To his most revered lord and most beloved father, Jocelyn,¹ the Anointed of the Lord Jesus Christ, Jocelyn,² the least of the poor of Christ, with the affection and result of filial love and subjection, wishes the salvation of each man in our savior.

Since my mind is persuaded by your renowned name, exalted office, and balanced judgment, your life undarkened with no perverse or deceitful rumor and your religion long tested that you love the beauty of the house of God, which you preside over, I believe it is fitting to present to you the first fruits of my sheaves, which abound in the glory and grace of you and your church. For by your command, I went around the nearby city,³ through its streets and quarters, searching for a written life of Saint Kentigern, who is esteemed by your soul, and in whose seat the divine power of mercy caused your sanctity to preside by the adoption of sons, by ecclesiastical choice, and by succession of ministry. Therefore I have searched with diligence if by chance a life of him could be discovered, which was sustained by greater authority and more visible truth, and written in a more cultivated style than that life which your church now celebrates;⁴ because that life, as it seems to many, is tainted throughout as it is discolored by an uneducated language and obscured by a poorly written style; and before all of these faults certainly a wise man would more shrink back because in the beginning of the narrative itself are stories obviously contrary to certain doctrine and catholic faith. However I have discovered another codicil,⁵ composed in the Scottic style,⁶ which is filled with solecisms all the way through and yet it contains a more unbroken account of the life and acts of the holy bishop. Seeing therefore the life of so esteemed a bishop, who was glorious with signs and portents and most famous in virtue and doctrine, perversely recited and turned away from the pure faith, or very much obscured by a barbarian speech, I confess I suffered greatly. On that account, I therefore accepted to mend this life by restoring the material collected from the heart of both small books and by binding my method to your command, to season with Roman salt what had been ploughed by barbarians. It is senseless, I think, that so precious a treasure should be covered all around with so worthless a girdle, and for that reason I have tried to clothe that life, if not with gold embroidered with silk, than at least perhaps with blameless linen. Also, I added to the work by pouring the life-giving liquid from the original vessel into the new, so that it may be acceptable for the appetite of the more simple to drink, and yet not worthless to those of moderate abilities, nor contemptible for the richly endowed. Therefore, favored by the good works and prayers of our saintly patron, if the favor of the heavenly inspirer⁷ will strike me, I shall likewise control my style in order that this work will not be obscured by crawling in the filth of debased speech, nor be falsely puffed up with words beyond what is proper to the exalted life, lest it seem that I have planted a forest in the temple of God against his interdict.

Therefore all the effort of this book, all the fruit of my labor ought to be consecrated to your name, and also presented for examination to your position. If, however, anything lacking refinement or awkward comes forth, let it be seasoned by your discretion. If by chance anything resounds with less than the harmony of truth, although I do not suppose there be, let the rule of your judgment spread over it and cut it square. If nothing is found that is at variance in either of these respects, let it be supported by your testimony and strengthened by your authority. And in all of these things, if anything comes to light preceding from my pen that is otherwise unbecoming the subject, let it be accounted as the fault of the scarcity of my skill. And if anything is evident of being worthy of reading as it was composed with great labor, let it be ascribed to your excellence. However, of the translation of this saint, or of the wonders performed after his death, I was not able to discover anywhere; they either were not noted because by chance they escaped from the memory of those at present, or they have been enriched beyond numbers and omitted, so that the abundance of wonders collected might not weary feeble readers. May your sanctity always live and thrive in the Lord.

The beginning of the written life of Kentigern, the most famous and beloved by God and men, a Nazarite⁸ of the Nazarene, our Jesus Christ, is consecrated by that divine oracle in which the Lord, anticipating the blessing of his sweetness,⁹ declared that the prophet Jeremiah would become a chosen vessel sanctified to the work of his ministry, by such praise as this: Before I formed thee in the belly I knew thee; and before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the nations.¹⁰ In truth the blessed Kentigern, who was a friend of God before he was born into the world, being anointed by the grace of election pouring forth before he came from the maternal womb, was exalted by wonders before he became great in either his limbs or good works. The Holy of Holies Himself ordered him, who was sanctified in the womb and was as yet to be more sanctified, to shine at the very beginning of his virtue when he was still covered by the cloister of the maternal womb, so that He could establish that the special gift of the holy spirit is not bound fast by the chains of original sin. This man, I say, famous by descent and appearance and endowed with various signs and marvels and foretellings, was a prophet indeed, and by His decree, he was destined to be a teacher and chief ruler to many nations and a redeemer of the heathen.

And so here the most holy man, although he drew his original part from a royal tree, nevertheless came forth just as a rose from a thorn, or as a fragrant tree from the dirt of the ground, because his mother was a daughter of a certain king, of a most pagan family, in the North land of the Britons.¹¹ However, when the sound of the preaching of the Christian faith went out in the land of his region, and the words of the holy preachers went out into the territory of the north wind, from where every evil used to be spread, she heard with her listening ears how the radiance of eternal light, the son of justice having appeared through the star of virginity, enlightened the world with his beams of knowledge and pure love. And announcing salvation to those who are near and far away, He led his own into the fullness of all truth more effectively by the evidence of manifest signs. Immediately her heart burned within her, and in her meditation that fire kindled within her which the Lord sent into the land, and she vehemently wished to be inflamed. Her thirsty soul came to the knowledge of the truth and she received the ingrafted word that was able to preserve her soul from death. And although she was not yet washed in the health-giving water of baptism, nevertheless she was running with a wide open and cheerful heart in the way of the commands of God. She pursued continually in learning the ecclesiastical faith with frequent and devout prayers and in practicing its discipline as much as she was able to on account of her fear of her pagan father. Yet, in doing these things, the girl had a special devotion to the Virgin Mother and admired her fruitful purity. And by admiring she venerated, and by venerating and esteeming her highly she desired to imitate her, and with a certain presumption of female rashness, she labored diligently to entreat the Lord that she might imitate her in conceiving and giving birth.

With the unfolding of some time, she discovered herself to be with child, and her soul magnified the Lord,¹² trusting purely that her desire had been fulfilled. However, that which was born in her womb she received from a human embrace, but as she asserted by many oaths binding her, from who or when or rather in what manner she conceived, she did not have in her conscious mind.¹³ But although it is allowed that this secret was concealed from her, or went away from her memory, nevertheless the truth of the matter by no means ought to be lost from the soul of anyone who is discerning, nor should any scruple be attached to that time. So that for the present we may bury in silence those things we found inserted in poetic songs, or in histories not canonical,¹⁴ we read from the approved sacred books, in the book of Genesis, that the daughters of Lot not only secretly took by stealth for themselves their father’s embraces, but also the same daughters both conceived when he was drunk and entirely ignorant of the matter.¹⁵ It exists just the same for us - many have taken the drink of oblivion which physicians call "Letargion" in order to sleep, and have endured incisions in their limbs, and sometimes burning and abrasions in their vital parts, and felt it not at all, and after being awakened they did not know of the physician’s actions. We hear frequently of fortune-telling illusions overthrowing a young girl’s purity and of the one deflowered little knowing her deflowerer. It is possible that something of this kind took place with this girl by the secret judgment of God that she might not feel the mingling of the sexes, so that now she perceived herself to be unblemished although impregnated.¹⁶

We do not by any means think this was unnecessary to be introduced here, because the foolish and unwise people living in the diocese of Saint Kentigern still do not fear to say that he himself was conceived and born of a virgin. But why do we linger over these things? Truly we think the matter absurd to inquire further as to who the sower was and in what manner he ploughed or even planted the earth, when by the Lord’s goodness, this earth produced good and abundant fruit - I say, the fruit of this earth, which received a benediction from the Lord, through whom many generations have been blessed by the Lord, and partake the fruits of perpetual salvation with the Lord.

Meanwhile the woman went out, and her womb swelled up as a distinctive sign of her seduction displayed to all the prophets. And now with her face pale, with her heart lodged in her throat, and with milk erupting in her breasts, her pregnancy denounced her. When her condition was poured by drops into the ears of her father the king, and he had seen and touched, he himself would have the matter established by a more certain inquiry in the following way: he earnestly questioned her, now urging her with dread, now soothing her with fawning, as to who had made her pregnant. But she, introducing an oath in the name of Christ, proclaimed that she was innocent of all virile consorting. However upon hearing this, the king became filled with a more furious anger, both because of the name of Christ which had sounded from her mouth, and because he was not able to discover the violator of his daughter. And he took an oath and resolved to guard his righteous judgment, and he would not in any respect break the law of his elders set for such matters either on account of love or the life of his child.

There was among that barbarous people a public law from former days that a girl who committed fornication in her father’s house, and was found to be pregnant, would be cast headlong from the brow of the highest mountain, and her seducer would be beheaded.¹⁷ Similarly with the Saxons from olden days, almost up to these modern times, a sanction endured that any virgin who was deflowered willingly in her father’s house should be buried alive, without any hope of retraction, and the violator himself was to be hanged over her tomb. What can we say to this, or what are we able to interpret from this? If such zeal for chastity inflamed pagans, who were ignorant of divine laws, because of their honor and the observance of their fathers’ traditions, what should a Christian do, who is bound fast to the custody of chasteness by the divine law, which promises for this good work the joy of divine inspiration, but on the other hand, repays its transgression with Tartarus?¹⁸ For both sexes and all nature are plunged almost as much without restraint as with pleasure (because with impunity) into hog pools of carnal sewage. And not only the vilest common people are defiled with all kinds of contagion, but also those who are sustained with ecclesiastical benefices and divine offices think themselves happier the more they are polluted.¹⁹ And now the hammerer of the entire earth, namely the breath of fornication, pierces them.²⁰

Those who are decorated with an imagined holiness in their outward appearance, but in truth denying virtue by their works and placing their faith in this age, are known by their impure life to tell lies to God through their sacred dress and tonsure. They should be fearful of that which the Lord rebukes through his prophet, saying, "He who celebrates wicked acts on the earth will not see the glory of God." Even now, what should be lamented with all the rivers of tears? Because of that shameful crime of shameful crimes that is committed with impunity and which nothing more detestable can be devised, a flame of sulphur – a heavenly judgment – destroyed the shameless ones in Pentapolis.²¹ Nor is one to be found who boldly reproves the perpetrators. Because if anyone even rarely is found in whom the zeal of the house of God devours, and who burns with the love of justice and honor in order to seem to expose such unnatural and shameful crimes, immediately he is declared a sycophant to his face and is denounced by all as a detractor. His mouth is closed as though he is the evildoer and his tongue is sentenced to be tied up.

