Irish Bishops Mel — Acta Sanctorum

ON THE HOLY IRISH BISHOPS MEL, MELCHUS, MUNIS, AND RIOCUS,

AT THE END OF THE FIFTH CENTURY.

Historical Commentary

Mel, Bishop of Ardagh, brother, in Ireland (Saint) Melchus, Bishop of Ardagh, brother, in Ireland (Saint) Munis, Bishop of Fornocht, brother, in Ireland (Saint) Riocus, Bishop of Inisboffin, brother, in Ireland (Saint)

By J. B.

Section I. The feast day of these four brothers. Saints Mel and Melchus, Bishops of Ardagh.

[1] These four brothers were inscribed in the Salisbury Martyrology for February 6 by Richard Wytford, These four brothers are venerated on February 6. either because he had found it so in the Irish Calendar, or because, having been born of the same marriage and having completed the same labors with unanimous constancy, he did not think it proper that they should be separated from one another in the celebration of their annual memorial. Joannes Colganus follows him in volume 2 of the Acts of the Saints of Old Scotland, and indeed produces the testimonies of other Irish Martyrologies concerning Mel and Melchus; but he admits that Munis is assigned by others to December 18, and Riocus to the Kalends of August — although elsewhere he doubts whether a different Munis, a cousin of this one, may not be the one venerated in the month of December. The words of Wytford are: In Ireland, the feast of St. Mel, St. Melk, St. Munysius, Bishops, and St. Riok, Abbot: these were four brothers, nephews of St. Patrick by his sister St. Darerca, all renowned for singular holiness and great miracles.

[2] He who is commonly called Mel, or Melus, is called Maol above in the fourth Life of St. Brigid The names of Mel and Melchus variously expressed. from the manuscript codex of Hugh Ward, book 1, chapter 1, number 5. And Colganus, Note 9 on the same Life, prefers that he be called Maol or Mael (for the sound of both forms of the Irish diphthong is the same), in Latin Maelus. Mel is written everywhere in the deeds of St. Patrick and others. But Melchus, commonly Melchu, in the cited Life of St. Brigid is Maolchu; in the Metrical Life, number 12, Melchon; everywhere in Colganus, Melchuo; and by Wytford he is called Melke.

[3] That they were born of St. Patrick's sister is clear from the same deeds of St. Patrick; for the monk Jocelin, chapter 50, in the edition of Colganus, writes thus: All accompany St. Patrick to Ireland. Darerca, the youngest of the sisters, was the mother of the holy Bishops Mel, Rioch, and Munis, whose father was called Conis. They likewise accompanied Blessed Patrick in his preaching and journey, and in various places they obtained the dignity of the episcopate. The Tripartite Life of the same Saint, book 2, chapter 21, in the same Colganus, also states: When St. Patrick had crossed from Britain to Ireland, St. Munis the Bishop followed him and his own full brothers, St. Mel the Bishop and St. Rioch of Inisboffin. These were the sons of Conis and Darerca, who was the sister of St. Patrick, as the rectors of the churches of St. Patrick relate. That Melchus, or Melchuo, was their brother is indicated in the same work, chapter 26: St. Patrick, having set out for southern Teffia, converted and baptized Manius, the son of Niall, brother of King Laoghaire. He built a church there in the place called Ardagh, which to this day is an episcopal see; and he placed over it Mel the Bishop, his nephew by his sister, and left with him Milchuo the Bishop, the full brother of the same Mel.

[4] Mel, Bishop of Ardagh, Ardagh is an episcopal city in the county of Longford, not far from Lake Ree. After the death of St. Mel, St. Melchus governed it, having previously attained the episcopal order — as was customary in that age — with no fixed see assigned to him, but as the inseparable companion and helper of his brother in all things; for nowhere have I read any mention made of him here he governs a great monastery with Melchus: without mention being made of St. Mel at the same time. He perhaps presided under his brother over the monastery mentioned in the first Life of St. Brigid above, chapter 4, number 26: The holy Bishops Mel and Melchu went with St. Brigid to the Plain of Teffia, because those Bishops had a great monastery there. Part of this monastery, or at any rate a house contiguous to it, was inhabited by St. Mel together with his maternal aunt Lupita, who perhaps managed his domestic affairs. But from a simple yet imprudent act of hers, suspicion of incest was cast upon both of them by some ill-wisher. Jocelin narrates the whole matter in the Life of St. Patrick, chapter 102, as follows:

