Berachius

CONCERNING ST. BERACHIUS, OR BERACHUS, ABBOT AND BISHOP IN IRELAND.

ABOUT THE YEAR OF CHRIST 500.

Preliminary commentary.

Berachius, Abbot and Bishop in Ireland (Saint)

I. B.

[1] Among those ancient Bishops of the Scots celebrated for their proven faith through the working of various prodigies, St. Berachius, or Berachus, held no lowly distinction; The name of St. Berachius, from his miracles: indeed, he received his very name from the presage of this grace. For his first name was Fintanus; but he was afterward called Berach, on account of the remarkable and never-frustrated efficacy and power he had in working miracles. So it is said in the later Life, number 2; but in the earlier Life, with no mention made of another name, St. Fraegius, his maternal uncle, pronounces this concerning the name Berach: "Rightly was this name given to him, for he shall be blessed, and his place in the heavens shall endure." John Colgan, a most learned and most devout man, says that Berach among the Irish signifies one who accurately directs an arrow or javelin at a target, or successfully strikes the mark. His power in working wonders is declared by the prayer which Colgan recites: "O God, who caused the blessed Abbot Berach to shine on earth with great miracles, graciously grant that we may be aided here by his prayers and united in eternal blessedness with the Angels. Through Christ our Lord, Amen." Many of his miracles, however, have been so exaggerated by the ignorance of writers or encumbered by various circumstances with their causes and manner omitted, that they seem to be drawn rather from fame -- which the further it creeps, the more errors it accumulates -- than from certain records. But this is the common fate of the Acts of most Scots or Irish Saints.

[2] We give a twofold Life of St. Berachius, both first published by Colgan. The former, he says, was transcribed from a codex of the monastery of the Island of All Saints; The Life is twofold: the first not ancient: and he suspects its author to be Augustinus Magraidinus, a regular Canon of the same monastery. For James Ware, in book 1 of his "Writers of Ireland," chapter 11, testifies that this man wrote Lives of the Saints of Ireland and died in the year 1405. And indeed there is much that shows this Life is not very ancient -- as when in chapter 3, number 16, Aedan son of Gauran is called "King of the Scottish nation," as though there were no other Kings of the Scottish nation at that time. Bede, in book 1 of his Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, chapter 34, calls him "Edan, King of the Scots who inhabit Britain." Then the passage in chapter 2, number 8, "When the year of probation in the novitiate had elapsed, he completed his profession according to custom in keeping with the observance of the order," is said more from the discipline of the writer's own age than from the ancient practice which is known to have prevailed among Coemgen and other ancient ascetics of Ireland. The other Life was excerpted from a larger Irish text, to supply what was either omitted in the former or narrated differently. The second from an Irish source: In neither Life, however, is found what the same Colgan notes on February 11 regarding the Life of St. Echan, as we said there at number 5: that St. Berachius was ordained Priest by St. Ecian the Bishop and entered into a pact of confraternity and spiritual friendship with him.

[3] Colgan attests that mention is made of St. Berachius in various Acts of Irish Saints which we have not yet seen. There seems to be a reference to him in the Life of St. Columba the Abbot written by St. Adamnan, which we shall give on June 9, where in book 1, chapter 19, these words are found: "On a certain day when the venerable man was staying on the island of Iona, a certain brother named Berachus, proposing to sail to the island of Ethica, approached the Saint in the morning and asked for his blessing. The Saint, looking at him, said: 'O my son, take special care today not to attempt to cross the wider sea on a direct course to Ethica, but rather go around and sail past the smaller islands, lest perchance, terrified by some monstrous prodigy, you can scarcely escape.'" [He himself, having neglected the counsel of St. Columba, is endangered while sailing.] He departed after receiving the Saint's blessing and, boarding his ship, crossed the wider expanses of the Ethican sea as if treating the Saint's word lightly. And behold, he and the sailors who were aboard saw a whale of wonderful and immense size, raising itself like a mountain, opening its gaping, exceedingly toothy jaws, swimming on the surface. The rowers thereupon, having furled the sail, greatly terrified, turned back and could scarcely escape the surging of the waves caused by the beast's movement, and recognizing the Saint's prophetic word, they marveled.

[4] The age of St. Berachius can be gathered both from what has been said and from the Life, but the year of his death cannot be determined. St. Columba migrated from Ireland to Britain in the year 563 and died in 598. Aedan the King, of whom we have already treated, is said to have been inaugurated King by St. Columba on the island of Iona in the year 574. Did he live toward the end of the sixth century? The same Aedan, Bede writes in book 1, chapter 34, was defeated in battle by Ethelfrith, King of the Northumbrians, in the year 603. And afterward, as Ussher writes from Fordun, continually grieving, he afflicted himself with such great sorrows that in the second year after his flight, being so advanced in age as to be nearly eighty years old, he died at Kintyre. Since St. Berachius visited this king while he was already reigning, it is established that he lived toward the end of the sixth century, although the year of his death, as even Colgan admits, is uncertain. The same age of Berachius is confirmed by the age of St. Coemgen, who was intimate with St. Columba and is said to have died in the year 618, having lived 120 or more years; and under him Berachius laid the foundations of the monastic life in the monastery of Glendalough.

[5] His birthday is assigned to February 15, besides the Irish writers cited by Colgan, by Hermann Greven in the supplement to Usuard published in the year 1521, and by Canisius, in these words: He is venerated on February 15. "In Ireland, of Beracius, Bishop and Confessor." The manuscript Florarium: "Of Beracius, Bishop and Confessor." Ferrari in his general Catalogue of Saints: "In Ireland, of St. Beracius the Bishop." But the Irish writers cited by Colgan make him only an Abbot. However, in those times many Abbots, either because populous towns had grown up around their monasteries and they had become their Bishops, or because they had been ordained Bishops for the apostolic ministry when they were celebrated for learning and holiness, Was he a Bishop? even in our own Belgium and among other nations, but nowhere more frequently than in Ireland. Although there are those who think that some were called Bishops by later generations who had been only Priests, because it seemed more honorable and lest they should seem to yield to other cities whose apostles happened to be true Bishops -- as we have noted elsewhere.

