Senanus

ON SAINT SENANUS, BISHOP AND ABBOT, IN IRELAND.

IN THE YEAR 544.

Senanus, Bishop and Abbot, in Ireland (Saint)

[1] The multitude of prophetic predictions made the name of Patrick, Apostle of the Irish, no less illustrious among posterity than his deeds in many places obscured it; Saint Patrick's prophecy about Saint Senanus for reckless interpolators either invented from their own imagination, or careless copyists erroneously transcribed, the number of years that were to pass between the predictions themselves and the event predicted. That reason compelled us to insert in our preliminary Commentary on the Patrician Acts one paragraph on prophecies of this kind, among which a more celebrated one about Saint Senanus could have had a place, had we not judged it better to treat those pertaining to individual Saints on the proper day of each. What therefore the Acts of this Saint record — that Patrick, preaching in Hiconallia or Hifigente, promised the Corcebaskensians, who requested that he come also to their region to preach, that a herald of the faith would be born from their own people — we accept as an undoubted foundation, since the principal documents we possess about both Saints agree on this point. But how many years he said would pass before the birth of the promised child is a matter of great disagreement of opinions.

[2] the number of years varies, The Life of Patrick published in fourth place by Colgan, at number 43, speaks in this manner: "The blessed Apostle Patrick, among other gifts, was filled with the spirit of prophecy, and prophesied about the Saints who would exist in those regions after his death, and revealed their names and the times in which they were to be born; as about Saint Senanus, who was born after forty years." Colgan, translating the Tripartite Life of the same from the Irish language into Latin, wrote thus at number 267: "The blessed Bishop did not come this time to the parts of Thomond; but from the summit of the mountain, looking upon it, he blessed it, and, with the Lord revealing, he declared many things about the Saints to be born from that and neighboring parts, and the time when they would be born. And among other things he predicted that Saint Senanus would be born to Gerchinn son of Dubtach after some years, and would fix his seat on a certain deserted and pleasant island, which is surrounded by the bed of the River Shannon where it empties into the mouth of the Ocean; and that he would be an ardent lamp and great Patron of the neighboring peoples." "After some years," he says — for the Irish codices vary, and where one reads "se fiachad, twenty-six years," others have "se ficheid, two hundred and twenty," as Colgan observes in the Notes.

[3] the number either should not have been specified at all, All of which furnishes us the argument that no determinate number of years was expressed by the prophesying Saint; and that those who composed the Acts soon to be presented did very rightly in not presuming to define any number — which could not have been great, as can easily be established from the reckoning of the times. For Saint Senanus is said to have died in the same year as Saint David of Menevia; and we have demonstrated at March 1 that the latter died in 544. He died, moreover, at an advanced age, seeing that Saint Kieranus of Clonmacnoise venerated him not only as a spiritual father and confessor, as is read in these Acts, but also as an Abbot, performing the care of guests under him in the Inis-Cathaigh monastery, before, compelled to yield to the envy of others who blamed his excessive (as they alleged) generosity, he first built a monastery on the island of Angina, which we believe happened before the year 540. Certainly, if we listen to the Irish Life, or much smaller. at the time when Saint Patrick was laboring in preaching the Gospel to the Irish, Senanus first saw the light of this world; so that if any of the aforementioned numbers is true, none seems more likely than that which expresses twenty-six years. For Patrick preached in Munster after the year 440; according to which reckoning, our Senanus would have died at more than seventy years of age.

[4] Not only did Patrick predict to the Corcobaskensians that a herald of the faith would be born among them, the same prediction about Senanus succeeding him but that the same man would succeed him in the episcopate, is stated in the Metrical Life, to be given here in the first place, when his disciples inquired. Moved by this argument, some have believed that after Patrick's death he was promoted to the metropolitan see of Armagh, and they draw to this end what is said in the same Life at number 36, where he is called Archipontifex. Richard Whitford held this opinion in his Salisbury Martyrology, enlarged and published at London in 1526, speaking clearly thus at March 8: "In Ireland, the feast of Saint Senanus the Bishop, about whom Saint Patrick had prophesied 120 years before he was born, wrongly understood by Whitford as referring to the Primacy of Armagh, predicting that a man of such quality, and of such a name and condition, would succeed him as Archbishop of Ireland; and he was later such in holiness and miracles." The Martyrology of the English Carthusians of Newport is said by Colgan to have nearly the same words about him on the same day; but in both, for Senanus, Fenanus is erroneously written — since all treat of Saint Senanus on that day, and there is no Saint among the Irish who is called Fenanus; nor indeed Finanus, whose feast falls on that day.

[5] and by Albert le Grand, who confuses Senanus with Saint Sane. Albert le Grand in his work on the Saints of Brittany adopts the same opinion, and being convinced that this monk of Inis-Cathaigh is the same person who is venerated in the parish of Plou-Sane in the diocese of Léon on March 6, and mixing the manuscripts that the monks of Inis-Cathaigh had about their founder with the traditions of the people of Plou-Sane about their Patron, he writes this about him: "Wishing to devote himself more perfectly to divine worship, he renounced the world; and taking as companions several young men of the same purpose, he withdrew into solitude and built a small monastery, whence after several years spent there in the service of God, summoned by Saint Patrick, he was promoted through all the grades of orders up to the presbyterate; indeed the most holy Bishop, understanding that his end was near, having convened his Canons, recalled to their memory what had been revealed to him by God about Senanus and what he had once predicted about him, urging them to choose him as his successor in the episcopate. All of them, obeying this last will of their father, elected him as Bishop and most worthy successor of Saint Patrick." So he — a man certainly a better writer than a chronologist — who, had he known anything about the times of Saint Patrick, would have been careful not to write that Senanus died in the year 480, at which time Senanus had not yet passed beyond the years of adolescence.

[6] who might he seem to have been? Moreover, just as the one who is venerated in Brittany is proved by no argument to be the same as the one of Inis-Cathaigh, so one might suspect with better foundation that the veneration of the one who, according to the English Martyrology, is said at April 19 to have led a hermit's life in northern Wales and to have been illustrious for miracles around the year 660, passed from the Welsh Britons to the Armorican Britons — since they generally venerate Saints in common. Therefore we have judged that we should treat of both together on the said day. As for the Primacy of Armagh, although the Irish Life of Saint Benignus mentions a Senchonanus among its administrators, he died while Patrick was still alive, not a Bishop but the Bishop's Vicar. And the one whom the catalogues of that same Church list as Senachus, tenth from Benignus, Patrick's immediate successor, he was translated to heaven in the year 609, and is separated from Saint Patrick's age by a full century and more,

so that we should not think of him here, although between Senachus and Senanus there would be no difference in names (as far as their meaning and derivation from old age is concerned).

[7] The Life was formerly written by Saint Colman, What is said here, therefore, about the succession is nothing other than this: that the disciples, moved to inquire because Saint Patrick, contrary to his custom, did not ordain a Bishop for the newly converted people, received the answer that this honor was reserved for someone not yet born — namely Senanus, whose Life was first composed in his native verse, as far as we can know, by the one whom the Irish translation of the Latin Life, at number 23, mentions, Saint Colman, son of Leninus. He wrote before the end of the sixth century, if what the Four Masters report about his death is true. Colgan testifies that a fragment of it survives in an Irish manuscript. Since this Life is lacking, we present the one we have, of far inferior antiquity, in Latin verse. and also in verse by an anonymous writer of the middle ages, It survives incomplete in our Salamanca manuscript codex, written around the end of the twelfth or the beginning of the thirteenth century, but complete in a certain other manuscript of Father Hugh Ward, from which, collated with one another, Colgan published the first Life. The author is anonymous, but appears to have lived at a time when the church of Inis-Cathaigh still retained its episcopal title; because at number 12, speaking of a certain place which was offered to Senanus when he was not yet a monk, he speaks thus: "Which to this day, in these parts at least, extends as the boundary of the Bishopric of the illustrious Confessor." But after Aidus Hua-bechrain, taken from this world in the year 1180, the title of Bishop is found to have been added to no one.

[8] To the first Life, Colgan added a second, which the latest miracles indicate was written after the twelfth century, and shortly after, in Irish, much more fully, by way of supplement from an Irish manuscript — much more prolific indeed, but rendered into Latin only insofar as it would suffice to fill out and explain the first mutilated Life — "because," he says, "the inexperienced hand of some recent transcriber inserted a few things from his own erroneous invention, especially one thing about the friendship and familiarity between Saint Martin of Tours and Saint Senanus, and the assistance by which Saint Martin attended Senanus as he lay dying." A foolish anachronism indeed; but of such a kind as is to be found in almost all the Lives of the Irish Saints. In this Life in particular it should not offend — not without serious errors in chronology. certainly no more than the one which Colgan did not notice: the familiarity with Saint Maidoc of Ferns, who was not yet born (as we believe) when Senanus died. The author, being ignorant of the times, had evidently read or heard through tradition that Senanus, before he left Ireland, had spent some time on a certain island in Leinster of the Corcagian diocese, where the aforementioned Bishop later became famous for his outstanding holiness; and likewise that on his return to Ireland he had turned aside to Tours to visit Blessed Martin (just as we speak not only of the living but also of the relics of dead Saints); perhaps he had also learned something about the consoling presence of Saint Martin appearing to a dying man. Therefore nothing was easier than for the author, more zealous for weaving genealogies in the native manner than for arranging chronology, to conjoin things separated by whole centuries — which you will see observed in the annotations, along with other things.

[9] Veneration on March 1 and 8 I come to the veneration of this Saint, which we have recorded on the first of March in all the Irish Martyrologies, on which day he died. Yet they say that his feast is chiefly celebrated on this eighth day, on which the body, after a marvelous resurrection of some hours, was committed to burial in his own church of Inis-Cathaigh, situated on the island which occupies that very wide estuary — about five miles across — of the River Shannon. Saint Aengus in his festilogy: "On the Kalends of March," he says, from the Irish calendars: "the not-very-inexorable are honored: Senanus, Mainendus, Moses, and David of Kilmuine." And Maguire adds in his Gloss: "This is Senanus of Inis-Cathaigh; and here is remembered the day of his death." The Martyrology of Tallaght: "Senanus the Bishop"; Marianus: "Saint Senanus, Bishop of Inis-Cathaigh." The Cashel Calendar, on the same day: "Senanus of Inis-Cathaigh died on this day; his feast is celebrated on the eighth of this month." They also treat of him on March 8, not only the Cashel Calendar, but also the others already cited, among whom Aengus says: "Senanus of Inis-Cathaigh, who bound the enemy of Narachus." Which words Cathaldus Maguire in his enlarged Aengus explains thus, according to Colgan: "The day of the burial of Saint Senanus is here commemorated. Senanus, moreover, bound the beast which was called Cathach, and from which the island of Inis-Cathaigh took its name; and the reason for the binding certain eulogies of doubtful reliability: was that Narachus, the blacksmith of Saint Senanus, had been devoured by the beast, and Saint Senanus extracted him from the belly of the beast and restored him to life. And hence the beast is called 'the enemy of the blacksmith,' and the binder of the beast is Senanus." Let whoever wishes give credence to this gloss; I hardly doubt that this devouring and restoration of Narachus was drawn from the fabulous traditions of the Irish. Since I see Cathaldus sew many such tales onto Aengus, I cannot place great trust in his additions whenever they narrate something that is found neither in the Acts nor in any other source.

[10] Nor is the eulogy perhaps of greater weight which, according to Colgan's testimony, Saint Cumineus of Connor has about him in his booklet on the singular eulogies and prerogatives of the Saints of Ireland: "The special eulogy of Saint Senanus is that he remained continually an invalid, and uttered no word that was not right; he endured thirty kinds of infirmity in his body — which was no small adversity for a wise man." Furthermore, not only in the church of Inis-Cathaigh, consecrated to the Virgin Mother, was the Saint's body formerly venerated with devotion; more recent miracles just as his memory was also kept in another church of County Kerry, called Kil-Senan after his own name, in the diocese of Ardfert, says Albert. But the same author also narrates more recent miracles by which, amid the howling furies of the surrounding heretics, the Saint's veneration and reverence stood firm, as he demonstrates from memoirs transmitted to him in the year 1629 by the Reverend Father Friar Vincent de Val-Sainte-Marie, Provincial Vicar of Ireland — which we shall give below in the Appendix to the second Life, vindicated as truly belonging to Saint Sennan, and entirely distinct from the Armorican Saint Sane.

LIFE

From the Salamanca and Kilkenny manuscripts.

Senanus, Bishop and Abbot, in Ireland (Saint)

BHL Number: 7573

FROM THE SALAMANCA AND KILKENNY MANUSCRIPTS.

CHAPTER I.

The birth of Saint Senanus, predicted by Saint Patrick, and his marvelous childhood.

And from his very cradle of faithful Christians, Who were held in great grace by God; Whose names are these: Ercanus and Coemgella. He had already been marked out beforehand by divine oracle, Both in life and in name, as God had foreknown. For at that time there was a man of great renown, A true Christian also in the island of Ireland, Patrick by name and Bishop by office; So powerful at that time in word and in deed, That by doctrine and miracles he had converted The people of Munster, who served idols, to the Lord. preaching in Munster, After this, through the grace of God, he went To the province of Hy-Conall, to recall its inhabitants, Gentiles and idolaters, to the worship of the true faith By the word of God. It came to pass forthwith that the Bishop accomplished what he intended; And thus, with God's favor, from its salutary beginning He brought to a fitting end; the name of Christ was made known, And a great multitude of people believing in the Lord, Washed in the perpetual stream in the name of the Trinity, Increased daily and deservedly both in virtue and in number. Hence, as time went on, all things prospered; The people, formerly pagan, burned with the praises of God; Mouths formerly gentile spoke the great works of God, And having built churches, both of wood and of other materials, They gave fitting thanks for their conversion.

[2] Meanwhile the venerable Bishop was frequently asked By the inhabitants who would be Bishop after him. He predicts the birth of Saint Senanus: They spoke to him privately and repeatedly: "Patrick, servant of God, teacher and Apostle, Good father and patron, while you yet live, make known: Who, we ask, will be placed over your flock when you die? Who then will enter the sheepfold of the sheep through the door, Unless you first, Lord, designate by name Who shall discharge so excellent a Priesthood in your place?" To these frequent entreaties the Bishop then replied: "What you seek from me, know that it belongs to God; For every good gift is from the Father of lights. A little child will be born to you, a future servant of God, Who, Senanus by name, will stand in my order, Succeeding me, with God's favor, in the episcopate." Content with these words, and believing their prophet, The disciples eagerly desired the birth of him About whom they had heard such great things.

