3 This holy man is
supposed
to have been born about the beginning of the ninth century.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v8
(e).
*« See ibid. , pp. 154 to 159.
S2 See " Trias Thaumaturga," Hymnus seu Prima Vita S. Patricii Hibernia Apos-
Ecclesiastical His-
42
43 See "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniw," Notse Alise in Fiecum, n. 22, p. 7.
See ibid. , p. 715.
toli S. Fieco Episcopo Sleptensi Authore, Z
O^t"he«rTMwi»sec Secundinus, and called Pri- '
^f
mate of Armagh by some writers. His
pre-
354 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 24.
Apostle, and secondly, because a St. Patrick, Bishop of Nivemais, died on the 1 6th of March, and a St. Patrick, Bishop of Nola, had his festival on the 17th, the anniversary of the Irish Apostle's death. Either of the latter two, he supposes, might have been him spoken of as ascending with St. Patrick to
heaven. The only ancient authority we find for making the present holy man a bishop, as well as an abbot, is the Martyrology of Tallagh. The " Feilire " of ^Engus has no other distinction for him, than that he was tutor of the great St. Patrick. Nor do we find Ros-Dela noted in any of our ancient records, as the seat of a bishop. Nevertheless, under the head of Ros-dela, Duald MacFirbiss enters, Old Patrick, a bishop and an abbot of
Ros-dela, in Magh Lacha, at August the 24th. 53
Whosoever of the different Patricks venerated as saints in Ireland the
present may have been, it is supposed probable, and accordant with an ancient tradition, that he went from Ireland to Glastonbury, there to seek peace and rest. A cause for his removal has also been assigned. On account of the rebellious people he met with, that St. Patrick is said to have left Ireland,54 and to have sought the monastery of Glastonbury. There he died, on the feast of St. Bartholomew, the Apostle. 55 Wherefore, it has been supposed, that the festival of the second St. Patrick or the Minor had been held also on that same day. He was regarded as an Abbot but not as a Bishop, and to him we are told the Purgatory of St. Patrick should be ascribed. Moreover, the Abbey of Glastonbury is thought to have numbere—d
Sen-Patricks6—called St. " the tutor of our "
holy by ^Engus
apostle among its abbots. Another office he is said to have held, as being head of
the Irish Apostles' Seniors. 57 It is stated, besides, that this pious man resigned his charge at Glastonbury, and that he went to Ireland with his greatdisciple. Here,too,helabouredintheconversionofournation. Atthe closeofhislife,itis hereturnedtohis 8 The
thought monasteryat Glastonbury. s Patrick, who was nephew to the great Irish Apostle, according to Jocelin,5^ after the death of his uncle, retired to Glastonbury, and was there buried.
In this point, he is followed by the Bollandists. They add a circumstance, however, directly opposite to what he states ; for they make this Patrick succeed his uncle in the See of Armagh and govern it for ten years. Now Jocelin only states, that after the uncle's death, he went straight to Britain, and remained there for the rest of his life.
To avoid the many difficulties that occurred on this subject, the Bolland- ists gave a new turn to the name Sen-Patrick? According to them, it does not mean Patrick, senior, or the Elder, but the son of Sannan, called Deacon Sannan. APatrickwhowasthesonofSannan,andcalledDeaconSannan,
53 See "Proceedings of the Royal Irish
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. ,
part i. , pp. 126, 127.
54 •' See
late Fellow of Magdalen College, Cam-
bridge, vol. v. , lib. v. , cap. iv. , pp. 304 to
307.
55 This festival occurs, on the 24th of
August.
56 According to a gloss on the " Feilire "
of St. . /Engus, in the " Leabhar Breac," copy R. I. A.
57 This is expressed, and with eulogy, in an old Irish verse thus quoted and trans- lated by Archbishop Ussher :—
Sean p<yonaic pocta r-logAch, ceant) Afruncln fevtorvAch.
Senex Patricius mitis, comites aggregans, caput sapientum Seniorum ejus.
"
s8 See Rt. Rev. Patrick F. Moran's Irish
Saints in Great Britain," chap, ii. , pp. 23,
Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden Monachi Cestrensis," together with the Eng- lish Translations of John Trevisa and of an unknown writer of the Fifteenth Century. Edited by Rev. Joseph Rawson Lumby, B. D. , Fellow of St. Catherine's College, and
2
4-
59 See Colgan's Trias Thaumaturga,'
"
Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. clxxxvi. , p. 106. ^ See the " Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Martii xvii. De S. Patricio, Episcopo, Apos-
tolo, et Primate Hibernise, pp. 517 to 592.
August 24. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 355
is said to have been a brother of the
made the same as San-Patrick; or Patrick, son of Sannan. In the first place,
according
Lanigan,
to Dr.
62 there were no
of St. Patrick in Ireland
apostle,
nephews
thinks, than that such name was a mere abbreviation of Patrick senior.
