-"De vulva sanctificavi te et prophetam in gentibus dedi te"
[Jeremias 1:5] (Before thou camest forth out of the womb I sanctified
thee and made thee a prophet unto the nations). Thus it is that Declan
was sanctified in his mother's womb and was given by God as a prophet to
the pagans for the conversion of multitudes of them from heathenism
and the misery of unbelief to the worship of Christ and to the Catholic
faith, as we shall see later on. The very soft apex of his head struck
against a hard stone, as we have said, and where the head came in
contact with the stone it made therein a hollow and cavity of its
own form and shape, without injury of any kind to him. Great wonder
thereupon seized all who witnessed this, for Ireland was at this time
without the true faith and it was rarely that any one (therein) had
shown heavenly Christian signs. "Declan's Rock" is the name of the stone
with which the Saint's head came into contact. The water or rain which
falls into the before-mentioned cavity (the place of Declan's head)
dispels sickness and infirmity, by the grace of God, as proof of
Declan's sanctity.

3. On the night of Declan's birth a wondrous sign was revealed to all,
that is to the people who were in the neighbourhood of the birthplace;
this was a ball of fire which was seen blazing on summit of the house in
which the child lay, until it reached up to heaven and down again, and
it was surrounded by a multitude of angels. It assumed the shape of a
ladder such as the Patriarch, Jacob saw [Genesis 28:12]. The persons who
saw and heard these things wondered at them. They did not know (for the
true faith had not yet been preached to them or in this region) that it
was God who (thus) manifested His wondrous power (works) in the infant,
His chosen child. Upon the foregoing manifestation a certain true
Christian, scil.:--Colman, at that time a priest and afterwards a holy
bishop, came, rejoicing greatly and filled with the spirit of prophecy,
to the place where Declan was; he preached the faith of Christ to the
parents and made known to them that the child was full of the grace
of God. He moreover revealed to them the height of glory and honour to
which the infant should attain before God and men, and it was revealed
to him that he (Declan) should spend his life in sanctity and devotion.
Through the grace of God, these, i.e. Erc and Deithin, believed in
God and Colman, and they delivered the child for baptism to Colman who