Why is this? Simply, as it is written, the body of the Leviathan is packed tightly with an armor of scales pressed down together, and the shadows protect his shadow.²² Because the criminals and the disgraceful ones, who are members of the devil, are in turn protected by others who labor in similar vices, the arrow of reproach is not able to penetrate them. Truly I think, this is seen as evidence of their inexcusable condemnation, as such men, being handed over for reprehensible purposes, will not accept or allow the rod of rebuke. And the multitude, laboring in equal vice, does not request their punishment in the least, because the many burn not less than they themselves as if each one is thrown into the fire. But what may we say about those on whom the duty is imposed of binding and setting free, of closing and opening; who are raised high on the candelabrum, so that they may shine by word and example in the house of the Lord? Surely more today represent smoke rather than flame, and the stench of sorcerers rather than brightness. Surely they are dumb dogs, not able (by all means not willing) to bark. When they see customs more than bestial, they do not dare to censure, especially when they themselves are formed, indeed even more disfigured, by those customs. For, as the people, so also the priest; just as the layman, so also the prelate; indeed just as the first in honor, so also the worst in iniquity; and he who is first in the office of prelate is also first in vice. What the scripture mystically says concerning such men is to be feared for them: "If a Beast defiles the mountain, it will be stoned."²³ The beast defiles the mountain when anyone of bestial life ascends to the bishop’s seat of dignity and places an impure hand on the purifying sacrifices. Truly such a one as this is ordered to be stoned, because it is clearly taught in the judgments of the holy fathers that he is to be subject to a harsh and heavy damnation. Although I have spoken by way of digression, I pray that these things will be burdensome to no one.

The zeal of this pagan man, who did not spare his own daughter but handed her over to receive punishment because of the simple fault of fornication, ought to inflict great shame on the worshippers of Christ to plant and propagate chastity.

Therefore, the above-mentioned girl was led on the command of the king to the brow of the highest mountain, which is named Dumpelder,²⁴ so that she could be cast headlong downward from there and be broken bit by bit into pieces and torn limb from limb. But she, sighing heavily and looking up to heaven, said in a pleading voice, "I suffer this justly, because I have acted as if I were one of the silly women, wishing to be as purified as the most holy, most sovereign of salvation, the parent giving birth to her father. But I pray, Lady," she said, "most blessed of women, remove this sin from your maidservant, because I have acted very foolishly. O Mother of mercy, show the light of your kindness to me, and free me from the distress that surrounds me! I pray to you, Lady! Just as He, that flower of the angelic mountains, without injury to your snow-white genitals, thought it fitting to make himself humble in your valley, fertile with all virtues, the lily of the valley,²⁵ and from you became the mountain of most steadfast faith, a stone cut without hands that grew into a mighty mountain and filled the world,²⁶ so also deliver me, your maidservant, from the precipice. Although I am not yet washed in the sacred fountain, nevertheless steadfastly believing in your son, I hope to be kept from harm in the shadow of his wings, so that the blessed name of your son may be exulted forever in the sight of these heathen people. Also, the offspring that I carry in my womb, I promise to deliver up to your son and to yourself as a special possession for all the days of his life."²⁷

And when she had prayed in this way, having vowed in her heart and with her mouth calling out repeated invocations to Christ and his mother, the servants of the king cast her headlong from the summit of the mountain. Then a wonderful thing happened and unheard of in former days! When she had fallen, she was not crushed because the Lord put his hand under her; and for that reason she experienced no injury. As it seemed to her, she descended in the fashion of a winged bird falling gently to earth lest by chance she would strike her foot against a rock. The deed of mercy and the voice of praise resounded in the mouth of many who saw these wonderful works of God. The holy and dreadful name of Christ was praised. The innocent one was judged both to be free from all further punishment and to have complete honor. But in answer to this, the idolaters and adversaries of the Christian faith ascribed this wonder not to divine virtue, but to wickedness, and with one voice they repeatedly called her a magician and a worker of evil.²⁸ Then there was a division among the people concerning her. Some were saying that she was good and innocent; however others said no, but that she deceived the crowd with her illusions and changed and confused the senses.²⁹ So the crowd with a storm of words to one another confused itself, but the sacrilegious multitude gathered strength and they incited their king, who was inwardly delivered up to idolatry, to order a new judgment against his daughter.

Finally with the connivance of the assembly of the malicious common people and the adversaries of the name of Christ, it was decreed that she, the disgraced pregnant woman, would be set forth on the sea alone in a little boat. Therefore, in order that she should be delivered up to the resulting sanctioned judgment, the servants of the King, went up into a ship and led her away to the deepest part of the sea. And there she was placed alone in a very small boat made of hide, according to the custom of the Scots, and after committing her without any oars to fate, they returned to shore by rowing.³⁰ They related that the sentence was accomplished to the King and people who had waited for the result of the matter. Indeed they spoke with mockery, "She named herself the maidservant of Christ. It is predicted that she has the strength of his protectress. Let us see if her words are true. She trusts in Christ; let him free her from the hand of death and from the danger of the sea if he is able."³¹

In truth, the girl, having been left without any human aid, entrusted herself to him alone, who had made the sea and the dry land and faithfully prayed that he would deliver her from the imminent danger, as formerly he had saved her from the precipice. It is a wonder to relate, but for God no act is impossible.³² That little boat, in which the pregnant girl was held, rode the eddies whirling up and down, and being turned towards the opposite shore, ploughed with a much quicker passage than if it had been borne along by blown sails, or was propelled by the hardest effort of many rowers. For the one who saved Jonah the prophet after he tasted the vast bosom of the whale in the chasms of the sea,³³ whose right hand also lifted up the blessed Peter walking on the waves so that he would not sink,³⁴ and who freed his co-apostle Paul from the bottomless ocean, after suffering shipwreck three times,³⁵ guided the woman safe to the harbor of deliverance, for the sake of the child she carried in her womb, whom He had ordained to be the best pilot on the prow of his ship, namely a distinguished teacher and ruler of his church.

The afore-mentioned woman came to shore upon the sand near the place called Culross.³⁶ At this time Saint Servanus³⁷ was living in this place, and taught the sacred literature to many boys, who were to be delivered up to divine service. And when she had gone out onto the dry land, the contractions of child-bearing instantly seized her. Raising her eyes, she beheld at a distance, although in the shadows near the shore, the sign of a fire’s ashes, which perhaps shepherds or fishermen had abandoned there. Therefore she approached the place, and insofar as she was able, she kindled a hearth for herself. However, when dawn, the forerunner of the divine light, began to grow white, her time was accomplished to give birth. And indeed she bore a son who would become a herald and a messenger of light.

In truth, in the same hour, Saint Servanus, while intent on prayer after the gathering for the Matins of the night watch and longing for the sacred sweetness of contemplation, heard the invisible angels in the upper air resounding with praises dripped in sweetness. And rejoicing with the praises of those creatures and exulting with his disciples, he eagerly offered in his spirit sacrifices of jubilation to the Lord by singing "Te Deum."³⁸ Whereupon the clerics, wondering at the newness of the event, inquired what had happened, and he related to them the morning vision and the singing of hymns by the angels, and he earnestly admonished that they themselves should render to the Lord the bullocks³⁹ of their lips. And there were shepherds keeping watch nearby, having care over the protection of their flocks. They were going out in the early morning when they saw a fire kindled near at hand. They came hurrying to that place and found a very young maiden having been released from childbirth with an infant wrapped up in swaddling clothes and placed out in the open.⁴⁰ In truth, they were led by pity and expressed their concern by increasing the hearth abundantly, serving meat, and administering other necessary things. And they brought them as well as they were able and presented them to Saint Servanus and related to him the order of the event.

When these things were heard and having seen the little boy, the mouth of the blessed old man was filled with spiritual laughter, and his heart with a joyful melody.⁴¹ Whereupon he said in the tongue of his country, "Mochohe! Mochohe!"⁴² which is spoken in Latin, "Care mi, Care mi,"⁴³ adding, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.⁴⁴ Then he received them into his own home and he nourished and instructed them, as if they were his own pledges. And so after some few days were measured out, he poured over them the baptism of rebirth and renewal,⁴⁵ and anointed them with the sacred chrism, calling the mother Taneu and the boy Kyentyern, which is translated "First Lord."⁴⁶ Thus that new name, which the mouth of Saint Servanus gave him, was not received in vain as will become apparent by its place in the following pages. Therefore the man of the Lord taught the child of the Lord, even as another Samuel, commended and assigned to him by God.⁴⁷ Indeed the boy grew and was strengthened and the grace of God was in him.⁴⁸

However, when the age of discernment approached him, and the time suitable and acceptable for learning, he handed him over to be instructed in letters. And he devoted much diligence and effort to him that in these things he might advance. And in this matter, he himself was not defrauded by his own desire, because the boy responded very well and fruitfully to his teaching by learning and retaining it like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season.⁴⁹ The boy made progress with the anointing of good hope and holy character instructing him in the discipline of letters, and not less in the practice of the holy virtues. For there were granted to him by the Father of light, from whom every good and perfect gift is given, an attentive heart, a keen nature for understanding, a firm memory to retain what had been learned, a persuasive tongue to produce what he desired, and a sublime voice – dripping with sweetness, harmonious, and as it were, never weary of singing the divine praises. Moreover all these gifts of grace gilded a life worthy of praise, and for that reason he was in the eyes of the holy old man more precious and loveable than all of his companions. And so it was his custom to call him in the language of his country Munghu,⁵⁰ which is spoken in Latin as "Karissimus Amicus,"⁵¹ and by this name up to this day the common people are accustomed to call him frequently, and to invoke him in their distress.^52†+

The fellow students of Saint Kentigern, seeing that he was loved by their master and spiritual father more than all the others, hated him, and they were not able to speak anything peacefully to him either privately or publicly. Whereupon they plotted against him in many things, and insulted, envied, and slandered him. But the boy of the Lord always had the eyes of his heart towards the Lord, and suffering more for them than for himself, he was little weighed down by all the unjust tricks of men.

Now a certain little bird, which is called a redbird by the common people because of its ruby-colored small body, was accustomed to receive its daily food from the hand of Servanus, the servant of God, by the command of the heavenly Father, without whom not even one sparrow falls toward the earth.⁵³ And having accepted such intimacy, he displayed familiarity and tameness towards him. Sometimes he was even accustomed to rest upon his head, or his face, or his shoulders, or his lap, assisting him as he prayed or read, and by the striking of its wings, or by the sound of its inarticulate voice, and by whatever gestures of affection, it would exhibit those towards him. And sometimes the face of the man of God, overshadowed by the acts of the bird, was covered with cheerfulness, admiring truly in the small creature the great power of the Creator, by whom the mute speak and irrational things are known to experience reason.

And because many times this bird came near to him or departed by the command and will of the man of God, it reproached the unbelief and hardness of his students’ hearts, and exposed their disobedience. And let this lesson not seem unsuitable to anyone, seeing that God, by the voice of a mute animal and one used to the yoke, rebuked the folly of the prophet,⁵⁴ and Solomon, the most wise of men, sent the slothful man to the ant in order that by contemplating his labor and diligence, he might shake from himself his stupefaction and sloth.⁵⁵ And a certain holy and wise man summoned his religious⁵⁶ to consider the work of the bees, so that in their little bodies they might learn the beautiful discipline of ministry. But perhaps it will seem a wonder to some that a man so holy and righteous would take delight in respect to the play or gestures of a little bird. But let it be known to those of such thoughts that righteous men at times need to be softened from their own sternness so that those who in spirit go out to God are more temperate to us at times Even the bow must sometimes be loosened from its excessive strain, so that it will not be weak and useless for sending the arrow when the time of need comes. For birds seek with outstretched wings to fly in the air, and then once again with these same wings they descend to settle down to the lower earth.