Treating of divers persons called Patrick,^ Colgan found himself greatly perplexed. Wishing to maintain the existence of a Patrick senior, in St. Patrick's the apostle's time, he says, that the former was first at Ros-dela, then Bishop of Armagh, and afterwards at Glastonbury. Moreover, he strives to find out another Patrick, who went to Glastonbury, but in the ninth century. It has been stated by Ranulph of Chester, that the minor or second Patrick was not a bishop, but an abbot. Probably, in consequence of the circumstances mentioned in the Polychronicon, the Glastonbury monks supposed he was the same as St. Patrick, the Irish Apostle. How- ever, the real St. Patrick, venerated by the Glastonbury monks, was that one mentioned by Ranulph, of Chester ; or, he was some other Patrick, perhaps
of the seventh or that died on the eighth century,
; secondly, all the Glastonbury stories and the passages of our writers concerning Sen Patrick relate to a Patrick the Elder. Nothing is more evident, he
24th day
According to Archbishop Ussher, that St. Patrick, who left Ireland for
died there on the viii. of the
However, we must look to a much earlier period for his decease, if we are to regard him as the Old Patrick, commemorated on this day in the " Feilire" of^Engus. WhoevertheSenPatraichadbeen,heappearstohavereceived honoursintheancientIrishCalendars,onthe24thofAugust. Thus,the Feilire of St. ^Engus, as also the Calendars of Cashel and of Marianus
66
Glastonbury,
O'Gorman, or his Scholiast,
September
affix to that day the death of Patrick senior.
Under the head of Glaistember,6? Duald MacFirbis enters this Patrick, as a
1
bury, in Wales,? but more properly it should be in Somersetshire, England.
Whilesomeofhisrelicsaresaidtohavebeenpreservedinthisplace; the
2
61 so that Sen-Patrick has thus been
at the 68 there is no ancient to
bishop, August 24th. However, authority support the statement, that he of Glastonbury had been a bishop ; since it cannot be maintained that he was identical wit—h the illustrious Apostle of Ireland. On the ix. of the September Kalends August 24th—and on the NataleoftheApostleSt. Bartholomew6? inJudea,theCalendarofDrummond? places the Natale of a St. Patrick, bishop and confessor in Britain. By the Calendar of Cashel, the senior Patrick is said to have been buried at Glaston-
remainder are thought to have been kept, at Armagh, in a shrine. ?
61 " 68 See Ussher's Britannicarum Ecclesi-
See "Proceedings of the Royal Irish
arum Antiquitates," cap. xvii. , p. 429.
62
See "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. i. . chap, vii. , sect, ii. , n. 21, pp. 330, 331.
63 See "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae,"
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. ,
parti. , pp. 1 12, 113.
69 In the Celtic Calendar of Culross, his
name is written Parthaloin.
^Thus: ix. Kal. Sept. —"In Brittania
Februarii, xvii. De S. Patricio Ostiario, Natale—Sancti Patricii Episcopi et Confes- "
Forbes' Kalendars
p. 366. soris. " Bishop of
64
Dr. Lanigan. See "Ecclesiastical History of
Ireland," vol. i. , chap, vii. , sect, ii. , n. 20, PP« 329> 33°«
"
65 See
quitates," Index Chronologicus, a. d. dcccl. , p. 543.
66 See
According to the opinion of Rev. Scottish Saints," p. 22.
7I These words occur at 24th August:
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Anti-
"Senior Patricius Ros-dela in regione de
Mag-lacha jacet : sed secundum ahquos, et verius quod Glastenberia apud Gallo-Hiber- nos, quae est civitas in Boreali Regione Sax- onum, -et Scoti earn inhabitant. " See
Colgan's
" Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
's "Trias Prima Vita Thaumaturga,"
niae," Februarii xvii. DeS. Patricio Ostiario,
Colgan
S. Patricii, n. 48, p. 10.
72 See Right Rev. Patrick F. Moran's Glastonbury in England. See William "Irish Saints in Great Britain," chap, ii. ,
nn. 6, 7, p. 366.
67
M. Henassey's note. , p. 24.
of 6* August.
Kalends, a. d. 6s 85o.
356 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 24.
Surrounded as the foregoing questions are with uncertainties and doubts, we have thus endeavoured to place those statements regarding the present venerable man, in that order which we deem most likely to awaken further interest and curiosity among historic investigators, because our own researches haveneitherbeensatisfactorynorconclusivetoourselves. Bothhisidentity and period have still to be reliably established ; but, it appears to us, the attempt can hardly result in a successful issue. As in so many other cases, where we are obliged to deal with brief records of holy men, and with the obscurities of their personal history ; nevertheless, such subjects for en- lightened investigation had a real existence, and also a character for holiness, in their time, which cannot be disturbed or invalidated by any future enquiries.
Article II. —St. Patrick, surnamed Ostiarius. [Probably in the Ninth Century. '] As in the former case, much difficulty is experienced in the
endeavour to
and
the
rather a confused account of this
of this saint. -
*
distinguish
period
locality
Colgan
at the
day, and also that of August the 24th, were specially dedicated to his memory.
From the title given to him, we should be inclined to believe, that he had not attained to Major ecclesiastical Orders, and that he only held the rank and exercised the office of Door-keeper in the Church at Trim. His history is not well known, from the casual allusions to him that we have as yet procured. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, contained in the Book of Leinster, a St. Patrick, styled Ostiarius, and also Abbot of Armagh, is re- corded at the 24th of August.
