Part 6

Accordingly I shall relate a short memoir of the signs and wonders of that devout one, for a delight of soul to the Faithful; and of his earthly generation, and of his mode of life,[4] and of the perfection which he gave to his victorious course in the earth. A man held greatly in honour of the Lord was this man. A man for whom God reserved his monastery, fifty years before his birth; a man whom Christ accounteth in the order of apostles in this world, as Colum Cille said--

_Quem Tu Christe apostolum mundo misisti hominem._

A lamp was he, shining with the light of wisdom and doctrine, as Colum Cille said--

_Lucerna huius insulae lucens luce mirabili._

A man who established a cathedral from which was drawn the effectiveness of rule, and wisdom, and doctrine, for all the churches of Ireland, as the same man of learning said--

_Custodiantur regmina adcessione edita Diuulgata per omnia sanctorum monasteria_[5]--

that is, "Let the rules and doctrines and customs which have been received from the master, from Ciaran, be kept by the elders of these monasteries; thus, these are the rules and customs that have been distributed and received of all the monasteries of saints of Ireland." For it is from her [Clonmacnois] that are carried rules and precepts throughout Ireland.

He is a man whom the Lord accounteth of the order of chief prophets in this world, as the same prophet said--

_Propheta qui nouissimus fuerit praesagminibus,_[6]

for it was by reason of his nobility and his reverence before the Lord that he was foretold of prophets long before his birth, as Isaac was foretold, and John the Baptist, and Jesus, which is something yet nobler.[7] First Patrick son of Calpurn prophesied of him in Cruachan Aigli, after the tree had closed around his relics in the place where that settlement is now. Brigit prophesied of him when she saw the fire and the angel, fifty years before Ciaran, in the place where the Crosses of Brigit are to-day. Becc mac De prophesied, saying there--

Son of the wright with choruses, with choirs, In comely cloak, with chariots, with chants.

Colum Cille prophesied in Ard Abla to Aed son of Brandub (or of Brenainn).

II. THE ORIGIN AND BIRTH OF CIARAN: THE WIZARD'S PROPHECIES

2. Now this is the genealogy of Ciaran--

Ciaran, son of Lairne, son of Bresal, son of Beoit " Cuiltre " Dega " Olchan " Gluinech " Reo-soirche, son of Dichu " Coirpre " Reo-doirche " Corc " Lug " Tigernmas " Cuindiu " Meidle " Follach " Cuinnid " Dub " Eithrial " Fiac " Lugna " Irel the prophet, son of Mael-Catrach, son of Feidlimid " Eremon " Laire " Echu " Mil of Spain.

Beoit son of Olchan of the Latharna of Mag Molt of the Ulaid was earthly father of Ciaran. Darerca daughter of Ercan son of Buachall was his mother, as Ciaran said--

Mother mine, a woman good, she Darerca hight; Father, of Molt's Latharna he was Beoit the wright.

Of the Ciarraige of Irluachra was his mother, that is, more especially, of the Glasraige. Glas the Poet was her grandfather. Now this was the cause of the coming together of those twain. When Beoit went to visit his brethren who were in the territory of Cenel Fiachrach, and when he saw the maiden Darerca before him, he asked for her of her [friends and her][8] parents, so that she was given him to wife. Thereafter she bore five sons to him, and this is the order in which they were born: Lucoll her firstborn, Donnan the second, Ciaran the third, Odran the fourth, Cronan the fifth--he was a deacon, but the other four sons were archpresbyters. Furthermore she bore three daughters to him; two of them were virgins, to wit Lugbec and Rathbeo; Pata was the third daughter, and she was a pious widow. These are the graveyards wherein are the relics of those saints; Lucholl and Odran in Isel Chiarain, Donnan and Ciaran in Cluain maccu Nois, Cronan the deacon and Beoit and the three daughters in _Tech meic in tSaeir_.

Now there was an impious king in the land of Ui Neill at that time, Ainmire son of Colgan his name. He impressed the tribelands and the septs under a grievous tax. So Beoit went, a-fleeing from that king, into the land of the Connachta, to Cremthann son of Lugaid son of Dallan King of Ireland, to Raith Cremthainn in Mag Ai. The day on which Ciaran was conceived was the sixth of the calends of June, and he was born on the sixth of the calends of March.

The birth of Ciaran was prophesied by Lugbrann the wizard of the aforesaid king. The wizard _dixit_--

Oengus' steed he made alive, while he yet in cradle rested; God this marvel did contrive, by Ciaran, in swathing vested.

One day when the wizard heard the sound of the carriage [he spake thus: "See, lads," said he, "who is in the carriage][9]--for here is the sound of a carriage that bears a king." When the lads went out they saw no one save Beoit and Darerca in the carriage. When the lads mocked the wizard, thus spake he: "The child who is in the womb of the woman," said he, "shall be a great king: as the sun shineth among the stars of heaven, so shall he shine, in signs and wonders that cannot be related, upon the earth."

