Thus, Congal Caech, who killed the reigning sovereign in 623, fled to Britain, and after remaining there nine years, returned with foreign troops, by whose assistance he hoped to attain the honours unlawfully coveted.

The famous battle of Magh-Rath,[180] in which the auxiliaries were utterly routed and the false Congal slain, unfortunately did not deter his countrymen from again and again attempting the same suicidal course.
In 656 the country was once more visited by the fatal _Crom Chonaill_, and again holy prelates and sainted religious were foremost amongst its victims.

Many orphans were of necessity thrown on the mercy of those to whom charity was their only claim.

Nor was the call unheeded.

The venerable Bishop of Ardbraccan, St.Ultan, whom we may perhaps term the St.Vincent of Ireland, gathered these hapless little ones into a safe asylum, and there, with a thoughtfulness which in such an age could scarcely have been expected, sought to supply by artificial means for the natural nourishment of which they had been deprived.
Venerable Bede mentions this pestilence, and gives honorable testimony to the charity of the Irish, not only to their own people, but even to strangers.