Fechin

ON ST. FECHIN, ABBOT OF FORE IN IRELAND.

Seventh Century.

Fechin, Abbot, of Fore in Ireland (St.)

From various sources.

[1] The province of Meath, formerly of the Eblani (in which Killair Castle, called Laberus by Ptolemy, is situated at the navel of Ireland), and which itself takes its name from its central position, once had its own kings; it was subjugated by Hugh de Lacy in the time of Henry II, The feast day of St. Fechin, King of England, and was granted to him as a fief. In it is Fore, otherwise called Fourria, Favoria, and Faboria, commonly Fower, a town in which St. Fechin the Abbot is venerated on January 20. Of him, our Henry Fitz-Simon in the catalogue of the principal Saints of Ireland writes: "Fechin of Fore, and celebrated in many other places in Ireland."

[2] Aileran, or Aierran, is reported to have either recorded in writing or narrated to a recorder the deeds of his life. Life, We have obtained another life of his, written by a different author, after the English gained power in Ireland in the twelfth century. And because it was also the common fault of the writers of that nation in that age to summarize certain miracles briefly -- miracles exaggerated beyond the common measure and almost beyond belief -- while neglecting the testimonies of virtues and other things suited to the instruction of posterity, this too may be observed in this author. We obtained two copies: one through the kindness of Hugh Ward of the Order of St. Francis, the other through our Henry Fitz-Simon; the latter being mostly abridged, as we shall indicate. Neither records the death of Fechin, which we shall narrate from the manuscript Life of St. Gerald the Abbot, to be published on March 13.

[3] St. Fechin lived in the seventh century. For certain more recent writers report that the kings Dermitius and Blathmecus died around the year of Christ 664; Date, and indeed they perished in the same pestilence as St. Fechin. His contemporaries include St. Gerald the Abbot mentioned above, and St. Mochua of Balla, whose life we gave on January 1, where Fechin is also mentioned. Mochua was a disciple of St. Congall in the monastery of Bangor in Ireland; and Congall was a contemporary of St. Columba. Columba flourished around the year 560, as will be stated on June 9 at his life and on May 10 at the life of St. Congall, or Congell. St. Gerald was instructed in monastic disciplines by St. Adamnan, successor of St. Columba in the monastery of Iona, at the beginning of the seventh century. From this, a judgment can be made about the date of St. Fechin.

[4] A mill and church, not to be entered by women: Silvester Giraldus Cambrensis, who wrote before the year of Christ 1200, mentions St. Fechin. In his Topography of Ireland, Distinction 2, chapter 52, he writes thus: "In Meath at Fore there is a mill which St. Phekin most miraculously carved out with his own hands in the side of a certain rock. This, like the church of this Saint, women do not enter. Nor is this mill held in lesser reverence by the natives than any one of the churches of this same Saint."

[5] It happened that when Hugh de Lacy was leading his army through this place, There an unchaste soldier is consumed by sacred fire: a certain archer violently seized a young woman and lasciviously violated her in the very mill. By sudden retribution, struck with hellish fire in his member, he burned immediately into his very body and expired that same night.

[6] Again, when the army was encamped there overnight, all the provisions that had been widely plundered from the churches and the mill Two other sacrilegious men are struck from heaven. were ordered by Hugh de Lacy to be entirely restored, except for a small portion of oats stolen from the mill, which two soldiers had secretly kept before his warhorses. One of them, driven mad, died that same night in the stable with his skull crushed. The other, the next morning (while the soldier who rode him mocked the others who had returned the provisions, on the pretext of religion), by sudden and unexpected death, alongside Hugh de Lacy, with the greater part of the army watching and marveling, fell dead in passing.

[7] The same things are narrated by Philip O'Sullivan Beare in Book 10, chapter 7 of the Patrician Decade, where he writes that the mill was reverenced by the Irish as an inviolable asylum. The woman to whom violence was done there, as Giraldus writes, O'Sullivan says was not dragged there by the soldier but had fled to the mill for its protection. Here it is pleasant to recite two ancient hymns in praise of St. Fechin, which the same Hugh Ward communicated to us.

HYMN.

Fechin, Abbot, of Fore in Ireland (St.)

