It is indeed true, that not Pharaoh ; forty years an exile in the land of
Madian, and forty years engaged in preach-
only Jocelyn, but, what is of much greater weight, the Annals of Ulster had assigned it to that year.
Madian, and forty years engaged in preach-
only Jocelyn, but, what is of much greater weight, the Annals of Ulster had assigned it to that year.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v3
, 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.
" lliberniam. " See
The Martyrology of
Tallagh has,
Baptismus magni Patricii
"
Baptisma Patricii venit 'ad
"TriasThauma- turga. " Quinta Appendix ad Acta S.
Patricii, cap. v. , p. 232.
95 Harris' objection would have force, had
Ussher stated St. Patrick to have been born,
in anytime of the year, previous to the 17th of
Colgan's
iii. , ciii. , cap.
March ; but, if it occurred after this date, as See lib. ii. , cap. Ixiii. , p. 138. "Trias
a matter of couise, he must have come into
thewrorld, A. D. 372, having completed the term of 120 years, at the time of his death.
"
" Thaumaturga.
'°'
Ussher's Tripartite states, that being sent by Pope Celestine, in the sixtieth year of his age, to preach the Gospel in Ireland,
See Dr. Lanigan's
Ecclesiastical History
of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, iv. , sect, i. , and the most blessed Archbishop entered upon nn. I, 2, 3, 4, pp. 129 to 132. his mission. Then, he spent sixty other
9* See " A Primer of the Church History years, in Hibernia. For thirty of these of Ireland," vol. i. , book i. , chap, iii. , p. 17. years, he was engaged, preaching and bap-
*'
p.
says, that St. Patrick died in the one
hundred and twenty-second year of his age, being pleased with his pious parallels ; he has given them to his readers, and he has even added some others to those mentioned.
Sancti Patricii, Ibemorum Apos- tizing, through the different provinces of Ire-
n. land other "in ; while, during thirty years
97 See
toli, Synodi, Canones, Opuscula," &c. , 6, p. 217.
suis cellis et in monasteriis theorice vixit. " See Ussher's " Primordia," cap. xvii. , p. 873-
The following verses are taken from a spurious tract, called St. Patrick's Testa- ment. —They are thus translated into
Latin
" Ter denis annis versatus in sede Saballi,
Ter denis aliis peragravi lastus lernam Centum et vicenos annos vivendo peregi
98 See "The Life of St. Patrick, Apostle
ofIreland,"&c. ,chap. i. , p. 44,
" "^
99 See Ussher's Primordia," cap. xvii. , p. 882. Ussher was wrong, as to the
baptism. See a previous note, and other notes which follow.
"°
In four respects, St. Patrick resembled Moyses. First, he heard an Angel from the flames. Secondly, he fasted forty days and forty nights. Thirdly, he lived 120 years in
:
;
48o LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17
attempted,byaScholiastonNennius. ^°3 Thatmostunrehablewriterofthe saint's Acts, Jocelyn, making our Apostle attain to the increased number of
years 123, has divided it into irregular epochs, respectively consisting of 55, of 35, and of 2,2)^ years. '°+ This computation is thought to have been derived
from the 132 years, assigned by Probus, by inverting cxxxii. into cxxiii. '°5 A Breviary of Rheims states, that St. Patrick died, when he had attained the
132nd year of his age. Closely approximating to this calculation is 131 years ;'°^ while a MS. copy of Marianus Scotus, Sigebert, and other chro- niclers, recount, that he reached 122 years. The Annals of Boyle have i2o,^°7 and William of Malmsbury'°^ diminishes his term of life to in years, while Stanihurst reduces it to 97, Marianus Scotus to 92, '°9 and Baronius"° thinks even this to have been an incorrect reading, for 82. '" We thus see how conflicting are the accounts of ancient writers ; while such circumstance
materially interferes with perfect accuracy, in pronouncing on the date of our Apostle's birth. Henry of Marlborough refers it, to a. d. 376, in Great Britain. The BoUandists place St. Patrick's birth, at a. d. 377,"^ and they endeavour to arrange the chief incidents of his life chronologically ;"3 but, conjectures too often are substituted for arguments, or supply the want of historic facts. Porter"^ very closely follows their chronological calculations. Relying chiefly on the calculations of Le Sieur Le Nain Tillemont, a learned
investigator of his history, after showing with much ingenuity, that the date of St. Patrick's first capture may probably be referred to a. d. 403, hence drawstheinference,thathisbirthmustbeassigned,toa. d. 387. "s itisre-
markable,
that March the seventeenth fell on —the latter Wednesday, during
This
the Book of Sligo
us to understand the drift of that found in passage
assigning St. Patrick's birth to a Wednesday. According
year.
may help
—
to the usual style of Martyrologies, the 17th of March used to be marked, as
the Natale, or Natalis,—denoting the j-equies, or death,—of St. Patrick. That
meant, of course, the day of his heavenly birth, or of his first appearing in
Heaven. Such a manner of speaking, not being understood by some persons,
Prsesentem ad noctem banc seclum produ- citur istud. "
—See ibid. , pp. 386, 887, and Ware's " Opuscula Sancti Patricii," p. 109.