[6] Some who on February 24 list a certain monk named Berectus -- Colgan judges him to be none other than this Berachius. Berectus was first brought to light by Peter Galesinius from a manuscript Martyrology, as he says, and honored with this eulogy: "In Scotland, of St. Berectus, monk and Confessor, He seems to be the same who is elsewhere called Berectus. who was beneficial both by the example of his most holy life and by his preaching." Following Galesinius, Wion, Menard, and Dorgany inscribed him in their Martyrologies as a Benedictine monk, although Wion admits he found nothing about him beyond the words of Galesinius. Our Henry Fitzsimon also lists him in his Catalogue of Irish Saints. David Camerarius produced these Acts of his, drawn I know not whence: "By his counsel," he says, "it is related that Mordacus, the fifty-ninth King of the Scots in order, ruled Scotland in the greatest peace, to the joy and advantage of his subjects, for many years. Besides the other virtues of this Saint, he had a great zeal for souls, and he said he considered it the greatest delight if he could win even one sinner's soul for his God. 'For the food of the righteous' (as St. Gregory well says in book 31 of the Morals, chapter 22) 'is the conversion of sinners.' He exchanged this life for a happier one in the year of Christ 720." So writes Camerarius. Hector and Lesley treat of Mordacus but do not mention Berectus. John Wilson in his English Martyrology writes that he flourished in Scotland, renowned for the glory of miracles, around the year 714. Dempster, who cites only Wion and Galesinius, adds however that Berectus wrote homilies on Sacred Scripture, book 1. But since those authors did not reveal in what century he flourished, he says he cannot divine it. Whence then did he divine that he wrote, since they did not reveal it? Nothing is certain about Berectus, unless he is Berachus.

* St. Gregory has "of the perverse."

LIFE, BY AN UNCERTAIN AUTHOR,

published from a manuscript by John Colgan.

Berachius, Abbot and Bishop in Ireland (Saint)

BHL Number: 1168

From Colgan.

CHAPTER I

The birth and education of St. Berachius.

[1] Among other things which the wisdom of God, full of Itself, in Its infinite power and perfect goodness, accomplished so magnificently and so wonderfully in the creatures of this nascent world from its very beginning, that incomprehensible Divinity shines forth supremely and excellently in the Saints, whom from eternity It predestined and preordained. For the kingdom of Ireland, lying farther from the rising of the Sun, He willed to visit its inhabitants, who had long adhered to the worship of idolatry, through many Saints glorious in the Lord, working His will, lest they perish. St. Berachius, a native of Connacht, Among these Saints, after the passing of the most holy Patrick, there arose in the borders of Connacht a man of renown and of great merit before God, named Berachus, who, shining like a new star, dispelled all darkness and showed the way of truth to those who wandered and lived in the region of the shadow of death. For he was a man sent by God, who prepared the way of the Lord in the desert of this world; he also, piously visiting the people devoted to the worship of demons, An apostolic man, now rebuking, now visiting, now exhorting, now shining with miracles, perfectly converted them to the faith of Christ. Of him also those words of the Prophet may be said: "The people who walked in darkness have seen a great light."

[2] Concerning him also the blessed Patrick, full of the spirit of prophecy, prophesied; for when he had visited, as was his custom, the land in which the man of God was to be born, and yet had not entirely converted its inhabitants from the error of paganism, when his disciples marveled why they did not obey the admonitions and holy exhortations of so great a man of God, he answered, taught by the Holy Spirit, prophesying: "Let them be, Brothers, let them be. Foretold by St. Patrick, Shortly after me one shall come who will enlighten this people with his life and teaching, who shall also be born from this race of men; and he shall be mighty, not only to convert this nation, which you see raging and untamed, but also many other peoples, like lambs, to Christ by his holy teachings." And all this came to pass, as the illustrious Prophet declared.

[3] The father of this holy man was called Nendalus, and his mother Finscad. And although they had been raised among the ranks of the nobility and were exceedingly wealthy in earthly goods, yet with all the zeal of their minds, having spurned the worship of idolatry, Born of pious parents, they endeavored to lead a celibate life. For when they had begotten this son in the first flower of their youth, at the very beginning of his birth what manner of child he would be was divinely shown to them; for on that night when he came forth from his mother's womb, St. Fraegius, At his very birth, illuminated by a heavenly light, about the middle hour of the night, after Matins, going out of his cell and directing his eyes toward the borders of Connacht, beheld a conspicuous light around the place where his parents dwelt, as if it were a globe of fire.

[4] The holy man, marveling at what this sign might portend, called one of his own to him and said: Go to the house of Nendalus, my brother-in-law, and if perchance my sister has given birth to a male child, let her come to me with the infant. The messenger, fulfilling the commands of Father Fraegius, came to the house of the newborn child's parents, found there a very beautiful infant with his mother, and made known to them the will of the man of God. Baptized by his uncle St. Fraegius, Having heard the messenger's words, the infant was immediately brought to St. Fraegius. The man of God, seeing the infant resplendently endowed by the gifts of God, giving thanks to the divine goodness, said: Bring this infant to the church, that he may be washed in the bath of salvation and thus joined to Christ. And when he was brought to the place of the baptistery, the parents, questioned by St. Fraegius as to what name the infant should be called, answered: Call him Berachus. And called Berachus, When he had been baptized and this name given to him, St. Fraegius said: Rightly has this name been given to him, for he shall be blessed, and his place in the heavens shall endure.

[5] The mother tried to keep the infant regenerated in Christ with her, so that he might be more tenderly nourished with her own milk than with a strange nurse. But the holy man of God did not permit this, saying: Know, my dearest sister, that you shall no longer bear the care of this boy, for he shall remain with me in the name of Christ. For God, who created him, is powerful enough that he may reach the full growth of his limbs without the ministry of women's milk -- and the outcome of the event proved this. And miraculously nourished by him, For while he was being reared with diligent care by the man of God, the boy was accustomed to suck the right ear of St. Fraegius as if it were a mother's breast; and so it came to pass, by the will of Him who is able to bring forth honey from the rock, that by the touch of the ear of the man of God the boy grew as though he had all the abundance of a mother's milk.

[6] When the years of infancy had thus passed, he was given over to be imbued with the study of letters, And instructed in letters. in which he made progress from day to day with great talent and capacity of understanding. Diligently embracing the sacred footsteps of his teacher St. Fraegius, he now devoted himself to study, now to prayer and the praises of God, making progress under so great a teacher. God, looking down from on high upon his prayers, adorned this Saint with good works, so that scarcely was anyone on earth thought to be his equal.

a Connacht, or Conacht, and Connachtia, the more western part of Ireland.

b We shall treat at length of St. Patrick, Apostle of the Irish, on March 17.

c It seems, however, that St. Berachius was born easily thirty years or even more after the death of St. Patrick.

d Colgan here discusses at length, in his annotations, the names of St. Berachius's parents and their genealogy.

e The same author has Froegius, then Fraegius, which he notes is the common form; St. Fraegius, in Irish, Cruimilier Fraech or Froech, that is, Presbyter Fraechus; he is venerated on December 20, as can be seen in certain of our Martyrologies.

f He means the husband of his sister, as is immediately clear.

g That is, what the divine goodness had already destined for him, but had not yet conferred, as if he had been sanctified before baptism.

h This was ridiculously invented by later generations from old wives' tales, as many things in the Lives of Irish Saints. Colgan attempts to excuse it by the examples of other Saints who are read to have been nourished by wild animals. He does not say, however, that he sucked milk from the holy man's ear, but that he could have been nourished by other ways of divine providence. Who doubts it? What need was there of mentioning the ear?

i In the second Life, no. 3, he is said to have been given at age seven to St. Dagaeus, to be instructed in letters, where miracles performed by him are also narrated.

