"And then there was St Kevin and the blackbird.
The saint is kneeling, arms stretched out, inside
His cell, but the cell is narrow, so
One turned-up palm is out the window, stiff
As a crossbeam, when a blackbird lands
and Lays in it and settles down to nest." (Seamus Heaney)
St. Francis of Assisi is known for his communication with animals, love of nature, and using a rock as a pillow, but more than 700 years earlier, there lived a saint with the same attributes.
St. Kevin (Coemgen) of Glendalough was born in Ireland in 498 and lived as a hermit at Disert-Coemgen. Legend says an angel brought him to the spot where his bed was a doleman.
He was the founder of Glendalough and its first abbot. Although St. Kevin of Glendalough spoke to all creatures and they understood him, he is most often depicted with a blackbird or crow.
He died on June 3, 618 and is the patron saint of Dublin and crows. St. Kevin of Glendalough's feast day is June 3.
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