'°3 The statement there runs, that he was
forty years old, when he escaped from his captivity ; that he learned to serve God for
"
'°9 In his Chronicon. "
"° "
See Annales Ecclesiastici. "
'" "
Ussher did not attempt to draw any consequences from what is said of the birth and baptism ; but he availed himself of the datum that St. Patrick died on a Wednes- day, and thence, in opposition to various jarring computations, which he had met with in the course of his reading, concluded, that the year of the saint's death was 493, whereas in that year the 17th of March fell
forty years ; and, that he preached for forty
years. During these three forties, St.
Patrick equalled Moyses. For, Moyses was
forty years a captive, in the house of on Wednesday.
It is indeed true, that not Pharaoh ; forty years an exile in the land of
Madian, and forty years engaged in preach-
only Jocelyn, but, what is of much greater weight, the Annals of Ulster had assigned it to that year. "—Rev. Dr. " Eccle-
iv. , sect, i. , p. 131.
state "AmioChristicccLXXVll '"They :
non valde provecto nascitur S. Patricius apud Britannos Alcludenses. " — " Acta Sanctorum,"tomusii. , Martiixvii. DeS. Patricio Episcopo Apostolo et. Primate Hi-
See Ussher's "Primordia," cap. xvii. , p. 886.
'°* See Jocelyn's "Vita S. Patricii," cap.
Lanigan's
siastical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap.
ing.
cxci. , p. 107. Colgan's turga. "
" Trias
Thauma-
'°5 This is the supposition of Dr. Lanigan, and, for support, he refers us on these sub-
jects to Ussher, pp. 879 to 885, and to Col- "
gan's Trias Thaumaturga," p. 232 et seq. bernite. Oommentarius prcevius, sect, v. , '°* The statement of an Anglo-Saxon p. 522.
Martyrology, quoted by Ussher. "
"^ See ibid, and sect, vi. , pp. 522 to 525.
'°'SeeJolmD'AIton's HistoryofIreland and the Annals of Boyle," vol. ii. , p. 72.
"•See"CompendiumAnnalmmEccle- sice Regni Hibernia:," sect, v. , cap. i. , pp. 122, 123.
'<* He flourished, in the reign of King
of
Stephen England.
"S gee Rev. Dr. " Ecclesiasti- Lanigan's
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 481
probably gave rise to a notion, of his coming on that day, into the world. "^
Hence, as Dr. Lanigan considers, tlie 17th of March may have been regarded, as the anniversary of his birth,"? The opinion that St. Patrick came into this
world, A. D. 387, has been very generally followed, by later writers, such as Thomas Moore,"^ the Rev. M. J. Brenan,"9 the Rev. James Wills,^^" the Rev. Michael J. O'FarreV^' D. P. Conyngham,'^^ ^nd the Rev. Thomas Walsh. '23 To the decline of the fourth century, the nativity of our renowned
Apostle has been referred, by the Rev. Alban Butler j^^-^ and, this general statement probably includes about the safest rendering, for that event.
Accounts vary, regarding the priest's name, from whom St, Patrick received
the baptismal rite. He is named Gornias,^^s Guornias,'^'^ and, again, Gor- mas,^^7 by Jocelyn. ^^^ He is said to have been blind, from the time of his birth ; but, this is manifestly inconsistent with the statement of his having been a priest. It may be treated as a fiction, as also that account, regarding the infant hand of St. Patrick having traced a sign of the cross on the ground, whence water flowed,'^? and when with it washing his face, sight was restored to the blind man. It is likewise said, he was able at once to read the baptismal service, although previously unable to obtain a knowledge of letters. HeiscalledGornias,intheIrishTripartiteLife,^3oasalsointheLatin version of it,'3^ as published by Colgan. He is said to have been of smooth face. The well, in which St. Patrick received baptism, flowed, at the place, where the triple miracle had been wrought. "32 it is stated, that the people of that neighbourhood afterwards built a church, over this well, that it flowed near the altar, and that either the latter, or the former,'33 had the shape of the
cal History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, iv. , sect, iv. , pp. 137, 138. Also Le Sieur Le Nain Tillemont's " Memoires pour servir a I'Histoire Ecclesiastique," tome xvi. Art. ii. S. Patrice.