CHAPTER II

The monastic life of St. Berachius at Glendalough; his miracles; the search for a place for a new monastery.

[7] Led by an Angel, he goes to Glendalough: When he had reached the years of discretion, eager to flee the company of his parents, having obtained the permission of his teacher, he hastened, with an Angel for companion and one attending servant, to the parts of Leinster. At length arriving at the city of Glendalough, he subjected himself to the discipline of St. Coemgen, the most illustrious Abbot of the monastery of Glendalough. When he entered the church to pray, behold, St. Coemgen, standing before the doors of that church, foreseeing in the spirit how great his manner of life would be, looked upon him and said to the Brothers: Behold the servant of God; let us go and greet him. When they had greeted him, He becomes a monk under St. Coemgen: they asked the reason for his journey. He replied: I have come here from the borders of Connacht, desiring with all my heart to obey the commands of the holy Father Coemgen and to drink the sacred draughts of his teaching. Hearing this, St. Coemgen gave thanks to God and, commending his purpose, kindly received him, and giving him the habit of the holy religion, taught him the rule of living well.

[8] When the year of probation in the novitiate had elapsed, he completed his profession according to custom, in keeping with the observance of the order. Thereafter, on account of the merit of his holiness and the stability of his purpose, Then Provost, he was commended by all and was taken up, despite his resistance, as Provost of that monastery. But the man of God, patiently bearing the care of so great an office, suitably administered the ministry committed to him according to the grace given him by God. He performs this duty diligently: Now attending providently to the needs of the Brothers, now piously relieving the want of the poor, he at times applied himself to agriculture and other labors of the monastery. And so he carried out the charge he had undertaken as a diligent steward, with the greatest care. Under his management, the goods of the monastery grew from day to day, for which all gave thanks to God and to him.

[9] After this, when the herdsman of the monastery was keeping watch less carefully over the herd committed to him, behold, a wolf, watching for prey from a nearby place, rushing forth at full speed, killed the calf of a certain cow that was superabundant in milk, and carried it off and ate it. The mother of the calf immediately gave forth terrible lowing [By divine power he obtains that the wolf, in place of the calf it had devoured, suckle the cow's udders:] and was carried here and there as if mad. But when the man of God prayed, a wonderful thing happened. For the wolf, having lost its ferocity, returned to the lowing cow and, offering itself tamely after the manner of a calf, the cow licked it and gave milk abundantly. And so it came to pass, by the power of God, that the wolf's wildness was converted into the tameness of a calf, so that it served the cow afterward not as a wolf but as a calf.

[10] Not long afterward, the son of the King of Leinster, who had been reared with St. Coemgen from boyhood, began to suffer from so grave an illness that he seemed about to breathe his last. St. Coemgen approached him and said: Alas for me, wretched man, for I have nothing that can cure your ailment. The sick boy said to him: To cool the intolerable heat by which I am inwardly consumed, I need fruit and sorrel as an opportune remedy for my health. Then St. Coemgen summoned his staff-bearer to him, saying: Brother Berach, He causes, in the middle of winter, sour herbs and fruit to grow on willows, quickly, if you please, go out and bring what the soul of this languishing boy desires. Then Berachus, wishing to fulfill the command of Father Coemgen, ascended a nearby hill, and on bended knees prayed to the Lord to come to the aid of their desires. Knowing also that he had been heard in his prayers, he commanded the nearby willows in the name of the Lord, saying: In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, who created all things from nothing, let these willows bring forth fruit and the earth bring forth sorrel, that all the people may know that You alone are God, powerful with the Father and the Holy Spirit to create all things from nothing. And immediately the willows produced blossoms and afterward brought forth beautiful fruit. Likewise, in the cold of winter, when the earth was then barren and dry, it gave sorrel abundantly. Having therefore gathered the herbs together with the fruit produced from the willows, he gave thanks to God, With which he heals the sick, to whom all things are possible, and offered them to St. Coemgen. And when the man of God offered these wonderful fruits to the sick boy, he immediately recovered his health. As a sign of this unusual miracle, it is reported that And thereafter health-giving fruit has grown on those willows: to this day the willows growing in that same place produce fruit, which often brings health to the sick. In this matter the magnificence of God ought to be most devoutly venerated, which so wonderfully, beyond the power of nature, shows its inexhaustible sufficiency.

[11] At another time the wife of the King of Leinster, stirred by an evil spirit, wished to kill the same King's son by magic art, as a perfidious stepmother; for she feared that he would prevail over her own offspring and despise her if he reigned after the King's death. She therefore ascended, together with other women skilled in the magical art, to the summit of a certain hill, to worship demons and obtain from them either the death of the King's son or the mutilation of his limbs. But the desire of the sinful Queen perished, because she could not prevail against the Holy Spirit, who was working in His Saint. For by the prompting of God's power, the man of God ascended the same place to inspect the cattle of the monastery, He defeats the power of magical incantation by his prayers, and God revealing it to him, he learned what the Queen was doing there. Wherefore the man of God, taking refuge in the protection of prayer, most devoutly besought the God of heaven that the incantations of the wicked women should not prevail over the innocent boy; and the Lord heard His Saint, defending the innocent boy lest the magical art should prevail over him. But He who took vengeance on the iniquity of those preparing snares turned those same things into a snare. For as God once swallowed up Dathan and Abiram because of their wickedness, The earth swallowing up the sorceress: so with a similar punishment the earth swallowed up these magical contrivers together with the Queen.

