As the years went on, glad tidings came from Ireland of more ground conquered, more souls won for Christ. A beautiful story came of another captive and slave, the maiden Brigit, set free to liberate the hearts of thousands; and from Brigit’s large Irish heart came another hymn, to take its place on Ethne’s heart with Patrick’s breastplate— “I would a lake of hydromel for the King of kings; I would that all the people of heaven should drink of it for ever; I would the viands of faith and piety, and also instruments of penitence in my house; I would great cups of charity to distribute; I would cellars full of graces for my companions; I would that joy should be given at the banquet; I would that Jesus—Jesus Himself—should reign over it; I would that the three Maries of illustrious memory, And that all the spirits should be gathered from all parts; I would be the steward of the Lord, And at the cost of a thousand sufferings receive His blessing; I would a lake of hydromel for the King of kings.” “The fountain indeed rises and rises in thy Ireland,” Marius would say; “it is becoming a lake, a sea, the source of how many fountains who can say?” And Ethne—“How can we ever foresee where the new fountains will spring up?” “No more,” he replied, “than I could foresee _thee_.” They did not indeed live to see how high the fountains would rise, or how far they would flow. They did not live to hear the great proclamation of freedom go forth from the lips of the great Leo’s successor, the great Gregory, at the manumission of his own slaves, basing the freedom of all men on the creation of man in the image of God, and the Incarnation of the Son in the form of man. They did not indeed live to see the living waters from the two fountains flow forth throughout Western Christendom till they met in our English land, from the great missions of the Benedictines and of the monks of Iona; the era of the great monks and abbots succeeding the era of the great bishops. But they saw their Paul enter the white-robed company of their young kinsman Benedict on Monte Cassino; and they gave their John to join the first-born of Baithene in the great Irish monastery, which nurtured and sent forth Columba. And day by day they and their children pressed onward, in the city, in the solitude, in the home, armed with the breastplate of Patrick’s hymn— “Christ before us, Christ behind us; Christ around us, Christ within us,” and strong in the strength of Leo’s faith. “_Although He has committed His sheep to the care of many shepherds, Christ Himself has never left the guardianship of His beloved flock._” For “God fulfils Himself in many ways.” “IPSE TAMEN DILECTI GREGIS CUSTODIAM NON RELIQUIT.” THE END. FOOTNOTES [1] Bagaudæ, the name given to the peasants who revolted against Roman oppression in Gaul, said to be a Celtic word meaning crowd or mob.