Thereafter was Saint Ciaran born, in Mag Ai at Raith Cremthainn. He was baptized by deacon Iustus, for it was fitting that the true one should be baptized by a True One.

III. HOW CIARAN RAISED THE STEED OF OENGUS FROM DEATH

3. A certain day the horse of Oengus son of Cremthann died, and he had great sadness because of the death of his horse. Now when Oengus slumbered, an angel of God appeared to him in a dream, and thus he spake with him: "Ciaran son of the wright shall come, and shall raise thy horse for thee." And this was fulfilled, for Ciaran came at the word of the angel, and blessed water, and it was put over the horse, and the horse arose from death forthwith. Then Oengus gifted a great land to God and to Ciaran in return for the raising of the horse; Tir-na Gabrai is the name of the land.

IV. HOW CIARAN TURNED WATER INTO HONEY

4. A certain day his mother upbraided him. "The little village lads," said she, "bring with them honey out from the combs to their folks, but thou bringest it never to us." When Ciaran heard that, he went to a certain spring, and he fills his vessel from it, and blesses it: so that it became choice honey, and he gives that honey to his mother; so she was thankful. That is the honey which was given to deacon Uis (= Iustus) as a fee for baptizing him.

V. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM A HOUND

5. A certain day evil men incited a savage hound against Ciaran, to tear him. When Ciaran saw the hound, he sang this verse: _Ne tradas bestiis animam confitentem tibi._ And when he said this the hound fell forthwith and did not rise again.

VI. HOW CIARAN AND HIS INSTRUCTOR CONVERSED THOUGH DISTANT FROM ONE ANOTHER

6. This was the labour that his parents used to lay upon him, namely, herding, after the likeness of David son of Jesse, and of Jacob, and of the elders thenceforth, for God knew that he would be a wise shepherd of great flocks, that is, the flocks of the Faithful. Thereafter a marvellous thing took place at Raith Cremthainn in Mag Ai: he was keeping the flocks of [his parents at Raith Cremthainn, and there was dwelling][10] his tutor, deacon Uis, at Fidharta, and there was a long space between them: yet he used to hear what his tutor was saying as though they were side by side.

VII. CIARAN AND THE FOX

7. Then there came a fox to Ciaran from out the wood, and behaved tamely with him. It would often visit him, so that he bade it do him a service, namely, to carry his book of Psalms between him and his teacher, deacon Uis. For when he would say in Fidharta, "Say this in the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit," Ciaran would hear in Raith Cremthainn, from that on to the end of the lesson; and the fox would be awaiting the lesson obediently till its writing on wax was completed, and thereafter he would carry it with him to Ciaran.[11]

Once on a time his natural treacherousness broke forth in the fox, and he began to eat the book: for he was greedy for the leather that was bound around the book outside. While he was eating the book, there came Oengus son of Cremthann with kernes and with hounds, so that they chased him, and he found no sanctuary till he came under the cloak of Ciaran. The name of God and Ciaran's were magnified by the rescue of the book from the fox and by the rescue of the fox from the hounds. The book is what is now called the "Tablet of Ciaran."

Most consonant with these things is it for evil men who are near to the Church, and who profit by the advantages of the Church--communion, and baptism, and food, and teaching--and withal stay not from persecuting the Church, until there come upon themselves the persecution of some king, or mortality, or a disease unknown: and then they needs must flee under the protection of the Church, as the fox went under the cloak of Ciaran![12]

VIII. HOW CIARAN SPOILED HIS MOTHER'S DYE

8. A certain day the mother of Ciaran was making blue dye, and she had reached the point of putting the garments therein. Then said his mother to him, "Get thee out, Ciaran." For they thought it unbecoming that males should be in the house when garments were being dyed. "May there be a dun stripe upon them!" said Ciaran. Of all the garments that were put into the dye, there was not one that had not a dun stripe upon it. The dye is prepared again, and his mother said, "Go out, Ciaran, this time, and now, Ciaran, let there be no dun stripe." Then he said--

Alleluia Domine! White my mother's dye let be! When in my hand it's gone, Be it white as bone! When boiling it is stirred, Be it white as curd!

Accordingly every garment that was placed therein was of a uniform whiteness. For the third time is the dye made. "Ciaran," said his mother, "hurt me not the dye now, but let it receive a blessing from thee." When Ciaran blessed the dye, never was dye made so good, before or since; for though all the garments of Cenel Fiachrach (_sic_) were placed in its _iarcain_, it would turn them blue; and at the last it turned blue the dogs and the cats and the trees that came in contact with it.

