The blessed Patrick was accustomed to visit frequently all parts of Hibernia, and, as opportunity permitted or discretion required, to abide therein. Wherefore he abided for seven years in Momonia, and as many in Connactia; but he dwelled a much longer time in Ultonia, wherein, first announcing the kingdom of God, he had brought its inhabitants unto the faith of Christ, and whose country he had more frequently in his perlustrations illustrated with his holy presence. And whithersoever he went he converted unto the faith or confirmed in the faith all his hearers. And on a certain time he was journeying through that part of Ultonia which is called Dalnardia; became unto a place named Mucoomuir, when his disciple, the aforementioned Benignus, stayed his steps, and gazed upward, as contemplating something wonderful in the heavens. For he beheld radiant choirs of angels surrounding the place with heavenly brightness; and he heard them with unspeakable melody singing the praises of the Creator. And he, intently contemplating these wonders, was filled with inward joy; yet understood he not what meaned the angelic presence, the glittering light, the celestial psalmody. But after a short season it vanished from before his eyes, and he, following the holy prelate, hastened his course, that he might overtake him. And when the saint enquired of his delay, he related unto him his heavenly vision. Then the saint, instructed of heaven, expounded this effusion of light and this angelic choir: "Know ye, beloved children, in that place shall a certain son of life, named Colmanclus, build a church, and gather together many who will be the children of light and fellow-citizens of the angels. And he will become the prelate and the legate of all Hibernia; and being eminent in his virtues and his miracles, after he shall have closed the darkness of this life, he will be conveyed by the angels of God unto eternal light and eternal rest." And in that place, after the process of time, all those things happened according to the prophecy of the saint.
CHAPTER XCVII.
The Temptation of the Nun is Subdued.
The venerable Benignus, among the other endowments wherewith the divine grace had endowed him, excelled in the song of a sweet voice, so that he penetrated the hearts and the ears of all who heard him. But as a virtue or gift which is given from on high becometh unto many the odor of life unto life, yet unto others the odor of death unto death, so out of the melody of his voice did the tempter minister the occasion of sin. For a certain nun, while she was delighted with the sweet singing of Benignus, entertained at length a more earnest desire toward the man of God, who nothing knew of this unhallowed flame, which hardly could she control in her bosom. And the more vehemently did it burn for that the strict discipline which was instituted by Saint Patrick, and the difficulty of the very attempt, prevented the damsel from any secret conversation with Benignus. Therefore, taught by woman's cunning, feigned she extreme illness, and withdrew as unto her sick-bed, and besought that from Benignus she might receive spiritual counsel and the holy communion. For he had then attained the priesthood, and was held in great veneration as one who adorned with his holy life the priestly office. But Saint Patrick, at the revelation of the Spirit, was not ignorant of what distemper did the nun labor. Whereupon he called unto him Benignus, and bade him that he should visit the sick damsel and minister unto her soul's health. And he, obedient unto his spiritual father, having besought and obtained his blessing, entered the house of the complaining damsel, and made the sign of the cross, as was Saint Patrick's custom at entering any house, that so he might overcome the snares of the enemy of man's salvation. Wonderful was the event, and marvellous; unwonted, indeed, yet exceedingly profitable. The damsel, raising her eyes at his entrance, beheld Benignus, very terrible in his stature, and his face as breathing forth flames; and she beheld herself bright with fire both within and without, and Saint Patrick standing nigh, and covering his head with his hands. And from that hour, even unto the end of her life, was the fire of human love extinguished in her bosom, as if her body were of stone or wood, and not of flesh. And afterward she loved Saint Benignus with a pure and a saintly love, and she confessed that through his merits Saint Patrick had snatched her from the fire of hell. Now, for me, I do much more admire this quickening and refreshing of the soul unto life than the raising up of any man from death.
CHAPTER XCVIII.
Of Saint Comhgallus, and the Monastery foreshowed of Heaven.
Oftentimes did Saint Patrick travel through Ultonia, very earnestly teaching unto its inhabitants the Catholic faith. And not seldom he turned, for the sake of rest for himself and his holy company, unto a certain hill situated in a valley where afterward was builded the Monastery of Beannchor. And sitting there, they beheld the valley filled with heavenly light and with a multitude of the host of heaven; and they heard, as chanted forth from the voice of angels, the psalmody of the celestial choir. Then did all who beheld this wondrous vision earnestly entreat of Saint Patrick that in that place, consecrated of heaven, he would build a church. But the saint refused, and prophesied unto them: "When threescore years have passed away, then shall a son of life be born, and his name shall be Comhgallus, which is, being interpreted, the Beautiful Pledge; for he shall be beloved of God and of man, and beautiful in his manners and in his merits; and he shall happily go forward, and reign with Christ, and be accounted among His pledges. And in this place, which is fore-showed by the heavenly light, shall he build a church, wherein he shall collect innumerable troops of the children of life, to be bound by the yoke of Christ." And of all these things which Patrick foretold, not one jot hath passed unfulfilled. But at the prophesied time Comhgallus was born, and in the ripeness of his years and of his virtues, even in that place named Beannchor, he builded a most stately monastery, wherein he brought forth unto Christ many thousands of holy monks. And this saintly place, so fruitful of saints, even as a vine increasing the sweetness of its odor, extended its shoots unto the sea and its branches beyond the sea; for it filled with monasteries and with pious monks Hibernia, Scotia, and many islands, and even foreign regions, inasmuch as we gather from ancient writers that one of the children of Beannchor, Luanus by name, founded of himself an hundred monasteries. And another, named Columbanus, a man most holy, and filled with the abundance of all graces, as having instituted many monasteries, may be accounted the father of innumerable monks. And he first presided over the renowned Monastery of Luxovia, in Gaul, and then over that of Bobi, beyond the Alps, wherein, having shone with many miracles, he now resteth in peace. Thus is the prophecy of Saint Patrick seen to be fulfilled. But of the antiquity of the church of Beannchor needless is it to speak further here, inasmuch as it is most amply described in the acts of those holy saints, Comhgallus, who was the first abbot of that place, and Malachia, the bishop, who was the legate in Hibernia of the apostolic chair.