[12] After this, when Almighty God was endeavoring to place the life of this Saint upon a candlestick in the house of God, that it might shed the rays of its light upon all, behold, the man of God received in a vision of the night an angelic message, saying to him: By the admonitions of an Angel, Tomorrow morning a stag will meet you at the doors of

the monastery, upon which you shall place your baggage and follow it by a straight path, and in the place where it rests, there also you shall make your rest; for there shall be your seat and your memorial for the future. In the morning, therefore, he found the stag at the borders of the monastery, He places his baggage on the stag, and calling St. Coemgen and the Brothers, he narrated all that had been shown to him in the vision and obtained their permission with their blessing. He therefore placed his baggage upon the stag as upon a tame donkey, And follows it with a companion: and the man of God with his servant followed, praising God, as it walked ahead with a gentle pace. They did not cease from the labor of this journey until they arrived prosperously at the place called Cluaincoirpi and rested. And when the stag had set down its burden there, resting a moment, it disappeared from the sight of the man of God.

[13] Then St. Berachus, giving thanks to God, commanded his servant to seek a suitable place where solitaries might serve God. When the servant sought an apt place to dwell, he found the bodies of eighteen men still palpitating on the ground, as if those men had been slain that very hour. For two sons of rival kings had joined battle there, and that many men had fallen in the same conflict. He raises eighteen slain men by his prayers. The servant, therefore, stunned with horror and terror, returned to the man of God, reporting what he had seen -- namely, a certain field suitable for habitation, except that it was defiled and polluted by the blood of the newly slain. The man of God said to him: You have given the place a name that you did not know; for that place shall hereafter be called the Field of the Corrupted, which in Irish sounds Cluain-coirpthe; for coirpthe in Irish means the same as mortal or corrupted. Then the man of God, approaching that same place, humbly prayed God for those slain men and earned their resurrection. The resurrected men therefore prostrated themselves at the feet of the man of God and paid their vows of thanksgiving to God and to him. The sons of the kings also, who were among those raised from the dead, thenceforth served God faithfully, loving each other as if they were two brothers.

a Leinster is the eastern part of Ireland, considered more cultivated than the rest; its capital is Dublin.

b Its location is described in the Life of St. Coemgen on June 3 in these words: "The most blessed Coemgen, walking alone through desert places, Glendalough, a city. found one day a certain valley situated among the hollows of the highest mountains, watered by beautiful streams; for two lakes and clear brooks flow together in it from the mountains on both sides," etc. St. Coemgen built a monastery there, which afterward grew into an episcopal city. Camden calls it Glandilaugh and says it was desolate from the time its Episcopate was annexed to the Archbishopric of Dublin.

c St. Coemgen, here called Coeminus, is called by Colgan Kyminus and Coemginus, commonly Keivinus, as Ussher writes on page 956; he is venerated on June 3.

d Whence I conjecture that the Life is not very ancient.

e The miracle attributed here to St. Berachus is said in the longer Life of St. Coemgen to have been performed by Coemgen himself at the bidding of St. Beoan, without any mention of St. Berachius.

f In the Life of St. Coemgen he is called Felanus, son of Colman, Duke of the fourth part of the northern Leinstermen, and the whole story is narrated much more fully. Colgan writes that the child was orphaned by his father in the year 576. He was afterward educated by St. Coemgen (as is said here and more clearly in the Life of Coemgen) and indeed with deer's milk.

g In the Life of St. Coemgen, it is said that Coemgen himself blessed the tree, which immediately produced sweet fruit, and that in the springtime.

h Silvester Gerald confirms this in distinction 2 of his "Wonders of Ireland," chapter 28, writing thus: The fruit born on willows by St. Keivvin, health-giving to the sick. "When St. Keivvin had become famous at Glendalough for his life and holiness, a certain noble boy whom he had as a foster child, being ill, chanced to desire fruit. The Saint, having compassion, and pouring out a prayer to the Lord, a certain willow not far from the church brought forth fruit, health-giving both to the boy and to other sick persons. And to this very day, both that willow and others transplanted from it around the cemetery, in the manner of an orchard (though in all other respects retaining the nature of a willow in both leaves and foliage), produce fruit each year. These fruits are white and oblong, more healthful than flavorful, held in great reverence by the inhabitants, which are also carried to remote parts of Ireland, beneficial against various diseases, by many people, and are called the fruits of St. Keivvin."

i In the Life of St. Coemgen she is said to have been Colman's first wife, but repudiated, since they did not agree in character -- perhaps because she still worshipped idols, was a sorceress, and was devoted to magic arts. Hence she killed by magical incantations all the children that Colman had from his second wife. Felanus, born to an already elderly father, was baptized and immediately sent to St. Coemgen, and carefully guarded and reared by him.

k The Life of St. Coemgen does not mention companions, but says that she herself was blinded by the prayers of Coemgen, and while she still persisted in wickedness, fell from the summit of the mountain headlong over the crags into the valley of Cassain, and being torn limb from limb, there perished most wretchedly. The writer of the Life of St. Berachius perhaps looked to what Jocelin narrates in the Life of St. Patrick, chapter 60.

l Colgan notes that in the Irish Life it is said that St. Coemgen commanded a stag grazing on a nearby mountain to perform this service; and since Colgan himself does not report this in the supplement, it is clear, as we said above, that he did not publish the entire Life from the Irish text, but only those parts that were lacking in the Latin or were narrated differently.

CHAPTER III

The long contention of St. Berachius with a stubborn magician over the site for building a monastery.

[14] There was in the same region a man of great honor among the pagans, who was very skilled in the art of magic; for among them he was called something like a heavenly deity and was held in reverence. This magician claimed for himself a hereditary right to the land which the man of God had possessed by virtue of the miracle he had performed there. He builds a monastery, But hearing that the man of God intended to dwell there, he hastened to the place and began to trouble the man of God with his machinations and magical arts, striving to divert him from his purpose with insulting words. Despising the machinations of the magician: But the man of God was shaken neither by threats nor by terrors, but remaining constant like an impregnable wall, he commended to God the work he had begun.

[15] At length the magician summoned the Saint to the tribunal of the King, in whose presence he argued that no one should be deprived of his right, nor he himself of his native land. The man of God, answering him steadfastly, said: He is summoned to trial by him: Your father Satan, cast down from the heavenly inheritance, falling wretchedly into the depths, sought the abyss of hell; you therefore, like your father, are not worthy to possess this land consecrated to God; rather you shall share the infernal inheritance with your father the devil.

[16] When they contended with these and other arguments before the King, they were sent to Aedan son of Gauran, King of the Scottish nation, The case is referred to the King of Scotland: that he might adjudicate the dispute however it had arisen. When by the command of the sending Prince they came to the town of the King of Scotland, the magician outpaced the man of God with swift step, and said to the boys of the royal court who were playing ball in the square: By the tricks of the magician, O noble youths, see this wretched pauper following me on the road, and drive him from your sight, for he is unworthy of it; for it is not fitting for your nobility that he should pass through your midst. The wanton youths, obeying his instructions, [He is mocked and stoned by insolent youths, who become fixed immovably to the ground:] made a united attack upon the holy man, and some of them threw stones at him, others struck him with slaps, and others taunted him with insulting words. But by the power of God it came to pass that the feet of those who taunted him were so fixed and adhered to the ground they trod upon that they remained as immovable as great stones.

