. For He Himself went before the children of Israel, making their way to the promised land, in fire; ancient miracles renewed: He Himself also provoked Brigid, hastening toward the land of eternal inheritance, by fire ascending upward, to desire heavenly things more and more over earthly ones. Nor was it another who gave greenness to the aforesaid wood, and another who once brought forth fruit from the rod of Aaron the high Priest. One God did both: He gave greenness to this wood to signify that Brigid was a Virgin; but the rod of Aaron both turned green and bore fruit, because she who was prefigured by that rod was both Virgin and Mother.

a. Colgan: Baithenus.

CHAPTER VIII

A Convent of Nuns Established. Mercy Shown to the Needy.

[48] The Bishop, therefore, admiring the Virgin's faith and merit, prepared a place suitable for her purpose and profession; a place having been assigned by the Bishop, and he gave her as many cows as she had companions. She, having entered the place allotted to her with her companions, so applied herself to living and watching, to sweating in fasts and labors, and to clinging to prayers and divine contemplation, that this new life surpassed her former life. And although she excelled the others in dignity and merit, yet she professed herself their companion in humility, she lives holily with her companions: fulfilling the saying of the Wise Man: "They have made you their ruler -- do not be exalted, but be among them as one of them." By her examples and exhortations the others, spurred on to good, though they had professed great things, did works worthy of such a profession. Ecclus. 32:1

[49] The aforesaid Bishop rejoiced in their manner of life, as did the entire people of that province; with sustenance supplied by the Bishop and the people; and they were readier to give whatever pertained to their bodily needs than the sisters were to receive it. If anything was left over, giving the surplus to the poor: Brigid strove mercifully to distribute it for the use of the destitute, according as each one's need required.

[50] On a certain day the oft-mentioned Bishop invited her with her companions to supper. When the table had been set and, with everything prepared, they ought to have taken their meal, she is invited to supper by the Bishop with her companions: St. Brigid began to entreat the Bishop to refresh their minds first with spiritual food before refreshing their stomachs with carnal fare. Willingly accepting this, he immediately exercised his learned tongue for their instruction, taking the Lord's Sermon on the Mount as the subject matter of his discourse. And when he had discoursed at length both on the virtues by which blessedness is merited and on blessedness itself, when he, being asked, had spoken about the eight beatitudes, St. Brigid, when the sermon was ended, said to her companions: "Behold, my beloved associates in Christ, eight virtues, whose observance makes people blessed, are set before us, and we are eight Virgins. Although one virtue is so connected and, as it were, chained to another they choose to practice one virtue each: that whoever has perfectly possessed one must needs possess many virtues, yet from all of these let each one of us choose one which she will, to fulfill more especially." When they replied that this pleased them, provided that she herself, who appeared to be first among them, should first choose the virtue she wished, she without any hesitation chose mercy. she herself chooses mercy: And although she labored day and night in the other virtues as well, so that you would judge her to be composed of virtues, yet she so devoted herself to mercy as if, apart from mercy, she accounted every other virtue either altogether nothing or of small worth. Likewise the others, whichever of the proposed virtues they had chosen, applied themselves to it more fervently and frequently, nor did they cease to fulfill the proposed virtue until they received the promised reward of that virtue.

[51] Thus, their souls having been nourished with spiritual food, they afterward partook of bodily food for the refreshment of their bodies, at the Bishop's invitation. And this custom afterward grew upon Brigid for the rest of her life: she always hears the word of God before eating: that on no day would she indulge her flesh with bodily food unless her soul had first been fed with food -- namely, the word of God.

[52] As miracles then multiplied, the fame of Brigid became more and more known throughout all the borders of Ireland, for a lamp set upon a lampstand cannot be hidden. she joins to herself many Virgins and widows: There flowed together to the Virgin innumerable Virgins; widows came as well, and it was not burdensome for the widowed to be subject to the Virgin, nor for the experienced to the young, nor for the rich -- indeed, those who had become willingly poor from being rich -- to the poor one. Whence it came to pass in a short time that the handmaids of Christ were multiplied in number; but this was the singular care and concern of Brigid: that they should be multiplied also in merit. whom she devoutly instructs: For although merit cannot exist where there is no number, virtue does not consist in number but in merit; for it is not praiseworthy for a community to be numerous, but religious; nor is it considered great for many to dwell together, but this is altogether great -- for the good to dwell together. Wherefore, both by living well and by teaching patiently, she spurred the good on to better things; and those who erred she recalled from error by arguing, beseeching, and rebuking. She had such care of the poor and was so generous toward them she relieves the poor: that the private property of her monastery became the common property of the destitute.

[53] It happened on the holy day of Easter, as she was going out of the church, that a man met her -- both poor and leprous -- who immediately began to explain his misery, to a leper asking her for a cow, saying

that his poverty was made worse by his sickness, and his sickness by his poverty. "And since," he said, "nature created me poor, and infirmity has taken from me the strength to labor, it would be a great mercy, and I beg you, to bestow upon me one milking cow. For although it is very wretched either to have nothing or to be a leper, yet leprosy does not immediately kill those whom it attacks; but for those who lack all food, life too will quickly be lacking." When the Virgin of Christ heard this, now calling to mind that singular joy which on that day, rising from the dead, the God-Man conferred upon us all concerning both His and our resurrection; and now reflecting that this man was held back from that twofold joy by a twofold sorrow -- namely, of want and of sickness -- she began to be moved in her bowels of mercy over the wretched man. But what was she to do? If she relieved only his poverty, there remained from his sickness enough cause for grief. But if his sickness alone were driven away while his poverty remained, he would seem to be half consoled rather than wholly so. Wherefore she resolved to bestow upon him equally both the material substance that was asked of her by the devout Virgin and the cure he desired. At length, addressing him with kind words, by the sign of the Cross and holy water she confers health: she said: "Do you wish to be made whole?" When he replied with fervent desire that he had always wished this, the blessed Virgin had water brought to her; and when she had consecrated it with the impression of the saving sign and the invocation of the Savior, she sprinkled it upon the body of the sick man. At once the deformity, oppressive and hateful enough to him, seemed to flee away, and the desired comeliness began to appear in his healed body. and gives him a cow: Then, providing him with what he had asked, the holy Virgin dismissed him, rejoicing and giving thanks.

CHAPTER IX

Beer Produced and Multiplied by the Sign of the Cross, and Milk.

[54] At another time likewise a multitude of the poor came to the aforesaid Virgin, desiring and earnestly asking to be refreshed with a drink of beer. For to her, as to a common storehouse, a throng of the poor streamed daily for various needs; many destitute people flocking to her, one seeking bread, another a drink, some milk, others cheeses or butter, still others flour or grain, some linen or wool or any covering -- each asking for whatever he seemed particularly to need. And because, according to the saying of Truth, to those who seek the kingdom of God and His justice, the rest, which bodily necessity requires, she sends none away empty: are added, so the abundant mercy of the Almighty always consoled this Virgin of mercy, that she never sent any of the needy away from her unconsoled. For when she had either nothing at all or not enough to distribute to the needy, with God always coming to her aid: Divine mercy, through the abundance of its generosity, now in one way, now in another, supplied her want. For God has never been accustomed to fail anyone who, solely for the sake of charity, strives to be present to the needs of his neighbors.

[55] Whence also on this occasion, when the blessed and truly merciful Virgin was asked by the poor for beer, and had neither what was asked for, nor yet wished to send the poor away unconsoled, asked for beer, she considered what to do, where to send, whom to ask for beer to quench the thirst of the poor. And while she herself desired that counsel and help might come to her divinely, for the fulfillment of the poor's desire, she noticed nearby water prepared for baths (for both then and now the nation of the Irish as well as the Scots is accustomed to frequent use of baths). water prepared for baths, familiar to the Scots and Irish, Going to it straightway, she began to invoke the Savior of all as her helper, that He who by Himself can do whatever is faithfully asked by His own would change that same water into beer, lest those poor people, disappointed in their hope and request, should depart sadder than they had come. For hope, which alone can comfort the wretched, had accompanied them as they came; and if they were then disappointed of it, they would endure sorrows all the heavier in proportion as they had striven to hope for better things. At length, when she had impressed upon those same waters the sign of the holy Cross and blessed them with the invocation of the Savior's name, they were seen at once to thicken somewhat and to change to another color. When she afterward served it to the needy, by prayer and the sign of the Cross she converts it into beer: it tasted as excellent beer to the mouths of those who drank. For He who through His Virgin converted waters into beer is the same who once at Cana of Galilee, invited to a wedding, by Himself converted them into wine; and He who conferred joy upon those celebrating the nuptial feast by providing the wine that was lacking, Himself gave His handmaid beer from water, as was asked, so that she might gladden the thirsting multitude of the poor.

[56] But behold, while we relate how beer made from water refreshed the thirsting multitude of the poor, there presents itself for narration how beer was multiplied at her blessing, by which a feasting multitude of Clerics was gladdened. she is cheered by the Bishop's arrival: For on a certain day the ^a aforesaid Bishop, in his customary manner but attended by an unusual multitude of Clerics, came to the Virgin; and he found a house joyful at his coming over his coming. For all rejoice in the presence of those like themselves: for even the wicked, whenever they come together, one becomes worse from the other; but assemblies of the good administer to one another increments of mutual goodness. Since therefore the whole intention of this Virgin hastened toward virtues, she could not but rejoice at the arrival of a holy man whose words, countenance, habit, and whole life were incentives to virtue. and having heard his sermon, When he had refreshed the holy Virgin and her companions with the salutary nourishment of God's word, she in turn invited him and all his Clerics to a bodily meal. The blessed Virgin then set a table of refreshment she entertains him and his Clerics at a feast: and joyfully placed upon it such foods as she had, of whatever kind. But since she had nothing to serve besides a drink of water, a small amount of beer at last found in one of the vessels made her more cheerful, and greatly presuming upon Divine mercy (for no friend can presume so much upon his friend [by the sign of the Cross she makes a little beer in a vessel increase, and from it many vessels are filled:] as a true lover of God can presume upon God's goodness), she fixed upon the discovered beer the saving blessing of the holy Cross. Without delay the liquid, rising to the brim, began to overflow on every side; nor could the guests, drinking as often and as much as they wished, empty that vessel. Many vessels are also recorded to have been filled from this one -- the Lord assuredly multiplying the beer through the Virgin's merit, who once multiplied oil for a widow woman through the prophet Elisha. The Bishop and those who had come with him, refreshed by food and drink alike, departed, exulting more over the merits of Brigid and the miracle they had seen than over the refreshment by which they had been consoled.

[57] Another Bishop also, at another time, came to the Virgin from the remoter borders of Ireland, because her name was as ointment poured forth, inviting devout persons from here and there to conversation with her. The conversation between the Bishop and the Virgin was extended more amply on the subject of spiritual wisdom; after long discourses about God, and the Virgin through the Bishop, and the Bishop through the Virgin, were by their salutary conference more and more inflamed to contempt for passing things and desire for eternal ones, to love of neighbor and contemplation of God. For no one wearies of hearing that which it is a delight to love. It is never enough, even often, to hear or utter discourse about the one whom you have striven to love with sincere affection. Since, therefore, the most sweet love of God was perpetually fixed in Brigid's mind, she gladly and without weariness both spoke and heard the praises of God.

[58] When, however, after the long conference held between her and the Bishop concerning God, the hour and time called them to the refreshment of the body, the holy Virgin had her one milking cow brought forward, applying to its udders the customary blessing of the holy Cross. Straightway, at her blessing, God bestowed upon the udders of that one cow so great an abundance of milk that much more was milked from the one than was thought to be milked from many. [by the sign of the Cross on the cow's udders, she sets before the Bishop an increased supply of milk, which among the Irish is accustomed to serve as a delicacy:] The people of Ireland think little of adulterated compositions of foods and foreign seasonings; those who dine together have held humble fare of bread and milk and vegetables as delicacies. Admiring her faith and exulting in her merit, they extolled with worthy praises the fact that her fame, already very great, was surpassed by still greater merit.

[59] But she, always walking the royal road, just as she never turned to the left by succumbing to carnal enticements, so neither did she ever stray to the right by exalting herself either for her own virtues she despises human praise: or for the praises and favors of others. For she weighed both -- that is, the enticements of the flesh and the phantasms of human praises -- not by vulgar opinion but by their true worth; and on that account she easily overcame both by the prudence of her mind and the strength of her faith. as truly empty: For she considered the pleasures of the flesh to be in truth great defilements, and human praise a great swelling of the ears. Whence her whole concern was to be holy rather than to be called holy. Matt. 25:29 And because to everyone who has, more shall be given and he shall abound, but from him who has not, even what he seems to have shall be taken away, the generosity of heavenly goodness bestowed upon Brigid, who had a good will, the ability to fulfill her will. For she was truly good before God, and yet, lest the treasure of her goodness be hidden, by the signs mentioned above and those to be mentioned below, it was made sufficiently known to the benefit of her neighbors how great and of what quality she was.

CHAPTER X

Wild Beasts Made Tame at Her Command, for the Relief of the Wretched.

[60] It is well known in Ireland that a certain man, simple in mind and by nature, once went to the palace of the King of the Leinstermen, led either by his own inclination or compelled by necessity. When this rustic stood among the courtiers and was made dull by their witticisms, being unaccustomed to such things, he suddenly saw a fox that had entered the palace running here and there. a rustic, having killed the King's tame fox, Thinking it had been driven there either by the pursuit of dogs or the violence of men, he hoped for great honor among the palace folk if, as a rustic, he killed it before any of them tried to chase the fleeing animal. Why should I delay with many words? What he had conceived with an ill-advised mind, he forthwith accomplished with ill-advised action. But the King's officers, seeing the King deprived of a great source of merriment (for that same fox, trained in various leaps and diverse contortions of its limbs and in many tricks, had been accustomed to stir up daily merriment for the King), to the man who expected praise they immediately exhibit arrest; bound with chains, upon him who desired glory they inflict chains and inglorious affliction. So does a simple man deserve who affects cunning; so does a rustic prosper who leaps into pleasantry; so is he afflicted who hastens to exchange his condition for the honors of the palace. At length it is reported to the King both that his fox has been killed and that the fox's killer is held in chains. He, indignantly bearing the killing of his little beast in his own house, orders the culprit to be bound with tighter chains, swearing by God and by his own head that unless he quickly restored to him a fox similar in all modes and movements of play to his own, and condemned to death, his possessions would be confiscated and squandered, his house burned, his wife and children brought into perpetual servitude, and he himself would receive a heavy sentence of death. And because the word of a King has force, pain and despair of all good afflict and constrain his mind more than fetters and chains do his limbs. Nor does he count the confiscation of his property and the loss of his own life of such consequence as the undeserved servitude of his good wife and sweet children. For to end one's life by the sword is to die once; but to have one's children enslaved is nothing other than to die daily.

[61] The deed of the simple man and the judgment of the angry King immediately resounded in the ears of many; for the greater anyone is, the less can even what he says in secret remain secret. Although the kindness of some moved them to compassion, and mercy even elicited tears from some, yet a tear quickly dries, especially in other people's misfortunes. Blessed Brigid the Virgin, who with a true fellow-feeling of compassion could say with the Apostle: "Who is weak, moved to pity, and I am not weak?" 2 Cor. 11:29 "Who is made to stumble, and I am not on fire?" -- because, drawing even the feelings of others into herself, she knew how to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep -- bore it most grievously that a man should be so treated for the sake of a beast. she prays to God, Rising straightway to the customary aids of prayer, she invoked as her helper God, in whose hand are the hearts of Kings, that He would soften the King and mollify his harsh sentence. Then, when she had mounted her chariot and was hastening to the court to intercede for the wretched man, and goes to the court: she was turning over two things anxiously in her mind: the great misery of the man in chains, and the infinite mercy of Almighty God. And although she was falling into sorrow on the one hand, yet by the hope she had in Divine goodness she was raised up to consolation.

[62] Nor did God fail her who faithfully hoped in Him: for He will do the will of those who fear Him. For while she was looking into the distance, she beheld a fox emerge from the woods and observed it hastening toward her in a swift course across the open fields. Approaching the chariot, it leapt lightly into it, she obtains from God on the road a tame fox, displaying the tameness of a domestic animal. Thereupon, pouring forth many praises and thanksgivings to God, the blessed Virgin came to the King and was joyfully and honorably received by him. For often he who does not seek human glory receives great glory from men; and sooner merits it by despising it than by seeking it.

[63] But when the Virgin asked that the guilt born of ignorance be pardoned for the captive, the King said that his fixed sentence stood: the slayer of his fox would be put to death if he did not quickly restore a fox that equaled his own in all modes of play. Hearing this, the holy Virgin brought forth the little beast sent to her by Divine gift, which she offers to the King, which straightway with wonderful agility, by varied contortions of its limbs, now up, now down, now this way, now that, twisting itself about, appeared to equal the King's fox in every kind of play. The King, greatly delighted by this spectacle, and obtains freedom for the accused: not only delivered the man for whom intercession was made, freed from his chains and fetters, but also handed him over to Brigid who was asking, free from all accusation. She immediately departed thence and restored him, who desired nothing less than the court, to his wife and children. Thus, with the man restored beyond hope and the Virgin returned home, the aforesaid little beast, just as the day before it had played in the royal house, but the next day the fox flees into the woods: held the King's eyes for some time with many kinds of play. But there, while playing, it drew near to the doors of the palace; seeing that the exit was unobstructed, it suddenly leapt out and began to make for the nearby hiding places of the woods at the swiftest pace. Some of the courtiers, by the King's command, set their horses after it with dogs; but they spent that day hunting in vain. And toward evening, perceiving that no hope of catching it remained, they called together their dogs and returned empty-handed.

CHAPTER XI

Simplicity Illuminated by Miracles.

