"I remember a strange Easter Sunday spent on Saints' Island, not indeed with any hope of finding archaeological confirmation of its history, but simply in communing with the past..."
"Many pilgrims surveying the crowds during the night vigil promise themselves that, on their following night of freedom, they will look down from their cubicle windows at the fascination of the scene, when the people emerge and group themselves in…
"Early in the ninth century, an ominous cloud appeared in the north, which was presently to overcast all such fair scenses as that presented by Saints' Island..."
"In the middle of this desolation [on Saints' Island] is an enclosure thickly overgrown with briars, to which barriers of nettles almost prohibit entrance..."
"Think of [Saint Patrick] located somewhere near Templecarne for several months and thus surrounded. The lake would certainly invite him with its promise of refuge and sanctuary..."