[17] The magician, however, since he was dressed in finer garments, found the door of the royal palace immediately opened to him; Excluded from the court, but it was closed to the holy man Berachus, as if he were a contemptible person clad in cheap rags. When the holy man, thus situated, stood near the gate and looked at a mass of snow heaped up there, having invoked the name of God, he blew upon the snow, and at once that snowy mass was consumed by a violent flame like dry wood, He sets the snow ablaze with his breath: so that the buildings near the gate began to burn.

[18] When notice of such signs reached the ears of the King, he thought that the magician had done them and said to him: O good man, we know you are powerful in magical arts and that the divine powers of the gods obey you at a nod; go to the boys and release them, and likewise extinguish the fire, lest we be imperiled by its blaze. When the magician could not do this, though he tried, the King called his soothsayer, commanding him to go out quickly and discover what these signs were. At the King's entreaty, he frees them and extinguishes the fire: When the soothsayer had carried out the King's commands and learned who was the author of these signs, returning to the King he reported that a certain Saint from Ireland, named Berachus, who was powerful in every good work, had been mocked by the boys and was sitting at the doors of the royal court, and that he had performed these signs by the power of Almighty God. Hearing this, the King approached the man of God, prostrated himself at his feet, sought pardon for the offenses, and admitted him with due honor, as one who had performed such signs; moreover, he begged him to release the boys and extinguish the fire.

[19] When these things had been accomplished, the man of God narrated to the King in order the cause of his journey and of the magician. He refuses the goods offered by the King: The King therefore, having taken counsel with his advisors, fearing to take upon himself the decision of the dispute, decreed that they should be sent to the arbitration of Odo the Black, King of the Breffenians, and of Odo, Prince of the Teffeians. He nevertheless promised the Saint of God ample possessions of fields if he wished to remain with him in his kingdom; but the man of God refused, not wishing to abandon the place appointed by God. Two lepers and three blind persons also followed the Saint there, He heals two lepers and three blind persons with holy water, crying out importunately that they might be restored to health. He, having compassion on the infirmity of the wretched, trusting in his God, sprinkled the lepers with holy water and immediately cleansed them. And he washed the eyes of the blind with the same water and immediately restored them to their former health.

[20] Having received the reply of the King of the Scots, the man of God and the magician, rowing across the deep sea, returned to their own country. At length, traveling through the land of Meath, they came to a certain place now called Dubberaith. Then the man of God, weary from the labor of the journey, When a drink of beer is denied him, entered the house of a certain rich man who ruled there, and revealing that he was weighed down with thirst, urged a maidservant to give him a drink; but although that overseer had seven vessels full of mead prepared for the King of the land, he nevertheless refused the holy man, claiming that he had no drink prepared for him. He dries up seven vessels by a curse: The Saint said to him: I pray that by the command of Almighty God, it may be done according to what you have spoken.

[21] Then, as the Saint departed, the King arrived immediately and demanded that a drink be served to him. When the cup-bearer tested all the vessels in order and found them empty by the power of God, he reported to the King that he had found nothing in them except spiders' webs. Greatly distressed by this, the host reported to the King that he had denied a drink to a certain man who had come and asked for a drink in God's honor, and that the man had burst forth with this word: "Let it be as you have spoken with your mouth. For I said that I had nothing prepared for him." Hearing this, the King immediately recognized that it was St. Berachus who had spoken these words to him, and that as a punishment for the drink denied, their vessels had become empty. Then the King immediately sent his servants on swift horses after the Saint, to bring him back with honor, who had departed without the dignity of honor. At the King's entreaty, he blesses the vessels and refills them: The holy man, yielding to the prayers of the suppliants, returned to the King, by whom he was received with joy. The King, falling at his feet, sought pardon for the offenses committed. The Saint, therefore, moved by the King's prayers, invoking the power of God and standing over the empty vessels, poured forth a blessing, and they were refilled with their former liquor. Wherefore the King gave the Saint many lands there.

[22] There also the man of God built a cell in honor of Almighty God, for the construction of which the King provided the necessities. He builds a monastery in Meath: And although the malicious magician saw the man of God shine with such great miracles, he could not be moved to believe in God; indeed, he provoked the powerful against him so far that they regarded the Saint not as holy but as pitiable. He suffers much from the magician: The man of God, however, bore this patiently, that through patience he might overcome malice, and await God's judgment on the magician.

[23] At length they approached the presence of those judges, desiring to hear a definitive sentence from them. The judges, therefore, fearing to offend either party, assigned holy persons as their assessors -- namely, St. Samthanna and Athractea, together with other Prelates, Virgins, and holy men. The magician, however, offered sacrifices to demons, invoking the names of his gods, When the same magician invokes demons, that they might defend him in his contest against so many Saints and holy women. Then the judges, together with the others, assembled in one place, and with a great multitude of men and women they hastened to hear the judgment, to see the outcome of the matter. One of the judges, namely Odo the Black, who was called King of the Breffenians, said: Alas for me, wretch, since I am short and ugly of body, [He covers a certain short and ugly King with his cowl, making him tall and handsome,] that I must appear among so many handsome men and women! For what good is the nobility of my birth or the opulence of my wealth, when I receive the reproach of my ugliness from so many people? I shall therefore go to these Saints, whose power I know to be admirable in healing the bodies of the sick, and I shall implore the aid of their piety to reform the stature of my small body. When he had implored the assistance of all these Saints by name, he turned at last to St. Berachus, begging earnestly that he fulfill his desire. The man of God said to him: My son, you ask an unusual thing from us. But that you may learn by sensible experience that the power of our God is to be sought and is ready for all things, put on my cowl now and embrace the faith of the Trinity in your heart. When the King carried out the commands of the man of God and clothed himself in his garment, reclining in the Saint's lap, he was overcome by a deep sleep. For the sleeping man, the holy man prayed God for one hour to change the stature and form of his body. When he arose, he could not recognize himself, because he felt that he had a tall stature who before had been a little man, and he saw that he had a handsome form who before had been deformed and dark. His attendants also refused to recognize him, until he asserted by clear signs that he had been thus miraculously transfigured.

