James O'Leary

“ But the bishop in nowise yielded unto them, accounting himself no longer worthy to exercise the priestly office; since from his mouth had issued a purposed falsehood, the which the sacred canons define to be sacrilege in the mouth of a priest. Whereby it is to be considered how deeply should they repent who of their own fault have fallen into the heaviest offences, when this holy man so deeply repented of, and so strictly atoned for, one falsehood alone. Alas! what hearts of clay do they bear unto the resistance of sin, but what hearts of stone unto repentance! ”

“ Whereby was it plainly given to be understood that the darkness of night obscured not Patrick, the son of life, the inhabiter of eternal brightness, while the night was to him the illumination of his joys, while he ascended unto the light without spot, the day without night, the sun without eclipse. ”

“ Thus being made Christians, they besought the saint that according to his promise he would show unto them the face of Christ, their beloved Spouse. And the saint thus answered: "Ye must first, with the mouth of your heart and of your body, devoutly receive the flesh and the blood of your Spouse, so that, being quickened with the living food, and having tasted of death, ye may pass from this impure world unto the starry bride-chamber." ”

“ O profitable, delightful deception! whereby falsehood is excluded and truth induced; whereby the time is beguiled, and the night is stolen away, and one day is made to appear as three days. Nor let the reader admire for that I call it a deception when the prophet exclaimeth unto his Creator, "O Lord! Thou hast deceived me," and when the Apostle Paul sayeth unto certain of his disciples, "Being crafty, I deceived you with guile." Kind deception which saveth souls! Blessed seduction which induces unto God! ”

“ Who, I pray you, can estimate in his mind the merit of Patrick? What tongue can sufficiently praise him to whom, while yet living on earth, it was given to behold the King of Glory, whom the angels desire to behold face to face, and who was permitted to declare unto men what he had been taught from the lips of the Most Highest? And the Lord promised unto Patrick that He would hear his prayers, and that He would be his assistant in all his acts to be done by him. ”

“ Choose, now, whether in this valley of tears, this world of tribulation and sorrow, shall thy years be prolonged, or whether, the misery of this life being instantly ended, thou wilt be carried up by the angels of light, and enter into the joy of the Lord thy God. ”

“ But the right hand of the Lord, which erewhile had smote his enemy with consuming fire, was magnified in strength, and in His manifold power swept this evil-doer from the face of the earth. For the earth, cleaving asunder, opened her mouth and swallowed up the magician who had so often defiled himself with so many evil deeds, and, closing again, plunged him into the abyss. ”

“ Our God is the true light illumining every man at his entrance into the world; our God, who came to send upon earth that fire which He desireth should burn in the hearts of the faithful: for the word of the Lord is bright, and his speech is as fire ”

“ And in that church the holy prelate stood before the altar on a certain day, celebrating the divine mysteries, when an evil-doer, a bondsman of Satan, thrusting with accursed boldness a rod through the window, overturned the chalice, and sacrilegiously poured out on the altar the holy sacrifice. But the Lord instantly and terribly avenged this fearful wickedness, and in a new and unheard-of manner destroyed the impious man. ”

“ O illustrious miracle! even from the beginning of the world unheard, but now experienced by tribes, by peoples, and by tongues, known unto all nations, but to the dwellers in Hibernia especially needful! And at this marvellous yet most profitable sight, a numerous assembly was present; many of whom had flocked from all parts to behold miracles, many to receive the word of life. ”

“ Then the saint rejoicing at his devotion said unto him, "For the sign of power and protection, and for the proof of thy spiritual worth, shall thou bear thy shield and thy sceptre; the name of a laic shalt thou show; but the mind and the merit of a monk shall thou possess, inasmuch as many saints shall proceed from thee, and many nations shall in thy seed be blessed." And he signed his shield with the sign of the staff of Jesus, declaring that no one of his progeny who should carry this shield in battle should ever by any one be vanquished. ”

“ Patrick, after his servitude and his affliction, obtained the primacy of the especial and spiritual dominion of Ireland. Joseph refreshed with corn the Egyptians oppressed by famine; Patrick, in process of time, fed with the salutary food of the Christian faith the Irish perishing under idolatry. To each was affliction sent for the profit of his soul, as is the flail to the grain, the furnace to the gold, the file to the iron, the wine-press to the grape, and the oil-press to the olive. ”

“ Patrick afterwards blessed Eoghan, with his sons. "Which of your sons is dearest to you?" asked Patrick. "Muiredhach," said he. "Sovereignty from him for ever," said Patrick. "And next to him?" asked Patrick. "Fergus," answered he. "Dignity from him," said Patrick. "And after him?" asked Patrick. "Eocha Bindech," said Eoghan. "Warriors from him," said Patrick. "And after him?" asked Patrick. "They are all alike to me," answered Eoghan. "They shall have united love," said Patrick. ”

