the early Celtic saints carried their legal ideas into
their religion, and just as when S. Patrick, wanting
something from King Lear, fasted against him till he
obtained it, so did the followers of Patrick, when
they desired something of God for themselves or for
others, proceed against Him by the legal method of
levying a distress.
This is frankly admitted in an odd story in the Book of Lismore. Three clerks agreed together that they would each recite a certain number of psalms daily, and that should one die the other two would share his psalms between them. All went smoothly enough for a while. Then one died, whereupon the survivors divided his portion of the Psalter between them. But soon after a second died, whereat the third found himself saddled with the sets of psalms that appertained to both the others. He was very angry. He thought the Almighty had dealt unfairly by him in letting the other two off so lightly and overburdening him, and in a fit of spleen and resentment lie fasted against Him.
But this view of asceticism was held only at the outset, and rapidly sounder ideas gained the mastery, and we find self-denial in the saints assume quite another complexion.
An instance in point is in the life of S. Columba. One day he saw a poor widow gathering stinging-nettles, and he asked her why she did it. "For the pot," said she;" I have no other food."
The good old man was troubled. He went back to the monastery and said to the cook, "I will eat nettles only now."