"^ See Ussher, " Primordia," cap. xvii. ,
820. " Trias Thauma- p. Also, Colgan's
turga. " Quinta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. ii. , p. 221,
"7 As this could not answer for his year
372, Ussher probably passed over this matter. Nor would it do for Colgan's A. D. 373 ; since, in neither of these years, did March17thfallonaWednesday. SeeDr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical History of Ire- land, vol. i. , chap, iv. , sect, iv. , n. 18,
'"* " See his
chap. X. , p. 211.
"' See his " Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
land," chap, i. , p. 8,
chap, iii. , p. 36.
'"
See "Lives of the Irish Saints, from St. Patrick down to St. Laurence O'Toole. " St. Patrick, sect, i. , p. 31.
baptist of our saint, however, but only the recipient of sight, at the infant's hands.
'^9 To this incident, allusion is made in Aubrey De Vere's " Legends of St. Patrick :"—
'=» " See his
'^'^
In the Third Life, cap. iii. , p. 21.
p. 138. History of Ireland," vol. i. ,
'3' See the Seventh Life, i. , cap. iv. , pars,
p. 118.
'3' Thus, first, a fountain, miraculously bursting from the earth, touched by St. Patrick's hand ; secondly, one, blind from his birth, having been restored to sight ; and, thirdly, one, hitherto ignorant of letters, being able suddenly to read the bap- tismal form.
'33 Jocelyn removes this constructive am-
Lives of Illustrious and Dis- tinguished Irishmen," vol. i. , part i. , p. 86. "' See " A Popular Life of St. Patrick,"
"3 See his " chap, iv. , p. 15.
of the Irish
Church,"
biguity of meaning, in the previous Lives, when he thus states, in the Sixth Life : " Fons vero profluvio profusiori
History
praefatus
dilatatus usque in prresens perspicuas ema-
"See "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other Principal Saints," vol. iii. , March xvii.
'=5 In the Second Life, cap. iii. , p. 10.
nans aquas, S. Patricii nomine insignitur, haustu dulcis, gustuque salubris, ut dicitur, variis incommodis laborantibus sospitatem aut levamen impartitur. Oritur enim secus limbum maris, super quem posteriorum dili- gentia edifrcavit oratorium, —habens altare in modum crucis extructum. " Sexta Vita S.
2 H
"7 In the Sixth Life, cap. ii. , p. 65.
^"^
The latter does not constitute him the Vol. III. —No. 8.
" The blind took that infant's hand priest
:
With that small hand, above the
ground
He signed the Cross. At God's command
A fountain rose with brimming bound. "
—"The of St. I. Baptism Patrick," p.
'3° See Miss M. F. Cusack's " Life of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland," p. 372.
482 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
Holy Cross. ^34 By some, it is reported, this well is yet to be seen at Kil- patrick,^35 near Dumbarton, in Scotland. It is said to be called Trees' Well,^36 in the immediate vicinity of the present church, erected on the site of a more ancient one ; but, the modern church does not cover the well, both being separated by the public road, leading from Dumbarton to Glasgow. 's? We are told, St. Patrick was born in Valentia, near the end of the northern wall ;'38 and, it is even probable, the Romans extended the stations of their province, on the north bank of the Clyde, to form tHes de pout, against the Pictish incursions. It need only be added, that we find a notice of St. Cair- nech, as being the reputed author of the Senchus Mor. '39 According to another account, the Irish Apostle is said to have been baptized, by Cairnech, also called Carantac, or Carantacus. '-*" However, the agency of Gornias, or Gormas, in this function, has the greater weight of authority to support it. When we deem St. Patrick to have been, in all likelihood, a British Celt,^4i it still remains to be discovered, whether he was one of Scotian or of Irish origin,^42 anAlbanianofPictishblood,''^3 oroneoftheStrath-ClydeCymri, or Cumbrians. ^44
If we are to credit the statement, in St. Fiach's Hymn, the parents of our holy Patron first gave him the name Succat, or Succath,'45 which means
"
warlike. " ^^6 j^^ those primitive times, and in the nation to which he be- longed, martial prowess was held in high estimation. Again, the Second Life remarks, Succet was his first name j^^y while the Third Life writes it Suchet,'*^ and Probus informs us, that Sochet was he called, as well as Patrick.