IX. HOW CIARAN RESTORED A CALF WHICH A WOLF HAD DEVOURED

9. Once he was tending kine. A miserable wolf came to him. Now this was a habitual expression with him, "Mercy on us." [He said to the wolf in compassion][13] "Rise and devour the calf and break or eat not its bones." The wolf went and did so. When the cow lowed a-seeking the calf, his mother spake thus to him: "Tell me, Ciaran, where is the calf of this cow? Let the calf be restored by thee, whatsoever death it has died." Ciaran went to the place where the wolf had devoured the calf, and collected the bones of the calf, and brought them before the cow, and the calf arose and stood up. _Ut dixit_--

One day when, assiduously Ciaran the kine was havening, He a calf for charity Gave to a wolf ravening.[14]

X. HOW CIARAN WAS DELIVERED FROM ROBBERS

10. A certain day there came robbers from Ui Failge to slay people [in the land][15] of Cenel Fiachach, and they found Saint Ciaran a-reading with his herds; and they went forward to slay him. But they were smitten with blindness, and could stir neither foot nor hand, till they wrought repentance, and were loosed by the word of God and of Ciaran.

XIV. HOW CIARAN GAVE THE KING'S CAULDRON TO BEGGARS AND WAS ENSLAVED

11. Another time his father sent him to present a cauldron to the king, even to Furban. There met him poor men on the way, and [Ciaran][16] gifts the king's cauldron to them. So he was put in bonds then, and slavery was imposed on him at the king's hands; and this was the labour put upon him, to grind at the quern. Then great marvels came to pass, for when he went to grind at the quern, it would turn of itself, and did so continually. They were the angels of the Lord who used to grind for his sake. Not long thereafter there came smiths from the lands of Muma, with three cauldrons for Ciaran as an alms, and thus was Ciaran delivered from servitude to the king.

XVII. HOW CIARAN WENT WITH HIS COW TO THE SCHOOL OF FINDIAN

12. Now after those things Ciaran thought it time to go a-schooling to Findian of Cluain Iraird, to learn wisdom. He begged a cow of his mother and of his father, to take it with him to serve him.[17] His mother said that she would not give it him. He blessed one of the kine, to wit the Dun Cow of Ciaran, as she was called thenceforward, and she went with her calf after Ciaran thence to Cluain Iraird. Afterwards he drew a line with his staff between them, for between them there was no fence, and the cow used to lick the calf and neither of them transgressed the mark. Now the milk of that cow used to be divided between the twelve bishops with their folk and their guests, and it was sufficient for them; _ut dixit_,

Ciaran's Dun was wont to feed, three times fifty men in all; Guests and sick folk in their need, in soller and in dining-hall.

The hide of the Dun is in Clonmacnois, and whatsoever soul parteth from its body from that hide [hath no portion in hell, and][18] dwelleth in eternal life.

XVIII. THE ANGELS GRIND FOR CIARAN

13. Now there were the twelve bishops[19] of Ireland in the school of Findian in Cluain Iraird, _ut dixit_,

Two Findians, holy Colums two, Ciaran, Cainnech, Comgall fair; Two Brenainns, Ruadan bright of hue, Ninned, Mo-Bi, Mac Natfraeich there.

This was their rule, that every bishop[19] should grind at the quern on his day. But angels used to grind at the quern for Ciaran's sake on the day that was his.

XIX. CIARAN AND THE KING'S DAUGHTER

14. The daughter of the King of Cualu was brought once upon a time to Findian to read her Psalms, after offering her virginity to God. Findian committed the maiden to Ciaran, so that it was with him that she used to read her Psalms. Now Ciaran saw naught of the body of the maiden, so long as they were together, save her feet only. As is verified in the stanza--

A maid, rich in stateliness with Ciaran there was reading; Of her form or shapeliness, he was all unheeding.[20]

XX. HOW CIARAN HEALED THE LEPERS

15. There came then twelve lepers to Findian for their healing. Findian sent them to Ciaran. Ciaran welcomed them, and went with them westward from the cell, and tears a sod from the ground, so that a stream of pure water breaks forth from thence. He poured three waves of the water over each of them, so that they were healed forthwith.

XXI. CIARAN AND THE STAG

16. Further, into that school there used to come a stag to Ciaran, and he would place his book on the horns of the stag. One day there Ciaran heard the bell. He arose suddenly at the sound of the bell, but still swifter was the arising of the stag, and it went off, with his book on its horns. Though that day and the following night were wet, and though the book was open, not a letter in it was moistened. The cleric arose on the morrow, and the stag came to him with his book uninjured.

