In some places it was the custom for the master of the house to draw a cross on the arm of each member of the family and mark it out in blood. This was a very sacred sign which no fairy or evil spirit, were they ever so strong, could overcome; and whoever was signed with the blood was safe.
There is a singular superstition forbidding work of a certain kind to be done on St. Martin’s Day, the 11th of November. No woman should spin on that day; no miller should grind his corn, and no wheel should be turned. And this custom was long held sacred, and is still observed in the Western Islands.
ST. BRIDGET.
At one time a certain leper came to St. Bridget to beg a cow from her.
“Which would you prefer?” said the holy Bridget, “to be healed of your disease or to have the cow?”
“I would be healed,” he answered.
Then she touched him, and he became whole and went away rejoicing.
After this Bridget’s fame spread all over Ireland; and a man of the Britons, and his son, came to be healed; but she was at Mass, and sent to them to wait till Mass was over.
Now the Britons are a hasty people, and the man said, “You healed your own people yesterday and you shall heal us to-day.”