[3] When the fullness of time had come, according to the faith of the promiser, at whose birth a dry branch puts forth leaves: The boy was born, endowed with every prerogative Of virtues, as appeared in him at the very time Of his birth: for when in the hand of the woman in labor There was a dry branch, it was immediately made to blossom, Plainly giving to understand by a marvelous sign That the little child who was being born would afterward flourish In the house of the Lord, like a cedar of Lebanon, Fragrant with virtues. His parents, moreover, enriched with so noble a child, Being very devout, brought the newborn infant To the church, so that by divine grace, Having been washed in the stream of baptism, of original sin — And (if there was any) of actual sin — he might be purified. The blessed child, therefore, having received in baptism He is baptized The seal of the Trinity, was given the name Which the holy Bishop Patrick, foreknowing his birth, Had long before predicted, when he was not yet born.

[4] Weaned, therefore, the boy continued to grow Both in age and in grace, according to his own prophecies. Nor did the Author of all good things cause less laughter and joy To his parents or faithful friends At the birth of this son than he once did to barren Sarah with great joy of his parents. Or to Abraham, already old, at their little child born to them. Their joys are certainly to be compared in all respects; Because although from the Virgin who sprang from his seed, As God willed, the Savior chose to be born, This one did not cease to bring forth the very Son of God In the hearts of the faithful, with as great power as he could. Hence the Apostle Paul says to his hearers: "You are my children through faith in the Gospel; Whom, while he instructed them, he begot for Christ through the word." 1 Cor. 4:15. The boy began, therefore, to grow both in body and in faith; And along with the innumerable benefits of virtues The little child's abstinence Which God had given him, there was familiar to him A wholesome abstinence even in his very childhood. One day, indeed, the holy boy early in the morning Seeing his mother eating hastily, began to reprove her: "The Almighty," he said, "has appointed a certain time for eating And a certain time for abstinence — assuredly Wishing to refresh all at the proper time."

[5] At the same time, setting out on a journey And entrusting themselves to another place, the boy's parents and a miracle in the transfer of household furnishings. Were changing their dwelling, having the child with them. And as they made their way to the place where they would henceforth reside, The parents and household, building structures,

And were more carefully preparing whatever was fit for their needs. But while all were occupied in building walls, The venerable Senanus brought no help to the others In their labor — either for lack of strength, Or because at that time he was more attentively engaged in prayers, With which he did not cease to invoke God continually. Then the boy's mother began to be greatly indignant That the little boy was of scant help to them while they labored; And reproved harshly by her with sharp words, The venerable boy went away confused and, weeping, sought God, That he might give him his accustomed help. There was no delay before God was present, And at that very time there were carried through the air Various household utensils from that other dwelling, Which would be suitable for the parents' various needs. Immediately therefore he fell silent and returned to his parents; And they gave thanks together for what had been so happily accomplished.

He went to a certain fortress, in which he wished to stay; But its inhuman inhabitants, unworthy to receive These guests with hospitality, with anger and violence Expelled them from their dwellings as quickly as possible. The mother of the little child immediately began To be wearied by incredible sadness at the injury inflicted, So much that she nearly collapsed in body from grief. Wherefore the boy, having the deepest compassion for his most loving mother, Sought to console her as best he could, Saying that the Lord is the avenger of all evils Which those who turn to him endure without cause. is utterly overthrown: The punishment that followed this utterance struck both beasts and men, And all movable things and the very walls of the town It overturned from their foundations; and so the place perished That nothing was left of all its furnishings. With all the beasts and people therefore submerged, And the very buildings destroyed without any delay, Because of the injury done to the Saints, it destroys their memory. I judge this comparable to what happened in the desert, Under Moses and Aaron, when Korah, Dathan, and Abiram Were swallowed up with a great part of the people and all their possessions. Nor is it unlike what happened under Joshua, The leader of the Israelites, at the walls of the city of Jericho; Which indeed no hand of man battered with any engines, But God overturned them by the power he willed. For when the trumpets sounded, the entrance lay open through the circuit For those entering, who, making their assault, Entered without any obstacle, the people having been slain.

[7] Meanwhile the boy went with his mother to the seashore, [when a boat is denied him, he is miraculously conveyed across the water with his family:] Wishing to cross to another place, having sought a boat; Which not having been found, the little child forthwith entreated God That, according to his usual manner, he would grant him passage — He whose power established the world upon the seas. As the little child prayed thus, with his tender breast Already filled with full faith, God, who had been invoked, Graciously appeared, and having lifted him up, set him down On the other side, with his mother and household. And these things too are to be compared with other miracles Which are known to have been done by God in earlier times, When under the aforesaid leaders, with the Israelites All struck with fear of their enemies, the Red Sea became passable; Except that those people labored going on foot, While this illustrious boy was instantly transported. "These are your works, O right hand of the Father," he said, "These are your deeds, O Wisdom of the Father: To you be honor and glory, who do wondrous things, Both these and similar ones."

CHAPTER II.

From secular military service he passes to the monastic life as a disciple of Saints Cassidus and Natalis.

He guarded his heart in his adolescence with all watchfulness, Knowing that from this, life proceeds. He avoided all harmful things on that slippery path On which every kind of person, according to Father Jerome, Even if they escape a fall, knows they can fall. Immediately by his parents the boy was presented to the King's gaze, Though unwilling, and in vain resisted; Soon bound by the oath of royal military service. Nor did supreme grace fail, so that it should desert in war A man of such innocence whom it had preserved in peace. For in that very military service, with the utmost diligence, He carried out that principle: to render to Caesar The things that were Caesar's, and willingly give, And to render to God the things that were God's. And so from the stain of sins, in which that kind of men Is accustomed to entangle themselves, he kept himself free.

And having gathered his forces, instructed them with arms and admonitions, As is the custom of Kings, with greater diligence. In this army, Senanus, a soldier in dress But already a monk in mind, went forth to meet the foe. At last, when battle was joined, by the just judgment of God, The King, violently terrified, turned his back to the enemies; And from all the people, only one was free From death or danger — he who was able to slip away in flight. Wherefore, having left his companions either slain or wounded, Senanus took to flight and went to a certain fort; And while he sat there beside a heap of wheat, Those who pursued his trail — who had been the victors in battle, As God willed — sought those who had fled. They see the heap from afar, entirely ablaze with fire; But the fire that appeared only gave light, it did not harm — indicated by the sign of miraculous flames: Just as seemed to happen in that ancient bush, From which Moses, when he was in the desert, Had heard from the Lord about the liberation of the children of Israel And the destruction of the Egyptians — Whatever afterward came to pass. But this happened to Senanus perhaps because he was destined, As a light of the true light, to show the way to many Who sat in darkness, bound in the house of prison.

What such great events were, by which their inward parts were confounded; What this miracle was, by which their eyes were dazzled; What kind of fire it was, by which the wheat was not burned. And when with much gazing in a circuit around the heap The soldiers considered it (for it had the appearance of fire), They marveled exceedingly at the fire that did not burn. For sitting in the midst of the blaze Was found Senanus, the servant of God, who had come there in fear. When they led him out and asked who he was, he is released freely. Though he feared death, he was unwilling to lie; Rather, he preferred to meet death than to say what was false. For he said he had been a recruit of the royal military service, And had come there as a fugitive out of fear of the enemy. The soldiers, however, seeing that the holy man's face Shone like an Angel's, terrified by the novelty Of both miracles, thus spared the soldier.

Came to a house of feasting that was being prepared for a Prince; And while the servants were expecting the Prince to arrive shortly, With the royal banquet prepared, He asked, as befits a poor and humble person, To be received with hospitality for the sake of God. He was immediately repelled from the royal house with injury, And to increase his misery, impiously struck with a fist. But he gave thanks to God, until the Master of the house Should arrive in the evening, at the appointed time for dinner. When the aforesaid Prince arrived at the house, The banquet was set out; the table was laid with bread; punishment follows the fault Then the servants went to fetch the dishes, Of which, as I said, there was a varied and great supply. But behold, all the vessels were found so empty That little remained in each one — More for the punishment of the servants Than for the dining Prince. For as many of the servants as tasted the food All began to go mad together in a remarkable fashion.

Prompted inwardly by the instinct of the Holy Spirit, The Prince began to inquire whether at that time Any pilgrim had there suffered an injury, Whether any poor man had vainly sought hospitality. To this the servants said: "Our sins require (For we are compelled to confess) this evil by which we are struck. A poor man came today, asking in the name of God To be received with hospitality; whom we expelled at once And made him depart, giving a fist instead of a gift." To which the most pious Prince said: "Go quickly And seek him on his way, and when found, bring him back; And, whether he will or no, let him return, that he may pardon us for this, and by his blessing he restores all things. And so dine cheerfully with us together." They obeyed the commands and went out to search; They found him after searching; having found him, they brought him back To the banquet, according to the Prince's command. And he, now honorably restored, having poured forth a prayer, Supplied abundance of food to the tables, and granting pardon to the guilty, Was thus at last admitted to the banquet with full joy. Moreover, the Prince of the people, on account of the power of the miracle, Immediately offered to the holy man, to be possessed in perpetuity, That very estate on which the prodigy had occurred — Which to this day, in these parts at least, Extends as the boundary of the Bishopric of the illustrious Confessor.

The Father of lights accomplished through him while he was still placed in the world. But having recognized the miracles which, under the eyes of many, He performed in secular garb by the divine Spirit — If anyone wishes to know what his manner of life was After his conversion, the following reading will declare it. For the man of noble character, sensing That he had found grace in the eyes of his Creator Through such great efficacy of miracles, And now profiting for himself, Lest he be ungrateful for so great and excellent a grace, He had this purpose: that, changing his worldly garb, He would devote himself to the service of Christ in a monastery. Bidding farewell to all his friends and parents, He came to Saint Cassidus, to receive the monastic habit From him and to live securely, Aspiring to nothing else but heavenly things alone. For Cassidus, the man of God, having carefully examined That his spirit was from God, gave him the monastic habit, Kept him with him, and instructed him in the disciplines That are altogether necessary for the monastic life. Through whose diligence also, he acquired such knowledge of letters he becomes a Monk under Saint Cassidus, In a short time that nothing escaped His capable mind of letters or arts Which the masters of the Church or of secular learning Impart to their hearers — for he was a teacher of the Choir. and progresses admirably in letters. From whose teaching, in the treasury of his heart, Believing things new and old, after the appointed times He brought forth before his hearers' ears as best he could.

And since charity built up and humility seasoned Such great knowledge, which begets boasting, All things which he had read or perceived by hearing He strove to fulfill in practice at every time, So that, while preaching to the faithful, he himself would not be found reprobate.

[14] In a vision, therefore, this is commanded to the Abbot: To the Abbot Cassidus, I say, this is ordered by the Lord, Ordered to go to Saint Natalis, That he send Senanus, the novice, To an excellent Abbot named Natalis, So that under his governance he might be more fully instructed In disciplines and arts. For at that time Natalis was of celebrated fame, Since a great congregation of one hundred and fifty Brothers Lived in his company. But when Senanus learned that God had ordered him To be sent to another place, he considered it a grave loss If he should leave either the Abbot or the place he had chosen. But his greater sadness arose from the absence of his Abbot, Which pressed upon his heart; yet he set out, Nor did he delay to obey, since he reflected That obedience is better than the victim of a holocaust. he becomes his disciple: Natalis, upon his arrival, received this novice honorably Into his company, Already full of the spirit of God, though still rough in habit. Under whose teaching, with what devotion of piety, With what obedience, with what constancy of virtues, He shone forth by God's gift cannot be expressed By great orators, much less by us who are unlearned.

[15] When, at the Father's command, he was made keeper of the cattle, he separates the calves from their mothers by placing his staff between them. One day while he was attending more intently to prayers, He saw the calves already pressing toward their mothers' udders. This most faithful herdsman, in order to save the milk for the Brothers, Interrupted his begun prayer and separated them from one another. For fixing his staff in the ground as a sign or obstacle, He returned again to his prayers; and they were no longer able For the whole course of the day to approach one another, Separated from each other by the staff of the man of God. From that which happened, it also obtained the name Of "the staff of division," as it was called by all. To this day it is held in honor by the inhabitants, And through the merits of Senanus, by the accustomed grace Of the Almighty, very many benefits are accomplished through it.

CHAPTER IV.

Those who injure the Saint are severely punished; the death of Saint Cannera.

[23] While these things were happening, the powerful King of the Province, hearing His brothers are sent to expel him, That the beast had been driven from that island, And that a Pastor of the Church wished to settle there, Moved by anger of spirit, ordered them to be expelled. For the King, greedy for what belonged to others, Determined to claim for his own uses the place which the man of God had obtained. Now the Bishop had two brothers who were soldiers Who stood in attendance at the King's court. The King had commanded them to announce to Senanus That he should no longer build in these quarters with his people. And he had threatened, with as much terror as he could, That the benefits of his house along with his favor Would be lost with disgrace if this task were left undone. Spurred equally by hope and by fear, they came quickly To the man of God and reported the King's words. The blessed Bishop resisted with divine authority, Saying that the place had been given to his jurisdiction through an Angel: they do violence to him: For he addressed them in such and similar words: "Neither you nor the King do I fear, nor do I leave this place, But here, with Christ's favor, I complete my course." The brothers raged against their brother and began to drag him away, So that he who would not willingly should leave the place by force. O what a sad spectacle! In the hands of those dragging him the little body collapses, Which by hunger, thirst, and cold he had long afflicted.

[24] After the injuries inflicted, one of them, moved by compassion, Said to the other: "We have sinned against our brother, when one of them repented, We have acted badly and inhumanly, plainly: Toward God indeed badly, toward our brother inhumanly; Whom we thus expel from his own abode without cause." When these words were finished by the one whose mind was sound, The other, whose mind was far otherwise, spoke thus: "It is evil indeed (I confess), but the King's anger is more grievous; It is better not to offend him than not to expel our brother. See then which you choose: whether you cast him out Or you perish with him. I will take such counsel for him as not to bring harm upon myself." Thus, when a dispute arose, one seized a sword, the other pays the penalty of death: And said: "Whoever shall harm this man will either kill me along with him, Or I will kill that man, provided I rescue our brother." Thus, as they quarreled, you could see as clear as day How unlike the spirit was in these two brothers: For when one was converted from treachery by the grace of Christ, Despite many exhortations, the other persisted in his perfidy; And because he did not believe in Christ, he lost both his possessions and his life.

Neither revering God nor showing compassion for men, He aggravated the injuries he had inflicted on the Saints of God. He ordered horses to be led to pasture on the island itself, Doing everything in his power to make the Bishop leave. But against the Lord, human counsel is nothing, Nor does any force destroy what God has established. For the earth opened its mouth and swallowed up The horses he had sent, and not one survived. But adding sin to sin, the foolish King Led armed soldiers against unarmed men, And himself went to the island, terrifying the man of Christ. Yet the man of God remained unmoved with his disciples; Nor could he be deterred who had placed his hope in God. And forthwith the blessed Bishop reproved the King, saying: "You fear not God, nor do you reverence men." To which the cruel King replied: "Why do you persist in these things, and his blasphemy, When I fear you no more than a shorn sheep and no more God?" Greatly offended by this, the Bishop declared to the King: "You who by your swelling spirit have equated the Lord with a sheep — A shorn sheep will shortly be the cause of your destruction." Thus with threats and terrors and with words far from gentle, The Prince, having accomplished nothing, threatened the Father with death If he should find him on the island the next day.

