_The Bishop Saint Mel catcheth Fishes on the Dry Land._
And the aforementioned Mel, a man of exceeding desert, who with his
most holy brothers, Munius and Kiochus, had come from Britannia unto
Hibernia, being promoted by Saint Patrick himself unto the episcopal
degree, became the assistant in the preaching. And he, like the
Apostle Paul, labored to live by the labor of his own hands; and what
was given unto him by the rich bestowed he on the poor. And with this
blessed man, as being her nephew, Lupita, the sister of Saint Patrick,
abided in one house (for such was the custom of the primitive church),
that by his conversation and example she might profit in the exercise
of all holy duties. And after some time had passed, when the pious
prelate, as he was wont, would arise in the middle of the night to
confess unto the Lord, this holy woman would compose herself to sleep
and cover herself with the skins in his bed. And they suspected not
that any evil suspicion would be formed thereof, for they accounted of
the minds of others from the purity of their own conscience. But some
one, holding this her familiarity with the bishop to be naught,
divulged it abroad. And as the tongue of the people is ever open unto
the spreading of scandal, it could not long lie hidden from Saint
Patrick. Then he, desiring to try whether so the matter was, repaired
unto the house of the bishop. But Mel, preferring to prove his
innocence by a token rather than by an oath, ploughed up the earth on a
certain hill, and took by the ploughshare many and large fishes out of
the dry land; and these he offered unto the saint as a miracle, that no
suspicion might continue in the beholders, inasmuch as such a token
could not ever be showed by an impure hand. And the sister of Saint
Patrick, gathering her vest around her bosom, filled it with live
coals; and these she carried a sufficient way, and shook them thereout
before the saint without any mark of a scar or of other hurt, proving
thus her innocence. Then the saint, beholding these evident proofs,
pronounced each to be pure and justified; yet took he care to ordain
what to them and to many others would be right profitable. And first
addressing the bishop, he bade him that he should thenceforth plough on
the land, and fish in the water, lest he should seem to tempt the Lord
his God; then, that he should not presume to glory in any miracle
worked by him through the divine grace; and, lastly, the saint gave
command that the men should be divided from the women, and that
distinct dwellings and oratories should be builded for either sex.
Thus truly, as Saint Patrick said, the name of God would not through
them be dishonored among the nations to whom they preached it; nor
would in such case occasion of scandal be given unto the weak, nor
cause of reproach afforded. And what he ordained and appointed, that
did Saint Patrick make to be observed.