From manuscripts.

Let us celebrate the festal day, Hymn of St. Fechin; And to Fechin give our praises, With due hymns let us sing His illustrious works. In many ways prophesied Was he, before he was born, And breathed upon from heaven, He spurned the bonds of the marriage bed. Yet as a boy he wondrously began To keep the ways of God, To serve Him alone With purity of heart. Thence he was the guide And Father of three hundred monks, Whom he instructed in the law of morals, A wall against vices.

Let us praise the King of Kings, Another hymn; And proclaim Him worthy of praise, By the ministry of the voice. He who made us that we might exist, Let us all honor Him With the desire of the heart. Who marked out Fechin beforehand, And fashioned him as His servant Before all ages. Whom He divinely adorned, And honorably exalted In the mirror of virtues. To whom the grace of signs And of wondrous works He gave from infancy. To give firm footing to the lame, And also to the blind this man Was accustomed to grant sight. And hearing to the deaf to give, This man knew how to heal the sick By a word alone. This man raised up a Queen, She who commended herself to him, With wondrous protection. A certain blind man too he healed, Whose feet he washed with water, His sight at once restored. But nothing did he claim for himself; To God he ascribed all, With pride removed. To God he submitted himself; God filled him With abundant grace. A certain King outside the law This man approached and asked That he release the hostages. When the King refused, God granting, They were loosed, restored, And went forth safe. The King then went, and there he was That very hour, without delay, Dead for his contempt. But prayer is made, and Fechin Is implored, worthy of praise, A life most arduous, That for the life thus ended, He might be fitted and deign To be present and gracious. Then the man of God said to him: Arise, rejoicing; let there be no fear; And he rose at once. And for this gift, with a good heart, He gave the lands he possessed, This servant of the Lord. But nothing for himself therein Did he claim, but sang Praise in the glorious name of Christ. Therefore, O Christ, now be present To our prayers, known to You: Grant us Your aid. Supreme rest, bright day, Law and norm, form of life, Give us right counsel. You who are of all the just The salvation, the life, the longed-for light, The consoling hope; Whom the choir of holy Angels Prays to and adores, To whom be praise and glory. Amen.

LIFE.

Fechin, Abbot, of Fore in Ireland (St.)

BHL Number: 2845

From manuscripts.

CHAPTER I.

The Birth of St. Fechin. His Holy Boyhood.

[1] The holy and venerable Abbot Fechin, illustrious for the noble lineage of his parents, The parents of St. Fechin: was born of his father Kelcharnanus and his mother Lasrea. From his infancy he was renowned for many prodigies of miracles, of which, since they exceed our powers by their multitude, we shall briefly touch upon a few. For certain Saints, instructed by the spirit of prophecy, foretold by a wonder, prophesied his holiness many years before he was born. For St. Columba, to whom God had once betrothed the spirit of prophecy in the form of a most beautiful Queen, foresaw Fechin coming into this world as a light to the nations, thirty years before his birth.

[2] Foretold by a wonder, A certain holy man named Crucinus saw in the spirit a great white bird, and very many other birds following it, filling the entire valley that lies between the two mountains where the city named Favoria after him was later situated. For that bird, great in size and resplendent in quality, prefigured St. Fechin, magnificent in the greatness of his virtues and resplendent in the innocence of his life; and the many birds following the greater bird signified the multitude of holy monks obedient in all things to the will of the Father.

[3] Likewise, to confirm his holiness there is added a wondrous vision that a certain petty king, though an enemy of his parents, beheld with open eyes, so that not only those who are near through faith and love, but even those who are far off through hatred and ill-will, likewise by another: might believe in his holiness. For in the land where the parents of the blessed child St. Fechin lived, there was a certain petty king who desired to seize what belonged to others if he could. Coming by night to the estate of his father, he saw the entire estate blazing with flames, yet nothing was consumed by the heat of the fire. Stupefied and terrified by this extraordinary miracle, the petty king was deterred from his evil intent; and approaching the door of the householder, he knocked, asking whether any holy man was concealed within. When he received the answer from someone hastening to respond to his knocking His birth: that no such man lived there, but only the host of the house, Kelcharnanus, with his wife in labor and his household, like another Balaam he prophesied, saying: "The woman who is in labor will presently bear a son who will appear wondrous to all in the splendor of grace." The petty king, moreover, laying aside the fierceness he had just conceived, was changed from a wolf to a lamb, from a lion to a gentle man; and he at last carried off the newborn infant with him, nurturing him carefully, His training: until afterward, as the child grew in age, he entrusted him to a certain holy Presbyter named Nathineus, to be instructed in sacred letters and good morals.