“ Then the saint commanded one of his disciples, by name Malachia, by nation a Briton, that he should restore unto life the dead and mangled youth. But he, disobeying and disbelieving the word of the saint from the faint-heartedness of his faith, thus answered: "Who is the man that may replace the bones which are broken in pieces, renew the nerves, and restore the flesh, recall the spirit to the body, and the life to the dead corpse? ”

“ And while arrayed in armor they rose unto arms, they heard a voice from heaven, which seemed as the voice of Saint Patrick, staying their violence; and the sea, rising above its wonted bounds, reared itself as a wall, and separated the contending people, so that they could neither behold nor attack one the other ”

“ The divine Providence bestoweth on this transitory world the desire of letters, to the end that the human race, which when death arrives cannot long continue in the memory, may through distant ages preserve the record of great events, and recall them as if passing before their eyes. ”

“ But when he would have continued to read, he seemed in the spirit to hear the Irish infants which were yet unborn crying unto him with a loud voice, "O holy youth Patrick! we beseech thee come unto us, and abide with us, and release us!" And Patrick, being pierced therewith in his heart, could not finish the letter; but awaking, he gave infinite thanks to God, for he was assured by the vision that the Lord had set him apart, even from his mother's womb, had by His grace called him to convert and to save the Irish nation, which seemed to desire his presence among them. ”

“ But as the boy Patrick was one day in the fields with his flock, a wolf, rushing from the neighboring wood, caught up a ewe-lamb, and carried it away. Returning home at evening from the fold, his aunt chided the boy for negligence or for sloth; yet he, though blushing at the reproof, patiently bore all her anger, and poured forth his prayers for the restoration of the ewe-lamb. In the next morning, when he brought the flock to the pasture, the wolf ran up, carrying the lamb in his mouth, laid it at Patrick's feet, and instantly returned to the wood. ”

“ For in the night season the prince of darkness rushed on him, and oppressed him as with the weight of a huge stone, and, falling on him, the tempter took from him all sense and motion, causing to him darkness and heaviness, and for the space of three days ceased not to torment and lash him beyond human power to endure. ”

“ But the saint, desiring to gain him unto Christ, met him with true and lively arguments, persuading him from the very kinds and natures of all created things to believe that God was the Creator of all; and, that he might the more thoroughly lead him into the way of truth, he promised unto him a miracle, saying, "Now that the power of all thy limbs and of all thy senses fail thee, and are nearly dead, and that thy life is almost gone from thee, if Christ should restore unto thee the strength of the grace of thy early youth, wouldst thou not be bound of right to believe in Him?" ”

“ And the boy of holy disposition, compassionating the tears of his nurse and the miserable state of his foster-father, approached him lying there lifeless, and he prayed over him and blessed him, and signed him on his head and on his breast with the sign of life, and he embraced him, and raised him up, and restored him unto her alive and safe. ”

“ A thousand years in thy sight are but as yesterday, which is passed. But even on these things Moccheus still doubting, the saint thus pronounced, or rather prophesied: "Since thou disbelievest the Holy Scriptures, by thine own experience shalt thou prove the truth of its records; for even to the length of three hundred years shall thy life be prolonged, nor until that time is passed shalt thou enter into the joy of the Lord." And Moccheus afterward repented him of his want of faith, but the sentence pronounced by the Holy Spirit through the mouth of Patrick could not be revoked. ”

“ And afterward she loved Saint Benignus with a pure and a saintly love, and she confessed that through his merits Saint Patrick had snatched her from the fire of hell. Now, for me, I do much more admire this quickening and refreshing of the soul unto life than the raising up of any man from death. ”

“ Is there anything else granted to me?" asked Patrick. "There is," answered the angel; "the great sea to come over Erinn seven years before the Judgment; and depart from the Cruachan."
"I will not depart," said Patrick, "since I have been tormented, until I am gratified." "Is there anything more you demand?" asked the angel. "There is," answered Patrick; "that Saxons may not occupy Eriu, by consent or force, whilst I shall be in heaven." "It shall be granted thee," said the angel; "and depart from Cruachan." "I will not depart," said Patrick, "since I have been tormented, until I am gratified. ”

“ Know ye, beloved children, in that place shall a certain son of life, named Colmanclus, build a church, and gather together many who will be the children of light and fellow-citizens of the angels. And he will become the prelate and the legate of all Hibernia; and being eminent in his virtues and his miracles, after he shall have closed the darkness of this life, he will be conveyed by the angels of God unto eternal light and eternal rest. ”

