This is the Last Supper of Saint Ciaran with his brethren in his life, he himself ministering unto them; for he lived thereafter but few days.  And that supper was most generous, excelling all the suppers that were made in the monastery of Saint Kiaranus, as is proved thus—­

For after a long time, when Saint Columba with his followers had come to Ireland from the island of Hia, a great feast was prepared for them in the monastery of Saint Kiaranus in his settlement of Cluain; and when they had come to the religious house of Saint Kiaranus, they were received with great joy and love, and were refreshed most bounteously with that repast; and the fame of that supper went over the whole settlement and its suburbs, far and wide.

When, in the house of the holy elders, who had a little cell apart in the monastery of Saint Kiaranus, certain persons said in ignorance that never in that place had such a feast been made, nor would be in the future, one, who had been a boy when Saint Kiaranus lived there, answered:  “Ye know not whereat ye wonder:  for the feast which Saint Kiaranus our patron made, of water turned to wine, for his brethren athirst after harvesting, was far better than this feast.  And that ye may know this, and may believe that it is true, come and perceive the odour of my finger with which I drew of that wine for the brethren.  For my thumb touched the liquor through the mouth of the cup in which the wine was drawn; and lo, even yet its odour remains thereupon.”  Then they all drew near, and being sated with the pleasant and sweet odour of that holy elder, they cried aloud saying, “Truly much better was that feast whose odour remains on a finger most sweet for so long a time.”  And they blessed Saint Kiaranus, giving praises to God.

And in those days, in which the brethren of Saint Kiaranus were sowing their crops, there came merchants with wine of the Gauls to Saint Kiaranus, and they filled a huge vessel, the solitana of the brethren, from that wine, which Saint Kiaranus gave to his brethren with his benediction.

XLIX.  THE DEATH OF CIARAN

35.  Our most holy patron Kiaranus lived but for one year in his settlement of Cluain.  When he knew that the day of his death was approaching, he prophesied, deploring the subsequent evils that would come to pass in his place after him; and he said that their life would be short.  Then the brethren said unto him, “What then shall we do in the time of those evils?  Shall we abide here beside thy relics, or shall we go to other places?” To them Saint Kiaranus said, “Haste ye to other quiet places, and leave my relics here like the dry bones of a stag on a mountain.  For it is better for you to be with my spirit in heaven than beside my bones on earth, and stumbling withal.”

Saint Kiaranus used greatly to crucify his body, and we write here an example of this.  He ever had a stone pillow beneath his head, which till to-day remains in the monastery of Saint Kiaranus, and is reverenced by every one.  Moreover, when he was growing weak, he would not have the stone removed from him, but commanded it to be placed to his shoulders, that he should have affliction even to the end, for the sake of an everlasting reward in heaven.