He
mentions
the mission of St.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v3
It is in old English, followed O'Reilly of Dublin.
It contains the Life of by the account of the Purgatory of St.
St.
Patrick, in verse, by Fiech, first Bishop Patrick, and nearly the same as Robert of of Sleibhte.
At p.
78, it begins with, Gloucester's Life.
Again, there is a Vita S.
'5enAi|\ pa'0]\aic 111 enicuip, "Patrick Patricii, comprised in 200 chapters, and
was born at Emtor. " Also, in Egerton,
170, there is a paper 4to, of in folios, in
(". . . 7-. cut hands, and it has an Irish Life of Hardy's
St. Patrick, and compiled in modern times,
but from older Lives. Probus and Jocelyn
are quoted in it, at p. 94, fol. 63, and one
Owen McGrath, an Irish Ijard of the four-
teenth century, at p. loo. It begins with,
rials relating to the History of Great Britain
and Ireland," vol. i. , part i. , pp. 68, 69.
'*° There is S. Patricii Libellus, MS. Moore Norwic. Epis. This is mentioned in Montfaucon's " Bibliotheca," and it is pro- bably the same as No. 924 or MS. 55, in
the " Librorum
Catalogi Manuscriptorum
Anglire et Hibernias," &c. Some of Bishop Moore's MSS. are in the Public Library, at
Cambridge. See idicl. , p. Jl.
'*^ Dr. Charles O'Conor, when describing
''
Ecce Sacerdos Magnus qui in diebus suis
Deo. " Then commences in placuit Irish,
aXj fet), &c. It ends, by asking the blessing of God, on the soul of Teige O'SuUevan.
=^35
St. Patrick's Life, is thus mentioned, as a MS. of Lambeth, and classed, 623. ff.
13-15, veil. 4to. See Sir Thomas Duffus the Duke of Buckingham's Manuscripts,
Hardy's "Descriptive Catalogue of Mate- rials relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland, to the end of the Reign of Henry VII. ," vol. i. , part i. , p. 69.
names it, "Leabhar Gabhaltas, et Vita Hi- bernica SS. Patricii, etCalieni, cum Carmini- bus nonuUis S. Columbse. " Although he describes this Manuscript, however, he does
text, as that in the Cambridge Library, to
ticho ex Beda (nisi fallor) Epigrammatibus desumpto
Calpurmis gennit istiim, alma Britannia misit,
Gallia rintrivit, tenet artus Scoitiafelix.
'^^ In addition to what is elsewhere noted,
described in MS. Trin. Coll. Cant. B. 15, 25. veil, folio, XV. cent. See . Sir Thomas Duffus
"
Descriptive Catalogue of Mate-
42: LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
one,^^' in the Irish characterSj^^^ having two leaves lost, at the beginning,=43 and it contains a Life of St. Patrick. In the Library of Middlehill,^44 ^ve also find a Life of St. Patrick. ^'s In the Roman^^fi and Parisian^t? Libraries, other Acts of our saint are deposited. In Florencej^"*^ in the Benedictine Library of Monte Cassino/^^ in the Library of Charleville,^5o as also in the Public Library of Bruxelles,=5i there are Lives of the Irish Apostle. Among the Manuscripts of St. Gall's Monastery, there are, Excerpta ex Vita Patricii ; and,inaddition,thereisaMS. GenealogiaSciPatricii. Severalshortpieces are passed over, for the present, as only relating to some particular phases of the Irish Apostle's career, or, as having only a doubtful application, to the real incidents of his life. Those enumerated IManuscript biographies, or tracts, however, by no means exhaust the list of unpublished materials, for illustrating our saint's Acts ; since the public libraries, at home and abroad, as also private collections, abound in further interesting mementoes concern- ing him, and which might serve the diligent student's purpose, in the matter
ofinvestigating his history.