[5] The man of great merit, Mel, mentioned above, who came from Britain to Ireland with his brothers, men of the greatest holiness — Munis and Rioch — was promoted to the episcopal rank by St. Patrick himself and served as his helper in preaching. he lives by the labor of his hands: He strove to live by the labor of his own hands, after the manner of the Apostle Paul; 1 Corinthians 4:12 and what had been given him by the wealthy, he was accustomed to distribute to the poor. With this blessed man, as her nephew, St. Lupita, his maternal aunt, dwells with him: St. Lupita, the sister of Patrick, lived together in one house, in the manner of the primitive Church, so that she might profit from his word and example in the exercise of divine service. After some time had passed, when the holy Priest would rise according to custom at midnight to praise the Lord, that holy woman was accustomed to place herself for sleep and to cover herself with skins on the holy Bishop's bed. She suspected that no sinister suspicion could be drawn from this act, because she measured the minds of others by the purity of her own conscience. they incur suspicion of incest: But a certain man, discovering the woman's habit, denounced her familiarity with the Bishop as shameful, and spread the denunciation among the common people. And since the door for spreading infamy lay open to the tongues of the populace, the matter could not remain hidden from Patrick any longer.

[6] St. Patrick, wishing to test more clearly whether the matter was truly so, directed his steps to the dwelling of the aforesaid Bishop. they clear themselves — Mel by catching fish on dry land, St. Mel judged it better to prove his innocence by a sign than by an oath: plowing the earth on a certain hill, he caught many large fish from the plowshare on dry land, with Patrick himself watching. For he offered fish thus caught to the Saint of God, as a miracle, so that no suspicion might remain in the hearts of those who saw this, since such a sign is not accustomed to be performed by one guilty of incest. Lupita by carrying live coals in her garment unharmed: The sister of St. Patrick also filled the fold of her gathered garment with live coals, and carrying them sufficiently and shaking them out in the sight of her brother, without any sign of burning or injury, she proved herself innocent.

[7] St. Patrick, approving the innocence thus proven by such evident signs, pronounced them clean and blameless; yet he took care to issue a public decree that would be salutary for them and for many others. St. Patrick orders them not to tempt God by performing miracles, First, therefore, addressing the Bishop, he admonished him to plow on the earth and to fish in the water, lest he seem to tempt the Lord his God; and not to presume to boast in any miracle wrought in him by divine grace. Finally the Saint decreed that men should be separated from women, and that separate buildings and oratories should be constructed for each sex. For thus indeed, as Patrick himself says, the name of God would not be blasphemed through them among the peoples to whom they preached; and to dwell apart, nor would any occasion of scandal or material for detraction be afforded to the weak in such a case. What therefore St. Patrick decreed and established, he caused to be observed.

[8] The same is narrated in the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, book 2, chapter 29, where St. Mel is said not to have caught the fish while plowing, but to have begun fishing among the furrows in the earth recently broken by the plow and moistened by rain, and to have caught fish — and those salmon. And shortly after: And in perpetual memory of both events, the place where the first miracle was performed by St. Mel is commonly called An chora thirim, that is, "the Dry Fishpool"; and the second, An maoil-tene, that is, "the Foolish Fire." And then: in separate dwellings. And thus St. Patrick left them in separate dwellings and places, separated by the interposition of a mountain. For he left Mel at Ardagh to the east, and his sister in Druimcheo to the west of the mountain called Bri-leith, lying between both places. St. Lupita the Virgin, moreover, is venerated on September 27, and was buried — as James Ussher relates in his work On the Origins of the British Churches, page 858 — in Fearta, which is in the eastern district of the city of Armagh.

Section II. The familiarity of Saints Mel and Melchus with St. Brigid.

[9] A great intimacy existed between the holy Bishops Mel and Melchus and St. Brigid the Virgin, inasmuch as they knew by divine revelation, even before she was born, her future holiness, and afterwards greatly advanced it. So the first Life of St. Brigid, chapter 1, number 3: In those days, at God's prompting, two holy Bishops coming from Britain Saints Mel and Melchus come to the house of St. Brigid's father: entered the house of Dubthach. One was called Mel, and the other Melchu. And Mel said to Dubthach's wife: "Why are you sad? The offspring of your handmaid will surpass you and your seed. But love that handmaid as you love your own children, for her offspring will greatly benefit your seed." St. Mel foretells the holiness of one not yet born: The same is reported in the fourth Life, chapter 1, number 5, and with amplification in the fifth, number 3.