Therefore on a certain day, when the old man entered his chapel offering the incense of prayers to God, the boys, taking advantage of the absence of their teacher, had room to indulge in play with the aforementioned little bird, and while they groped for it among themselves, and attempted to tear the bird away from each other, it was killed by their hands, and its head was torn away from its body. This being done, their play was changed into grief, and already they imagined to be imminent the blows of the rod which are accustomed to be the most severe instrument of torture for boys. After entering upon a plan together, they laid this deed on the boy Kentigern, who had cut himself off thoroughly from this kind of game. And before the old man came, they showed the dead bird to him and then threw it beside him. Indeed the old man suffered grieviously over the death of the bird, and threatened severe vengeance on its killer. Therefore the boys rejoiced, supposing that they had escaped, and that they had turned the vengeance onto Kentigern that was owed to them, and that they had diminished the grace of friendship that up to this point Servanus had held toward him.

After obtaining knowledge of this, Kentigern, the most pure child, lifted up the bird in his hands, and joining the head to the body, he impressed upon it the sign of the cross. And raising his undefiled hands in prayer to the Lord, he said, "Lord Jesus Christ, in whose hand is the breath of all your creatures, rational and irrational, restore to this little bird the breath of life so that your blessed name will be praised forever." The holy one spoke these words in prayer, and immediately the bird revived. And not only did it seek safely the breezes in free flight, but also indeed it flew in its usual manner towards the old man who was returning from the church. When he saw this marvel, the heart of the blessed old man exulted in the Lord, and his soul praised the child of the Lord in the Lord, and praised the Lord, who alone does great wonders, working in the boy. And so by this special sign, the Lord made known and announced, indeed as it was foreshadowed, that Kentigern was his own, whom afterwards he exalted greatly in many ways by more wonders.

There was an order by Saint Servanus that every boy whom he instructed and taught to diligently be devoted to preparing the lamps in the church throughout the cycle of the week, so that the work of the Lord could be celebrated in that very place by day and by night. And for this reason while the others were sleeping, the boy would carefully bank the fire, lest any negligence pertaining to the lamps should happen in the divine service. Now it happened that Saint Kentigern was assigned to the service in the order of his lot. And although he diligently and fittingly performed this duty, his rivals, burning with the torches of envy, indeed blinded as it is characteristic of the perverse to envy the growth of their betters, and to persecute, or pervert, or diminish the good in others, which they do not, nor can not, nor will not have in themselves, on a certain solemn night secretly extinguished every fire in the dwellings of the monastery, and the nearby places.⁵⁷ And as if ignorant and innocent, they returned to their small beds. And about cock crow, Kentigern, as custom demanded that he should attend to the lamps, searched for fire all around, but found none.

Finally, after perceiving the malice of his rivals, he was determined in his spirit to give place to envy, and he began to leave from the monastery. And when he had come to the hedge that went around that dwelling, he stood still; and returning to himself, he armed his spirit to bear the dangers among false brothers and to endure the persecution of the perverse. Then turning to his master, he took a branch of greening hazel, withdrawing it out from the hedge where it had grown up, and inflamed with faith he implored the Father of luminaries to enlighten his shadows with a new outpouring of light, and in a new manner to provide a lamp for him through which he might cover with beneficial shame those who were persecuting him. After this, he raised his pure hand and made the sign of the cross upon the branch, and blessing it in the name of the whole and inseparable trinity, he breathed upon the branch.

Then a wonderful and splendid thing happened! Immediately fire sent from heaven took hold of the branch, as if the boy had breathed flame for his breath, and it brought forth long purified rays and drove away all the shadows from the surrounding area. And so seeing light in his light, he walked into the house of God. Therefore God sent his light, and brought him and led him into the monastery, to his holy mountain and into his tabernacle. And he entered near to the altar of God, who gladdened this youth with such a clear sign, and kindled the lamps of the church, so that the divine office might be celebrated and consummated in due season. And the Lord was his illumination and salvation, so that he would no longer be in fear of his rivals, because he judged and discerned his cause against those unjust, envious, and deceitful boys opposing Kentigern, and their malice was no longer able to thrive against him.

All were amazed when they saw this great vision, since that torch burned without damage to the branch, just as long ago the bush which appeared to Moses was seen to burn without consuming itself.⁵⁸ Yet the one and the same Lord produced the sign both in the bush and in the hazel, because the same God, who determined Moses as the lawgiver to the people of the Hebrews,⁵⁹ so that he might lead them out of Egyptian bondage, considered it worthy to bind Kentigern as a preacher of the Christian law to many people of the nations, so that he might rescue them from the dominion of the devil.

At last that divine torch was extinguished, after the lamps of the church were burning, and all greatly wondered, discerning this as a wonder of God. For that hazel tree, from which the little branch was separated, received a blessing from Saint Kentigern, and afterwards it began to grow wild into a little grove. Indeed, as the country people say, if from that hazel grove even the greenest little branch is taken, it kindles as the most driest wood when fire licks at it up to this day, and being struck by a small breath, through the merit of the saint, it scatters from itself sparks of flame.

And this kind of miracle deserves to continue, indeed to perpetuate, him in whom the verdure of springlike summer – the cheerfulness of the flesh – although flourishing outwardly, inwardly is valueless. And all the glory of the world was as the flower in the grass that completely withered because the Spirit of the Lord blew on it. And the Word of the Lord remaining eternally, He consecrated to himself that brightest spirit and uncorrupted body by illumination, and as a universal burnt offering the flame of the Holy Spirit consumed him, having been received in the odor of sweetness.

Saint Servanus had a certain man assigned to the office of cook, who was very necessary to him and to his people, because he was skilled in such art and well-appointed and very diligent in respect to this frequent service. It happened that he was touched with a very bitter sickness and lay ill on his bed. And when the sickness became more serious and gathered strength, he exhaled his vital breath. The heart of the old man filled with sadness for his death. And all the crowd of his students and the whole household mourned over him, because someone equal to him in such ministry was not easily found. Performing the duty of nature, they surrendered his dust⁶⁰ into the womb of all mothers,⁶¹ and they sustained no small loss on account of his death.

After the day of his burial, all the students and the household, both the benevolent and the envious, approached the blessed Servanus, earnestly entreating that he would constrain his Munghu by prayer and compel him in virtue of his obedience to attempt to raise up the cook from the dead.⁶² For his rivals claimed that the magicians in Egypt had presented signs from heaven by their illusions⁶³ and according to the witness of John in the Apocalypse, the disciples of the antichrist would send fire from heaven,⁶⁴ and many evildoers⁶⁵ had practiced what appeared astonishing in the eyes of all by their wicked arts, but no man of the human race, unless he excelled in holiness, was able to return anyone who was truly dead to the breath of life.

They kept persisting in season and out of season, urging him with persuasive words that he should try to test his holiness by such a work, for his merit would be preached through the ages if he could recall the dead and buried to life. The holy old man, at first hesitating lest he presume to impose such unusual work on the young man, but finally subdued and restrained by the insolence of their wickedness, met with the youth of the Lord concerning this work with soft speech and prayers, but he found him restrained and affirming that he had no merit for this work. Then Saint Servanus abjured him by the holy and dreadful name of the Lord that he should at least attempt what he could in this matter, and he commanded this by force of holy obedience. And the youth, fearing that abjuration and judging obedience better than all sacrifices and more pleasing to God,⁶⁶ went to the grave where the cook had been buried the day before, and he had the earth which covered the cook dug up and cast aside. Then placing himself alone, with abundant tears flowing so that they anointed his face, he said, "Lord Jesus Christ! You are the life and the resurrection of your own people who believe faithfully in you;⁶⁷ the one who kills and makes alive; the one who leads down to the grave and brings back again; the one to whom life and death are servants; the one who awakened Lazarus after four days. Raise up this dead man that your holy name may be glorified over all things, and blessed forever."

Then a thing wonderful beyond measure happened! While Saint Kentigern poured out many prayers, the dead man, who had laid prostrate in the dust, immediately revived from the dead and came out from the grave house, although still wrapped up in winding bands. As Kentigern rose from his prayers, the cook rose from the dead, and proceeded with him and the great crowd accompanying them, unharmed and cheerful, first to the church of God to give thanks. And then by the command of Kentigern, he went to his customary duties in the kitchen while all the people applauded the miracle and praised God. Indeed the resurrected man afterwards related the punishments of the false and the joys of the righteous which he had seen, and he turned many people from evil to good.⁶⁸ He also strengthened many others in their holy purpose as they were diligent to progress from good to better.

And being questioned by many, he thus uncovered the manner of his resurrection. He asserted that he was taken away from the affairs of men with unspeakable pain and brought before the tribunal of the dreadful judge, and there he saw many who were cast down into hell after receiving their judgment. Others were bound in places of purgatory and some were lifted up to divine joys above the heavens. And when he with trembling expected his judgment, he heard that he was the man for whom Kentigern, the beloved of the Lord, was praying, and he was ordered by one streaming with light to be lead back to his body. And he was admonished diligently by the same one who was leading him to amend his life and henceforth to be more watchful.⁶⁹

And so this same cook, preferring the holy religion in habit and deed, both increasing and accomplishing excellence out of virtue, lived another seven years, and then submitted to fate, being enclosed in a noble sarcophagus. And there was written on the lid of his tomb how he had been restored to life by Saint Kentigern, so that the miraculous God might be glorified in his saint forever by all who see or will see this.

When the holiness of Saint Kentigern became clear by such increasingly remarkable signs, and the fragance of his virtues spread like the odor of life far and wide, his rivals derived an odor of death from this life-giving aroma.⁷⁰ And his holy reputation, which offered to many a change to sacred thoughts, was an incentive for them to sow great hatred against the saint of God. The boy, being wise in the Lord, understood that their malice against him had filled them, and thus it was not possible to cease the long-standing, embedded, and incurable envy in their restless hearts. And he did not think it was safe to be lulled to sleep surrounded by a venemous crowd of serpents, lest perhaps he should feel the loss of inner sweetness. Also he considered the breath of popular favor, serenely and sweetly breathing on him and shouting "Well done, Well done" on all sides. Accordingly he considered moving from that place, so that he could avoid the assembly of the wicked, and turn away in humility both from those envying him and from vainglory. He took counsel over this matter by the perseverance of most fervent prayers, with the great angel of deliberation, so that his good spirit would lead him on the right path and he would not run, or had not ran, the course of life in vain.⁷¹ Therefore the Lord inclined his ear to the prayers of his young servant, revealing to him through the Holy Spirit that which he determined in his soul would be acceptable in the eyes of the Lord.

