Page:The most ancient lives of Saint Patrick - O'Leary.djvu/349

 and when he was asked of the disciples why he would not rather sing the appointed offices and psalms, inasmuch as once to sing this hymn ought to suffice him, he continually beheld the face of his beloved father, Patrick, nor could he ever be satisfied with the contemplation thereof. This, though happening long after the death of Saint Patrick, we have written and recorded among his acts; that we may show how this hymn was esteemed among the people of Hibernia, and how ready was he in the hour of necessity and tribulation to aid those who honored him, and who frequently celebrated his memory.

As Saint Patrick, the preacher of truth, while yet living in the flesh, recalled and incited by his example and conversation many living men, who yet were dead, unto the true life, so did he by his prayers bring many who were buried unto the land of the living. For divers which were deceased, he by his powerful prayers snatched from the depths of eternal punishment, and from the roaring lions which were prepared for their food, and bringing them to the expiatory place, restored them unto salvation. And he, being often made the contemplator of the divine mysteries, beheld the heavens opened, and the Lord Jesus standing in the middle of the multitude of angels; and this, while he offered the holy immolation of the Son of God, and devoutly sang the Apocalypse of John, did Patrick merit to behold. For while in his meditations he admired these