[26] These things done, he departed and returned the way he had come; And a flock of shorn sheep came to meet the King and his soldiers. The flock, therefore, making an attack and scattering the army, Separated the King from his men, that he might suffer what he had done. Who ever heard such a thing? A sheep attacks the King, he is punished by an unhappy fall. Who, sitting on his foaming horse, had not given honor to God. That sheep harassed the King so long with repeated attacks Until it threw the King from his horse and struck him with its horn, Piercing his neck — because he had threatened Senanus with audacious sentence of death. By such a death, therefore, as the pious Bishop Had predicted with prophetic spirit, the King, with an impenitent heart, On account of the sin of blasphemy, departed without pardon. Thus in his schemes, the devil, the enemy of Christ, Was defeated and succumbed to him against whom he had raised his head, Having twice assailed the Bishop — through the beast and through the Prince.

Come, admonished by an angelic oracle, To confess to the Saint the causes of all their failings. When they had been received honorably by the Bishop, And they had confessed all their failings, The Keeper of the Cellar reported that nothing was left With which to feed the Brothers, or guests, or the poor. "Nothing is lacking," said the Bishop, "to those who fear God; Therefore hope in the Lord and be of equal mind: A Prince, divinely prompted, sends food. For the Lord will give provision to us and the Brothers." Meanwhile a certain Prince, divinely prompted, To the cell of the man of God on the Island of Bealluan, In a cargo ship brings necessities to the Saints. The Bishop, perceiving that he had come for this reason, Went out with the aforesaid guests to meet him. He received the provisions and gave great thanks, And, filled with the spirit of prophecy, immediately foretold That to him and to his seed, by the will of the Lord, The Province had been given, that he might reign over it.

At the approach of the dinner hour, with the said servants of God The holy Father reclined together and took the gifts of God. And behold, a small bell fell from heaven; Yet it could not be known to whom it had been sent. For their disciples did not ascribe it to their own master; But in the holy company a great dispute arose As to whom the bell had been especially sent, As each party put forward its own master in this matter. The Bishop, having heard this, quickly settled the dispute: and by a miracle is assigned to Saint Senanus. "Let us arise," he said, "and go; and whichever of us all The bell follows, sounding, he shall rightly receive it." Each one rose and went forward, but it followed him alone, And following, indicated by its sound that it had been sent to him. With the gift thus assigned, and a covenant of peace established, They saluted the Bishop and parted from one another; And so they hastened to their own places, they who had come at God's command, Much edified by his conversation. The faithful Bishop, moreover, always went on progressing, Exalted from virtue to virtue unto salvation.

[29] Nor do I think this should be passed over in silence: That the most sacred Virgin consecrated to God, Kynnera, Saw with her inner eyes, concerning the state of so great a Bishop, Saint Kynnera is shown the singular holiness of the monastery of Saint Senanus: A vision of his monastery of this kind. On a certain night, praying to God more attentively, When she was rapt in spirit, she saw with the mind's gaze All the monasteries that were scattered throughout Ireland. She saw with clear eyes shining from each one Fiery columns, their summits touching heaven; And, as she sees, the brightest of the columns furthermore Illuminated the most illustrious monastery of Senanus. After she had seen these things, an angel was present from heaven, alert, Who explained to the virgin what she had merited to see. "The souls of the Saints," he said, "which are indeed the columns, Appear fiery for this reason: that they are fervent with love. But the greatest of the columns has the greater grace of Christ, Which shines more abundantly in the Brothers of Senanus."

And delighted by desire for the place, she immediately Devoutly entreats God to transfer her there, That she might merit the fellowship of those dwelling there. Indeed, impatient of delay, coming on the following day, She stood on the shore of the lake and was unable to cross over. And behold, an Angel is present, who immediately lifting up The woman devoted to God, transported her to the island. The Bishop said to her: "What have women in common with monks? Neither you nor any other woman will we admit to the island." Then she said to the Bishop: "If you believe that my spirit Can receive Christ, why do you repel me in body? "I believe this most assuredly," he said; "but to no woman ever Do we grant entrance here; though the Lord save you. there she dies and is to be buried. Return again to the world, lest you be a scandal to us; Even if you are chaste in heart, you have your sex in body." "I hope in the Lord," she said, "that he will sooner Cast my spirit out of this flesh than cause me to return from here." Without delay she yielded up her spirit and closed her last day. Extraordinary funeral rites were celebrated by the Brothers. Thus the Lord fulfills both through the prayers of the holy father: Both what the virgin had said and what the Saint had vowed.

With two other Abbots, Senanus being the third himself, Namely with Fecheanus and Lacteanus, he was dwelling, A Prince of the Province came, wishing to expel them. He, with armed men bearing swords and clubs, Not without insult, ordered them to be driven from the island. They raged against the Saints, casting stones and weapons; But no one can harm those whom God wishes to defend. The Saints of God stood uninjured, having the shield of faith; For whom (as the event shows) the Judge of all the earth judges. For the earth, gaping within its bowels as far as the thighs, the earth swallows him, Swallowed the Prince, nor did it wish to stop there. All the way to his chest, therefore, the body sinks into the earth, That he might learn where one tends who resists God. Seeing this, a certain youth who was the Prince's stepson, Prostrate at the Saint's feet, begged with many prayers at whose entreaty the Saint restores him, That he spare the perishing man and restore him from the earth; And he promised forthwith that the island would be given over to his jurisdiction, From which the Prince had previously ordered him to be expelled. The Bishop said to him: "Because you have been the first messenger Of the desired peace, you shall now receive what you wish.

The earth will indeed release him; but he will perish very soon; And you with your seed will be in his place." With this said, he freed the Prince; and it happened as he had said: For when the Prince died, this one immediately succeeded him.

Implored the Father's grace on account of the scarcity of water, Which they were accustomed to carry daily on their shoulders, Lest the flock perish of thirst because of the distance. They besought the Bishop, I say, that, pouring forth his accustomed prayer, By which nothing was beyond his reach, he might open a vein of water. The pious Father, having poured forth prayers, prayed for these things, And fixing his staff in the earth, produced a most sweet spring; For which the Brothers, having used it freely, gave thanks together. This spring, holy Finanus, a disciple of the saint, For the purpose of obtaining that inner light of the soul, The light of perpetual charity, frequented constantly. When therefore at a certain time he had come according to his custom, He sat thus upon the well, praising the author of all things. And behold, a certain woman, carrying in her arms in which a child, when washed, is carried off by the sea: A small child to be washed, came upon the servant of God. For with his prayers interrupted, the monk was greatly distressed That the holy water should be polluted by the washing of the child. And moved to anger on account of this injury to the spring, He prayed that the same little child might be submerged in the waves. Forthwith by the flow of the sea, which is accustomed to flood this place, By the will of God the infant was snatched away and carried far off.

She ran quickly to the Bishop, and lamenting the little child, The grieving mother exposed in the ears of the Bishop The cruel prayer of the monk, who had asked for him to be drowned. The Bishop summoned the monk and commanded him Either to retrieve the infant or to drown himself. At these words, the disciple, running, stumbled with his feet And committed himself to danger, guiding his hand with his staff. He also measured with his staff the depth of the sea, Wishing to proceed only so far as his chest would be above water. To and fro, I say, this was the anxious one's intent: is ordered to bring him back from the waters. That he should not enter deeper than his staff would show. All the way to his chest, therefore, he entered step by step, And stood — marvelous to tell — as if an immovable rock, The sea beneath his feet, though it was much deeper. In those very waves, therefore, the blind man stumbled with his feet Upon the child, now not dead at all, but playing. Lifting him up at once, he brought him to the most loving Father, So that he might return him to his mother and she might be freed from fear. Truly the master attributed this miracle to his disciple, But the disciple attributed it rather to his master; So humble was each in his own eyes That, seeing this happen, each deferred to the other.

CHAPTER V.

Benefits conferred on others and a twofold death.

[34] At a certain time thereafter, while the most holy Kieranus Sat on the shore, it was announced to the Bishop He orders Saint Kieranus to be ferried across in a boat otherwise leaky, That his inseparable and ever faithful companion Was present with his disciples, sitting on the bank of the river. He rejoiced, and immediately ordered a servant to come: "Take the boat," he said, "and ferry this man of Christ across." When the Bishop heard that there was no other boat than a wicker skiff, Not fit for use, he said: "Board even this, that you may be able to ferry across The man of God, long waiting on the bank of the river." He boarded the skiff, therefore, and glided safely across, For as was the master, so was the disciple. When Kieranus spotted him from afar, he said to his companions: "The Saint of the Lord is testing us, to see if we dare board A skiff in the name of God, trusting in his prayer. Let us board, therefore; for Christ surely has the power To preserve us in this little boat through his merits." Boarding it, therefore, they sailed prosperously; and treats him generously: The skiff, gaping with cracks, was not flooded by the waves. Having thus received him from the Brothers, the Bishop immediately Ordered holy Kieranus to be clothed with a cloak; For he knew through the Spirit that Kieranus had already Spent his own garment in almsgiving. Then, leading his companion by hand to the oratory, After these and similar services of charity, He at last refreshed him more sumptuously with food along with the Brothers.

[35] At that same time, the uncle of Saint Senanus Was sailing on the sea with very many companions. Many who were drowned by the retreating sea When they approached a rock, they went ashore to rest; He meanwhile remained and anchored the ship. The moored ship came loose; the man, swimming, pursued it; He caught and brought it back quickly, his companions now dead. For those who had gone ashore, the surge of the sea had swallowed; And he found their lifeless corpses. Weeping and wailing and burning with great grief, He carried them to other places suitable for burial, Commending their souls to God, and celebrated their funeral rites. He had scarcely buried them when friends arrived, And with them was also present the holy Father Senanus. All and each one rejoiced at the Bishop's coming. All begged, and especially the one who was related by blood, That he would restore to life by his prayers those suffocated by the waves. The Bishop already knew, as the Apostle admonishes, How to rejoice and to suffer with the events of his neighbors; he restores to life: Counting the salvation of all as his own advantage. And in a wondrous manner, as he immediately wept with those who wept, The Bishop's tears became the cause of common joy. For by the power of God, to whom all things are easy, And by whose power all things are vivified, the man full of God entreated That for the sake of the faith of the living, he restore the life of all. As he prayed, innumerable bodies rose again, And having received their spirits, they spoke openly to all. For the rest which their souls already enjoyed, They asked through the grace of God for permission to return, but they desire to die again. Crying out once and twice and a third time to the Bishop: "Release us, Father, we beseech you, to where we were before, That we may return gladly to the house of the Lord." For the merit of the holy man, they forthwith yielded up their spirits again, And with his permission rested once more in the Lord.

[36] I shall not pass over also what has come to memory: The virtue of another man who favored his virtues. Other miracles at the river. For a venerable man was always united in spirit As a companion to holy Senanus, whose name was Diermitius, Whose cell was built on the island of Clothran; And the islands of both are encircled by one river. In this river he sent to Senanus, besides a boat, a chasuble, Which the river carried along upon itself without getting wet. Senanus the Archbishopgratefully received it, And immediately sent back three stones of salt to Diermitius In a more marvelous manner: for he entrusted them to the river, And caused them to go upstream against the current of the river.

To recall the man of God from the worship of the true faith. When they harassed him frequently with many phantasms, The man, attacked fiercely, fought back manfully. For by stirring up the air through the operation of the malign enemy, The Magi brought down rain through empty deception. They also offered this challenge to the most devout Father: That if he had any confidence in the grace of Christ, He should stop this rain through his power. When he had pressed somewhat more earnestly upon his prayers, He stopped the false rain and brought down a real one. But trusting still in their sorceries and other portents, They dared to contend again with the defender of the faith. For they, by their arts, caused snow to appear In all places; yet even so they did not prevail. For as they taunted him, the Bishop stood fearless, And indeed, with his customary power, having brought down real snow, He caused the false snow to vanish from the face of the earth. Furthermore, by the finger of God, when such a prodigy was accomplished,

Convicted in every way, daring to presume nothing further from their own powers, They slipped away in rapid flight; And having returned by boat, they were drowned in the river. and their punishment. Behold, the Egyptian magicians, when they had resisted Moses, Were so punished at once that they could no longer Attend upon the King in their usual manner, a cruel wound having been inflicted. These sorcerers indeed, resisting the Bishop, Perished utterly, suffocated in the waves. But just as the first Apostles, disciples of the truth, After the sorcerer Simon was slain, met their end under Nero, So the most devout Bishop, having conquered the arts of the Magi, Enters in this manner the rest of paradise after his labor.

Had decreed to give the inheritance of the perpetual homeland, He went to the spring of living water which he had produced by his prayer — First with an Angel digging the pit at that place. At that same place, therefore, he learned from the Angel That the illustrious David, Bishop of Menevia, had died, To whom, while he lived, as we have said, his spirit was attached. And a wondrous thing happened when Senanus learned this: For (as they had agreed while both were still alive) They did not wish to live on, with their colleague no longer surviving, But he was forthwith stripped of his flesh, as one who is released from sleep. His body was carried back to the cell on the island, Where with worthy vigils, with psalms and watches, With divine offices, with the solemnities of Masses, and he himself dies on the same day: It was kept unburied until the eighth day, So that his fellow bishops, co-abbots, and others Who were in the vicinity, saddened at his death, Might be able to gather to commit earth to earth. King Solomon, as we read, when all the things That were necessary for the building of the Temple had been completed, On the eighth day gathered a great multitude To complete the solemnities with full rejoicing. to be buried on the eighth day, With no less jubilation did he triumph in the Lord, Celebrating the eighth day, now joined to the living God, The devout Pastor tending his flocks... For who could tell how great a throng gathered When the body of the deceased was carried to the tomb?

[39] When behold, upon the bier the body resumed its spirit, And the Bishop sat up, he who was being carried as dead: he rises again, Who, having immediately greeted all with salutary words, Brought forth certain secret things which the Scottish nation recalls, Concerning the great and marvelous day of judgment, On which the elect of God will rise incorrupt. Then the elders who were present questioned the revived man Whether on the day of his death or rather on the eighth day He wished his annual commemoration to be observed henceforth. "On the eighth day," he said, "my memorial shall be kept, On which, rising again, I shall return to the tomb. Keep this day, observe it, celebrate it annually; Farewell forever, blessing the Lord." And as they responded: "Blessed in all things Is Christ, the maker of all — farewell, blessed Bishop; and orders that his memorial be observed on this day. Be mindful of us henceforth before the most high God" — He rendered himself lifeless, to be dissolved into dust. You would have seen, at his death, sorrow mixed with joy; Amid words of gladness, tears flowed abundantly. O how pious it is to accompany Senanus both with weeping to the tomb And soon with a voice of joy all the way to heaven! Thus at last he was laid to rest; and his blessed spirit Was received by the Angels, while his body shone with miracles In the earth, in every place and time Where mention is made of him, with Christ God being gracious; Who through his merits, with his accustomed power, Still works full miracles through infinite ages. Amen.