And so he secretly left that place, having God as the guide for his journey and his protector in every place. Heading eagerly on this journey, he reached the Friscan shore,⁷² where the river called Mallena, exceeding its channel because of the inflowing tides of the sea, took away all hope of crossing over.⁷³ But the just and mighty Lord, who divided the Red Sea into parts and brought Israel out through the midst of the sea with their feet dry as they followed under Moses,⁷⁴ and who turned back the continuous passage of the Jordan to its own source, so that the children of Israel with dry footprints might pass through into the land of promise under Joshua,⁷⁵ and who divided this same river Jordan by the prayers of Elijah and Elisha, his disciple,⁷⁶ so that they could go through with dry steps, now He Himself with the same powerful hand and lofty arm divided the Mallena river, so that Kentigern, the beloved of God and men, might cross through on dry land.⁷⁷ In an exceedingly wonderful manner, the flood flowed back to the sea, and as I thus may say, astonished both the sea and the river which became as walls on his left hand and on his right. Then crossing over a little arm of the sea by means of a bridge, which is called by the inhabitants the Pons Servani,⁷⁸ he looked back to the bank and saw the waters, which earlier had stood in a heap, flowing back with force and filling the channel of the Mallena – even overflowing the above-mentioned bridge and totally denying passage to anyone trying to cross the river.⁷⁹

And then Saint Servanus, having followed the fugitive, stood above the bank leaning his aged limbs on a staff and signaled to him with his hand. And with shouting and lamenting he said, "Alas my dearest son! The light of my eyes! The staff of my old age! For what cause are you forsaking me? Why are you abandoning me? Reflect, I beg you, on bygone days, and hold in your mind how in past years I received you coming from your mother’s womb, and how I nourished you and instructed you and fostered you continuously to this hour. And do not disdain me or forsake my gray hairs, but turn back, so that you may be nearby to close my eyes." Kentigern, being moved by these words of the old man, and releasing his tears, responded. "You see, father, that what I have done is by divine will; neither can we nor should we wish to change the counsel of the Most High, and we should submit to his will. Moreover there is established between us this sea as a chasm, so that even if I wished, I could not cross over to you and you cannot come across from there to me. Therefore I ask you, hold me absolved from your command."

Then the old man said, "I beseech that by your prayer, even as you did but a little while before, you make the water solid again, and divide the high sea and uncover the land, so that at least I alone may go through and reach you by way of dry land. With a willing spirit I will become a son instead of a father to you, a disciple instead of a teacher, and a pupil instead of a patron, so that even to the evening of my days I may be an inseparable companion to you." Then again Kentigern spoke, although his face was wet with tears, "I beg you, my father, to return to your own household, so that by your holy presence they may be instructed in the sacred doctrine, taught by your example, and corrected with your discipline. May the Rewarder of everything repay you for all the favors which you have shown to me. Henceforth there is laid up for you a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give you at that day.⁸⁰ However I, being destined for the work of the ministry, will continue on that course which He has set me, who separated me from the womb of my mother and called me through his grace."

After these words were said and receiving mutual benedictions, they separated from one another, and after this meeting they did not see each other again in this world. Servanus, returning to his home, looked for the day of his summons in good old age. And so having grown old in good days, he was placed by the holy fathers and rested in the Lord, and as a good worker in the vineyard in the evening, he received from the Lord his denarius of eternal reward.⁸¹ And of what things he contributed and what kind of man he was and of the many wonders he made visible, there is a little book, which committed to writing his life, that will show these things most clearly to those who read it.⁸²

And that place where Saint Kentigern crossed was afterwards impassable. For that bridge, after that time always being covered by the waters of the sea, offered to no one any longer the means to cross the river. And the Mallena completely changed the course of its rapid motion from its proper place, and from that day up to the present, the Mallena turned back into the channel of the river Ledon. Thus in fact the rivers, which up to that time had been divided from one another, became mingled and united.⁸³

There was a certain man of venerable life, Fregus by name,⁸⁴ who had been much refined by a continuous sickness. That man lived detained on a bed of pain in a town whose name is Kernach,⁸⁵ but he was strong in faith, healthy in holy manner of life, and waiting eagerly for heaven. This just and devout man, when the south wind blew across his garden so that the aroma of its breezes flowed to him, he felt in his heart the sweetness of holiness emanating from the perfect reputation of Saint Kentigern. And from there, both his spirit and his eyes thirsted from the desire kindled in him, so that it might again be thought that the desire of the ancient Saint Simeon to see the Lord was being renewed. For Simeon with panting spirit longed to see with the eyes of the flesh the salvation of God, the Christ of the Lord, clothed in the flesh.⁸⁶ Fregus, with constant faith, unwearied desire, and repeated prayers to the Lord, sought that he might see Kentigern, the servant of the Lord Christ. Christ heard favorably the desire of both men, and the ear of God, hearing the preparation of the heart, fulfilled their desire. The desire and joy of Simeon was filled for his salvation on the day in which Christ was presented in the temple. Fregus, for his consolation, saw Kentigern the same day he departed from Saint Servanus, and he rejoiced. For Fregus had received an answer from the Holy Spirit that he would not see death unless first he saw Kentigern, the Nazarite of the Lord.

And when Kentigern had come to the dwelling of the holy sick man, and knocked at the gate, the sick man inside, being instructed by divine revelation, called out, saying, "Open the gates because God is with us.⁸⁷ The messenger of my salvation has come, who was promised to me by God and expected by me for a long time, and he is presented to me today." And when he had seen him, he rejoiced in his spirit and giving thanks, he blessed God and said, "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace, according to thy word: For mine eyes have seen thy salvation, Which thou hast prepared before the face of all people, a light for the revelation of the true light which illuminates all men coming into this world, and declares the glory of eternal life to the people of this and of many nations."⁸⁸ And turning to Kentigern, again Fregus said, "Dispose of my household and my life today, and tomorrow arrange for my tomb, according to your providence as you are inspired by God." Then at the admonishment of Saint Kentigern, he dispersed whatever earthly possessions he held and gave them to the poor, and having made a pure confession, he was anointed with the oil of forgiveness. And being fortified with the life-giving body and blood of the Lord, he commended his spirit into the hand of the Lord, and with his eyes and hands intent on heaven, he died during the words of prayer.

On the next day Kentigern joined two untamed bulls to a new cart, in which he placed that lifeless body, and having prayed in the name of the Lord, he instructed the brute animals to bring the burden laid on them to the place which God provided for it. Indeed the bulls, neither being the least resistant nor opposing in anyway the voice of Saint Kentigern, and without any stumbling or falling or guide, proceeded by a straight course with Kentigern and many of the company with him following them to Cathures, which is now called Glasgow.⁸⁹ And there near a certain cemetery that had been concecrated formerly by Saint Ninian,⁹⁰ they halted with the sacred burden of earth laid on them in all meekness – an exceedingly wonderful sight.⁹¹ He guided with direction and threats this chariot to the aforementioned place by no less a miracle and not in a dissimilar manner or unequal power as when the Ark of the Covenant, which had been captured by foreigners, was placed on a new cart after Dagon had been overwhelmed and crushed, and being led by young milch cows who had never been yoked, it was brought from Ekron to Bethshemesh.⁹²

Therefore the saint took down the holy body in that very place, and having performed the funeral rites, he surrendered the dead to that cemetery in which no man had as yet been laid. This was the first grave in that place in which afterwards many bodies were buried in peace. The greatest reverence was devoted to the tomb of the man of God; nor was his grave taken for granted by any bold man daring to trample on it or rashly going over it. For before the turning of the year, many who had tread on his grave or despised its reverence were punished with some serious misfortune, and some even with death. That grave mound even up to the present is girded with a delightful thickness of overhanging oak trees as a mark of the holiness and reverence of the dead man.⁹³

After Fregus, the man of God, had been buried, Saint Kentigern, as it was imposed on him by a revelation from the Lord, lived in that same place with two brothers who had lived in that place before his arrival. And arranging his life in great holiness, he increased in many virtues to perfection. One of the brothers with whom he stayed was called Telleyr and the other was Anguen.⁹⁴ And Anguen received the saint of God as an angel of the Lord, and prized him out of the most loving affection of his heart. With all reverence and veneration, he was subservient in obeying and submiting to his commands, even to the point of delivering up his service⁹⁵ to him. But not in vain. For the servant of the Lord blessed him in the name of the Lord. And truly the result of that blessing of goodness was that not only he himself but also almost the whole of his offspring received a blessing from the Lord and mercy from God our Helper, and seemed to possess that blessing as if by hereditary right.⁹⁶ For the Lord magnified them in the sight of kings, and made for them a great name, equal to the name of the great ones who were in that land, so that they increased and were enlarged in both matters of wealth and in the culture of the Christian religion.⁹⁷ And it was justly said concerning them that they were the seed that the Lord blessed by the prayers and good works of his servant Kentigern.

However the other brother, who was called Telleyr, was very troublesome to him by secretly slandering his religion, perverting all his acts, frequently resisting him openly to his face, and treating him with insults and injustices. Either by diminishing Kentigern’s good works or perverting them, he obscured everything with a perverse interpretation. But the servant of God, who had learned by lasting custom with the blessed Job to be a brother with dragons and a comrade of ostriches⁹⁸ and to live with scorpions after the fashion of Ezekiel,⁹⁹ possessed his soul in patience, and was peaceful with the one hating peace. But when he spoke with him of those things which are of peace, Telleyr would yet fight against his kindness since he was perverse and ungrateful. But God, the Lord of vengeance, the patient Rewarder, did not for long allow the injury to his servant¹⁰⁰ to continue. For on a certain day, after many insults by which he had provoked the soul of the just man, he went out to his work. And because he was powerful in his physical strength, he placed on his shoulders a tree of great weight which exceeded the size of his strength. And he was proud and supposed that he had procured for himself a triumphant title by surpassing asses in the carrying of all burdens. And when he had gone but a little way, he struck his foot against a rock and fell to the ground, and thus was pressed down by his burden and died; he experienced what Solomon had said, Woe to him that is alone when he falleth; for he hath not another to help him up.¹⁰¹ And again he says, He that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once.¹⁰²

Kentigern, when he knew that his adversary had fallen, chastised himself with great lamenting and took care of a grave for him, imitating by that act the holy David, pious king of the Hebrews, who mourned over the destruction of his persecutor, Saul, and lamented with great mourning.¹⁰³ But because, as Solomon testifies, when a foolish man perishes a wise man will be more prudent, we plainly have enough proof in the case of this man that we should beware of offending the servants and friends of God, and we should not dare to inflict on them trouble or harm or injury. For the chosen of God are his temple and the Holy Spirit lives in them.¹⁰⁴ Therefore the more they are to be submitted to and the more we should abstain from attacking them, the more the Inhabitant of them has the power to vindicate their injuries and with equal patience He pronounces judgment on those who cause them injury.

And when Saint Kentigern, living in the above-mentioned place abounded in the profusion of many wondrous gifts, it was pleasing to Him who had separated him from his mother’s womb that he should no longer be hidden under a bushel, but rather he should be placed high upon a candelabra, so that by producing his justice as light and his judgment as the noonday he would shine on all who were in the house of God. Therefore by divine inspiration, the King and the clerics of the Cambrian region with other Christians, although they were very few in number, came together as one. And considering the restoration of the church’s position, they came to Saint Kentigern by unanimous consent and chose him¹⁰⁵ as the shepherd and bishop of their souls, although he resisted them greatly with many objections. For he objected to his election, saying that he was not suitable because he was a young man, but they dismissed this rule of gray hairs¹⁰⁶ because of the abundance of wisdom and knowledge in him. He gave as an excuse that he was not able to suffer at all the lessening of his inner peace or holy meditations. They, on the other hand, alleged that it was good to give a new form to the sabbath of contemplative life in return for the salvation of many souls. Lastly he judged himself insufficient for this honor, indeed for this burden, but the voice of all those present exclaimed that his sufficiency had been made manifest by God with many proofs of signs and virtues. Therefore invoking good fortune for him and blessing him in the name of the holy Trinity, and sanctifying and committing him to the Holy Spirit, the Extoller and Distributor of all positions and offices and dignaties in the church, they enthroned him. And summoning one bishop from Hibernia¹⁰⁷ as was the custom of the Britons and Scots at that time, they consecrated him as a bishop.