[4] A spring miraculously gushing forth: When his teacher one day sent his holy pupil to seek water, and those places were waterless, the true obedient one, trusting in the power of Him who brought water abundantly from the rock, pulled a certain sod from the earth, and in its place a living spring immediately gushed forth; and this spring is marked with the name of St. Fechin to this very day.

[5] After this, the boy of good disposition came, inspired by the desire to learn, to another holy man. When this man of God rejoiced at the arrival of so great a disciple A meadow guarded, and wished to test him in the service of humility, he committed to him the care of a certain grassy field, to guard it unharmed from animals. While the true obedient one desired to fulfill this charge, certain men, instigated by a malicious spirit, sent the horses of the petty king of that land to that meadow; but the Lord, avenging the injury done to His servants, the horses sent there being killed. caused the king's horses to die as soon as they tasted the grass of that field, as though they had taken poison. When the petty king heard what had happened to his horses, fearing the wrath of God to rage upon himself as upon the horses, he repented and acknowledged his guilt before the man of God, Fechin. The man of God, accepting this, prayed to the Almighty for the horses to be raised; and raised by his prayer. and immediately they were raised. The king, receiving his horses alive and well, offered that land to God, in whose power these miracles were performed, and gave it to St. Fechin; but the man of God returned the same land to his teacher, to have his blessing and in recompense for his labor.

(a) The MS. of Fitz-Simon always calls him Ffechinus or Ffeghin; Giraldus calls him Phechinus.

(b) The same MS. has Celcarua.

(c) The same MS. has Lassar.

(d) The same has Critan.

(e) MS. Ward has "Church."

(f) MS. Fitz-Simon has Ffeboir, which is now called Ffour.

(g) That is, a town, as the MS. Fitz-Simon also has.

(h) The same MS. reads: "whether any holy pilgrim was lodging there."

(i) The same has Nithi.

CHAPTER II.

Monks Gathered, Pagans Converted.

[6] The holy Fechin, then, not only growing in maturity of age St. Fechin is made a priest: but also advancing in virtues and good morals, was promoted to the dignity of the priesthood. After he had attained the summit of such great holiness, as a true despiser of the world, he left his homeland, He leaves his homeland: and desiring a place where he might devote himself to God alone, he found one by angelic revelation. When the owners of that field saw so great a man coming to them, they voluntarily granted him the place to dwell in. He builds a monastery: There too he built a monastery according to the will of God, and as the fame of his holiness spread, he drew many to himself, like bees to the scent of flowers. In this monastery he governed about three hundred monks, according to the rule established by the holy Fathers, with knowledge and good works. He himself, surpassing all in the mortification of his body and the austerity of his life and his long perseverance in labors, showed himself a mirror of all virtues.

[7] When guests came at a certain time to the pious Father, He obtains food from heaven for the reception of guests. and, compelled by scarcity, he had nothing to set before them, he humbly prayed to God that He who provided for the young ravens that call upon Him might provide for their needs. His prayers the merciful and compassionate Lord soon heard, and abundantly bestowed a plentiful supply of grain, butter, and milk. Giving thanks to God for these gifts from the generous Giver of all gifts, he generously served his guests according to their need.