[64] Wonders succeed wonders. For at a certain time, when the season of harvest was at hand with crops ripe on every side, St. Brigid hired certain laborers to gather her crops, whom she found ready to work for their wages. Brigid hires laborers for the harvest: She then agreed upon a fair price for the labor, and for those wishing to know the fixed day on which they should come, a fixed day of labor was appointed. But when on the appointed day they had come very early in the morning, as had been duly agreed, the sky began to be covered with clouds and darkness, and the air to be so darkened by a denser fog that the sun seemed not so much to be rising as to be declining toward its setting. Thereupon a great and heavy deluge of rain burst forth, and the savage downpour seemed to have no end before nightfall. and when a copious rain was falling, Accordingly, throughout the whole province of the Leinstermen, all who had prepared to gather their crops on that day were compelled, with floods raging on every side, to remain at home and spend that day in unwelcome idleness. she keeps them free from it: But holy Brigid, commending her harvest and her harvesters to Divine protection, caused them to work by her prayers from morning to evening without any touch of rain. And it was a wondrous spectacle that, while the rains raged all around, the field of Brigid alone appeared not only untouched by showers but indeed bright without clouds or fog. But what wonder by Divine help: if she who faithfully believed in God had great power through God? For He Himself testifies in the Gospel: Mark 9:22 "All things are possible to one who believes." Again He also deigned to promise His own: "He who believes in Me," He said, "the works that I do, he also shall do, and greater things than these shall he do." John 14:12 What then Truth willed to promise, did He neither will to fulfill, nor was in any way able? But if He frequently fulfilled this through faithful persons, both men and women, did He not will this through Brigid, who loved Him with her whole heart, her whole soul, and her whole strength? Since from infancy she was singularly inflamed with the ardor of chastity and charity, and loved nothing except God, or in God, or for God, it should not be doubted that she shone with many miracles who shone also with many merits.

[65] At a certain time, when necessity required it, St. Brigid was lingering in her field, attending to the needs of her monastery. There a certain young man of great craftiness observed her and meditated iniquity in his heart -- namely, that by feigning poverty he might lead away one of her sheep, which were grazing nearby. Yet he judged that this should be done not to provide for his own need, but to mock her as a spendthrift who foolishly squandered her possessions. she gives a sheep to one who feigns poverty in garb and words: What more? He immediately put on the garment and face of a poor man; and so, supporting with a staff limbs that seemed to be wasting from starvation and illness, he came with a tottering step to the Virgin. Then, drawing deep sighs from his heart and barely resuming his breath at length, with words more half-uttered than spoken at intervals, he begged that one sheep be given to him. And since he professed great destitution equally by his face, his garb, and his speech, it was easy for him to find pity in the Virgin's breast. He received therefore what he had asked, and as if made somewhat stronger from the joy of the gift received (for the gladness of hope gives strength), he led away the sheep given to him.

[66] When he had hidden it in a sufficiently convenient spot, he came again, transformed into another appearance and garb. and six others, to one who changed his garb as many times in asking: So the senseless man toiled for his own shame; the fool exercised cunning for his own confusion; the wretch devised fraud for his own everlasting ignominy. Although he had an effective advocate in the Virgin herself -- that very destitution of both goods and health which he displayed -- yet in a humble voice he begged that one sheep be given to him, asserting that he had been worn out for some time by illness and always by the afflictions of the most grievous destitution. And because the blessed Virgin overflowed with bowels of unfailing mercy, she judged it too impious not to respond quickly to such misery; therefore she immediately gave him another sheep as well. Receiving it with thanksgiving, he hid the second with the same diligence with which he had hidden the first. The faithless man did not fear to repeat this deed seven times; and the devout Virgin did not delay to bestow what was asked, each time.

[67] But God, seeing the good will of His Virgin all of which are restored to the remaining flock: and the perverse scheme of the cunning young man, did not wish her to lack what she might give to the needy, nor did He wish him to possess that with which he might mock the holy Virgin. Accordingly, when toward evening Brigid's sheep were driven into the fold, as many as had gone out in the morning were seen to come in at evening. The onlookers marveled that the number was complete, and could not marvel enough that those seven sheep were found there together which they had previously seen led away at Brigid's giving. But that young man, when he did not find what he had hidden, was pained that his great cunning had all day long labored for his own reproach and ignominy; for while he plotted to mock another, he gave others material for mocking him. And so, frustrated in his purpose, he departed in sorrow -- more sorrowful now about the sheep he had received than about those he had lost.

deprived (for that same fox, trained in various leaps and diverse contortions of its limbs and in many tricks, had been accustomed to stir up daily merriment for the King), to the man who expected praise they immediately exhibit arrest; bound with chains, upon him who desired glory they inflict chains and inglorious affliction. So does a simple man deserve who affects cunning; so does a rustic prosper who leaps into pleasantry; so is he afflicted who hastens to exchange his condition for the honors of the palace. At length it is reported to the King both that his fox has been killed and that the fox's killer is held in chains. He, indignantly bearing the killing of his little beast in his own house, orders the culprit to be bound with tighter chains, swearing by God and by his own head that unless he quickly restored to him a fox similar in all modes and movements of play to his own, and condemned to death, his possessions would be confiscated and squandered, his house burned, his wife and children brought into perpetual servitude, and he himself would receive a heavy sentence of death. And because the word of a King has force, pain and despair of all good afflict and constrain his mind more than fetters and chains do his limbs. Nor does he count the confiscation of his property and the loss of his own life of such consequence as the undeserved servitude of his good wife and sweet children. For to end one's life by the sword is to die once; but to have one's children enslaved is nothing other than to die daily.

[61] The deed of the simple man and the judgment of the angry King immediately resounded in the ears of many; for the greater anyone is, the less can even what he says in secret remain secret. Although the kindness of some moved them to compassion, and mercy even elicited tears from some, yet a tear quickly dries, especially in other people's misfortunes. Blessed Brigid the Virgin, who with a true fellow-feeling of compassion could say with the Apostle: "Who is weak, moved to pity, and I am not weak?" 2 Cor. 11:29 "Who is made to stumble, and I am not on fire?" -- because, drawing even the feelings of others into herself, she knew how to rejoice with those who rejoice and to weep with those who weep -- bore it most grievously that a man should be so treated for the sake of a beast. she prays to God, Rising straightway to the customary aids of prayer, she invoked as her helper God, in whose hand are the hearts of Kings, that He would soften the King and mollify his harsh sentence. Then, when she had mounted her chariot and was hastening to the court to intercede for the wretched man, and goes to the court: she was turning over two things anxiously in her mind: the great misery of the man in chains, and the infinite mercy of Almighty God. And although she was falling into sorrow on the one hand, yet by the hope she had in Divine goodness she was raised up to consolation.

[62] Nor did God fail her who faithfully hoped in Him: for He will do the will of those who fear Him. For while she was looking into the distance, she beheld a fox emerge from the woods and observed it hastening toward her in a swift course across the open fields. Approaching the chariot, it leapt lightly into it, she obtains from God on the road a tame fox, displaying the tameness of a domestic animal. Thereupon, pouring forth many praises and thanksgivings to God, the blessed Virgin came to the King and was joyfully and honorably received by him. For often he who does not seek human glory receives great glory from men; and sooner merits it by despising it than by seeking it.

[63] But when the Virgin asked that the guilt born of ignorance be pardoned for the captive, the King said that his fixed sentence stood: the slayer of his fox would be put to death if he did not quickly restore a fox that equaled his own in all modes of play. Hearing this, the holy Virgin brought forth the little beast sent to her by Divine gift, which she offers to the King, which straightway with wonderful agility, by varied contortions of its limbs, now up, now down, now this way, now that, twisting itself about, appeared to equal the King's fox in every kind of play. The King, greatly delighted by this spectacle, and obtains freedom for the accused: not only delivered the man for whom intercession was made, freed from his chains and fetters, but also handed him over to Brigid who was asking, free from all accusation. She immediately departed thence and restored him, who desired nothing less than the court, to his wife and children. Thus, with the man restored beyond hope and the Virgin returned home, the aforesaid little beast, just as the day before it had played in the royal house, but the next day the fox flees into the woods: held the King's eyes for some time with many kinds of play. But there, while playing, it drew near to the doors of the palace; seeing that the exit was unobstructed, it suddenly leapt out and began to make for the nearby hiding places of the woods at the swiftest pace. Some of the courtiers, by the King's command, set their horses after it with dogs; but they spent that day hunting in vain. And toward evening, perceiving that no hope of catching it remained, they called together their dogs and returned empty-handed.

CHAPTER XI

Simplicity Illuminated by Miracles.

[64] Wonders succeed wonders. For at a certain time, when the season of harvest was at hand with crops ripe on every side, St. Brigid hired certain laborers to gather her crops, whom she found ready to work for their wages. Brigid hires laborers for the harvest: She then agreed upon a fair price for the labor, and for those wishing to know the fixed day on which they should come, a fixed day of labor was appointed. But when on the appointed day they had come very early in the morning, as had been duly agreed, the sky began to be covered with clouds and darkness, and the air to be so darkened by a denser fog that the sun seemed not so much to be rising as to be declining toward its setting. Thereupon a great and heavy deluge of rain burst forth, and the savage downpour seemed to have no end before nightfall. and when a copious rain was falling, Accordingly, throughout the whole province of the Leinstermen, all who had prepared to gather their crops on that day were compelled, with floods raging on every side, to remain at home and spend that day in unwelcome idleness. she keeps them free from it: But holy Brigid, commending her harvest and her harvesters to Divine protection, caused them to work by her prayers from morning to evening without any touch of rain. And it was a wondrous spectacle that, while the rains raged all around, the field of Brigid alone appeared not only untouched by showers but indeed bright without clouds or fog. But what wonder by Divine help: if she who faithfully believed in God had great power through God? For He Himself testifies in the Gospel: Mark 9:22 "All things are possible to one who believes." Again He also deigned to promise His own: "He who believes in Me," He said, "the works that I do, he also shall do, and greater things than these shall he do." John 14:12 What then Truth willed to promise, did He neither will to fulfill, nor was in any way able? But if He frequently fulfilled this through faithful persons, both men and women, did He not will this through Brigid, who loved Him with her whole heart, her whole soul, and her whole strength? Since from infancy she was singularly inflamed with the ardor of chastity and charity, and loved nothing except God, or in God, or for God, it should not be doubted that she shone with many miracles who shone also with many merits.

[65] At a certain time, when necessity required it, St. Brigid was lingering in her field, attending to the needs of her monastery. There a certain young man of great craftiness observed her and meditated iniquity in his heart -- namely, that by feigning poverty he might lead away one of her sheep, which were grazing nearby. Yet he judged that this should be done not to provide for his own need, but to mock her as a spendthrift who foolishly squandered her possessions. she gives a sheep to one who feigns poverty in garb and words: What more? He immediately put on the garment and face of a poor man; and so, supporting with a staff limbs that seemed to be wasting from starvation and illness, he came with a tottering step to the Virgin. Then, drawing deep sighs from his heart and barely resuming his breath at length, with words more half-uttered than spoken at intervals, he begged that one sheep be given to him. And since he professed great destitution equally by his face, his garb, and his speech, it was easy for him to find pity in the Virgin's breast. He received therefore what he had asked, and as if made somewhat stronger from the joy of the gift received (for the gladness of hope gives strength), he led away the sheep given to him.

[66] When he had hidden it in a sufficiently convenient spot, he came again, transformed into another appearance and garb. and six others, to one who changed his garb as many times in asking: So the senseless man toiled for his own shame; the fool exercised cunning for his own confusion; the wretch devised fraud for his own everlasting ignominy. Although he had an effective advocate in the Virgin herself -- that very destitution of both goods and health which he displayed -- yet in a humble voice he begged that one sheep be given to him, asserting that he had been worn out for some time by illness and always by the afflictions of the most grievous destitution. And because the blessed Virgin overflowed with bowels of unfailing mercy, she judged it too impious not to respond quickly to such misery; therefore she immediately gave him another sheep as well. Receiving it with thanksgiving, he hid the second with the same diligence with which he had hidden the first. The faithless man did not fear to repeat this deed seven times; and the devout Virgin did not delay to bestow what was asked, each time.

[67] But God, seeing the good will of His Virgin all of which are restored to the remaining flock: and the perverse scheme of the cunning young man, did not wish her to lack what she might give to the needy, nor did He wish him to possess that with which he might mock the holy Virgin. Accordingly, when toward evening Brigid's sheep were driven into the fold, as many as had gone out in the morning were seen to come in at evening. The onlookers marveled that the number was complete, and could not marvel enough that those seven sheep were found there together which they had previously seen led away at Brigid's giving. But that young man, when he did not find what he had hidden, was pained that his great cunning had all day long labored for his own reproach and ignominy; for while he plotted to mock another, he gave others material for mocking him. And so, frustrated in his purpose, he departed in sorrow -- more sorrowful now about the sheep he had received than about those he had lost.

[68] There was also an occasion, and necessity required, that the holy Virgin should linger in her field; where, while she was doing what she had previously undertaken, she was caught by sudden downpours of rain. her cloak, soaked by rain, And as very often happens, the more profusely the rains poured, the more quickly they ceased. Without delay the air returned to its former serenity, for the sun, without the obstruction of cloud, fog, or rain, began to emit a great brightness. But this great brightness caused a great dimness in Brigid's eyes. When, her garments drenched and her eyes dim, she came home, she saw a ray of the sun shining through the house through the window, which she thought to be a piece of wood recently placed crosswise through the house by someone (for the more brightly one gazes upon the sun outside, she hangs it on a sunbeam: the darker one considers the house one enters; and the more intently one has looked at the sun, the less one perceives what one finds). St. Brigid hung her cloak, soaked with water, upon the sunbeam. And why should I delay with many words? The sun serves the Virgin -- rather, the creature serves its Creator. For whatever power this Virgin possesses is of God's gift; and what the sunbeam supports is the garment of this Virgin. O how firm and faithful a defense it is, to love God firmly and faithfully! Behold, this Virgin, fragile indeed in sex, by faithfully loving God, works through God things how impossible even to strong men! Because she had given herself entirely to the love of Him, she found, beyond the usual, His creation ready for her service. Nor is it a wonder if He made the sun serve His Virgin, who in ^a the attack upon the Gibeonites made it stand still at the command of Joshua, and compelled it to go backward by three and even more degrees at the request of King Hezekiah. One God did both this and those things; without whom no man is anything but fragile, and through whom the female sex is proved to be most strong.

[69] But as we compare this deed of the Virgin with those things which the Fathers of the Old Testament accomplished, there occurs to us also the wife of Lot, turned by the indignation of God into a pillar of salt, and one stone turned into salt by Brigid's merit. How this was done I shall briefly explain. On a certain day one of the poor came to the Virgin, complaining that he lacked salt. by a blessing she converts a stone into salt: But since she had no salt with which to console the needy man, she saw nearby a stone, large in size and white in quality. Having it immediately brought to her, she blessed it, and then gave the shavings scraped from it to the poor man as salt -- shavings converted into salt by the power of God. But when he departed, he began to reproach both the holy Virgin and himself: her, that she had given, and himself, that he had accepted, cuttings of stone in place of the consolation of salt -- especially since he had no need to go outside the door of his lodging for stones. Reflecting, however, that the Virgin was singularly possessed of bowels of mercy and would never, under the guise of piety, mock the desolate, he judged that the Virgin's gift should be tested before it was cast away. And putting a little of it into his mouth, just as it represented the form of salt to his eyes, so it presented the flavor to his palate. Wishing to have many witnesses to this miracle, he gave it to many others to taste. And when the same thing appeared to the rest as had appeared to him, what had so become known through one person to the experience of many could not remain a secret.

CHAPTER XII

Prodigious Healings -- Her Own and Others' Through Her.

[70] In the aforementioned province of the Leinstermen there was a Mother of Christ's handmaids, she visits the monastery of St. Briga, named Briga, whom St. Brigid was accustomed to visit quite often on account of the merit of her life. When this blessed Virgin had come to her at a certain time, she was received, as always, with great honor and no small exultation. When her feet had been washed according to the custom for guests, a certain one of the Virgins of that place, where a woman, cured of gout by the water in which her feet had been washed: long deprived of the use of her feet by the affliction of gout, washed her ailing feet with the same water with which Brigid's feet had been washed; and before they could be dried, they were able to be healed.

[71] Afterward, holy Brigid, discoursing in mutual conference with the aforementioned Mother of the monastery and the nuns about many things -- the enticements of the flesh, after devout conversations, the temptations of the devil, some things about the torments of hell, not a few about heaven, very many about God -- while she strove to form others for the better with the affection of charity, she herself was more and more inflamed in the same. For this is the nature of spiritual possession: it is diminished if it is begrudged to others, and then it is most proved to increase when it most appears to be shared with others through the affection of charity. But since natural necessity demands that even spiritual persons not wholly omit compassion for the body, sitting at table she sees a demon: when a great part of the day had passed, they came to the table of bodily fare.

[72] When Briga and Brigid had sat down, the former began to marvel greatly that Brigid was gazing sideways with fixed eyes (for she saw a demon sitting near the table); and at length, addressing the Virgin, she said: and shows it to Briga, after signing her eyes: "What are you looking at so intently?" When Brigid had explained to her what she saw, the other said: "I too, if it is possible, wish to see him." Immediately St. Brigid imprinted the sign of salvation upon her eyes, and she saw the enemy, not a guest, sitting beside the table -- with an enormous head, a black face, flaming eyes, and fiery breath, thick knees, and protruding ankles. Having seen him, she asked St. Brigid to address him. When she did so, the demon said: "I cannot fail to answer you, who faithfully fulfill the precepts of God; for because you strive to love Him perfectly, I cannot fail to fear you." Then she said: she asks why he molests men, "Why do you and the rest of the host of demons hate the human race?" And the demon replied: "Because we do not wish anyone to succeed to the heavenly glory which we have lost without hope of return." To him the blessed Virgin said: "O how far from this intention of yours is my will! For even if I myself could not go to heaven, I would wish its gates to be opened to all, though I knew them to be barred to me. And yet, what was the reason for your coming here?" "It has been a long time," he said, and why he is there: "since I have been dwelling here with a certain Virgin who is quite familiar to me, who among the others was one that pleased me, who alone consented to my will by living wickedly."

[73] When at Brigid's command he spoke her name, she immediately ordered the girl to be summoned. [by the sign of the Cross she opens a girl's eyes to see the demon, whom she had often obeyed:] Then she commanded the girl who came to approach her, and making the sign of the holy Cross over her eyes, she asked her to look clearly now at what manner of being he was whose will she had long willingly obeyed. When the girl saw the form of the demon -- exceedingly deformed and horrid -- she was deeply grieved that she had exercised such service of so base a master for so long. And turning at once to Brigid, she implored her patronage with tearful cries against so dreadful an enemy; she promising amendment of life: she promised amendment of her former life and swore that she would adhere more zealously to regular observance, if she should see this inciter and instigator of evil put to flight by Brigid's merits. For never does a hidden tempter delight as much as a manifest one horrifies. And would that he were abhorred when he secretly suggests evil -- because he can be more openly seen by those by whom he is proven to be despised when he suggests evil in secret. she drives him away: At length the blessed Virgin, seeing that the girl repented of her past evils and promised future good deeds, took pity on her, and with powerful authority commanded the demon to depart, never to return; and faster than the word he vanished from their eyes. Thus, through the merit of one Virgin, the infirmities of two were healed; and they gave many thanks to God -- the one freed from bodily debility, the other from captivity of mind.