The custom had grown in Britain of consecrating bishops by anointing only their heads with the outpouring of the sacred oil with an invocation to the Holy Spirit and benediction and the laying on of hands.¹⁰⁸ This rite these foolish people said they had received by the instruction of divine law and by the tradition of the Apostles. However the sacred canons ordain that no bishop will be consecrated except by at least three bishops; namely one as consecrator, who shall say over the one being consecrated the sacramental blessings and the prayers for each insignia of the ecclesiastical office,¹⁰⁹ and two other bishops who will lay on hands with him and be witnesses as they hold the text of the gospels that has been placed on his neck. Yet although the consecration to which the Britons were accustomed seems less than harmonious with the sacred canons, nevertheless it is established that it does not lose the power and effect of the divine mystery or the ecclesiastical office. But since these islanders, as though placed beyond the world, were ignorant of the canons after the attacks inflicted on them by the pagans, the censure of the church, condescending to them, allows their justification in this matter. But in these times, the church allows no one to preside over a rite of this kind without grave punishment. But Saint Kentigern, although he was consecrated in this manner, gave satisfaction to correcting this rite in every way, as we shall tell later.

He established the seat of his cathedral in the town called Glesgu, which is translated "Beloved Family," and is now called Glasgow. And there he gathered together many servants of God, a family beloved and well known to God, who lived in abstinence following the pattern of the primitive church under the Apostles, without possessions and in holy discipline and divine service.¹¹⁰

And the diocese of that episcopate extended to the borders of the Cambrian kingdom, and that kingdom stretched continuously from sea to sea, just like the earthen wall built by the Emperor Severus. After the advice and counsel of the Roman legions, in order to prevent the Picts from rushing into the country, a wall was constructed in this same place that was eight feet wide and twelve feet tall, and it reached up to the river Forth,¹¹¹ and divides Scotland from England as a boundary line.¹¹² And this Cambrian region over which Kentigern now was placed with episcopal honor, had received the Christian faith (as had the whole of Britain) during the time of Pope Eleutherius, when King Lucius ruled.¹¹³ But when the pagans had attacked the island during various times, and having dominion over it, the islanders had thrown away the faith they had received by falling into apostasy. Many also were not yet washed in the health-giving water of baptism, and many were stained by the contagion of manifold heresies. Many, only Christian in name, were wrapped up in the hog pool of multiple vices. Very many had been taught by ministers inexperiened in and ignorant of the law of God. And for these reasons, all the inhabitants of the province had a need for the counsel of a good shepherd, and the cure of a good ruler. Therefore God, the Disposer and Dispenser of all good things, provided, preferred, and proposed Saint Kentigern as a healing remedy, as the sustenance of life and the example, for all the diseases of all the people.

The blessed Kentigern took possession of the steering oar, and in the same manner as he excelled others in honor, so he was diligent to surpass all others in holiness. And as he was more exalted in rank, so also he was zealous to appear more excellent than others by increasing in holy virtues and actions. For he thought it was unworthy of him to creep on the ground or indeed to lie asleep when, having been touched by divine command, he should ascend the mountain in order to preach the gospel to Sion. And truly it is shameful that one who is proposed to announce lofty matters from his office should live in a cowardly manner. And therefore the saint of God, after receiving the episcopal rank, always strove to practice a greater humility and austerity than customary in food and vestments, in vigils and ritual feasts and in the mortification of his body.

And that I may briefly depict his whole life – from the time of his ordination, which happened to him in the twenty-fifth year of his age, up to the final end of his life, which is to say lasting through the space of hundred and sixty years¹¹⁴ – breaking his fast after three or even four days, he would rather revive than restore his body by tasting common and very light foods, namely bread and milk, or cheese, or butter and pottage, lest the inner animal fail after the way of this mortal life. Indeed that I may speak more fitly, by mortifying his members on this earth with the torment of the cross for a long time, he consecrated himself to God by sacrificing a living offering, a sweet smell, pleasing to God. For from flesh and blood, from wine and all things which are inebriating he abstained utterly as though he was one, indeed the chief, among the Nazarites. However if at any time it happened that he was on a journey or eating with the King, he refrained from abstaining with his customary rigor. Afterwards though, when he returned to his home, he increased his abstinence as if punishing himself for a serious crime.¹¹⁵

He used a rough hair-shirt to cover his nakedness; then a habit¹¹⁶ made entirely from the skin of goats; then a cowl¹¹⁷ drawn tight like a fisherman’s. Over this he was covered with a white alb,¹¹⁸ and he always wore a stole placed on his neck. And he carried a shepherd’s staff, certainly not rounded, or gilded and adorned with gems as can be seen at this time, but made of simple wood that was merely bent.¹¹⁹ Carrying a small book in his hand,¹²⁰ he was always prepared to practice his ministry, when necessity or reason demanded. And so he represented the radiance of the inner man with his garments of white and shunned vainglory.

What shall I say concerning his bed? I hesitate whether to name it a bed or a tomb. He slept on a rock hallowed out like a grave, having a stone in place of a pillow under his head, even as another Jacob.¹²¹ Truly he was an excellent wrestler against the flesh, against the world, and against the devil.¹²² Throwing in some cinders, and removing his hair-shirt, he shook lethargy from himself, shedding rather than seizing sleep. And to make myself more clear, he buried himself with Christ in a certain likeness by having sacrificed sleep.

At last having drank moderately of peaceful sleep, he would rise in the night, at the beginning of his vigils, and he poured out his heart as water before the sight of the Lord his God. And so with psalms and hymns and spiritual canticles celebrating the watches of the Lord, he exulted in the Lord and rejoiced in God our Savior continuously til the second cock crowing. Then entering into conflict with a more bitter struggle against that great malignant dragon which , according to the prophet, lay in the middle of the river,¹²³ it was his custom to strip off his garments, and following the naked Christ in rendering himself naked and bare,¹²⁴ to immerse himself in the quickly flowing cold waters. Then surely as the stag desires pools of water, so too his spirit longed for God, the living fountain.¹²⁵ And there in cold and nakedness, with his eyes and hands fastened on heaven, he would sing all the psalms in their entirety with a devout heart and mouth.¹²⁶ Hereafter becoming as one from a flock who is shorn coming up from the water to mount Gilead, emerging from the waters as a dove bathed in milk, indeed as a Nazarite more pure than snow, more white than milk, more ruddy in body than rubies, more polished than sapphires,¹²⁷ he sat down upon a stone on the brow of a mountain that is called Gulath¹²⁸ and dried his limbs near the flowing river not far from his hut.¹²⁹

And so when his body was dry and he was again dressed in his garments, as if preparing for an early departure, he showed himself to his household as one who is rich. Neither the fire of glittering lightning, nor hail, nor snow, nor the spirit of storms cheated him of this custom of bathing, but only a journey which was unavoidable or a very serious illness prohibited him from keeping his custom. But even then he redeemed that work by some other divine and spiritual exercise. Therefore by the daily use of this beneficial bath, as if in a new Jordan, his flesh was restored to the flesh of a little child, because the law of sin which fought in his genitals was so weakened in him, and the fire of lust so dead and quenched, that no corruption of his eager flesh, either awake or even sleeping, defiled or stained the lily of his white genitals. And he did not even feel its simple movement planted or thriving in him. For working with the grace of Christ in this same innocence of childlike purity, his flesh blossomed with the goads lulled to sleep. And indeed this just man sprouted before the Lord like an unwithering lily. Whereupon he even professed plainly to his disciples on a certain day that he was no more pricked by the sight or touch of the most beautiful girl than of the hardest flint.

However, Kentigern was capable of restraining his spirit in speaking and had learned to place a guard on his mouth and a door on the circumstances of his lips so that he might arrange his speech with good judgment. And not one of his words fell vainly on the ground, and the word he uttered did not fly out and, having been discovered, return to him as worthless.¹³⁰ Therefore he spoke with the weight, number and measure as was necessary and required by the opportunity. For his speech was fashioned with salt and agreed with every age and sex. And honey and milk were under his tongue and his cellar was replenished by spiritual wine, and indeed, from his mouth the little one in Christ drank milk, the more advanced drank honey and the righteous drank wine, each one to his own health.¹³¹ In judging or admonishing or reproving, he did not have before him weights and burdens,¹³² nor did he take into account the character of the person, but he considered the cause, and in accordance with the name of the sin, he extended with the greatest discretion according to the time and place the measure of ecclesiastical discipline.¹³³ But this saint preached more by silence than do many teachers and rulers by shouting, because his appearance, face, habit, walk and all the acts of his body acknowledged discipline and interpreted the purity of the spiritual man which was inwardly concealed by certain outward signs bursting forth as water. It is unneccessary to entrust anything to the pen concerning his bountifulness which gave itself entirely to perfecting charitable works of mercy, since every substance that divine liberality granted to him was the common treasury of the poor.¹³⁴

But although in the above-mentioned things and in similarly held tasks, he showed himself as a man and at times above men, yet as he celebrated the sacred mysteries of the mass, he put off the man as it were and purging himself of earthly things, he gave himself wholly to the divine above man. For as he raised his hands in the fashion of the cross he declared the sursum corda,¹³⁵ and he lifted his own heart to the Lord even as he admonished others to do the same. And so from the golden censer of his own most pure heart, filled with living coals of virtue and kindled with divine love, his prayer passed through the clouds and penetrated heaven as a most clear and fragrant incense. And immersing itself into the unapproachable light, it was guided into the presence of the Lord, so that the Most High himself granted it to be accepted as a sweet odor to himself and to declare this by manifest signs in the eyes of men. For many times as he touched the divine sacraments, a snow white dove, having a beak as if of gold, was seen to rest upon his head¹³⁶ and covered him and that which was placed on the altar with the transparent flapping of its wings like the rays of the sun. Also frequently while the sacrificer stood near the holy altar making offerings, a bright cloud overshadowed his head. And sometimes, at that moment when the Son was being sacrificed to the Father, it did not seem that he stood there, but instead there was a piller of fire whose brightness, when it was gazed upon, blinded those looking at it.¹³⁷ Yet it was not given to everyone to know or to see this ministry, but only to whom it was given by the Father of lights. For a certain time, while the priest of the Lord celebrated the sacred mysteries, a fragrant cloud filled the entire house, where many were hearing the holy mysteries of the Lord. And the odor, exceeding all fragrances, poured over all who were assembled with an unimaginable sweetness, and imparted complete health to many who were set in that place bearing up under various ailments.¹³⁸

Truly as I relate these things, sorrow fills my heart, as I see the priesthood now defiled in so many ways. For although I am silent for the moment concerning those who with simony approach to sacrifice or sell the body of the Lord with Judas, since evidently they will not offer it except for money, I will speak of those who, being wrapped up in sins, loose in shameful crimes and polluted in their body and their mind, presume to handle and to contaminate with impure hands the sacrifice of purification.¹³⁹ Alas, in how many priests today is perceived the rottenness of filth rather than the odor of spiritual sweetness! O how many more today are blinded as they are possessed by a storm of darkness than overshadowed by a cloud of light! Alas! Alas! I say to many at this present time who look to the sulphurus flame rather than the encircling piller of fire! But now I bring back my eyes to myself and to others like me, performing in whatever priestly function, for whom instead of a snow white dove at the time of sacrifice exceedingly troublesome flies emerge from the river of Egypt,¹⁴⁰ namely unclean thoughts, without profit and useless, thrust forth into the memory out of the imagination of this tottering age. In respect to this, fear and trembling come over me, because as Solomon testifies, dead flies cause the ointment of the apothecary to send forth a stinking savour.¹⁴¹ Minds that are busy with thoughts of this kind experience less how great is the goodness of that inner sweetness which comes from visitations of the Holy Spirit.

