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Our venerable father '''Kevin of Glendalough, Wonder-worker of Ireland''' (also Coemgen, Caoimhghin, Coemgenus, and Kavin) was the [[abbot ]] of Glendalough Monastery. He was born in 498, and fell asleep in the Lord in 618 at the age of 120 years. His feast day is celebrated on [[June 3]].

St. Kevin was born in the year 498 in the Irish province of Leinster to noble parents, perhaps even descendant of the Kings of Leinster. Tradition holds that when he was born, his mother felt no labour pains, and the snow that fell on the day of his birth melted as it fell around the house. An angel is said to have appeared during the child's baptism, telling his parents that the child should be named "Kevin." St. [[Cronan]], the officiating [[priest]], said, "This was surely an angel of the Lord, and as he named the child so shall he be called." So the babe was baptised Kevin, Coemgen in the Irish tongue, which means "He of Blessed Birth." He is the first person in history to be called Kevin. His childhood was marked by a horrible temper and dislike of other people, although he loved animals.

At the age of seven, his parents sent him the the [[monastery ]] run by St. [[Petroc]] in Cornwall. While there, Kevin was kneeling, his arms outstreched in prayer, on the first day of [[Lent ]] in a small hut in the wilderness when a blackbird landed in his palm and proceeded to construct a nest. Kevin remained perfectly still, so as not to disturb the bird, for the whole of Lent. Kevin was fed by the blackbird with berries and nuts. By the end of Lent, the last blackbird hatchlings had flown from the nest, which now lay empty in his hand, and Kevin returned to the monastery for the Paschal celebration.

After being ordained to the priesthood, Kevin spent seven years as a [[hermit ]] in the mountains surrounding Glendalough, which comes from the Gaelic words ''glen'' (meaning "valley") and ''lough'' (meaning "lake"), meaning "Valley of the Two Lakes." He lived in a small, five by seven by three foot cave, now know as St. Kevin's Bed, which was, legend holds, shown to him by an [[angel]]. His life was spent in prayer and self denial, and he lived off herbs and fish an otter that lived in the lake would bring Kevin whenever Kevin visited the lake, which he did in the winter, when he would stand up to his neck in the ice cold water to pray. During one of these sessions of prayer in the Upper Lake of Glendalough (which he preferred to the Lower Lake, because it it was much more remote and colder), he dropped his [[breviary]] into the lake. An otter appeared from the bottom of the lake with the prayer book, unstained or damaged in any way, in its mouth. Henceforth, the otter would bring fish to Kevin for food.

Kevin returned to society when a farmer, named Dima, followed a cow of his who would continually wander off. The cow would come every day, when the erd was sent out to pasture, to St. Kevin's cave and lick his clothes and feet while he was in prayer. When the cow returned at evening, she would produced unbelievable amounts of milk. Dima, wondering greatly about this, one day resolved to follow the cow. When Dima stumbled upon Kevin's cave, and saw what was the cause of this, he fell to his knees in penitence. Kevin raised him up, and, as Dima was a pagan, taught the farmer about Christ and the [[Gospel]]. Dima eventually begged Kevin to come out of his isolation and teach his family about Christ. After a day of prayer, Kevin saw that it was God's will that he return to society to spread the Gospel. He began by teaching Dima's family, but his tutelage soon grew to dozens of families and he began to attract followers. And so, seeing the need of a central place from which to teach, Kevin decided to establish a monastery.

Kevin went once, upon the founding of his monastery, to Rome, where he received relics for the monastery. Many years later, his hair and beard white but his eyes sparkling and his step quick and firm, he felt the desire to go once again to Rome. However, he also knew he was bound to the duties of the abbot of the monastery. He went for advice to his old friend, [[Bishop ]] Kiernan of Clonmacnoise. Kiernan understood Kevin's longing but he knew that it is better for one missionary to train many others than to leave the others half-trained in order to go to the missions himself. "Birds do not hatch their eggs while they are flying," Kiernan said.