Chapter XLVI: How an Insult to Ciaran Was Averted (lb)

For parallels to this story see Plummer, VSH, i, p. clxxxvii, note. Compare also the third of the metrical fragments with which LB closes. It is clear that the purpose of the robbers was to efface the tonsure of the saint; very likely ecclesiastics were on occasion subjected to such rough treatment during the period of transition between Paganism and Christianity.