In the place which is named Achadhfobhair Saint Patrick built and endowed a church with fair possessions; and thereover he appointed and consecrated a bishop, Sennachus, who for the innocency of his heart was called a lamb of God. And he, being so consecrated, entreated of the saint that with unceasing prayer he would labor with the Lord to shield him in this his office from the commission of all sin; and furthermore he suppliantly besought that the church over which he presided might not be called by his name, as was in many places the custom among the Irish people. And this did he to preserve his lowliness, and to avoid vainglory, which is the fretting moth of all virtues. Then Saint Patrick, understanding the worthiness of Sennachus and the simplicity of his heart, promised unto him all his desire; and blessing him and his flock, prophesied that thereout should proceed many holy and eminent priests. And Sennachus, serving in exceeding holiness the Holy One of all holies, and being renowned for his miracles and for his virtues, entered at length into the heavenly sanctuary.
CHAPTER CXXXII.
The Miracle which is worked for Certain Hewers of Wood.
And Saint Patrick in his journeying passed with his people through a forest in Midernia, and he met therein certain slaves that were hewing wood; and these men were under the yoke of a hard and cruel master, named Tremeus; and they hewed the wood with blunt axes, nor had they whetstones nor had they any other means whereon to sharpen them. Wherefore their strength failed, their arms stiffened, and the flesh fell from their hands, and the naked sinews were seen, and the miserable men wished rather for death than for life. But when the man of God beheld their misery, he compassionated them, and he touched them, and he blessed their hands and their instruments. Then at the touch and the word of his blessing, all their strength is restored, their hands are healed, their instruments become sharpened, the hardest oaks are hewed down without toil, even as the tenderest twigs; and in these men did the miracle continue until the saint had wondrously obtained for them their freedom.
CHAPTER CXXXIII.
A Hone is divided by Saint Patrick, and the Oppressor is drowned.
And Patrick the pious father addressed the master, nay, rather the tormentor of these slaves, yet found he him stubborn and inexorable. Wherefore betaking himself unto his accustomed arms, he fasted and prayed for three days; and once again approaching the man, he humbly besought their liberation, and once again found he him a new Pharao. Then the saint spat on a stone by chance before them lying, and for the softening, the reproving, and the confounding of his hard-heartedness, the stone immediately splitted in three parts. But Tremeus becoming the more hardened by that which should have softened him, forthwith ascended his chariot, and scorning and rejecting the prayer of the saint, commanded these slaves to be afflicted with yet severer toil. Wherefore the Lord suffering not that this insult to Patrick, the second Moses, should go unavenged, now punished the contemner of his servant, even as formerly he punished Pharao and his host; for the horses which were yoked to the chariot of Tremeus, rushing forward, plunged into a neighboring lake, and drowned in its waters the chariot and him who sat therein. Then, this child of Belial being so destroyed, Saint Patrick without hindrance freed these afflicted men brought out of the house of bondage, and gave unto them their long-desired freedom.