[8] At another time, when the man of God was caught up in a certain ecstasy of mind, an Angel of the Lord came to him and showed him a certain island possessed by pagans, on which he was to preach the Word of God and convert the people of that island from the worship of demons to the faith of Christ. Narrating the vision to his brothers and indicating how he had learned from the Angel the shape and layout of the island, and having deliberated somewhat with the brothers, he proceeded thither, divinely inspired, with his companions. Preaching to the pagans, he and his companions are poorly received: When he was building a cell there, the pagans, who were instigated by a malicious spirit and inflamed by the torches of envy, threw the monks' hoes and other tools and utensils into the sea. But He who cast the Prophet Jonah alive into the belly of a sea monster brought the tools of His servants back to the desired port. When those pagans persisted in their malice and afflicted the servants of God with many injuries, He converts them all by performing various miracles: and even refused to provide the food without which this present life cannot go on, two of the brothers died from hunger. But when St. Fechin prayed for them, they were raised. When the king of that land, named Guari, heard what had been done, he sent abundant provisions with his own chalice to the man of God and his companions. After this, the island was given to God and St. Fechin, and the idolaters, converted to the worship of God, were all baptized. Lest these miracles should cause anyone a scruple of doubt, they have been confirmed by the testimony of the wise man Aileran and of many other faithful witnesses.

(a) Here the MS. of Ward interpolates some miracles that are absent from the codex of Fitz-Simon, either because the copyist feared they would not be believed, or because they were added from another source to one of the exemplars. And they are indeed extraordinary, though by no means foreign to the wondrous love of the most generous Divinity toward the innocent souls devoted to Him.

(b) No one will be surprised that there were still pagans, who has read the life of St. Fursaeus, who lived in this very age, and who gives credence to what Silvester Giraldus narrates, Distinction 3, chapter 26.

(c) MS. Fitz-Simon has more distinctly: "the monks' hoes and other tools with which they cultivated the land, they threw into the sea; but Divine power daily brought them back to land."

(d) The same MS. has Gustre.

(e) The same has: "He generously provided to St. Fechin and his monks a dinner sufficient to feed a hundred men to satiety, together with the King's own chalice. Which afterward became an established custom, that so great a dinner should always be rendered by that King and his successors to St. Fechin and his monks."

(f) The same MS. has: "As reported by the most wise Aierran, and attested by many other faithful persons, these things have been set down." Whether this Aierran wrote the life of Fechin as a dedicated work, or wove it into another history, or whether some earlier writer simply learned from his mouth the things he would hand down to posterity, is not clear. It is evident that he was a contemporary of Fechin. And Ireland flourished at that time in the studies of good letters and ecclesiastical disciplines, so that Belgians and Englishmen traveled there for the sake of learning, as will be shown in other places from Bede and from the Acts of various Saints. Some there, however, dissented from the Roman Church in the manner of celebrating Easter and in certain other ceremonies -- though not all, and not from malice.

CHAPTER III.

Certain Wondrous Events.

[9] He carries a leper on his shoulders, When the man of God was shining with many miracles and virtues, it happened that a certain leper, covered with sores, came to him at the gate of the monastery, and asked for food from him to satisfy the pinch of hunger, and demanded that a certain noble and beautiful woman be found by the holy man to serve him. He entrusts the leper to the Queen's care. The holy Fechin, placing the leper on his own shoulders, brought him to the guesthouse; and since he did not doubt that Christ was being received in the poor man, wishing to offend him in nothing, he went to the castle of King Dermitius, which was nearby, and said to the King's wife: "Come, that you may fulfill the desire of my leper and humbly carry out his service." She replied that she would never do this unless she were assured of the reward of an everlasting inheritance from God. St. Fechin, not hesitating at all, promised her the everlasting kingdom if she would consent. Believing this faithfully, the woman came with the man of God to the guesthouse where the leprous man was staying. When the Saint had gone outside, the leper said to the Queen: "Suck my nostrils with your mouth and draw out the phlegm." [The Queen's illustrious victory over herself, divinely confirmed by a twofold miracle.] And she, acting manfully for the sake of the earlier promise, did as he commanded and placed the phlegm in a linen cloth. Again he commanded her to do the same and to keep what she extracted for St. Fechin. The Queen, conquering herself entirely, obeyed in all that the leper commanded. When St. Fechin returned home and looked around, he saw a globe of fire extending from the top of the house all the way to heaven; understanding that the Lord was visiting him in this globe, he gave thanks to Him, and entering the guesthouse, he found the Queen alone therein. She, desiring to give to St. Fechin what she had stored in her linen cloth, as the leper had ordered, found it to be the purest gold. The man of God, giving thanks for the talent given from heaven, divided it into parts: from one part he acquired land for the Church, and the remaining part he placed in his staff, as a perpetual memorial and as an example of firm faith for posterity. The Queen, acting manfully in temptation, passed through like gold through fire, and having found a certain island from which she had come, she gave it to St. Fechin; and thus, with his blessing and the promise of an eternal reward, she returned to her own home.