[74] But since, according to the testimony of the Wise Man, "Whom the Lord loves, He chastises; and scourges every son whom He receives," suffering from a severe headache, St. Brigid afterward began to be vehemently afflicted by a pain in the head. Prov. 3:12 Considering, however, that this scourge of God was an indication of God's love, she rejoiced and gave thanks, revolving within herself the saying of the Psalmist: Ps. 33:20 "Many are the tribulations of the just, and from all these the Lord has delivered them." But when the above-mentioned Bishop learned that Brigid was ill, he ordered her to go with him to a certain other Bishop, named Eth, she is brought to a Bishop skilled in medicine: for that man was expert in the kinds of diseases and the remedies for cures, both by learning and by practice. Holy Brigid, although she bore her bodily infirmity not only patiently but indeed gladly, undertook the journey to the Bishop with him, judging, according to the testimony of Samuel, that obedience is better than sacrifice -- especially since in this matter, as was said by a certain Wise Man, "Do not despise the physician, for the Lord also made him." 1 Sam. 15:22; Ecclus. 38:1 But because she was held by a severe infirmity, she accomplished only a little of the journey each day.

[75] It happened, however, that they entered the house of a certain man who had obtained two daughters from one wife, by which fortune he seemed to himself unfortunate: for one of them had never had the use of speech, and the other had lost it in the very years of infancy. Although, however, neither of them could speak, each ministered to the ailing Virgin according to her ability. When in the morning the holy Virgin began to mount her chariot, by the dispensation of God she immediately fell to the ground, falling, she injures her head: and a very sharp stone received the head of her as she fell. One vein of her head, cut by the sharpness of the stone, bled profusely. One of the mute girls, seeing this, her face professing her grief, quickly ran to her and was entirely at the service of the holy Virgin. Rejoicing at the girl's goodwill she restores the power of speech to the mute girl: and grieving at her misery, Brigid directed her to pour into water the blood flowing from her injured head, and then to pour it around her own neck. The sick girl did what was commanded, and through the ailing Virgin, the Virgin was freed from her infirmity. Not content with the health of one alone, she said: "Call your sister, likewise to the other: because a similar medicine must be applied to one similarly afflicted." The sister, being called, came at once, and just as the first, so also was the second healed.

[76] When, these things having been accomplished, the Bishop and Brigid with her companions continued the journey they had begun, they encountered the Bishop whom they had been seeking. [by the wound to the head a vein was opened, and thus, the blood being diminished, she recovers:] When at the other Bishop's request he examined Brigid's head more carefully, he said: "Who is it that struck this vein in this manner? Whoever he is, he is without doubt a good physician." The Bishop who had been Brigid's guide and companion on the journey

narrated to him the matter as it had occurred. And the other said: "It was not necessary for you, after the cutting of this vein, to seek any other medicine. For although a certain weakness has remained from the immensity of the past pain, she has been healed from the old infirmity; and you will soon see that, just as she has been freed from the illness, so she will be freed from this debility which she contracted from the illness." Having heard these things, each returned to their own; and so, with two girls healed through the ailing Virgin from their infirmity, she herself also was restored to full health.

CHAPTER XIII

Strength Conferred on a Paralytic; Speech Given to an Infant, for the Defense of an Innocent Man.

[77] Nor should it seem right to pass over that on a certain day some men came to Brigid, asking that she quickly refresh them with a meal, as they were worn out by the great distance and hunger of the road. For hunger is a heavy companion to those who labor, and they had absolutely nothing with which to drive it away, having set out on the road without provision. that she might refresh her famished guests: Nothing, however, was easier than to find the sweetness of pity in Brigid's breast. Whence she judged that she must immediately come to the aid of those whose good hope had accompanied them as they came to her. But when she saw that none of her people were present, and she had no keys with which she could open the door of her storeroom, she was exceedingly grieved that refreshment should be deferred even briefly for them -- for that little delay was immense for those suffering hunger. When she sadly turned her eyes to that part where the storeroom was, to see if the keys were anywhere in sight, she saw a boy lying in that part of the house, held by a very great illness, whose entire body the affliction of paralysis had so pervaded from the very years of infancy that, apart from his eyes, scarcely any limb in him fully performed its function. For the wretch had hands without the sense of touch; he had the use of feet without the ability to walk; he had ears but heard absolutely nothing; a paralytic boy, whom she was keeping in her house, moreover, he appeared to have a tongue but without the ministry of speech. Him, retaining scarcely any sensible movement in nearly any of his limbs and expressing the appearance of a stone statue rather than the condition of a human being, St. Brigid was having nourished with food administered to him. When therefore she saw him lying there, she began to address him: "Where are our keys," she said, "and the key?" And he, at the sound of her voice, immediately gained the power of hearing, and his tongue's bond being loosed at the same time, he answered that he did not know. The devout Virgin, therefore, seeing that she miraculously restores him to health, ^a Divine mercy was present, continued and said: "In the name of our Savior God, rise quickly and search more carefully for where the keys are; and when you have found them, bring food from our storeroom to offer our guests, that he may seek the keys of the pantry and bring food: who are indeed weary from hunger and toil." What then? The boy did what the holy Virgin had commanded. Sound, therefore, he rose from the bed of sickness, and having found the keys, he strove to show the diligence of a servant to the guests he had received. They, afterward refreshed with a twofold refreshment -- namely, the joy which they had conceived from the miracle they had seen, and the food which they had more gladly received from the hands of the healed boy -- and having been restored according to their desire, extolling with many praises God who is always wondrous in His Saints, completed the journey they had begun.

[78] It is also worth adding to what has been mentioned what this holy Virgin did in an assembly of holy Bishops. At a certain time in the regions of Ireland a certain great matter arose which brought together the Bishops of Ireland with a great multitude of both scholars and laypeople. a Council of Bishops, And as is accustomed to happen in great assemblies, many flowed in among the rest without whom the business at hand could well have been concluded -- persons invited there by no other reason than to see the multitude, and so that, having returned home, they might say: "We were there." When St. Patrick, who appeared to be first among the Bishops, had made the beginning of his speech, and the other Bishops afterward, according to the regulations of the Canons, were pronouncing their sentences as their necessities required, a certain shameless and senseless woman came without good counsel into the Council, and casting the infant she had borne before the feet of a certain holy Bishop named Bron, said: disturbed by a charge of fornication brought against St. Bron: "Take this infant, whom you begot, whose father you were not ashamed to become." That entire assembly was therefore disturbed by such words -- the Bishops and all good persons grieving and defending the holy Bishop, while others -- namely, those who gladly hear unfavorable words about good men in defense of wickedness -- were insulting him.

[79] When the blessed Virgin heard from a certain reporter that the Council was disturbed, she perceived what was true: namely, that by the working of the devil the defenders of truth had been thrown into confusion by this lie, so that while they were striving to repel the Bishop's infamy, they would be compelled to put into forgetfulness or postponement Brigid approaches: the cause of God, on account of which they had assembled there. At length she hastened her journey to the place of the Council, which was not far away. When she arrived there, she brought by her coming great joy to the good, and shame and confusion to the opposing party. For both the good and the bad perceived the same thing: that Brigid would quickly put an end to the falsehood. introduced by St. Patrick, When St. Patrick had therefore introduced the holy Virgin into the Council, he made her sit beside him, and he related to her chaste ears the words of the unchaste woman. The faces of all were turned upon the Virgin; with watchful eyes they looked upon the cultivator of truth, and with attentive ears they awaited an oracle of truth. She therefore ordered the shameless woman to be summoned. When she was present, once and again Brigid endeavored to exhort her she exhorts the wicked woman to repentance: not to kill her own soul with lies while she plotted to injure another's reputation. But the woman, scorning sound teaching with a deranged mind, cried out and said: "I declare it to be true what I previously confessed, and in this I call God as my witness: this Bishop begot this infant. And why does he refuse to hear publicly her protesting more shamelessly, what it was his delight to do in secret? If he thinks it shameful that a Bishop begot a son, why did he not similarly think it shameful for a Bishop to beget offspring? Let it suffice for me that I carried his son in my womb for nine months, that I bore him with the anguish of childbirth, that I have had the care of him now for three or four months. It is now time for the father of this little infant to be also its nurse, for he ought to share in the labor who also shared in the pleasure."

[80] She had scarcely finished her words and therefore punished by God with her body swelling up, when a sudden swelling invaded her lying tongue, which, growing stronger through her head and her whole body, presented a monster rather than a human being, a prodigy rather than a woman. But holy Brigid, blessing the tongue of the little infant, said: "Who is your father? [(the infant's tongue being blessed, and his father being revealed by his words and an offered apple)] Is not this Bishop your father, to whom your wretched mother attributes this?" And he replied in a clear voice and with distinct words: "My father is not the Bishop, but a certain lowly rustic; nor does he have a place here among the Clerics, or even the noble laymen, but mingled with the common throngs, he sits at a distance among those like himself." She then, offering the infant an apple, said: "Rise, and going, carry this apple to your father."

[81] When he had done this, the Clerics acclaim and the laity cry out together that the woman must be handed over to the flames, who had not feared to threaten a holy man with great infamy. But to those stirring up tumult, Brigid, having imposed silence, said: "It is fitting for the servant of a merciful Lord to embrace mercy; for he offends his devout Lord who strives to be cruel to his fellow-servant. convicted of calumny and condemned to burning, Our Lord and God declares that He does not will the death of the sinner, but that he be converted and live; and shall we sinners pursue this sinner-woman so that she may not live? Far be such cruelty from all who need the mercy of God, because judgment without mercy shall be upon him who does not show mercy." Ezek. 33:11 "Whence it seems advisable," she frees her, "not that we sinners kill this sinner-woman, but that we entreat the Author of life to grant her life for repentance." Then, looking upon the wretched woman, and having healed her with the sign of the Cross, she exhorts her to repentance: she applied the customary medicine of the holy Cross; at whose power all the swelling immediately vanished from her, and her former face and form were restored to her. And she said to her: "Do worthy penance for your life and your words, so that, just as you have been freed by God's mercy from the swelling of body, so also you may deserve to be absolved from the bonds of sins." When the causes for which they had assembled were then concluded according to their will, the whole assembly was dismissed, all proclaiming with much praise God who was working wondrously in His Virgin.

CHAPTER XIV

Grain Divinely Obtained; What Had Been Consumed, Restored.

[82] Again, by a hidden judgment of God, inclemency of the air and harshness of the elements, raging in Ireland beyond the usual, in a time of famine, rendered the land barren of crops, and thus from the scarcity of crops famine prevailed. What was grievous was that famine was endured in the present, and no abundance of crops was hoped for in the future. For what shall he reap who has nothing to sow? When St. Brigid recognized that not only her storeroom but her entire province was in need of crops, she approached a certain Bishop, Eburius by name, around Lent, asking of him what he had been accustomed to give to others -- namely, a supply of food. But when even in his granaries, apart from four or five measures of wheat, he himself could find no crops, by the Bishop's command she eats meat with her companions in Lent: he gave meat, commanding that she with her Virgins should eat meat during Lent itself, since clearly nothing else could be found there to eat. She, preeminent in the virtue of discretion, received the Bishop's gift with thanksgiving, and according to his command she ordered meat to be set before her Virgins during Lent.

[83] Whence two of them, ignorant of the power of discretion and esteeming frugality more than obedience, resolved -- not without a certain vain glory -- to abstain from meat; two portions turned into serpents by the disobedience of certain nuns: and each hid her portion, intending to give it to the poor at an opportune time. When they afterward came, thinking they would make alms from their disobedience, each found her portion turned into a serpent. Terrified greatly at this discovery, they ran quickly to St. Brigid, reporting what had happened. She, discoursing to them at length about the peril of self-will and the virtue of discretion, afterward went with them to the place where the fruit of disobedience lay hidden. Seeing that what she had heard was true, she applied the sign of salvation to the gaping beasts; she restores them to their former form by the sign of the Cross: and thus stripping them of their bestial form, she converted them into those two loaves, of which she kept one and gave the other to the aforementioned Bishop.

[84] The Bishop, hearing what had happened, ordered her to come to him to receive the wheat he had -- either half or all. she obtains by prayer that wheat be divinely multiplied: She came, therefore, and entered the Bishop's granary; but reflecting that what would not suffice for the Bishop's household all at once should not be divided, she asked that Divine mercy be present, so that the Bishop's goodwill and her own great need might be fulfilled in such a way that, while the Bishop drove away her want, he himself would not suffer want. When prayer was completed, she had one cart brought up, and when it was filled to the top, another was immediately brought forward. And what had been done with the first was done with the second. So also the third after the second, and one after another, were filled up to twenty-four carts; of which she took away twelve and left the same number for the Bishop. So it came to pass that the Bishop, by giving little, received more; and while he strove to provide for another, he found provision made for himself.

[85] Since indeed her merit and mercy had been carried by frequent fame even beyond the borders of her own province, it brought many poor people to her from remote as well as from nearby borders, for various needs. many flocking to her: For that is gladly sought out whence generosity is hoped for. Nor is there a more effective summoning voice than the reputation of generosity. Holy Brigid, when one poor person departed, did not disdain another arriving, but showed herself one and universal to all, individual to each. For although she extended her affection to all, yet she moderated her hand according to the needs of the destitute, giving abundantly more to those in greater want and moderately to those of middling need -- although a gift cannot be called small which great charity administers.

[86] When therefore three lepers heard what manner of woman Brigid was and how generous toward the poor, [to three lepers she gives a silver vessel, broken at one blow into three equal parts:] they entered at once and together upon a similar plan, by which they went to her to seek alms. When the blessed Virgin saw them worn out by the great distance of their journey and their illness, she immediately began to think about their consolation; and bringing forth a certain silver vessel which she had, she gave it to them. Taking care, however, lest the gift of her generosity should be a cause of discord and dispute among them, she struck that vessel against a stone hard enough, and -- wondrous to tell -- at one blow she broke it, just as she had wished, into three parts of equal weight. These, weighed once and again on a more careful scale, were all found to be of one weight. And thus the merit of a Virgin beloved by God could accomplish this more quickly than the skilled hand of any craftsman. Having received, therefore, each of the three his own part, they returned to their homes rejoicing and giving thanks.

[87] Again there was in Ireland a certain poor man whom a certain offense had made so liable that he was obliged either to give a measure of honey or to suffer harm to his own body. The poor man therefore ponders what to do, how to bring about the desired result, and in his great need he considers many plans. At length, reflecting that neither by idle wishes nor by mute petitioners does an abundance of goods come about, he places the sum of his reflection in this: a poor man being asked for a measure of honey, or else to be severely punished, that he should confidently approach the poor man's treasury -- that is, the breast of Brigid -- and lay before her, who was accustomed gladly to lend both ear and mind to the causes of the poor, the cause of his need. Accordingly, good hope is taken as a companion of his journey, and the desired thing is found as the fruit of his arrival. He came to the Virgin and disclosed to her the way things stood with him. He begs on his own behalf, that he may experience in himself the generosity of her who, when she was asked, was accustomed never to fail anyone, and to be present to many even when not asked.

[88] The devout Virgin, therefore, seeing the poor man's great need and reflecting that he had conceived good hope from her generosity, is easily moved to compassion; but the lack of honey delays her from consoling the poor man. And while that most sweet breast burned for a measure of honey, she finds bees and honey beneath the floor of her house: the murmur of bees is heard beneath the floor of the house in which Brigid had received the poor man and, as has been said above, had conferred with him about his need. This was immediately pierced at the Virgin's command; and a portion of honey sufficient for the poor man being found, the poor man received what he had asked for, and thus departed rejoicing.

[89] To these things it may be added that a cause once arose which took Brigid an unusually long distance from her dwelling -- a great journey and heavy labor. But nothing was arduous for her, no work too laborious, by which she might hope either to help her neighbor or to please God. traveling, she turns aside to a poor woman, When she was on the road, she turned aside one day for the purpose of lodging at the house of a certain poor little woman, judging it better to lodge with a person of small means in peace than in the house of any rich man, who, the wealthier he was, the more tumultuous he would be found. by whom she is kindly received: The old woman, however, concealing her scanty means with a cheerful and generous face, immediately cut wood suitable for making cloth on a loom (for she was accustomed to practice the craft of weaving) and lit a fire for her guests -- one all the more comfortable for being less smoky. She also killed the calf which she had, her only one, and from it prepared food for the use of her guests. Then she set such a table as she had, and placed upon it such food as she could provide. Her cheerful face and generous spirit were accepted by the diners in place of various seasonings; her dutiful attentiveness in place of an abundance of foods; her kind devotion in place of delicacies.

[90] When, refreshed by such food and drink as there was, they had given thanks to God and to their hostess, St. Brigid began to pray to God with secret petitions, that she herself might not become the cause by which a house nearly empty of goods should be utterly emptied, or by which the poorest little woman should be left destitute. And what then? the next morning she restores to her the slaughtered calf alive, In the morning a calf was found there, similar to the former one; and lest it should seem that only this much could be accomplished by the prayer and merit of the suppliant before God, there were also found in the same house loom-timbers which reproduced the size and form of the former ones and the weaving-timbers, which had been burned: and presented a great cause of admiration to the beholders. If only the thing that was done is considered, it seems incredible; but if the power of the Maker is considered at the same time, is this not perfectly easy for Him who can do all things? For He did this at the request of His Virgin, of whom it is sung with true faith: "For He has done whatsoever He has willed." Ps. 134:6 The blessed Virgin, therefore -- to continue what I began -- seeing that her Maker had fulfilled her will, blessed Him with hymns and praises; and bidding farewell to her hostess, she prosperously completed the journey she had proposed and the task.

CHAPTER XV

Death Foreknown Long in Advance, and Devoutly Undergone.

[91] This blessed Virgin, therefore, shining with these and similar virtues, learned by God's revelation that the fourth year from this one would be the last of her temporal life. she understands that she will die in the fourth year following: Awaiting it with joy and spiritual desires, she prepared herself for heavenly things with vigils and prayers, stricter fasts, and more abundant alms. For although from the cradle of infancy, according to the strength and virtue divinely bestowed upon her, she had hastened with good works toward a good end, yet the approach of life's departure now showed her so intent upon -- indeed, rather consumed by -- heavenly desires, that this life of hers surpasses any faint-hearted estimation. she carefully prepares herself for death: For she carefully recalled to mind and memory that what makes death either good or bad is nothing other than what precedes death. Whence she strove to live and watch so in the way of this life that she would not be confounded when she should speak with her enemies at the gate. Nor did she wish her care to be confined to herself alone: for she watched diligently over the salvation of her own, striving with the great solicitude she had for them, with frequent exhortations by which she dealt with them, and with many prayers by which she interceded for them, she cares for the salvation of her own: that, forgetting what was behind, they should always stretch forward to what lay ahead, and in the flesh should not desire the things of the flesh, but the things of the Spirit.

