"In this island there was a village with a few inhabitants, called
Emptor, which the sea, like a cincture of snow, not only encircled
but appeared to bind. Here was born a youth of such virtuous
dispositions that he seemed to belie the promise of his years, since
virtue and adolescence are not easily reconciled. He gave himself
much to the reading of the Lives of the Saints, of whose exercises he
was a great imitator, very fearful of those snares which lie in the
way of youth, and which, though he escaped, he was not without a
disposition to fall into." . . . .
[This youth was St. Patrick's father, who married Conchessa, a French
lady, as mentioned by Calderon, who, in the older Lives of St.
Patrick, is said to have been the sister of St. Martin of Tours.
After the birth of Patrick, St. Conchessa, his mother, retired to a
convent, and his father became a priest. The story then continues.]
"Patrick remained in his early years under the tutelage of his aunt,
and God was so desirous of showing to the world the favours with
which He had pre-determined to honour that pure soul, that He did not
wait for the time when Patrick would be of an age to ask for them;
since before he could speak the words God declared Himself his
friend. For a blind man, Gormas (a neighbour of his in that
village), heard one day a voice in the air which said to him, that ifhe
went to Patrick (a child recently baptised), who would with his right
hand make the sign of the cross upon his eyes, he would be restored
to sight.
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