SECOND LIFE

From Irish manuscripts.

Senanus, Bishop and Abbot, in Ireland (Saint)

FROM IRISH MANUSCRIPTS.

CHAPTER I.

The family, birth, and childhood of Saint Senanus, predicted by Saint Patrick.

[1] The genealogy of Saint Senanus. The holy Bishop Senanus, at the time when Saint Patrick was laboring in preaching the Gospel to the Irish, first received the use of this light, in that region of Ireland which is called Corco-bhaiskind by the natives, born of Christian and noble parents. His father was Ergindus, son of Cobthach; Cobthach's father was Bolgius, son of Decius. Decius, moreover, through his ancestors Imchadius, Corbius, Rodingus, Lugadius, Olildus, Eochadius, Aengussius, Fiachrius, and Corbreus Baschaoin, traces his lineage back to Conarius — the first of that name — a celebrated King of Ireland. His mother was Comgella, daughter of Ernachius, son of Gulbinius, from the region of Munster called Altraighe. There was a famous prophecy of Saint Patrick about this son of light, before he was brought into the world, which is presently to be set forth.

[2] When Saint Patrick was preaching the faith of Christ in that region of Munster which our ancestors call Hy-Figinte, The people of Corco-baskind come to Saint Patrick who is preaching in Y-Figinte. and was leading many peoples from the darkness of idolatry to the light of the Gospel, behold, the conversion of the neighboring people, their new way of life, and the virtues of the outstanding herald of Christ, carried by the report of heavenly doctrine's fame to the region of Corco-bhaskind, situated on the opposite or northern bank of the River Shannon, by boats. The Corco-bhaskensians, with their Prince, burning with desire for such salutary doctrine — coming from heaven and leading back to heaven — without delay, having gathered a great multitude of ships, embarked upon the sea, crossed the mouth of the Ocean (which in this area intercepts the Shannon river), and presented themselves to Saint Patrick at the place called Domnachmor, humbly requesting that the way of salvation be shown to them and that they be instructed in the first principles of the saving doctrine. The Corco-baskensians come to be baptized. Since the holy man, as evening was then approaching, and he himself was weary from continuous labors in instructing and baptizing the people, promised to satisfy their wishes the following morning. But they, pleading the dangers threatening the ships left without guards and the homeland left without defenders, pressed and begged that the intent of their just and devout petition not be deferred. The holy man consented, and after he had set forth the doctrines of salvation to them for some time and instructed them in the first principles of the faith, he washed them in the wave of the nearby river, in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, and made them living members of Christ, and imparted to them his holy blessing, praying for riches and fertility for their region.

[3] The Corco-bhaskensians, however, scarcely less joyful about their own felicity and they ask him to come to their land: than anxious about the salvation of their wives and children, besought him that the most loving father would deign to come with them to his homeland, to win also their wives, children, and servants for Christ. The holy Bishop replied that, among other impediments, he was hindered this time by reason of his household and companions (for many, besides his own Clergy and household, used to accompany him for the sake of salvation and fuller instruction in spiritual matters). But he would seek another more opportune occasion to satisfy their desire. which he considers sufficient to have seen from afar, They then said they would easily convey all his companions and attendants by ship. The holy man at last freed himself from their importunity, alleging that he could not go elsewhere until he had more fully instructed the people of this region — in which he then was — in matters of faith, and had provided for the building of churches in it and the appointment of suitable pastors over them. He asked, however, whether there was any nearby place from which he might be able to see their homeland. They replied that there was a mountain called Fintinne. The man of God, having climbed that mountain, beheld their homeland, and seeing its boundaries — then narrower to the north and east — he predicted that in time they would be extended eastward as far as Mount Echtge and northward as far as another in Corcomroia.

[4] After this, Saint Patrick, foreseeing in spirit their future state and Patron, said to them: "It is not necessary He predicts that Saint Senanus will be born to them; that I should visit your province in person, for which God has provided an excellent Patron, and one of your own countrymen and people. For a man beloved of God and men will be born from your nation, endowed with divine charisms from infancy, Senanus by name; under whose protection and patronage as divine Guardian not only your region but also these regions of Hi-Figinte will flourish; and when you honor him with due reverence and service, all things will prosper for you; but when you fail in his veneration and service, prosperity will also fail you in your affairs, and the fertility of the land will fail; there will be scarcity of provisions among you, and your sons will suffer the yoke of foreign servitude. He it is who will destroy the monstrous beast that troubles you, which is on that island lying between you and Y-Figinte, which island he will afterward inhabit with his monks. meanwhile he commits the region to his disciples. Until, however, that son of light begins to shine among you with the splendor of his holiness and doctrine, I shall send with you some of my disciples, who will wash the remaining people with the saving wave and will not cease to instruct you in the doctrines of the faith."

[5] He therefore sent for the conversion and instruction of the region of Corco-bhaskind two of his disciples, Romans by homeland — namely Maculatus the Presbyter and Latius the Deacon — who chose for themselves a church in which they were also buried, opposite Inis-Cathaigh, on the northern bank of the River Shannon. After this, while the chiefs and people of this region were gathered in a certain public assembly to decide matters of state, Saint Senanus's holiness, foreseen, is venerated the father of Saint Senanus, Ergindus, came with his pregnant wife among the others; and one of the Druids who was present showed reverence to those arriving, and yielding his own place, made room. When a certain man of the people saw this, he remonstrated and asked the Druid why he had yielded to Ergindus, a man of rather humble condition. by a certain Druid: For the Druids were held in great veneration among this nation. He replied that he did not look to the person of Ergindus or his wife, but to the excellence of the infant which she carried in her womb — whom this entire region would someday receive and venerate as lord and protector.

[6] When the time of delivery drew near, it happened that Comgella, in the autumn season, was alone in an orchard at the place called Magh-lacha,

Convicted in every way, daring to presume nothing further from their own powers,

They slipped away in rapid flight;

And having returned by boat, they were drowned in the river. and their punishment.

Behold, the Egyptian magicians, when they had resisted Moses,

Were so punished at once that they could no longer

Attend upon the King in their usual manner, a cruel wound having been inflicted.

These sorcerers indeed, resisting the Bishop,

Perished utterly, suffocated in the waves.

But just as the first Apostles, disciples of the truth,

After the sorcerer Simon was slain, met their end under Nero,

So the most devout Bishop, having conquered the arts of the Magi,

Enters in this manner the rest of paradise after his labor.

Had decreed to give the inheritance of the perpetual homeland,

He went to the spring of living water which he had produced by his prayer —

First with an Angel digging the pit at that place.

At that same place, therefore, he learned from the Angel

That the illustrious David, Bishop of Menevia, had died,

To whom, while he lived, as we have said, his spirit was attached.

And a wondrous thing happened when Senanus learned this:

For (as they had agreed while both were still alive)

They did not wish to live on, with their colleague no longer surviving,

But he was forthwith stripped of his flesh, as one who is released from sleep.

His body was carried back to the cell on the island;

Where with worthy vigils, with psalms and watches,

With divine offices, with the solemnities of Masses, and he himself dies on the same day:

It was kept unburied until the eighth day,

So that his fellow bishops, co-abbots, and others

Who were in the vicinity, saddened at his death,

Might be able to gather to commit earth to earth.

King Solomon, as we read, when all the things

That were necessary for the building of the Temple had been completed,

On the eighth day gathered a great multitude

To complete the solemnities with full rejoicing. to be buried on the eighth day,

With no less jubilation did he triumph in the Lord,

Celebrating the eighth day, now joined to the living God,

The devout Pastor tending his flocks...

For who could tell how great a throng gathered

When the body of the deceased was carried to the tomb.

[39] When behold, upon the bier the body resumed its spirit,

And the Bishop sat up, he who was being carried as dead: he rises again,

Who, having immediately greeted all with salutary words,

Brought forth certain secret things which the Scottish nation recalls,

Concerning the great and marvelous day of judgment,

On which the elect of God will rise incorrupt.

Then the elders who were present questioned the revived man

Whether on the day of his death or rather on the eighth day

He wished his annual commemoration to be observed henceforth.

"On the eighth day," he said, "my memorial shall be kept,

On which, rising again, I shall return to the tomb.

Keep this day, observe it, celebrate it annually;

Farewell forever, blessing the Lord."

And as they responded: "Blessed in all things

Is Christ, the maker of all — Farewell, blessed Bishop, and orders that his memorial be observed on this day.

Be mindful of us henceforth before the most high God" —

He rendered himself lifeless, to be dissolved into dust.

You would have seen, at his death, sorrow mixed with joy;

Amid words of gladness, tears flowed abundantly.

O how pious it is to accompany Senanus both with weeping to the tomb

And soon with a voice of joy all the way to heaven!

Thus at last he was laid to rest; and his blessed spirit

Was received by the Angels, while his body shone with miracles

In the earth, in every place and time

Where mention is made of him, with Christ God being gracious;

Who through his merits, with his accustomed power,

Still works full miracles through infinite ages. Amen.

SECOND LIFE

From Irish manuscripts.

Senanus, Bishop and Abbot, in Ireland (Saint)

FROM IRISH MANUSCRIPTS.

CHAPTER I.

The family, birth, and childhood of Saint Senanus, predicted by Saint Patrick.

[1] The genealogy of Saint Senanus. The holy Bishop Senanus, at the time when Saint Patrick was laboring in preaching the Gospel to the Irish, first received the use of this light, in that region of Ireland which is called Corco-bhaiskind by the natives, born of Christian and noble parents. His father was Ergindus, son of Cobthach; Cobthach's father was Bolgius, son of Decius. Decius, moreover, through his ancestors Imchadius, Corbius, Rodingus, Lugadius, Olildus, Eochadius, Aengussius, Fiachrius, and Corbreus Baschaoin, traces his lineage back to Conarius — the first of that name — a celebrated King of Ireland. His mother was Comgella, daughter of Ernachius, son of Gulbinius, from the region of Munster called Altraighe. There was a famous prophecy of Saint Patrick about this son of light, before he was brought into the world, which is presently to be set forth.

[2] When Saint Patrick was preaching the faith of Christ in that region of Munster which our ancestors call Hy-Figinte, The people of Corco-baskind come to Saint Patrick who is preaching in Y-Figinte. and was leading many peoples from the darkness of idolatry to the light of the Gospel, behold, the conversion of the neighboring people, their new way of life, and the virtues of the outstanding herald of Christ, carried by the report of heavenly doctrine's fame to the region of Corco-bhaskind, situated on the opposite or northern bank of the River Shannon, by boats. The Corco-bhaskensians, with their Prince, burning with desire for such salutary doctrine — coming from heaven and leading back to heaven — without delay, having gathered a great multitude of ships, embarked upon the sea, crossed the mouth of the Ocean (which in this area intercepts the Shannon river), and presented themselves to Saint Patrick at the place called Domnachmor, humbly requesting that the way of salvation be shown to them and that they be instructed in the first principles of the saving doctrine. The Corco-baskensians come to be baptized. Since the holy man, as evening was then approaching, and he himself was weary from continuous labors in instructing and baptizing the people, promised to satisfy their wishes the following morning. But they, pleading the dangers threatening the ships left without guards and the homeland left without defenders, pressed and begged that the intent of their just and devout petition not be deferred. The holy man consented, and after he had set forth the doctrines of salvation to them for some time and instructed them in the first principles of the faith, he washed them in the wave of the nearby river, in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, and made them living members of Christ, and imparted to them his holy blessing, praying for riches and fertility for their region.

[3] The Corco-bhaskensians, however, scarcely less joyful about their own felicity and they ask him to come to their land: than anxious about the salvation of their wives and children, besought him that the most loving father would deign to come with them to his homeland, to win also their wives, children, and servants for Christ. The holy Bishop replied that, among other impediments, he was hindered this time by reason of his household and companions (for many, besides his own Clergy and household, used to accompany him for the sake of salvation and fuller instruction in spiritual matters). But he would seek another more opportune occasion to satisfy their desire. which he considers sufficient to have seen from afar, They then said they would easily convey all his companions and attendants by ship. The holy man at last freed himself from their importunity, alleging that he could not go elsewhere until he had more fully instructed the people of this region — in which he then was — in matters of faith, and had provided for the building of churches in it and the appointment of suitable pastors over them. He asked, however, whether there was any nearby place from which he might be able to see their homeland. They replied that there was a mountain called Fintinne. The man of God, having climbed that mountain, beheld their homeland, and seeing its boundaries — then narrower to the north and east — he predicted that in time they would be extended eastward as far as Mount Echtge and northward as far as another in Corcomroia.

[4] After this, Saint Patrick, foreseeing in spirit their future state and Patron, said to them: "It is not necessary He predicts that Saint Senanus will be born to them; that I should visit your province in person, for which God has provided an excellent Patron, and one of your own countrymen and people. For a man beloved of God and men will be born from your nation, endowed with divine charisms from infancy, Senanus by name; under whose protection and patronage as divine Guardian not only your region but also these regions of Hi-Figinte will flourish; and when you honor him with due reverence and service, all things will prosper for you; but when you fail in his veneration and service, prosperity will also fail you in your affairs, and the fertility of the land will fail; there will be scarcity of provisions among you, and your sons will suffer the yoke of foreign servitude. He it is who will destroy the monstrous beast that troubles you, which is on that island lying between you and Y-Figinte, which island he will afterward inhabit with his monks. meanwhile he commits the region to his disciples. Until, however, that son of light begins to shine among you with the splendor of his holiness and doctrine, I shall send with you some of my disciples, who will wash the remaining people with the saving wave and will not cease to instruct you in the doctrines of the faith."

[5] He therefore sent for the conversion and instruction of the region of Corco-bhaskind two of his disciples, Romans by homeland — namely Maculatus the Presbyter and Latius the Deacon — who chose for themselves a church in which they were also buried, opposite Inis-Cathaigh, on the northern bank of the River Shannon. After this, while the chiefs and people of this region were gathered in a certain public assembly to decide matters of state, Saint Senanus's holiness, foreseen, is venerated the father of Saint Senanus, Ergindus, came with his pregnant wife among the others; and one of the Druids who was present showed reverence to those arriving, and yielding his own place, made room. When a certain man of the people saw this, he remonstrated and asked the Druid why he had yielded to Ergindus, a man of rather humble condition. by a certain Druid: For the Druids were held in great veneration among this nation. He replied that he did not look to the person of Ergindus or his wife, but to the excellence of the infant which she carried in her womb — whom this entire region would someday receive and venerate as lord and protector.