It formed one of many curious paradoxes of a pseudo-Irish antiquary, the
Rev. Edward Ledwich,^52 to maintain, that St. Patrick was a purely mythical personage, and that he had no real existence. ^53 It seems most incompre-
hensible to understand, how any man, with the slightest pretensions to Irish historical knowledge,^54 could ignore the numerous native writers, from the fifth to the present century, who have treated, about the illustrious Apostle of Ireland, in their respective works. Nor is this all, for even some of the most celebrated Irish, English, Scotch, and foreign writers, at times remote, allude to his life and labours, in terms of the highest commendation. Foremost among these, we may mention, besides the writers already quoted, St.
account of the ferring to St. Patrick's Life.
of
re-
^t' Thus described
genda MS. Montis Cassinensis 406. if. I veil, folio XV. cent. See ibid. , p. 70.
any special
portion
it,
:
—
'^^ This was transcribed, in the reign of Charles I.
^3 The remaining written pages are 492, and it is a transcript from the original of O'Duvegan, a learned Irish antiquary. There is also " Beatha Naomh Pattraic ; or Life of St. Patrick," imperfect 4to paper. Six pages. See Rev. Charles O'Conor's
" Bibliotheca MS. Stowensis," No. xxii. , vol. i. , pp. 115 to 118, and No. xxxiii. , p.
*^° Thus described : Vie de S. Patrice. (This appears to have been written in French. ) MS. Bibl. de la Ville de Charle- ville, 3933, paper, folio. See ibid. , p. 69.
^5' In the "Catalogue des Manuscrits de
la Bibliotheque Royale des Dues de Bour- gogne, pubhe par ordre du Ministre de
ITnterieur," tome i. Resume Historique, Inventaire, No. 2326, in a series of Lives of Irish Saints, is the Life of St. Patrick, be-
^^ to Sir Thomas Belonging
with " sedebat in tene- Populus qui
*s^ See his " of sect, Antiquities Ireland,"
vi. , Of the Introduction of Christianity, and of St. Patrick, pp. 54 to 69.
*23 No doubt, Dr. Ledwich cites an
opinion, to this effect, of one Dr. Ryves, an
Phillipps.
*45 This is a Vita Sancti Patricii, and de-
ginning bris. "
See p. 47.
as a MS. vel. fol. Phillipps, 4705.
scribed,
xii. cent, ex Bibl. Monasterii de Alna. See
Sir Thomas DufTus Hardy's "Descriptive Catalogue of Materials relating to the His- tory of Great Britain and Ireland," vol. i. , part i. , p. 69.
Irish Master in Chancery," A. u. 1618, in his '"f' Thus described : Vita Patricii, MS. work, Regim. Anglic, in liib. , p. 47, et se<j.
Bibl. Petavii in Vaticana, and Qupedam de . Sancto Patricio, Bibl. Reginas Christinoe in
Vaticana. 345. {964. ) 12S2 (1694. ) Also, Vita S. Patricii MS. Vatticellan. H. 7.
See ibid. , p. 70.
^<7 Thus described : Vita S. Patricii. MS.
Bibl. du Roi 1773. "9- o^TM Bethune. veil, xiii. cent. See ibid. , p. 70.
''^^ There is " Anoymi Carmina quredam
Anepigrapha de S. Patricio, Calpurnio, et Cellano. " MS. Laurentianae Mediceas ii. 812. Cod. vi. See ibid. , p. 70.
'=' Ledwich most presumptuously has
"
Patrick is not mentioned by any author or in any work of veracity, in the 5th, 6th, 7th,
^55 His festival occurs on the 25th of June. An interesting account of him, and of his
asserted,
It is an undoubted fact, that St.
De S. Patricio Le-
— Another
or 8th centuries. " Ibid. , p. 67. ridiculous argument of Ledwich is, that be- cause many fables are to be found in St. Patrick's Acts, and because doubts are entertained about the writers, we are there- fore to deny the s. aint's actual existence.
3
March 1 7. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 423
Prosper^ss of Aquitaine, in Gaul, who was bom about the beginning of, and he belonged to, the fifth century. He was a learned theologian, and historian, as also a poet.
