Page:The most ancient lives of Saint Patrick - O'Leary.djvu/49



HE people who sat in darkness saw a great light, and they who were in the land and in the shadow of death received light by which came their illumination.

Patrick, then, was of the Britons of Alcluaid by origin. Calpurnn was his father's name. He was a noble priest. Potid was his grandfather's name, whose title was a deacon. Conceis was his mother's name. She was of the Franks, and a sister to Martin. In Nemtur, moreover, the man St. Patrick was born; and the flag (stone) on which St. Patrick was born would give forth water when any one swore a false oath upon it, as if it were lamenting the false testimony. If the oath was true, however, the stone would continue in its natural condition.

When the man St. Patrick was born, he was taken to a blind, flat-faced man to be baptized. Gornias was the priest's name; and he had no water out of which he could perform the baptism until he made the sign of the cross over the ground with the infant's hand, when a fountain of water burst forth. Gornias washed his face, and his eyes were opened to him; and he, who had learned no letter, read the baptism. God wrought three miracles through Patrick in this place&mdash;viz., the fountain of water through the ground,