[24] The magician, however, full of perfidy and envy, refused to undergo judgment before so many good men, and said moreover that he would undergo judgment in the place called Raithin and no other. He promised this because there was a certain tall tree there in which, as is reported, the devil was accustomed to give responses to unbelievers; for having been shut in there by magical art, he gave such responses as he could to his worshippers. Believing therefore that, supported by the aid of demons, he could more easily bend the judges' sentence in his favor, he wished to undergo judgment beneath the tree consecrated to demons. The judges said to him: Since there is no access for us to go there, you who are steeped in magical art, loosen the roots of that tree and hasten to bring it to us, since your soul trusts in it; [He obtains by his prayers that a tree be transplanted by divine power from a remote place to another:] otherwise, we truly judge it just and fair that if St. Berachus prevails over you in this matter in the name of his God -- namely, if he can bring the tree -- you shall yield to him. Then St. Berachus, taking with him holy men and Virgins, prolonging themselves in prayer, remained prostrate for nearly four hours of the day. Then a dark cloud covered the entire people, and behold, that tree which the magician desired came flying through the air to them by the power of the Saints' prayer, like another Habakkuk to the lions' den where Daniel was praying. And there the tree was miraculously transplanted in the earth and firmly rooted. The people who were present marveled at this unusual sign and praised God, who is wonderful in His Saints.

[25] After a short time, an immense light shone from heaven and led all to wonder. When silence had been made, the voice of an Angel was heard from the midst of the radiance, saying: By an angelic voice and the agreement of the judges, he wins the case. "Thus commands the Lord, the magnificent Judge, that the perfidious magician has been defeated from heaven." Hearing this, all were amazed and declared that they had received the judgment pronounced by the angelic voice; and the judges themselves said that there was no need to labor with human judgment in this case, since it had been settled by the divine. The magician, however, was moved to believe neither by the angelic voice nor by the miraculous transplanting of the tree; indeed, filled with fury like a raging beast, he did not fear to burst forth into words of insult and blasphemy, asserting that the word that had thundered in the air was not true but phantastic. The holy man therefore was deeply grieved at what the magician said with his malicious voice: "See, my Brothers, what this sorcerer does, who neither fears God nor reverences Angel or man. Is he not worthy to be struck by divine vengeance, who refuses to believe divine signs? He renders the blaspheming magician mute. Now therefore I beseech the clemency of Almighty God that the wretched blasphemer may be deprived of the use of his tongue, lest he be able any longer to utter words of blasphemy against the living and true God, until he is willing to do penance for his offenses." And what the Saint wished came to pass from heaven. For the magician, struck by the vengeance of God, lost his speech.

[26] Bound by the snare of the ancient enemy, he was unwilling to repent, He is punished for a long time, but hid himself in a certain secret place, separated from the common habitation of other men; where for an entire year he besought the help of his gods, but found none. When the year had passed in which he had thus hidden himself, behold, hunters of the King, pursuing a certain stag, came to the dwelling of the magician; who, disturbed by the outcry and din of the hunters, looked through the window, wishing to know what so great a tumult portended. But by God's will it happened that a hunter, wishing to aim his lance at the stag, And at last perishes wretchedly: wounded not the stag but the magician himself in the crown of his forehead; and so with his skull shattered, the wretched man perished miserably, and the stag was nowhere to be seen.

[27] Not long after these events, The magician's kinsmen, wishing to burn down the monastery of Berachius, about eight nephews of the aforesaid magician gathered together and took counsel to kill the man of God and thus avenge the blood of their brother. Some of them thought it a just deed to rush upon the Saint and condemn him to a wretched death. Others, however, if this could not be done, agreed to devastate his monastery with fire, so that his dwelling might be left desolate. But the heavenly goodness, which knows how always to protect its own, did not permit these desires of sinners to be fulfilled; for the wretches who wished to shed innocent blood were soon visited by this misfortune: They are swallowed up by the earth, the earth, opening beneath their feet, swallowed them alive, as it once swallowed up Dathan and Abiram; whence there is still a very horrible pit in that place, which is called by the inhabitants of that place the Infernal Pit. A foul chasm remaining thereafter open. For from it, as is reported, an immense stench ascends, so that on account of the excessive horror hardly anyone dares to approach it.

a Colgan, from the Irish Life, relates in Note 30 that by hereditary right that land belonged to St. Berachius, or at least to his ancestors, but that it had been given to the magician by the King of Connacht in payment for a vain poem composed in his praise by that most wicked magician; nor did the King dare to retract the gift, lest the magician write satirical verses against him, as he was threatening.

b Ussher writes that this King of the Scots inhabiting Britain, son of Gauran or Gabran, was inaugurated King by St. Columba on the island of Iona in the year 574, and died in the year 606. But what did this dispute have to do with him? Did he have possessions in the vicinity? Or was he chosen as arbiter, for the sake of honor, as among illustrious men, dear for his reputation for wisdom and justice? Bede and others mention him.

c Called Aedus, Edus, or Aidus by others, and by others Hugo; Colgan says he was Prince of both Breffnias in Connacht.

d Colgan says the same: the region once called Teffa or Teffia is now called Engaile or Angaile, and the County of Longford.

e Meath or Media, Myh to the Irish, Methe to the English, was once a kingdom and the fifth portion of Ireland, lying almost in the very center of the whole island.

f Colgan says it is in the region of the Bregians in Meath.

g The incident is narrated somewhat differently in the other Life, where this drink is said to have been prepared for the King of Tara by the King of the Bregians.

i That something is missing here is clear from Colgan's Notes 24 and 25, where he says St. Finian and St. Ultan were also present.

k We gave the Life of St. Attracta on February 9, who, since she is said to have been veiled by St. Patrick, could scarcely have survived to the times of St. Berachius. Colgan says St. Samthanna lived much later. He conjectures therefore that the head of the monastery which St. Attracta had ruled was present at this judgment, and likewise of the other, which St. Samthanna later governed.

l This king, as the same author says, is commonly called in Irish histories Aedh Fionn, that is, Aedus the White, on account of this miracle. We related an almost similar miracle from the Life of St. Patrick by Jocelin, on February 6, in the Life of Saints Mel and his brothers, section 4, number 27.

m How was it permissible to demand this of the magician? I believe the judges demanded it ironically, because they believed it could not be done.

n Colgan, in Note 30, attacks at length the ignorance of many Irish writers who suppress the causes of prodigies or disfigure them with certain inept additions. I suspect that many things were unskilfully drawn from common report, and that what was done once by one Saint has been attributed to several, composed differently in each case.

o A word seems to be missing.

CHAPTER IV

Various miracles of St. Berachius; his death.

