Above: Map of Connacht

When the Saint and his attendants gathered at early morning at Clebach, a well on the east side of Rathcroghan, they found there Ethnea and Felimia, two daughters of King Laery, who were in fosterage in Connacht. The story of their conversion is told in the Book of Armagh. The sisters at first thought that St. Patrick and his white-robed companions were Duine Sid/te or fairies, and inquired who they were, and from whence they had come. St. Patrick told them that it were better for them to confess to the true God than to inquire concerning the race and the country of himself and his followers. Then the maidens questioned him concerning God, asking who was He, and where He dwelt, in heaven, or earth, in the sea, or the rivers, in the mountains or valleys’: Was He ever-living aud beautiful? Did many foster His son, and were His daughters dear and beauteous to men of the earth? How was He to be seen and loved, and was it in youth or old age that He was to be found?

Above: Painting of the Most Holy Trinity

St. Patrick told them that the God of whom he was come to preach to them was the God of all men, the God of heaven and earth, of the seas and rivers, of the sun, moon, and all stars, of the high mountains and lowly valleys. He was the God who was above heaven, and in heaven, and under heaven. He had a habitation in heaven, in the sea, and all that were therein. He inspired all things, quickened all things, was over all things, sustained all things, gave the light to the sun, made springs in a dry ground, and islands in the sea. He had a Son co-eternal and co-equal with Himself. The Son was not younger than the Fa+hp’”. nor was the Father older than the Son, and the Holy Ghost breathed in them. The Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost were not divided.

Below: Diagram of the concept of the most Holy Trinity

The Saint also told them that he desired to unite them to the Heavenly King, and the maidens asked him that he would teach them diligently how they might believe in Him and how they might see Him face to face. St. Patrick asked them did they believe that by baptism they put off the sin of their father and mother; did they believe in repentance after sin, in life after death, in the Resurrection at the Day of Judgment, and in the unity of the Church. The two sisters professed their belief in all these, and the Saint baptized them, and put a white garment on their heads. Then they asked him that they might see the face of Christ, and St. Patrick replied that they could not see the face of Christ except they received the sacrifice and tasted of death. They begged that they might receive the sacrifice and behold the Son, their spouse. They received the Eucharist of God from the hands of the Saint, and slept in death. “And they were laid out on one bed, covered with garments; and (their friends) made great lamentation and weeping for them.”