XVII. THE STORY OF CIARAN'S GOSPEL

17. Now into that school there came Ninned the Squinting, from the lochs of Erne, to read with Findian; and he had no book. "Seek a book," said Findian. Ninned went a-searching round the school, and did not obtain a book from any of them. "Hast thou gone to the gentle youth on the north side of the lawn?" said Findian. "I shall go now," said Ninned. Now when Ninned reached him, Ciaran was going over the central text of the book of Matthew: _Omnia quaecumque uultis ut faciant homines uobis, ita et uos faciatis illis._ "I have come for the loan of a book," said Ninned. "Mercy on us," said Ciaran, "for that do I read this, and this is what the text saith to me, that everything that I would that men should do to me, I should do to all. Take thou the book," said Ciaran. On the morrow his companions asked of him, at the time of the lesson, where his book was. "He gave it to me," said Ninned. "Let 'Ciaran Half-Matthew' be his name," said one of the school. "Nay," said Findian, "but Ciaran Half-Ireland; for his shall be half of Ireland, and ours the other half."[21] As Findian said--

Holy Ciaran zealously under Findian studying pored; Half his book he left unread, half of Ireland his reward.

From this was the well-known saying _Non legam Marcum quousque compleueram Mattheum_ carried to Rome, to Alexander.

XXIV. THE STORY OF THE MILL AND THE BAILIFF'S DAUGHTER

18. Now it came to pass that there was scarcity of corn and sustenance in that school, so that it was necessary for a strong man of them in turn to protect the sack of grain that was being carried to the mill.

It happened that Ciaran, in his turn, was carrying a sack of oats to the mill. As he was opening the sack, he said, "O Lord," said he, "I would that this were fine wheat, so that it were a great and a kindly and a pleasant satisfaction to the elders." And so it came to pass: the angel of God took the mill in his hands, and he [Ciaran] was rendering his Psalms in purity of heart and mind, and the oats which were being put in were choice wheat as they were coming out.

Now the daughter of the bailiff of the mill came, amorous for Ciaran; and she gave her love to him, for fairer was he in form than any other of his time. "Most hard for thee is that,"[22] said Ciaran. "Is it not these things to which thou shouldest give heed--the passing of the world, and the Day of Judgment, and the pains of Hell to shun them, and the rewards of Heaven to earn them?" When the maiden went home, she tells that tale to her father and her mother. They came and offered the maiden to Ciaran. "If she sacrifice her virginity to God," said Ciaran, "and if she serve Him, I will be in union with her." Then the maiden offered her virginity to God and to Ciaran, and her folk offered their perpetual service and perpetual subjecthood to Ciaran from that onward.

When they went to their house, a portion was sent to Ciaran by them, to wit, three wheaten cakes, with their meed of suet and flesh, and a vessel full of ale. When the servants left it, and received a blessing, he said, "Mercy on us," said he, "it is not right for us to eat of this, with exclusion of the other brethren." Thereafter he cast all the food, after shredding it fine, upon the mill, and he cast the ale likewise, so that all was turned to fine flour.

When Ciaran perceived the servant spying on him at the roof-ridge, he spake a word against him, saying, "May the crane," said he, "take thine eye out of thy head!"[23] And so it came to pass; for a pet crane plucked his eye out of his head, so that it was on his cheek as he was going home. The bailiff came straightway with the servant, and they did obeisance to Ciaran, and he offered the mill with all its land to Ciaran for the healing of the lad. Ciaran laid his palm on the eye and put it in its place, and he made the sign of the cross upon it so that it became sound.

When he finished the grinding of the corn, four full sacks of consecrated wheat were there, by the grace of God and of Ciaran. When he reached his house with the wheat he made cakes for the elders. Now these cakes were the best ever given to them; for from the time when the mystic manna was received yonder by the sons of Israel, there was not received the like of that food. For in this wise was it, with the taste of every food of excellence, [both bread and flesh, and of every excellent drink][24] both wine and mead; so that it filled and healed all of them. For every man in sickness who was in the whole city, whosoever ate any of it was whole forthwith.

The elders did not observe the nocturn that night until prime on the morrow.

When Findian asked of Ciaran regarding the miracle that had taken place, Ciaran related from beginning to [end][24] how the mill and the land with its implements, or its men, had been offered to him as a gift; "and there for thee, Findian, is all that land," said Ciaran. Then did Findian give his blessing fervently to Ciaran; _ut dixit_ Findian--

Ciaran my little heart, whom for holiness I love, Princely lands shall be thy part, favour, dearest, from above.

Ciaran, famous all around! wealth and wisdom on thee pour! So may, in thy Church renowned, knowledge grow yet more and more.

Now this blessing was given fervently to Ciaran through his great love and spiritual exaltation.[25] So that there he left half of the charity, and the nobility, and the wisdom, among the men of Ireland to Ciaran and his monastery. Moreover Ciaran left wealth to him and to his monastery, so that thence is the wealth of Findian.

That corn sufficed for the congregation of Findian for forty days with their nights; and a third part of it was stored up for sick folk, for it would heal every malady, and neither mouse nor worm dared to destroy it. [It endured a long time][26] until it turned at last to clay. And every disease for which it was given would be healed.

XXV. THE STORY OF CLUAIN