The man of God held to the pattern of life we have described almost all the time up to an extreme feebleness of age except during Lent. For in those days he was accustomed to walk beyond his usual manner in a certain freshness of life. And endeavoring to equal the ferver of the holy fathers, or rather following the footprints of Elijah or John the Baptist or the Savior himself, he retired during every season of Lent to a deserted place.¹⁴² And thus fleeing far away from the presence of the sons of men and waiting in the solitude with his body and mind, he dwelled with himself. And in that place, being more free for God, being away from the trouble of men and from the contradictions of tongues and discussions, he lay concealed in the presence of God in secret. Therefore as he sat alone, he raised himself above himself, and frequently dwelling in the caverns of the earth,¹⁴³ or standing at the door of his den and praying after the commotion of storm and fire, he experienced the rustling of the light air breathing on him and anointing and filling him with a certain indescribable sweetness.¹⁴⁴ And he walked around the streets of the heavenly Jerusalem to seek for himself his beloved and offered a sacrifice of joy in his heart, even as he mortified his most holy limbs which were upon the earth. He offered his own holy life as a sacrifice and afflicted his most innocent body with a daily martyrdom as an odor of sweetness pleasing to God. With what sort of food he sustained his life during those days he revealed to no one or perhaps to only a few. Those, however, he prevented with episcopal authority from revealing that mystery to any mortal man.

Nevertheless, at one time he spoke and two of his household heard this irrevocable word yielded one time simply from his mouth. "I have known," he said, "a man, who sustained his life during Lent only on the roots of certain kinds of grasses and sometimes, being given virtue by the Lord, he spent the entire time without being upheld by earthly food." And neither of them doubted that he spoke this about himself, but the man of God omitted his own name in order to avoid vain glory, which he managed to flee everywhere.

And for a long time he first used to return to his church and his household before the feast of the Lord, but then afterwards he would return on the Saturday before the Sunday of the palms, so that he might fulfill his episcopal duties. And he was received even as an angel of light and peace by all. And so he was accustomed to spend that week with his household. And on the day of the feast of the Lord, after preparing the sacred crism and oil, he first washed the feet of a multitude of the poor and then the feet of the leperous with his own hands and tears and then wiped their feet with his hair and soothed them with abundant kisses.¹⁴⁵ Afterwards he diligently ministered to them at the table. Then he sat with the absolved penitients for their comfort, and he refreshed both himself and them with bodily and spiritual nourishment. And from that hour until after the celebration of mass on the day of Easter, he remained fasting continually. In truth he crucified himself with the Crucified One on Good Friday with incredible torment, and with blows from a staff and in nakedness and repeated kneeling and scarcely sitting at any time, he prolonged the day and the night with an excessive cross in his heart and on his body as he carried the marks of the wounds of Christ on his own body.¹⁴⁶

However, on the most holy Saturday, as if dead to the world, he buried himself in a double tomb with the Ancient of Days, namely the true Abraham. Entering the tomb with an abundance of inner meditation, he rested on the sabbath from all the tumult and din of this age, except that he appeared to celebrate the office pertaining to the day.¹⁴⁷ At last, having restored the spirit of his mind, he awaited the most holy day of the Lord’s resurrection with the fragrance of sacred virtues so diligently prepared. Rising up together with Christ in a certain manner, he feasted on the flesh of the spotless lamb with the unleavened bread of sincerity and truth. And on the day which the Lord made as a day of rejoicing in heaven and on earth, he rejoiced with delight in his whole spirit, and he feasted with his brothers and with a great multitude of the poor. And he was said to do this at the other special feast days also. However if it happened that because of an urgent reason he ate with secular people, although that rarely happened, he tasted little of the food put near him. Instead he nourished the banqueters with a spiritual feast, and restraining the boasting which usually overflows at such feasts,¹⁴⁸ he cloaked his own abstinence with a veil of holy prophesying.

Saint Kentigern is said to have had a favorable appearance with a body of medium height, although more likely considered tall. Also it was claimed that he was of robust strength and his endurance for any kind of work, whether according to his body or to his spirit, was in a certain measure unfailing. And he was beautiful to look upon and comely in form. Having a countenance full of grace and reverence, a dove’s eyes, and the cheeks of a turtledove, he brought to his own love the affection of all who looked on him. And showing abundantly the cheerfulness of the outward man as the sign and most faithful interpreter of his inner goodness, he poured out over all a certain contentment of spiritual delight and exultation, which the Lord had laid up as a treasure for him.¹⁴⁹

For fleeing hypocricy in appearance as well as in deeds, he taught all who followed him to flee far away from it.¹⁵⁰ And showing by examples that hypocrites are the most foul species of men, he taught as in this manner of words: "Take heed, my beloved," he said to them, "of the vice of hypocrisy, which is in a way the repudiation of the faith, the estrangement of hope, the destruction of charity, the cancer of chastity, the blinding of truth, the prison of sobriety, the shackle of justice, the little fox of obedience, and the cloak of little patience. And, as I may briefly conclude, it is the moth of religion, the utter destruction of all virtues, the hiding place of vices, the asylum of all sins, and the home of crimes. And hypocrisy is the incitement of all evils as the Lord taught when he said that hypocrisy is the leaven of the Pharisees. For as leaven mixed with food makes that food hollow, puffed up, and sour, so too hypocrisy makes the heart that it possesses void of religion, puffed up with the false praise of men, and rough, bitter, sharp, and also proud before the truth of conscience, opposing the good, the just, and those seeking to attain purity and holiness.

"And in truth, beloved, although all iniquity by and of itself is simple, hypocrisy alone is twofold or even far more in itself. For the hypocrite as far as it is within him, tries to blind the one who sees all things, while turning his eyes away from himself, and he overshadows his vices before men by covering them under the image of displayed holiness. And although other godless, wicked, and criminal men are members of the Antichrist, yet only hypocrites are singularly and in particular his followers and forerunners, even as the simple lovers and followers of truth and purity are both members and disciples of Jesus Christ. For the Antichrist himself, as it is written, will sit in the temple of God and with false signs he will show himself as if he is God. Even the angel of Satan transforms himself into an angel of light, and therefore it is not surprising if his special minister and member transforms himself into a minister of justice when that one is a synagogue of Satan.¹⁵¹

"Believe me because I spoke truly to you, that the anger of God is not more greatly observed in the church of God than when he causes a hypocrite to reign over it, because of the sins of the people. For also in the Apocalypse, a more destructive persecution is described raging in the pale horse than in the others proceeding it, because certainly the holy church is injured much more ruinously under hypocrisy, which is signified by the pale horse, than under open persecutions in which the faithful and the unfaithful, and the just and the unjust, are revealed, and a multitude of martyrs are crowned.¹⁵² But surely hypocrites, in their deeds and by the disposition of the outward man, make clear to those who look keenly and judge all things spiritually what manner of men they hide within their acts. For while they paint their course of life in the manner of turtledoves, contracting their shoulders, hanging down their head, fixing their eyes on the earth, hiding their face, sighing with soft lips, and speaking in I do not know what kind of feminine way, they declare by such proofs their inner condition. For by their steps they show that they imitate peacocks, indeed robbers. By the contracting of their shoulders, they show that they barely carry the sweet yoke of Christ and his light burden.¹⁵³ By the hanging down of their head and the look of their eyes, they show that they cling more to the dirt than to the heavens with their heart, that they reflect on earthly things, that they love earthly things, and they long for the desires of the earth. But with their hidden faces they make known that they turn their backs rather than their faces to God, and by their womanly manner of speaking, they prove that they live loosely and not manfully.

"To whom shall I say such men resemble if not deceivers who display fire, water, men, beasts, and other things as illusions which have no substance. But although pretenders and crafty hypocrites, who arouse the anger of God against themselves, may evade the opinion of those who judge according to appearance, in no way do they deceive Him who searches the heart and loins, and they cannot avoid his uniform judgment. These things, beloved," said the man of God, "I do not say to you so that I may denounce a snare for you, or that you should not show maturity in your face, your deeds, your habits and your discipline, but I admonish you by all sorts of ways that you seek God in your heart simply, and join the external man to an inner purity. And fleeing hypocrisy everywhere, you do all things with spiritual cheerfulness. And so in this way, man will be edified by all our works, and God will be glorified because God prizes a cheerful teacher and a good worker."

Therefore the blessed Kentigern, having received the bishopric, was zealous to administer vigorously the duties imposed on him. And seeing that the northern enemy, that is to say the prince of this world, had placed his seat in those parts and was ruling in that place,¹⁵⁴ he took hold of spiritual arms in order to struggle against him. And so having put on the shield of faith, the helmet of hope, the breastplate of justice, and girt with the sword of the spirit, which is the word of God,¹⁵⁵ he attacked the hall of that armed strong man and plundered his vessels, being supported by the assistance of the Lord wherein is shelter, being plainly strong in battle.¹⁵⁶ And, so that I may seem to be brief, neither his foot, nor his hand, nor his tongue ceased from the preaching of salvation until all the ends of that land remembered and were converted to the Lord.¹⁵⁷ In truth those who were not yet spiritually regenerated by the living water, like thirsty hinds ran to the living fountain of baptism with kindled desire. And those who had apostatized, or had gone astray from the whole faith by some erratic doctrine of a heretical sect, entered into the body of Christ through this herald of salvation teaching the way of God in truth. And recovering from the snares of the devil which had held them in captivity, they turned back to the bosom of the church.¹⁵⁸

And so the famous warrior began to wage war on the temples of demons,¹⁵⁹ to overturn the images, to build churches, to consecrate those churches which were erected, to divide parishes into fixed allotments with measured boundaries, to ordain clergy, to dissolve incestuous and illicit marriages, and to change concubinage into lawful marriage.¹⁶⁰ He strove, as he was able, to introduce ecclesiastical rites, and he endeavored to establish whatever was harmonious with the faith, with the Christian law, and with justice. And wherever he traveled, he was conveyed not by a horse, but even into extreme feebleness of age he walked in the manner of the Apostles.¹⁶¹ Thus after finishing these things with suitable ceremony, he returned to his own household, and there in his accustomed manner he led a life glorious with virtues and wonders in the perfection of the highest religion. Concerning those wonders, we shall now say something which is worthy of being entrusted to a pen, because we do not doubt that it will be profitable to many.