3 This holy man is supposed to have been born about the beginning of the ninth century. An interpolator of the chronicle written by William of Malmesbury relates, that he discharged epis- copal duties, about the year of our Lord 850. 4 By Colgan, he is distinguished from St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, from Sen Patrick, and from Patrick junior. It is stated by Stanihurst, that the present holy man left a book of Homilies ; but, for this there is no certain evidence, as the book is not ex- tant. 5 Our great Irish hagiographer supposes our saint to have been iden- tical with Maelpadraig or Patricianus,6 son of Finncha, who was bishop, scribe, anchoret and intended Abbot of Armagh ; and who died, a. d. 861, according to the Annals of the Four Masters. 7 However, this conjectural identification is by no means certain. According to Ranulph Higden, the Monk of Chester, a second or minor Patrick, distinct from the great Irish Apostle, and an abbot but not a bishop, flourished at Glastonbury about the middle of the ninth century, and having been engaged on the Irish mission,
he died there on the of 8 To this the of what has 24th August. saint, origin
beencalledSt. Patrick'sPurgatoryisattributed,bycertainwriters. 9 However, we have already seen, some accounts will have it, that St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, was the first to have visited Lough Derg, County of Donegal, in the
gives
saint,
17th
of
February ;
'
Article II. — See Colgan's "Acta Sane-
torum Hibernise," xvii. Februarii. De S. Patricio Qetiario, p. 366.
2
and Distinguished Irishmen," vol. i. , part i. , p. 224.
6
See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber- At that date, likewise, the reader may niae," xvii. Februarii, n. II, p. 366.
find a brief allusion to him, in the Second ? See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Volume of this work, Art. v. Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 496, 497. 38"
Theentry thus runs : pAC]\icii hofdArxH Ajjur Ab -Atvoma.
4 Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," xviii. Februarii. De S. Patricio Ostiario, n.
12, p. 366.
s See James Wills' " Lives of Iliustricfrs
See the Polychronicon," edited by Rev. Joseph Rawson Lumby, B. D. , vol. v. , lib. v. , cap. iv. , pp. 304 to 307.
'See James Wills' "Lives of Illustrious
and Distinguished Irishmen," vol. i. , part i. , Seeond Period, p. 224.
2 which
August 24. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 3*» early Christian times,10 and to have erected there a penitential resort, which
afterwards became famous. 11 very
Again,
Dabeoc I3 lived there after St. Patrick, while he was celebrated for his virtues
and the austerity of his life. He is also regarded as the first to have built a monastery and a cell there. Besides, he is recognised as the chief patron of
x 3 On Saint's or St. where it is Davog's Island,
he
while there is
a paved way or old road from the graveyard of Templecarn to that point in
the townland of Seedavoge, that juts into the lough, close upon the island. 1 * The first accounts we have regarding the Purgatory of St. Patricks are sup- posed to have been composed at no very early date. About the middle of the twelfth lived the monk of 16 in
Lough Derg.
was buried, still the outlines of several ruins may be traced ;
supposed
century Henry Saltery, Huntingdonshire, England, who heard from another English monk, Gilbert of Lud, the story
of an Irish soldier named Owen. 1 ?
The latter related many wonderful
things that had happened to him, and the visions he beheld in the cavern of
St. Patrick, on St. Daveog's Island on Lough Derg. These visions were
committed to of 18 and different versions of them
writing by Henry Saltery,
were soon circulated in Ireland, the British Islands, and throughout
1
Europe. ? Those accounts are classed among the sources whence Dante
derived some of his poetic ideas for writing the Divina Comedia. 20 Several Treatises on the Purgatory of St. Patrick are to be found, not only in our chief publicLibrariesathome,butalsointhoseontheContinent. Thus,inthe
maturga," Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. clxxii. , p. 103.
16
He seems to have flourished in the time of King Stephen. This tract is addressed to the Abbot Henry de Sartis.
17 He was cellarer to the monastery built by Gilbert de Luda.
18 He states likewise, he had assurance of
the truth of these visions by an Irish bishop,
one of the companions of St. Malachi, and who told several similar stories.
J9ThenarrativeofSt. Patrick'sPurgatory
has been printed in almost every language
of Europe.
20 See Ozanam's " GEuvres Completes,"
Burgundian Library, at Bruxelles, there are such tracts ;
there is a large vellum folio, bound in wood, and attributed to the pen of f* Henricus Saltereyensis. " It is said to have been written at the commence-
10
See the Third Volume of this work, at
the 17th of March, Art. i. , the Life of Saint
Patrick, Apostle and Chief Patron of Ireland,
chap. xiv.
11
However, the Purgatory of St. Patrick is not mentioned in any of his early Lives.
12
See an account of him at the 1st of
January, on the 24th of July, and at the 16th of December. These three distinct festivals were formerly observed in his honour at Lough Derg.
13 For the fullest accounts of this cele- brated island, the reader is referred to Very
Rev. Daniel O'Connor's
''
Lough Derg and
its Pilgrimages. "
14 "This neck was anciently connected tome v. Des 9ources Poetiques de la Divine
with the island by a wooden bridge sup- Comedie, sect, iii. , p. 437.
ported by stone pillars, a part . of which can 21 In the Eighth Volume of Manuscripts,
— which is a Collectanea" yet be seen when the water is clear. " large folio, appear "
William James Doherty's " Inis-Owen and of the Lives and Acts of Saints for the Tirconnell : Notes, Antiquarian and Topo- month of March ; probably, it formed part
graphical," First Series, sect, xxxix. , p. 201.
of the Bollandist collection, although it has not their library mark. In the 3201 num- ber, stated in the " Inventaire " to be " Vita S. Patricii," under this title will be found four different lives of the Saint. The second
15 In the twelfth century, as Jocelyn re-
lates, there was a Purgatory of St. Patrick
on the very summit of Cruachan-aigle, and
to which pilgrims resorted to perform works life bears date 1641, and the third is ex- of penance, in fasting and in watching, to tracted from Camden. There are also two escape the gates of hell, through the merits copies of the "Purgatory;" the first, "ex and prayers of St. Patrick. " Referunt MS. Hiber. Min. Lovanii " and the
etiam nonnulli, qui pernoctaverant ibi, se tormenta gravissima fuisse perpessos, quibus
se purgatos a peccatis putant, unde et qui- dam illorum locum illam Purgatorium S.