[28] It should not be passed over here how certain impious men, twelve in number, came on a certain night to the monastery of the man of God, and in order to carry off their plunder more freely, killed one of the Brothers who was keeping watch over the goods of the monastery. When they wished to cross a certain stony ford with the stolen cattle of the monastery, St. Berachius raises the slain monk by his prayers: it came to pass by the power of God that the spears they held in their hands stuck fast to the stones of the ford, and their hands likewise to the spears; and so they stood immovably in the middle of the river as though they were immovable stones. When this was made known to the holy man by heaven, he hastened with a multitude of monks to the place where the body of the dead Brother lay, He frees the murderers stuck fast in the middle of the river: and pouring forth a prayer to Almighty God, he raised the slain Brother to life. Going afterward also to the wretched thieves who were bound on account of their crime, he mercifully released them and allowed them to go. They, prostrating themselves at the feet of the man of God, lived piously thereafter under his guidance.

[29] In the venerable community of the holy Father Berachius there was a certain monk who, without the consent of his Superior, had made a vow of pilgrimage -- namely, to visit the apostolic threshold at Rome. When he desired absolutely to fulfill his intention, [For one wishing to make a pilgrimage inopportunely, he obtains that he may visit the sacred places of Rome in his sleep:] the pious Father, greatly anxious about his departure and devising how he might draw him back from his vow of pilgrimage, said: My Brother, let us both enter our cell before you begin your journey. When they had done this, and having shut the door, they devoted themselves there for three days and three nights to fasts and prayers; at length the disciple was overcome by sleep. When he finally awoke, he took care to narrate to the holy man the dream he had seen: "I saw," he said, "that I had set out on my pilgrimage, in which a certain very handsome youth joined me as a companion, and having crossed the waves of the sea, going by the direct road with the same companion leading me, I arrived at Rome, and in order I completed the pilgrimage I had vowed, with the aforesaid youth, according to the desire of my will." Hearing this, they gave thanks to the Most High, who had fulfilled the desire of the one who had made the vow and had increased the ardor of charity in St. Berachus.

[30] After the most holy Father Berachius shone with such great prodigies of miracles, the fame of his holiness was spread through the kingdom of Ireland; and behold, from various parts of the land, persons of every kind of infirmity and sickness flocked to him, that they might be restored to health, He heals very many sick persons: and whoever sought health from him with complete faith, obtained it. For he was himself a man of wonderful sanctity and perfection, and very powerful in casting out demons from those possessed by them.

[31] He presided over many flocks of monks, whom, with the grace of God working, he ruled perfectly as an illustrious Abbot, He rules many monasteries with distinction: eminent in holiness of life, shining with the light of wisdom, and burning with fervent charity. He was also handsome in appearance, eloquent in speech, mellifluous in preaching, devout in prayer, truthful in judgment, most patient in injuries done to him, rigorous in the discipline of conduct, and gentle in his dealings. Since he excelled in these and other virtues, perceiving that the death of his body was near, arming himself with heavenly weapons, blessing the Brothers who stood around him, and commending his soul to God, he fortified himself with the sign of the saving Cross, He dies a pious death. and so, sleeping in peace, he rendered his blessed soul to his Creator.

a In the other Life he is called St. Colminus Coel, and the miracle is narrated in a somewhat different manner.

OTHER LIFE,

translated from Irish and published by Colgan.

Berachius, Abbot and Bishop in Ireland (Saint)

From Colgan.

[1] A burning lamp and most resplendent star, St. Berachus was born from a very noble family in Connacht, St. Berachius, born of illustrious family, having for father Nemnaldus, son of Nemargenius, and for mother Finmathia, daughter of Carthagius and sister of St. Fraegius. The father of Nemargenius was Fintanus, through Mailum his son the grandson of a certain Chieftain named Dubhtha, who had descended from the line of Brian, Prince of Connacht.

[2] St. Berachus was born near his uncle St. Fraegius the Priest, on the estate of Gort-na-luachra, near Cluain in Conmaicne; As an infant educated by his uncle St. Fraegius, by whom he was regenerated in the saving waters of baptism, educated in letters from infancy, and finally given the place of his birth. His first name was Fintanus; he was afterward called Berach, on account of the remarkable and never-frustrated efficacy and power he had in working miracles. Finmathia also bore to her husband Nemnaldus a daughter, later most celebrated for the fame of her holiness, Brother of St. Midabaria, named Midabaria, to whom the church of Buimlinn is dedicated.

[3] After the holy boy Berachus had completed his seventh year of age, he was taken to St. Dagaeus, son of Carillus, Taught letters by St. Dagaeus, to be instructed in good letters and the pages of divine knowledge; under which teacher he made such great progress that he became a most wise man, illustrious and distinguished in signs and powers and in the prerogative of singular obedience.

[4] On a certain day some guests stopped at St. Dagaeus's house, when he had neither bread to refresh them nor any of his attendants or monks present to treat them or serve them, Sent to have wheat ground for food for guests, except St. Berachus. The pious Father therefore commanded Berachus to carry two measures of wheat which he had to a mill situated in the plain of Murthemne, to be ground for the refreshment of the guests. Immediately Berachus, the son of obedience, hastened to the mill to carry out the Father's commands; and when he had arrived there, he found a certain woman with a young son, waiting for the grinding of the grain that she too had brought. When the servant of Christ humbly explained the commands of his Father and the need to receive the guests in charity, that woman, stiff-necked and of malignant spirit, stubbornly refused to allow the man of God the use of the mill, The impertinence of the woman who refuses to yield is confounded by a miracle, moreover attacking the holy youth and his master Dagaeus with savage words and dreadful curses. The gentle youth, seeing the inexorable obstinacy of the perverse woman, patiently bore her insolence, yet did not yield to her will; but casting his thought upon God, he committed the grain he had brought to the mill. The perverse woman, seeing this, also threw in her grain at the same time; and so both proceed and do not cease from feeding grain into the orifice of the mill from both sides, until by a stupendous miracle they see flowing from the mill, according to the different nature of the grain put in, oat flour from one side and wheat flour separately from the other.

[5] While all who were present gazed at this miracle in amazement, more wonderful things soon followed; for that it might be made more manifest to the world how greatly God detests and avenges injuries done to His servants, Her son being drowned, the little son of the said woman, falling into the nearby river, was drowned, and immediately the mother herself, She herself dying, struck with extreme pains as punishment for her perversity, departed this life on the spot. Immediately the neighbors rushed together, the friends and relatives of the deceased came flying, crying out that St. Berachus was the author of so great a calamity, Their friends becoming rigid, and striving therefore to attack him. But divine punishment was not slow upon these either; for their feet adhered to the ground, their outstretched arms became rigid, and they themselves, deprived of strength, remained motionless in their whole bodies.