He mentions the mission of St. PalladiLis,^56 in his
Chronicle, to the Scots or Irish, at a. d. 431,- and its failure fs? but, Prosper^^s declares, also, that upon the news of his death, in the land of the
Picts, Patrick, another agent, is sent by Celestine, the Bishop and Pope of Rome, to convert the Scots to the faith of Christ. He, states, moreover,^59 that having ordained a bishop for the Scots, while Celestine endeavoured to keep the Roman Island, or Britain, Catholic,^^° he also made the barbarous island, by which he means heathen Ireland, Christian. ^^' The death of St. Prosper is commonly assigned, to A. D. 455;^^^ others extend his life, how- ever, to after the year 463. ''^^ Again, St. Fiech, his old Scholiast, and other writers, supposed to have flourished in the sixth century, have noticed the incidentsofSt. Patrick'scareer. St. Cummian,whoflourishedintheseventh century, mentions " Sanctus Patricius Papa noster,"^^^ when he wrote the celebrated Paschal Epistle, about the year 634. Allusion is made to the holy Briton, St Mochta,^^s or Maucteus, the disciple of St. Patrick, the Bishop,^°^ by St. Adamnan,^^7 who was born in or about the year 624, and who died, a. d. 704. Besides these, we have an account of our holy patron, in that ancient native author, whose notes on St. Patrick's Acts, Latin and Irish,arefirstmetwith,intheBookofArmagh. ThisMemoir,however,is defective, at the commencement. Those notes are stated, to be among the most ancient specimens known of narrative composition, in Irish and in Hiberno-Latin ; while, they constitute some of the oldest writings, now extant, in connexion with St. Patrick. They purport to have been originally taken down, by Bishop Tirechan, from Ultan, Bishop of Ardbraccan, towards A. D. 650, and, by Muirchu Maccu Machteni, at the request of his preceptor, Aed, Bishop of Sletty, in the same century. ^^^ The Venerable Bede,^^^ who flourished m the seventh and eighth centuries, has entered the festival of St. Patrick,inhisMartyrology,atthe17thofMarch. ^^o Helivedfromabout
writings, will be found, in the Rev. Alban
Butler's "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and
other principal Saints," vol. vi. June xxv. ^=^ His festival occurs, at the 6th of July.
^*-* See Ussher's " Veterum Epistolaium
Hibernicarum Sylloge. " Epist. xi. , p. 32. ^°5 Of Lughmagh, or Louth. His feast
occurs, on the 19th of August.
"
Histoire Literaire de la France," tome ii. ,
°57 See the
"
Chronicon Imperiale," A. D.
'^°^
See the Second Preface, in Rev. Dr.
431.
^58 See a very complete account of him,
and of his writings, in the Benedictine
Reeves' Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba,"
p. 6.
^*7 His festival is kept, on the 23rd of
September,
^^® See " Facsimiles of National Manu-
scripts of Ireland," by J. T. Gilbert, F. S. A. , M. R. I. A. , part i. Introduction, p. xiv.
sects, i. , ii. , iv. , v. , vi iii. ,
to
"59 See Prosper, Cont. Collator, cap. 41,
in fir"=.
--- bee Rev. Dr. Ed.
" Ori- gines Britannicre, or, the Antiquities of the
^°9 In some
festival, at the 26th ot May.
he has a
British Churches," chap, ii. , pp. 52, 53.
"^' See on this subject, "An Historical
"7° There, he states, atxvi. Kal. Apr. ,
"
In
Account of Church
Great Britain and Ireland, when they first received the Christian Religion," by William Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, chap, ii. , sects, I, 2, 3, 4, pp. 48to60.
'^'^ The best edition of his works is the Benedictine folio, Paris, a. d. 1711. See " The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography," vol. vi. , p. 740.
"''^ See M. le Dr. Hoefer's "Nouvelle Biographic generale depuis les Temps les phis recules jusqu'a nos Jours," tome xli. , cols. 89 to 91.
landists' " Bed^," in " Acta
Government,
as it was in
, pp. 369
406.