[92] Having thus the care both of herself and of her own, one day, urged by necessity, she went out from the doors of her dwelling. A certain man who had long served at the office of the altar, named Nunneod, seeing her, a Priest imploring her prayers, began to think how great in mercy toward her neighbor and how great in merit before God this blessed Virgin was; and running swiftly, he was passing the blessed Virgin by. But she, calling back the hastening man, asked him to tell where and why he was hurrying so. "Seized with desire for a certain great city," he said, "I am thus hastening toward it; and if you will promise that, aided by your prayers, I shall enter it, I will, obeying your commands, reveal the matter to you." The Virgin, trusting in God, promised what was asked; and the Priest stopped, and confessed that the city to which he was hastening was heaven. And the reason for so swift a course, he added, was this: that by this device he might effectively receive the aid of her prayers, by which he might reach the homeland to which he was traveling. after prayer she sends him back, assured of his salvation: She, in whose bowels there dwelt an unfailing spring of mercy, hearing such a petition from him, was immediately inclined to compassion. And there, after completing her prayer, she arose and addressed him with these words: "Behold, good man, what your good will diligently sought, Divine mercy has mercifully granted to you at the request of His handmaid. For you will one day happily reach God; but it is fitting that you first suffer something for God. For no upright person is accustomed to aspire to reward without labor. Whence I admonish, exhort, and ask that you set forth on a pilgrimage to a foreign land, but as the substance of patience she counsels him to voluntary exile: and that, willingly an exile, patiently a stranger, gladly a pilgrim, voluntarily poor, wherever God shall provide, you may suffer yourself to be made such -- holding this as certain: that one cannot arrive at great rewards except through great labors. I also wish you to be forewarned and forearmed of this: that before I shall have closed the last day of my temporal life, she foretells that before her death she will receive communion from his hands: you will receive an angelic oracle about returning. For when I am about to enter upon the way of all flesh, I shall receive from your hands the life-giving Sacraments of the Lord's body and blood; and so I shall pass more freely into the place of the wondrous tabernacle, even unto the house of the Lord. And when you shall have performed the funeral service among others, you yourself will happily follow."

[93] He, confirmed in great hope by these words, he sets out for Rome, made for Rome, and at the thresholds of the holy Apostles, in great abstinence from food and the greatest abstinence from vice, he led a pilgrim's life. And when the third year of his pilgrimage was passing into the fourth, an Angel of the Lord, as had been foretold, appeared afterward he returns at the Angel's admonition, and commanded him to return home quickly. Obeying his commands, he came to Ireland and found the blessed Virgin on the very point of departing from earthly to heavenly things. [and she, having been fortified with the sacraments and having died, he dies shortly afterward.] From his hands she afterward received that saving and singular viaticum, and entered upon the way of all flesh, exchanging earth for paradise and transitory things for eternal ones in a happy bargain. Nor long afterward did the same Priest, laying down his burden, join his fathers. The Venerable Brigid, however, departed on the first day of the month of February, possessing God in perpetuity as the rewarder of her kindness and mercies -- who, one in Trinity and three in unity, lives and rejoices and is glorified, Himself indeed the life, the joy, and the glory of all Saints, through all ages of ages. Amen.

CONCERNING ST. BRIGID, VIRGIN, AT FIESOLE IN ETRURIA,

TOWARD THE END OF THE NINTH CENTURY.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Brigid, Virgin, at Fiesole in Etruria (Saint)

BY I. B.

Section I. The Feast Day of St. Brigid, Her Acts, and Origin.

[1] This is the second Brigid, whom, like the first, the island of the Scots brought forth, Italy received as a guest, and Etruria sent on to heaven, on the same Kalends of February (which is remarkable) on which the memory of the other, who died nearly four hundred years earlier, is celebrated. The occasion of her ending her life in Italy was this, St. Brigid, Virgin, a Scot, which will soon be set forth more fully. She had a brother, Andrew by name, whom his master Donatus, who was devoted to the study of virtues and letters, had led from their homeland to make a pilgrimage to places of the Saints, either consecrated by their former struggles or celebrated for miracles. The same Donatus was then, whether by the favor of heaven through a celestial sign, or by the support of the Frankish Kings, raised to the throne of the Church of Fiesole, and he had appointed Andrew as Archdeacon. the sister of St. Andrew, Archdeacon of Fiesole, This man, at the river Mensola, which waters the base of the Fiesolan hills, restored an old church once dedicated to St. Martin, which had long since been destroyed by enemy incursion, with the authority of his Bishop and funds collected from the generosity of pious people, and added dwellings for monks, with whom he spent the remainder of his life in the greatest holiness, widely renowned for the glory of his miracles. When, broken by old age and labors, he was awaiting the end of his life, moved I know not by what impulse of a secret spirit, he is reported to have wished that he might be allowed to see and speak with his sister before he departed. And without delay: his sister was suddenly present, whether admonished herself by the same spirit, having used the greatest haste possible, or transported there by some Divine power through such vast expanses of ocean and lands. having died in Italy, Andrew died not long after. Brigid withdrew into the remote dense forests, and there, with whatever remained of her life, pursued it with admirable holiness. The memory of her death remained among posterity, she is venerated on February 1 consecrated with solemn devotion, on the Kalends of February. On which day Philip Ferrari thus mentions her in his general Catalogue of Saints: "In the territory of Fiesole, St. Brigid the Virgin." He and others soon to be cited treat of her more fully in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy. David Camerarius, in book 3 on the Piety of the Scots, refers her feast day to December 31, following no authority in this matter; for Diacettus, whom he cites, not December 31 does not write a single word about Brigid's feast day. Our Henry Fitzsimon in his Catalogue of the principal Saints of Ireland does list her, but seems to have been ignorant of her feast day.

[2] Whether the life of this holy Virgin was committed to writing in the rude age in which she lived, or was transmitted to posterity only by report, is not clear. Philip Villani testifies below that certain holy men committed some things about her life and death to writing. Whether they were contemporaries, or followed report alone, he does not indicate: nor whether any of their writings survive. Thomas Dempster treats of her in book 2 of the Ecclesiastical History of the Scottish nation, and also cites Silvanus Razzi; but in him we do not even find the name of this Brigid; Francis Cattanius Diacettus, in the Preface to his book on the Saints of Fiesole dedicated to Francesco de Medici, Duke of Etruria, whose words we shall cite below; celebrated by many writers, and our Francis Lahier in the Great Menology of Virgins. Diacettus and Silvanus Razzi make honorable mention of St. Andrew in the Life of St. Donatus, but none of Brigid. Diacettus testifies in his already-cited Preface that the admirable Acts of Andrew were historically arranged by M. Philip Villani, a man conspicuous for his virtues. We have not yet seen that history. The part of it (which pertains specifically to St. Brigid) rendered into Latin is cited for this day in the Acts of the Saints of Ireland by John Colgan, O.F.M., from whom we shall give it here. First, questions that may be raised about Brigid's homeland, age, religious order, and place of death are to be explained.

[3] The Life of St. Andrew, received from a manuscript codex of St. Martin on the river Mensola, has the following about his lineage and homeland: born of noble Scottish stock, in Ireland. "Sprung from the noble family of the Scottish nation, he was nonetheless afterwards a disciple of Christ. Scotia, which is also called Hibernia, is the island nearest to Britain, narrower in extent of land, but more fertile in its situation ..." He adds other things from St. Isidore of Seville, book 14 of Origins, chapter 6, and from the Life of St. Donatus, and then continues: "In this province, therefore, the holy man of God, Andrew, as we have said, was born not of lowly but of noble parents." And a little further on: "There was in the aforesaid province of the Scots a certain eminent philosopher and a Catholic in the faith of Christ, named Donatus, the Teacher and companion of blessed Andrew." And after a few words: "Therefore the blessed Donatus of Christ, and his disciple Andrew, set forth from the oft-mentioned province of the Scots." Similar things are found in the Life of St. Donatus, Bishop of Fiesole, which we shall give on October 21. But the Life of St. Andrew by Villani says: "The man of God Andrew was a native of the island of Ireland (which by another more common name is called Scotia), situated in the western region." The rest will be given and examined below. Brigid, therefore, Andrew's sister, was born of noble Scottish stock in the island of Ireland.

Section II. The Age of St. Brigid.

[4] Thomas Dempster, in book 2, number 166 of the Ecclesiastical History of the Scottish nation, writes of Brigid: "She was renowned for her sanctity in the year 802: and by a miracle was conveyed to Italy: when she died I have not found." [Whether she came to Italy in 800 or 802, as Dempster reports, contradicting himself?] But in book 1, chapter 31, he writes that she arrived at Fiesole in the year 800, as Baronius, Razzi, and the history of her life itself relate. Where do Baronius and Razzi treat of her? Or what Life of hers did Dempster read? But lest he merely lightly contradict himself, he presently writes that Andrew founded a monastery and placed Benedictine monks in it in the year 802. Yet Andrew founded that monastery long before Brigid came to Fiesole, so that her arrival cannot be placed in the year 800 or 802 if the monastery was founded in 802. For the holy servant of God Andrew, as is stated in his Life cited above, after he restored the oft-mentioned church, in which he served for a long time, exhausted by prolonged old age and worn out by fevers of the body for a very long time, he summoned the Brothers and explained to them in order his approaching death: and only then did Brigid arrive, or was suddenly transported into his presence. The same Dempster, book 4, number 367, following Diacettus, says that St. Donatus was consecrated Bishop in the year 802. If that is so, how could his disciple Andrew have rebuilt that church and established monks there in the year 802, when by the same Donatus, already a Bishop, and perhaps not immediately at the very beginning of his office, he was initiated into what are called the minor Orders, with the legitimate intervals perhaps observed, according to the prescription of the sacred Canons? His Life implies this: "When the blessed Bishop Donatus saw his disciple shining and becoming renowned for his merits, he began to love him greatly, and thus to promote him in order up to the office of the Diaconate." Then, after various virtues of Andrew in that office are commemorated, the author of his Life adds: "The blessed Bishop Donatus, having heard of the fruit of his labor, gave thanks to Almighty God, and raised blessed Andrew to the office of the Archidiaconate, and established him in his palace as the first after himself." And at length the care of restoring that church was imposed on him by Donatus: which does not seem to have been done before the year 810 or 812, if he was ordained Bishop in 802. Did she die around 810 or 870? Philip Ferrari in the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy, under February 1, says that Brigid lived in the times of Charlemagne. The same author, under August 22, writes of St. Andrew her brother: and under October 22, concerning St. Donatus, he holds that he was made Bishop in the year 802, which was the third of Charlemagne's empire and the thirty-fifth of his reign. Our Francis Lahier in his Menology of Holy Virgins reports that St. Brigid died around the year 810; Constantinus Caietanus, around 870.

[5] None of these authors present any chronological markers to confirm their dating. The Life of St. Andrew offers some; the Life and Epitaph of St. Donatus provide more certain ones. The Life of St. Andrew, perhaps copying defectively, Since St. Donatus, Bishop of Fiesole, flourished, reads as follows: "In the time, therefore, of King Theodoric and Louis the Good, who at the palace of Augusta (read rather, the palace of Aachen, or according to that ancient form of writing, at the palace of Aachen) in the year 816 of the Lord's Incarnation, established the canonical rule, there was in the aforesaid province of the Scots a certain eminent philosopher and a Catholic in the faith of Christ, named Donatus, the Teacher and companion of blessed Andrew." The Council of Aachen was held in the year 816, the third of Louis, and in it the rule of the canons and nuns was published. not under King Theodoric. But there was no King Theodoric around those times. There was indeed a Theodoric, son of Charlemagne by the concubine Adelluida, whom, together with Drogo and Hugo, sons of the same Charles by another concubine named Regina, the Emperor Louis the Pious, their brother, ordered to be tonsured in the year 818, as Theganus has it, and ordered them to be instructed in the liberal arts; and afterward established them honorably.

[6] The Life of St. Donatus expressed the names of these Kings somewhat more accurately in these words: "In the time, therefore, of the Christian Princes Lothar the Great and Louis the Good, but under Louis, who established the canonical Rule of their holy assembly at the palace of Aachen in the year of the Lord's Incarnation 816." But I fear that this Author, having blundered regarding Louis's name, wrongly made him the first of that name, or the Pious, Lothar's father, who was the second Emperor of that name. There was indeed a council of Aachen held under Louis the Pious, one year before Lothar was adopted by his father as co-ruler of the empire; but why is Lothar placed before his father? This will perhaps become clearer from the epitaph of St. Donatus, which reads as follows:

Here I, Donatus, sprung from Scottish blood, he had served the Italian King before his episcopate Alone in this tomb, by dust and worm consumed. I served the Italian Kings for many years, The great Lothar, and Louis the Good. For forty-seven years, and seven more besides, In the Fiesolan city I was Bishop. etc.

Who would not see that Louis the Good is the son of Lothar, therefore to the son of the Emperor Lothar, who was King of Italy, or of the Lombards, and became Emperor in the year 855, when his father embraced the monastic state?

[7] For why otherwise would Louis the Pious be called an Italian King, who never possessed Italy by a special title? But Lothar, sent by his father to govern Italy, retained it and Belgium in the division of the kingdom agreed upon with his brothers, and left it with the title of Emperor to Louis, the eldest of his sons. That Donatus was intimate with this Louis is established from his Life, where the following is stated: "The aforesaid Bishop therefore went to Louis the great Prince, whom the Bishop also met who, receiving him with a kindly spirit, out of devotion for the most holy man did not deny any of his requests ... Transacted at the city of Capua." Louis the Pious never visited Capua, since during the lifetime of his father Charles, Pippin governed Italy, then Bernard: at Capua, when the latter was deprived of sight and life, Lothar was sent to Italy, to whom nevertheless the Princes of Benevento, who also held Capua, were not subject, though they perhaps continued to pay the tribute that they had agreed upon with his grandfather and father. never visited by his grandfather or father, After the death of Louis the Pious, the affairs of the Lombards in Campania and the other provinces of that region were marvelously disturbed; so that Louis, grandson of the Pious, had to march there frequently with an army to settle them. And on his third expedition, undertaken in the year 866, as Leo of Ostia has it in book 1 of the Cassinese Chronicle, chapter 38, in the month of June he arrived at the monastery of Monte Cassino, where he was received with the greatest honor by St. Bertarius the Abbot. After this, departing thence, he made for Capua: which, having besieged it for three months, he took, but captured by him in the year 866. and for the most part destroyed it. At that time, therefore, it is probable that Donatus obtained from him those things related in the Life, at the city of Capua in the year 866.

[8] But since Donatus held the See of Fiesole for 47 years, it is not yet established in what year he obtained it or in what year he died, so that anything certain might be determined about Andrew and Brigid. In the year 844, when the same Louis came to Rome, Donatus was already a Bishop, and he was present both at the coronation of Louis himself and at the council of malicious Bishops who, he had also attended his coronation at Rome in 844. as Anastasius Bibliothecarius writes in his Life of Sergius II, had assembled with Drogo, Archbishop of Metz, against this universal Church, the head of all the Churches of God, without the permission or invitation of the Metropolitan. Who nevertheless, as is then narrated, by Divine grace inspiring them, were able to overcome neither the words of that gentle Pontiff nor his prudence. And so great was the heavenly power present with him that no one could constrain or confine him by argument. And, overcome by him, they departed covered with shame and confusion. Seeing this, they put aside all the anger and ferocity which they harbored in their minds in every way. It is not possible, as some authors already cited have written, if he met Emperor Louis II at Capua in the year 866, he had not been made Bishop much earlier, either in the camp outside Capua or in the city already captured, that he was consecrated in the year 802, nor indeed even in 816, since he sat for only 47 years. In that Roman council or conference, when Louis was crowned by Pope Sergius, Donatus is listed last of all the Bishops; while Fratellus, or Frantellus, or Frontellus, Bishop of Camerino, who is recorded as having sat in the fifth place before him, was not made Bishop before the year 840, in which year, on March 13, his predecessor St. Ansovinus is said to have died. Whence it follows that, if they sat in order of seniority according to the customary practice, Donatus was not made Bishop until 841 or 842, and thus died around the year 889. after having served the Emperor Lothar and Prince Louis for many years. If to these you add the 47 years during which he administered that Church, it will follow that he did not die long before the year 890 of Christ. Now if Andrew his disciple, as seems certain, was somewhat younger than he, and yet did not die until worn out by prolonged old age, Brigid lived beyond 890. it must be admitted that he lived nearly to the year 900 of Christ. Therefore, the same can be established concerning the age of his sister Brigid, who survived him.

Section III. The Monastic State of St. Brigid Discussed. Her Burial.

[9] Our Francis Lahier writes that St. Brigid lived in the world as a sanctimonial, or devoted woman, among her own people; and that in Italy, after her brother's death, she lived as a solitary in the forest devoted to piety. Constantinus Caietanus in his Annotations on the Life of St. Andrew says that not only he, It is not established that she was a nun: but Donatus too, and Brigid, were devoted to Benedictine observance: and that Brigid, even before she came to Italy or was transported there, lived a most holy life under the habit of a nun, in her parents' home or in some monastery of Ireland. This seems to Colgan hardly probable. The presumption favors Lahier, since no evidence of a monastic institute is brought forward.

[10] Even less probable is what Dempster writes: "Just as St. Andrew her brother founded a monastery for men called Scopeto, still less did she found a monastery, as Dempster writes, so she left another built for Scottish women: but the former passed to the Canons of St. Savior more than 300 years ago, whence they are called Scopetini; the latter so completely disappeared that after Fiesole was destroyed by the Florentines no memory of it survived. The writings have perished." Thus he. But how can he hope to be believed, if both the writings have perished and the memory of that monastery built by Brigid has completely vanished, when he cites no witness? Moreover, he again contradicts himself. and many things erroneously about the Scopeto cenobium, For in treating of St. Donatus he writes: "A most magnificent church was erected for him at Scopeto, as they call it, near Florence, which was afterward raised to a Priory in the year 1408, as Giovanni Battista Signius of Bologna writes, in the year, that is, in which the order of the Scopetini was instituted by Stephen of Siena, an Augustinian, and confirmed by Gregory XII." Gabriel Pennottus in his history of the Canons Regular, book 2, chapter 52, where he lists the monasteries of the Congregation of the Holy Savior of Bologna, number 2, has this: "The fourth monastery was St. Donatus of Scopeto near Florence, which they obtained from the same Martin V through his Bull dated the 5th day before the Kalends of July in the year 1420, when before it was a church dependent on the abbey of St. Savior of Settimo of the Cistercian Order. From this place they began to be called Scopetini among the common people, just as others are named from other places." Whether the Priory of Scopeto was truly instituted by the Cistercians in 1408 and transferred to the Scopetini congregation 12 years later, we are not in a position to discuss: nor have we seen the books of Giovanni Battista Signius written about that congregation. That congregation was begun in the year 1413 in the monastery of Ilicetum, or de Silva lacus, by Stephen Cionius of Siena, as Pennottus narrates in the cited book, chapter 51, and Thomas Herrera in the Augustinian Alphabet. But a church given in the year 1408 to a newly instituted congregation ought not to have passed to them long before 300 years ago, as Dempster states above, since from 1408 to the year 1627, in which he was writing, only 219 years intervene, from which number twelve more must still be subtracted.