; other, "ex MS. Maximini Treveris. " This volume has been recently bound, and Mr. Bindon was unable to discover any name or date,
&c, indicating the compiler, or wh«re it was Patricii vocant. "—Colgan's "Trias Thau- written.
it is that St. Beoc or stated,
ai
and, among these,
358 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 24.
ment of the fourteenth 21 there is a Treatise in old French,9* century. Again,
the commencement of which is ornamented with a drawing of the Purga-
tory 24 representing the souls in torment. 25 ,
At Salmansweiler Convent, Wurtemburg, there is a Manuscript Purgatorium Sancti Patricii Episcopi ; as likewise two others,33 having relation to what
happened to a certain George of Hungary, in the Imperial Library at Vienna. The Vision of Tundal 3* likewise seems to have been framed on this model, and it soon became known on the Continent of Europe. 35 The Purgatory
6
of St. Patrick is described in the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine^ and it is printed for the greater part in Matthew of Paris. 37 This subject is very fully treated by Father John Colgan, who lived in that part of Ireland in which Lough Derg is situated, and who gives a special account of the mode and prescriptions for carrying out" the exercises of the pilgrims thither, in his own time. 38 Our saint is numbered amongst the Patron Saints of the Church of Trim, in Meath County, by the Martyrology of Tallagh. 39 This holy man is said to have been buried at Trim, with eighteen other saints, whose memories are venerated on the 17th February, and on the 24th of August/ At the latter date, his feast is said to have been inserted in the Martyrology of Sarum. 41 The published Martyrology of Tallagh states, at the 24th of August, that Patrick, surnamed Ostiarius, had been Abbot of Armagh,42 while he is distinguished from another St. Patrick, who is like-
28 at St.
2* at
burg,* there are various Manuscripts describing the Purgatory of St. Patrick.
Basel,
2? at 2
Berne,
Gall,
Geneva,*
at 1 and at Wurtz- Heilsbronn,*
23 It is classed Vol. xxiii. , No. 7806. The last piece in this volume is a copy of
34 Mr. Turnbull has published the "Vision of Tundale, together with metrical morali- zationand other fragments of ancient Poetry," Edinburgh, 1843.
the "
ing thus :
It has no illuminations, nor could Mr. Bindon find any trace of the Irish character or language.
Purgatory "
of St. Patrick," commenc- Patri suo peroptato in Christo. "
33 In the volume xxvii will be found No. 9035, which is a French translation of the
plurimum censoria castigatione : usque acieo
ofSt. Patrick,and de fois allant demander. "
"Moult
ad rem pertinere non potissimum
Purgatory
begins,
quod
videant offendi possit. " Lugduni et Parr-
34 The dimensions of this drawing are
about four inches by two and a-half : it is
rather well executed, but it presents nothing remarkable in appearance.
2s
This MS. is of the fifteenth century.
26 There is one MS. intituled, S. Patricii Episcopi in Hibernia constituti circa A. D. 430, Liber de Purgatorio ; and another,
hisiis, 1505, 4to.
37 See "Chronica Majora," vol. ii. , pp.
192 to 263. Edited by Henry Richards
Luard, M. A.
38" "
See Trias Thaumaturga Sexta Ap-
pendix ad Acta S. Patricii. This Treatise
is divided into four parts, with a Prologue
and Notes, pp. 273 to 289.
3'At the xiii. of the Kalends of March (Feb-
ruary 17th), the following entry occurs, in the published Martyrology of Tallagh : " Loman in Ath Truim cum sociis, i. e. ,
Patricii Hostiarii, Laurech mac Cuanach, Fortchern ocus Coelochtra, Aedha, Aedha, Aedha Cormaci Eps, Conani, Cuimaeni Eps, Lacteani sac, Ossani, ocus Sarani Conaill ocus Colmani, ocus Lactani Eps, Finnseghi Vir. Hi omnes in Ath Truim requiescunt . " —Rev. Dr. Kelly's "Calendar of Irish Saints," &c, p. xvi.
40 "Acta Sanctorum Hiber- Colgan's
niae," xxvii. Februarii, nn. 13 and 16, p.
Patricius S. Irland, de
27 There is a MS. , De Patricii Purgatorio.
98
There is a French MS. of the fifteenth
century, Le Purgatoire de S. Patrice.
39 There is a MS. , Patricii Purgatorium.
30 There is a Description du Purgatoire de St. Patrice, in Manuscript.
31 There is a MS. , Patricius de Purgatorio.
*« See ibid. , pp. 154 to 159.
