Immediately pointing to that image he said: 

“That is the Virgin, the mother of God.  The poet Virgil foretold her in Sibylline verses before she was born and, in angelical tones he sang Jam redit et virgo.  Throughout heathendom prophetic figures of her have been made, like that which you, O Marcus, have placed upon this altar.  And without doubt it is she who has protected your modest household.  Thus it is that those who faithfully observe the natural law prepare themselves for the knowledge of revealed truths.”

Marcus Combabus and Valeria Moerens, having been instructed by this speech, were converted to the Christian faith.  They received baptism together with their young freedwoman, Caelia Avitella, who was dearer to them than the light of their eyes.  All their tenants renounced paganism and were baptized on the same day.

Marcus Combabus, Valeria Moerens, and Caelia Avitella led thenceforth a life full of merit.  They died in the Lord and were admitted into the canon of the saints.

For thirty-seven years longer the blessed Mael evangelized the pagans of the inner lands.  He built two hundred and eighteen chapels and seventy-four abbeys.

Now on a certain day in the city of Vannes, when he was preaching the Gospel, he learned that the monks of Yvern had in his absence declined from the rule of St. Gal.  Immediately, with the zeal of a hen who gathers her brood, he repaired to his erring children.  He was then towards the end of his ninety-seventh year; his figure was bent, but his arms were still strong, and his speech was poured forth abundantly like winter snow in the depths of the valleys.

Abbot Budoc restored the ashen staff to St. Mael and informed him of the unhappy state into which the Abbey had fallen.  The monks were in disagreement as to the date an which the festival of Easter ought to be celebrated.  Some held for the Roman calendar, others for the Greek calendar, and the horrors of a chronological schism distracted the monastery.

There also prevailed another cause of disorder.  The nuns of the island of Gad, sadly fallen from their former virtue, continually came in boats to the coast of Yvern.  The monks received them in the guesthouse and from this there arose scandals which filled pious souls with desolation.

Having finished his faithful report, Abbot Budoc concluded in these terms: 

“Since the coming of these nuns the innocence and peace of the monks are at an end.”

“I readily believe it,” answered the blessed Mael.  “For woman is a cleverly constructed snare by which we are taken even before we suspect the trap.  Alas! the delightful attraction of these creatures is exerted with even greater force from a distance than when they are close at hand.  The less they satisfy desire the more they inspire it.  This is the reason why a poet wrote this verse to one of them: 

‘When present I avoid thee, but when away I find thee.’