CHAPTER LXXIX.
The King's Daughter becomes a Nun.
And Patrick came unto the country of Neyll, wherein reigned a king named Echu, and he had one beloved daughter named Cynnia, whom he intended at a fitting time to give in fitting marriage. And the damsel unfolded to the saint her father's purpose, and he exhorted her to deserve the reward of virginity even an hundred-fold; therefore, rejecting worldly nuptials, she determined to offer herself an undefiled offering unto her celestial Spouse, and to cherish Him in her heart. And the king, beholding her thus steadily to preserve her virgin purity, called unto him the saint, and thus he spake: "I had determined that my daughter should continue unto me a long-descending progeny for the confirmation of my kingdom and the solace of mine age; but the succession is cut off, and mine hope is defeated by thee; if, therefore, thou wilt promise unto me the heavenly kingdom, yet not compel me unwillingly to receive baptism, my daughter shall become the servant of thy God, even as thou hast exhorted her; otherwise will I not be stopped of my desire, nor shall thy preaching prevail." And the saint, confiding in, and committing all unto, the Lord, faithfully promised what the king required. Then the damsel, being veiled and consecrated, and serving the Lord in virginity and in the exercise of all other virtues, brought by her example many unto His devotion; and during her life and after her death she was renowned by divers miracles. And the saint commended her unto the care of the holy virgin Cethuberis, who first of all the women of Ireland had received from him the veil, and to whom, being placed over the Monastery of Druimduchan, with a great multitude of virgins serving Christ, the saint himself addressed an exhortatory epistle. And in this monastery did Cynnia abide, until at length with many holy virgins she rested there in the Lord.
CHAPTER LXXX.
The King Echu is raised from Death.
And after some time had passed, the King Echu was reduced to the bed of sickness, and when he perceived that his strength failed, and the day of his death approached, he sent a messenger to call Saint Patrick unto him. And he strictly forbade that his body should be buried until the arrival of the saint; for that he had promised unto him the heavenly kingdom, and especially, that the king desired to receive from him the heavenly baptism. Thus saying, he expired, and his body was kept for the space of one day and one night unburied, in expectation of the saint. And he, then abiding in the Monastery of Saballum, which was distant two days' journey, knew in the spirit of the king's death, and, ere the messenger could arrive, had made ready for the journey. And the saint came, and mourned over the king, especially for that he had died without baptism. Therefore prayed he unto the Lord, and loosed him from the bonds of double death, and forthwith instructed in the faith him restored unto life, and baptized him, and bade him that for the edification of the people and for the proof of his preaching he should relate what he had seen of the pains of the wicked and of the joys of the just. And he told unto them many wonders, and there among that in that heavenly country he had beheld the place which Patrick had promised unto him; but, because he was not then baptized, he could not enter therein; and so at the prayers of the saint his body was revived. Then the saint enquired of him whether would he longer live in this world, or instantly go into that place which was prepared for him; and he answered that all the power, all the riches, all the delights of the whole world, were to him but as the emptiest smoke compared with those celestial joys which he had proved with the eye of faith. But I entreat, said he, that I may be loosed from the body of this death, and delivered instantly from this prison-house; for earnestly I desire to be dissolved and to be with Christ. Thus having said, he received the Eucharist, and, falling asleep in the Lord, went unto the place of immortality.