S2 See " Trias Thaumaturga," Hymnus seu Prima Vita S. Patricii Hibernia Apos-
Ecclesiastical His-
42
43 See "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniw," Notse Alise in Fiecum, n. 22, p. 7.
See ibid. , p. 715.
toli S. Fieco Episcopo Sleptensi Authore, Z
O^t"he«rTMwi»sec Secundinus, and called Pri- '
^f
mate of Armagh by some writers. His
pre-
354 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 24.
Apostle, and secondly, because a St. Patrick, Bishop of Nivemais, died on the 1 6th of March, and a St. Patrick, Bishop of Nola, had his festival on the 17th, the anniversary of the Irish Apostle's death. Either of the latter two, he supposes, might have been him spoken of as ascending with St. Patrick to
heaven. The only ancient authority we find for making the present holy man a bishop, as well as an abbot, is the Martyrology of Tallagh. The " Feilire " of ^Engus has no other distinction for him, than that he was tutor of the great St. Patrick. Nor do we find Ros-Dela noted in any of our ancient records, as the seat of a bishop. Nevertheless, under the head of Ros-dela, Duald MacFirbiss enters, Old Patrick, a bishop and an abbot of
Ros-dela, in Magh Lacha, at August the 24th. 53
Whosoever of the different Patricks venerated as saints in Ireland the
present may have been, it is supposed probable, and accordant with an ancient tradition, that he went from Ireland to Glastonbury, there to seek peace and rest. A cause for his removal has also been assigned. On account of the rebellious people he met with, that St. Patrick is said to have left Ireland,54 and to have sought the monastery of Glastonbury. There he died, on the feast of St. Bartholomew, the Apostle. 55 Wherefore, it has been supposed, that the festival of the second St. Patrick or the Minor had been held also on that same day. He was regarded as an Abbot but not as a Bishop, and to him we are told the Purgatory of St. Patrick should be ascribed. Moreover, the Abbey of Glastonbury is thought to have numbere—d
Sen-Patricks6—called St. " the tutor of our "
holy by ^Engus
apostle among its abbots. Another office he is said to have held, as being head of
the Irish Apostles' Seniors. 57 It is stated, besides, that this pious man resigned his charge at Glastonbury, and that he went to Ireland with his greatdisciple. Here,too,helabouredintheconversionofournation. Atthe closeofhislife,itis hereturnedtohis 8 The
thought monasteryat Glastonbury. s Patrick, who was nephew to the great Irish Apostle, according to Jocelin,5^ after the death of his uncle, retired to Glastonbury, and was there buried.
In this point, he is followed by the Bollandists. They add a circumstance, however, directly opposite to what he states ; for they make this Patrick succeed his uncle in the See of Armagh and govern it for ten years. Now Jocelin only states, that after the uncle's death, he went straight to Britain, and remained there for the rest of his life.
To avoid the many difficulties that occurred on this subject, the Bolland- ists gave a new turn to the name Sen-Patrick? According to them, it does not mean Patrick, senior, or the Elder, but the son of Sannan, called Deacon Sannan. APatrickwhowasthesonofSannan,andcalledDeaconSannan,
53 See "Proceedings of the Royal Irish
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. ,
part i. , pp. 126, 127.
54 •' See
late Fellow of Magdalen College, Cam-
bridge, vol. v. , lib. v. , cap. iv. , pp. 304 to
307.
55 This festival occurs, on the 24th of
August.
56 According to a gloss on the " Feilire "
of St. . /Engus, in the " Leabhar Breac," copy R. I. A.
57 This is expressed, and with eulogy, in an old Irish verse thus quoted and trans- lated by Archbishop Ussher :—
Sean p<yonaic pocta r-logAch, ceant) Afruncln fevtorvAch.
Senex Patricius mitis, comites aggregans, caput sapientum Seniorum ejus.
"
s8 See Rt. Rev. Patrick F. Moran's Irish
Saints in Great Britain," chap, ii. , pp. 23,
Polychronicon Ranulphi Higden Monachi Cestrensis," together with the Eng- lish Translations of John Trevisa and of an unknown writer of the Fifteenth Century. Edited by Rev. Joseph Rawson Lumby, B. D. , Fellow of St. Catherine's College, and
2
4-
59 See Colgan's Trias Thaumaturga,'
"
Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. clxxxvi. , p. 106. ^ See the " Acta Sanctorum," tomus ii. , Martii xvii. De S. Patricio, Episcopo, Apos-
tolo, et Primate Hibernise, pp. 517 to 592.
August 24. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 355
is said to have been a brother of the
made the same as San-Patrick; or Patrick, son of Sannan. In the first place,
according
Lanigan,
to Dr.
62 there were no
of St. Patrick in Ireland
apostle,
nephews
thinks, than that such name was a mere abbreviation of Patrick senior.