[11] But whether Donatus was buried at Scopeto or not, we do not inquire. Andrew was buried in the church of St. Martin at Mensola, which he had built, as Diacettus and others write. Ferrari believes St. Donatus was buried in the same place. But that was not the Scopeto church, as Dempster seems to have thought when he wrote that both were entombed at Scopeto. Silvanus Razzi, in volume 1 of the Saints of Etruria, in the Life of Stephen of Siena, the founder of the Scopetini, now destroyed. writes that the church of St. Donatus at Scopeto has already been destroyed. We have learned from a weighty authority that, a thousand paces from Florence outside the Gattolina gate, there stands a church dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary, called "of Scopeto": whether it is the same as that of St. Donatus, we cannot determine. The church of St. Martin at Mensola, although it is said to have been destroyed more than once, was nevertheless rebuilt by Florentine monks of the Benedictine order and endowed with a suitable income, and is still possessed by them, celebrated for the fame of its miracles: it appears at one time to have belonged to religious women, as one can infer from the offices and other signs.

[12] Nowhere is any mention made of a monastery founded by St. Brigid. St. Brigid at Opacus, Philip Ferrari in his general Catalogue of Saints writes that she was buried in the place called Opacus. In the Catalogue of the Saints of Italy he has the following: "At length, burdened by constant vigils, fasts, and other mortifications of the body, and by her years, she departed to her Bridegroom on the Kalends of February, and became renowned for miracles. In whose honor at the same place, at Opacus, a church was built and dedicated to her." Hence Colgan calls her the Patroness of the church of Opacus near Fiesole in Italy. Concerning her and the place of her spiritual exercises and death, Diacettus, Bishop of Fiesole, writes as follows, cited earlier, in the preface to the Life of St. Romulus and other Holy Bishops of the same Church: "St. Brigid, a Scottish Virgin, the full sister of St. Andrew, brought by a certain prodigious means to his deathbed, spent the rest of her life there in a dense and rugged forest, above Fiesole, not far from St. Martin in Lubaco: or Lubacum, in which place, wild and forbidding and then inhabited only by beasts, she passed the rest of her life in the greatest austerity: until, at last worn out by extreme old age, a church built at Bacum. she was summoned by her heavenly Bridegroom to the reward of her labors. There afterward, on account of the miracles performed by her in life and in death, a church was built in her name, which is still visible to this day." Thus Diacettus. Villani writes that she was buried not far from the church of St. Martin in Baco.

[13] Moreover, Fiesole, as we have said elsewhere, was once a celebrated city of Etruria, but too close a neighbor of Florence (only three miles distant), where Fiesole is situated. by whose inhabitants, after internecine hatreds and wars of some centuries, it was at length destroyed, its citizens being transferred to Florence: yet the episcopal name and church survive.

LIFE, by Philip Villani, in the Italian Life of St. Andrew the Deacon.

Brigid, Virgin, at Fiesole in Etruria (Saint)

By Philip Villani.

[1] The man of God Andrew was a native of the island of Ireland (which by another more common name St. Brigid, a noble Scot, is called Scotia), situated in the western region on the coast of the Ocean; so neighboring to the island of Britain, which is called England, that both seem to be the same island, inasmuch as they are separated by a single narrow strait, which has the appearance of a river, extending from sea to sea. He was born of the most noble and very wealthy parents; and he had a sister, a virgin named Brigid, younger in age but of great merit before God, whom he loved above all else, more from contemplation of her chaste life and the works of justice that she practiced, than from the claim of natural kinship... After narrating Andrew's pilgrimage, miracles, his final illness, the convocation of the monks, and his desire to see his sister, the author adds the following:

[2] As the Brothers received Andrew's instructions with tears, by Divine disposition there came upon the blessed man an intense desire to see, before he departed this life, his sister Brigid: St. Andrew her brother, being on his deathbed, wishing this, toward whose presence he sighed inwardly, but did not reveal to those around him what desire was carrying him, since he judged that, because of the distance of the places, it could not be fulfilled by human powers. But the Lord God Almighty, who knows and beholds from afar the just desires of His holy servants, looked upon him, condescending to his wishes, as he drew those sighs. For to Brigid, at that same moment in Ireland, reclining at table in a solitary place she is transferred by an Angel to Italy: and eating a salad and small fish, an Angel of the Lord appeared, and miraculously transported her and the table at which she sat, in an instant, into the presence of the man of God Andrew and his Brothers. Those who were then present and occupied with the care of the holy man, seeing this most evident miracle, struck with amazement at the novelty of the thing, eagerly called together a crowd to witness so great a spectacle.

[3] Brigid, however, completely astonished and with her mind suspended, thought she was rather seeing a vision than the reality of the event, and looking about this way and that with eyes rolling in a circle, when she saw an unknown region and place, a venerable old man lying nearby in a bed, and people of an unfamiliar and foreign dress and appearance, disturbed by that miracle, she clung, as if stunned in spirit and wholly terrified, with her mind suspended. The servant of God Andrew, perceiving this in the spirit, addressing his sister with a calm speech said: Brigid, dearest sister, as I perceive that the end of my life is at hand, a great desire has come upon me to see you face to face. And the fountain of mercy and immeasurable love, God, has deigned, as you see, to grant my wishes, and to indulge me, a sinner, in what I greatly desired. Therefore fear nothing; for it has so pleased the Divine will she is reassured by her brother, that you should behold your own brother Andrew, whom you long supposed to have departed this life, now engaged in this final struggle, hoping through the merits of your presence to have the Creator of all propitious to me. In this place, far removed from our native land, I, a feeble fighter and soldier, have spent my days; and you likewise will spend yours, about to make up for the remainder of my service by the austerity of your life and the straits of privation. he commends himself to her prayers: Now indeed, leaning upon the Divine mercy, lay aside all groundless fear, and be calm in spirit, assured that you now see and experience nothing but what is most truly happening; and for me, I beg you, whose hour of dissolution is at hand, with the fear of God and fervor of the spirit, beseech our common Lord.

[4] At these words Brigid, as if waking from a deep sleep, coming to herself, now with great devotion and tenderness of mind dissolved in tears, clasps her brother's hands tightly, kisses them most tenderly, while meanwhile an excessive flood of tears mixed with sobs cut off her speech. And when she had prolonged such weeping and sighs for more than an hour, afflicted with immense grief, at last, bending her knees to the ground, she gives thanks to God: she burst forth into these words: Almighty God, who alone do wondrous things, whom the powers of heaven serve, the elements obey, and all creation is subject to, to You be praise and blessing, honor and glory, who have deigned to grant Your handmaid, by so remarkable a miracle, to see her brother present before her. Then, turning to her brother, she said: Most pious brother, faithful and best guide and guardian of my youth of old, I rejoice at your brave spirit, and with you I am glad and shall be glad during this very brief space in which it has been granted me to see you: although I deeply sympathize with your afflictions, and all the more vehemently as I see more clearly that by your departure I shall be deprived in this wretched life of your holy companionship, bereft of which I shall hereafter live afflicted and desolate. Nevertheless, the traces and monuments of praiseworthy works and holy actions imprinted by you accumulate my joy in the Lord and furnish me a festive day; she consoles her brother: in view of which, without any doubt, you will fall asleep happily in Christ. Of which matter I am in no way doubtful, but rather most secure, and I shall not fail, in these places to which Angelic power has brought me, as long as I shall be granted the enjoyment of this light, to follow in your footsteps in the practice of penance, as far as the weakness of my corrupted flesh can endure and the grace from above shall bestow; aided, however, dearest brother, by your holy prayers, who will bring manly strength to feminine frailty, that it may be strengthened. Now then be of good courage, and in the holy Cross and the victim of the Cross, Christ, be strengthened, and express the unconquered vigor of spirit and unshaken fortitude to which you have been accustomed until now, with greater proofs in this final struggle in which you are engaged.

[5] By these and similar conversations and exhortations of his holy sister, the servant of God Andrew, not a little consoled, bending his knees on the very hard pallet on which he lay, with hands raised and eyes fixed on heaven, bade a last farewell to his sister and the Brothers; then, turning to Christ, he said: Lord Jesus Christ, my Redeemer, receive the spirit of Your servant: and having said these words, he immediately breathed his last. after his death, not without miracles, His sister and the Brothers, who were then present awaiting his passing, saw around the servant of God a most brilliant splendor, which they could not behold with unblinking eyes, suddenly poured forth, accompanied by a most sweet fragrance of an unusual perfume, which immediately filled the whole house, and which, shortly after, together with the holy man's soul, withdrew to heaven, whence it had descended... Here the author treats of the time in which Andrew lived. Then he adds the following.

[6] There was another Brigid among the Scots, of singular sanctity, illustrious life, and celebrated for the grace of many miracles, in the year of grace 505, and the twentieth of Pope John I, when Justin reigned at Constantinople, and Rome was miserably afflicted by the Arian rule of Theodoric. She, however, died in Ireland, in whose honor I believe that in the course of time several women, especially in the island in which she lies, were named Brigid: of whom one was this sister of Andrew, about whom I have spoken before, and about whom I shall speak hereafter. Therefore this younger Brigid, the sister of St. Andrew, after her brother's death, out of zeal for more rigorous penance and to flee the company of those who live according to the world, withdrew below Fiesole into the most rugged and precipitous wastes of a certain wilderness situated at the foot of the Alps, she withdraws into the wilderness, inhabited only by wild beasts: and there, content with wild fruits and the roots of plants, she passed her life in great austerity to a very advanced age, meanwhile almost entirely withdrawn from the sight and knowledge of all mortals. When the tillers of the adjacent field, if ever they wandered through those same impenetrable forests for the sake of hunting and came upon her cave, and lives there in austerity: offered her something of what they had caught in the hunt, she would immediately refuse it as superfluous.

[7] As the end of her life at length approached, by God's prompting many matrons and men of holy life visited her frequently and served her, until at last, worn out by old age and greatly advanced in years, she completed the course of her happy life. In her honor, the neighbors, for whom she had been held in great reverence and veneration, a church erected to the deceased: built a church under her name in a certain precipitous place of that mountain, not far distant from the place they call Pieve of St. Martin in Baco; and there to this day her birthday is recalled with an annual festival. In those times those places were rough, forbidding, and uncultivated; but afterward they began to be cultivated by the colonists of the surrounding places, that wilderness afterward cultivated. and miraculously became beautiful and populous. Whoever wishes to know more fully the graces and miracles which God worked through this His handmaid, whether during her life or after her death, let him read what holy men have committed to writing about her life and death.

So St. Isidore, book 14 of Origins, chapter 6. "Scotia, the same as Hibernia, is the island nearest to Britain, narrower in extent of land, but more fertile in its situation: the homeland of the Scots is Ireland. this extends from the southwest to the north, and its first parts face toward Iberia and the Cantabrian Ocean. Whence it is also called Hibernia: but Scotia, because it is inhabited by the nation of the Scots, it is so called." Likewise Bede, Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, book 1, chapter 1, speaking of Ireland: "This is properly the homeland of the Scots."

The author is mistaken. The strait that lies between Britain and Ireland is broad and turbulent. If he means the region of Britain called Scotland, which now alone retains the name of Scotia and is the northern part of Britain, formerly possessed by the Picts, it is nowhere completely separated from Britain by a strait.

Our Lahier writes that before her brother's departure from Scotland, she lived in a secular manner (as one who had not yet resolved to observe perpetual virginity), but always within the bounds of modesty: but that afterward, having renounced all luxury of dress, she thenceforth adopted the modest attire of those Virgins who Was St. Brigid a devout woman? have devoted themselves to holiness in the world; and having taken a vow of chastity, she diligently devoted herself to the pursuit of piety and other virtues. Those things are indeed plausible; but on what authority are they transmitted?

It is perhaps more probable, as the same Lahier reports, that she, divinely taught that her brother would soon depart this life, immediately set out from her homeland out of eagerness to see him, and with the utmost speed arrived at Fiesole in time to be present at his death.

The chronological details given here do not agree with one another. For in the year 505 of Christ neither was Justin reigning, nor was John governing the Church: rather the latter was created Pontiff in 523 and died at Ravenna in prison in 526; so that the 20th year assigned to him is erroneous. Brigid, moreover, died under the pontificate of Hormisdas. Justin assumed the empire on July 9, 518, and held it until August 1, 527. Theodoric reigned in Italy from the year 493 to September 2, 526.

CONCERNING A HOLY ANONYMOUS BELGIAN BISHOP, AT CHAM IN SWITZERLAND,

AROUND THE YEAR 1000.

An Anonymous Belgian Bishop, at Cham in Switzerland (Saint)

I. B.

[1] Zug is a canton, or district, of the Swiss, between Lucerne and Zurich, where there is also a lake of the same name; which both received their name from Zug, commonly called Zug, a town situated on the shore of that same lake. At Cham in Switzerland On the same lake lies, and is subject to Zug, Cham, formerly a village, now a town, distinguished by the name of St. Andrew. a holy Bishop is buried In its parish church a sepulchre is visible, made of squared stone, and upon it the effigy of a Bishop, with crosier, tiara, and the rest of the sacred vestments.

[2] Henry Murer, a Carthusian, in his Holy Switzerland, where he treats of the Saints of the diocese of Constance, chapter 9, writes that he visited that sepulchre in the year 1635, and sought the Saint's patronage, and received the following account from the local Pastor about that Saint: Around perhaps the year 1000 (for no certain date, he says, survives) a Bishop came there from the Belgian lands, a Belgian, accompanied by a single attendant or Priest, on his way to Rome to venerate the holy places. But weakened by the hectic fever dead of hectic fever from which he suffered and by the toil of the difficult journey through those mountainous places, he stopped at Cham while he restored his strength with a little rest. One day he went to the church to perform the sacred rites. When these were finished, as he was preparing to bestow the benediction upon the people after the sacred rites; and to sprinkle holy water in the customary manner, he fell to the ground before the altar, still clothed in the sacred vestments in which he had celebrated Mass, and expired; and was honorably entombed in that church. It is by no means doubtful that the Priest, or whoever was his companion on the journey, before departing, indicated, or even committed to writing, the name, homeland, bishopric, and virtues of the deceased, of unknown name: and whatever else it was worthwhile to know; yet all has been obliterated by oblivion, whether through the negligence of the townsfolk, or through repeated fires of the church and town, by which the writings, and the miracles, and other monuments of antiquity perished.

[3] However, because the people had observed that he was a pious and holy man, and had died of hectic fever, they began in their own illnesses and those of their families, especially hectic fever, consumption, and particularly those of children, to invoke the aid of that Saint, to visit his sepulchre, [he is invoked against hectic fever and consumption by pilgrims, even heterodox ones,] and to honor it with gifts and votive offerings: and many have recovered their health by his aid, and continue to recover even now. For very many flock to the Saint's sepulchre, according to a rite handed down from their ancestors: and not only Catholics, but also those who call themselves Evangelicals, and they carry there their children suffering from wasting disease, and implore divine aid through the merits of the holy Bishop, and obtain it. And there is scarcely a day throughout the entire year on which some people from near and far do not come there, and bring sick children and place them upon the tomb of the holy Bishop; daily: for whom the Pastor administers this ceremony. The sacred vestments are still preserved in which, according to tradition, the Saint celebrated Mass for the last time his relics, and died, though now covered with another cloth. These are placed upon the sick who are kneeling, or, if they are small children, placed upon the tomb as described; and meanwhile the Priest recites over them certain pious prayers and the Gospel.

[4] All these things, moreover, proved by the practice and wondrous events of several past centuries, not only the people of Cham, but all the inhabitants of neighboring towns and villages, both ecclesiastical and secular, attested miracles. testify with unanimous voice, that at the tomb, bones, and vestments of that Saint innumerable miracles occur daily. Thus far, for the most part, Murer.

CONCERNING BLESSED WOLFHOLD, PRIEST, AT HOHENWARTH IN BAVARIA.

AFTER THE YEAR 1100.

Wolfhold, Priest, in Bavaria (Blessed)

BY I. B.

[1] Summontorium, or Alta-specula, says Bruschius in his Chronology of the Monasteries of Germany, in German Hohenwart, once a celebrated castle of the Counts of Tauern (who, dwelling of old between Hall and Innsbruck, from this castle were also called the Counts of Alta-specula, or of Hohenwart, and are said to have also founded the castle of Schrobenhausen), but now an elegant convent of nuns of the Benedictine profession, at Hohenwarth in Bavaria, and of the diocese of Augsburg, on a most pleasant hill by the little river Paar, and converted from a castle into an oratory, from a house of hunting and pleasures into a house of prayers and honorable studies, by Count Rapoto of Tauern and his wife Emma. Our Matthew Rader has nearly the same in volume 2 of Holy Bavaria in the Life of Blessed Richildis: and so do Wiguleus Hund in volume 2 of the Metropolis, under Hohenwart, and Christopher Gewold. Our Andrew Brunner also, in the Annals of Bavaria, volume 3, book 11, section 6, narrates that Rapoto converted the ancestral castle, which gave the family its name, which was formerly Summontorium, and which is without doubt one of the most ancient that Bavaria can display, into a nunnery and consecrated it to holier pursuits. He adds that it stood even when the Romans still held power in Vindelicia, famous under the name of Summontorium. Aventinus calls it Sumuntorium and Hochowartum in book 2 of the Annals of Bavaria, and says it is a village and a convent of women, formerly a most strongly fortified castle.

[2] The same author attests that many bones of Saints are interred here, which, as Bruschius and Hund report, are customarily displayed at certain times with great veneration. Besides others unknown to us, the body of Blessed Richildis the Virgin is preserved there, about whom we shall treat on August 22, and in the same tomb some bones of St. Juliana, a Virgin and Martyr of the company of St. Ursula: also the body of Blessed Wolfhold the Priest, Blessed Wolfhold the Priest is venerated, whose Life Rader transcribes from the charters of Summontorium and Scheyern. He does not specify his period; he writes only that he lived after the year 1100: inasmuch as he dwelt at that church, dedicated (as tradition has it) in the year 1074, whose chief founder, Count Ortholphus, son of Rapoto, led some Bavarian troops to Syria with Godfrey of Bouillon in the year 1096.

