The Lives of the Saints, Volume III (of 16): March. Baring-Gould Sabine

is not much spoken of in the accounts of contemporary saints, and that none of the Irish annals or hagiologies give the date of his death. Hence Colgan was inclined to think that he died in Cornwall, and is to be identified with S. Piran, of Peranzabulo. But the first life hints that he died at Saigir. Although the year of his death is unknown, there can be little doubt of his having been alive after the year 550.

      If S. Piran of Peranzabulo be the same as S. Kieran of Saigir, his bones have been discovered of late years, when the ancient oratory of Peranzabulo, near Padstowe, in Cornwall, was dug out of the sand. In favour of this identification, Colgan points out that S. Piran was commemorated at Padstow on the 5th March, the same day as S. Kieran in Ireland; and John of Tynemouth asserts that S. Kieran did retire from Ireland into Cornwall where he spent the latter part of his life, and died. The Cornish, moreover, change the K. of Irish names into P.

      Some of the legends related of S. Kieran deserve to be recorded. He is said when a little boy to have been bitterly distressed at seeing a hawk carry off a little bird in its talons. Then he cried to God, and the hawk dropped its prey.

      One day a king or chief in the neighbourhood carried off one of the nuns of the convent governed by his mother. Kieran pursued him full of wrath, and coming to the castle, bade the chief restore the poor maiden to her cell. "Not unless the cuckoo should rouse me to-morrow morning," answered the chief. Now it was mid-winter. But that night no snow fell round the house where lodged the abbot, and at early dawn a bird perched on the roof under the window of the chief, and began to call "Cuckoo, cuckoo, cuckoo!" Then the ravisher, in alarm, started from his bed, and restored the nun to her convent.

      On an autumn day, Kieran noticed a magnificent bank of blackberries, so large and ripe, that he thought it a sad pity the winter should come and destroy them. Therefore he cast a cloak over the bramble. Now it fell out that the next ensuing April, Ethnea Vacha the wife of king Ængus was ill, and felt a craving for blackberries. She was then, with her husband, the guest of Concraidh, king of Ossory. Concraidh told S. Kieran of the strange wish of the lady, and instantly the saint remembered the hedge of blackberries covered by his cloak, and he went and plucked as many as he could carry, and brought them to the sick queen, and she ate them and revived.

      One day S. Kieran of Clonmacnois and the two Brendans visited the monastery. The steward came to the abbot in dismay, and said, "There is nothing to offer these distinguished guests except some scraps of bacon, and water."

      "Then serve up the bacon and the water," said the saint. And when they were brought on the table, the bacon tasted to every man better than anything he had ever tasted before, and as for the water, the benediction of the man of God had converted it into wine. But there was at the table a lay-brother, and when he had some bacon put before him, he thrust his platter away angrily, for he was tired of bacon, and had expected something better, when distinguished visitors were present. "Hah!" said the abbot, – 'not by way of condemnation, but of prophecy,' – "The time will come when you, son of Comgall, shall eat ass's flesh in Lent, and soon after you will lose your head."

      It is also related that there was a boy came to Saigir called Crichidh of Clonmacnois, and remained for a while under the abbot Kieran. Now it was the custom and rule of S. Kieran, that the blessed Paschal fire should burn all the year. But out of mischief, as we moderns should say, "instigante diabolo," as the mediæval chronicler expresses it, the boy put the fire out. Then S. Kieran said to the brethren, "Look! our fire is extinguished by that confounded boy (a maledicto puero), Crichidh, purposely, for he is always up to mischief (sicut solet semper nocere). And now we shall be without fire till next Easter, unless the Lord sends us some. As for that boy, he will come to a bad end shortly." And so it was, for on the morrow a wolf killed the boy.

