>
> >Apparently there is also a miracle involving a cruck-beam in the Vita S
>Darerca...
>
>could you supply a brief synopsis of this one? date?
>
Here's the tale in toto, from ch 33 of her Life in the Codex
Salmanticensis. Her original Life was most likely written in the
first quarter of the seventh century, making it one of the oldest
Irish vitae, but it survives only in two much later recensions. The
version in the CS is by far the more faithful of the two. The Latin
can be found in Heist's Vitae Sanctorum Hiberniae (Brussels, 1965):
95.
After the death of St. Darerca, Bia was abbess, just as Darerca had
appointed, then Indiu, then Derlasre, who oversaw the monastery for
60 years. In her time a famous miracle occurred. For, in keeping
with the custom of the Irish, she was building a church of smooth
wood with careful craft in the monastery of blessed Darerca, and had
nearly completed the work. For completion of the building they were
lacking the timber that is called spina in Latin and which is placed
on the peak of the building to join together the two sides of the
roof. The artisans, seeking the kind of wood they needed, went into
the woods and searched until they found it in an inaccessible,
difficult place. They were not able to move the felled tree in any
way because of the great difficulty of its location. The abbess,
knowing these things and despairing of taking the wood to the
monastery, turned to the patronage of St. Darerca, and said, "St.
Darerca, for whom this home is built on earth, now lives in heaven;
she can help us, if she wishes." And so the next day, the
aforementioned log was discovered by the artisans in the level place
located next to the monastery which could be approached without the
harm of beasts or people. The carpenters grew curious and wished to
see if any trace of such a large tree appeared along the path, but
they caught sight only of some broken branches in the top of the
tree. Hence it is given to be understood that what could not be done
by human strength was easily accomplished by the ministrations of
angels. For that log, which had been discovered on the highest
cliffs, could not be carried by any human skill along the earth from
such a high place. It was carried through the air without difficulty
to the level path through angelic art.
Maeve
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