section_path: Legends/Battle for the body of St Patrick
section_name: Battle for the body of St Patrick
paragraph_text: Battle for the body of St Patrick
  
  According to the Annals of the Four Masters, an early-modern compilation of earlier annals, his corpse soon became an object of conflict in the Battle for the Body of Saint Patrick (Cath Coirp Naomh Padraic):
  
  The Uí Néill and the Airgíalla attempted to bring it to Armagh; the Ulaid tried to keep it for themselves.
  
  When the Uí Néill and the Airgíalla came to a certain water, the river swelled against them so that they were not able to cross it. When the flood had subsided the Ui Neill and the Ulaid united on terms of peace, to bring the body of Patrick with them. It appeared to each of them that each had the body conveying it to their respective territories. The body of Patrick was afterwards interred at Dun Da Lethglas with great honour and veneration; and during the twelve nights that the religious seniors were watching the body with psalms and hymns, it was not night in Magh Inis or the neighbouring lands, as they thought, but as if it were the full undarkened light of day.
  
  According to the Annals of the Four Masters, an early-modern compilation of earlier annals, his corpse soon became an object of conflict in the Battle for the Body of Saint Patrick (Cath Coirp Naomh Padraic):
  
  The Uí Néill and the Airgíalla attempted to bring it to Armagh; the Ulaid tried to keep it for themselves.
  
  When the Uí Néill and the Airgíalla came to a certain water, the river swelled against them so that they were not able to cross it. When the flood had subsided the Ui Neill and the Ulaid united on terms of peace, to bring the body of Patrick with them. It appeared to each of them that each had the body conveying it to their respective territories. The body of Patrick was afterwards interred at Dun Da Lethglas with great honour and veneration; and during the twelve nights that the religious seniors were watching the body with psalms and hymns, it was not night in Magh Inis or the neighbouring lands, as they thought, but as if it were the full undarkened light of day.