Patrick's mother, Conquessa, was a
kinswoman
to St.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v3
162, 163, 164, 165, 166, 168,
169, 171, 173, pp. 122 to 125.
58 Colgan has endeavoured, with great
care and research, to solve the difficulties, attending this enquiry, in the "Trias Thau- maturga. " Quinta Appendix ad Acta S.
Patricii, cap. iv. , pp. 224 to 231.
59 Otherwise called, in Irish, "OeocliAin
SAnriAr. Ussher supposes him to have been really the brother of the Irish Apostle, called Patrick the Elder, and the father of Patrick Junior, who was the nephew and disciple of our saint, and who, after his uncle's death, went back to Britain, wher—e he departed this life, in turn, at Glascow as the first edition reads—or, at Glastonbury— as a MS. related. There he was honourably
''
in Glasconensi Ecclesia sepultus est honori- fice. " See Sixth Life, cap. clxxxvi. , p. 106. Colgan wishes piously to believe, that it was after his son's birth the title of Deacon San- nan had been applied to him, and he thinks it possible, that this Sannan may be identical
is the only known author, who at-
57 See Dr.
Lanigan's
Jocelyn
buried, in the church. Jocelyn has it,
tributes the number of seventeen sons and
five daughters to Tigrida. Her husband is
named Gollit or Gallus.
^3 According to our Irish Calendarists, Darerca is said to have been the mother of
seventeen sons, and by some, these are all
called bishops, as also of two holy virgin daughters, Achea and Lalloca. Hence, it would seem, that Jocelyn erred in attribut- ingthisfamilyofchildrentoTigrida. But, there is a great difficulty experienced in naming the sons of Darerca : some authors attributing certain names to the parentage of Liemania, or of Tigrida, or of Darerca. Now, in the "Opuscula," attributed to St. . ^ngus, lib, iv. , cap. vL, fifteen bishops, sons of Darerca are named, viz. , Bishoji Mel, Bishop Melchus, Bishop Munis, Rioch of Inis-bofinde, Crumanius of Leccan, Mid- gna, Mogenocus, Lomanus of Ath-truim. Lurachus Duanaire of Doire-lurain, Loar- nus of Kill-chunna, Kieranus, Carantocus Bishop, Columbus, Brendanus Fine, Bishop Mochallaeus, Brocanus and Brochadius. Be- sides these, two nuns are named, viz. ;
with a St. Seanan, venerated in Cornwall, Echea, and Lalloca of Senlios, behind
and who gave name to a seaport and town
in Cornwall. See n. 13, p. 8, to the ""
Scholia Veteris Scholiastae of St. Fiach.
St. Patrick Junior seems to have been
buried in Glastonbury, and his feast is
usually assigned to the 24th of August.
Badhgna. Some of the foregoing names, Colgan thinks, crept into the original. Thus, Jocelyn makes Saints Loman, Moge- noc, Brocan, and Brochad, the sons of Tigrida, another sister of St. Patrick. Nor does Colgan believe, that Saints Kieran, Brendan, Loam, Lurach, and Columba to be of British race, but rather of Irish, as thesenamesindicate. Othernamesrecorded seem to be British, and, it is remarkable, that one of the sons, Secundinus, said to bo of Restitutus and Liemania, is stated to be of Restitutus and Darerca, in another ac- count. Hence, Colgan supposes, that Lie- mania may have been confounded witii Darerca, who is called the wife of Restitutus, in the Tripartite Life, pars ii. , cap. xxi. Again Darerca's husband is called Conis.
See The latter is to have p. 133. supposed
been a Briton, and to have had for sons,
6°
That of the Scholiast to St. Fiach's
Hymn.
6' That of Probus, in the Fifth Life, lib.
i. , cap. xii. , p. 48. But, Colgan accounts very ingeniously for this mistake of Probus ; for, he seems to have confounded Ructus, with Succat, the original name of St. Patrick, as may be discovered by comparing the allusion in Probus, and the story re- lated, in the Second Life, cap. xvi. , p. 12, in the Fourth Life, cap. xx. , p. 37, and, in the Seventh Life, pars, i. , cap. xxi. , p. 120.
*^ has a most numerous Jocelyn assigned
family of sons and daughters to Tigrida
in the
and who laboured here, on the mission. See the Sixth Life, cap. 1. , p. 76. However,
repute
great sanctity.
476 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
B-ichella. ^^ Three of these sisters, whom he brought with him to Ireland, became nuns, moreover, according to a received tradition. Others assert,^^
however, that St. Patrick had only three sisters, Lupita, Darerca and Tigrida f^ nor can rigid criticism discover a greater number, when rejecting the accounts ofsomewriters,ledawaybymistakencalculations,orclericalerrors. ^ But, we may take it for granted, there are many accounts, not altogether reliable, in the traditions and records, relating to the various members of our saint's
Saints Mel, Munis, and Rioch. Perhaps, the other sons and daughters of the family were the children of Restitutus and Darerca ; although Rioch may not be different from Darioc, or Morioc, one of the sons assigned to Restitutus. Again, Colgan remarks, that besides the fact of no festival being assigned to Liemania, we find a St. Monennia—other- wise called Darerca—whose feast occurs on the 6th of July, and who may have been con- founded with Liemania, in this way. Darerca
to Restitutus of the Lombards, viz. : Secun- dinus, Nectanus, Dabonna, Mogornanus,
Dariocus,Auxilinus,andLugnath. Again, the Tripartite Life adds two others, viz. :
Diermitius, and a Comitius, or Connetus. See pars ii. , cap. vi. and xviii. , pp. 130,
131. Norhaveweanystatement,thathe had been married to any other woman than Liemania, so that if we credit those accounts, we may assume she had been the mother of nine sons.
