The Most Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick / Including the Life by Jocelin, Hitherto Unpublished in America, and His Extant Writings

by Unknown

Now understand ye how it was the custom of Patrick, as of the other ancient saints who abided in the islands, to have with them cymbals, for the expulsion of evil spirits, for their own bodily exercise, to proclaim the hours of the day and night, and for I know not what other causes. One thing, however, is certain, that many miracles are known to have been performed by the sound or the touch of these cymbals. Therefore at the Lord's Supper, the blessed Patrick going forth of his retirement into public view, rejoiced with his presence the whole church of the saints who were born of his preaching unto Christ. And there he discharged his episcopal office, the which he always joined with those sacred seasons; and thus went he forward in the work of salvation.

CHAPTER CLXXIV.

The Saint titheth Hibernia and the Dwellers therein.

Then at the Paschal tide, his accustomed devotions being finished, he went round the whole island with a holy multitude of his sons whom he had brought forth unto Christ; and everywhere teaching the way of the Lord, he converted to, or confirmed in, the faith the dwellers therein. And all the islanders, unto whom had come even the knowledge of his name, for this so strange and wondrous miracle surrendered themselves to him and to his doctrine, as to an angel of light, and devoutly they obeyed him for their peculiar apostle. Then this most excellent husbandman, seeing the hardness of the Lord's field to be softened, and the thorns, the thistles, and the tares rooted forth, labored to fertilize it so much the more abundantly with the increase of profitable seed, that it produced good fruit not only to the increase of thirty or sixty, but even of an hundred-fold. Therefore he caused the whole island to be divided with a measuring line, and all the inhabitants, both male and female, to be tithed; and every tenth head, as well of human kind as of cattle, commanded he to be set apart for the portion of the Lord. And making all the men monks, and the women nuns, he builded many monasteries, and assigned unto them for their support the tithe of the land and of the cattle. Wherefore in a short space so it was that no desert spot, nor even any corner of the island, nor any place therein, however remote, was unfilled with perfect monks and nuns; so that Hibernia was become rightly distinguished by the especial name of the Island of Saints. And these lived according to the rule of Saint Patrick, with a contempt of the world, a desire of heaven, a holy mortification of the flesh, and an abandonment of all pleasure; equalling the Egyptian monks in their merit and in their number, so that with their conversation and example they edified far distant countries. And in the days of Saint Patrick, and for many ages of his successors, no one was advanced unto the episcopal degree or the cure of souls, unless by the revelation of the divine Spirit or by some other evident sign he was proved worthy thereof.

CHAPTER CLXXV.

The different States of Hibernia are in a Heavenly Vision
shown unto the Saint.

And the man of God anxiously desired and earnestly prayed that he might be certified of the present and the future state of Hibernia, to the end that he might be assured of the faith, or of the value that his labors bore in the sight of God. Then the Lord heard the desire of his heart, and manifested the same unto him by an evident revelation; for while he was engaged in prayer, and the heart of his mind was opened, he beheld the whole island as it were a flaming fire ascending unto heaven; and he heard the angel of God saying unto him: "Such at this time is Hibernia in the sight of the Lord." And after a little space he beheld in all parts of the island even as mountains of fire stretching unto the skies. And again after a little space he beheld as it were candles burning, and after a while darkness intervened; and then he beheld fainter lights, and at length he beheld coals lying hidden here and there, as reduced unto ashes, yet still burning. And the angel added: "What thou seest here shown, such shall be the people of Hibernia." Then the saint, exceedingly weeping, often repeated the words of the Psalmist, saying: "Whether will God turn himself away for ever, and will he be no more entreated? Shall his mercy come to an end from generation to generation? Shall God forget to be merciful, and shut up his mercy in his displeasure?" And the angel said, "Look toward the northern side, and on the right hand of a height shalt thou behold the darkness dispersed from the face of the light which thenceforth will arise." Then the saint raised his eyes, and behold, he at first saw a small light arising in Ulydia, the which a long time contended with the darkness, and at length dispersed it, and illumined with its rays the whole island. Nor ceased the light to increase and to prevail, even until it had restored to its former fiery state all Hibernia. Then was the heart of the saint filled with joy, and his heart with exultation, giving thanks for all these things which had been shown unto him: and he understood in the greatness of this fiery ardor of the Christian faith the devotion and the zeal of religion, wherewith those islanders burned. By the fiery mountains he understood the men who would be holy in their miracles and their virtues, eminent in their preachings and their examples; by the lessening of the light, the decrease of holiness; by the darkness that covered the land, the infidelity which would prevail therein; by the intervals of delay, the distances of the succeeding times. But the people think the period of darkness was that in which Gurmundus and Turgesius, heathen princes of Norwegia, conquered and ruled in Hibernia; and in those days, the saints, like coals covered with ashes, lay hidden in caves and dens from the face of the wicked, who pursued them like sheep unto the slaughter. Whence it happened that differing rites and new sacraments, which were contrary to the ecclesiastical institutes, were introduced into the church by many prelates who were ignorant of the divine law. But the light first arising from the north, and after long conflict exterminating the darkness, those people assert to be Saint Malachy, who presided first in Dunum, afterward in Ardmachia, and reduced the island unto the Christian law. On the other hand, the people of Britain ascribe this light to their coming, for that then the church seemed under their rule to be advanced unto a better state; and that then religion seemed to be planted and propagated, and the sacraments of the church and the institutes of the Christian law to be observed with more regular observance. But I propose not the end of this contention, neither do I prevent it, thinking that the discussion and the decision thereof should be left unto the divine judgment.