Rub the part affected with flax and tow, heated in the fire, repeating
in Irish—
“In the name of a rough man and a mild woman, and of the Lamb of God,
be healed from your pains and your sins. So be it. AMEN.”
This custom refers to the tradition that one day the Lord Christ, being
weary, asked leave to rest in a house, but was refused by the master of
the house, a rough, rude man. Then the wife, being a mild woman, had
pity on the wayfarer, and brought Him in to rest, and gave Him a cup
of water to drink, and spake kindly to Him. After which the man was
suddenly taken with severe pains, and seemed like to die in his agony.
On this Christ called for some flax and tow, and, breathing on it,
placed it on the part affected, by which means the man was quite
healed. And then the Lord Christ went His way, but not before the man
had humbly asked pardon for his rudeness to a stranger.
The tradition of this cure has remained ever since, and a hot plaster
of flax and tow is used by the peasantry invariably for all sudden
pains, and found to be most efficacious as a cure.