^sin the "Opuscula," lib. iv. of St. ^ngus the Culdee, num. 4, it is stated : "Lupita soror S. Patricii mater filiorum Hua-baird, nempe Secundini, Nectani, Da- bonnae, Mogornani, Darioci, Auxilii et Lu- gath Prassbyteri. " It is remarkable, however, that no other author makes her the mother of these sons, and in num. 64, of this same
is probably derived from Diar-shearc, signi- """
fying constant or firm love," or from "
Der-shearc, denoting love of tears," indi- cating her true service of God. Now, the letter s, occurring as a middle prefix, not
being pronounced in Irish, Dais-hearc, or Der-herc, may have been rendered into Darerca. The feast of St. Patrick's sister, so named, is entered at the 22nd of March. Different festivals are assigned, for the happy progeny of this saintly woman, and Colgan endeavours to discriminate them, where he treats about the brothers and sisters of St. Patrick, with their holy children.
** There are good reasons for suspecting,
that Liemania and Richella were not St.
Patrick's sisters. Colgan thinks, that Ri-
chella had been substituted for Ri-chenna,
"
royal Cenna," who had been substituted, in turn, for Cenne-naomh, "holyCenne. " Again, at the 19th of May, there is a feast of St. Richella, the Daughter of Attractus. She is mentioned, in the Life of St. Dagaeus, cap. xviii. , and he lived, in the middle of the
sixth century. St. Cenne, the daughter of Euchod, Prince of Orgiell, has a feast, at the 1st of February. She was, indeed, con- temporaneous with St. Patrick, but, it is evident, from her parentage, she could not have been his sister. About Liemania other difficulties arise, especially in trying to dis- cover, who were her children, or if she were at all to be distinguished from Lupita, vene-
ti"act, these words occur :
"
Liemania filia
rated at on the of — could not be but that she was the Armagh, 27th September, sure,
state. The feast if of Liemania is not known,but, in our Calendars, possibly she is alluded to, l)y her Irish form of name, as Lemna, or Lemhna. Different Irish Martyrologies state, that her husband was Restitutus Hua- baird, or Longobardus— referable to his race —and by him she had two holy sons, named
Secundinus and Nectanus. But, an old
Scholiast, on the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the xiv. Kalends of April, or at the 19th
of March, assigns the following seven sons
as some — Martyrologists
of three of St. deacons, nephews
there be one
parent
Patrick, on his sister's side, who are alluded to—but not named—in the Tripartite Life, pars ii. , cap. cxxii. , p. 145.
"' As for instance, Jocelyn and the author of the Tripartite Life.
Calphurni, soror S. Patricii, fuit mater S. Nectani de Kill-vnche. " Again, our Martyr- ologists make Liemania the mother of Nec- tain and of Secundinus, while Lupita is represented, not as a widow, but as a virgin, by our Martyrologists, and by the writers of St. Patrick's Acts.
^ While the Scholiast on St. Fiach omits
St. Richella's name, and substitutes therefor
Cinnenum, alias Cinne-ncemh, Colgan cites an Irish poem, to prove our text enumeration the more correct li—st. The Irish he thus
renders into Latin
"
:
Lupita et Tigris fervida (ut jam numeravi) et Richella ;
Darerca et Liemania togarum dives ; quaj amplexce sunt vitam arctam cum fer- vore ;
Nomina haec sunt clare proposita, soro- rum Patricii magnarum Ecclesiarum
^'^
All of our Irish writers agree, that these
Patroni.
"
Colgan observes, that he found no hagio-
grapher to call her a mother ; and, yet, he
were really the sisters of St. Patrick,
although there is much diversity of opinion,
regarding their respective children.
"^ Tluis Ussher, citing the Annals of Con-
naught at p. S23 of his "Primordia," and
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 477
family. 7° Moreover, we may well doubt the accuracy of those statements, regarding the numerous progeny of St. Patrick's sisters, or their respective children, who are said to have embraced a religious life. Accounts are con-
flicting and contradictory, in too many instances, to warrant very safe con- clusions ; nor, is it easy to reconcile their Patrician relationship, with correct
chronology. Nor can we glean, from the saint's own writings, any positive proof, or reasonable inference, that he had such near relatives, residing with him in Ireland, at that late period of life, when his epistle to Coroticus had been written. When he expresses an anxious desire to see his relatives,? * it seems plain, they must have lived far away from Ireland ; yet, it may be
objectedfairly,thatthiswasonlytrueregardinganumberofthem. Again, when he has declared, he did not know the multitude born of our race or
generation,'! '^ it is certain, he alludes to those converts to Christianity, made through himself or his assistant missionaries. He applies the phrase, in a spiritual, rather than in a carnal, sense. Yet, the ancient mode of calling ladies in religion, sisters, is conjectured to have been one of the most probable reasons to advance, for old writers mistaking such denoted females, living in St. Patrick's time, and for confounding them, with his own natural sisters. Ussher73 and Colgan74 have treated, concerning the Irish Apostle's sisters, and their offspring, who are said to have been with him in Ireland.