“ The which when Patrick heard, taught by the Divine Spirit, he knew that the vessel of evil was hardened in reprobation, prepared in no wise for correction, but rather for perdition; and thus he prayed unto the Lord: "O Lord God, as thou knowest this vulpine man to be monstrous in vice, do thou in a monstrous mode cast him forth from the face of the earth, and appoint an end unto his offences!" ”

“ And now, the cloud of unbelief, by whose eclipse the people of Hibernia so long had wanted the warmth and the light of the true sun, being dispersed, now did the tongue, the life, the virtue of the blessed Patrick, so long as the breath and the Spirit of God were in his nostrils, avail unto the things which were begun, continued, and ended in the Lord; giving the knowledge of salvation, affording the example of holiness, extending the remedy of all diseases. ”

“ And from a neighboring hill beholding the idol, he stretched forth in prayer his spotless hands unto God, and lifted against it the staff of Jesus, when suddenly, by the power of God, the idol fell on its left side, and all the silver and the gold poured from it broken and powdered into dust; but on the hard stone of the image was seen impressed the mark of the staff, though it had touched it not; and the earth swallowed up the twelve inferior gods, even to their necks, and their heads continue above the ground unto this day. ”

“ But a certain damsel discovered the contrived snare, and she hastened to show it unto the man of God, that he might avoid the mischief. Then he, trusting in the Lord, commanded his people to drive forward the horses, and, having blessed them, he passed over with unfailing foot. For the soft and tender herbage supported them like the solid earth, inasmuch as the holy troop bore in their hearts and on their bodies Him who bore all things. And the priest of God sent the damsel unto her father, that she might bring him into his presence to receive the salvation of his soul. ”

“ Immediately his fingers shone even as sunbeams, and wonderfully illumining the whole country, turned darkness into light, and night into day. Then by the aid of this radiant miracle the chariot-driver found his steeds, and led them rejoicing to the father, and yoked them unto the chariot. And he, the bearer and the preacher of the heavenly light, his fingers ceasing to shine, yet ceasing not to pour forth the purest and freshest myrrh, ascended the chariot on the morning of the succeeding day, as was his custom ”

“ Nine Evil-doers are consumed by Fire from Heaven, and a Fountain is produced out of the Earth.
And nine evil-doers contriving the death of Patrick, the herald of life, pretended to be monks and ministers of righteousness; and they put on them white cowls, that the easier might they destroy the saint, who was clothed in the same habit. And herein did they imitate their preceptor, Satan, the angel of darkness, who sometimes transfigureth himself into an angel of light, and unto whom in their arts and in their acts they paid obedience. ”

“ For he abode in the mountains, and in the woods, and in the caves of the wilderness, and having leisure for prayer, and knowing how kind was the Lord, freely and more freely did he pour forth the incense of his supplications in the presence of the Most High; and an hundred times in the day and an hundred times in the night did he on his bended knees adore his Creator, and often did he pray for a long time fasting, and, nourishing himself with the roots of herbs and with the lightest food, did he mortify his members which were stretched upon the earth. ”

“ Is He beautiful, or have many fostered His son, or is His daughter handsome, and dear to men of the world?" St. Patrick, full of the Holy Spirit, responded, "Our God is the God of all, the God of heaven and earth, the God of the seas and rivers, the God of the sun and moon, and all the other planets; the God of the high hills and low valleys; God over heaven, in heaven, and under heaven; and He has a mansion, i.e., heaven, and the earth, and the sea, and all things that are in them. He inspireth all things. He quickeneth all things. He enkindleth all things. ”

“ For all Eire's good clergy were come
To bury Saint Patrick with pride;
And the sounds of the singing from heaven
Cast them sleeping all round, far and wide.
XXXII.
Saint Patrick's pure soul fled his frame
(His works immortality make) ”

“ I have vowed to my God to teach these people, though I should be despised by them, to whom I have written with my own hand to be given to the soldiers to be sent to Coroticus—I do not say to my fellow-citizens, nor to the fellow-citizens of pious Romans, but to the fellow-citizens of the devil, through their evil deeds and hostile practices. They live in death, companions of the apostate Scots and Picts, blood-thirsty men, ever ready to redden themselves with the blood of innocent Christians, numbers of whom I have begotten to God and confirmed in Christ. ”

“ And their visions were true, as we know
From the facts which his histories paint.
XII.
Renowned was Saint Patrick through life,
And of error he was a dire foe;
Hence for ever his name shall be grand
Among the nations, as ages shall flow. ”