CORNISH DEDICATIONS. 287 



Nurseling rocked by me at liome 

 Nursling of no vulgar clown, 

 Jesus with the host of heaven 

 To my bosom cometh down. 

 « ■ic- tSf a- 



Jesuskin of heavenly birth, 

 Endless good, of Hebrew maid, 

 Nobler than a Clerk of Earth, 

 Lowly on my lap is laid. 

 Sons of Princes, sons of Kings 

 Though they to my country come. 

 Not from them make I demands ! 

 Jesus is my rest, my home. 

 Sing in chorus damsels pure, 

 Grreatest tribute is his due. 

 High in heaven his Throne endure, 

 Though he comes to me and you."* 



One day a basket was found suspended to a cross near the 

 convent, and in it was a newly-born babe. It was taken in, 

 baptised and nursed by S. Itha. Afterwards it was discovered 

 that the child was one born to Fiachna, King of West Muuster. 

 The origin of the infant was so scandalous that at first it was 

 proposed to kill it, but instead it was committed in the manner 

 aforesaid to the charge of Itha.f As it was found in a basket 

 fcummainj the name given the child was Cum main ; he grew 

 up and was educated to the ecclesiastical profession, and is 

 known as S. Cum main the Tall. He was the author of a hymn 

 in honour of the Apostles, included in the Irish Liber Hymnorum. 

 The chronology of S. Cummain however shows that, although 

 he naay have been left at Killeedy as described, it can not have 

 been during the lifetime of S. Itha. 



The hymn attributed to her served as a basis for the invention 

 of a story that she had prayed, and was given the infant Jesus to 

 nurse on her lap. Similar stories have been told of other Saints, 

 as S. Catherine of Alexandria, S. Frances of Rome, S. Catherine 



* A literal translation in Whitley Stoke's Felire of Oengus, p. xxxv. One 

 verse is obscure, and is omitted above. 

 f Liber Hymnorum, II, p. 9. 