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.
" lliberniam. " See
The Martyrology of
Tallagh has,
Baptismus magni Patricii
"
Baptisma Patricii venit 'ad
"TriasThauma- turga. " Quinta Appendix ad Acta S.
Patricii, cap. v. , p. 232.
95 Harris' objection would have force, had
Ussher stated St. Patrick to have been born,
in anytime of the year, previous to the 17th of
Colgan's
iii. , ciii. , cap.
March ; but, if it occurred after this date, as See lib. ii. , cap. Ixiii. , p. 138. "Trias
a matter of couise, he must have come into
thewrorld, A. D. 372, having completed the term of 120 years, at the time of his death.
"
" Thaumaturga.
'°'
Ussher's Tripartite states, that being sent by Pope Celestine, in the sixtieth year of his age, to preach the Gospel in Ireland,
See Dr. Lanigan's
Ecclesiastical History
of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, iv. , sect, i. , and the most blessed Archbishop entered upon nn. I, 2, 3, 4, pp. 129 to 132. his mission. Then, he spent sixty other
9* See " A Primer of the Church History years, in Hibernia. For thirty of these of Ireland," vol. i. , book i. , chap, iii. , p. 17. years, he was engaged, preaching and bap-
*'
p.
says, that St. Patrick died in the one
hundred and twenty-second year of his age, being pleased with his pious parallels ; he has given them to his readers, and he has even added some others to those mentioned.
Sancti Patricii, Ibemorum Apos- tizing, through the different provinces of Ire-
n. land other "in ; while, during thirty years
97 See
toli, Synodi, Canones, Opuscula," &c. , 6, p. 217.
suis cellis et in monasteriis theorice vixit. " See Ussher's " Primordia," cap. xvii. , p. 873-
The following verses are taken from a spurious tract, called St. Patrick's Testa- ment. —They are thus translated into
Latin
" Ter denis annis versatus in sede Saballi,
Ter denis aliis peragravi lastus lernam Centum et vicenos annos vivendo peregi
98 See "The Life of St. Patrick, Apostle
ofIreland,"&c. ,chap. i. , p. 44,
" "^
99 See Ussher's Primordia," cap. xvii. , p. 882. Ussher was wrong, as to the
baptism. See a previous note, and other notes which follow.
"°
In four respects, St. Patrick resembled Moyses. First, he heard an Angel from the flames. Secondly, he fasted forty days and forty nights. Thirdly, he lived 120 years in
:
;
48o LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17
attempted,byaScholiastonNennius. ^°3 Thatmostunrehablewriterofthe saint's Acts, Jocelyn, making our Apostle attain to the increased number of
years 123, has divided it into irregular epochs, respectively consisting of 55, of 35, and of 2,2)^ years. '°+ This computation is thought to have been derived
from the 132 years, assigned by Probus, by inverting cxxxii. into cxxiii. '°5 A Breviary of Rheims states, that St. Patrick died, when he had attained the
132nd year of his age. Closely approximating to this calculation is 131 years ;'°^ while a MS. copy of Marianus Scotus, Sigebert, and other chro- niclers, recount, that he reached 122 years. The Annals of Boyle have i2o,^°7 and William of Malmsbury'°^ diminishes his term of life to in years, while Stanihurst reduces it to 97, Marianus Scotus to 92, '°9 and Baronius"° thinks even this to have been an incorrect reading, for 82. '" We thus see how conflicting are the accounts of ancient writers ; while such circumstance
materially interferes with perfect accuracy, in pronouncing on the date of our Apostle's birth. Henry of Marlborough refers it, to a. d. 376, in Great Britain. The BoUandists place St. Patrick's birth, at a. d. 377,"^ and they endeavour to arrange the chief incidents of his life chronologically ;"3 but, conjectures too often are substituted for arguments, or supply the want of historic facts. Porter"^ very closely follows their chronological calculations. Relying chiefly on the calculations of Le Sieur Le Nain Tillemont, a learned
investigator of his history, after showing with much ingenuity, that the date of St. Patrick's first capture may probably be referred to a. d. 403, hence drawstheinference,thathisbirthmustbeassigned,toa. d. 387. "s itisre-
markable,
that March the seventeenth fell on —the latter Wednesday, during
This
the Book of Sligo
us to understand the drift of that found in passage
assigning St. Patrick's birth to a Wednesday. According
year.
may help
—
to the usual style of Martyrologies, the 17th of March used to be marked, as
the Natale, or Natalis,—denoting the j-equies, or death,—of St. Patrick. That
meant, of course, the day of his heavenly birth, or of his first appearing in
Heaven. Such a manner of speaking, not being understood by some persons,
Prsesentem ad noctem banc seclum produ- citur istud. "
—See ibid. , pp. 386, 887, and Ware's " Opuscula Sancti Patricii," p. 109.
