Corpus of Electronic Texts Edition
Muirchú's Life of Patrick (Author: Muirchú maccu Machtheni)

Chapter 11

11

I 26 (25). (1) Knowledgeable men tell us that there lived in Mag Inis a hard and greedy man, who in his folly pushed his avarice so far that, when one day the two oxen drawing Patrick's cart after their holy toil rested and grazed in his field, this vain man brutally and forcibly drove them away in the presence of holy Patrick. (2) Holy Patrick grew angry with him and said with a curse: ‘Mudebrod, you have done wrong. May this your field here never again yield profit either to you or to your descendants; from now on it will be useless.’ (3) And so it happened. On the same day a vast flood of the sea submerged and covered the whole field and, as the prophet says, fertile land was turned into marsh because of the wickedness of those who dwelled there. It has remained sandy and barren from the day when holy Patrick cursed it to the present day.

(Table of Contents)

  1. (II 1) Of Patrick's assiduity in prayer
  2. (2) How a dead man spoke to him
  3. (3) How the Lord's night was illumined so that the horses were found
  4. (4) How an angel prevented him from choosing to die in Armagh
  5. (II 5) Of the burning bush in which there was an angel
  6. (II 6 (5)) Of Patrick's four petitions
  7. (II 7 (6)) Of the day of his death, and of his lifespan of thirty (sic) years
  8. (II 8 (7)) How nightfall was suspended, and of the twelve nights without darkness
  9. (II 9 Of the sacrament given (him) by bishop Tassach)
  10. (II 10 (8)) Of the first night's vigil at Patrick's body, which was performed by angels
  11. (II 11 (9)) How the angel gave advice concerning his burial
  12. (II 12 (10)) How fire burst forth from his tomb
  13. (II 13(11)) How an inlet of the sea rose to prevent fighting for his body
  14. (II 14 (12)) How the people were misled for their own good

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