And so as we have said, the man of God gathered together very many disciples, whom he educated in the sacred literature of the divine law and instructed by word and example in the holiness of life. Concerning those disciples, he proposed to bind them as fellow workers in gathering the harvest for the Master. They all emulated with their life and doctrine his emulation of God. They became accustomed to fasting and sacred vigils, eager for psalms and prayers and meditation on the divine laws, were content with moderate nourishment and vestments, and were occupied during certain times and seasons with manual labor.¹⁶² And in the manner of the primitive church under the Apostles and their successors, possessing nothing that belonged to themselves, living temperately, justly, piously, and with the greatest abstinance, they matured from that age and wisdom in single huts, just as Saint Kentigern himself lived. Therefore these separate clerics were called Calledie¹⁶³ by the common people. And so the servant of Jesus Christ went out in the morning to his labor, and at some times toiling up to the evening, he labored greatly in agriculture so that he might not eat the bread of leisure, but rather eat in the face of his sweat, in order both to offer to his household an example of labor and also to have food to give to the one seeking aid.

It happened at a certain time that he was without any oxen, and from the want of these the land was left unplowed and fallow. When the man of God saw this, he lifted his eyes to the edge of the wood placed nearby and saw a herd of stags springing here and there. At once he said a prayer, and with the mighty virtue of his words, he called them to him. And in the name of the Lord, to whom all mute and irrational beasts and all the herds of the fields are subservient, he commanded that they be yoked to the plow in place of oxen and plow the earth. They immediately submitted to the command of the man of God, and as if they were tame oxen and accustomed to agriculture, they plowed the land to the astonishment of many. And when they were unyoked after their work they went to their usual pastures, and at a fitting hour, as tame and domesticated, indeed as trained animals, they returned to their customary work.

When the stags had been going and returning for some time as domesticated animals, a rapacious wolf choked one of the stags who, being weary from the labor, was plucking food as it lay on the grassy sod. And he sated his voracious maw with its carcass. When this was brought to the knowledge of the saint, he extended his hand toward the woods and said, "In the name of the holy and inseparable Trinity, I command that the wolf, who has brought this loss on me, although I have not merited it, come to me to give satisfaction." A wonder to say but more wonderful in deed! Immediately from the woods the wolf sprang towards the voice of the man of God, and he sunk down before his feet with a howl. And by signs as it was able, the wolf declared that it sought a pardon and wished to give satisfaction. And the man of God, reproaching the wolf with threatening appearance and voice, said, "Rise up and I charge you by the authority of the omnipotent God that in the place of our laborer the stag, whom you devoured, you join yourself to the yoke and plow the entire untilled little field from where you stand." Indeed the wolf obeyed the words from the saint’s mouth, and being yoked with the other stag to the plow, it finished plowing nine acres. And then the saint allowed him to leave freely.

And this act, as it seems to me, was as similarly fulfilled to the letter as that prophecy of Isaiah which he revealed by the Spirit concerning the time of the coming of the Lord, where he said: The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.¹⁶⁴ Let the reader consider whether it is more marvelous to see a wolf reclining with a lamb or plowing with a stag. Yet Kentigern, a most pure youth, simply meek in his own eyes and humble in his heart, did this.¹⁶⁵ However this sign was not made by himself, but was made with the power of the little child who is born for us and of the son who is given to us. And it is with justice that he should produce this wonder bodily who so many times subdued them spiritually, recalling many from wolfish faith and bloody slaughter and the ferocity of savage beasts and a wild life to the yoke of faith and the plow of a holy way of life.¹⁶⁶

Very many came together at such a sight and were astonished at the unusual wonder. And the saint, opening his mouth, taught them, saying, "Men, brothers, why are you amazed at looking on this word? Believe me, before man was disobedient to his Founder, not only all the animals but also all the elements submitted to him. But now on account of his transgression, all things are accustomed to be against him; the lion to mangle, the wolf to devour, the serpent to wound, the waters to drown, the fire to consume, the air to corrupt, and often the earth becomes like iron to destroy with hunger. And to emulate this consummation of evil, man is not only cruel to men but man also rages against himself by voluntarily sinning against himself. But as many saints were found perfect in the presence of the Lord with true innocence and pure obedience, faith and delight, and in holiness and justice, they recovered this dominion from the Lord as an ancient and natural and original right. And they ruled with power the beasts and elements and the diseases and deaths of many."

And when the holy man brought to an end many sayings in this manner, many present were not less instructed by his exhortation than they had previously been amazed in being shown the miracle. Therefore when the field which was plowed should be sown, the saint looked for seed but could not find any, because he had expended all his grain as nourishment for the poor. And so he took refuge in the accustomed arms of prayer, and in faith and not hesitating at all, he took up sand in place of seed and sowed the earth. When this was done, the wheat grew in its due season, the bud sprouted, the stalk produced its ear of grain, and in the time of harvest, it produced the best and richest wheat so that all who saw or heard this were struck with the greatest amazement. And his fame, which previously was renowned, afterwards was made even more famous. Indeed this saint in the virtue of that grain of wheat, which falling into the earth and dying and by living again brought much fruit, gathered up wheat from the sand which had been sown. And he introduced many, even a countless number who previously were of unstable mind and carried around by all the winds of erratic teaching, whose foolishness was heavier than the sands of the sea, to the Holy Mother church, namely to the best flesh produced by the ploughshare of the gospel. And with the aid of God, he caused them to produce the grain of salvation in faith and in charity and in the practice of good works. These the highest Master of the house judged worthy to translate to the heavenly storehouse and his own table.

After a space of considerable days had been measured out, a certain tyrant, who was called Morken,¹⁶⁷ who was persuaded by power, honor, and riches to walk in great and wondrous matters above him, ascended to the throne of the Cambrian kingdom. But his heart even as it was raised up with pride, so also from that region it emerged contracted and blinded through avarice. He scorned and disdained the life and teaching of the man of God, slandering him in secret, and sometimes resisting him to his face, condemning his signs as of magical images, and he considered all his deeds as nothing. But the man of God, when at a certain time required grain for food for the brothers of the monastery, went to the king, and making known his need and the need of his household, he asked that Morken supply their need by coming to their aid out of his abundance, in accordance with the admonition of the Apostle.¹⁶⁸ But he, being proud and puffed up, offered insults in place of his poured out prayers and inflicted injuries as some kind of assistance to the one seeking help. Then with a blasphemous mouth, he ironically said to him, "Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and he shall sustain thee,¹⁶⁹ just as you have often admonished others, as there is no want for those fearing God, but those who search for him will not be diminished in any good thing. Therefore you, although you fear God and observe his commands, need all good things, even your necessary nourishment. I, however, who seek neither the kingdom of God nor his justice, am increased with all prosperity and an abundance of all things smile on me." And he concluded at the end, "Therefore your faith is empty, and your preaching is false."

But the holy man, alleging against this, taught from the testimonies of the holy scriptures and from the living assertions of reason and from examples, that many just and holy men were afflicted in various ways in this age with both thirst and poverty and that good-for-nothing men are exalted with things of wealth, the abundance of pleasure and the height of honor. And when with visible power he taught that the poor would be patrons to the rich, by whose benefices they are maintained, and indeed the rich need the protection of the poor, just as the vine support the elm tree, the barbarian was not able to resist his wisdom and the Spirit who spoke through his instrument. But he responded with irritation, "What more do you want? If, trusting in your God and without human hands, you are able to transfer to your dwelling all my coarse meal which is held in my storehouses that you see, I concede and give to you freely from my spirit and I will submit faithfully to your petitions concerning other things."

Having said this, Morken departed joyfully, as one who had mocked the holy man with such an agreement. However, when evening came, the saint lifted his eyes and hands towards heaven, and with a profusion of tears poured out a most devout prayer to the Lord. And in that same hour, when the tears rose up from the innermost bosom of the saint and flowed from his eyes, the river Clyde,¹⁷⁰ which flowed near him, suddenly proceeded to swell up, by the command of Him who has the power in heaven and on earth, in the sea and over all the abyss. And overflowing its bands and encircling the storehouses of the king that stood there, it lifted them up and dragged them into its channel. And with a great force, the river transported them to dry land, all the way up to the place named Melingdenor,¹⁷¹ where the saint then was accustomed to spend time. At once the river ceased from its rage and broke down its swollen waves within itself, because the Lord had placed gates and bars on it so that it could not proceed further, nor could it pass over its established boundaries. These storehouses were discovered there intact and unharmed and not only not a stalk, but also not an ear of grain appeared damp. Indeed we recognize once again the sign, although with a different element, which we read as having been shown in a certain Chaldean furnace into which the three boys, free in their religion but bound in their bodies, were thrown.¹⁷² For just as in that place the fire had the power to burn only their bonds but not their bodies or their clothes, so here the water was able to transport the storehouses abounding with grain but not to moisten them. And when the crowd had seen that the servant of God had made such a sign in the name of the Lord, they said that the Lord is truly great and greatly to be praised who has so magnified his saint.¹⁷³

After the force of the river had given joy by transporting the grain to the city of God,¹⁷⁴ in which the inscribed citizens of the saint and those of the household of God were in one assembly to serve the living God, the faithful and prudent steward, placed in the home of the great Master of the household, distributed the measure of wheat to his fellow servants, dividing to each one according to the need of each.¹⁷⁵ And he dispersed what was left over and gave it to the poor, and he did not send anyone who was destitute away empty.

However the aforementioned King Morken, although exceedingly rich and great in the eyes of men, yet being a vile slave of Mammon,¹⁷⁶ bore ill the loss of his grain, as it seemed to him, and the sign that had occurred from heaven. Although he ought to have had delight and joy to his increase, he obtained a stumbling block in his spirit.¹⁷⁷ As the radiance of the sun increases the gratitude and delight to wholesome eyes, and it grants them to behold it, even so it serves the material of darkness to those diseased and in the thrall of hemlock. And so as his eye was disturbed because of his rage, he spewed out many reproaches against the patron saint, reviling him as a magician and an worker of evil.¹⁷⁸ And it was commanded by Morken that if Kentigern appeared any longer in his sight he would atone with the most serious penalties since Kentigern had mocked him. For a certain most wicked man who was in the confidence of the King, Cathen by name, incited him to hatred and injury of the holy bishop, because the life of a good man is accustomed to be hateful and burdensome to the perverse. And a spirit profuse with evil is more easily persuaded to join with him who embraces the same. For an impious leader, according to scripture, has impious men as his ministers. And very often he selects such men to be secret advisors to him, who impart venomous whispers into the ears of those who freely listen to iniquities and add to the fire of malice with the bellows of accusation by applying fuel of their own accord, so that it does not extinguished itself but flares up more abundantly.

