Saint Patrick Lore
Once upon a time there was great king, who ruled from Tara, which at that time was the capital of the kingdom of the Irish. He was called Loegaire and he was the son of Niall, who was the ancestor of the royalty of almost all of Ireland.
This great king had magicians who had the ability to foretell the future. Two of the king's favorite magicians were called Lochru and Lucetmael.These two magicians apparently had the ability of prediction and were able to see into the future.
These two magicians saw the coming of a new belief system, different than their own, that was like a kingdom, with new doctrine, that comes from across the sea, heralded by few, received by many, and revered by all! One that would bring down kingdoms and the kings that would try to oppose it, attract new followers from the people of Ireland, vanquish their gods and idols and reign forever! These magicians identified and foretold of Patrick and spoke of this impending future in a poem. Adze-head (axe) will come With his crook-headed staff, And his (chasuble) (house) (Bishops Cloak) with a hole in its head. He will chant impiety from his table In the east of his house. His whole household will respond to him. So be it. So be it.
Saint Patrick and the magicians Now when the pagans were ready to celebrate their regular feasts with the usual attendance of kings, princes, magicians and priests, it just so happened that it was the same night that Saint Patrick was observing the Paschal feast (Easter).
However, there was a tradition or local law, that no one should light a fire before the royalty had lit there fires in the palace of Temoria. Well, Saint Patrick, in his celebration of the holy Paschal feast, built and lit his own special fire anyway, which was seen by almost everyone in the area and everyone was surprised. When all the princes, people and magicians had gathered around, the King asked them: What is this? Who is this that has dared to do this irreverent act in my kingdom? Let him die the death!
But everyone there claimed that they did not know who it was that had broken the rule of lighting a fire during their feast. Then the king's magicians began to foresee the future and said, Oh King, this fire which we have seen, which has been lit this night before one was lit in your palace, if it isn't put out tonight, it will burn forever!
It soon will overcome all the fires of our religion. And he who lit this fire, and the kingdom that will follow, will overcome us all, and it will draw away all the men of your kingdom, and all kingdoms will submit to it, and he will rule forever! When King Loiguire had heard these things, he became like Herod from the Bible, and was very troubled. So, King Loiguire answered and said, This will not happen and we will capture and kill those who do such an irreverent act against our kingdom!
King Loiguire then lashed together nine chariots and horses, as was the tradition of the gods, and took with him the two magicians who were greater than all the others, namely, Lucetmael and Lochru. But as they went, Lucetmael and Lochru warned the king, Oh king, you must not go near the place where the fire is, otherwise you may worship him who lit the fire, so you must stay away from it, but stay close at hand and we will bring him to you, that he may worship you and so you can have power over him.
The magicians also said: we will have a contest with one another in your presence, so in this way you can test us. So, when they got to the place, they got down from their chariots and horses, but sat down nearby. Saint Patrick was then called to the King from outside the place, where the fire had been lit. But the magicians warned their people to not stand up when Saint Patrick comes, because if anyone stands up, then he will believe in him and worship him. So, Saint Patrick came to them and saw the chariots and horses, and as he went to them he sang a psalm from the Bible: Some put their trust in chariots and some in horses, but we will walk in the name of the Lord our God.
Everyone remained seated when Saint Patrick came to them singing his psalm except one named Ercc the son of Daeg, so Patrick blessed him; and he believed in the Everlasting God. However, the magician, called Lochru, was very disrespectful to Saint Patrick and had the nerve to put down Saint Patrick's faith and beliefs with bold words. Saint Patrick stared the magician down, and with a very loud voice, Saint Patrick called upon the Lord and said: Oh Lord, who can do all things, as for this magician who dishonors Your Name, let him now be taken up out of here and die immediately. After Saint Patrick had spoken these words, the magician was taken up very high into the air and when he fell back down he hit his head on a rock and died and everyone was terrified.
King Loiguire, with the last magician and with his people, became very angry with Patrick because of this, and thought to kill Saint Patrick. Saint Patrick, seeing that they were about to capture him, stood up, and with a clear voice said: Let God's enemies be scattered and let them that hate God, run before him. At that moment darkness came and all the men began fighting among themselves, one against the other and there was also a great earthquake and their was such bedlam and pandemonium that most everyone there was injured or killed except for the King, the Queen and two of his friends. So the Queen came to Saint Patrick and said to him: Oh man, who is righteous and mighty, please do not destroy our King, for he will kneel and worship your God if you spare him. However the King, who was afraid, came and got on one knee before Saint Patrick, and just pretended to worship Him, although he really did not. After this, the King walked away but called to Saint Patrick acting like everything was settled and alright, but instead intended to kill Saint Patrick. The thoughts of the King were evil, so knowing this Saint Patrick put a blessing on the eight men and a boy that had been there with him and went to the king.