[6] When the time of delivery drew near, it happened that Comgella, in the autumn season, was alone in an orchard at the place called Magh-lacha,

enjoying the fair weather: and when she began to give birth, at whose birth a dry tree puts forth leaves,

an Angel of the Lord approached, who freed her from all pain of delivery and blessed her offspring. Now the dry tree which she was holding by hand at the time of birth

immediately put forth leaves and blossomed: and that tree is seen in that place to this day. The boy who was born seemed to advance with each day in grace and virtue, so that he appeared sooner to savor divine things than human. For it happened once that his mother, taking her little child along with her while making a journey, plucked the fruit of a mulberry from a bush encountered along the way and put it to her mouth: the little child, seeing this, at once rebuking and piously admonishing his mother, reproved the action, saying that refreshment has its proper place and time.

[7] Now the holy boy's parents had two dwellings: the first in Magh-lacha, the other in a place at no small distance from there, which is called Tracht-termuinn. When they wished at one time to move from one of these places to the other, and had entrusted to the holy youth the care of preparing the house to which they were going and of conveying the utensils and other necessities thither, through his merits household utensils are carried by Angels. the holy youth, intent upon a certain work of charity in helping a neighbor, neglected the charge committed to him, and for this was rather harshly rebuked by his mother. The pious youth bade her be of good heart and trust in the Lord, promising that his negligence would soon be repaired by the grace of God. Without delay, before they broke off speaking, they saw the utensils and the rest of what was wanted carried through the air and set down before their eyes. From that time his mother and others began both to admire and venerate the pious youth.

CHAPTER II.

Forestalled by divine benefits, he passes from secular military service to monastic life under Abbots Saints Cassidanus and Natalis.

[8] On a certain occasion, while the Corco-bhaskensians were invading Corcomroia with armed force, [A flame appearing, the sleeping youth is discovered and released unharmed by the enemy:] their leader took the holy youth Senanus with him against his will. While the others were busy with plunder and burnings, he secretly withdrew and hid himself in a heap of wheat, where he lay concealed and fell asleep, until the invaders returned to their own lands. When however certain men of Corcomroia, observing the routes and retreat of the enemy, followed the returning men's tracks, they saw from a distance that heap in which the holy youth was sleeping, ablaze and burning. They ran to bring aid against the fire: but when they arrived, they saw neither flame nor trace of flame. They noticed the youth sleeping in the heap, and some of them suddenly wished to kill him: but the leader, a man of sounder counsel, commanded that he be awakened and questioned as to who he was and whence he came, being inwardly prompted by divine instinct, judging that the fire that had appeared was not without mystery — though not yet seen by him. The holy Senanus, unable to lie even at the risk of his own life, said that he had been one of those who had invaded the region by armed force, and had been left there sleeping, and that thus he had no friends or acquaintances in that region. Then they, gathering from these words and from what had preceded concerning the apparent fire that the man was filled with the grace of God, let him go free, and bade him go wherever he wished.

[9] Food and drink become foul where alms are denied to the man of God: After this, the servant of Christ, making his way home and suffering from thirst, approached the stronghold of a certain nobleman, in which a feast was being prepared for the lord then absent, and begged for a drink for the sake of divine recompense. But the wicked servants refused. Thus the servant of Christ, suffering from thirst and hunger, was forced to depart. When the Prince arrived, the tables were set, the food was served — all of which was found putrid and foul; and the drink was foul-smelling like the water of a sewer. The Prince, moved by the wonder of it, asked whether any strangers or guests had come that day, what they had done, and how they had been treated. The servants recounted the matter as it had happened, and how they had denied a drink to one wandering beggar. The Prince ordered him to be sought out everywhere and, when found, brought back to him. When he was brought back and asked by the good Prince, he blessed the table and the food that had been set out: and immediately the food and drink resumed their former taste and smell, while the bystanders magnified and extolled the wondrous goodness of God and his condescension toward his servants.

[10] The waves yield to him as he crosses: At another time, coming with his parents' cattle from the western region, from the place called Irros, toward the east, to the place called Magh-lacha, he was hindered by the tide of the Ocean covering the estuary that lay before him, and also by the approach of evening, and could not proceed further, but was forced to turn aside to a nearby stronghold called Dunmechair and to seek hospitality for that night. But the lord of the stronghold, Mecharius, was absent, and his servants refused hospitality to the servant of Christ. Then Senanus, having no other nearby place to which he might turn, went to the sea itself to watch for its ebb: the cattle went ahead, and finding the shore bare of waves, they went on continuously, and the holy man followed to the opposite bank. As he drew near to it, he renounces the world: the wave pursued close upon his heels, and he scarcely found himself on the other bank when, looking back, he beheld the whole shore completely filled with waves. Then the holy youth, observing and contemplating the wondrous indulgence of his Lord toward him, inwardly moved spoke to himself saying: "I have already served the world more than enough; henceforth I shall enlist in the service of the Lord my God." And immediately he fixed the spear that was in his hand into the earth, and formed it into a cross, and kneeling before it three times, he offered and commended himself and his vows to Christ, to whom he vowed to serve devoutly henceforth.

[11] While these things were taking place, it happened that the stronghold of Mecharius, in which hospitality had been denied to the holy youth a little before, was invaded by enemies; who, having plundered the stronghold, killed Mecharius's son, led his wife away captive, and having stripped the stronghold, carried off all the furnishings and movable goods: and that place remains to this day, and (as is believed) will remain forever without habitation. and becomes a disciple of Saint Cassidanus, After this, Saint Senanus, having left the cattle with his parents, betook himself to Saint Cassidanus the Abbot, who was a native of the region of Kierraighe Chuirke, and was then dwelling in the region of Irras; and from him he received the monastic habit and tonsure, and under his instruction, devoting himself for some time to the reading of the Scriptures and to ecclesiastical disciplines, he made remarkable progress in both piety and learning.

[12] then of Saint Natalis. After this, impelled by the grace of the Holy Spirit, he betook himself to the most holy and equally most learned man, Abbot Natalis, who presided over the monastery of Kill-na-manach Drochid in the region of Ossory, in which he was instructing many excellent disciples in piety and letters. It was the custom among the disciples of the holy man that each in turn should watch over the calves of the monastery, lest they approach their mothers outside the accustomed hours. When the turn fell to the holy youth Senanus to perform his duty, he began to lead the calves already separated to pasture and to guard them there. But the mothers, seeing their young from afar, came running: he tried to drive the cows away By the interposition of his staff he separates the calves from their mothers: and turn them back: but then the calves followed both him and the mothers. When he again began to turn and drive them back face to face, the mothers again ran back behind. When the holy youth, after alternate drivings attempted in vain, saw his labor was being wasted, by the tip of his staff, having drawn a line along the ground, he placed a boundary between the mothers and the calves, which in the power of Christ he commanded them not to dare to cross. Wondrous to tell! Immediately the brute animals obeyed his commands, and neither from this side nor that did they leap over the appointed boundary: and so afterward, whenever this care was entrusted to him, the holy youth was accustomed to separate the mothers from the young in the same manner, and to spend all the time in reading and prayer.

[13] When the holy youth once heard that saying of the Savior read: "If anyone among you wishes to become greater, let him be your minister and servant," he impressed it on his heart, and strove always to seek out and undertake the more humble offices. Matt. 23:11. Thieves approach the mill, Therefore he took up the care of grinding and milling the grain of the monastery at the mill. There were in that region robbers, who, noticing that Saint Senanus was accustomed to attend the mill alone, even at nighttime, entered into a plan to break into the mill-house and steal the grain of

the monastery: and wishing to carry their plan into effect, they approached the door, through a crack in which, peering to see what was happening, they beheld two youths — one engaged in reading, the other attending to the mill. Then they again debated whether the house should be broken into, seeing that there were two who guarded it. But one of them devised a plan pleasing to the others, namely that they should wait for a time, saying that these two were not of the same household or charge, They see an Angel in it with Senanus, but that one was the overseer of the mill and the other had merely brought his own grain to be milled, and when he had finished would depart immediately: they could then rob the departing man of his garments and what he was carrying, and afterward overpower the other remaining in the mill and take away everything they might find.

[14] The others approved and endorsed this plan. Thus the robbers waited long, expecting the departure of the other, and they become monks. according to their supposition: and both parties stayed awake until morning, at the dawning of which Saint Senanus, intending to return to the monastery, opened the door, and the robbers ran up and entering asked where the other man was and who he was, who had assisted him the whole night and labored in the mill. He said: "What if it were He of whom it is said: 'He shall neither slumber nor sleep, who keeps Israel'?" Ps. 120:3. They pressed on, asking where he was. Senanus answered that He was near, according to that saying: "He is at hand for all who call upon Him." Then the robbers, inwardly moved to compunction, dissolved into tears, promised penance and amendment of life, and asked to be admitted among the Brothers. The holy man, rejoicing and exulting, agreed and led them to Saint Natalis the Abbot: with whom, having received the monastic habit, they remained in holy conduct until the end of their lives, and it was they themselves who narrated this story about themselves.

[15] At another time, Saint Senanus approaching the cook, asked him for candles, [A single candle, remaining unconsumed through an entire week, provides light for the laborer.] which he needed for carrying out the care of the mill. The cook replied that he had none already made to give him, but would soon give him several from those about to be dipped. While Saint Senanus continued at the mill without interruption, and did not return to the cook for the space of a whole week, the cook then, wondering from where he had light while laboring so long continuously at the work assigned to him, resolved to investigate whether Senanus was performing his task at night, whether he had light, or what was happening with him. At the beginning of night, therefore, he went to the mill; and peering through a crack in the door, he saw a candle set in a candlestick, Senanus intent upon sacred reading, and the mill turning without the assistance of any person supplying grain or anything else, and continuously grinding the grain. Astonished at the novelty of the thing, he went to his cell, and returning a second and third time, found everything the same in every respect; and at last he observed that the candle was plainly the same one he himself had given him many days before, which had meanwhile remained unconsumed by a rare miracle. He reported the whole matter to Abbot Natalis, who extolled the virtue of his spiritual son in a wonderful manner, predicting that God would work many and great miracles through him in time.

[16] One day Saint Natalis and Saint Senanus, traveling toward the church of Kill-mor-aradhthire, as they drew near to it, beheld before the entrance a great multitude of people and many bathed in tears: The dead son of a chieftain, for there, soon to be buried, lay upon a bier the only son of the chieftain of that region, whose death his parents and kinsmen were bewailing. When the mother of the deceased saw the holy men present, she immediately ran up, threw herself on her knees, and humbly and earnestly prayed that they would intercede with the Lord for the restoration of her son to life. Saint Natalis replied that such a thing was difficult and exceeded his power. The mother, dissolving into tears and wailing, redoubled her prayers and by the tender mercies of Christian charity besought them that at least they would not be reluctant to pour out prayers with her to the Lord of life and death for the salvation of her only son. Saint Natalis, pitying her case and moved by her prayers, commanded that the body of the deceased be brought before Saint Senanus, and that he should intercede for the restoration of his soul. Saint Senanus, alleging his own unworthiness, said that he did not dare to tempt the Lord. The Abbot at last commanded him to comply, he restores to life by the Abbot's command, saying that he knew this grace was to be granted by the Lord. At last the son of obedience, not daring to resist the Abbot's command, obeyed; and stretching himself upon the body of the dead man, after fervent and ardent prayers he merited to be heard by the Lord, and he who had lain dead resumed his former life and vigor, and began to speak before the bystanders. All who were present, blessing the Lord in his wonders, began to extol and proclaim the virtue and holiness of the servants of Christ.

The extreme point of Thomond runs out, curving so far toward the south, that it is joined to the remaining mainland by two successive isthmuses, being twice forced into the form of a peninsula by the intervening bays of that vast estuary: which, however, not being very deep, especially at ebb tide, seem to be crossable by ford, avoiding the longer circuit by the isthmus.

CHAPTER III.

The pilgrimage and return of Saint Senanus: his stay in Inis-cara.

[17] Many flock to Saint Senanus, The fame of so great a miracle and of the others which the Lord had already worked in his servant, having been spread through the neighboring regions, the sanctity and virtue of Saint Senanus began to be proclaimed and admired everywhere, and from all sides very many people flocked to him — some to be cured of ailments and infirmities; some for the sake of requesting salutary instruction; others for the purpose of bringing alms; many that they might deserve to receive him as father and spiritual friend. The holy Abbot Natalis, seeing the grace of the Holy Spirit working such wonders in him and his fame growing everywhere, judged that he was more worthy to rule over many than to remain under the instruction of another. he is dismissed by Natalis: Therefore he commanded him to betake himself to another place where he could more conveniently attend to the salvation of his neighbor and promote the monastic institute by receiving and instructing monks in the habit. Saint Senanus, after great reluctance and resistance of spirit, at last yielding to the pious Father who so commanded, asked where he was to go. Natalis said that this was to be sought and awaited from Him by whom he was called to such a task.

[18] Obedient therefore to the commands of his Father, the holy man bade farewell to his fellow brothers and to the Abbot, who, departing into Leinster with Saint Maidoc, and having received his blessing, undertaking a journey toward Leinster, directed by Angelic guidance, he came to a certain island in the region of Y-Kenselaighe situated near the river Slane, which is called Inis-conirthe. There he stayed for a time and formed a friendship and familiarity with Saint Maidoc, Abbot of Ferns. After some time, led by a desire for pilgrimage, and returning from Rome forms a friendship with Saint David of Menevia. he set out for Rome to visit the sacred thresholds of the Apostles. His devotion accomplished, returning from Rome, he visited also Saint Martin of Tours, and having stayed for a time in those parts of Gaul, and returning to his homeland he turned aside to Saint David, Archbishop of Menevia in Greater Britain: with whom after he had spent some time, departing from him he received the personal staff of Saint David, as a pledge of friendship and confraternity, and brought it with him to his homeland.

[19] The holy man therefore, bidding farewell with a kiss of peace to Archbishop David, Having returned to his homeland, directed by a favorable voyage, landed on the island of Arduemedh, which lies in that region of Munster called Iliatham: and there, having spent a delay of forty days, he sought to shake off the weariness of the journey and voyage. Afterward he was admonished by an Angel appearing to him that this was not the place which God had provided for his rest and burial, but another far distant, to which also, before he should arrive, it was the divine will that he should first build several other cells and churches for the greater glory of God and the increase of the monastic order. The holy Senanus, having left some disciples there, builds a church in Inis-cara, arrived at the island of Inis-cara near the Lua, and there built a church.