[10] At another time, when the man of God saw his brothers laboring greatly in the preparation of food, St. Fechin builds a mill: having compassion for their laborious toils, he resolved to build a mill according to the will of God. For the three hundred men of God were accustomed to grind with their own hands. Having sought and found a certain craftsman to build the mill, he completed the work to its finish. But since the place where the mill was built was situated on a high hill, the carpenter, despairing of conveying water there, said: "It will suffice for me to live until I see this mill abound in water." When the man of God heard this, trusting in the Lord, he said: "God is able to provide water for His servants when He wills." And immediately rising, he went to a nearby lake, He miraculously directs water over the mountain to it, which lay at about one mile's distance on the other side of the mountain; and trusting in the power of Him who, through the hand of Moses, abundantly bestowed water from the rock upon a thirsty people, he threw his two staffs into the lake. What more? The staffs, thrown into the lake, like quicksilver boring through the intervening mountain and drawing the waters abundantly with them, overwhelmed and drowned in the mill-race that incredulous craftsman, who was sleeping there out of weariness from his labor. He restores to life the incredulous craftsman drowned by the waters. The holy Coemanus, to whom that man was familiar, humbly entreated St. Fechin that, just as he had merited to be heard by God for the production of water from stone, so too he would pray for the raising of the dead man. The pious Father, moved by the prayers of the holy man Coemanus, himself prayed to Almighty God for the life of the dead man, and being heard for his holiness, he raised the man from the jaws of death in the presence of the bystanders. The man of God also gave the raised craftsman the choice whether he would go with St. Coemanus or remain with him. The man, not unmindful of the benefits of God and of the holy Abbot Fechin, chose to remain there where he had merited being called back to the light of this life. He, as if foreknowing the future, asserted that if anyone should choose to serve the Lord in the monastery of St. Fechin, he would not doubt to obtain the pardon of his sins and to merit the kingdom of heaven.

(a) MS. Fitz-Simon adds: "from the sole of the foot to the crown of the head."

(b) The same MS. has: "of his city." This is excessive -- unless the monastery later grew into a town? Or did it already have the extent of a small town?

(c) The leper's demand -- which was in fact Christ's demand under that guise -- is reported differently in the MS. of Fitz-Simon. "And, seeking certain things playful and contrary, like children who are most tenderly loved by their parents, he ordered that a certain beautiful and noble woman be found by the holy man to be married to him. But St. Fechin, placing the leper on his shoulder, brought him to the guesthouse, and receiving Christ in the poor man, wished to offend him in nothing, but as he requested, he went to the King named Diarmitius and, commanding his wife, said: 'Come, that you may fulfill the desire of my leper and not spurn to endure his marriage.' She replied that she could by no means come to his embrace unless she were assured of receiving from God a perpetual reward for this work," etc. The word "marriage" and "embraces" do not please us. The Saint wished that service be rendered to the leper with love and care, not that he was recommending marriage -- which would have been impossible, given such disparity, and with her husband still alive. But the person who first translated this from Irish seems to have been mistaken. Yet we are not unaware of the mystical marriages of devout souls with Christ, with Divine Wisdom, with the Mother of God -- in which neither virginal modesty is violated nor the bond of mortal marriage. And perhaps the most wise Queen sensed this too, when Fechin indicated that Christ was present under the guise of the leper -- which she experienced more clearly after her heroic demonstration of fortitude. We conjecture that this is the Queen of Leinster, whom Fechin had recalled to life by his prayers -- not unworthy indeed of such divine benevolence.

(d) The same MS. has: "Having laid aside the pursuit of fine garments, and having given to St. Fechin the island from which she came, she returned with blessing and grace to her own dwelling." What do those words mean, "from which she came?" Was the island perhaps part of the Queen's dower, some island in the River Sinnan, or in some lake? -- for there are many such, and large, in those parts.

