The first story, called St. Kentigern and the Robin focuses on the life of St. Kentigern, who was a very holy young boy. He was the favorite pupil of St. Servan, the teacher of the school in Glasgow where Kentigern attended. What I loved about St. Kentigern was his strong faith and kind disposition, even as the other boys were trying to get him in trouble out of their jealousy. In fact, that is where the robin comes into play, which was St. Servan's favorite friend. The boys killed the poor robin and blamed it on Kentigern. When Servan approached him about it, Kentigern wanted to prove his innocence. So he prayed sincerely to God saying "If I am innocent, give me power to undo the wrong and restore life to the little singer who loved to praise Thee with his sweet voice." He then set the robin's neck back into place, and the bird came to life! The boys never treated him wrong after that, and he grew even more into favor with Servan.
(Image information: A red-breasted robin, which was healed by St. Kentigern.
Source: UnTextbook and Wikipedia)
The second story was one of St. Blaise. St. Blaise was a good Christian who lived in a place that was mostly "heathen" in Armenia. He was a very holy and pious man and wanted to help every creature he could, men and beasts. So he became a doctor, and he healed many people with prayers and medicine. He was such a righteous man that even the wild beasts in the forest where he prayed kept him company, and were tame in his presence. It came to pass that he became bishop of the town, and because of the heathens who were afraid that he would convert everyone, he was persecuted. When they found Blaise in the forest, he was surrounded by the wild beasts, and they did not disturb him. And when they finally captured him, they could not execute him by means of wild animals, as was the usual way. They eventually had to behead him.
The next story focused on St. Comgall and mice. There were to stories of St. Comgall's nature to animals, who were seemingly attracted to the man for his piety. However, the second story was the important one. Long story short, there was a famine in Ireland, and many people were starving. The cruel prince there kept all the grains and seeds for himself and his mother, who was called Mouse for her likeness to the rodent. So Comgall, after being denied by the prince a trade of a silver goblet for grain, used the mother's name as an idea. That night, he talked to the mice of the town and told them the story and what to do. In the middle of the night, every mouse went to the storeroom and ate every bit of grain there, so that the prince and his mother had nothing, along with everyone else.
(Image info: A field mouse, much like one sent by St. Comgall to eat the prince's grain.
The last story was about St. Berach and his many encounters with animals and nature. Because of his devotion to God and his kindhearted nature, Berach was able to talk to animals, and even got a wolf to become the son of a cow after the wolf ate the cow's calf. It continues to tell the stories of his control of nature, even during the winter, when he managed to make apples grow in the snow.
The main recurring ideas in these stories were, of course, the devotion to God and the kind dispositions of the saints that even animals were attracted to. They used their faith to perform miracles and communicate with animals.