The parents of St. Patrick lived together, in great sanctity and perfec- tion. 75 They were found just before God ; they walked in his justifications,
and commandments, without blame. Faith, hope and charity made their
conjugal state a happy one. In process of time, it pleased the Almighty, to bless them with a holy, and an illustrious issue. During the period, he had been borne in his mother's womb, to that of Patrick's birth, miracles are re- corded, as if serving to indicate the wonders of his subsequent career. A stone, on which he is said to have been born, was afterwards held in popular esteem, and persons swearing falsely on it found, that their perjuries were
the Annals of Roscrea, at A. D. 447, states, that a sister of St. Patrick was named Cul- mana, said to have been the mother of St. Secundinus. But, this shows, that Lie- mania, his reputed mother, must have been meant. Hence, Culmain was " sub-
probably
stituted for Liemain.
7° Thus, in addition to what has been Villanueva's " Sancti Patricii, Ibemorum
already stated, it is said a sister, or a female
relation, of St. Patrick, had a son, called St.
Aidus, of Inis-Lothar, his father being Col-
man, of the Hi-Bressail family. See the rum Antiquitates," cap. xvii. , pp. 429 to Tripartite Life, pars, iii. , cap. Ixxvi. , p. 431.
163. Colgan arrives at the conclusion, that St. Patrick had only one brother, four sisters, and thirty-one nephews or nieces, consecrated to God, and numbered among the saints.
7' As St. Patrick seems to have been far • advanced iii life, at that time when he wrote the Confession, it is much more probable, that the term parentes, in the passage re- ferred to, is to be understood, not oi parents, in the English sense of the word, but of relatives. . This acceptation of parentes had crept into use, so far back as the time of St.
"
74 gee Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. Quinta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. iv. , pp. 224 to 231.
'3 According to Jocelyn, St.
Patrick's mother, Conquessa, was a kinswoman to St. Martin, Bishop of Tours : she was taken away from Gaul, to the northern parts of
Britain, as a slave, and purchased from her father, by Calphurnius. The eldest sister accompanied her, and she was married to a man, who lived in the town of Nempthor. The good morals and beautiful mien of Con-
quessa, it is stated, caused Calphurnius to Jerome. Hence, the Italian parenti, and elevate his slave, to the more honourable
the French /a;Y«^j. Owing to this expres- sion, an etymologist might possibly derive some proof, for our saint's French origin.
distinction of becoming his wife,
'* According to Jocelyn, St. Mel testified, that he had frequently witnessed this miracle.
Hence, Colgan infers, that Jocelyn borrowed
7* He writes
:
" omnes virgines Dei simi«
liter faciunt, non voluntate patrum suorum,
imo persecutiones patiuntur, et improperia falsa a parentibus suis. Et nihilominiis
plus augetur numerus, et de genere nostro qua ibi (Christo) nata; sunt, nescimus nume- —rum earum, praeter viduas et continentes. "
Confessio S.
Patricii, cap. iv. ,
num. 18.
Apostoli, Synodi, Canones, Opuscula," p. 202.
" See Ussher's " Britannicarum Ecclesia-
478 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
likely to be detected, in a supernatural manner, for, in such cases, water seemed to flow from its surface,? ^ as if that hard rock was weeping, on account of their tainted testimony. 77
The chronology of St. Patrick's birth, as indeed of the many sub-
sequent events in his career, has given rise to much controversy, and it has been placed at dates of very considerable divergence. 7^ Tiie Annals of Connaught have set it down, so early as a. d. 336,79 and the state- ments of Giraldus Cambrensis^° oblige us to refer the date to 338 ; while a Scholiast on Ninius,^^ would place it at a. d. 352 ; but, nothing can be more incorrect, than to assign his birth, to so early a period. Other writers give us very inexact data. ^^ Stanihurst,^3 Father Peter Ribadeneira,^^ and other earher writers,^s state, that our Irish Apostle's nativity took place in 361 ; while, according to Matthew of Westminster's calculation, it must have been in the year 369. ^^ St. Patrick was born, a. d. 370, according to Jocelyn^7 and John Pitts. ^^ It has been assigned to a. d. 372,^9 by Florence ofWorcesterandbyUssher. 9° Ithasbeenplacedinthefollowingyear,a. d. 373,byColgan,andonthe5thofApril. 9^ Thesamedatehasbeenadopted by Harris,92 but, he has not stated, on what day, or in what month, St.
Patrick's birth took place. Having found a festival of St. Patrick's baptism, in Ireland,93 set down in the Irish Calendars, at the 5th of April,
this statement, from a Life of St. Patrick, which should make his birth fall, between written by St. Mel. The latter biography, A. D. 344 and 375. Hanmer states, also, therefore, cannot be any one of those Seven that St. Patrick died, during the reign of Lives he pubhshed, since no such statement Forthkerrus, Monarch of Ireland. See the is therein to be found. See Sixth Life, cap. "Chronicle of Ireland," p. 89. No such
iii. , p. 65, and n. lo, p. 109.
