Page:Faoistin naoṁ-Ṗadraig (1906).djvu/94

 78 ''call them My people who were not My people, and her that hath obtained mercy one that had not obtained mercy. And it shall come to pass that in the place where it was said, ye are not My people, there shall they be called the sons of the living God.''

41. Whence, then, in Ireland they who never had the knowledge of God, but only worshipped idols and abominations even until now, how there has been made there of late a people of the Lord, and they are called children of God. The sons of the Scots and the daughters of the chieftains are seen to become monks and virgins of Christ.

42. And even there was one saintly lady of Scottic birth, of noble rank, very beautiful, of adult age, whom I baptized; and after a few days she came to us for a certain reason. She made known to us that she had received a response from the messenger of God that he warned her to become a virgin of Christ, and come nearer to God. Thanks to God, on the sixth day after that she excellently and most eagerly seized upon that which all virgins of Christ do likewise; not with the consent of their parents, but they suffer persecution and false reproaches from their parents, and nevertheless their number increaseth, and we know not the number of our race who are there regnerated [sic], besides the widows and the continent. But they who are kept in servitude suffer special hardship. They constantly endure, even unto terrors and threats. But the Lord gave grace to many of my handmaids, for although they are forbidden still they bravely follow the good example

43. Wherefore, then, even if I wished to leave them and proceed to Britain—and most willingly was I prepared to do so,—as to my native land and parents, and not that alone, but to proceed as far as Gaul to visit the brethren, and to see the face of the saints of