XIX. CIARAN AND THE KING'S DAUGHTER

17. The daughter of the King of Temoria was conducted to Saint

Finnianus that she might read the Psalms and the other Scriptures with

the saint of God, and should dedicate her virginity. And when she

promised of her own free will to preserve her virginity for Christ,

Father Finnianus said to Saint Kiaranus, "Son, let this virgin,

Christ's handmaid, daughter of an earthly king, read with thee in the

meanwhile, till such time as a cell of virgins shall be built for

her." Which duty Saint Kiaranus obediently accepted, and the virgin

read with him the Psalms and other lections. Now when holy Father

Finnianus was establishing that virgin and other holy virgins in a

cell, the blessed fathers questioned Saint Kiaranus as to her manners

and her virtue. To them Kiaranus said; "Verily, I know naught of her

virtues, of manners or of body; for God hath known that never have I

seen her face, nor aught of her save the lower part of her vesture,

when she was coming from her parents; nor have I held any converse

with her save only her reading." For she was wont to take her

refection, and to sleep, with a certain holy widow. And the virgin

spake the like testimony of Saint Kiaranus, and many were confirmed in

the true faith by other testimonies of them.

The Latin & Irish Lives of Ciaran Translations Of Christian Literature. Series V. Lives Of The Celtic Saints · 第 32 / 184 题