77 See the Second Life, cap. ii. , p. 11,
monarch is known, however, in the list of our Irish kings.
83 See " De Vita S. Patricii," lib. i. , p. 17. ^* In his " Lives of the Saints," as trans-
the Third Life, cap. ii. , p. 21, the Fourth
Life, cap. ii. , p. 35, the Seventh Life, pars,
i. , cap. iii. , pp. 117, 118. In the English- lated by W. P. , Esq. See part i. , p. 156.
Irish version of the latter biography, this is called "a flag-stone," (see Miss Cusack's
^5 Such as Probus, according to Ussher's computation, and that book, in which the Antiquities of Glastonbury Church were written, as William of Malmsbury says.
" p. 372) ; but, in none of the writings, here
"Life of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland,
do we find it
bearing any particular
^See "Flores " at A. D. Historiarum,
quoted,
name, although apparently having a tradi- tional site and veneration, when those had
been compiled.
7* St. Patrick's old Acts are
ccccxci. , p. 176.
^7 See Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. cxci. ,
cxcvi.
^See "Relationum Historicarum de
Rebus Anglicis. "
^ That he was born about this year is
"
stated, in the Origines Parochiales Scotiae,"
vol. ii. , p. 20.
9° In his " Britannicarum Ecclesiarum
Antiquitates," Index Chronologicus, A. D. CCCLXXil. to CCCCXCiii. , assuming that St. Patrick lived fully 120 years. See pp. 512 and 524. His dates are therefore based,
chiefly on such a supposition, in the pages
singularly deficient in dates, and consequently furnish us with no evidence to determine the
question.
79 See Ussher's
'*
Britannicarum Ecclesia-
nim Antiquitates," cap. xvii. , p. 429. They state, St. Patrick's birth to have occurred, in the reign of the Emperor Constans. How- ever, according to Eusebius, Sigonius and So- crates, his father Constantine the Great only departed this life, on the 22nd of May, A. D. 337.
xvii. , p. 163. Edited by James F. Dimock, M. A.
of his
''
Primordia. "
*° See Giraldi Cambrensis' "
V. Topographia Hibemica, Dist. iii. , cap.
5" As a tradition that St. prevailed,
Patrick had been bom and baptized on a Wednesday, he has calculated, that Wednes- day fell on the 5th of April, in the year 373.
Opera,"
vol.
^''• "
*'
Author of the Historia Britonum. "
See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. Quinta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. viii. , pp. 234, 235. This writer infers, also, that St. Patrick died, in the 120th year of his age.
9^ See Harris' Ware, vol. i. , "Arch- ''
bishops of Armagh, p. 7.
Thus Hanmer tells us, he died, during t—he reign of Aurelius Ambrosius, in Britain calculated at from a. d. 466 to 497. See
John Speed's
"
History of Britaine," book
vii. , chap, xii. , pp. 331, 332. St. Patrick was 122 years old at the time of his death,
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 479
Colgan was led unwittingly into a miscalculation. Yet, it would seem, this feast only referred to the first baptism, which was performed in Ireland, by our great Apostle. 94 Again, while following the mistakes of Colgan, and whi—le the latter does not give the full complement of 1 20 years to St. Patrick's
life 18 days being wanting to complete that age—Harris thought our
Apostle should have lived to 121 years, if his birth took place in 372, as
Ussher calculated. This writer, however, does not pretend to mention day
ormonthforSt. Patrick'sbirth. 95 Totheyear372,or373,theRev. Robert
King refers this event. 9^ Father Villanueva^? seems to adhere to a. d. 373,
and this, too, is the assertion of Rev. William Bullen Morris,9^ in his lately-
pubHshed biography of our Apostle. In an old record, known as the Book
of Sligo, St. Patrick is said to have been bom, to have been baptized, and to
havedied,onaWednesday. 99 But,asvariousopinions,regardinghisexact
age and the year of his death, have been advanced, so it must be found
rather difficult, very closely to obtain an approximation to the year when he was bom. It has been conjectured, that as many of our old writers were
fond of instituting a parallel, between the Irish Apostle and Moses, 120 years became the favourite term for their assignment of his existence. '"^ This has
been thought convenient, also, for dividing St. Patrick's life, into four even periodsof30yearseachj^°^ and,adivisionofthefirstsixtyyearsintothirties has been proposed by Ussher. ^"^ Another division of St. Patrick's presumed 120 years, into three parts—each portion making 40 years—has been
93 This refers, not to St. Patrick's own this life. And fourthly, no one can tell baptism. Again, in A. D. 373, the 5th of where his remains lie. Tirechan is here
April fell, not on Wednesday, but on
birth.
5* St. . ^ngus, in his Festilogy, at the 5th
''
quoted by Ussher, in his " Primordia," cap.
"
Nennius writes,
modis aequantur Moyses et Patricius. "
Ibid. Then he goes on, stating the same conformities, except in his adding, at the
second, that they both fasted on a mountain, Matthew of Westminster, at A. D. 491 has followed Nennius. Although elsewhere, lib.
168, the writer Tripartite
nor is it
; likely,
that St. Patrick had been baptized, on the very day of his
xvii. , p. 887.
Quatuor —
Friday
of April states, ccepit in Hibernia.