LIFE, By Matthew Rader, Society of Jesus.

Wolfhold, Priest, in Bavaria (Blessed)

[1] In the church of Summontorium, Wolfhold, initiated into the major sacred orders, is venerated with great devotion on the Kalends of February. Beside the chapel of Blessed Richildis, a sepulchral stone is attached to the side of the church, within which Blessed Wolfhold is interred, nightly he enters the church, the doors opening of their own accord: who once dwelt at this sacred church, and lived with great virtue, accustomed to rise every night without exception, to seek the threshold of the church, to enter through doors divinely opened, and to depart after his prayers, the doors closing of their own accord after the divine man's departure. For this reason, he had the people as suppliants at his tomb, with the same devotion as for Richildis: although neither he nor she has come into the roll of the Blessed by any solemn rite, the people being content with the private veneration of their own nation. There exists here a very ancient epitaph about him:

Here lies the departed Wolfhold, who served in holy orders. The praise of his example is made manifest by the doors of the church, Giving true harmony to the Priest's vows, Frequently confirmed: by Peter's prayer they were opened.

[2] after death he shines with miracles: Healings of bodies wrought by Blessed Wolfhold in various years after his death have been written to me, of which I shall set forth just one by way of example, for it is not the purpose of my work. In the year 1492, on the sixth day before the Ides of September, in the town of Summontorium, a tailor, a native of the village of Seibolstorf, named Stephen, to whom his trade gave his surname, was suffering immensely from a severe stone in his bladder, so that he could find rest nowhere. to a certain man suffering from a stone, When he was now lying at the point of death and indeed despaired of his life, the surgeons engaged for his treatment refused to lay hands on a man of his age (for he was already burdened with years and quite elderly), unless the patient offered himself as a victim of death, and his death would not be held against them. Stephen, though anxious at this announcement, yet compelled by the force of his pain, promised that he would be in their power, whatever God should decree for him. They then promise to be present the next morning, ready to try the last resort for his recovery and within their skill. The sick man, nearly paralyzed with fear, tossed about in his sleep throughout the night, and continually turned over in his mind the danger of the approaching day. At length, exhausted by pain and trembling with fear, he turned to God with the humblest prayers and took a vow that, if he were freed from such great evils and torments and the ultimate peril to his life, he would crawl on bare knees up the hill to the convent, to give thanks as great as his soul could contain to God and the Saints whose sacred ashes were venerated there. in his sleep he appears with Saints Richildis and Juliana, While he was meditating on these things above all, at the dead of night sleep, sent not so much by nature as from heaven, overcame him, in which this vision was presented to the sick man. He beheld a Priest of venerable countenance, accompanied by two Virgins, entering and coming toward him. He believed the Virgins to be adorned with mitres, as if with royal crowns: one of whom appeared in religious garb. The Priest seemed to address the bedridden man and ask him whether he wished to be cured. The man replied: Indeed, venerable Father: do you see the monstrous torments and suffering of this wretched man? If you are able to do anything, help me, I beg: I shall never fail to remember the kindness. But please do not scruple to reveal who you are. I, he said, am Wolfhold, once the Parish Priest of this place, whom they call the Hebdomadary, and I rest buried in the side of the church; sent from heaven to cure you, so that my mortals too may be mindful of me among the other Saints whose relics are guarded here, and may venerate me among them equally. The elder of the Virgins whom you see before you is St. Richildis, the other Juliana, who are enclosed in one tomb. Thereupon Wolfhold commands them to hold Stephen bound for a short while, and having removed the stone, restores his health. while he himself extracts the stone from the patient's bowels; once extracted, he hands it to Stephen, admonishing him as one bound by a vow to fulfill his promises; and he vanishes with the Virgins. Stephen, shaking off his sleep, found the extracted stone, quite large, in his right hand; he calls his wife, proclaims the Divine benefit with immense gratitude, and he himself, well, to the astonishment of the surgeons the next day, crawled up the hill in the condition in which he had received his cure, fulfilled his vow, and did not a little to illuminate the glory and praise of Wolfhold and the holy Virgins by his constant proclamation. I pass over more things of this kind. This, for the present, is enough to renew the memory of Blessed Wolfhold, so that the sick may not be ignorant of a physician to whom they may have recourse.

LIFE OF ST. JOHN OF THE GRILLE, BISHOP OF SAINT-MALO IN GAUL, COMPILED FROM VARIOUS SOURCES.

IN THE YEAR OF CHRIST 1163.

John of the Grille, Bishop of Saint-Malo, in Armorican Brittany (Saint)

Chapter I. The Feast Day of St. John. His Way of Life.

[1] The last Bishop of the Church of Aleth in Armorican Brittany, and the first of Saint-Malo, was John of the Grille. He, as our Jacques Sirmond writes in his Notes on letter 15 of book 1 of Peter of Celle, Why is St. John called "of the Grille"? is venerated by the people of Saint-Malo as a Saint, and, from the iron grille that surrounds his tomb, they call him by the added surname St. John of the Grille. In Jean Chenu's catalogue of the Bishops of Saint-Malo, he is called Jean du Gril: in Claude Robert's Gallia Christiana, Blessed John of the Grille, de la Grille, or du Gril. Although he has not yet been solemnly inscribed in the rolls of the Saints, that it might be lawful for him to be publicly honored with sacred rites publicly venerated was obtained from Pope Leo X by Denis Briconnet, Bishop of Saint-Malo, a most holy man and ambassador of Francis I, King of France; who also procured from the same Pontiff that Blessed Veronica de Binasco might be publicly venerated in some fashion at Milan in the convent of St. Martha, as is evident from his Bull, which we published on January 13 before the Life of that same Saint.

[2] St. John is venerated by the Church of Saint-Malo with a double office, as they call it, whose Lessons we shall cite below, on February 1, not on the 3rd, as Gaspar Jongelinus wrote in book 1 of his Register of Abbeys of the Cistercian Order, erroneously citing Albert le Grand of Morlaix, February 1. since the latter places it on February 1, as does Andrew Saussay in his Supplement to the Gallic Martyrology, where he praises him with this elegant encomium: "At Saint-Malo in Armorica, St. John, Bishop, surnamed from the Grille: who, a worthy offspring of the Cistercian Order and a most deserving disciple of St. Bernard, when he fled more eagerly from the glory of the world and desired rather to remain hidden, was sought out by the widowed Church of Aleth as her bridegroom and pastor, the lights of the manifold grace with which he was illuminated bursting forth; and when Pope Celestine II commanded, though unwillingly, he was elevated to that See, and illuminated it with such splendors of holiness, apostolic zeal, endowed with episcopal virtues, doctrine, and every virtue of the episcopate, that he bestowed upon it the perpetual glory of his holy name. For the blessed Peter of Celle, that renowned Abbot, who later became Bishop of Chartres, no small ornament of learned and pious men in his age, in letters addressed to him, earnestly declares that he was another Elijah of his time: and he recounts that as a Bishop, which others praise, he was perpetually burning with the urgency of labors, the solicitude of Churches, the compassion for the afflicted, and the reconciliation of the dissentient. Letter 15 of book 1. And that he was earnestly solicitous for the augmentation of religion, the destruction of impiety, the routing of injustice, and indeed the assertion of sacred discipline, as his own letters show; his own letters indicate, breathing a mind full of piety, which he sent to Pope Eugene III for the preservation of the reform happily begun in the Church of St. Genevieve at Paris. By which same zeal, in order that the Church of Aleth itself, over which he presided, situated in an inconvenient location, might be better organized and more securely persist in the sincere service of God; he transfers the See to Saint-Malo: he transferred it from Aleth itself, a small and insufficiently secure city, to the island of Aaron: where the episcopal see now is, and a large city distinguished by the name of St. Malo. It is not easy to recount the merits of this holy Bishop, by which he strove to promote the glory of God and the welfare of the Christian commonwealth. His name is held in eternal memory, for, clarified by Divine splendors, the Church of Saint-Malo itself honors it with the distinctions of proven sanctity. For on this day it celebrates his feast with a solemn office under the title of Bishop Confessor; and it gave him the surname of the Grille, because, as signs of heavenly power burst forth from his tomb, a grille was placed as a mark of veneration around his sepulchre, by whose protection the coffin of such great sanctity might be kept free from the filth of those walking by.

[3] Thus Saussay. But some matters require more careful elucidation. That he was a Cistercian monk is testified also by Sirmond in his notes on the cited letter of Peter of Celle, and by the offices of Saint-Malo, as well as by Albert and Jongelinus. Whether of the Cistercian Order? It is remarkable that neither Hugh Menard, an accurate writer, mentions this Saint in his Benedictine Martyrology, in which he rightly includes the Cistercians as well; nor Chrysostom Henriquez in his splendid Cistercian Menology, nor Arnold Wion in his Lignum Vitae, especially in book 2, chapter 37, where among the Bishops of Aleth he claims only St. Malo, or Machutus, for the Benedictine Order; by what right, we shall see elsewhere. Nor can it be sufficiently proved from letter 16 of book 1 of Peter of Celle that John was a Cistercian, where the following is said: "I marvel that you wrote that you were deprived of the patronage of our most holy Father Bernard." For it does not follow from this that John was a Cistercian any more than Peter himself, who was a Benedictine. Nor does Nicholas of Clairvaux (who appears in volume 12, part 2 of the Library of the Fathers) suggest this by any indication, whether in letter 13 written in the name of the monk Henry on behalf of John to St. Bernard, or in letter 41 under the persona of Prior Rualenus. Moreover, John himself, in letter 21 in the same collection, seems not obscurely to signify the contrary? For he writes to St. Bernard himself: "Hence it is that, stationed among your Clairvaux monks, I await your counsel, as if the counsel of God." Would he not here call them his brothers? Would he not otherwise indicate that same Bethlehem which had given him the cradle of a holier life?

[4] For as to what Albert writes, and from him Jongelinus, that he was appointed Abbot over the monastery of Begard, Was he Abbot of Begard? or Begarium, in the diocese of Treguier, founded in 1130 by the munificence of Count Stephen of Penthievre and his wife Havoise; we are not sufficiently persuaded of this. Begard, or Putrida Silva, as Jongelinus writes, is a daughter of Aumone, of the line of Citeaux, as they say: how then was an Abbot given to it from Clairvaux, where Albert writes that John underwent his novitiate of the religious life under St. Bernard? Hence, the same author relates, he was summoned to govern Buzay, Was he Abbot of Buzay, founded in 1135, which is a daughter of Clairvaux. Duke Conan III founded this cenobium at the request of his mother Ermengard, or perhaps she herself, with her son's consent. She was a most devout woman, and also took the monastic habit in a convent at Rennes. Two letters of St. Bernard to her survive, numbers 116 and 117, inscribed thus: "To his beloved daughter in Christ Ermengard, formerly an illustrious Countess, now a humble handmaid of Christ, Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, the pious affection of holy love." Peter Baudus in chapter 25 of his Breton History writes that monks summoned from Clairvaux came to Nantes on the eve of Saints Peter and Paul, and were honorably received there: that their leader was Nivard (whom he calls Vuardus, perhaps by a copyist's error), the brother of St. Bernard, then Prior of Clairvaux: and that this abbey was conferred upon him by Conan and his mother. Nivard does not seem to have administered it for long, however, since eight years later he was sent to Spain, and is reported to have founded the cenobium of Espina, at the expense of Sancha, sister of Emperor Alfonso, to whom St. Bernard's letter 301 is addressed. administered by a different John? To Buzay, however, a John was appointed, who then, leaving the governance of it, went off into solitude, whence Bernard tries to recall him in letter 232. That that John was our man, summoned from Begard by Ermengard, Albert writes but does not prove; all the less so because in his chronology either he himself or his copyist badly blunders, stating that Buzay was founded on June 16, 1136, and was administered by John for fourteen full years, yet John became Bishop of Aleth in the year 1140.

[5] Augustin Pazius, Claude Robert, and Baudus report that John, when he was called to the See of Aleth, was the Abbot of the monastery of the Holy Cross of the Canons Regular at Guingamp. He was Abbot of Guingamp of the Canons Regular, Whence it seems to follow that he was not a Cistercian: for a serious and holy man does not seem likely to have abandoned their institute, in the very cradle, as it were, of that most holy Congregation, to pass to another religious order. Albert admits that John was Abbot of that monastery of the Holy Cross, but only after he was already Bishop, and that shortly afterward he transferred the care of it to Moses. before his episcopate. But Stephen III, the son of Eudo who died in 1079, is reported by Pazius and Bertrand d'Argentre to have died in 1138, by Baudus in 1137, or perhaps at the beginning of the following year, which according to the chronological reckoning of those times, by which the French began the year from Easter, ought to have been referred to the preceding year. How at least could Stephen have been present at the foundation of that monastery, when John was already a Bishop, having been honored with that dignity in 1140, if Stephen had died two years before? Baudus and Pazius write that Henry, the son of Stephen, was still a boy when the foundations of that cenobium were laid, and that he carried the first stone on his shoulders at his parents' urging. He was certainly not a boy when John took up the episcopate, as is evident from what the same authors recount and we shall briefly touch upon below. What, then? Did John perhaps pass from the Canons to the Cistercians, and after presiding over the cenobium of the Holy Cross for some years, commit it to Moses, and himself build and govern the monastery of Begard? We willingly leave that question to those more skilled.

Chapter II. The Episcopate of St. John. The See Transferred.

[6] The same Albert contradicts himself in explaining the age of St. John. For he writes that he died in the year of Christ 1170, having administered his Church for 30 years and having lived 68 years. Whence one would reckon that he was born in the year 1102. When was he born? But the same Albert had previously stated that he was born in the year 1098: unless, however, he meant to write otherwise, since he adds that he was born under Pope Paschal II, who was not created until August of the year 1099. But he then confirms his own chronology when he asserts that John became a monk at the age of 23, in the year of Christ 1121. Baudus also, in chapter 1 of his Breton History, writes on the authority of ancient Chronicles that around the year 1172 the See was transferred from Aleth by John: chapter 26, not sufficiently mindful of what he had written before, says that John died in the year 1163. Pazius also affirms that John died in the same year 1163. That the See was certainly transferred earlier will be evident from what will be said below, since he wrote a letter to St. Bernard, who died in 1153, about the things he had suffered on that account from the monks of Marmoutier.

[7] Of what birth? The same Albert reports that John's parents had moderate means: that he himself had a quick intellect capable of learning; excellently learned, wherefore in a short time he made outstanding progress in letters. Baudus, chapter 26, writes that he was endowed with admirable knowledge. Peter of Celle says of him, in letter 15 of book 1: "He has great skill in letters." Then Albert relates that at the age of 23 he received the Cistercian habit at Clairvaux and was trained in monastic disciplines by St. Bernard himself: that he was sent by him to Brittany in 1130 to Count Stephen, and founded the monastery of Begard in the diocese of Treguier, three miles from Guingamp: then Buzay in the diocese of Nantes in 1136. These matters we have already briefly discussed; the Cistercians will examine them more fully and either claim him for themselves with more certain testimonies or leave him to the Canons Regular, having no need of borrowed glory, who shine so manifoldly with their own. It is more probable, as we have already shown, that before John assumed the episcopate, the monastery of the Canons Regular at Guingamp, or Minguempi, or Guenkamp, was founded by Stephen, Count of Penthievre, and Hadeuisa, or Havoise, or Havisia, his wife. he becomes Abbot of Guingamp, Henry, their son (not, however, the firstborn, as Albert claims), while still quite a young adolescent, is reported to have carried on his shoulders the first stone to be laid in its foundations, at the urging of his pious parents. John was appointed Abbot over this house: then, when he was elevated to the episcopate, Moses, the Chaplain of Countess Havoise, succeeded him, as Baudus and Pazius write.

[8] When Benedict III, Bishop of Aleth, whom Claude Robert attests from a certain document of St. Nicolas of Angers to have still been alive in the year 1140, had died, then Bishop of Aleth, our most religious Abbot John was substituted, as Robert and Pazius have it. Albert says this happened in the year 1140: Saussay above, under Celestine II, who sat from September 25, 1143 to March 8 of the following year. He then, because Aleth, an ancient city celebrated from the times of the Romans, as is evident from the Notitia of the Empire, having been perhaps weakened by earlier wars, did not seem sufficiently secure against the new disturbances that the sons of Stephen of Penthievre and others were continually raising, and was certainly less populous by now, transferred the seat of his pontificate, he transfers the See to the Island of Aaron; with the approval of Duke Conan, to the neighboring city, which was better fortified by the situation of its site and already then inhabited by a great population. It is on the nearby peninsula, which was formerly called the Island of Aaron, because St. Aaron the Briton inhabited a small monastery there, as we shall say on June 22 in his Life, and on November 15 in that of St. Malo, or Machutus, from whom it is now called Macloviopolis, or the city of St. Malo, commonly Saint-Malo. The vestiges of the old Aleth survive in the village of Guic-Aleth, or corruptly Quidaleth, as we said on January 13 in the Life of St. Enogatus the Bishop. The Breton historians treat generally of this transfer.

[9] There was on that island at the time a church dedicated to St. Vincent, which (as Albert is the authority) Benedict II, Bishop of Aleth, had donated to William, Abbot of Marmoutier near Tours, in the year 1108, and he introduces Canons Regular there: and Pope Paschal II had sanctioned the validity of that donation. When John therefore selected this church as his Cathedral, in order that a holier discipline of morals and piety might prevail there, he introduced Canons Regular into it, of that institute which then flourished in the cenobium of St. Victor at Paris.

Chapter III. The Patience of St. John in Adversity.

[10] By what means John took possession of that church; and by what authority the monks of Marmoutier were ejected from its possession, whether the consent of the Roman Pontiff, a lawsuit therefore brought against him, legitimately informed of the right of both parties, had intervened, is not clear to us. Most serious disputes certainly arose from this, which tested John's patience remarkably, drawn out for many years with varying outcome, as is apparent from the letters of Nicholas of Clairvaux. The matter was committed by the Pontiff to French Bishops. From their sentence John appealed to the Pontiff, on St. Bernard's advice. There is no holier tribunal in the world, nor more certain refuge of innocence. It can happen, however, from time to time that, either through the cunning speeches of adversaries, smoother than oil, or through the cupidity or envy of some ministers, those who seek what is just are either not immediately heard, or are delayed longer than they would wish. Even the most exact procedure of justice and the multitude of affairs to be transacted causes delay, which men sometimes resent as unjust, even those endowed with divine zeal. This is what befell our John, whose charity, though patient, was nevertheless not always free from every weariness and distress.