Stiliingfleet's
Martyrologies,
Scotia S. Patricii Confessoris. " See the Bol-
Martyrologium
Sanctorum," tomus ii. Martii. Prjefacio, &c. , p. xix. With this edition, the Bollan- dists place the additions of Florus and of other old Martyrologists. Yet, the foregoing extract, referring to our Apostle's feast, is an original entry from Bede himself; and, again, in a Metrical Martyrology, found at Rheims, with his name attached, under the title of Martius, we read :
"Patricius Domini servus conscendit ad
aulam. "
=? ' There is a fragment of the
"
History
4^4 L//ES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
672, or 673, to A. D. 735. Again, the old Celtic, or, British, author; generally known as Nennius,*? ' has declared, in his "Historia Britonum,'' ^72 that no British writers could furnish him with records, and that liis materials for history had been borrowed, from neighbouring nations. The work, whicii goes under his name, is of obscure origin, but the writer is said to have been
Nennius, on the authority of a Prologue, or Prologues, in some Manuscript copies. He is called, likewise, the disciple of Elbodus, or Elvodugus, sup- posed to have been Elbodus, Bishop of North Wales. ^73 Nennius thus says, we are to thank strangers for anytliing that we know, in those more ancient times, of our people, of our religion, or of our island. ^74 Such a statement occurs,inhisPrefaceandApology. ^75 Thisancienthistorian,whohadbeen
writers assign his period, to about the year 760. He flourished, as Ussher supposed, in 808. ^^77 However, this work has been interpolated, by different writers. It is related, there, that when St, Palladius left Ireland, he went to Britain, and died in Pictland. Nennius then declares, that on receiving an account of Palladius' death, Patrick, another agent, was sent by Celestine, to convert the Scots to the faith of Christ. ^78 Besides the different Latin copies of Nennius extant, we find, that Irish versions were in circulation. =^79 One of these has been ably edited, for the Irish Archaeological Society,^^° and, it con- tains very curious references, to the Pagan and Christian history of Ireland,^^'
"
"another
monkish
West Britain, or Wales. Gale states, that he flourished a. d. 620. ^? ^ Other
styled
Gildas," by many
\vriters,
it is livedin thought,
of the Britons," by Nennius, translated into
Gaedhlic, by Gilla Caomhain, the poet and
chronologist, who died a. d. 1072. This is
to be found, in one of the oldest, among our
Irish Manuscripts now preserved, and which
is known by the name of " Leabhar na Morley's "English Writers," vok i. , book h-Uidhre," or the " Book of the Dun Cow. "
Of this, however, only a fragment, at present
remains, and it is kept in the Royal Irish
Academy. It has been lately, most elegantly icae, Anglo-Danicte, Scriptores xv. ," ex and accurately reproduced in lithograph, vetustis Codd. MSS. editi, p. 93. This and edited, by Professor Bryan O'Looney,
and Mr. Joseph O'Longan. As the edition
had been limited to two hundred copies, it
is already scarce. This Manuscript had are that edition, issued by Gale, at Oxford,
been originally compiled, by MDelmuire, son of the son of Conn-na-m-Bocht, and the author was killed, in the middle of the great stone church of Cluainmacnoise, by a party of robbers, in the year 1106, according to Dr. O' Donovan's "Annals of the Four
A. D. i69i,thatby C. Bertram, jointly with St. Gildas, at Copenhagen, in 1757, and 1758, in that by W. Gunn, B. D. , London, 1819, and that by Jos. Stephenson, London, 1838.
^'^See,PraefacioadLectorem. Ibid.
^77 See " Britannicarum Ecclesiarum An-
tiquitates," cap. xvii. , p. 494.
^? ^See Nennii " Historia Britonum," cap.
liv. , Iv. , p. 112.
^79 The reader will find an account of
Nennius and of his writings, in Thomas
" Britannica Liter- Wright's Biographia
aria," &c. Anglo-Saxon Period, sect, i. , pp. 135 to 142.
^'^° It is intituled
neAch Annfo pp " The Irish Version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius. " Edited Avith a Translation and Notes, by James Henthorn Todd, D. D. , M. R. I. A. , Fellow of
Masters," vol. ii. , pp. 982, 983, and n. (d. ) Ibid. The contents of the MS. , as they stand now, are of a mixed character, his- torical and romantic, and relate to the Tuatha De Danann and ante-Christian, as well as to the Christian A
period. description of this Codex, and of its contents, is pre-
fixed, by the editors, at pp. viii. to xxv.