169, 171, 173, pp. 122 to 125.
58 Colgan has endeavoured, with great
care and research, to solve the difficulties, attending this enquiry, in the "Trias Thau- maturga. " Quinta Appendix ad Acta S.
Patricii, cap. iv. , pp. 224 to 231.
59 Otherwise called, in Irish, "OeocliAin
SAnriAr. Ussher supposes him to have been really the brother of the Irish Apostle, called Patrick the Elder, and the father of Patrick Junior, who was the nephew and disciple of our saint, and who, after his uncle's death, went back to Britain, wher—e he departed this life, in turn, at Glascow as the first edition reads—or, at Glastonbury— as a MS. related. There he was honourably
''
in Glasconensi Ecclesia sepultus est honori- fice. " See Sixth Life, cap. clxxxvi. , p. 106. Colgan wishes piously to believe, that it was after his son's birth the title of Deacon San- nan had been applied to him, and he thinks it possible, that this Sannan may be identical
is the only known author, who at-
57 See Dr.
Lanigan's
Jocelyn
buried, in the church. Jocelyn has it,
tributes the number of seventeen sons and
five daughters to Tigrida. Her husband is
named Gollit or Gallus.
^3 According to our Irish Calendarists, Darerca is said to have been the mother of
seventeen sons, and by some, these are all
called bishops, as also of two holy virgin daughters, Achea and Lalloca. Hence, it would seem, that Jocelyn erred in attribut- ingthisfamilyofchildrentoTigrida. But, there is a great difficulty experienced in naming the sons of Darerca : some authors attributing certain names to the parentage of Liemania, or of Tigrida, or of Darerca. Now, in the "Opuscula," attributed to St. . ^ngus, lib, iv. , cap. vL, fifteen bishops, sons of Darerca are named, viz. , Bishoji Mel, Bishop Melchus, Bishop Munis, Rioch of Inis-bofinde, Crumanius of Leccan, Mid- gna, Mogenocus, Lomanus of Ath-truim. Lurachus Duanaire of Doire-lurain, Loar- nus of Kill-chunna, Kieranus, Carantocus Bishop, Columbus, Brendanus Fine, Bishop Mochallaeus, Brocanus and Brochadius. Be- sides these, two nuns are named, viz. ;
with a St. Seanan, venerated in Cornwall, Echea, and Lalloca of Senlios, behind
and who gave name to a seaport and town
in Cornwall. See n. 13, p. 8, to the ""
Scholia Veteris Scholiastae of St. Fiach.
St. Patrick Junior seems to have been
buried in Glastonbury, and his feast is
usually assigned to the 24th of August.
Badhgna. Some of the foregoing names, Colgan thinks, crept into the original. Thus, Jocelyn makes Saints Loman, Moge- noc, Brocan, and Brochad, the sons of Tigrida, another sister of St. Patrick. Nor does Colgan believe, that Saints Kieran, Brendan, Loam, Lurach, and Columba to be of British race, but rather of Irish, as thesenamesindicate. Othernamesrecorded seem to be British, and, it is remarkable, that one of the sons, Secundinus, said to bo of Restitutus and Liemania, is stated to be of Restitutus and Darerca, in another ac- count. Hence, Colgan supposes, that Lie- mania may have been confounded witii Darerca, who is called the wife of Restitutus, in the Tripartite Life, pars ii. , cap. xxi. Again Darerca's husband is called Conis.
See The latter is to have p. 133. supposed
been a Briton, and to have had for sons,
6°
That of the Scholiast to St. Fiach's
Hymn.
6' That of Probus, in the Fifth Life, lib.
i. , cap. xii. , p. 48. But, Colgan accounts very ingeniously for this mistake of Probus ; for, he seems to have confounded Ructus, with Succat, the original name of St. Patrick, as may be discovered by comparing the allusion in Probus, and the story re- lated, in the Second Life, cap. xvi. , p. 12, in the Fourth Life, cap. xx. , p. 37, and, in the Seventh Life, pars, i. , cap. xxi. , p. 120.
*^ has a most numerous Jocelyn assigned
family of sons and daughters to Tigrida
in the
and who laboured here, on the mission. See the Sixth Life, cap. 1. , p. 76. However,
repute
great sanctity.
476 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
B-ichella. ^^ Three of these sisters, whom he brought with him to Ireland, became nuns, moreover, according to a received tradition. Others assert,^^
however, that St. Patrick had only three sisters, Lupita, Darerca and Tigrida f^ nor can rigid criticism discover a greater number, when rejecting the accounts ofsomewriters,ledawaybymistakencalculations,orclericalerrors. ^ But, we may take it for granted, there are many accounts, not altogether reliable, in the traditions and records, relating to the various members of our saint's
Saints Mel, Munis, and Rioch. Perhaps, the other sons and daughters of the family were the children of Restitutus and Darerca ; although Rioch may not be different from Darioc, or Morioc, one of the sons assigned to Restitutus. Again, Colgan remarks, that besides the fact of no festival being assigned to Liemania, we find a St. Monennia—other- wise called Darerca—whose feast occurs on the 6th of July, and who may have been con- founded with Liemania, in this way. Darerca
to Restitutus of the Lombards, viz. : Secun- dinus, Nectanus, Dabonna, Mogornanus,
Dariocus,Auxilinus,andLugnath. Again, the Tripartite Life adds two others, viz. :
Diermitius, and a Comitius, or Connetus. See pars ii. , cap. vi. and xviii. , pp. 130,
131. Norhaveweanystatement,thathe had been married to any other woman than Liemania, so that if we credit those accounts, we may assume she had been the mother of nine sons.
