st kevin

When Kevin was staying in Glendalough, he lived in a cave in the face of a cliff high above the Upper Lake. He had to climb up and down on a rope ladder.

A woman named Kathleen had a crush on Kevin, and she used to annoy him by asking him if she could clean his cave, cook his dinner, warm his bed for him.

Now, if there was anything Kevin hated worse than people, it was women, because if you're a man you can't become a saint if you have anything to do with women. At least, that's what Kevin thought.

One time he took a bunch of stinging nettles and beat Cathleen with them to drive her away. He probably thought she got the message, but the next day, when he went back to his cave to sleep, he found her there waiting for him. He was so angry that he pushed her out of the cave, and she fell into the lake and drowned.

Truly saintly behaviour.