(ABOUT A.D. 632.)
[S. Aidan of Ferns is not to be confounded with the illustrious S.
Aidan of Lindisfarne, the apostle of Northumbria, who is
commemorated on Aug. 31st. The name seems to have been a very
common one in Ireland, for Colgan asserts that there are in the
ancient Irish Martyrologies as many as thirty-five Saints of this
name. Authority: an ancient life from Kilkenny, but certainly not
more ancient than the 12th cent.]
S. Maidoc or Aidan was the son of Setna, a noble of Connaught, by his
wife Edna; who, having for a long time no heir, sought that blessing
from God by alms-deeds and prayers; which was at last granted. This
child of prayer was born in the island called Innis-Breagh-muigh, in a
lake in the diocese of Kilmore, and from his childhood declined evil and
followed that which is good. After having learnt the first rudiments of
piety in his own country, he left home, and sailed into Britain, to
place himself under the discipline of the great S. David of Menevia.
With that holy man he remained many years, and was one of his favourite
disciples. A remarkable instance of his prompt obedience is related.
Being called by a superior from reading his book in the field near the
monastery, to follow a pair of oxen at the plough, he made such haste to
obey, that he left his book open in the field, a heavy shower of rain
fell, but when he recovered the book it was not wet. S. David had seen
him leave the volume open before the rain fell, and calling him to him,
bade him prostrate himself as a punishment for having, as he supposed,
by his carelessness, spoiled a valuable book. S. Maidoc at once obeyed,
and S. David went about his work and forgat him. After some hours, when
the office was being said, he observed that Maidoc was not present. Then
he sent in quest of him, and he was found prostrate on the sea shore,
where his master had bidden him lie, and he had not risen, because S.
David had not removed his penance.
At length, with the blessing of his master, taking with him other
religious of Menevia, he returned to Ireland, where he founded many
churches and monasteries; of which the chief was Ferns to which he was
consecrated first Bishop. The prodigies related of him, are like so many
in the lives of the Irish Saints, quite incredible, as for instance, his
having driven to Rome and back in twenty-four hours, his having fed six
wolves with six sheep and then restored the sheep whole; his having
brought a sea-cow out of the ocean to draw his plough, and having
returned from a visit to S. David in Wales on the back of a sea-monster;
his having called his bell, which he had left behind him Wales, and it
came over the waves with promptitude.
All these are fables, which accumulated in process of time about the
lives of the Irish Saints, before they were committed to writing.