Treating of divers persons called Patrick,^ Colgan found himself greatly perplexed. Wishing to maintain the existence of a Patrick senior, in St. Patrick's the apostle's time, he says, that the former was first at Ros-dela, then Bishop of Armagh, and afterwards at Glastonbury. Moreover, he strives to find out another Patrick, who went to Glastonbury, but in the ninth century. It has been stated by Ranulph of Chester, that the minor or second Patrick was not a bishop, but an abbot. Probably, in consequence of the circumstances mentioned in the Polychronicon, the Glastonbury monks supposed he was the same as St. Patrick, the Irish Apostle. How- ever, the real St. Patrick, venerated by the Glastonbury monks, was that one mentioned by Ranulph, of Chester ; or, he was some other Patrick, perhaps
of the seventh or that died on the eighth century,
; secondly, all the Glastonbury stories and the passages of our writers concerning Sen Patrick relate to a Patrick the Elder. Nothing is more evident, he
24th day
According to Archbishop Ussher, that St. Patrick, who left Ireland for
died there on the viii. of the
However, we must look to a much earlier period for his decease, if we are to regard him as the Old Patrick, commemorated on this day in the " Feilire" of^Engus. WhoevertheSenPatraichadbeen,heappearstohavereceived honoursintheancientIrishCalendars,onthe24thofAugust. Thus,the Feilire of St. ^Engus, as also the Calendars of Cashel and of Marianus
66
Glastonbury,
O'Gorman, or his Scholiast,
September
affix to that day the death of Patrick senior.
Under the head of Glaistember,6? Duald MacFirbis enters this Patrick, as a
1
bury, in Wales,? but more properly it should be in Somersetshire, England.
Whilesomeofhisrelicsaresaidtohavebeenpreservedinthisplace; the
2
61 so that Sen-Patrick has thus been
at the 68 there is no ancient to
bishop, August 24th. However, authority support the statement, that he of Glastonbury had been a bishop ; since it cannot be maintained that he was identical wit—h the illustrious Apostle of Ireland. On the ix. of the September Kalends August 24th—and on the NataleoftheApostleSt. Bartholomew6? inJudea,theCalendarofDrummond? places the Natale of a St. Patrick, bishop and confessor in Britain. By the Calendar of Cashel, the senior Patrick is said to have been buried at Glaston-
remainder are thought to have been kept, at Armagh, in a shrine. ?
61 " 68 See Ussher's Britannicarum Ecclesi-
See "Proceedings of the Royal Irish
arum Antiquitates," cap. xvii. , p. 429.
62
See "Ecclesiastical History of Ireland," vol. i. . chap, vii. , sect, ii. , n. 21, pp. 330, 331.
63 See "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae,"
Academy," Irish Manuscript Series, vol. i. ,
parti. , pp. 1 12, 113.
69 In the Celtic Calendar of Culross, his
name is written Parthaloin.
^Thus: ix. Kal. Sept. —"In Brittania
Februarii, xvii. De S. Patricio Ostiario, Natale—Sancti Patricii Episcopi et Confes- "
Forbes' Kalendars
p. 366. soris. " Bishop of
64
Dr. Lanigan. See "Ecclesiastical History of
Ireland," vol. i. , chap, vii. , sect, ii. , n. 20, PP« 329> 33°«
"
65 See
quitates," Index Chronologicus, a. d. dcccl. , p. 543.
66 See
According to the opinion of Rev. Scottish Saints," p. 22.
7I These words occur at 24th August:
Britannicarum Ecclesiarum Anti-
"Senior Patricius Ros-dela in regione de
Mag-lacha jacet : sed secundum ahquos, et verius quod Glastenberia apud Gallo-Hiber- nos, quae est civitas in Boreali Regione Sax- onum, -et Scoti earn inhabitant. " See
Colgan's
" Acta Sanctorum Hiber-
's "Trias Prima Vita Thaumaturga,"
niae," Februarii xvii. DeS. Patricio Ostiario,
Colgan
S. Patricii, n. 48, p. 10.
72 See Right Rev. Patrick F. Moran's Glastonbury in England. See William "Irish Saints in Great Britain," chap, ii. ,
nn. 6, 7, p. 366.
67
M. Henassey's note. , p. 24.
of 6* August.
Kalends, a. d. 6s 85o.
356 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 24.
Surrounded as the foregoing questions are with uncertainties and doubts, we have thus endeavoured to place those statements regarding the present venerable man, in that order which we deem most likely to awaken further interest and curiosity among historic investigators, because our own researches haveneitherbeensatisfactorynorconclusivetoourselves. Bothhisidentity and period have still to be reliably established ; but, it appears to us, the attempt can hardly result in a successful issue. As in so many other cases, where we are obliged to deal with brief records of holy men, and with the obscurities of their personal history ; nevertheless, such subjects for en- lightened investigation had a real existence, and also a character for holiness, in their time, which cannot be disturbed or invalidated by any future enquiries.
Article II. —St. Patrick, surnamed Ostiarius. [Probably in the Ninth Century. '] As in the former case, much difficulty is experienced in the
endeavour to
and
the
rather a confused account of this
of this saint. -
*
distinguish
period
locality
Colgan
at the
day, and also that of August the 24th, were specially dedicated to his memory.
From the title given to him, we should be inclined to believe, that he had not attained to Major ecclesiastical Orders, and that he only held the rank and exercised the office of Door-keeper in the Church at Trim. His history is not well known, from the casual allusions to him that we have as yet procured. In the Martyrology of Tallagh, contained in the Book of Leinster, a St. Patrick, styled Ostiarius, and also Abbot of Armagh, is re- corded at the 24th of August.
