: "The wicked have dissipated thy
law," wherein in these latter times Ireland has been well and
prosperously planted and instructed. Thanks be to God, I usurp
nothing; I share with these whom He hath called and predestinated to
preach the Gospel in much persecution, even to the ends of the earth.
But the enemy hath acted invidiously towards me through the tyrant
Coroticus, who fears neither God nor His priests whom He hath chosen,
and committed to them the high, divine power: "Whomsoever they shall
bind on earth shall be bound in heaven."

I beseech you, therefore, who are the holy ones of God and humble of
heart, that you will not be flattered by them, and that you will
neither eat nor drink with them, nor receive their alms, until they do
penance with many tears, and liberate the servants of God and the
baptized hand-maids of Christ, for whom he was crucified and died. "He
that offereth sacrifice of the goods of the poor, is as one that
sacrificeth the son in the presence of the father." "Riches, he saith,
which the unjust accumulate shall be vomited forth from his belly, the
angel of death shall drag him away, he shall be punished with the fury
of dragons, the tongue of the adder shall slay him, inextinguishable
fire shall consume him." Hence, "Woe to those who fill themselves with
things which are not their own." And "what doth it profit a man if he
gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his soul?" It were too
long to discuss one by one, or to select from the law, testimonies
against such cupidity. Avarice is a mortal sin. "Thou shall not covet
thy neighbor's goods." "Thou shall not kill." The homicide cannot
dwell with Christ. "He who hateth his brother is a murderer," and "and
he who loveth not his brother abideth in death." How much more guilty
is he who hath defiled his hands with the blood of the sons of God,
whom He hath recently acquired in the ends of the earth by our humble
exhortations!

Did I come to Ireland according to God or according to the flesh? Who
compelled me? I was led by the Spirit, that I should see my relatives
no more. Have I not a pious mercy towards that nation which formerly
took me captive? According to the flesh, I am of noble birth, my
father being a Decurio. I do not regret or blush for having bartered
my nobility for the good of others. I am a servant in Christ unto a
foreign people for the ineffable glory of eternal life, which is in
Christ Jesus my Lord; th