[20] While he was staying there, a ship landed bringing pilgrim monks. For in that ship were carried fifty monks, Romans by homeland, whom the desire either for a stricter life or for knowledge of the Scriptures, then flourishing greatly in Ireland, had drawn thither, to live under the instruction of certain holy Fathers whom they had learned to be distinguished for holiness of life and rigor of monastic discipline. They were divided into five companies, and from fifty pilgrim Romans, each of which comprised ten: one of which was drawn to Saint Finnian, another to Saint Senanus, a third to Saint Brendan, a fourth to Barreus, and a fifth to Kieran. Among them it had been decreed that, so long as they were on the sea, each company, relying on the protection of its patron, should in turn for each day undertake the care of the ship and of what needed to be done on and around it.

[21] On a certain day it happened, while the company which

had devoted itself to the instruction of Saint Senanus saved from a storm by his invocation, was performing the care of the ship, the ship was tossed by a contrary and violent wind. Seeing this, the helmsman warned them of the imminent danger, urging them to have recourse to the protection of prayer. Then a certain holy Bishop among them, Mola by name, arose, and having invoked the name and aid of Saint Senanus, seized a knife from the table (for it was dinnertime) and formed the sign of the cross, and thus blessed the air: whereupon the storm that had arisen soon ceased, and the wind, which had been contrary, blowing from behind, he receives ten companions. began to be favorable, until the ship had prosperously reached Cork. There, those who had already before consecrated themselves by vow to his instruction, ten monks, remained with Saint Barreus, while the remaining forty, as we have said, sailed to Saint Senanus at Inis-cara; whom he received most graciously, and retaining with himself Bishop John and Bishop Mota with eight companions, he arranged for the rest, as they themselves had wished, to be conducted to the holy Fathers Finnian, Brendan, and Kieran.

[22] After this, Lugadius son of Kichethus, King of the region of Rathlendia (in which their monastery was situated), sent messengers to Saint Senanus, When a horse sent into the monastery's grain is drowned, requesting from him acts of submission and service. The holy man refused, saying that he acknowledged no secular lord to whom he owed secular services or tribute. Then the King ordered the finest horse he had to be led to the monastery, to be daintily fed there on its grain. When the horse was being brought to the monastery and washed in the wave of the nearby river, behold, by the just judgment of God, it was immediately swallowed up and drowned in the waters, so that nothing more appeared of it except the horse's shoulder tossed about and seen here and there among the waves. And from this, that island, which had previously been called Tuam-naua, was thenceforward called Inis-cara, that is, the island of the shoulder: for what is called in Latin "armus" is in Irish called "cara."

[23] To the King, the author of the injury, When the King learned of this, moved with the greatest indignation, he approached Saint Senanus, and heaping many injuries upon him, threatened him with destruction. Then the man of God, moved with just indignation against him, threatened him that unless he ceased to harass the servants of Christ, he would suffer divine vengeance, by which he would be deprived of both heavenly and earthly honor: so that none of his descendants after him would possess the sovereignty of that region. The King had with him at that time two distinguished youths, very dear to him and of his household, he predicts the loss of his sovereignty. namely Aidus and Lugadius, who bore ill the injuries inflicted on the man of God and urged the King to cease provoking the wrath of God in his servant, but rather to acknowledge his fault in the injury done and to endeavor by all means to settle the matter with him. Thus Lugadius and Aidus, having attempted by their sound counsels to bring the obstinate Prince to a sounder mind, hastened with great humility and devotion of spirit to placate and honor the man of God, promising humble and devout allegiance and requesting a blessing; which when the holy man bestowed upon them, he predicted that the progeny of Lugadius in the sovereignty of the region of Rathlindea, and that of Aidus and Luogarius in the sovereignty of Iuechia, would succeed and hold power — as Saint Colman, son of Leninus, attests in his metrically composed history of these events.

CHAPTER IV.

Concerning the various cells erected by Senanus, especially in Inis-mor: and miracles wrought there.

[24] After this, Saint Senanus, having left eight of his disciples there, among whom were Saint Fechinus, son of the King of Muscragia, and Saint Chillinus, In Inis-luinge, proceeded from there to another island called Inis-luinghe, and built a church there. While he stayed there, the holy virgin daughters of Brendan, Prince of Y-figente, came to him and consecrated themselves to divine service and his instruction. And these were the firstfruits of the region of Eoganacht-Gabhra consecrated to Saint Senanus. After the holy man had veiled these virgins there and for some time instructed them in the first principles of the spiritual life and monastic disciplines, as he had received in commandment from the Lord, he set out for a certain island called Inis-mor, situated in the district of Irros-deschert. But contrary to his intention, by the disposition of God's will, the ship, driven by contrary winds, was drawn to another island and founds a church at Inis-tuaischert: called Inis-tuaischert. The man of God, believing he had been carried there not without the special providence of God, began to found a church there, which once built he left for some of his disciples to inhabit; and he himself, resuming his journey, proceeded toward Inis-mor, and there built a monastery.

[25] where the son of a woman washing in the monastery's spring After he had dwelt there for some time with his followers, it happened that a certain woman came to the spring of the monastery to wash her son's garments. When Saint Sedna or Sedonius the Bishop saw this, he protested, saying: "Ah! An unworthy deed!" Saint Libernus or Liberius asked what the deed was. Sedonius replied that it was a detestable deed, namely that a woman was defiling and polluting with the washing of her offspring's garments the water of the spring from which water was customarily drawn for the awesome mysteries of the Sacrifice of the Mass. While the servants of God were moved by this holy indignation, and perhaps more harshly than many would think expedient, they called down divine vengeance upon the woman and her offspring. Behold, her little son, playing on a higher part of the seashore with the games of his age, suddenly fell headlong into the ocean below, and swallowed up in it was seen no more. Then the wailing mother ran to Saint Senanus and recounted the event, falls into the sea: namely how her son had been destroyed by the curses of his disciples.

[26] Hearing this, the holy man harshly rebuked his sons as guilty of homicide: whereupon he commanded one, and is brought out safe by the very one who had uttered the curse. who seemed more the author of that destruction, namely Libernus, to do penance on a certain rock set in the nearby sea, there to await God's sentence in this matter. To the other, who also seemed to have cooperated, he commanded that, having left Libernus on the designated rock, he should not cease to search for the drowned boy amid the waves until he found him and restored him to his mother. The sons of obedience obeyed without resistance the stern commands of the most holy Father: for Sedonius, having left Libernus on the rock as commanded, went to search for the boy amid the waves; and after the boy had lain there for twenty-four hours, by the wondrous indulgence of divine goodness he found him safe and sound, playing in the waves and pushing back their force with his outstretched palms. Thus found and snatched from the waves, they brought him to Saint Senanus, who handed him over to his mother, to the great astonishment of the bystanders and hearers and amid the proclamation of God's wondrous kindness toward his Saints. And soon he ordered Saint Sedonius to bring Libernus home from the rock, saying that he had a judge sufficiently favorable to him, since by his benefit and judgment it had come about that the waves, which otherwise used to invade and cover that rock, had not dared to approach him to the length of his staff on every side.

[27] The blessed Libernus, therefore, having been brought back to the monastery, complained to the pious Father There likewise Saint Libernus brings forth a spring, that it was difficult for the monks to have recourse to that spring which was common to themselves and to secular persons, and that it would greatly matter if some spring peculiar to themselves were provided by the mercy of God. Then the most blessed Father said to him: "It is in your power to supply this need: for if you wish to dig the earth beneath your feet, by the grace of God you will find a clear spring of living water."

The blessed Libernus thereupon began to dig the earth with his staff, and soon drew forth a vein of the clearest spring, which is called from his name Tibra-libern, that is, the spring of Libernus or Liberius.

[28] and being buried, he holds back the force of the sea. On a certain occasion, Bishop Dalannus also began to complain that there was great danger because the sea, washing against the shore, was gradually consuming the land of the monastery, which was in itself quite loose and sandy, and would consequently destroy the monastery itself. Then Saint Libernus said that a remedy for this evil would not be wanting, provided they were willing to bury his body, when he departed this life, placed opposite the sea on that side of the monastery which touched the sea; saying that he trusted in the Lord that that part would no longer be invaded by the sea — which the event, after his body was buried there, proved true.

[29] An oratory is built on Inis-coarach. Saint Senanus, having left in the monastery of Inis-mor several holy men from among his disciples, including Saint Libernus and the three Bishops Dalannus, Sedonius, and Ercus, betook himself to another island called Inis-caorach, where in an oratory built by himself he also left some of his disciples. Afterward he proceeded to the island of Inis-cunla, which lies in the region of Y-sedna, in which he also founded a cell, which he designated for his disciples Finanus and Bishop Finnius to inhabit.

CHAPTER V.

Senanus crosses to Inis-cathaigh, and confirms his possession of it by miracles.

[30] At last, after the building of so many monasteries and cells, after the instruction and setting free of so many disciples, By the Angel's warning and after so many other pious labors endured within and outside his homeland, he was warned by the Angel that the time had come when, by divine appointment, he must go to the place prepared by God for his future rest and eventually for his tomb. The Angel, therefore, leading him to the summit of Mount Tese, showed him an island lying in the Shannon estuary, where it empties into the western Ocean through a vast channel, in which he said the burial and resurrection of himself and of many Saints would take place: and that no homicide or heinous crime had yet been committed there, because a certain monstrous beast, hostile to humans and cattle, inhabiting it, had cut off all human habitation from it. When he himself should drive it out by the favor of God, afterward he and his monks would peaceably inhabit the island, and many Saints after him. After this, the holy man was carried by the ministry of Angels from the summit of that mountain to a certain more prominent hill situated on the island, which from that time is called Ard-nan-aingel, that is, the hill of the Angels.

[31] After this, the servant of God, trusting in the protecting right hand of the Lord alone, drives the harmful beast from Inis-cathaigh, proceeded to the place where the beast lay. At his approach it immediately changed throughout its entire body — its eyes flashing flame, its breath fiery, its mouth foaming venom — and opening its execrable jaws in a terrible gape, it rose up against him, about to devour him had he not been protected by the all-powerful right hand of God. But the soldier of Christ, armed with the breastplate of faith and the shield of hope, approaching this horrible monster undaunted, formed in the air the saving sign of the Cross against the beast: once it was formed, the beast grew still, unable to move itself any further from the spot. Then the man of God, in the power of Him who crushed the head of the first dragon, and in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, commanded that the beast depart from that place, never to harm anyone there or elsewhere in the future. The holy man's command soon took effect: for by the power of Him whose will is power, that monster was immediately transported from that island to a certain deep lake of black water near Mount Collain in Thomond, where it has never since been found to have harmed anyone.

[32] and establishes his seat there: Saint Senanus, having given thanks to the author of these wonders and of all things, accompanied meanwhile by the attending Angel, began to traverse and bless the island. And when he looked upon the swelling waves of the adjacent channel, he said to the Angel: "This place appears exposed to many dangers, and thus not sufficiently suited for habitation by monks, on account of the roughness and storms of the surrounding channel." The Angel bade him be of good courage, promising in the Lord that no monk who crossed with obedience would be drowned — indeed that no one repentant of sins who was buried in this place would descend to the underworld.

[33] After it was spread through the neighboring regions that the monster had been thus driven out and that Saint Senanus had begun to inhabit that island — which, from the expelled beast called "cathach," received the name Inis-cathach or, as others say, Inis-cathaigh — the Prince of the region of Y-figinte, whose name was Mactalius, was moved with the greatest indignation against the man of God, whence brothers are sent to expel him, because he had begun to inhabit without his permission an island subject to his dominion. He commanded that he be expelled from the place at once with disgrace; indeed he ordered the brothers of Saint Senanus himself, Caelius and Liethus, who served as soldiers under him, to carry out this unjust command. They, yielding to the Prince's command, presented the order to their brother, who refused to comply. Then the brothers, preferring worldly fear to divine and the command of a man to natural right, laid violent hands on their brother who was otherwise unwilling to yield, dragging him headlong down from the summit of a certain hill by his arms.

[34] But when Caelius, more inclined to evil and headstrong, saw Liethus cooperating with him in the evil work more half-heartedly and with considerable reluctance, he began to rebuke him and say: "Is it not better that this man be expelled from a place that is not his, rather than that we be expelled from our land and possessions?" of whom the more stubborn pays for his guilt with death. Liethus, inwardly moved to compunction, said that he was exceedingly sorry for the attempted violence, that he did not wish to persist any further in evil, and that he would rather abandon all his possessions and even Ireland itself than inflict violence upon his brother, a holy man. Then Senanus said to him: "You will not abandon Ireland or your patrimony, but your sons after you will possess it. But he who clings too much to this land — neither he himself nor any of his descendants will possess it." The event proved this prophetic utterance true: for the impious Caelius, returning home after this violence, before he could enter, immediately expired at the door. When Liethus asked that his body be buried at Saint Senanus's monastery, the Saint refused, saying that it was not right that his body be honored with ecclesiastical burial whose soul hell certainly possessed.

[35] When the news of this tragedy was brought to Prince Mactalius, a magician too is sent against Senanus, he began not to learn from his neighbor's misfortune, but to be inflamed with rage and fury and to devise means of vengeance. His magician, seeing him thus agitated and anxious, said: "Let not my lord be troubled, I pray; I will certainly expel that seducer from your territories." The King began at this to calm down somewhat. The magician, taking with him two of the Prince's chariot horses, proceeded to the island, and leaving the horses in the pastures of the monastery, approached Saint Senanus and commanded him to abandon the island at once, threatening that otherwise he would bring it about by his enchantments and the power of his deities that he would depart in confusion. Saint Senanus replied that he feared neither his power nor that of his master the evil spirit, and that the assistance of the true deity, the Savior of the world Jesus Christ, whose living and true power would uncover and rout the phantasmal delusions of the demon, would not fail him. and being vanquished, Then the magician, through diabolical illusions, spread thick darkness so that those standing by could not see each other's faces. These Saint Senanus immediately dispelled by the invocation of the true deity. The magician next raised thunder, lightning, and flashes: but these too vanished in the same manner as the former things.

[36] When the magician saw that all his devices and arts were mocked, he planned a temporary retreat, telling Senanus that he should not wait in the island for his return, at his own peril. Senanus asked where he was going. The magician replied: "You shall not know where I go or when I return."

"I know well," said Senanus; "neither will things go well for you where you are going, nor will you ever return here from there."

The event proved this most true: He is drowned in the Ocean. for the wretched magician, wishing for a time to devote himself intensely to his magical studies and to consulting the demon, turned aside to a certain small and deserted island called Dair-inis, situated not far from Inis-cathaigh to the south in the River Shannon. After he landed there, a more violent influx of the Ocean invaded the island and destroyed the magician with his followers. In memory of this miracle there is a place there which from that day to this, retaining its name from this magician, is called Carracnadruadh, that is, the rock of the druid or magician.