3 This holy man is supposed to have been born about the beginning of the ninth century. An interpolator of the chronicle written by William of Malmesbury relates, that he discharged epis- copal duties, about the year of our Lord 850. 4 By Colgan, he is distinguished from St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, from Sen Patrick, and from Patrick junior. It is stated by Stanihurst, that the present holy man left a book of Homilies ; but, for this there is no certain evidence, as the book is not ex- tant. 5 Our great Irish hagiographer supposes our saint to have been iden- tical with Maelpadraig or Patricianus,6 son of Finncha, who was bishop, scribe, anchoret and intended Abbot of Armagh ; and who died, a. d. 861, according to the Annals of the Four Masters. 7 However, this conjectural identification is by no means certain. According to Ranulph Higden, the Monk of Chester, a second or minor Patrick, distinct from the great Irish Apostle, and an abbot but not a bishop, flourished at Glastonbury about the middle of the ninth century, and having been engaged on the Irish mission,
he died there on the of 8 To this the of what has 24th August. saint, origin
beencalledSt. Patrick'sPurgatoryisattributed,bycertainwriters. 9 However, we have already seen, some accounts will have it, that St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland, was the first to have visited Lough Derg, County of Donegal, in the
gives
saint,
17th
of
February ;
'
Article II. — See Colgan's "Acta Sane-
torum Hibernise," xvii. Februarii. De S. Patricio Qetiario, p. 366.
2
and Distinguished Irishmen," vol. i. , part i. , p. 224.
6
See Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiber- At that date, likewise, the reader may niae," xvii. Februarii, n. II, p. 366.
find a brief allusion to him, in the Second ? See Dr. O'Donovan's "Annals of the
Volume of this work, Art. v. Four Masters," vol. i. , pp. 496, 497. 38"
Theentry thus runs : pAC]\icii hofdArxH Ajjur Ab -Atvoma.
4 Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniae," xviii. Februarii. De S. Patricio Ostiario, n.
12, p. 366.
s See James Wills' " Lives of Iliustricfrs
See the Polychronicon," edited by Rev. Joseph Rawson Lumby, B. D. , vol. v. , lib. v. , cap. iv. , pp. 304 to 307.
'See James Wills' "Lives of Illustrious
and Distinguished Irishmen," vol. i. , part i. , Seeond Period, p. 224.
2 which
August 24. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 3*» early Christian times,10 and to have erected there a penitential resort, which
afterwards became famous. 11 very
Again,
Dabeoc I3 lived there after St. Patrick, while he was celebrated for his virtues
and the austerity of his life. He is also regarded as the first to have built a monastery and a cell there. Besides, he is recognised as the chief patron of
x 3 On Saint's or St. where it is Davog's Island,
he
while there is
a paved way or old road from the graveyard of Templecarn to that point in
the townland of Seedavoge, that juts into the lough, close upon the island. 1 * The first accounts we have regarding the Purgatory of St. Patricks are sup- posed to have been composed at no very early date. About the middle of the twelfth lived the monk of 16 in
Lough Derg.
was buried, still the outlines of several ruins may be traced ;
supposed
century Henry Saltery, Huntingdonshire, England, who heard from another English monk, Gilbert of Lud, the story
of an Irish soldier named Owen. 1 ?
The latter related many wonderful
things that had happened to him, and the visions he beheld in the cavern of
St. Patrick, on St. Daveog's Island on Lough Derg. These visions were
committed to of 18 and different versions of them
writing by Henry Saltery,
were soon circulated in Ireland, the British Islands, and throughout
1
Europe. ? Those accounts are classed among the sources whence Dante
derived some of his poetic ideas for writing the Divina Comedia. 20 Several Treatises on the Purgatory of St. Patrick are to be found, not only in our chief publicLibrariesathome,butalsointhoseontheContinent. Thus,inthe
maturga," Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. clxxii. , p. 103.
16
He seems to have flourished in the time of King Stephen. This tract is addressed to the Abbot Henry de Sartis.
17 He was cellarer to the monastery built by Gilbert de Luda.
18 He states likewise, he had assurance of
the truth of these visions by an Irish bishop,
one of the companions of St. Malachi, and who told several similar stories.
J9ThenarrativeofSt. Patrick'sPurgatory
has been printed in almost every language
of Europe.
20 See Ozanam's " GEuvres Completes,"
Burgundian Library, at Bruxelles, there are such tracts ;
there is a large vellum folio, bound in wood, and attributed to the pen of f* Henricus Saltereyensis. " It is said to have been written at the commence-
10
See the Third Volume of this work, at
the 17th of March, Art. i. , the Life of Saint
Patrick, Apostle and Chief Patron of Ireland,
chap. xiv.
11
However, the Purgatory of St. Patrick is not mentioned in any of his early Lives.
12
See an account of him at the 1st of
January, on the 24th of July, and at the 16th of December. These three distinct festivals were formerly observed in his honour at Lough Derg.