[10] The same St. Mel the Bishop afterwards conferred the sacrament of Confirmation upon the most holy Virgin, he afterwards confers Confirmation upon her; as Colganus narrates from a certain Calendar, Appendix 5 to the Life of St. Patrick, chapter 4, number 7, and volume 2, at February 6, in the Life of St. Mel, chapter 6.

[11] The same Brigid, then aged (as is commonly reported) fourteen years, having taken with her three maidens, as is said in the same first Life, chapter 3, number 16, went to the territory of the descendants of Niall, to the two Bishops Mel and Melchu, who were disciples of St. Patrick and dwelt in the towns of Meath. They had a certain disciple named Maccalle, who said to Mel: then the sacred veil, with Melchus and Maccallus, "Behold, holy Virgins are outside who wish to receive the veil of virginity from your hand." Then he brought them before the Bishop; and when Bishop Mel looked upon them, suddenly a pillar of fire appeared from the top of Brigid's head. The prayers having been read, Brigid, with bowed head, touched with her hand the wooden foot of the altar; and from that hour, that foot remains ever green, without any decay not without miracles: or deterioration, forever; and her eye was healed while she received the veil. Eight other Virgins received the veil at the same time as St. Brigid. We have discussed at length in the Prolegomena to the Life of St. Brigid, section 4, from whom and where she received the veil, since certain more recent writers contradict what has just been said.

[12] Brigid certainly called Mel her own Bishop and venerated him. From the first Life, chapter 4, number 24: On another day, after the week of Easter had been completed, St. Brigid said to her maidens: "Has the ale run out she entertains him at a feast, water changed into wine by a blessing: which we prepared for the solemnity of Easter? For I am anxious about our Bishop Mel and about the guests of Christ." The maidens answered, saying: "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 accustomed manner. But Brigid, thinking that there was ale in the vessel, said: "We give thanks to God, who has given this ale to our Bishop." And thus that water was turned into ale, made like the finest wine.

[13] At the same time St. Brigid was afflicted with a pain in her eyes. Bishop Mel, hearing this, sent word to her to come to him, he takes her, suffering from eye pain, to seek a physician, so that both of them might go to seek a physician who could heal her. Brigid said to him: "I do not wish to seek bodily medicine; but nevertheless, we shall do what you wish." And it happened that while Bishop Mel and Brigid were traveling to seek a physician, St. Brigid fell from her chariot in the ford of a certain river, and her head was wounded by a stone, and blood flowed profusely... It happened afterwards that but on the way she is healed by the letting of blood, the physician they were seeking met them on the road. When he had touched the Virgin's head with his hand, he said: "O Virgin, a Physician who is much better than I has healed your head; he found no place from which to let blood. Always seek that Physician who can repel disease from you." nor does she need a physician thereafter. Then the Bishop said to her: "Never again shall I urge you to seek an earthly physician."

[14] After this, the holy Bishops Mel and Melchu went with St. Brigid to the Plain of Teffia, because those Bishops had a great monastery there. Mel and Melchus lead her to Ardagh: While the Saint was staying there with her companions, one day the King of Teffia was at a banquet not far from them, and a certain rustic approached to take from the King's table a certain precious vessel of marvelous workmanship and valuable material; and this vessel was called by the ancients the Sevenfold Chalice. That vessel fell from the hand of the rustic and was broken. Then the angry King ordered him to be bound and killed. Hearing this, Bishop Mel went to intercede for the wretch. Mel intercedes for the accused, in vain; Brigid frees him by a miracle: But the King would 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, and the wretch was freed.

[15] In the same work, chapter 5, number 34: Then the holy Bishops Mel and Melchu said to St. Brigid: "Do you wish to go with us to the Plain of Breg, they take her to St. Patrick. to salute St. Patrick?" Brigid answered: "I wish to speak with him, that he may bless me." Then the holy Bishops and Brigid set out on the journey. A certain cleric joined them, having a large household, cows, carts, and many loads, as they were going to the Plain of Breg; but the Bishops were unwilling, lest the multitude of their cattle and loads delay their journey. And Brigid said to them: "Go before us. For I shall remain behind and have compassion on these people," etc. Moreover, they were hastening to a Council, as is evident from what follows, where the case of Bishop Bron was discussed.