[6] When the rumor of so great a disaster was carried to the husband of the deceased and the father of the drowned boy, turning to wiser counsels, he hastened to St. Berachus and, prostrate on the ground, afflictedly begged him with prayers and tears together to look with clemency upon his so manifold and unexpected calamity, When the woman's husband entreats, to have compassion and avert it, and to strive to appease God, who was justly angered, and bend Him to mercy; promising to give readily whatever satisfaction was possible to him, to the holy man unjustly provoked and justly offended. Moved by these and other prayers of the man, Berachus, full of piety, He restores all to life and health: poured forth devout prayers to the fountain of divine mercy, and merited for his reverence and the clemency of Christ to be heard, and to restore not only those bound in their limbs to freedom, but also the boy and the mother to life. Whence, in recognition of so great a benefit, the devout father of the resurrected boy consecrated in perpetuity to God and St. Berachius that village, which is thenceforth called Raen-Beraigh, and the mill, which is called Mulendeleand.

[7] After this, St. Berachus, having returned to the monastery of Iniscaoin to his Father Dagaeus, from that flour miraculously prepared, He obtains that the flour be miraculously increased, and afterward increased not without miracle for the nourishment of a great multitude, he abundantly refreshed the guests and monks and many additional poor who arrived. When St. Dagaeus saw the great powers of his disciple, he said to him that he was unworthy of a disciple by whose teaching he himself ought rather to be instructed. Therefore to the departing one he gave a staff or crozier, which in Irish is called Bacullhgearr, that is, "short staff," and a bell, which is called Clog-beraigh, He departs from St. Dagaeus: that is, "the bell of Berachus," which is preserved at Cluan-dalachia to this very day.

[8] As St. Berachus was about to proceed into Leinster to St. Coemgen, he passed through the Plain of Murthemne in the region of Crich-rois, and crossing the river Boyne in the region of the Bregians, came to a certain place where a banquet was being prepared by the King of the Bregians for the King of Tara. There the holy man, pressed with thirst, asked for a drink for the love of God from the one who had charge of preparing the banquet and the royal pantry; but that illiberal man refused the one who alleged divine love once and again. On account of a drink denied to him, fifty vessels are divinely emptied. When therefore the servant of Christ had departed with a refusal, the King of Tara arrived; and when the steward hastened to present him with a drink, he found absolutely no liquor in the vessel from which he was about to pour, nor in the other nearby ones, nor in any of the fifty carts which he had in the storehouse, but all were completely empty. When this was reported to the King with all its circumstances, guessing the cause of the miracle, he immediately ordered his attendants to pursue the man of God and bring him back, though without any violence. The holy man, having been brought back, He fills the storehouse with a blessing: blessed the storehouse as he was asked, and immediately all the vessels were found full as before. In memory of this miracle the King granted the man of God a place situated in that region, which was afterward called from his name Disert-Beraigh, that is, the Desert of Berachus.

[9] A certain one of the holy man's monks, named Sillanus, while setting out for a place called Rath-ond to carry out a command of obedience, He learns of events in his absence, fell upon robbers on the road, who, rushing upon him, impiously slaughtered the innocent man and cruelly threw his severed head, cut from his neck, upon the ground. This dreadful crime was immediately revealed by heaven to the man of God. He rushed at once He heals the robbers punished with rigidity of limbs, and raises the slain man: and found the brigands in the very act of their crime; and when they tried to kill the man of God by directing their lances at him, their hands and limbs became rigid. Wherefore the wretches, dissolved in tears, begged for pardon, promising penance and amendment of life. The most pious man therefore forgave them, and dismissing them free, ordered them to fit the severed head of the slain monk to the body. He himself withdrew to a nearby rush-bed, where on bended knees he poured forth most ardent prayers to God for the resurrection of the innocent disciple, He raises the slain man by prayer among the rushes, and the wondrous man merited to be heard by the merciful Lord. Wherefore, when his prayer was finished, drawing a rush from that place, he wound it around the neck of the slain man, commanding that he rise in the name of Christ. At his command, the man was immediately restored to life and wholeness. And from that day the rushes which that place produces, which are called the rushes of St. Berachus, A prayer among the rushes, perform many miracles and cure many infirmities.

[10] And thereafter health-giving: A certain disciple of St. Berachus, Colmanus surnamed Coel, to whom the man of God had given the Cell of Cluainingreach, resolved with a firm and steady mind to set out for Rome, to see and venerate the threshold of the Apostles; nor could he be drawn from his purpose by any persuasions or prayers of the resisting holy Father or anyone else. Therefore the holy Father accompanied the departing disciple as he bade his last farewell and set out on his intended journey, as if to escort him for a short way, Having signed their eyes, he enables them to see Rome clearly from Ireland. until they came to the place where Kieranus, surnamed Moel, dwelt, who also dissuaded Colmanus from his journey. When Colmanus yielded to neither and said that he could never have rest until he saw Rome with his own eyes, St. Berachus blessed both him and St. Kieranus, making the sign of the saving Cross upon the eyes of both; and by the wonderful power of God they beheld Rome clearly and distinctly. And St. Colmanus, his desire thus fulfilled, desisted from the pilgrimage he had conceived; and there two crosses were afterward erected, one in memory of these Saints and the miracle performed, the other in honor of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul.

a The names of the parents are given somewhat differently in the earlier Life, no. 3.

b Colgan notes that his anniversary is observed on February 22, but on that day he does not mention him.

c St. Dagaeus is venerated, as Colgan here notes, on August 18.

d These things are narrated more briefly and somewhat differently in the Life of St. Dagaeus cited by Colgan in Note 7 to the earlier Life, in these words: "One day when the blessed Dagaeus was in a certain small monastery of his called Delenua, a certain woman entering his mill to have grain ground was wounded by some man; St. Berachius heals the wounded woman: whom Berachus, the disciple of the blessed Dagaeus, sent to her by him, immediately healed. She then returning home, asked her household about her son whom she had left there before but could not find at present. They said: He went to the mill after you. Hearing this, the wretched woman, having searched diligently for the boy and not found him, and conjecturing that he had been drowned in the river that flows past the aforesaid mill, ran weeping pitifully in haste to the man of God. Who sent the same disciple with her to the river; He raises the drowned boy: who, after making a prayer, calling back the previously drowned boy from the depths of the river, restored him to his mother alive and unharmed, additionally promising firmly that in the future no one would drown in that same part of the river; which to this day, in commemoration of the miracle, is called the Pool of Berachus."

e Called by others Boandus; formerly Buuinda, commonly Boyn and Boan; it flows into the sea at the city of Drogheda.