^sin the "Opuscula," lib. iv. of St. ^ngus the Culdee, num. 4, it is stated : "Lupita soror S. Patricii mater filiorum Hua-baird, nempe Secundini, Nectani, Da- bonnae, Mogornani, Darioci, Auxilii et Lu- gath Prassbyteri. " It is remarkable, however, that no other author makes her the mother of these sons, and in num. 64, of this same
is probably derived from Diar-shearc, signi- """
fying constant or firm love," or from "
Der-shearc, denoting love of tears," indi- cating her true service of God. Now, the letter s, occurring as a middle prefix, not
being pronounced in Irish, Dais-hearc, or Der-herc, may have been rendered into Darerca. The feast of St. Patrick's sister, so named, is entered at the 22nd of March. Different festivals are assigned, for the happy progeny of this saintly woman, and Colgan endeavours to discriminate them, where he treats about the brothers and sisters of St. Patrick, with their holy children.
** There are good reasons for suspecting,
that Liemania and Richella were not St.
Patrick's sisters. Colgan thinks, that Ri-
chella had been substituted for Ri-chenna,
"
royal Cenna," who had been substituted, in turn, for Cenne-naomh, "holyCenne. " Again, at the 19th of May, there is a feast of St. Richella, the Daughter of Attractus. She is mentioned, in the Life of St. Dagaeus, cap. xviii. , and he lived, in the middle of the
sixth century. St. Cenne, the daughter of Euchod, Prince of Orgiell, has a feast, at the 1st of February. She was, indeed, con- temporaneous with St. Patrick, but, it is evident, from her parentage, she could not have been his sister. About Liemania other difficulties arise, especially in trying to dis- cover, who were her children, or if she were at all to be distinguished from Lupita, vene-
ti"act, these words occur :
"
Liemania filia
rated at on the of — could not be but that she was the Armagh, 27th September, sure,
state. The feast if of Liemania is not known,but, in our Calendars, possibly she is alluded to, l)y her Irish form of name, as Lemna, or Lemhna. Different Irish Martyrologies state, that her husband was Restitutus Hua- baird, or Longobardus— referable to his race —and by him she had two holy sons, named
Secundinus and Nectanus. But, an old
Scholiast, on the Martyrology of Tallagh, at the xiv. Kalends of April, or at the 19th
of March, assigns the following seven sons
as some — Martyrologists
of three of St. deacons, nephews
there be one
parent
Patrick, on his sister's side, who are alluded to—but not named—in the Tripartite Life, pars ii. , cap. cxxii. , p. 145.
"' As for instance, Jocelyn and the author of the Tripartite Life.
Calphurni, soror S. Patricii, fuit mater S. Nectani de Kill-vnche. " Again, our Martyr- ologists make Liemania the mother of Nec- tain and of Secundinus, while Lupita is represented, not as a widow, but as a virgin, by our Martyrologists, and by the writers of St. Patrick's Acts.
^ While the Scholiast on St. Fiach omits
St. Richella's name, and substitutes therefor
Cinnenum, alias Cinne-ncemh, Colgan cites an Irish poem, to prove our text enumeration the more correct li—st. The Irish he thus
renders into Latin
"
:
Lupita et Tigris fervida (ut jam numeravi) et Richella ;
Darerca et Liemania togarum dives ; quaj amplexce sunt vitam arctam cum fer- vore ;
Nomina haec sunt clare proposita, soro- rum Patricii magnarum Ecclesiarum
^'^
All of our Irish writers agree, that these
Patroni.
"
Colgan observes, that he found no hagio-
grapher to call her a mother ; and, yet, he
were really the sisters of St. Patrick,
although there is much diversity of opinion,
regarding their respective children.
"^ Tluis Ussher, citing the Annals of Con-
naught at p. S23 of his "Primordia," and
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 477
family. 7° Moreover, we may well doubt the accuracy of those statements, regarding the numerous progeny of St. Patrick's sisters, or their respective children, who are said to have embraced a religious life. Accounts are con-
flicting and contradictory, in too many instances, to warrant very safe con- clusions ; nor, is it easy to reconcile their Patrician relationship, with correct
chronology. Nor can we glean, from the saint's own writings, any positive proof, or reasonable inference, that he had such near relatives, residing with him in Ireland, at that late period of life, when his epistle to Coroticus had been written. When he expresses an anxious desire to see his relatives,? * it seems plain, they must have lived far away from Ireland ; yet, it may be
objectedfairly,thatthiswasonlytrueregardinganumberofthem. Again, when he has declared, he did not know the multitude born of our race or
generation,'! '^ it is certain, he alludes to those converts to Christianity, made through himself or his assistant missionaries. He applies the phrase, in a spiritual, rather than in a carnal, sense. Yet, the ancient mode of calling ladies in religion, sisters, is conjectured to have been one of the most probable reasons to advance, for old writers mistaking such denoted females, living in St. Patrick's time, and for confounding them, with his own natural sisters. Ussher73 and Colgan74 have treated, concerning the Irish Apostle's sisters, and their offspring, who are said to have been with him in Ireland.