(e) The lake of Levin was (as stated in the Life of St. Mochua on January 1, no. 6) about two thousand paces from the mill. St. Mochua is said to have been present at the time and to have lightly pierced the bank of the lake on the side toward the mill with the point of his staff, Fechin doing the same, together with the priests who were present; and at once the water was wondrously carried underground through the breadth of the mountain and burst forth with great force not far above the mill.

(f) MS. Fitz-Simon has: "in the mill's receiving-basin."

CHAPTER IV.

Miracles of Vengeance against Blasphemers, and Others.

[11] He frees a demoniac: At another time, when the pious Father saw a certain monk being tormented by a demon, he prayed to God, expelled the demon, and restored the brother to health. When this man of God was persisting in his customary practice of standing in a vat of cold water, He prays in cold water: his cellarer, named Pastolius, descended into the same vessel, wishing also to experience the severity that the pious shepherd endured in the cold water. But as soon as he touched the water, his whole body began to grow cold, and his teeth to chatter. The blessed Fechin motioned for him to come near, and when the brother did so and prayed to God together with the man of God, He warms it by his prayers; he commands this to be kept secret. by the power of their fervent prayer that cold water was heated to such a degree that Pastolius, unable to endure the intense heat, left the bath in haste. The man of God, in order to avoid vainglory, commanded him not to disclose this to anyone during his lifetime.

[12] Likewise, in the territory of St. Fechin, after the arrival of the English in Ireland, it happened that a certain Englishman held the vicarage of that church. This man, commonly detesting the Irish nation and with particular insult despising and belittling the Patron of the church -- namely, St. Fechin -- one day entered the church of St. Fechin A blasphemer punished. and knelt before the altar. There approached him a certain tall cleric, greatly emaciated, terrible in appearance and turbulent of face, and rushing upon him as upon a blasphemer, struck him hard in the chest with the point of the staff he held in his hand. The Vicar, stunned by the terror of the dreadful sight and by the intolerable pain of the blow, immediately returned to his house, declaring that his assailant was St. Fechin, whom he had previously held in contempt and derision. Upon entering his house, he threw himself upon his bed, and after three days he perished.

[13] At Favoria likewise, a certain miracle worthy of remembrance occurred. For on the brow of the hill there is a certain oratory of the holy man in which he used to pray and separate himself from the tumult of people. In this oratory, where the man of God contemplated heavenly things, a certain flat, broad stone was placed beneath the feet of the one who prayed. On a certain day, when a Seneschal, an Englishman by nationality, came there for the sake of prayer, or rather of strolling, and judged that stone suitable for shoeing horses, Another sacrilegious blasphemer likewise. he had it carried off for this purpose. When he was rebuked by others for this rash act, he scorned their rebuke and, mocking St. Fechin, showed contempt. On the following night, however, he was seized by so grave an illness that before sunrise the next morning he entered the way of all flesh. Whence, as divine vengeance raged, it was decreed that in the same cart by which he had ordered the stone to be brought to him, he himself should be carried to the grave.

[14] At a certain time, when the holy man together with his monks went out from the monastery for certain affairs, The sun stands still to serve St. Fechin: and having completed their business, they did not believe the day would suffice as the sun tended toward its setting. For the men of God were wearied by the length of the journey and the weakness of the body, and they doubted whether they could reach the monastery before nightfall. What more? He to whom every creature is obedient, that He Himself might comply in all things with the will of His own, fixed the sun in its course until the men of God, accompanied by angelic guidance, arrived at their monastery without difficulty.

[15] In the monastery of the holy man there was a church in whose cemetery there was a great quarry, which had so encroached upon the ground of the cemetery that space was lacking for burying bodies. When all who were present A stone is swallowed by the earth: complained about this, they approached the holy man, explained so troublesome an inconvenience, and devoutly sought a remedy. The pious Father, having compassion for the complaints of his brothers, turned to the accustomed patronage of devout prayer; and the man of God was heard for his holiness, and the huge rock was immediately swallowed by the earth, and a suitable place for burial was provided there by God. For the same Savior said to His disciples in the Gospel: "If you have faith as a grain of mustard seed, say to this mountain, 'Move hence,' and it shall move." Matthew 17:19. Whence a certain versifier, succinctly encompassing his miracles, said in verse:

From boyhood Christ forthwith blessed Fechin, Certain miracles described in verse. Who, coming to his aid, enriched him with heavenly dew: By whose merits may he renew us with the gift of life. He who caused the earth to produce living streams -- May he drench with bitter tears the soil of our hearts, That we may deserve to stand always pure before Christ. St. Fechin subdued many demons: For, conquering himself, he merited that trifles be subjected to him By the Lord of all things, who lifts up all His Saints. To Christ's servant, guarding the flowering fields, Certain men drove the King's horses, against his will: Those first killed, he soon restored to life. Cruel men denied the monks their food, For want of bread two men were consumed, Whom the Saint caused to return alive from death.

The royal spouse of a certain King of Leinster Resolved to devote herself to St. Fechin; He raises the dead: Her, suddenly snatched away, the Saint brought back from death. When the Saint wished to set a certain captive free, He frees captives; Then the halls of the King's palace flung open their gates at once, And all alike gave themselves up, while the wicked one tried to prevent it; He raises from the dead him who had resisted, struck down from heaven. And the cruel one, suddenly dying, he brought back to life; Whom it afterward pained to have fiercely resisted the Saint. And making him a monk, he renewed the wounds of his heart, Caring to place a stone pillow beneath his head, But... on bare earth, clothed in a covering of goatskin, Subduing his limbs with cold, he was accustomed to keep vigil in the waters.

(a) MS. Fitz-Simon has Pastol.

(b) The same MS. makes no mention of this miracle, but says that Pastolius, unable to endure the intolerable cold, left Fechin alone in the water. And it omits all that follows.

(c) The expedition undertaken by Henry II into Ireland around the year 1155 is recorded by Matthew of Westminster. These things, therefore, were added to the older history of St. Fechin after that period.

(d) She appears to be the same woman whose heroic fortitude of soul is praised in chapter 3. Leinster is one of the four principal kingdoms of Ireland, facing Britain, in which is the city of Dublin and the province of Meath mentioned above.

DEATH OF ST. FECHIN,

From the Life of St. Gerald.

Fechin, Abbot, of Fore in Ireland (St.)

FROM MANUSCRIPTS.

[1] A terrible scarcity of food had afflicted the Irish provinces. Summoned by order of the kings Dermitius and Blathmecus to Tara for a council, the leaders of both orders assembled. In time of famine the Irish pray that the people be diminished by plague, Most of them proposed that public supplications and fasts be proclaimed and that God be asked to diminish the vastly increasing multitude of the common people by sending a pestilence.

[2] Several protested, abominating such wicked prayers. When the matter was drawn out with various opinions, it was committed to the judgment of two most holy Abbots, Fechin and Gerald. St. Gerald dissenting, Gerald maintained that one should pray to God not to wickedly destroy an innocent multitude but to relieve them by sending food from heaven -- He who once fed the Israelites with manna, five thousand men with a few loaves, and every year produces an immense quantity of grain from a small seed. St. Fechin approving it from simplicity. Fechin, a man of outstanding holiness indeed but too simple, said there was no reason to depart from the common opinion of the majority. Thus, he said, it seemed to the most of the noble men and the prelates of religion. And so the faction that demanded a pestilence from God -- a grim gift -- prevailed by some prejudice or other.

[3] These prayers displease God: Nor did the heavenly beings turn a deaf ear to these vows; nor did they conceal the outcome. For an Angel addressed a certain holy man in a dream with approximately these words: "Alas that you did not ask for bread from the generous giver of every good thing! It is surely no more difficult for Him to multiply food than people. Nor would He have spurned the manner of praying He Himself taught. Why do you wretched men bring upon yourselves deaths and funerals of your own accord?" The desired pestilence raged; not, however, among the common populace, Four kings die, together with St. Fechin and countless others. but among the leaders of the people, the authors of this noble counsel. Dermitius and Blathmecus were taken first by that contagion, and two other kings of Ulster and Munster, and so great a multitude of people that scarcely a third part remained. Fechin himself, seized by the same disease, perished, together with very many priests and monks.