      Now S. Kieran of Clonmacnois, to whom the boy belonged, hearing of this, came to Saigir, and was courteously received by S. Kieran the Elder. But there was no fire, and the snow fell in large flakes; and it was bitterly cold, so that S. Kieran of Clonmacnois and his companions sat blue with frost, and their teeth chattering. Then S. Kieran of Saigir raised his hands to heaven, and prayed, and there fell a globe of fire into his hands, and he spread the lap of his chasuble (casula), and went with the fireball in it before his guests, and they warmed themselves thereat. And after that, dinner was served. Then said S. Kieran of Clonmacnois, "I will not eat till my boy is restored to me." "Brother," answered S. Kieran of Saigir, "I knew wherefore thou didst come; the boy is now on his way hither." And presently the door opened, and the boy that the wolf had eaten, walked in alive and well.

      King Ængus of Munster had seven bards "who were wont to sing before him, harping, the deeds of heroes," but these seven men were murdered and drowned in a bog, and their harps were hung upon a tree by the side of the morass. S. Kieran, at the king's request, restored the seven harpers to life, after their having been steeped in bog-water for a whole month.

      Now when he was dying, Kieran besought the Lord to bless all such as should keep his festival. "And," says his historian, "on March 5th, God introduced him into the lot of his inheritance in the vineyard, and planted him in the mountain of his possession, even in the celestial Jerusalem, which is the mother of us all. Wherefore, then, my brothers, let us hold a most solemn feast to the most holy Kieran, and let the voice of praise resound in the tabernacles of the righteous; for the right hand of the Lord made virtue to spring up in this man, which may Jesus Christ for the merits of his servant Kieran cause to grow in us present likewise, that we may be meet, He being our leader, to enter into the courts of our eternal inheritance. Amen."

S. VIRGILIUS, ABP. OF ARLES(ABOUT A.D. 618.)

      [Benedictine and Galican Martyrologies; but at Arles on October 10th, and Greven in his additions to Usuardus. Authority: – A life by an anonymous writer, long posterior, and very credulous. It contains much idle fable.]

      S. Virgilius, a native of Aquitania, retired in childhood to the monastery of Lerins, where he distinguished himself by his virtues, and was in time elected abbot. One night, says the historian of his life, who deals somewhat largely in popular legend, as he was walking round the island, as a good pastor keeping guard over his sheep-fold, he saw a strange ship drawn up against the shore, and by the star light he saw the sailors moving on the deck. Then two descended from the vessel, and coming towards him, said, "Reverend father, we know who thou art, and greatly esteem thy incomparable virtue, the fame of which is spread abroad through the round world, and many there are of the faithful in far-off lands who desire to see thy sanctity, and hear the words of wisdom that distil from thy lips. And now we are bound for Jerusalem, come therefore with us and make this journey to the holy sites, and thy name will be praised by all men." But Virgilius mistrusted this address, and he answered, "Ye cannot thus deceive an old soldier of Christ!" and he made the sign of the cross. Then the ship and the crew vanished, and he saw only the stars winking in the waves.

      From Lerins he was called, in 588, to take charge of the diocese of Aries, by the unanimous voice of the people.

      He is said to have been the consecrator of S. Augustine of Canterbury to his mission in England, by order of S. Gregory the Great, from whom he received the pall. He built several churches in Aries; amongst others, the cathedral, which he dedicated to S. Stephen, and the church of the Saviour and S. Honoratus. Whilst erecting this latter church, the legend says that the people toiled ineffectually to move the pillars to their destined place. At last they sent word to S. Virgil that the truck was fast, and the pillars could neither be taken on nor carried back. Then Virgil hurried to the spot, and saw a little devil, like a negro boy, sitting under the truck, arresting the progress of the wheels. Virgil drove him away, and then the columns were easily moved. By his prayers he is also reported to have killed a monstrous serpent which infested the neighbourhood. He was buried in the church of SS. Saviour and Honoratus, which he had built.

S. DRAUSINUS, B. OF SOISSONS(A.D. 675.)

      [Venerated at Soissons. Mentioned in some of the additions to Usuardus, and later Martyrologies. Authority: – A Life by a native of Soissons shortly after his translation, four years after the death of the saint.]

      Drausinus or Drausius was a native of Soissons, and was the son of pious parents of noble rank. He was educated by S. Anseric, bishop of Soissons, on whose death he was called to fill his place. His virtues and charity caused him to be venerated as a saint immediately after his death. S. Thomas-à-Becket