Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Life of St. Declan of Ardmore (Author: Patrick Power)
chapter 20
Declan next returned to Ait-mBreasail where, in
a haven at the
north side, were the shipping and boats of the island, plying thither
and backwards. The people of the island hid all their boats not
willing that Declan should settle there; they dreaded greatly that if
Declan came to dwell there they themselves should be expelled.
Whereupon his disciples addressed Declan:—‘Father,’ said they, ‘Many
things are required (scil.: from the mainland) and we must often go
by boat to this island and there will be crossing more frequently
when you have gone to heaven and we pray thee to abandon the place or
else to obtain from God that the sea recede from the land so that it
can be entered dry shod, for Christ has said:—‘Whatsoever you shall
ask of the Father in my name He may give it to you’;
the place cannot be easily inhabited unless the sea recede from it
and on that account you cannot establish your city in it.’ Declan
answered them and said:— 'How can I abandon the place ordained by God
and in which He has promised that my burial and resurrection shall
be? As to the alleged inconvenience of dwelling
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therein, do you wish me to pray to God for things contrary to His will—to deprive the
sea of its natural domain? Nevertheless in compliance with your
request I shall pray to God and whatever thing be God's will, let it
be done.' Declan's community thereupon rose up and said:—‘Father,
take your crosier as Moses took the rod and strike the
sea therewith and God will thus show His will to you.’4 His disciples
prayed therefore to him because they were tried and holy men. They
put Declan's crosier in his hand and he struck the water in the name
of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Ghost and made the sign
of the cross over the water and immediately, by command and
permission of God, the sea commenced to move out from its accustomed
place—so swiftly too that the monsters of the sea were swimming and
running and that it was with difficulty they escaped with the sea.
However, many fishes were left behind on the dry strand owing to the
suddenness of the ebb. Declan, his crosier in his hand, pursued the
receding tide and his disciples followed after him. Moreover the sea
and the departing monsters made much din and commotion and when
Declan arrived at the place where is now the margin of the sea a
stripling whose name was Mainchin, frightened at the thunder of the
waves and the cry of the unknown monsters with gaping mouths
following the (receding) water, exclaimed:—‘Father, you have driven
out the sea far enough; for I am afraid of those horrid monsters.’
When Declan heard this and saw the sea standing still at the word
of the youth it displeased him and turning round he struck him a
slight blow on the nose. Three drops of blood flowed from the wound
on to the ground
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in three separate places at the feet of Declan. Thereupon Declan blessed the nose and the blood ceased immediately
(to flow). Then Declan declared:—‘It was not I who drove out the sea
but God in His own great power who expelled it and He would have done
still more had you not spoken the words you have said.’ Three little
wells of clear sweet water burst forth in the place where fell the
three drops of blood at the feet of Declan, and these wells are there
still and the colour of blood is seen in them occasionally as a
memorial of this miracle. The shore, rescued from the sea, is a mile
in width and is of great length around (the island) and it is good
and fertile land for tillage and pasture—lying beneath the monastery
of Declan. As to the crosier which was in Declan's hand while he
wrought this miracle, this is its name—the Feartach Declain, from
the miracles and marvels wrought through it. I shall in
another, subsequent, place relate some of these miracles (narrated).