[16] The same St. Mel committed to writing the deeds of his uncle St. Patrick. Mel writes the acts of St. Patrick, while still living: So Jocelin, chapter 186, in Colganus, and he is cited by Ussher, chapter 27, page 816. Concerning the things which he miraculously accomplished in the world, booklets or treatises are said to have been written sixty-six in number; the greater part of which perished by fire during the reigns of Gurmund and Turgesius. Nevertheless four codices concerning his virtues and miracles, written partly in Latin and partly in Irish, are found to survive; which four of his disciples are said to have composed at various times, namely Blessed Benignus, his successor, and St. Mel the Bishop, and St. Lumanus the Bishop, his nephew, and St. Patrick his godson, who, after the death of his uncle, returned to Britain and died there, and was honorably buried in the church of Glastonbury. Jocelin cites Mel in chapter 3: "Let it suffice therefore to have recalled the miracle," he says, "which St. Mel the Bishop testifies he often witnessed."

[17] It appears that Mel wrote the Acts while Patrick was still alive, if what Ussher has in his Chronological Index at the year 488 is true: St. Mel dies in the year 488. In this year, as the Annals of Ulster indicate, St. Mel died, the first Bishop of Ardagh. But Patrick did not die until the year 493. It is probable that after Mel's death, St. Melchus assumed the See of Ardagh; but we find nothing further about him thereafter.

Section III. St. Munis, Bishop of Fornocht.

[18] Munis, brother of Mel and Melchus, himself also a son of Darerca and Conis, accompanied his uncle St. Patrick to Ireland with his brothers (as was said in section 1), and adhered to him for a very long time. St. Munis, companion of St. Patrick, Concerning him, the author of the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, book 2, chapter 23, writes: After they had landed in Ireland, St. Munis left his staff leaning against a certain bush in the place where they had tarried; and he did not remember it until they had reached a remote place. There he complained before the holy Bishop that he had lost his staff. his lost staff But Patrick, gently admonishing him to trust in the Lord, said that it was the staff of a servant of God, who is powerful to help his servants in their needs and (when it is expedient) always willing. They had scarcely finished such words he recovers it far from there, by his merits, when behold, they saw the staff lying upon another bush and present before them. Then the holy Bishop also said: "Let us exchange our staffs; let me have yours, and you keep mine." And so it was done. And that staff is counted among the relics and he exchanges it for his own: that are preserved at Fornocht with St. Munis.

[19] When St. Patrick was on the mountain of Cruachan Aigle, for the sake of a certain consultation he sent St. Munis to the presence of the Roman Bishop, he is sent by him to Rome who also gave him sacred relics. This embassy is said to have occurred thirty years before the birth of St. Kieran, the son of the artisan; he was born in the year 516, as Ussher states in the Chronological Index, and as we shall say in his Life on September 9 or 29; therefore Munis went to Rome in the year 486 or 485, when St. Felix III presided over the Church. in the year 486 or 466 In the Life of Kieran, however, which we have — written ignorantly and carelessly — there is no mention either of the leper (as here presently) or of the relics, and he is said to have been foretold by St. Patrick fifty years before his birth, from which it would follow that these things occurred in the year 466, when St. Hilarus sat at Rome.

[20] While Munis was on his journey, a certain leper died in Ireland — a protege of St. Patrick, whose holiness was revealed to Munis on his return by heavenly signs. The author of the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, book 2, chapter 24, briefly touches upon that death thus: meanwhile a leper It happened on a certain occasion that St. Patrick, being in the region of Umhall, and his leper were separated from one another. The leper betook himself to the place where Clonmacnoise is today. There he found a certain hollow tree with two branches extending from one root toward the East, between which he also fixed his seat. While he was there, a certain man came to him, of whom he asked whether he was a faithful Christian. The man replied that he was a Christian. Then the leper humbly asked him to pull up by the roots a bundle of rushes from nearby, and to bring him a draft of water in a clean vessel from a spring that was just then breaking forth there. The man carried out the orders. Again the leper asked him to bring tools for digging the earth, so that he might bury his body there; which the other also devoutly did. And that leper was the first he dies at Clonmacnoise, who was buried beneath the soil of Clonmacnoise.