[11] What was done, and with what spirit he bore it, one may gather from his own letter to St. Bernard, which appears in Nicholas of Clairvaux, letter 21, and reads as follows: "To his Father, and the Father of all good men, Bernard, Abbot of Clairvaux, Brother John, Bishop of Aleth, may he be both honored here in his labors and honored there with the Angels. as he himself writes in grief, Would that I could see you, I would not write to you: and the sight of your sweetness would soothe and ease my sorrow. For I have been saddened in my exercise, though according to the Wise Man that tribulation itself is my consolation, not for my conscience, but as a scourge. For I know that they are happily wretched whom it is certain have not deserved what they endure. Therefore I write to you briefly about my circumstances and what surrounds me, lest I detain with a longer letter those eyes which you owe to the world.

[12] "After the sentence given against me, I proceeded according to your counsel to my Lord, whom the Lord appointed Lord of His house and Prince of all His possessions. Condemned by the judgment of Bishops, he goes to Rome on St. Bernard's advice: Upon entering his presence, I found more of the judge than the father; less of mercy than of censure. For the men of Marmoutier preceded me and became greater than me, making their voice a voice of power. They said that I had evaded the hearing of the Bishops, in whose hands he himself had placed me to be heard. Not only this, but whatever they could collect from any quarter they laid against me, and were heard with much tranquility. And when I was ready to repel or refute what was being said, the Judge of all refused to hear me. Let it not be imputed to him. not heard, But he also added to the pain of my wounds, sending me back to those to whom he had previously sent me, whom I held in part suspect: and still his hand is stretched out, because I came to him under suspension, and suspended, and suspended I departed from him.

[13] "And although I am conscious of none of those things which they have maliciously contrived against me, I nevertheless bear the judgment patiently, if not gladly. most patient, For I know that I have deserved graver things than I suffer, as a servant who works badly and is worthy of every indignation. Yet I, a man of the least means and even less sense, have obtained a hard province: to assail those and to enter into a suit with those who trust in their own strength and glory in the multitude of their riches. Hence it is that, stationed among your Clairvaux monks, I await your counsel as the counsel of God: he comes to Clairvaux, for no one will be able to rescue the poor Bishop from the hand of those stronger than he, unless your hand wholly confronts those who harass and despoil him. Lord Father, I am prepared and am not troubled, that I may keep Your commandments. And would that your will (if it is the Lord's will) might disagree with my will. prepared to stand by St. Bernard's judgment: If you judge it worthy, communicate the good pleasure of your graciousness to your servant: for there is no counsel and aid except from you and through you, most loving Father."

[14] So he writes; and he does not explain the cause, because he had previously dealt with it in person with St. Bernard. He himself then traveled to St. Bernard with letters of recommendation from the Clairvaux monks -- from Rualenus the Prior, from Henry, brother of King Louis VII of France, and likewise from Nicholas, a monk. All of them praise highly the outstanding virtue of John. Rualenus, in letter 41 to St. Bernard, writes thus: hence he is commended by the Prior as a lover of poverty, "This man, a poor Bishop, a friend of the poor, and -- what is greater -- a lover of poverty, coming from the City, came to us and through us, hoping to find you with us. We detained him by common counsel, both on account of the familiarity by which he is bound to us, and on account of necessity, because he had nowhere to lay his head. All friends had become enemies; all associates had become adversaries; and the hand of the powerful man, the son of the expelled, had weighed heavily upon him. How kindly he entered and went among us, and how great a commerce he has with poverty, our eyes have seen. There is no counsel, there is no help, and not even refuge, except in you and with you. He has come to you, and we with him and for him, if not in body, yet in spirit. Open to him that most ample bosom of your piety, because (unless we are greatly mistaken) it is God's business; and if God's, then also ours and yours. and adorned with other virtues; He has pleased our entire community on account of the truth and meekness and justice which can commend him even to his enemies. But if this time you shall have returned to your monks at Clairvaux, bring him back with you, and then you will see how great a care and tenderness we have for his tribulations," etc.

[15] Henry, the son of King Louis the Fat of France and brother of Louis the Younger, then a monk of Clairvaux, later in the year 1149 made Bishop of Beauvais, as the Sainte-Marthes report, writes among other things to St. Bernard about John in the same Nicholas of Clairvaux, letter 13: and likewise by Henry, brother of the King of France, a monk, "Zeal, I confess, burns my soul for this poor Bishop, who, because he cultivated justice and desired equity, was struck with the blow of an enemy, with cruel chastisement. Because he wished to sit in his See and restore episcopal rights to the Bishop -- this is his greatest and first sin. Behold, this blood is required at his hand. If therefore I have any influence in the eyes of the Father -- nay, because I have great influence -- do his business as you shall know to be expedient for him," etc.

[16] Nicholas himself, in letter 42, thus commends him to Geoffrey, also by Nicholas, to Geoffrey, the secretary of St. Bernard, St. Bernard's secretary: "Let the Lord Bishop of Alet, therefore, experience in his affair that entire secret of familiarity which you keep for me in your breast. For he lives entirely as a Bishop, having nothing in his garments or manners of the haughtiness of the Pharisees mixed in. He is poor and a friend of the poor, and -- what is greater -- a lover of poverty. Men without mercy have risen up against him, my ancient brethren ... The poor Bishop has been delivered into the hands of his enemies, and those whom he held suspect, he received as judges; where he might truly say, 'And our enemies are our judges.' One inexpugnable refuge, however, has remained for him: your father, indeed also mine." (from whom he had previously had letters) He adds more about the sincerity of St. Bernard and the adversaries of John, and indicates that he had received letters of recommendation, written by Geoffrey -- that is, in the name of Bernard -- when he was setting out for Rome; but that they had profited him nothing.

[17] Finally, the Prior of Riwallon also commends John to Hugh II, Archbishop of Tours, who was his Metropolitan and perhaps one of the judges, and to Hugh, Archbishop of Tours. in letter 23, found in the same Nicholas: "I commend the Lord of Alet to your Holiness, because whatever you shall do for him is done for us. This is your glory: to protect and honor a poor Bishop, and one who is yours, and such a one."

Chapter IV. The Zeal of St. John.

[18] It is not likely that St. Bernard, who had previously instructed him with counsel, denied him his patronage. Pope Eugenius III, therefore, with whom Bernard, as his former disciple at Clairvaux, had very great influence, having heard the case and perceived the sanctity of John, adjudicated to him the possession of the Church of St. Malo, by the sentence of the Roman Pontiff he obtains his right: imposing silence, as Albert writes, on the monks of Tours. He says, however, that when Eugenius died in the year 1153, they brought a new lawsuit against John, so that he was again obliged to travel to Rome; but that the sentence of Eugenius was confirmed by Anastasius IV, and shortly afterward -- while John was still at Rome -- by Adrian IV, who had succeeded Anastasius on the 3rd of December, 1154.

[19] Once the virtue of John became known to Pope Eugenius, the saint was immediately joined to the saint in close familiarity. When Eugenius had introduced Regular Canons, summoned from the monastery of St. Victor, into the church of St. Genevieve at Paris in the year 1147 -- as we shall say more fully in the Life of St. William of Roskilde on the 6th of April -- [familiar with Eugenius III, he commends the Regular Canons introduced by him into the church of St. Genevieve,] Abbot Odo and the rest of the Canons were thereafter assailed by various calumnies from some, even from certain Bishops, about which we treat elsewhere, so that many good men feared the King might expel them and restore the secular Canons of depraved life who had previously held the church. John wrote letters to Eugenius on behalf of the Regulars, which the learned Robert cites in his Gallia Christiana, testifying to both his submission and his zeal: "Who am I," he says, "or of what weight, that I should dare to detain the eyes of so great a Majesty even for a moment? Pardon me, Holy Father, pardon me, I beseech you; for this presumption does not emanate from arrogance. I cannot keep silent about the great bile with which my spirit was aroused against lying men, shameless and abandoned men, who have not feared to accuse the holy assembly -- I speak of the Abbot of the aforesaid place and the Brothers -- your holy seedling, growing a hundredfold, the praiseworthy work of your hands, not a little distinguished among the magnificent acts of Your Holiness: attacked by calumnies from rivals, namely the change wrought in the Church of St. Genevieve at Paris by God through You as through His well-pleasing Vicar -- the sons of men whose teeth are weapons and arrows, whose tongue is a sharp sword. But (thanks be to God) the faction of the malicious has been detected; he commends them: and with you pressing the matter, the just censure of the Lord's decree will be manifest against them, since the manner of life of the sons of St. Genevieve, pleasing both to God and to men, does not cease to fill the nostrils of those situated not only near but also far away with the finest and sweetest fragrance." So he writes.

[20] The same man also excellently restored the collapsed discipline in the monastery of St. Meen, by the authority of the Roman Pontiff -- he reforms the monastery of St. Meen: perhaps the same Eugenius, or his predecessor Lucius II -- as the Offices of St. Malo record. That monastery is called in a charter of Duke Alan III, in Argentre, book 3, chapter 28, "the Church of St. Mary and SS. Meen and Judicael of Gael," or, as commonly, Gael. St. Meen founded it (on whom see the 21st of June); St. Judicael the King restored it, and there became a monk -- commonly called St. Gicquel or St. Giguel, who is venerated on the 16th of December. Duke Alan III rebuilt it after it had been destroyed by the Normans, about the year of Christ 1000. Finally St. John the Bishop restored the discipline in it about the year 1150.

[21] Our Bishop had to fight no less with secular men who unjustly usurped the possessions of his Church and of the Church of Alet, than with the monks for the use of his Church. This matter produced great labors and the hatred of many. he recalls Count Henry from luxury and sacrilege, But he overcame everything with incredible constancy. The most grievous struggle was with Henry, son of Stephen III, Count of Penthievre. This man, whose youth had been well spent under his father's discipline, as soon as his father departed this life, gave himself over to every kind of moral depravity, and especially to lechery. That he might give himself to this more freely, he expelled from the monastery of the Holy Cross of Guingamp the Regular Canons and Abbot Moses, the successor of John, a most holy man; and he transferred it into the right and possession of the Abbess of St. George in the city of Rennes, handing it over meanwhile to be inhabited by women, and placed among them his concubine, a woman of noble birth, lest anything should obstruct his lusts. This matter stung the most holy Bishop, having obtained letters from Eugenius III: who, that he might leave nothing untried, appealed to the Roman Pontiff Eugenius. Letters were sent by him to Henry; by which, and by the timely admonitions of our Bishop, Henry was induced to restore Moses and the Canons, the donation having been rescinded and the concubine given in marriage to the Governor of Treguier. So relate essentially Baudus, Argentre, Paz, and Albert.

[22] John then consecrated, as Robert and Paz write, he dedicates an altar at Montfort: the high altar of the abbey of St. James of Montfort, recently built in 1156. Montfort, as Francis Ranchinus reports in volume 2 of his Description of Europe, is a town of Brittany, four leagues from the city of Rennes, in the diocese of St. Malo. Albert writes that he both procured the building of that monastery and established Regular Canons there, as at Guingamp. he adorns his church: He magnificently adorned and enlarged the basilica of St. Malo, adding the Choir, which is still seen, and at his own expense, as Jean Chenu reports.

[23] At length, worn out by age and labors, he departed from this mortal life in the year 1163, and was buried in the Choir of his own church. Pope Leo X decreed that he, who had become illustrious for many miracles, should be honored with the honors of the Blessed, he dies. as has been written above.

Chapter V. The Life of St. John from the Office of the Church of St. Malo.

[24] John, called "de la Grille" from the iron grating which surrounds his tomb, having abandoned the delights of the world, from his early youth embraced the Cistercian Order under the tutelage of St. Bernard. Whence, having run through the disciplines of human and divine learning, he was raised to the Bishopric of Alet; from a Religious, he becomes a Bishop, yet he did not depart from his regular profession, but immediately, for his own comfort, he happily established in the church of St. Malo an Order of Canons Regular from among pious Priests, according to the Rule of Blessed Augustine and the observance of the religious Brothers of St. Victor. he introduces Regular Canons into his church; Moreover, so great was the sanctity in him that even while he was still living, Peter, Abbot of La Celle, was accustomed to call him a holy Bishop, a servant of God, a strong man, a lover of poverty, full of charity, and a light by no means dimmed by obstacles placed against it; and Pope Lucius II, in the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred and forty-four, committed to him the reform of the monastery of St. Meen.

[25] When the monks of Marmoutier had recently invaded the church of St. Malo, Blessed John (whose cause Nicholas of Clairvaux testifies is the cause of God) summoned them to the judgment of the Apostolic See. When both he and they had appeared in the audience-hall of the Apostolic See, the case having been diligently heard and the reasons of both parties ascertained through a full investigation, Eugenius III, who succeeded Lucius, took that Cathedral church of St. Malo the matter approved by Eugenius III, under the protection of Blessed Peter and himself, and invested John himself with it together with all the possessions which it held at that time, imposing perpetual silence on the monks in this cause. When they again renewed the controversy already settled, Anastasius IV again imposed perpetual silence on them and took from them and their successors all power and by other Pontiffs: of wearying the same John or his successors with a renewed lawsuit on this matter. All of which things Adrian IV and Alexander III confirmed and strengthened with privileges, in whose times also they attempted to vex the man of God anew, who was therefore compelled to travel to Rome three and four times, four times he went to Rome: as he himself writes to the holy Bernard, whose style and zeal he imitates.

[26] When the tempest, which had raged for eighteen years, had been calmed, he built the choir of the said church of St. Malo, in which his body is honorably preserved. Then indeed he compelled the invaders of ecclesiastical property to restore what they had seized, he adorns the church: he instructs his flock: adorning the church itself with riches and instructing the souls of his diocesans with salutary institutions and examples. At length, in the year of the Lord one thousand one hundred and seventy, he departed to the tranquil harbor of the eternal kingdom, and afterward manifested by great miracles that he lives with Christ. Finally, Pope Leo X, in the year of the Lord one thousand five hundred and seventeen, after death illustrious for miracles, permission given for his veneration. having been certified of the many miracles by which the Blessed John himself had been illustrious, on account of which a great multitude of the faithful of Christ -- recognizing that their prayers poured forth to God through his intercession were being heard -- was flocking to the church of St. Malo itself, he granted and allowed the faculty of solemnly celebrating the feast and Office of the same, although not yet canonized.

ON BLESSED RAYMOND, ABBOT OF FITERO, OF THE CISTERCIAN ORDER, FOUNDER OF THE ORDER OF CALATRAVA,

Year of Christ 1163.

HISTORICAL COMMENTARY.

Raymond, Abbot of Fitero, Founder of the Order of Calatrava in Spain (Blessed)

By I. B.

CHAPTER I

Blessed Raymond, Abbot of Fitero: in Navarre or Castile?

[1] The memory of Raymond is consecrated on this day in the Cistercian Menologies -- he who first instituted the noble militia of Calatrava. Only this much has been committed to writing; the rest lies in obscurity. Alfonso Villegas, volume 2 of the Flower of the Saints, and Francisco Caro de Torres in his History of the Military Orders, wrote that he was born at Barcelona; Chrysostomus Henriquez, Fasciculus of the Saints of the Cistercian Order, book 1, distinction 17, says at Tarragona, Raymond, from a hermit, and adds that he, somewhat imbued with the knowledge of letters, had gone into solitude, where he might more freely contemplate divine things far from the tumult of the world; then, as the fame of the Cistercians' piety was widely spread, he embraced that institute in the celebrated monastery of Scala Dei among the Basques, of the diocese of Tarbes, which Gaspar Jongelinus reports was founded in the year of Christ 1137, in his Notices of Abbeys, book 1, number 74. Antonio Yepes, volume 7 of the Benedictine Chronicle, at the year 1140, chapter 5, writes that he is said to have been a Canon of Tarragona or a Canon, before he joined the Cistercians. Angel Manrique says he was a Canon of Tarazona. Three years after he had given his name to the Cistercian Order, Henriquez writes that he was sent from Scala Dei with Durando, a monk of proven virtue, to the neighboring kingdom of Navarre and commanded to lead a colony of his Order thither; that they built the most humble huts on the very highest summit of Mount Yerga. From that place, being too rough and inaccessible, they descended to the plains and laid the foundations of a monastery a Cistercian monk, beside the ruins of the city of Nienzaba, formerly destroyed by the Moors. When the Abbot Durando died, Raymond was placed over the monastery; soon, compelled by want, he sought another place, then an Abbot, called Castejon or, by others, Castellon; thence again, summoned around the year 1150 by Pedro Tizon, a nobleman, he established a permanent seat on his land, he builds Fitero which was called Fitero, the same man supplying all the materials and expense for the buildings. There remain, however, on the summit of Yerga traces of the first habitation in that region, and two monks from Fitero live there, guardians of a celebrated statue of the Virgin Mother of God, to which a frequent multitude flocks.

[2] These are the beginnings of Fitero as Henriquez relates. It is situated across the Ebro on the river Alhama, four leagues from the city of Tutela or Tudela, on the river Alhama, three from Alfaro, two from Cervera, and half a league from the modern border of Castile; commonly called Hitero or Fitero. For that Raymond was Abbot of this Fitero, even before Chrysostom, Jeronimo Zurita wrote in his Annals of Aragon, book 2, chapter 21, and after him Francisco Caro and Jongelinus in his Notices of Abbeys, book 6. But our Mariana, book 11 of the History of Spain, chapter 6, writes: "Raymond, not on the Pisuerga, Abbot of Fitero on the Pisuerga. Those err who assign this glory to the monastery of Fitero which is situated among the Basques, not far from Tudela, since it is established that it was built at a subsequent time." Aubert le Mire in his Cistercian Chronicle subscribes to this, as do Ludovico Nunez, Spain chapter 62, Esteban de Garibay, Compendium of History, book 13, chapter 11, and Francisco de Pisa, History of Toledo, book 4, chapter 9. The river beside which this Fiterum or Fiterium is said to have been situated, Le Mire (perhaps through the carelessness of the copyist) calls the Sisorica; commonly it is the Pisuerga, Pisurga to Nunez, and from an ancient inscription which he cites, Pisoraca; it joins the Duero at Simancas. But Henriquez contends that no monastery existed at Fitero in Castile, and says it is established that the other one in Navarre was founded many years before the institution of the Order of Calatrava; yet he produces no testimony of certain trustworthiness, nor does Jongelinus, who asserts that Mariana is very much mistaken. Garibay says that the monks of Fitero in Navarre not only glory in the Blessed Abbot Raymond, but also presented petitions to the Catholic King and the Congregation of the Order of Calatrava, in which they demanded to be restored to the possession of their ancient patrimony; but that he had seen certain documents of the foundation of monasteries of the kingdom of Navarre, in which Fitero is said to have been founded by Sancho the Strong, the eighth of that name, King of Navarre, who did not assume the kingdom until the year 1194. Jongelinus writes that some believe the work to be that of Sancho VII, surnamed the Wise, who reigned from the year 1150 to 1194. But Yepes, at the place already cited, from certain (as it appears) documents of Fitero, asserts that it was once in the dominion of the King of Castile, as were other surrounding places, and that even now Mount Yerga itself is so. That they came from Scala Dei at the invitation of Alfonso VII, who was called Emperor of the Spains, or of his sister Sancha, a most devout Virgin. formerly in Castile, now in Navarre. After a long dispute between the Castilians and the Navarrese concerning boundaries, in the year 1334 Fitero was adjudged to Navarre by a Legate of the Supreme Pontiff. If these things are so, then all that controversy among the writers about Fitero will be settled, especially since no other Cistercian monastery of Fitero appears in their Catalogues. Angel Manrique confirms and illustrates the same things in the Cistercian Annals; but we had long since composed what we give here before we were able to see those Annals.

