I have always been intrigued by St. Patrick. He is the missionary responsible for the conversion of many in Ireland. Legends and myths have certainly sprung up regarding him, but there is a kernel of truth, and I would expect that many of the miracles attributed to him happened in one form or another as God’s witness to the power of the gospel in that dark land.

I like to read something about or by Patrick on St. Patrick’s Day, and today I read through most of the earliest account we possess of Patrick, written in the 7th Century. In it I found an amazing tale of Patrick’s conversion of two beautiful Irish maidens. The following is from the Memoir of Patrick by Tirechan, also known as the “Book of Armagh”. I’m using this English translation.

This account is interesting due to seeing Patrick’s confession about who God is.

Chapter 19: (1) Holy Patrick, then, crossed the bed of the river Shannon at the Ford of the Two Birds, making for Mag Aí. When the druids of Loíguire son of Níall, Máel and Capitolauium, who brought up the two daughters of Loíguire, fair-haired Ethne and red-haired Fedelm, heard about this,(2) fearing that these (maidens) might make the ways of the holy man their own, they grew very angry and brought the darkness of night and dense fogs over the whole of Mag Aí. (3) We do not know by whose power this was (done), but we do know that this night lasted for three days and as many nights.(4) The holy men went on a fast of three days and three nights, and with a hundred prayers and constant genuflections besought God, the King of kings, and all the magical evil disappeared from Mag Aí, and he said: ‘Thanks be to God.'(5) And he went through the bed of the river Shannon that is called Bandea to Dume Gráid, where Patrick ordained holy Ailbe a priest, and pointed out to him a marvellous stone altar on the mountain of the Uí Ailello, because he was among the Uí Aillelo, and he baptized holy Maneus, whom bishop Brón son of Icne, a servant of God (and) companion of Patrick, ordained.

Chapter 26: (1) Then holy Patrick came to the well called Clébach, on the slopes of Cruachu to the east, before sunrise, and they sat beside the well, (2) and, behold, the two daughters of king Loíguire, fair-haired Ethne and red-haired Fedelm, came to the well, as women are wont to do, in the morning to wash, and they found the holy assembly of bishops with Patrick beside the well.(3) And they did not know whence they were or of what shape or from what people or from what region, but thought they were men of the other world or earth-gods or a phantom; (4) and the maidens said to them: ‘Whence are you and whence have you come?’ and Patrick said to them: ‘It would be better for you to profess our true God than to ask questions about our race.’ (5) The first maiden said: ‘Who is God and where is God and whose God is he and where is his dwelling-place? Has your God sons and daughters, gold and silver? Is he ever-living, is he beautiful, have many fostered his son, are his daughters dear and beautiful in the eyes of the men of the earth? Is he in the sky or in the earth or in the water, in rivers, in mountains, in valleys? (7) Give us an account of him; how shall he be seen, how is he loved, how is he found, is he found in youth, in old age?’ (8) Replying, holy Patrick, full of the Holy Spirit, said: ‘Our God is the God of all men, the God of heaven and earth, of the sea and the rivers, God of the sun and the moon and all the stars, the God of high mountains and low valleys; (9) God above heaven and in heaven and under heaven, he has his dwelling in heaven and earth and sea and in everything that is in them; he breathes in all things, makes all things live, surpasses all things, supports all things; (10) he illumines the light of the sun, he consolidates the light of the night and the stars, he has made wells in the dry earth and dry islands in the sea and stars for the service of the major lights,(11) He has a son, coeternal with him, similar to him; the Son is not younger than the Father nor is the Father older than the Son, and the Holy Spirit breathes in them; the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are not separate. (12) Now I wish to join you to the heavenly king since you are daughters of an earthly king, if you are willing to believe.’ (13) And the maidens said as with one voice and one heart: ‘Teach us with all diligence how we can believe in the heavenly king, so that we may see him face to face. Tell us, and we will do as you say.’ (14) And Patrick said: ‘Do you believe that through baptism you cast off the sin of your father and mother?’ They answered: ‘We believe.” ‘Do you believe in penance after sin?’ ‘We believe.’ ‘Do you believe in life after death? Do you believe in the resurrection on the day of judgement ?’ ‘We believe.’ ‘Do you believe in the unity of the Church?’ ‘We believe.’ (15) And they were baptized, with a white garment over their heads. And they demanded to see the face of Christ, and the holy man said to them: ‘Unless you taste death you cannot see the face of Christ, and unless you receive the sacrament.’ (16) And they answered: ‘Give us the sacrament so that we may see the Son, our bridegroom’, and they received the eucharist of God and fell asleep in death, and their friends placed them on one bed and covered them with their garments, and made a lament and great keening. (17) And the druid Caplit, who had fostered the one, came and wept, and Patrick preached to him and he believed, and the hair of his head was shorn off. (18) And his brother Máel came and said: ‘My brother has believed Patrick; not so I, but I will bring him back to heathendom’, and he spoke harsh words to Mathonus and Patrick. (19) And Patrick preached the faith to him and converted him to the penance of God, and the hair of his head was shorn off, that is, the (hair cut in) druidic fashion (which was) seen on his head, airbacc giunnae, as it is called. Hence comes the saying that is the most famous of all Irish sayings, ‘Máel is like Caplit’, because (both) believed in God. (20) And the days of mourning for the king’s daughters came to an end, and they buried them beside the well of Clébach, and they made a round ditch after the manner of a ferta, because this is what the heathen Irish used to do, but we call it relic, that is, the remains of the maidens. (21) And the ferta was made over to Patrick with the bones of the holy virgins, and to his heirs after him for ever, and he made an earthen church in that place.

For more reading on Patrick, consider the following posts:

• The Legacy of St. Patrick
• St. Patrick the Missionary: Excerpts from Patrick’s “Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus”
• St. Patrick’s Day Devotion