These early Scenes of this great Saint’s Life, should, among many others, serve as lessons of Charity, Consideration, and Humility, to the Rich, the Great, the Proud, and the Wanton; who may recollect that, altho’ he was well born, he was nevertheless, in the most vigorous Season of Life, a Slave and a Swine-Herd: Happy, though wretched Servitude! In which, his leisure Hours, mostly employed in Christian Confidence and Prayer, made him so signally the Favourite of Heaven, that from those cloudy Dawnings, he in Process of Time became a learned Doctor, a sanctified Missioner, a venerable Prelate, an eminent Primate, a national Apostle, and the bright Instructor of Kings! Such were the fruitful Rewards of uninterrupted unshaken Devotion, Piety, and Zeal! From this Time he formed the steady Resolution of converting the _Irish_; and, the better to accomplish the heavenly Task, he undertook a laborious Journey to foreign Countries, to enrich his Mind with Learning and Experience. He continued abroad thirty-five Years, pursuing his Studies under the Direction principally of his Mother’s Uncle, St. _Martin_, Bishop of _Tours_, who had ordained him Deacon; and after his Death, partly with St. _German_, Bishop of _Auxerre_, (who ordained him a Priest, and called his Name _Magonius_, which was the third Name he was known by,) partly among a Colony of _Hermits_ and _Monks_, in some Islands of the _Tuscan_ Sea; and he employed a good Part of the Time in the City of _Rome_, among the Canons Regular of the _Lateran_ Church: At length, having his Soul thoroughly tempered with religious Virtue, enlightened with the true Evangelical Faith, and his Understanding enlarged by the most profitable and edifying Studies, he arrived in _Ireland_ about the 60th Year of his Age; and in the Year of our Lord 432, landed in the County of _Wicklow_, where he began his Ministry, by the Conversion of _Sinel_, a great Man in that Country, the Grandson of _Finchad_, who ought to be remembered, as he was the first Fruits of St. _Patrick_’s Mission in _Ireland_; he was the 8th in lineal Descent from _Cormac_, King of _Leinster_, and came afterwards to be enumerated among the Saints of _Ireland_.