Another
copy
of the "Leabhar Breath-
:
teAbhA|v bi\eAch-
neach," was to be found in the Book of Hy-
Many, which formerly belonged to Sir
William Betham.
^T^ Among the Stowe Manuscripts, under
Charles O'Conor's original correspondence, Trinity College, Dublin, &c. The Intro-
there is one thus described : Nos. Iv. and
Ivi. 12. Index Rerum quae in MSS. Codi-
cibus Vallicellianis continentur, ct de qui-
busdam Britannicis et Ilibernicis. Amongst the text of this published vei"sion has been
Historia Brittonium, edita ab Anachoreta Marco, ejusdem Gentis S. Epis- copo. "—Rev. Dr.
was born at Emtor. " Also, in Egerton,
170, there is a paper 4to, of in folios, in
(". . . 7-. cut hands, and it has an Irish Life of Hardy's
St. Patrick, and compiled in modern times,
but from older Lives. Probus and Jocelyn
are quoted in it, at p. 94, fol. 63, and one
Owen McGrath, an Irish Ijard of the four-
teenth century, at p. loo. It begins with,
rials relating to the History of Great Britain
and Ireland," vol. i. , part i. , pp. 68, 69.
'*° There is S. Patricii Libellus, MS. Moore Norwic. Epis. This is mentioned in Montfaucon's " Bibliotheca," and it is pro- bably the same as No. 924 or MS. 55, in
the " Librorum
Catalogi Manuscriptorum
Anglire et Hibernias," &c. Some of Bishop Moore's MSS. are in the Public Library, at
Cambridge. See idicl. , p. Jl.
'*^ Dr. Charles O'Conor, when describing
''
Ecce Sacerdos Magnus qui in diebus suis
Deo. " Then commences in placuit Irish,
aXj fet), &c. It ends, by asking the blessing of God, on the soul of Teige O'SuUevan.
=^35
St. Patrick's Life, is thus mentioned, as a MS. of Lambeth, and classed, 623. ff.
13-15, veil. 4to. See Sir Thomas Duffus the Duke of Buckingham's Manuscripts,
Hardy's "Descriptive Catalogue of Mate- rials relating to the History of Great Britain and Ireland, to the end of the Reign of Henry VII. ," vol. i. , part i. , p. 69.
names it, "Leabhar Gabhaltas, et Vita Hi- bernica SS. Patricii, etCalieni, cum Carmini- bus nonuUis S. Columbse. " Although he describes this Manuscript, however, he does
text, as that in the Cambridge Library, to
ticho ex Beda (nisi fallor) Epigrammatibus desumpto
Calpurmis gennit istiim, alma Britannia misit,
Gallia rintrivit, tenet artus Scoitiafelix.
'^^ In addition to what is elsewhere noted,
described in MS. Trin. Coll. Cant. B. 15, 25. veil, folio, XV. cent. See . Sir Thomas Duffus
"
Descriptive Catalogue of Mate-
42: LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
one,^^' in the Irish characterSj^^^ having two leaves lost, at the beginning,=43 and it contains a Life of St. Patrick. In the Library of Middlehill,^44 ^ve also find a Life of St. Patrick. ^'s In the Roman^^fi and Parisian^t? Libraries, other Acts of our saint are deposited. In Florencej^"*^ in the Benedictine Library of Monte Cassino/^^ in the Library of Charleville,^5o as also in the Public Library of Bruxelles,=5i there are Lives of the Irish Apostle. Among the Manuscripts of St. Gall's Monastery, there are, Excerpta ex Vita Patricii ; and,inaddition,thereisaMS. GenealogiaSciPatricii. Severalshortpieces are passed over, for the present, as only relating to some particular phases of the Irish Apostle's career, or, as having only a doubtful application, to the real incidents of his life. Those enumerated IManuscript biographies, or tracts, however, by no means exhaust the list of unpublished materials, for illustrating our saint's Acts ; since the public libraries, at home and abroad, as also private collections, abound in further interesting mementoes concern- ing him, and which might serve the diligent student's purpose, in the matter
ofinvestigating his history.