King Loiguire counted them as they came and all of a sudden they just disappeared, but everyone else saw eight male deer and a fawn disappearing into the trees. At this, King Loiguire and his people then left, embarrassed and humiliated. As the feasting went on, the last magician named Lucetmael, who even though his fellow magician and friend had been killed the night before, was ready to challenge Saint Patrick again. So, while no one was looking Lucetmael poured some of his own drink into Saint Patrick’s cup, so that he would see what would happen and see what Saint Patrick would do.
Saint Patrick, immediately blessed his own cup in front of everyone, and the liquor in his cup turned to ice.Then Saint Patrick turned his cup upside down and what the magician Lucetmael had put in, poured out, leaving just the ice. Then Saint Patrick blessed his own cup again, and then the ice was turned back to liquid as before. Angry with that test the magician challenged Saint Patrick again saying: Let's work miracles on the great plain. Saint Patrick asked: What kind of miracles? And the magician said: Let's bring snow upon the earth! Then Saint Patrick replied: I do not wish to do things that may be against to the will of God.
But the magician continued anyway and said: I will bring snow in front of everyone!. Then the magician said magic words, and snow fell all over the whole area and it was waist deep and everyone was amazed. Saint Patrick said: Everyone sees this, now make the snow go away. But the magician replied: I can't make the snow go away until this same time tomorrow. So Saint Patrick said: What's this? You are able to do evil, but not good? I am not like that! Then Saint Patrick blessed the land as far as you could see and the snow disappeared just as fast as he made the blessing and everyone was astonished! After that, the magician called upon his demons, and brought upon the earth an ominous darkness and everyone became very afraid. Then Saint Patrick said to the magician: Drive away this darkness from the land and people. But the magician said that he couldn't. So Saint Patrick prayed and said a blessing and the darkness was immediately gone and the sun began to shine again and everyone cheered!
Now when all these things had been done by the magician and Saint Patrick, in front of the King, the King said to them: Throw all of your books into water and we will all worship him whose books come out undamaged. Saint Patrick replied: Okay I will do it. But the magician said: I do not wish to enter into a contest by water with Saint Patrick, because water is his God, because he had heard of Saint Patrick baptizing people with water. Then the King said: Throw them into fire instead. At that, Saint Patrick said: I am ready. But the magician, becoming afraid objected again and said: Saint Patrick worships as his God water and fire in turn every other year. But Saint Patrick said: That isn't true, but you yourself can go, and one of my lads will go with you into a house that is divided and closed up and my robe shall be around you, and your robe around my lad, and once inside the house, it will be set on fire and you shall be judged in the sight of God.
So, a house was built for them, with one side of the house being built of green wood and the other side made of dry wood. The magician was put into the part of the house that was made of green wood, while one of Saint Patrick’s lads, called Benignus, was put in the magician’s robe into the part that was made of dry wood.
The house was then shut up from the outside, and set on fire before the crowd of people that were there. As Saint Patrick prayed, the flame of the fire burned up the magician in the side of the house that was made of green wood, with only the robe of Saint Patrick still left behind and unharmed by the fire. Saint Patrick’s lad Benignus, on the other hand, was lucky in his side of the house that was made of dry wood, because like in the Bible story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, the fire did not touch him at all, nor was he hurt or afraid, although the magician's robe that he wore did in fact get burned.
And the king was very angry with Saint Patrick, because of the death of his magician, and he almost sought to seize him, having in mind to kill him, but God stopped him. For at the prayer of Saint Patrick, the anger of God fell upon the people that were against God and many of them died. Saint Patrick then said to the King, “Unless you believe now, you will die very quickly, because the anger of God will rest upon your head.” At that, the King became very afraid, and his heart was changed, as well as all of the people. As it had been foretold, so it came to be in all of Ireland: The worship of idols was overcome by Saint Patrick and the faith of Christ filled all of Ireland.
