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No claims to being an expert, but . . . Shortly before his birth, a prophetess declared that if he were born at dawn, he would be great before God and humanity, in heaven and on earth. His mother decided "Vere, nisi per latera mea venerit, non egredietur ex utero meo, donec illa hora veniet." So she sat on a rock, hoping to delay the delivery until the right time. Sure enough, he was born at dawn while his mother was still sitting on the rock, too worn out to move. His head indented the rock, forming a bullaun, a concave rock holding holy water, believed to have exceptional healing powers due to its connection with the saint's birth. A virtually identical story is told of Déclán, and bullauns figure in other saints' Lives. One of the things that interests me the most about Áed mac Bricc is his connection with a miraculous non-birth, his performance of a miraculous (for want of a better word) "abortion," an ability he shares with three other Irish saints (Ciarán of Saigir, Cainnech of Achadh Bó, and Brigid), a miracle that to my knowledge is unique to these four Irish saints. His Life in the Codex Salmanticensis relates that when he visited a community of nuns, he noticed that the womb of one of the consecrated virgins serving him "grew quickly without food, as if it might flee from that place. Then she confessed before all that she had sinned secretly and she did penance. St. Áed blessed her womb, and at once the baby (infans) in her womb disappeared as if it did not exist." (cito surrexit ille sine cibo, ut ab isto fugeret. Tunc illa coram omnibus confessa est quod occulte peccasset et penitentiam egit. Sanctus autem Aidus benedixit uterum eius, et statim infans in utero eius evanuit quasi non esset.) The vita in the Codex Kilkenniensis retains the story but omits reference to the disappearing fetus, and even the version told in his Life in the CS is far milder than that told of Ciarán, who "cured" the pregnancy of a nun who had been abducted by a neighboring king; "When the man of God returned to the monastery with the girl, she confessed that she was pregnant. Then the man of God, led by the zeal of justice, not wishing the serpent's seed to quicken, pressed down on her womb with the sign of the cross and forced her womb empty." (Reverente vero vir Dei cum puella ad monasterium, confessa est puella se conceptum habere in utero. Tunc vir Dei, zelo iustitie ductus, viperium semen animari nolens, impresso ventri eius signo crucis, fecit illud exinaniri.) These Irish legends are similar to the tale of the Nun of Watton, but there we have miraculous childbirth, here miraculous "abortion." Does anyone know of similar miracles told of other saints? Maeve At 02:31 PM 11/11/99 -0400, you wrote: > >Can any of the Irish experts out there provide details of the >miraculous birth? >Meg > >> * Aedh Mac Bricc, bishop (589) >> - after a miraculous birth, he worked with his father's pigs until >> meeting saints Brendan of Birr and Canice, then Illathan >> - worked many extravagant miracles, including transporting himself >> through the air > >> * Justus, archbishop of Canterbury (c. 627) >> - accompanied Augustine of Canterbury in England; first bishop of >> Rochester; before his death he consecrated St Paulinus > >> * * * * * * * * * * >> Dr Carolyn Muessig >> Department of Theology and Religious Studies >> University of Bristol >> Bristol BS8 1TB >> UK >> phone: +44(0)117-928-8168 >> fax: +44(0)117-929-7850 >> e-mail: [log in to unmask] > > >Margaret Cormack [log in to unmask] >Dept. of Philosophy and Religion fax: 843-953-6388 >College of Charleston tel: 843-953-8033 >Charleston, SC 29424-0001 > > %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%