It formed one of many curious paradoxes of a pseudo-Irish antiquary, the
Rev. Edward Ledwich,^52 to maintain, that St. Patrick was a purely mythical personage, and that he had no real existence. ^53 It seems most incompre-
hensible to understand, how any man, with the slightest pretensions to Irish historical knowledge,^54 could ignore the numerous native writers, from the fifth to the present century, who have treated, about the illustrious Apostle of Ireland, in their respective works. Nor is this all, for even some of the most celebrated Irish, English, Scotch, and foreign writers, at times remote, allude to his life and labours, in terms of the highest commendation. Foremost among these, we may mention, besides the writers already quoted, St.
account of the ferring to St. Patrick's Life.
of
re-
^t' Thus described
genda MS. Montis Cassinensis 406. if. I veil, folio XV. cent. See ibid. , p. 70.
any special
portion
it,
:
—
'^^ This was transcribed, in the reign of Charles I.
^3 The remaining written pages are 492, and it is a transcript from the original of O'Duvegan, a learned Irish antiquary. There is also " Beatha Naomh Pattraic ; or Life of St. Patrick," imperfect 4to paper. Six pages. See Rev. Charles O'Conor's
" Bibliotheca MS. Stowensis," No. xxii. , vol. i. , pp. 115 to 118, and No. xxxiii. , p.
*^° Thus described : Vie de S. Patrice. (This appears to have been written in French. ) MS. Bibl. de la Ville de Charle- ville, 3933, paper, folio. See ibid. , p. 69.
^5' In the "Catalogue des Manuscrits de
la Bibliotheque Royale des Dues de Bour- gogne, pubhe par ordre du Ministre de
ITnterieur," tome i. Resume Historique, Inventaire, No. 2326, in a series of Lives of Irish Saints, is the Life of St. Patrick, be-
^^ to Sir Thomas Belonging
with " sedebat in tene- Populus qui
*s^ See his " of sect, Antiquities Ireland,"
vi. , Of the Introduction of Christianity, and of St. Patrick, pp. 54 to 69.
*23 No doubt, Dr. Ledwich cites an
opinion, to this effect, of one Dr. Ryves, an
Phillipps.
*45 This is a Vita Sancti Patricii, and de-
ginning bris. "
See p. 47.
as a MS. vel. fol. Phillipps, 4705.
scribed,
xii. cent, ex Bibl. Monasterii de Alna. See
Sir Thomas DufTus Hardy's "Descriptive Catalogue of Materials relating to the His- tory of Great Britain and Ireland," vol. i. , part i. , p. 69.
Irish Master in Chancery," A. u. 1618, in his '"f' Thus described : Vita Patricii, MS. work, Regim. Anglic, in liib. , p. 47, et se<j.
Bibl. Petavii in Vaticana, and Qupedam de . Sancto Patricio, Bibl. Reginas Christinoe in
Vaticana. 345. {964. ) 12S2 (1694. ) Also, Vita S. Patricii MS. Vatticellan. H. 7.
See ibid. , p. 70.
^<7 Thus described : Vita S. Patricii. MS.
Bibl. du Roi 1773. "9- o^TM Bethune. veil, xiii. cent. See ibid. , p. 70.
''^^ There is " Anoymi Carmina quredam
Anepigrapha de S. Patricio, Calpurnio, et Cellano. " MS. Laurentianae Mediceas ii. 812. Cod. vi. See ibid. , p. 70.
'=' Ledwich most presumptuously has
"
Patrick is not mentioned by any author or in any work of veracity, in the 5th, 6th, 7th,
^55 His festival occurs on the 25th of June. An interesting account of him, and of his
asserted,
It is an undoubted fact, that St.
De S. Patricio Le-
— Another
or 8th centuries. " Ibid. , p. 67. ridiculous argument of Ledwich is, that be- cause many fables are to be found in St. Patrick's Acts, and because doubts are entertained about the writers, we are there- fore to deny the s. aint's actual existence.