[37] Driven to fury by these events, the tyrant Shortly after this, Mactalius, returning from a certain assembly which he had been holding with the elders of the people in the region of Corcum-roia, when he learned of the magician's death, turned aside to Inis-cathaigh; and driven to fury by rage and impatience, he said to Saint Senanus: "Are you the one who invades my lands against my will, to possess them for yourself? Are you the one who has also destroyed my magician and my servants? Know for certain that you yourself will die by the same kind of death: for with a stone hung about your neck as punishment for your offenses, you will be cast headlong into the sea." And while Saint Senanus said that these things were not in his power, the tyrant, as if forgetful of himself, ordered that his horses, which had been entrusted to him, be well fed and guarded. And when the holy man replied that he was neither his stableman nor his horse-keeper, the tyrant said that he must, whether he wished or not, take care of the horses until he returned from the journey he had undertaken. To which Saint Senanus said: "The right hand of God is powerful enough that you may never return here." While Mactalius persisted with these threats and injuries, the two horses, over whose pasture he was thus contending with the man of God, were swallowed into the earth by the just balance of divine vengeance, at the place which is thenceforward called Fan-nan-each, that is, the slope or pit of the horses. while he continues to be injurious to the Saint, When he received news of this, he was made even more exasperated. His son wished to placate him and admonish him to deal more gently with the man of God, and to learn, at least from the example of what he had seen so far, to fear divine vengeance. The blasphemous tyrant said that he feared Senanus and his deity no more than one bald little sheep. "Truly," said Senanus, "though that little animal may be quite weak, it can, if my God so disposes, be the author and instrument of your death."

[38] and he himself pays the penalties of his blasphemy. While the most obstinate tyrant, full of rage and pride, was departing after so many injuries, threats, and blasphemies, as he was traveling near a certain forest in the region of Corco-bhaskind, behold, he saw a single bald little sheep running toward him with great speed. When it leapt between the feet of the horses drawing his chariot, the frightened horses, snorting and kicking, drove the chariot sideways and threw Mactalius headlong: his head struck against a rock lying in his path and was shattered to pieces, and he immediately breathed out his spirit, destined by an unhappy fate to enter the most wretched abyss of hell.

CHAPTER VI.

Affairs conducted in Inis-cathaigh by Saint Senanus: the arrival of Saint Cannera.

[39] On a certain day, the holy Donnanus, son of Liethus, a disciple of Saint Senanus, with two boys who were studying letters under him, Two boys drowned in the sea, went to a certain rock situated in the sea, to collect certain marine plants there. Having left the boys there, after he returned to the island, the tide of the sea carried away the little boat — which was then the only one they had on the island — and for want of a vessel the boys were stranded there, until they were drowned by the incoming surge of the sea. Their bodies were afterward brought to the island, a boat having been found. When the parents and friends learned this, they came running with weeping and wailing, and overcome by excessive grief, demanded that the sons entrusted to their care be returned safe.

[40] Then Saint Senanus said to Donnanus: "Command the dead boys in the name of the Savior and restored to life, to come to me at once." When he had done this, the boys, immediately restored to life and strength, ran to Saint Senanus, and said to their parents who were bending forward to embrace them that they had done ill in having them recalled from the most blessed homeland to which they had come. To whom their mothers said: "Do you choose rather to live in that place than here with us, with friends and kinsmen?" The sons replied that even if the kingdom of this world with all its joy and pleasure were granted to them, they would regard the whole of it as nothing but a prison in comparison with those delights which they had foretasted: wherefore they earnestly begged that they be allowed to return again to that felicity, pledging to their parents in the Lord they choose to die again. that they would conceive no sorrow over their death. When the parents for their part granted this permission, the holy man on God's behalf assented to their wishes. When he had led them to the monastery and refreshed them with the saving provisions of Holy Communion, shortly afterward, in thanksgiving and jubilation of mind, they happily fell asleep in the Lord. Their bodies, buried before the entrance, were the first to be laid beneath the soil of the monastery.

[41] When one day Saint Brendan and Saint Kieran came to Saint Senanus, to receive him as their spiritual father and confessor, since he was their superior in years and dignity (for he was a Bishop, while they were Presbyters), it happened that the cook had nothing Food is sent to Senanus in his need by a Prince, with which to refresh either the guests or the household brothers. When Nectanus Kenn-fhoda, Prince of Y-figinte, learned of this, he ordered his steward to take at once all the provision of food and drink that he had for the royal table to Saint Senanus and the other servants of God in Inis-cathaigh. The steward carried out the orders, and the Prince himself soon followed to the port of the island, and there offered and consecrated his services and allegiance and those of his posterity to Saint Senanus and the servants of Christ, and humbly received from them a generous blessing in return.

[42] and a spring gushes from the earth. It happened at one time that the island and the neighboring region were suffering from a scarcity of water due to great drought. After the monks had during the day made complaint about this want to their holy Father, an Angel appeared to the man of God in his sleep and admonished him to go with him to a certain nearby place where the mercy of the Lord would provide a living source of the desired spring. The man of God complied, and when at the Angel's command he had dug the ground a little there with his staff, at last a vein of the clearest spring burst forth, which the Angel said would remain unfailing as long as tears of penitence and compunction persisted on the island. Saint Senanus fixed in the margin of the spring the staff with which he had been digging there, which afterward grew into a nut tree that is seen there today.

[43] He repays the charity of Saint Kieran. One day, as Saint Kieran was making his way to visit Saint Senanus, he was met by a certain tattered and naked beggar, who with the most urgent and importunate entreaties begged alms of him. The most pious man, having nothing else at hand, took off and gave him his own cowl or monastic robe with which he was clothed, and thus he himself proceeded naked to the island. When Saint Senanus knew this in spirit, he ordered the monks to bring Saint Kieran, who was standing on the opposite shore, in a certain broken boat that was pervious to water (for they had no other at that time on the island). When they had done this, he himself ran to the holy man, carrying concealed beneath his garment a robe, and having clothed him, joyfully conducted him into the monastery.

[44] Saint Brigid, daughter of Conchrachus, of the family of Mactail, who had her cell at Cluainfidhead on the bank of the River Shannon, He receives the gifts of Saint Brigid sent down the river, prepared a cowl; and wishing to send it to Saint Senanus, but lacking someone to carry it across, she wrapped the cowl in hay, placed it in a wicker basket together with a letter in which she asked that the sacred Eucharist be sent to her, and committed it to the river, under the disposition of divine providence, to be carried to the holy man. Wondrous to tell! This rare sort of vessel, with no human assistance but guided solely by the grace of God, proceeded through the channel of the Shannon — vast in those parts — and came to rest directly on the shore near the holy man's church. When the servant of Christ knew this in spirit, he ordered one of the Deacons among his disciples to carry home the basket or hamper lying on the shore. When he had done this, the man of God, having extracted the cowl, and sends other things back to her upstream, placed two blocks of salt and a pyx containing the sacred Eucharist in the same basket, and commanded, on behalf of the Creator at whose nod every creature obeys, that the basket return by the way it had come and bring back to Saint Brigid one portion of the salt entrusted to it together with the pyx, and carry the other portion to Saint Diermitius, dwelling in the monastery of Inis-clothrand. The basket, according to the wondrous man's command, returned to Saint Brigid; and as soon as the handmaid of Christ had extracted the pyx and one block of salt, before she could extract the other, the basket, driven back by the force of the current, sprang away and proceeded on a direct course against the current and force of the river and landed directly at Inis-clothrand. and to Saint Diermitius. The holy Diermitius, when by the revealing grace of God he understood the matter as it had happened, ran up and gratefully carried the basket home, and blessed God in his wondrous servant.

[45] The holy virgin Cannera, a most devout handmaid of Christ, a native of the southern region of Ireland in the district of Benntraighe, while one night in her hermitage situated in her homeland she was keeping vigils and occupied in the contemplation of heavenly things, Saint Cannera, aroused by a heavenly vision, was rapt in spirit and beheld all the churches of Ireland as if lit up and burning, and their flames rising to the stars in a continuous whirl. Among the rest, however, there was one church which assailed the heavens with its flames in a more vehement and direct torrent. When she understood this to be the monastery of Saint Senanus, she resolved to set out for that place and there to await the hour of her departure to heaven. Wondrous is the condescension of God toward the faithful who trust exceedingly in his grace and providence! she goes to the monastery of Inis-cathaigh: For the virgin, without a companion, ignorant of the roads, trusting solely in Him who is the Way, the Truth, and the Life, set out to seek the church pointed out by so great a prodigy. But the whirl of flame which we have mentioned, flashing forth from that monastery, day and night

continually appearing to her, showed her the way, until she reached the port opposite Inis-cathaigh, and from there without a vessel she proceeded through the sea, as if through a level plain, with dry feet. When Saint Senanus understood this by the Lord's revelation, he ran to meet the holy virgin; and having first humbly greeted her, he asked her to be so good as to turn aside for the sake of hospitality to his mother, who was related to the virgin by blood and dwelt not far from there. Cannera replied that she had come to the island for this purpose: that she might have there her permanent lodging on earth.

[46] and from Senanus, who refuses to admit her, But Senanus, a most strict observer of monastic discipline, said that the island, sacred to men serving God in the purity of a life of withdrawal, did not admit the cohabitation of the female sex. The most devout virgin objected that God had assumed flesh no more for the sake of saving men than for saving women; that He had suffered no more for the former than for the latter; that the gate of heaven stood open indifferently to both sexes; and indeed that Christ and his disciples had by no means rejected the companionship of women who lived piously and ministered to them. At last, after several exchanges back and forth, the holy Virgin concluded that she asked nothing else on the island except that the sacred Eucharist be administered to her while living, and that when dead, so much of the earth on the nearby bank be granted as would suffice to hold her body. Senanus said that her tomb could not remain there because of the assault and battering of the ocean. She replied that this must be left to God's disposition, by whose grace she trusted that her body, guarded by the rampart of divine protection, she obtains leave to die there forthwith. would suffer no harm from the battering of the sea. The holy man at last consented, and to the Virgin received onto the shore (for while she had been speaking thus with him, she was standing upon the waves leaning on her staff, no differently than if she were supported by the firmness of the earth), he administered the sacred Eucharist, as she had requested. Having most devoutly received it, she immediately rendered her spirit to the most merciful Creator, who by his most gracious indulgence so satisfied the contrary desires of both the holy Virgin and Saint Senanus that she departed to the Lord and enjoyed a tomb in the place she desired, while he was freed from the annoyances of cohabitation with women, which he abhorred. For she was buried there, as she wished, near the bank of the Shannon; and not only was her sepulcher (as she predicted) not destroyed by the assaults of the sea, but it has also been observed that those who, about to undertake a voyage, devoutly visit it as a pilgrimage, complete their intended voyage safely and successfully.

CHAPTER VII.

The death of the Saint and miracles after death.

[47] Senanus, distinguished in virtues, Let these things said in summary suffice concerning the principal deeds of Saint Senanus: for anyone who wished to compose the full series of all his deeds and virtues would scarcely contain it within the bounds of a large volume. His daily exercises of virtue were wonderful: for he was constant in prayer, assiduous in fasting, tireless in works of charity, absorbed in the contemplation of heavenly things, vigilant in the care of governance; surpassed by none in love of worldly things, inferior to none in love of heavenly things; in the exercises of austerity more to be admired than imitated; in the opinion of all exalted in merits and virtues, in his own estimation the lowest and nothing.

[48] When the most holy man, having happily completed the course of his past life, He visits the cells of Saints Cassidanus and Scota: saw that the day was approaching on which, leaving this exile, he would depart to the homeland, he resolved to visit the cells of Saint Cassidanus, his teacher and first instructor, and of Saint Scota, daughter of Cobhthach, his aunt, and there for a time to devote himself more intently to prayer in seclusion and to prepare himself for the desired hour of departure. He went therefore, and on the way turned aside to the Church of Kill-eochaille to visit the holy Virgins whom he had veiled and instructed, the daughters of Nereus. Joyfully received by them, he was asked to provide their church with the Relics of some holy monk from among his disciples, as a Patron and Guardian. To which the holy man, inspired by God, replied that Relics of one who would protect and patronize them would not be wanting. Nor was truth wanting to his word; for after a few days he died. For when, after bidding them farewell, he was making his way to the church of Saint Cassidanus, and having completed his devotion there was returning, in a certain field near Kill-eochaille he heard a voice from heaven saying to him: at Kill-eochaille: "Servant of God, Senanus, you are called to heaven." Hearing this, the holy man, raising his eyes to heaven and giving thanks to the Most High from his heart, said to his companions that the hour of his rest was at hand, and that he would die on that day, and that his body was to be carried to his monastery on the following day.

[49] he dies: The man full of God, therefore, his mind raised to the heavenly dwelling to which he was hastening, on the Kalends of March rendered his spirit to the Creator around the twelfth hour of the day, and his body remained there in the convent of the virgins until the following day. On that day, having heard of the death of their most beloved master, the monks of Inis-cathaigh rushed there, and among others Odranus, Macinnillus, whence, about to be transferred, he leaves his thumb in that place. Ercus the Bishop, Mola the Bishop, and Segarius son of Blathius, and many other holy men. And while they were placing the sacred pledge on a bier to be carried to his monastery, they noticed the thumb of his right hand lying on the ground. And while they exalted this miracle with a voice of exultation, they found the wonder increased by another wonder: namely, that both hands of the holy man were completely intact, lacking neither thumb nor any other finger. Celebrating the novelty of so great a miracle with jubilation of heart and voice of praise, they recalled and perceived the prophecy or promise by which the holy man a little before, when the Virgins of that place had asked that the Relics of some Saint from the monastery of Inis-cathaigh be given them as a pledge of patronage, had predicted that their prayers would soon obtain their effect through God's providence. They perceived, I say, that this promise was being proved true and the things promised were being fulfilled. Therefore they reverently laid up this thumb as tutelary Relics in the convent of the Virgins.

[50] The funeral is honored with continuous light for eight days: After the pledge of the sacred body was brought to the monastery of Inis-cathaigh, having taken counsel they determined that the body of the man of God should not be committed to the earth until the Clergy of Limerick and the Prelates of the neighboring Churches and the Chiefs of the regions should be present to honor the burial of the man of God with their attendance. While they awaited the presence of the Prelates and Chiefs who had been summoned, and spent the days and nights in hymns and canticles and other sacred rites, the very heavens themselves seemed to applaud the obsequies of the holy man with Angelic apparitions and the brilliance and abundance of celestial flashes of light — so that from the first day on which he died until the eighth day of March there appeared what seemed to be one almost continuous day.

