Saints Days in June: An Omission
I hope Brigitte will forgive me for straying into her province, but I was
surprised – nay shocked – by the omission from her article of Ireland’s St
Kevin, whose day fell on June 03.
Ordained by Bishop Lugidus, he lived as a
hermit in a cave at, a Bronze Age tomb now
known as St. Kevin's Bed, to which he was
reportedly led by an angel. He went barefoot,
wore skins, ate the nettles and herbs that
came to hand, and spent his time in prayer.
Kevin was blessed with good looks (not
immediately obvious from the image?) and
subconsciously won the affections of a
beautiful maiden named Kathleen who is said
to have had “eyes of most unholy blue.”
Ignoring the fact that he was bound by holy
vows, the bold Kathleen followed Kevin into the woods. When he felt her
presence, he threw himself into a bed of nettles; he then gathered a handful
of the burning weeds and scourged the maiden before his temper really got
the better of him and he “Hurled the maiden from the rock into the black
lake” where she drowned.
Despite this propensity for violence, St Kevin had a special love for birds and
animals and legends include one about a blackbird laying an egg in Kevin’s
hand when his arms were outstretched in prayer. The saint remained in this
position until the baby bird hatched.
It would seem that the patience of this colourful Saint could be tried more
easily by some things, than by others!
Anon
The sun shines on the
Righteous
and…..
The Devil looks
after his own!
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