'°3 The statement there runs, that he was
forty years old, when he escaped from his captivity ; that he learned to serve God for
"
'°9 In his Chronicon. "
"° "
See Annales Ecclesiastici. "
'" "
Ussher did not attempt to draw any consequences from what is said of the birth and baptism ; but he availed himself of the datum that St. Patrick died on a Wednes- day, and thence, in opposition to various jarring computations, which he had met with in the course of his reading, concluded, that the year of the saint's death was 493, whereas in that year the 17th of March fell
forty years ; and, that he preached for forty
years. During these three forties, St.
Patrick equalled Moyses. For, Moyses was
forty years a captive, in the house of on Wednesday.
It is indeed true, that not Pharaoh ; forty years an exile in the land of
Madian, and forty years engaged in preach-
only Jocelyn, but, what is of much greater weight, the Annals of Ulster had assigned it to that year. "—Rev. Dr. " Eccle-
iv. , sect, i. , p. 131.
state "AmioChristicccLXXVll '"They :
non valde provecto nascitur S. Patricius apud Britannos Alcludenses. " — " Acta Sanctorum,"tomusii. , Martiixvii. DeS. Patricio Episcopo Apostolo et. Primate Hi-
See Ussher's "Primordia," cap. xvii. , p. 886.
'°* See Jocelyn's "Vita S. Patricii," cap.
Lanigan's
siastical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap.
ing.
cxci. , p. 107. Colgan's turga. "
" Trias
Thauma-
'°5 This is the supposition of Dr. Lanigan, and, for support, he refers us on these sub-
jects to Ussher, pp. 879 to 885, and to Col- "
gan's Trias Thaumaturga," p. 232 et seq. bernite. Oommentarius prcevius, sect, v. , '°* The statement of an Anglo-Saxon p. 522.
Martyrology, quoted by Ussher. "
"^ See ibid, and sect, vi. , pp. 522 to 525.
'°'SeeJolmD'AIton's HistoryofIreland and the Annals of Boyle," vol. ii. , p. 72.
"•See"CompendiumAnnalmmEccle- sice Regni Hibernia:," sect, v. , cap. i. , pp. 122, 123.
'<* He flourished, in the reign of King
of
Stephen England.
"S gee Rev. Dr. " Ecclesiasti- Lanigan's
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 481
probably gave rise to a notion, of his coming on that day, into the world. "^
Hence, as Dr. Lanigan considers, tlie 17th of March may have been regarded, as the anniversary of his birth,"? The opinion that St. Patrick came into this
world, A. D. 387, has been very generally followed, by later writers, such as Thomas Moore,"^ the Rev. M. J. Brenan,"9 the Rev. James Wills,^^" the Rev. Michael J. O'FarreV^' D. P. Conyngham,'^^ ^nd the Rev. Thomas Walsh. '23 To the decline of the fourth century, the nativity of our renowned
Apostle has been referred, by the Rev. Alban Butler j^^-^ and, this general statement probably includes about the safest rendering, for that event.
Accounts vary, regarding the priest's name, from whom St, Patrick received
the baptismal rite. He is named Gornias,^^s Guornias,'^'^ and, again, Gor- mas,^^7 by Jocelyn. ^^^ He is said to have been blind, from the time of his birth ; but, this is manifestly inconsistent with the statement of his having been a priest. It may be treated as a fiction, as also that account, regarding the infant hand of St. Patrick having traced a sign of the cross on the ground, whence water flowed,'^? and when with it washing his face, sight was restored to the blind man. It is likewise said, he was able at once to read the baptismal service, although previously unable to obtain a knowledge of letters. HeiscalledGornias,intheIrishTripartiteLife,^3oasalsointheLatin version of it,'3^ as published by Colgan. He is said to have been of smooth face. The well, in which St. Patrick received baptism, flowed, at the place, where the triple miracle had been wrought. "32 it is stated, that the people of that neighbourhood afterwards built a church, over this well, that it flowed near the altar, and that either the latter, or the former,'33 had the shape of the
cal History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, iv. , sect, iv. , pp. 137, 138. Also Le Sieur Le Nain Tillemont's " Memoires pour servir a I'Histoire Ecclesiastique," tome xvi. Art. ii. S. Patrice.