[51] After, on the eighth day, the elders of Limerick arrived — Bishop Deron, Moronocus the Penitentiary of Inis-Luaidne, On the solemn day of burial, Cuta or Ceta the Presbyter, Molocus surnamed the Devout of Inis-tiprad, and many other holy men — they first complained among themselves that the Church had suffered no small loss in the death of the holy man; especially since he had neither designated a successor, nor disposed of the affairs of the church or the state of the monastery as might be wished, nor confirmed by a last testament what had already been arranged and handed down. While the servants of Christ were piously anxious about these matters, Saint Senanus, rising again, behold, by an unheard-of prodigy the holy man sat up in the midst of the very bier, kindly greeted those present, and asked them to lay aside their pious anxiety, saying that he, existing in the heavenly homeland, would by the favor of divine mercy take no less care and account of his church than if he were living among men in mortal life. He commanded that the monks should now take the Blessed Odranus as Abbot: henceforward, he appoints Odranus as successor: successors were to be chosen not according to lineage and family, flesh or blood, but according to the excellence of merits and virtues. To his successors he bequeathed by testament gentleness toward subjects, hospitality toward pilgrims and the poor; to subjects, obedience and the rigor of regular observance. He exhorted both to flight from vices, zeal for piety and charity, and other exercises of virtue. And after this rather prolonged address before the multitude of bystanders (who, on account of the prodigies partly seen and partly heard, were rapt beyond themselves and absorbed in divine praises), he again fell asleep in the Lord. He dies again, and is renowned for miracles. His body was laid to rest with the greatest veneration in his own church, where to this day it has not ceased to shine with miracles.

[52] To these things, therefore, we append not the full series of all the wonders which Christ has wrought for his faithful servant after death — which would be nearly infinite — but a brief summary of a few more recent ones. In the time when Theodoric, son of Thaddaeus O'Brien, held the sovereignty of Thomond, it happened that a certain steward, The violator of the sanctuary of Inis-cathaigh, subject to the monastery of Saint Senanus, was found guilty of homicide in a serious dispute, and while he was being sought by the Prince's officers to pay the penalties for the crime committed, he fled for protection to the church of Saint Senanus — which in those parts was continually held to be a common city of refuge and an inviolable sanctuary. When the officers could not extract him from there or exact the punishments they had devised — being repulsed by the Superior of the place, who alleged the immunity and privileges of the church of the man of God and of its entire territory — they returned to the Prince, to whom they reported the matter as it had happened. and the oppressor of the monastery, Hearing this, Theodoric, moved with the greatest indignation, accompanied by a great troop of soldiers, went to the church of Saint Senanus and burdened it and its subject territory with the quartering and exactions of himself and his accompanying soldiers

that night, as also on the following night another church called Kill-mic-andubhain, subject to the monastery of the man of God. While he was staying there, Saint Senanus appeared to the Prior of the monastery of Inis-cathaigh, as if girded for a journey. When the Prior asked who he was and where he was going, he replied that he was Senanus and wished to go to exact from Theodoric the punishment deserved by his recklessness. he is fatally wounded by the Saint himself: And soon, that same night, he appeared to Theodoric himself, and with the tip of his staff inflicted as it were a wound on his leg, causing him extreme torment. And when Theodoric asked the cause of the wound inflicted, the Saint replied that it was the violence and injury done to his church and its subjects. And with these words he immediately vanished. Theodoric, however, upon waking, could never be healed of the wound inflicted, until in his torments he breathed out his soul.

[53] At another time a certain insolent nobleman, named Murchad O'Brien, likewise another who carries off a ship of the monastery by force, came to Inis-cathaigh, attended by a band of like-minded companions. When they wished to carry off by force a certain vessel belonging to the sacred place, the Prior and Clerics of the monastery came forward, begging that no injury be done to this inviolable and hitherto untouched place. And while the insolent men nonetheless persisted in their purpose, several parishioners ran up to bring aid to the Clergy. When it came to blows, the insolence of Murchad went so far that he gravely wounded with his own hand a certain Cleric from the assembly present, and afterward fled with his men. But lest what he had wickedly done go unpunished, the bitter vengeance of God pursued the fugitive: for on that very same night, Senanus appeared to him in his sleep, threatening the punishments deserved for the violation of his sanctuary and the crime committed. When he could avert these by neither prayer nor payment, he felt and cried out that his left side had been pierced by the staff of the man of God. And when his wife and household asked the cause of his cries and pains, he related that for the injury done to the Clerics he had been fatally pierced by Saint Senanus, and therefore, since death was at the door, he asked and arranged for his will to be drawn up at once.

[54] At a certain time Richard de Clare, likewise Richard de Clare for plundering the church, with armed force invaded the borders of the region of Corco-bhaskind, devastating everything with fire and sword, making no distinction or account of either the ecclesiastical or the secular estate. And after, among other crimes, he had plundered the church of Saint Senanus, the clergy and people of Saint Senanus's territory, having poured forth a common prayer to their Patron, demanded that a just punishment be inflicted on the reckless invader for the sacrilege committed. Nor was the prayer without answer: for on the following night Saint Senanus appeared to the Sacristan of the monastery, to whom he announced that the prayers poured forth had been heard and that he would exact from Richard an account of the immunity of his church and territory. Without delay, he immediately appeared to Richard himself, whom he struck with his staff and rendered mindless and delirious, until after three days he fell in a hostile encounter and was killed by an enemy hand without resistance.

[55] For the restoration of a burnt church, an unfailing supply of lime is found, Among the churches of the man of God there was one, after Inis-cathaigh the most dear to him and more venerable to the people, named Kill-challige. As the devotion of the people gradually cooled, it was turned into a barn; and since the man of God was offended by this, a sparrow carrying a burning straw from a nearby fire set it ablaze. While the people considered restoring the one that had been burned down and prepared lime and mortar for this purpose, Saint Senanus, appearing in a vision to a certain steward named Senaninus O'Hettromain, commanded him to dig deeper near the house of the daughter of Y-bhmachain, where he would find as much lime as would suffice for the rebuilding of the church. He obeyed the admonition and found lime sufficient, as had been promised, and they afterward used it for the construction in such a way that no matter how much they removed from it for use in the building, the remaining mass still appeared without any decrease.

[56] The power of this miraculously discovered lime was afterward remarkable for the immediate cure of both sick people and diseased cattle: thereafter of wondrous power against diseases. which, to omit other examples, is readily evident from the cure of a certain kid, which a certain woman living near the aforesaid church, having it with its back and legs broken, threw into the deep lime kiln, affirming on oath and saying: "By my faith, you shall not come out of there until the power of Saint Senanus is manifested in you." Wondrous thing! Having left the kid there that night, when she returned in the morning she found the kid with its back and legs fully restored, and its udders full of milk. This milk afterward had such power against every kind of disease that, offered to the Princes and Prelates of those parts, it was regarded as a great gift.

[57] At another time, Donatus, son of Donald, who held power in the region of Corco-bhaskind, Donatus plunders the churches of Saint Senanus, instigated by Satan, went to plunder the churches of Saint Senanus and to carry off by violent force the herds from the stewards. After the churches of Kill-nacallige, Kill-caritain, and Ros-anaircheil had been plundered, the Vicar of Saint Senanus and of the other churches and the other Clergy of that region, leading out all their Relics in solemn procession, went to Donatus; and alleging the immunity of the sacred places, they demanded that he restore what had been taken. If he should refuse, after excommunication is despised, they threatened that he would incur the curse of God, of Saint Senanus, and of the other Saints by whose burial and Relics those churches were consecrated. But he, hardened, despised everything. Against the despiser, they turned to the sword of the church, and all together, striking their cymbals and bells, they thundered the aforesaid curse: by which the reckless invader was at first deprived of his senses, but then, persisting obstinately in impiety, he became worse. For he burdened them all with the most oppressive load of mercenary soldiers, to whom they had to pay both sustenance and wages in excessive quantity, and is punished with death together with his men; for half a year. At the end of that time, when he led fattened calves out to the field, he himself and his brothers, who had previously been his accomplices in inflicting injuries and violence on the churches of God and Saint Senanus, together with all the aforesaid mercenary soldiers, perished at the same time. Only Bernard escaped, who had not cooperated with his brothers in the injury done to the churches.

[58] as also another who violated the rights of the sacred place: On another occasion, Mathgamanius, otherwise called Matthew, son of Donald son of Murchertach, approached with armed force to carry off certain herds that had been committed to the sacred refuge of Saint Senanus. When he found the Vicar of Saint Senanus and the inhabitants of that place opposing his violence, he attempted to slay the Vicar by shooting two arrows at him; which, however, having lightly touched his garments, did not penetrate them. Seeing this, the man in his fury leapt upon the cattle and slaughtered a cow; but before he or his companions had wholly consumed it, he was seized with a fatal disease and soon perished.

[59] At another time, certain wicked robbers, having entered the territory of Saint Senanus, others who dared the same thing, stole one cow from the herds of a certain venerable Presbyter surnamed Hua-Riginn. Slaughtering it at a certain distant marsh, they hid its skin with the enclosed calf in a deep pit of the marsh. A public search was made for the lost cow under penalty of incurring the curse of Saint Senanus, long but in vain. The robbers, returning to the pit after a full month, pulled out the skin, and from the skin the calf — but alive, they are moved to repentance by a miracle. and uttering three loud bellowings. Seized with wonder and astonishment at the miracle, they acknowledged their guilt; they returned to the Presbyter; they confessed the crime committed, which had been betrayed by the miracle; they promised amendment and satisfaction.

[60] Stones are miraculously supplied for building a church. When a council of Clerics was once convened at the church of Saint Senanus, among other things it was decreed that a chapel should be erected to the Virgin Mother. But when a difficulty arose because stones suitable for dressing or for making lime were lacking, they departed that day perplexed. On the following day, however, one of the Clerics going out found near the church stones most suitable for completing the entire sacred edifice. Let these few miracles wrought through Saint Senanus after death, out of many, suffice.

APPENDIX

from Albert le Grand on the Saints of Armorica.

Senanus, Bishop and Abbot, in Ireland (Saint)

FROM IRISH MANUSCRIPTS.

[61] The spring of Saint Senanus, There is on the same island of Saint Senanus a spring, held in great esteem and veneration by all the people of Munster and Thomond, especially by the merchants of Limerick, who, descending through the estuaries of the River Shannon toward the Ocean, if they lack a favorable wind, make a landing on the island in the manner of pilgrims, present themselves to the Saint, carry water drawn in his name to their ships, and, taught by frequent experience, have no doubt whatsoever that, through the interceding merits of this Saint, within the space of twenty-four hours they will be borne along by the desired winds.

[62] From the sepulcher of the same holy Bishop, pebbles

are drawn out, and pebbles taken from the sepulcher, tinged with a pale green color such as that of olives, and they are held as sacred Relics. The water with which they have been washed, when taken as a drink, is believed to preserve one from plague and other contagiously harmful diseases. That these same pebbles, when carried with religious confidence, are a present safeguard in shipwrecks, a certain merchant made proof in these recent years, whose ship a sudden squall had overturned on the high sea: he himself, having invoked the name of the Saint (whose sacred pebbles he had with him), felt himself propelled safely to shore, although he had nothing at hand on which he could lean and hope to escape death. On another occasion the same merchant, having his brother as a traveling companion, likewise fortified with so powerful an amulet, suffered shipwreck when a storm arose; from which both escaped safe, while nine companions were drowned, who had not taken care to provide themselves with such assistance.

[63] Of entirely recent memory is what happened under Elizabeth, [Under Elizabeth, one was sent to compel the people to abjure the primacy of the Pope,] daughter of Henry VIII; who, having suppressed the rebels O'Neill and O'Donnell, and having brought the island of Ireland under her power, intent on utterly exterminating the Catholic religion, expelled the Bishops from their sees and substituted in their place other defenders of heretical schism, among whom a certain Bernardulus was designated for the church of Limerick, so called from the measure of his body, being uncommonly tiny below the average. This Pseudo-bishop, therefore, while making a circuit to visit his new diocese, had also resolved to sail to the island of Inis-cathaigh, to compel the inhabitants to abjure the primacy of the Apostolic See and to acknowledge the supreme authority of the Queen, even in the government of the Church. But having heard the examples of those who had presumed to violate the lands sacred to Senanus, he contented himself with sending one of his chief ministers with an associate of lower rank, who should carry out the Queen's commands. The man crossed over, attended by a military guard, and by public proclamation ordered that all should be present the next day in the temple of the Mother of God, to hear and obey the commands of the Royal Majesty. All assembled before the appointed time, but to commit themselves and their affairs to the most pious Mother and their holy Patron, with great urgency of most fervent prayers, which the event declared to have been by no means in vain.

[64] first he is severely beaten by the invisible Senanus, That night, after a fine supper, the minister had retired to bed and was now closing his eyes in sleep, when he began to feel the presence of the invisible Senanus, from blows inflicted by his episcopal staff upon a body tossed about the bed. The wretch immediately cried out, wailing that he was being killed. His host rose, and with a light brought in, both the host himself and the associate, who had begun to see the whole thing in his sleep, together with the attendants roused by their lord's cries, surrounded the miserable man. For two solid hours, during which he was tossed about in this manner, they were unable to bring any aid. When the Saint had released him, bruised in every limb, although he himself could not leave the bed that day, he still refused to desist from his purpose of carrying out the sacrilege on the following day — the leading men of the island availing nothing, who freely declared that this was the vengeance of Saint Senanus, and that if he wished to escape it, he should merit pardon for the intended crime by praying humbly beneath the powerful hand of the avenger. But the tale was told to deaf ears: he swore and forswore that neither by their Saint nor by anyone else would he be prevented from entering the church the next day, carrying out the Queen's orders, and driving out the abominations of Roman idolatry from the entire island.

[65] This was to kick against the goad. On the following night the Saint was again present in that bedroom then treated much more severely by the same Saint, now visible, in which the sick man occupied one bed and his associate another, about to sleep: and he was present not, as before, invisibly, but in a great light, in Pontifical vestments and mitre, carrying a crosier in his right hand. He drew back the curtains of the bed, and with a severe and stern voice, rebuking the reckless and incredulous man, dragged him from the bedclothes, dashed him to the floor, and did not cease to redouble his blows, to strike his sides, and to inflict wounds, until, wretchedly rolling in his own blood, the blasphemer almost breathed out his spirit. In vain the man tried to rouse his servants with cries and to seek help: the doors of the room could neither be opened nor broken in by any force. And the associate in crime, who lay in the same room as a spectator of the punishment, fearing a similar fate for himself at every moment, was unfit to bring any assistance. Therefore, when the Saint withdrew and the door was unlocked, giving the attendants access to the man lying there, he dies miserably. he thought no more of the sacrilege entrusted to him, but hastening to leave the island, he ordered himself to be placed on the ship, to be conveyed back to Limerick with his retinue as soon as it grew light. There, on the fourth day after his return, the wretch breathed out his soul, obstinate in heresy and impenitence. To the rest, however, his misfortune struck such terror that from that time no one was found who would attempt to lead the inhabitants of the island of Inis-cathaigh away from their ancestral religion.