CHAPTER II

Calatrava Defended. A Military Order Established There.

[3] Calatrava, a not obscure town of Spain among the Oretani on the river Anas, is considered by some to be the same as what Ptolemy, book 2 of his Geography, chapter 6, calls Oretum Germanorum -- "Oretum of the Germans"; Calatrava is not Oretum Germanicum, the ridiculous origin of which name Francisco Tarafa reports in his Valerian: "The Upper Germans," he says, "seized the devastated parts of Spain at these times; from them the Germans, who are the Oretani, and Oretum Germanicum, a town of Estremadura (today they call it Calatrava) was founded." How could a town have been founded under the Emperor Valerian, after the year of Christ 259, when Ptolemy, whom Suidas reports wrote under Marcus Aurelius, nearly a hundred years before the reign of Valerian, mentions it? Moreover, Pliny the Elder himself, under Vespasian, writes thus in book 3, chapter 3, speaking of the peoples of Hither Spain: "The Oretani, who are also surnamed Germani." Otherwise, Juan Vaseo and others interpret Oretum as Calatrava. So he writes in his Chronicle of Spain, chapter 20: "The Oretani are on the border of Tarraconensis, Baetica, and Lusitania, commonly called Calatrava. They now have no Bishop, but a convent of Knights of the military Order of the Cistercian Order, which is surnamed from Calatrava."

[4] Ambrosio de Morales, cited by Nunez in chapter 62 of Spain, denies that Calatrava was Oretum Germanorum; but after its destruction but says there is, not far from the city, a little chapel which the inhabitants call Nuestra Senora de Oreto, and that the ancient Oretum was here. For that church too shows Roman architecture and has a neighboring bridge of the same workmanship. built nearby by the Moors; It is therefore probable that after the destruction of Oretum, Calatrava was built, or at least fortified, by the Moors. Alfonso VII, King of Castile, wrested it from them, as Rodrigo of Toledo, book 7 on the History of Spain, chapter 4, reports: "Calatrava," he says, "which was gravely harassing the kingdom of Toledo, he captured after a long siege with assaults and siege-engines, and granted the church, with many possessions and the tithes of the royal revenues, to D. Raymond, Primate of Toledo; and of the dependencies of that town's jurisdiction which were distinguished by their fortifications, taken from them by Alfonso VII, King, some he retained, others he razed to the ground -- namely Alacuris, Caracuel, Petruchel, Santa Eufemia, Mestanza, Alcudia, and Almodovar." He then gave that city, as Mariana writes in book 10, chapter 14, given to the Templars; to the Knights Templar, whose reputation for singular valor had begun to grow, so that (as he adds in book 11, chapter 6) it might serve as a fortress to repel the incursions of the barbarians.

[5] When Alfonso subsequently died and his sons were reigning -- Sancho in Castile, Ferdinand in Leon and Galicia -- returned by them to Sancho III, King, it was given back to the King of Castile by the Templars, who, because rumor had it that the Moors were about to come there with strong forces, felt that they did not have sufficient strength to defend it. It was then given to two Cistercian monks, Raymond, Abbot of Fitero, and Diego Velazquez, who voluntarily demanded it. And from this arose the origin of the Order of Calatrava. How these things were accomplished, the same Rodrigo Ximenez, very close to those times -- since he testifies that he himself saw one of these two -- narrates in book 7, chapter 14.

[6] King Sancho came to Toledo, and a rumor grew that the Arabs were coming with a great army to Calatrava. The Brothers of the Knights Templar, who held the fortress of Calatrava, fearing that they would be unable to withstand the violence of the Arabs, approached King Sancho in supplication, out of fear of the Saracens; that he might take back both the fortress and the town of Calatrava, since they had no power to resist the Arabs; nor was anyone found among the more powerful men who was willing to face the peril of its defense. Now at that time there was in the royal city Raymond, a man of religion, Abbot of Fitero, and with him a certain monk called Diego Velazquez, a nobleman and formerly vigorous in the military office, born in the region of Burgo, and brought up from his youth with King Sancho. He, seeing the King anxious about the danger of Calatrava, advised the Abbot to petition the King for Calatrava; and although the Abbot at first held back, given to Blessed Raymond, Abbot of Fitero: he at last consented to the monk, once a soldier, who was entreating him; and approaching the King, he petitioned for Calatrava. And although some considered him foolish, yet, as it pleased the Lord, the King consented.

[7] And the Abbot with the monk immediately came to the Primate John, who then presided over the Church of Toledo. He, hearing their holy purpose, gave thanks to God, here with the help of the Archbishop of Toledo and immediately gave assistance from his own resources, and had it publicly preached that all who went to the aid of Calatrava would deserve the pardon of all their sins. And so great was the commotion in the city that there was scarcely anyone who did not either go in his own person, or generously bestow horses, arms, and of the citizens, or money for the cause. And King Sancho immediately gave to the Abbot, and to St. Mary of Fitero, in perpetual possession, the town and fortress of Calatrava. And the Abbot with the monk Diego Velazquez came, with the Lord as guide, to Calatrava. And so it was brought about, by the direction of the Most High, he repels the Saracens: that the army of the Saracens, of which the rumor had grown, did not arrive. And then many whom devotion had stirred, in a modified habit as military agility demanded, received their Order, and immediately they began to carry out slaughter and battles against the Arabs; he institutes the military Order of Calatrava: and with the Lord's aid, the work prospered in the hands of the monks. Then the Abbot, returning to the monastery, brought with him to Calatrava the herds and flocks and other movable goods with which Fitero then abounded, as well as a multitude of warriors, to whom he supplied pay and provisions, he summons forces from elsewhere: leaving behind only the weak and the sick for the service of the monastery; and, as I have heard from those who saw it, he brought with him nearly twenty thousand men. And this man was the first Abbot at Fitero. When he died he was buried in the town called Ciruelos, near Toledo, where God through him (as it is reported) works miracles. after death he is illustrious for miracles. Diego Velazquez, however, lived a long time afterward; I even remember having seen him, and he died in the monastery of St. Peter of Gumiel.

[8] So writes Rodrigo. Mariana writes that to those whom Raymond had brought from the neighboring towns of Fitero, fields were divided and towns near Calatrava, since they were empty of inhabitants, were designated as domiciles. His companion Diego Velazquez. Francisco Caro de Torres and Antonio Yepes write that Diego Velazquez was born at Bureba, near Burgos. He survived for a long time, if what Jongelinus writes is true -- that the monastery of St. Peter of Gumiel was founded about the year 1200. It is situated in the diocese of Osma. Mariana calls it Gumiela; Rodrigo, Gomellus. Arnold Wion, Tree of Life, book 1, chapter 47, considers Blessed Diego Velazquez to be practically the chief author of the military Order of Calatrava.

CHAPTER III

Praises of the Order of Calatrava.

[9] It is not our purpose here to pursue the deeds of this most noble Order, whether bravely accomplished in war or devoutly at home. Many things about them have been committed to writing by Spanish authors. The privileges granted by various Pontiffs to this and other military Congregations that observe the Cistercian institute, and their Rules and Constitutions, have been collected and arranged by Chrysostomus Henriquez. Rules of the Knights of Calatrava, Briefly, Mariana has embraced all its glories in book 11, chapter 6, as follows: "From these beginnings the sacred militia of Calatrava, brought to this splendor which we behold, was confirmed by Alexander III with his diploma, Privileges, Garcia being its first Grand Master, in the year 1164. Garcia was succeeded by Martin Perez, Martin by Nuno Perez, then Quinones, and after them others. The domicile, which was first established at Calatrava, then migrated to Ciruelos, then to Bujeda, then to Corcoles, and then to Salvatierra; possessions; finally to Covos, under Nuno Fernando, the twelfth Grand Master of the militia. There are indeed other smaller houses of this Order established in other places, but that one is the chief. Resources, authority, and the dominion over many towns have accrued through the outstanding generosity of the Kings. to whom should these be given? These towns were formerly entrusted to men of the Order who had completed their military service, so that they might honestly sustain their life from those revenues, yet they did not leave them as hereditary possessions to their descendants." So he writes. Would that -- to use his own phrase -- things having been changed from antiquity, they might never be given over to the luxuries of courtiers, at the caprice of Kings!

[10] I shall add the honorable testimonies of two ancient writers concerning this Order. The first is Rodrigo Ximenez, already cited, Archbishop of Toledo, who in book 7, chapter 27, writes as follows: "Sancho his father gave Fitero to Calatrava; Alfonso was the noble fulfiller of their destiny. Contemplation undertook the militia, and the departure of the Brothers from Fitero. King Alfonso raised them up and enriched them with many possessions: he offered them Zurita and Almochara, Macheda, Aceca, and Cocolludo, and removed the burden of their poverty and added suitable riches. Their multiplication was the crown of the Prince; they praised in psalms, they were girded with the sword; and they who groaned in prayer fought for the defense of the homeland: their sanctity, a slender table was their sustenance, and the roughness of wool their covering; assiduous discipline proved them, and the practice of silence accompanied them; frequent genuflection humbled them, and nocturnal vigil wasted them; devout prayer instructed them, and continuous labor exercised them; each watched over the paths of the other, and brother guided brother to discipline."

[11] The same author in book 8, chapter 3, enumerating the forces which various Princes and Bishops brought to the aid of Alfonso VIII, son of Sancho, in the year 1212, writes among other things as follows: "There were also the Brothers of Calatrava under one Grand Master of their militia, Rodrigo Diaz -- a fraternal society pleasing to God and men." Among the cities then recovered from the Moors was Calatrava itself, military expeditions, which they had occupied after the defeat inflicted on Alfonso at Alarcos in the year 1195; this city, as the same author writes in book 8, chapter 6, was immediately fortified by the Brothers, who had long resided there, and restored to the Christian name. Shortly afterward, in the battle at Las Navas de Tolosa, where a most noble victory was won, the same Brothers of Calatrava held the center of the line with others, as the same author relates in chapter 9.

[12] James of Vitry the Cardinal, not much younger than Rodrigo, in chapter 17 of his Western History writes as follows: "In the regions of Spain, certain devout and humble men, who are called Brothers * of Calatrava, having professed the Rule and observances of the aforesaid Order, have moreover consecrated their hands to the Lord, by the authority of the Supreme Pontiff and with the consent of the entire Order, fighting against the Saracens, and wholesomely bound by a vow to the defense of Christians against impious and infidel men. Moreover, that they may always be ready and prepared for battle, sustenance: they use trousers. But also the Lord Pope Innocent, pitying their labors, granted them the use of meat in time of expedition and war. And when they live in desert places or forests, they are permitted to relieve their want by eating from their hunt." So he writes. Now this Pope Innocent is the third of that name, who held the see from the beginning of the year 1198 until the 13th of July, 1216. The memory of the institution of this Order is consecrated in the Cistercian Calendar on the 15th of January in these words: anniversary of the institution: "Institution of the sacred militia of Calatrava, under St. Raymond, Abbot of Fitero, in the year 1159." But the Order was instituted in the year 1158 or toward the end of 1157, for King Sancho did not live until the year 1159. For, as Lucas of Tuy writes, he succeeded his father in the Era 1195, and reigned for one year and twelve days. He died, moreover, as Rodrigo reports, on the day before the Kalends of September, or, as others read, of November.

* In the printed text it reads "Calatrapiae."

CHAPTER IV

The Death, Translation, and Miracles of Blessed Raymond.

[13] When Raymond had governed the new Order for five or six years and had recovered many towns (if Chrysostomus Henriquez and other more recent writers are to be believed) from the Moors -- had at any rate fortified Calatrava with works, provisions, and soldiers, and some neighboring places as well -- he departed this life in the town Blessed Raymond dies: which Rodrigo calls Ciruelos and others Ciruelos. Chrysostomus says that he, broken by old age, had retired there for the sake of rest. In his Notes on the Menology, February 1, letter M, he writes as follows: "That Blessed Raymond was enrolled in the number of the Saints, many authors assert, among them Juan de Mariana, Aubert le Mire, and others." Le Mire, in his Cistercian Chronicle, treating of the Order of the Knights of Calatrava, recites the very words of Mariana and in the margin calls Blessed Raymond. The words of Mariana are these, in book 11, chapter 6: "After Abbot Raymond had died some years later at the town of Ciruelos, where he was also buried, honors were paid to him by the people for the service he had rendered; he is held as a Saint: to such a degree that he was believed to have shone forth with miracles and is placed in the number of the heavenly." The fame of miracles had already spread in the age of Rodrigo Ximenez. We have nowhere read of a legitimate canonization. Arnold Wion, Tree of Life, book 1, chapter 47, and Jongelinus call him St. Raymond, as also does Manrique in the Annals of the Cistercian Order.

[14] Henriquez recounts some of his miracles; for in his Notes on February 1 in the Menology he has the following: he drives away storms: "To this very day, whenever a storm threatens, upon the ringing of the bells whose ropes reach the sepulchre where the body of the holy man was once honorably entombed, immediately, by a great miracle indeed, the serenity of the sky returns." He says that many more of his miracles are recounted by Barnabas de Montalbo in his Chronicles; and he himself commemorates the following, though in a verbose and diffuse style, as is generally the case elsewhere.

[15] The sacred remains were held in great veneration at Ciruelos, and neither the Knights of Calatrava nor the Cistercian monks were able to obtain them from the townspeople by any means. his Relics translated: At length, Luis Nunez, Canon of Toledo and Archdeacon of Madrid, in the year 1468, by the authority of Pope Paul II, transferred them to Monte Sion, a Cistercian monastery not far from Toledo; and in a chapel of the Mother of God, built by himself, on the left side

of the altar, he placed it. Another small chapel was later erected and dedicated to him, and many miracles were thenceforward wrought through his aid. For when an epidemic was raging at Toledo, illnesses cured through his aid, for very many people water touched with a particle consecrated from Raymond's relics served as a means of health. A certain man in the same monastery had a tumor of superfluous flesh growing on his head, which caused him enormous torment along with deformity. He anointed it with oil taken from the lamp tumor and pain of the head: that hung before the Saint's sepulchre, and immediately felt it subside and the pain driven away. On many occasions, when the relics were displayed to distinguished persons or brought out from the tomb for some other reason, they seemed to exhale a certain divine odor.

[16] Garcia Lopez de Padilla, Grand Master of the Knights of Calatrava, since he was unable by any entreaties to obtain the sacred body from the monks of Monte Sion, to be carried away to Calatrava, a statue erected to him: fitted an arch of distinguished workmanship to his sepulchre, and placed there a statue of him distinguished by mitre and crosier, with SS. Benedict and Bernard on either side. In the middle of the arch was engraved this inscription: "This arch was erected at the care of the most Magnificent and Illustrious Lord Brother Garcia Lopez de Padilla, Grand Master of the Order and Militia of Calatrava, in the year of the Lord 1485."

[17] Marcus Villalva, Abbot of Fitero and General of the Cistercian Congregation in Castile, relics enclosed in a silver casket: a holy man, erected for Blessed Raymond in the presbytery of Monte Sion, on the Epistle side, a new monument, where his body, enclosed in a silver casket, is honorably preserved, with this inscription added: "Here lies Raymond, a monk of this Order, first Abbot of Fitero, through whose merits God has deigned to work many miracles; who, by the authority and power of the King, Lord Sancho, surnamed the Desired, defended Calatrava from the incursion of the Moors and there instituted the military Order of Calatrava. He died in the year of the Lord 1163. He was translated to this sepulchre in the year of the Lord 1590."

[18] These things are related essentially by Chrysostom in the Cistercian Fasciculus, distinction 17, chapter 4, and by Manrique; more briefly by Jongelinus, book 6, where he treats of Fitero. other miracles: Alfonso Villegas writes that he obtains great veneration in the monastery of Monte Sion, to which he says he was translated in the year 1471, and that the monks testify to miracles wrought there by God through his merits. Francisco de Pisa mentions him in his History of Toledo, book 4, chapter 9, and calls him a holy Abbot.

[19] his feast day, His feast day is recorded in the Cistercian Calendar published at Dijon in 1617 on the Kalends of February in these words: "Raymond, Abbot of Fitero, first author of the Militia of Calatrava." With a more ample encomium, Henriquez adorns him on the same day, and on the 5th of March has the following: Translation. "In Spain, the Translation of Blessed Raymond, Abbot of the Cistercian Order, when his body was carried from the town of Ciruelos to the monastery of Monte Sion with great honor, by Pontifical authority." But the Cistercian Calendar places that first Translation on the 15th of March in these words: "Translation of St. Raymond, Abbot, to Monte Sion near Toledo, in the year 1590." But the author of this Calendar errs in the date, as is clear from what has been said. Nor does it appear to have occurred on the 15th of March, since the letters of Paul II, by which he decreed that Translation should take place, are said to have been given on the 15th of March of the year 1468. For it could not have been done before those letters were issued, nor is it likely that it was delayed for an entire year after they were received. Hugo Menard, because he did not know the feast day of Blessed Raymond, placed him on the 15th of March, as he himself confesses, because on that day the decree concerning the Translation had been issued by the Pontiff. He writes as follows: "In the territory of Toledo, of St. Raymond, Abbot, Founder of the Militia of Calatrava, of the Cistercian Order." Blessed Raymond is mentioned by Rodrigo Mendez Silva in his Description of Castile, chapter 72, and by all who have written on the military Orders or on Spanish affairs.