The parents of St. Patrick lived together, in great sanctity and perfec- tion. 75 They were found just before God ; they walked in his justifications,
and commandments, without blame. Faith, hope and charity made their
conjugal state a happy one. In process of time, it pleased the Almighty, to bless them with a holy, and an illustrious issue. During the period, he had been borne in his mother's womb, to that of Patrick's birth, miracles are re- corded, as if serving to indicate the wonders of his subsequent career. A stone, on which he is said to have been born, was afterwards held in popular esteem, and persons swearing falsely on it found, that their perjuries were
the Annals of Roscrea, at A. D. 447, states, that a sister of St. Patrick was named Cul- mana, said to have been the mother of St. Secundinus. But, this shows, that Lie- mania, his reputed mother, must have been meant. Hence, Culmain was " sub-
probably
stituted for Liemain.
7° Thus, in addition to what has been Villanueva's " Sancti Patricii, Ibemorum
already stated, it is said a sister, or a female
relation, of St. Patrick, had a son, called St.
Aidus, of Inis-Lothar, his father being Col-
man, of the Hi-Bressail family. See the rum Antiquitates," cap. xvii. , pp. 429 to Tripartite Life, pars, iii. , cap. Ixxvi. , p. 431.
163. Colgan arrives at the conclusion, that St. Patrick had only one brother, four sisters, and thirty-one nephews or nieces, consecrated to God, and numbered among the saints.
7' As St. Patrick seems to have been far • advanced iii life, at that time when he wrote the Confession, it is much more probable, that the term parentes, in the passage re- ferred to, is to be understood, not oi parents, in the English sense of the word, but of relatives. . This acceptation of parentes had crept into use, so far back as the time of St.
"
74 gee Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. Quinta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. iv. , pp. 224 to 231.
'3 According to Jocelyn, St.
Patrick's mother, Conquessa, was a kinswoman to St. Martin, Bishop of Tours : she was taken away from Gaul, to the northern parts of
Britain, as a slave, and purchased from her father, by Calphurnius. The eldest sister accompanied her, and she was married to a man, who lived in the town of Nempthor. The good morals and beautiful mien of Con-
quessa, it is stated, caused Calphurnius to Jerome. Hence, the Italian parenti, and elevate his slave, to the more honourable
the French /a;Y«^j. Owing to this expres- sion, an etymologist might possibly derive some proof, for our saint's French origin.
distinction of becoming his wife,
'* According to Jocelyn, St. Mel testified, that he had frequently witnessed this miracle.
Hence, Colgan infers, that Jocelyn borrowed
7* He writes
:
" omnes virgines Dei simi«
liter faciunt, non voluntate patrum suorum,
imo persecutiones patiuntur, et improperia falsa a parentibus suis. Et nihilominiis
plus augetur numerus, et de genere nostro qua ibi (Christo) nata; sunt, nescimus nume- —rum earum, praeter viduas et continentes. "
Confessio S.
Patricii, cap. iv. ,
num. 18.
Apostoli, Synodi, Canones, Opuscula," p. 202.
" See Ussher's " Britannicarum Ecclesia-
478 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
likely to be detected, in a supernatural manner, for, in such cases, water seemed to flow from its surface,? ^ as if that hard rock was weeping, on account of their tainted testimony. 77
The chronology of St. Patrick's birth, as indeed of the many sub-
sequent events in his career, has given rise to much controversy, and it has been placed at dates of very considerable divergence. 7^ Tiie Annals of Connaught have set it down, so early as a. d. 336,79 and the state- ments of Giraldus Cambrensis^° oblige us to refer the date to 338 ; while a Scholiast on Ninius,^^ would place it at a. d. 352 ; but, nothing can be more incorrect, than to assign his birth, to so early a period. Other writers give us very inexact data. ^^ Stanihurst,^3 Father Peter Ribadeneira,^^ and other earher writers,^s state, that our Irish Apostle's nativity took place in 361 ; while, according to Matthew of Westminster's calculation, it must have been in the year 369. ^^ St. Patrick was born, a. d. 370, according to Jocelyn^7 and John Pitts. ^^ It has been assigned to a. d. 372,^9 by Florence ofWorcesterandbyUssher. 9° Ithasbeenplacedinthefollowingyear,a. d. 373,byColgan,andonthe5thofApril. 9^ Thesamedatehasbeenadopted by Harris,92 but, he has not stated, on what day, or in what month, St.
Patrick's birth took place. Having found a festival of St. Patrick's baptism, in Ireland,93 set down in the Irish Calendars, at the 5th of April,
this statement, from a Life of St. Patrick, which should make his birth fall, between written by St. Mel. The latter biography, A. D. 344 and 375. Hanmer states, also, therefore, cannot be any one of those Seven that St. Patrick died, during the reign of Lives he pubhshed, since no such statement Forthkerrus, Monarch of Ireland. See the is therein to be found. See Sixth Life, cap. "Chronicle of Ireland," p. 89. No such
iii. , p. 65, and n. lo, p. 109.