"^ See Ussher, " Primordia," cap. xvii. ,
820. " Trias Thauma- p. Also, Colgan's
turga. " Quinta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. ii. , p. 221,
"7 As this could not answer for his year
372, Ussher probably passed over this matter. Nor would it do for Colgan's A. D. 373 ; since, in neither of these years, did March17thfallonaWednesday. SeeDr. Lanigan's "Ecclesiastical History of Ire- land, vol. i. , chap, iv. , sect, iv. , n. 18,
'"* " See his
chap. X. , p. 211.
"' See his " Ecclesiastical History of Ire-
land," chap, i. , p. 8,
chap, iii. , p. 36.
'"
See "Lives of the Irish Saints, from St. Patrick down to St. Laurence O'Toole. " St. Patrick, sect, i. , p. 31.
baptist of our saint, however, but only the recipient of sight, at the infant's hands.
'^9 To this incident, allusion is made in Aubrey De Vere's " Legends of St. Patrick :"—
'=» " See his
'^'^
In the Third Life, cap. iii. , p. 21.
p. 138. History of Ireland," vol. i. ,
'3' See the Seventh Life, i. , cap. iv. , pars,
p. 118.
'3' Thus, first, a fountain, miraculously bursting from the earth, touched by St. Patrick's hand ; secondly, one, blind from his birth, having been restored to sight ; and, thirdly, one, hitherto ignorant of letters, being able suddenly to read the bap- tismal form.
'33 Jocelyn removes this constructive am-
Lives of Illustrious and Dis- tinguished Irishmen," vol. i. , part i. , p. 86. "' See " A Popular Life of St. Patrick,"
"3 See his " chap, iv. , p. 15.
of the Irish
Church,"
biguity of meaning, in the previous Lives, when he thus states, in the Sixth Life : " Fons vero profluvio profusiori
History
praefatus
dilatatus usque in prresens perspicuas ema-
"See "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and other Principal Saints," vol. iii. , March xvii.
'=5 In the Second Life, cap. iii. , p. 10.
nans aquas, S. Patricii nomine insignitur, haustu dulcis, gustuque salubris, ut dicitur, variis incommodis laborantibus sospitatem aut levamen impartitur. Oritur enim secus limbum maris, super quem posteriorum dili- gentia edifrcavit oratorium, —habens altare in modum crucis extructum. " Sexta Vita S.
2 H
"7 In the Sixth Life, cap. ii. , p. 65.
^"^
The latter does not constitute him the Vol. III. —No. 8.
" The blind took that infant's hand priest
:
With that small hand, above the
ground
He signed the Cross. At God's command
A fountain rose with brimming bound. "
—"The of St. I. Baptism Patrick," p.
'3° See Miss M. F. Cusack's " Life of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland," p. 372.
482 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
Holy Cross. ^34 By some, it is reported, this well is yet to be seen at Kil- patrick,^35 near Dumbarton, in Scotland. It is said to be called Trees' Well,^36 in the immediate vicinity of the present church, erected on the site of a more ancient one ; but, the modern church does not cover the well, both being separated by the public road, leading from Dumbarton to Glasgow. 's? We are told, St. Patrick was born in Valentia, near the end of the northern wall ;'38 and, it is even probable, the Romans extended the stations of their province, on the north bank of the Clyde, to form tHes de pout, against the Pictish incursions. It need only be added, that we find a notice of St. Cair- nech, as being the reputed author of the Senchus Mor. '39 According to another account, the Irish Apostle is said to have been baptized, by Cairnech, also called Carantac, or Carantacus. '-*" However, the agency of Gornias, or Gormas, in this function, has the greater weight of authority to support it. When we deem St. Patrick to have been, in all likelihood, a British Celt,^4i it still remains to be discovered, whether he was one of Scotian or of Irish origin,^42 anAlbanianofPictishblood,''^3 oroneoftheStrath-ClydeCymri, or Cumbrians. ^44
If we are to credit the statement, in St. Fiach's Hymn, the parents of our holy Patron first gave him the name Succat, or Succath,'45 which means
"
warlike. " ^^6 j^^ those primitive times, and in the nation to which he be- longed, martial prowess was held in high estimation. Again, the Second Life remarks, Succet was his first name j^^y while the Third Life writes it Suchet,'*^ and Probus informs us, that Sochet was he called, as well as Patrick.
