_The Cross that was not observed; and the Voice which issued from the
Sepulchre._
And Saint Patrick was accustomed, wheresoever in his journeying he
beheld the triumphal sign of the cross, to descend from his chariot,
and to adore it with faithful heart and bended head, to touch it with
his hands, and embrace it with his arms, and to imprint on it the
repeated kiss of devout affection. And on a certain day sitting in his
chariot, most unwontedly he passed by a cross which was erected near
the wayside, unsaluted; for his eyes were held, that he saw it not.
This the charioteer observing, marvelled; but he held his peace, until
they arrived at their dwelling. But when they began to pray, as was
their custom before dinner, then spake he of the cross which he had
seen, and of the place where he beheld it. Then Saint Patrick, the
preacher of the cross, leaving his meal prepared, went forth of his
dwelling, and returned unto the place on the road which he had passed
along. And diligently he sought for the sign of life, and he found
nigh unto it a certain sepulchre. And drawing near, he prayed in the
sight of the Lord, and enquired who therein was sepultured. And a
voice answered from within, that he had been a heathen, and that a
Christian man was buried at his side, whose mother had been absent when
her son died, and when he was returned into the bosom of the common
mother: and that after some days she had come hither to wail, but
knowing not the burial-place of her son, had placed over him the
Christian sign. Therefore the man of God averred that he could not
behold the cross, because it was placed over a heathen who had been an
enemy of the cross of Christ. And removing the cross, he placed it at
the head of the baptized man, and commending his soul to God, he walked
back unto his own dwelling.