77 See the Second Life, cap. ii. , p. 11,
monarch is known, however, in the list of our Irish kings.
83 See " De Vita S. Patricii," lib. i. , p. 17. ^* In his " Lives of the Saints," as trans-
the Third Life, cap. ii. , p. 21, the Fourth
Life, cap. ii. , p. 35, the Seventh Life, pars,
i. , cap. iii. , pp. 117, 118. In the English- lated by W. P. , Esq. See part i. , p. 156.
Irish version of the latter biography, this is called "a flag-stone," (see Miss Cusack's
^5 Such as Probus, according to Ussher's computation, and that book, in which the Antiquities of Glastonbury Church were written, as William of Malmsbury says.
" p. 372) ; but, in none of the writings, here
"Life of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland,
do we find it
bearing any particular
^See "Flores " at A. D. Historiarum,
quoted,
name, although apparently having a tradi- tional site and veneration, when those had
been compiled.
7* St. Patrick's old Acts are
ccccxci. , p. 176.
^7 See Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. cxci. ,
cxcvi.
^See "Relationum Historicarum de
Rebus Anglicis. "
^ That he was born about this year is
"
stated, in the Origines Parochiales Scotiae,"
vol. ii. , p. 20.
9° In his " Britannicarum Ecclesiarum
Antiquitates," Index Chronologicus, A. D. CCCLXXil. to CCCCXCiii. , assuming that St. Patrick lived fully 120 years. See pp. 512 and 524. His dates are therefore based,
chiefly on such a supposition, in the pages
singularly deficient in dates, and consequently furnish us with no evidence to determine the
question.
79 See Ussher's
'*
Britannicarum Ecclesia-
nim Antiquitates," cap. xvii. , p. 429. They state, St. Patrick's birth to have occurred, in the reign of the Emperor Constans. How- ever, according to Eusebius, Sigonius and So- crates, his father Constantine the Great only departed this life, on the 22nd of May, A. D. 337.
xvii. , p. 163. Edited by James F. Dimock, M. A.
of his
''
Primordia. "
*° See Giraldi Cambrensis' "
V. Topographia Hibemica, Dist. iii. , cap.
5" As a tradition that St. prevailed,
Patrick had been bom and baptized on a Wednesday, he has calculated, that Wednes- day fell on the 5th of April, in the year 373.
Opera,"
vol.
^''• "
*'
Author of the Historia Britonum. "
See Colgan's "Trias Thaumaturga. Quinta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. viii. , pp. 234, 235. This writer infers, also, that St. Patrick died, in the 120th year of his age.
9^ See Harris' Ware, vol. i. , "Arch- ''
bishops of Armagh, p. 7.
Thus Hanmer tells us, he died, during t—he reign of Aurelius Ambrosius, in Britain calculated at from a. d. 466 to 497. See
John Speed's
"
History of Britaine," book
vii. , chap, xii. , pp. 331, 332. St. Patrick was 122 years old at the time of his death,
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 479
Colgan was led unwittingly into a miscalculation. Yet, it would seem, this feast only referred to the first baptism, which was performed in Ireland, by our great Apostle. 94 Again, while following the mistakes of Colgan, and whi—le the latter does not give the full complement of 1 20 years to St. Patrick's
life 18 days being wanting to complete that age—Harris thought our
Apostle should have lived to 121 years, if his birth took place in 372, as
Ussher calculated. This writer, however, does not pretend to mention day
ormonthforSt. Patrick'sbirth. 95 Totheyear372,or373,theRev. Robert
King refers this event. 9^ Father Villanueva^? seems to adhere to a. d. 373,
and this, too, is the assertion of Rev. William Bullen Morris,9^ in his lately-
pubHshed biography of our Apostle. In an old record, known as the Book
of Sligo, St. Patrick is said to have been bom, to have been baptized, and to
havedied,onaWednesday. 99 But,asvariousopinions,regardinghisexact
age and the year of his death, have been advanced, so it must be found
rather difficult, very closely to obtain an approximation to the year when he was bom. It has been conjectured, that as many of our old writers were
fond of instituting a parallel, between the Irish Apostle and Moses, 120 years became the favourite term for their assignment of his existence. '"^ This has
been thought convenient, also, for dividing St. Patrick's life, into four even periodsof30yearseachj^°^ and,adivisionofthefirstsixtyyearsintothirties has been proposed by Ussher. ^"^ Another division of St. Patrick's presumed 120 years, into three parts—each portion making 40 years—has been
93 This refers, not to St. Patrick's own this life. And fourthly, no one can tell baptism. Again, in A. D. 373, the 5th of where his remains lie. Tirechan is here
April fell, not on Wednesday, but on
birth.
5* St. . ^ngus, in his Festilogy, at the 5th
''
quoted by Ussher, in his " Primordia," cap.
"
Nennius writes,
modis aequantur Moyses et Patricius. "
Ibid. Then he goes on, stating the same conformities, except in his adding, at the
second, that they both fasted on a mountain, Matthew of Westminster, at A. D. 491 has followed Nennius. Although elsewhere, lib.
168, the writer Tripartite
nor is it
; likely,
that St. Patrick had been baptized, on the very day of his
xvii. , p. 887.
Quatuor —
Friday
of April states, ccepit in Hibernia.
