The Most Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick/The Life and Acts of St. Patrick/Chapter 79

The King's Daughter becomes a Nun.

And Patrick came unto the country of Neyll, wherein reigned a king named Echu, and he had one beloved daughter named Cynnia, whom he intended at a fitting time to give in fitting marriage. And the damsel unfolded to the saint her father's purpose, and he exhorted her to deserve the reward of virginity even an hundred-fold; therefore, rejecting worldly nuptials, she determined to offer herself an undefiled offering unto her celestial Spouse, and to cherish Him in her heart. And the king, beholding her thus steadily to preserve her virgin purity, called unto him the saint, and thus he spake: "I had determined that my daughter should continue unto me a long-descending progeny for the confirmation of my kingdom and the solace of mine age; but the succession is cut off, and mine hope is defeated by thee; if, therefore, thou wilt promise unto me the heavenly kingdom, yet not compel me unwillingly to receive baptism, my daughter shall become the servant of thy God, even as thou hast exhorted her; otherwise will I not be stopped of my desire, nor shall thy preaching prevail." And the saint, confiding in, and committing all unto, the Lord, faithfully promised what the king required. Then the damsel, being veiled and consecrated, and serving the Lord in virginity and in the exercise of all other virtues, brought by her example many unto His devotion; and during her life and after her death she was renowned by divers miracles. And the saint commended her unto the care of the holy virgin Cethuberis, who first of all the women of Ireland had received from him the veil, and to whom, being placed over the Monastery of Druimduchan, with a great multitude of virgins serving Christ, the saint himself addressed an exhortatory epistle. And in this monastery did Cynnia abide, until at length with many holy virgins she rested there in the Lord.