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==Life==
===Birth and childhood===
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 [[baptism|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.
===The blackbird's nest===
At the age of seven, his parents sent him to the [[monastery]] run by St. [[PetrociousPetroc]] in Cornwall. While there, Kevin was kneeling, his arms outstreched outstretched 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.
===Kevin's isolation===
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 valued his solitude very much; overmuch, some would say. When, at the beginning of his hermit's life, a woman followed him constantly, trying to get him to marry her, he eventually solved the problem by pushing her off a cliff!!!!!!!!!!.
===Return to society===
===[[Ikos]]===
Ye lofty trees of Ireland, ever move your verdant branches, that with the rustling of your leafs, as with the strings of a multitude of harps, ye may make sweet music for the King of kings; for thus of old did ye delight His faithful servant, the venerable Kevin, with your melodious song, easing the severity of his ascetic life with the beauty of your hymnody, filling his soul with exultation, and causing him to cry aloud: Let every breath praise the Lord!
:''Composed by Reader Isaac Lambertson.''[http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/servkevi.htm]
==St. Kevin's Cross==
According to legend, anyone who can wrap their his arms around St. Kevin's Cross at Glendalough will receive their his wish. St. Kevin's Cross is a fine example of a plain cross, and it was carved from a single granite stone. It is over one meter across the arms. Its ring is very unusual, as it is not perforated at the intersection of the shaft and the arms.
==Further reading==
==External links==
* [http://www.lionden.com/st.htm St. Kevin's Day]* [http://www.orthodoxengland.btinternet.co.uk/servkevi.htm Services for St. Kevin's Day]* [http://www.faculty.de.gcsu.edu/~dvess/ids/medieval/glendalough/glen3.htm St. Kevin's Cross]* [http://www.stthomasirondequoit.com/SaintsAlive/id232.htm Saints Alive: St. Kevin]* [http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintk02.htm Patron Saints Index: Kevin]* [http://www.hermitage.dublindiocese.ie/ Glendalough Hermitage in Ireland]* [http://www.saintkevins.org/stkevin.htm St. Kevin's Parish (Catholic): Life of St. Kevin]* [http://www.comeandseeicons.com/k/inp19.htm Icon of St. Kevin of Glendalough] by the hand of Nicholas Papas
[[Category:Saints]]
[[Category:Monastics]]
[[Category:Celtic and Anglo-Saxon Saints]]