[21] Jocelin, chapter 113, narrates the reason for his separation from St. Patrick, and how the lifeless body was cleansed of leprosy, thus: St. Patrick, led by holy custom, kept with him a certain leper, to whom he ministered with great devotion all things necessary for Christ's sake; he washed his ulcers with his own hands, and was accustomed to refresh each aspect of that man with suitable food. long nourished by St. Patrick, For the leper, having entirely lost bodily health, strove to watch over the salvation of his soul by every means — to devote himself continually to prayer and to give thanks to God in all things always. But when, a holy man; wasted by the foulness of his leprosy, he caused a stench to those living with him, he feared he would be a horror to the rest, and humbly and secretly withdrew from the company of the others, and dwelt alone in a certain hollow tree that he had found by chance. And shortly after: At the voice of the one asking — or rather adjuring — the man went to the place, tore up a rush, and immediately a clear spring burst forth. He brought the bundle of rush to the leper and reported by whose merits a spring was elicited what had happened regarding the gushing of the new spring. The leper gave thanks and praises to God, then said to the man: "Know, dearest brother, that our Lord Jesus Christ has led you here so that you may wash my body in the water of that spring and bury me in that place." Having said these things, he raised his eyes and hands to heaven his body, once washed, is cleansed of leprosy, and expired. The aforesaid man washed his body in the spring, and seeing no trace of leprosy upon it but finding it most sweet, he committed it to burial there and departed.

[22] The same Jocelin continues: After some days, St. Munis, devoutly carrying many relics of the Saints, was returning from Rome and, compelled by necessity, was staying overnight at the aforesaid place. and honored at night by Angels: In the silence of the night he saw a great light surrounding that place and heard Angels singing psalms and keeping vigil until morning around the tomb of the buried man. He narrated all these things to St. Patrick, when St. Munis wished to take it away, saying that he wished to remove that holy body from that deserted place. St. Patrick forbade this, foretelling that a certain "son of life," not yet born, named Kieran, would dwell there, who would fill that place with an illustrious company of Saints and would honor that holy body with much sublimity. St. Patrick orders it to be left for St. Kieran, not yet born; What he foretold came to pass in the course of time. For that place is between Meath and Connacht, where the city of Clonmacnoise is situated, in which there is an episcopal see today.

Continuation from previous chunk

carrying a vessel full of water on their shoulders, and they gave it to Brigid to bless in the accustomed manner. But Brigid, thinking that there was ale in the vessel, said: "We give thanks to God, who has given this ale to our Bishop." And thus that water was turned into ale, made like the finest wine.

Section III. St. Munis, Bishop of Fornocht.

[23] The author of the Tripartite Life, book 2, chapter 25, records another prodigy that happened to St. Munis at the place of Clonmacnoise. For, intending to spend the night there, he placed his case with the enclosed relics in the hollow cavity of a nearby tree; and also the relics brought from Rome. and the tree was found the next morning to have closed around it, the bark having grown over and all the cavity having been eliminated, so that it was enclosed on all sides. Astonished by the remarkable novelty of the miracle, they seized axes and other iron tools and tried in vain to cut open the tree. but within the tree they were completely enclosed in a single night. And when, exhausted, they accomplished nothing, they reported what had happened to St. Patrick. Patrick said to them: "There is a certain son of life, not yet born, who will need those relics — namely St. Kieran, the son of the artisan; for whom they have been thus reserved by the special favor of Divine Providence, and therefore they must be left."

[24] "The aforementioned St. Munis" (says the same Jocelin, chapter 114), "having returned from Rome, St. Munis, out of love for quiet, wearied by the fatigue of the long journey and disinclined to travel further, besought St. Patrick that, just as he had provided rest for his brothers who had churches, so he would procure for him a place of habitation suitable for contemplation. Holy Patrick, therefore, knowing that he, though a lover of interior quiet, would nevertheless be profitable to the salvation of many, offered him a suitable and excellent place, saying: 'Behold the hill, behold the valley; build and dwell wherever it seems more pleasing to your eyes. But know this: that if you dwell in the valley, you may lead more souls to the Lord; but if you remain on the hill, he builds the monastery of Fornocht, you will gain fewer, on account of the vanities and pleasantries presented to the eyes, and many other causes and circumstances.'" Munis, forewarned and forearmed by the Holy Spirit, is said to have replied to St. Patrick: "I do not complain about the hill or the valley, but about the nearby lake, since a royal habitation exists there. For the frequent visits of courtiers and other worldly men will be troublesome to me and will bring impediments to the sabbath of my mind." the lake removed by the prayers of St. Patrick through divine power: St. Patrick, encouraging him, declared that it would be easy for God to remedy this annoyance; and withdrawing a little, he poured forth devout and efficacious prayers before God. On the following night, therefore, the Lord removed that lake, together with the dwellings and inhabitants in it, so far away that his servant suffered no annoyance or burden from it.