13 For the fullest accounts of this cele- brated island, the reader is referred to Very
Rev. Daniel O'Connor's
''
Lough Derg and
its Pilgrimages. "
14 "This neck was anciently connected tome v. Des 9ources Poetiques de la Divine
with the island by a wooden bridge sup- Comedie, sect, iii. , p. 437.
ported by stone pillars, a part . of which can 21 In the Eighth Volume of Manuscripts,
— which is a Collectanea" yet be seen when the water is clear. " large folio, appear "
William James Doherty's " Inis-Owen and of the Lives and Acts of Saints for the Tirconnell : Notes, Antiquarian and Topo- month of March ; probably, it formed part
graphical," First Series, sect, xxxix. , p. 201.
of the Bollandist collection, although it has not their library mark. In the 3201 num- ber, stated in the " Inventaire " to be " Vita S. Patricii," under this title will be found four different lives of the Saint. The second
15 In the twelfth century, as Jocelyn re-
lates, there was a Purgatory of St. Patrick
on the very summit of Cruachan-aigle, and
to which pilgrims resorted to perform works life bears date 1641, and the third is ex- of penance, in fasting and in watching, to tracted from Camden. There are also two escape the gates of hell, through the merits copies of the "Purgatory;" the first, "ex and prayers of St. Patrick. " Referunt MS. Hiber. Min. Lovanii " and the
etiam nonnulli, qui pernoctaverant ibi, se tormenta gravissima fuisse perpessos, quibus
se purgatos a peccatis putant, unde et qui- dam illorum locum illam Purgatorium S.
; other, "ex MS. Maximini Treveris. " This volume has been recently bound, and Mr. Bindon was unable to discover any name or date,
&c, indicating the compiler, or wh«re it was Patricii vocant. "—Colgan's "Trias Thau- written.
it is that St. Beoc or stated,
ai
and, among these,
358 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [August 24.
ment of the fourteenth 21 there is a Treatise in old French,9* century. Again,
the commencement of which is ornamented with a drawing of the Purga-
tory 24 representing the souls in torment. 25 ,
At Salmansweiler Convent, Wurtemburg, there is a Manuscript Purgatorium Sancti Patricii Episcopi ; as likewise two others,33 having relation to what
happened to a certain George of Hungary, in the Imperial Library at Vienna. The Vision of Tundal 3* likewise seems to have been framed on this model, and it soon became known on the Continent of Europe. 35 The Purgatory
6
of St. Patrick is described in the Golden Legend of Jacobus de Voragine^ and it is printed for the greater part in Matthew of Paris. 37 This subject is very fully treated by Father John Colgan, who lived in that part of Ireland in which Lough Derg is situated, and who gives a special account of the mode and prescriptions for carrying out" the exercises of the pilgrims thither, in his own time. 38 Our saint is numbered amongst the Patron Saints of the Church of Trim, in Meath County, by the Martyrology of Tallagh. 39 This holy man is said to have been buried at Trim, with eighteen other saints, whose memories are venerated on the 17th February, and on the 24th of August/ At the latter date, his feast is said to have been inserted in the Martyrology of Sarum. 41 The published Martyrology of Tallagh states, at the 24th of August, that Patrick, surnamed Ostiarius, had been Abbot of Armagh,42 while he is distinguished from another St. Patrick, who is like-
28 at St.
2* at
burg,* there are various Manuscripts describing the Purgatory of St. Patrick.
Basel,
2? at 2
Berne,
Gall,
Geneva,*
at 1 and at Wurtz- Heilsbronn,*
23 It is classed Vol. xxiii. , No. 7806. The last piece in this volume is a copy of
34 Mr. Turnbull has published the "Vision of Tundale, together with metrical morali- zationand other fragments of ancient Poetry," Edinburgh, 1843.
the "
ing thus :
It has no illuminations, nor could Mr. Bindon find any trace of the Irish character or language.
Purgatory "
of St. Patrick," commenc- Patri suo peroptato in Christo. "
33 In the volume xxvii will be found No. 9035, which is a French translation of the
plurimum censoria castigatione : usque acieo
ofSt. Patrick,and de fois allant demander. "
"Moult
ad rem pertinere non potissimum
Purgatory
begins,
quod
videant offendi possit. " Lugduni et Parr-
34 The dimensions of this drawing are
about four inches by two and a-half : it is
rather well executed, but it presents nothing remarkable in appearance.
2s
This MS. is of the fifteenth century.
26 There is one MS. intituled, S. Patricii Episcopi in Hibernia constituti circa A. D. 430, Liber de Purgatorio ; and another,
hisiis, 1505, 4to.
37 See "Chronica Majora," vol. ii. , pp.
192 to 263. Edited by Henry Richards
Luard, M. A.
38" "
See Trias Thaumaturga Sexta Ap-
pendix ad Acta S. Patricii. This Treatise
is divided into four parts, with a Prologue
and Notes, pp. 273 to 289.
3'At the xiii. of the Kalends of March (Feb-
ruary 17th), the following entry occurs, in the published Martyrology of Tallagh : " Loman in Ath Truim cum sociis, i. e. ,
Patricii Hostiarii, Laurech mac Cuanach, Fortchern ocus Coelochtra, Aedha, Aedha, Aedha Cormaci Eps, Conani, Cuimaeni Eps, Lacteani sac, Ossani, ocus Sarani Conaill ocus Colmani, ocus Lactani Eps, Finnseghi Vir. Hi omnes in Ath Truim requiescunt . " —Rev. Dr. Kelly's "Calendar of Irish Saints," &c, p. xvi.
40 "Acta Sanctorum Hiber- Colgan's
niae," xxvii. Februarii, nn. 13 and 16, p.
Patricius S. Irland, de
27 There is a MS. , De Patricii Purgatorio.
98
There is a French MS. of the fifteenth
century, Le Purgatoire de S. Patrice.
39 There is a MS. , Patricii Purgatorium.
30 There is a Description du Purgatoire de St. Patrice, in Manuscript.
31 There is a MS. , Patricius de Purgatorio.
