CHAPTER XV.
Of the Angel Victor appearing to Saint Patrick.
And six years had now passed when, under the direction of the Lord, he had thoroughly learned the Irish tongue, and with prayers and with tears he unceasingly besought of God that he might be released from slavery and restored to his country. And on a certain day appeared unto him, while praying, an angel of the Lord, standing on the crag of an overhanging rock, and announcing that his prayers and his fastings had ascended as a memorial before God; and the angel added thereto that he should soon cast from his neck the yoke of servitude, and, after a prosperous voyage, return to his own parents. And the servant of God looked on the angel of God, and, conversing with him face to face familiarly, even as with a friend, asked who he was, and by what name was he called. And the heavenly messenger answered that he was the ministering spirit of the Lord, sent into the world to minister unto them who have the heritage of salvation; that he was called Victor, and especially deputed to the care of him, and he promised to be his helpmate and his assistant in doing all things. And although it is not needful that heavenly spirits should be called by human names, yet the angel, being beautifully clothed with an human form composed of the air, called himself Victor, for that he had received from Christ, the most victorious King, the power of vanquishing and binding the powers of the air and the princes of darkness; who had also given to his servants made of the potter's clay the power of treading on serpents and scorpions, and of vanquishing and bruising Satan. And in their mutual colloquy the angel showed unto Patrick an opening in the ground that had been delved up by the swine, and therein he directed him to look for gold with which he might redeem himself from the hands of his cruel master; and he added that a ship to carry him over to Britain was ready in a harbor two hundred miles distant, and which, by the divine will, could not have a favorable wind until he should arrive. And the vision of the angel, thus saying, disappeared, and his speech ended; and, as the inhabitants assert, the marks of his feet appear even to this day imprinted on the rock in the Mountain Mis, in the borders of Dalnardia; and an oratory is erected there in honor of St. Patrick, wherein the devotion of the faithful is wont to watch and pray.
CHAPTER XVI.
How St. Patrick was Redeemed from Slavery.
And Patrick went to the place which the angel had pointed out unto him, and he found therein no small weight of gold. Wherefore he addressed for his ransom his hard and cruel master, and with the offering of the yellow metal induced his mind, greedy of gold, to grant unto him his freedom. Therefore, being by the aid of Mammon solemnly released from his servitude, he went his way rejoicing, and hastened toward the sea, desiring to return to his own country. But Milcho repented that he had dismissed a servant so very necessary unto him, and, falsifying his agreement, pursued Patrick that he might bring him back and reduce him to his former slavery, as Pharao pursued the Hebrews. But by the divine will, wandering both in his mind and in his course, he found not him whom he sought. Foiled, therefore, in his attempt, he returned with grief and with shame. And his sorrow was much increased, for that not only Patrick, having obtained his freedom, had escaped, but the gold which was the price of his freedom, on returning home, he found not. And with this the law accords; for to him who has served six years in slavery, the law directs that in the seventh year shall his freedom be restored.