But the man of God, wishing to extinguish malice with wisdom, went into the presence of the ruler in the spirit of meekness rather than with the rod of severity. And instructing and admonishing him in the manner of a most merciful father, he tried to amend the foolishness of a son. For he knew that the harp of David with its sweet melody diminished the insanity of Saul¹⁷⁹ and that with patience the anger of a ruler is relieved, according to the judgment of Solomon.¹⁸⁰ However the man of Belial,¹⁸¹ after the fashion of a deaf adder that stops up its ears so that it cannot hear the voice of the wise enchanter, did not follow the word of warning and the counsel of salvation. On the contrary, urged on by a greater madness, Morken rushed at him, struck him down with his shoe, and threw him down lengthwise onto the floor. However the saint, being raised up by the bystanders, endured with the greatest patience his injury and dishonor so that his teaching might be known by his patience. Committing his cause to the vindication of the highest Judge, he departed from the sight of this sacrilegious king, thus rejoicing that he was counted worthy to suffer shame for the word of the Lord.¹⁸²

Cathen, the provoker of this sacrilege, mounted his horse with loud, mocking laughter, and he departed with delight as one who seemed to himelf to have triumphed over the saint. But a judgment came from the face of the Lord so as to perform justice for the injury suffered by his servant. And Cathen had not yet gone far from the crowd which had gathered in that place, when the steed on which he sat fell down after striking its foot on I know not what kind of obstacle. And his rider fell backward before the gate of the king his lord, and having broken the neck that he had raised up with arrogance against the bishop of the Lord, Cathen died.

And a tumor overtook the feet of the King,¹⁸³ and pain followed the tumor, and death followed after the pain. And he died on a royal estate, which is called Thorp-morken¹⁸⁴ after his name, and he was buried. However that sickness was not cut off or buried in the succession of his branch. For from the beginning of that time until the present age, the sickness had not ceased, but the suffering of sore feet is visible in his descendents. And although they do not have his appearance or body, nevertheless his line takes after their father in this kind of sickness. Indeed that the race of this king died off on account of this kind of sickness declares by the testimony of their deaths in what manner the Lord, who zealously loves and avenges his own, visits with punishment the sins of the father on the sons, even to many generations,¹⁸⁵ and what sort of retribution He renders to the arrogant.

For many days afterwards in his city of Glasgow and in his diocese, Kentigern lived in much quietness and had peace in his circuit, because the divine judgment shown to his persecutors supplied to others an incitement of fear, or reverence, or love, or obedience toward the saint of God. And this furnished an opportunity to do whatever he wished to the advantage of God.

After some time had passed, certain sons of Belial, the fruit of vipers of the kindred of the formerly mentioned King Morken, pricked by the sting of very bitter hatred and infected with the venom of the devil, met as one and took counsel that they would take Kentigern by deception and kill him. But they feared the common people and did not dare to undertake that crime openly, because all held him as their teacher, their bishop, and the shepherd of their souls, and they loved him as an angel of light and peace. Several times they stretched out many snares for him in order to shoot arrows at him unexpectedly, but the Lord was a strong tower for him so that his enemies, the sons of iniquity, could not prevail against him. At last, being bound under an oath among themselves, they established that they would fulfill for themselves to deliver completely the wicked word in which they conspired his death. Nor would they break their oath on account of fear that anyone would leave undone the wicked and deceitful word that they had set against him.¹⁸⁶

When the man of God obtained knowledge of this, although he was able to overcome force with force, yet he thought it more sufficient to withdraw from that place for a time and give over that place to anger and to seek elsewhere a more abundant fruit of souls, rather than to carry a conscience burned as with some brand or even blackened on account of the death of any man, even a most wicked man. For the blessed Paul, a chosen vessel, gave Kentigern the example of acting in the same manner, as when Paul saw at Damascus that there was a death without fruit threatening him, and he sought a basket to evade and avoid it,¹⁸⁷ and then afterwards in Rome he gladly underwent death with many times more profit.

Accordingly, after being instructed by divine revelation, Kentigern departed from those territories and headed eagerly for the road which turned towards Wales, where at that time the holy patron Dewi¹⁸⁸ shone forth in his pontificate as a star during Matins when it leads in the day with its rosy face. Wherever the saint went at that time, virtue went out from him to restore many to health. And when Kentigern had arrived at Karleolum,¹⁸⁹ he heard that many in the mountains had been given to idolatry or were ignorant of the divine laws. And so he turned aside to that place, and he converted to the Christian religion, with the aid of God and confirming this word with accompanying signs, many who were strangers to the faith and others who were erring in the faith. How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace; that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, who is a guide to the author of eternal salvation!¹⁹⁰ He lingered somewhat in a certain woods to confirm and comfort in faith the men who were living there, and where he also raised up a cross as a sign of their salvation.¹⁹¹ By this event the place received the name Crosfeld¹⁹² in English, that is, Crucis Novale.¹⁹³ In this same place in truth a basilica, which has been built in recent times belongs to the name of the blessed Kentigern. And it is not doubted that he shone with many wonders that revealed his holiness.

Departing from that place, the saint directed his steps to a place on the seacoast, and sowing the seed of the divine word throughout his entire journey, he gathered together a great and fertile crop for the Lord. At last the saint reached Dewi whole and unharmed, and discovered in him greater works than rumor had spoken. But the holy bishop Dewi was glad with exceeding joy at the arrival of such a great guest-friend. And with tears overflowing his eyes and with mutual embraces shoulder to shoulder, Dewi received Kentigern as an angel of the Lord, beloved of God, and retaining him with himself for some time, he always adorned him with a wonderful reward.

And so these two sons of splendor lived together, assenting to the Ruler of the whole earth as two lamps glittering before the Lord, and whose tongues were made the keys of heaven, so that through those keys a multitude of men were drawn to this walk.¹⁹⁴ These saints rested on each other as two cherubim in the sanctuary of the temple of God having their faces bent towards the mercy seat.¹⁹⁵ In frequent contemplation of heavenly things they extended their wings upward and in the disposition and stewardship of earthly things they let down their wings. And they touched each other mutually with their wings, yet by the vicarious instruction in the teaching of salvation and by the operation of virtue in turns, they stimulated each other to a greater propensity for perfecting holiness. And thus these saints, whether yielding their minds to God or becoming thoughtful of us, have relinquished to posterity an example to seize and to obtain eternal life.

And when Saint Kentigern had tarried there for awhile, the fame of him ran to and fro, flashing through the mouths and ears of very many. And he was led to the acquaintance and familiarity and friendship of many, and not only of the poor or the middling sort or the chief people of that land, but also of that King Cathwalain,¹⁹⁶ who was the ruler of that region. And the king, knowing him to be a holy and just man, freely heard him and when he had heard him, he did many things that pertained to the salvation of his soul. And when Kentigern was asked several times by the king the reason he had departed from his own country, and he had set forth the cause, Kentigern said that he wished to join himself to the building of a monastery in which he would be able to unite the people and the pursuers of good works acceptable to God. And the king answered, ‘My land is within your view, and wherever it is fitting to your soul and seems good to your eyes, build the habitation of your dwelling and construct your monastery. Yet as it seems to me, I assign to you for your work that place which is called Nautcharvan,¹⁹⁷ as it is more fitting than all the rest because there are in this same place all the necessary things for your purpose." The man of the Lord gave many thanks to the king, and he selected that place to build and to live which even beforehand had been designated for him by divine revelation. Therefore he departed after blessing the king, and then bidding farewell to Saint Dewi with the giving of mutual benedictions, he directed his course of life to that above named place with an abundant crowd of disciples who had gathered to him, who chose to lead a life of poverty with him in a strange land rather than to delight in wealth in their own land without him.

And so the most holy Kentigern, being separated from the bodily presence of Saint Dewi but in no way absent from his love or from the sight and visitation of the inner man,¹⁹⁸ did not give his eyes freely to sleep nor his eyelids to quiet slumber until he had found a fitting place to build a tabernacle to the Lord God of Jacob. And so he walked around the land and went about it. And accompanied by a great crowd of disciples, Kentigern explored the site of that place, the quality of the air, the fertility of the lumps of earth, the sufficiency of the meadow, and pastures, and woods, and the other things which pertained to the fitness of building the monastery, and as they proceeded together walking through the steep mountains and glens of the valleys and hollowed out places of the earth, through thick briars and dark woods, and through the plains of marshes, they conversed of that affair which pertained to the present. And then a single wild boar, totally white, came towards them from the woods, and approaching the feet of the saint, it shook its head. Sometimes advancing and then once more staying in its place and looking back, it signaled to the Saint and his companions with what gestures it was able that they should follow him. Being astonished by this sight, they glorified God who causes wonderful and unsearchable things in his creatures, and they followed in the footsteps of their leader the boar that went before them.¹⁹⁹

And when they had come to the place which the Lord had ordained beforehand for them, the boar halted, and repeatedly striking the ground with his foot and making the gesture with his extended tusks to gnaw the soil of a certain little hill set in that place, shaking its head again and again and grunting with its mouth, it clearly showed to all that this was the place designated and prepared for them by God. And that place was set over the bank of a river which is called Elgu and from which to this day it is said that the village chooses its name.²⁰⁰ Then the saint, giving thanks on bended knees, honored the omnipotent Lord and rising up from prayer, he blessed that place and the surrounding area in the name of the Lord. And finally as a testimony and a sign of salvation and a future omen of devotion, he fashioned a cross in that very place by his tent. However the boar, seeing what was done, approached the bishop with repeated grunts as if about to request something. And the saint, rubbing the head of the wild beast and touching his mouth and tusks, said, "May the omnipotent God, in whose power are all the wild beasts of the woods, the cattle and oxen on the hills, the winged creatures of the heavens and the fish in the sea, render a reward for your conduct that He knows will be useful to you." And the boar, as if well rewarded, bowed its head towards the priest of the Lord and it went from him and returned to its known forests.

On the following night, when the man of God, longing for heavenly things, raised up his hands during the Sanctus of the Mass and blessed the Lord, it was revealed to him by divine inspiration that he should reside in that place and build a monastery in which the sons of God who were scattered could be gathered into one. And coming from the east and from the west, and from the north and from the south, they might be worthy to recline at the table with Abraham, Issac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven and God himself would be their provider and protector of that place and those who lived within it. Certainly with what truth this revelation was supported clearly was shown by the exciting events that were accomplished. For when the morning came, Kentigern made known to the others the divine revelation that which had been shown to him, and he encouraged the souls hearing him to build. And in the manner of bees making honey, they did not snore more easily but all sweated by laboring in the work. Some cleared and leveled the place, and some prepared the foundation when the mound had been leveled. And as certain ones moved trees, and certain ones carried them, and certain ones joined them together, they began immediately to build, as the Father had arranged and measured out, a church and other workshops in the manner of the Britons, because they were not yet able to build with stone as they did not have that skill.²⁰¹

However, as they pressed on with their labor and the work flourished under their hands, a certain heathen chieftain, Melconde Galganu²⁰² by name, came over with his soldiers and a great crowd came with them. He was a grim man and ignorant of God and in the indignation of his anger he asked who they were and from where they came and what kind of thing had they dared to preside over in his land. And the saint, responding with humility to his demand, said that they were Christians from the northern parts of Britain and that they had come to that place to serve the living and true God. He asserted that they had begun there a dwelling with the permission, indeed with the benevolence, of their lord King Cathwalain, in whose sovereignty he believed that place to belong. That one, frenzied and raging, commanded all of them to be driven from the place and whatever had been built was to be pulled down and laid to waste. And then he began to go back to his own dwelling.

And so the man went away, breathing threats agains