[25] For holy Munis, remaining there, built a church, to which St. Patrick gave relics of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul and of many other Saints, as well as certain articles necessary for the ecclesiastical ministry. St. Patrick gives him relics and ornaments. He himself afterwards, though unwilling, as his virtues shone forth ever more brightly, was promoted to the pinnacle of the episcopal office; and, resplendent also with many signs, he at last departed to the Lord. These things are found there. Fornocht, or as it is called in the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, book 2, chapter 2, Forgnuidhe, is in the region of Cuirene, in the northern part of Meath, on the southern bank of the river Ethne.

Section IV. St. Riocus, Abbot of Inisboffin, and Bishop.

[26] The fourth of these holy brothers was St. Riocus, who is venerated at Inisboffin, that is, the Island of the White Heifer. There were two islands of the same name among the Irish: Inisboffin is twofold; where is it located? one which, at the western coast, lies far removed from Ireland, as Bede writes, book 4, chapter 4, and from him Ussher, page 825; and Camden mentions it in his description of the County of Galway; the other is in Lake Ree, or the Regian Lake, of the river Shannon, between Meath and Connacht. In the former, St. Colman, Bishop of Lindisfarne, founded a monastery, as Bede relates in the cited chapter, but two hundred years after Riocus. Ussher, however, believes that the monastery of Riocus was on the same island. Colganus places it on the one in Lake Ree, which is far more probable.

[27] We find few things recorded about this holy man. One thing is mentioned: Eugenius, the deformed son of Niall, that he was endowed with an extraordinary dignity of face and entire body. So Jocelin, in the Life of St. Patrick, chapter 84: There was a certain one of the magnates of Ireland, named Eugenius, who had long resisted Patrick's preaching; but at length, circumscribed and constrained by the power of the living and efficacious word, and convicted by irrefutable signs, he believed, and, washed in the bath of the life-giving wave, merited to be renewed in Christ. He was rich and powerful in the kingdom, but in countenance and bodily form the most deformed of all who were subject to his dominion. Having often complained to St. Patrick about his deformity, he besought him, through the power of his prayers, to banish the horror of his mask-like face, so that he might experience the omnipotence of his God, in whom all the people believed. On a certain occasion, St. Patrick, moved by the prayers of the man, who was so ashamed and embarrassed about himself, asked him whom he would wish to resemble in form. St. Riocus, who was most handsome, Looking around at all who were standing about him, he chose the appearance of Rioch the Ecclesiastic, the keeper of the codices of St. Patrick. He was a Briton by birth, then a Deacon in rank, a kinsman of the holy Bishop, more beautiful in form than the sons of men in those regions. He was nevertheless a man of the most holy life, so that he could say the words of the Psalmist with full meaning: "Lord, in your power you have given strength to my beauty." Psalm 29:8 Holy Patrick had them take sleep in one bed under one coverlet, through the prayers of St. Patrick, and standing over them, he raised his pure hands in prayer. A wondrous and very unusual thing: when they arose from their bed after shaking off sleep, no difference appeared in the countenance of either; only the tonsure distinguished them. he is made like him, Astonishment therefore struck all who recognized this; but a more copious joy flooded the hearts of those who had experienced this sign in themselves.

[28] The same is narrated in the fourth Life of St. Patrick in Colganus, chapter 71, and in the Tripartite Life, book 2, chapter 116, along with the account of how the same Eugenius, by the blessing of St. Patrick, and taller, also obtained a taller bodily stature. This Eugenius, son of Niall, was at that time advanced in age, being already the parent of many children, of whom Muredach had been the one who urged him to embrace the faith of Christ, very familiar with St. Patrick. as is narrated in the cited Tripartite Life, book 2, chapter 114. St. Patrick was so familiar with him that when Conall, the son of Enda Cromy and grandson of Amalgadius, King of Connacht, was excluded from access to the court at Tara by the treachery of his uncle Aengus, so that he could not plead his father's cause before King Laoghaire and Eugenius against a rival for the kingdom, the holy man thus directed him: "Enter now through the open gates to Eugenius the son of Niall, my faithful friend, who will help you; and secretly seize his ring finger, which is the sign between us always." And Eugenius, noticing this, asked what would please St. Patrick. So in book 2 of the Tripartite Life, chapter 78. But of St. Riocus we have found nothing further.