The Most Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick. Various
hath said it. I entreat whosoever is a servant of God that he be a willing bearer of this letter, that he be not drawn aside by any one, but that he shall see it read before all the people in the presence of Coroticus himself, that, if God inspire them, they may some time return to God, and repent, though late; that they may liberate the baptized captives, and repent for their homicides of the Lord's brethren; so that they may deserve of God to live and to be whole here and hereafter. The peace of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
[Illustration: The Saint Patrick of Ancient Ages.]
ST. FIECH'S METRICAL LIFE OF ST. PATRICK.
Written in the Irish Language about 1,400 years ago.
I
At Nemthur Saint Patrick was born,
As history handed it down;
And when but sixteen years of age,
A captive was led from that town.
II.
Siccoth was Saint Patrick's first name;
His father Calphurn without miss;
His grandfather Otide was styled;
He was nephew of Deacon Odisse.
III.
Six years did he live in dark bonds,
And the food of the Gentile ate not;
And Cathraige by men he was called,
Since to work for four homes was his lot.
IV.
To the servant of Milcho 'twas said
To pass o'er the seas and the plain;
Then stood angel Victor on rock,
And his footprints to this day remain.
V.
Departed Saint Patrick o'er Alps--
On his way all successful he hies;
And with German remained in the South
'Neath Letavia's wide-spreading skies.
VI.
In the isles of the Tyrrhenian sea
Saint Patrick some period awaits,
And as canon with German he reads,
As his history still to us states
VII.
To Hibernia Saint Patrick returned,
By visions from angels induced;
For visions to him appeared oft,
And his mind to subjection reduced.
VIII.
Soul-saving was Patrick's intent,
For 'twas to far Foclut's dark flood;
He had heard the entreaty and wail
Of children in Foclut's far woods.
IX.
For asked they the saint to make haste
And Letavia's wide lands desert,
That from error's dark ways Eire's men
He might in life's pathways direct.
X.
Foretold Eire's seers years of peace,
Which were to remain through all time;
But the grandeurs of Tara the proud
Were to vanish in dust, as earth's slime.
XI.
To Leary, the monarch, Druids told
Of the advent of Patrick the saint;
And their visions were true, as we know
From the facts which his histories paint.
XII.
Renowned was Saint Patrick through life,
And of error he was a dire foe;
Hence for ever his name shall be grand
Among the nations, as ages shall flow.
XIII.
The Apocalypse sang he, and hymns,
And three fifty full psalms, day by day;
He instructed and praised and baptized,
And all time he continued to pray.
XIV.