3
March 1 7. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 423
Prosper^ss of Aquitaine, in Gaul, who was bom about the beginning of, and he belonged to, the fifth century. He was a learned theologian, and historian, as also a poet.
He mentions the mission of St. PalladiLis,^56 in his
Chronicle, to the Scots or Irish, at a. d. 431,- and its failure fs? but, Prosper^^s declares, also, that upon the news of his death, in the land of the
Picts, Patrick, another agent, is sent by Celestine, the Bishop and Pope of Rome, to convert the Scots to the faith of Christ. He, states, moreover,^59 that having ordained a bishop for the Scots, while Celestine endeavoured to keep the Roman Island, or Britain, Catholic,^^° he also made the barbarous island, by which he means heathen Ireland, Christian. ^^' The death of St. Prosper is commonly assigned, to A. D. 455;^^^ others extend his life, how- ever, to after the year 463. ''^^ Again, St. Fiech, his old Scholiast, and other writers, supposed to have flourished in the sixth century, have noticed the incidentsofSt. Patrick'scareer. St. Cummian,whoflourishedintheseventh century, mentions " Sanctus Patricius Papa noster,"^^^ when he wrote the celebrated Paschal Epistle, about the year 634. Allusion is made to the holy Briton, St Mochta,^^s or Maucteus, the disciple of St. Patrick, the Bishop,^°^ by St. Adamnan,^^7 who was born in or about the year 624, and who died, a. d. 704. Besides these, we have an account of our holy patron, in that ancient native author, whose notes on St. Patrick's Acts, Latin and Irish,arefirstmetwith,intheBookofArmagh. ThisMemoir,however,is defective, at the commencement. Those notes are stated, to be among the most ancient specimens known of narrative composition, in Irish and in Hiberno-Latin ; while, they constitute some of the oldest writings, now extant, in connexion with St. Patrick. They purport to have been originally taken down, by Bishop Tirechan, from Ultan, Bishop of Ardbraccan, towards A. D. 650, and, by Muirchu Maccu Machteni, at the request of his preceptor, Aed, Bishop of Sletty, in the same century. ^^^ The Venerable Bede,^^^ who flourished m the seventh and eighth centuries, has entered the festival of St. Patrick,inhisMartyrology,atthe17thofMarch. ^^o Helivedfromabout
writings, will be found, in the Rev. Alban
Butler's "Lives of the Fathers, Martyrs and
other principal Saints," vol. vi. June xxv. ^=^ His festival occurs, at the 6th of July.
^*-* See Ussher's " Veterum Epistolaium
Hibernicarum Sylloge. " Epist. xi. , p. 32. ^°5 Of Lughmagh, or Louth. His feast
occurs, on the 19th of August.
"
Histoire Literaire de la France," tome ii. ,
°57 See the
"
Chronicon Imperiale," A. D.
'^°^
See the Second Preface, in Rev. Dr.
431.
^58 See a very complete account of him,
and of his writings, in the Benedictine
Reeves' Adamnan's "Life of St. Columba,"
p. 6.
^*7 His festival is kept, on the 23rd of
September,
^^® See " Facsimiles of National Manu-
scripts of Ireland," by J. T. Gilbert, F. S. A. , M. R. I. A. , part i. Introduction, p. xiv.
sects, i. , ii. , iv. , v. , vi iii. ,
to
"59 See Prosper, Cont. Collator, cap. 41,
in fir"=.
--- bee Rev. Dr. Ed.
" Ori- gines Britannicre, or, the Antiquities of the
^°9 In some
festival, at the 26th ot May.
he has a
British Churches," chap, ii. , pp. 52, 53.
"^' See on this subject, "An Historical
"7° There, he states, atxvi. Kal. Apr. ,
"
In
Account of Church
Great Britain and Ireland, when they first received the Christian Religion," by William Lloyd, Bishop of St. Asaph, chap, ii. , sects, I, 2, 3, 4, pp. 48to60.
'^'^ The best edition of his works is the Benedictine folio, Paris, a. d. 1711. See " The Imperial Dictionary of Universal Biography," vol. vi. , p. 740.
"''^ See M. le Dr. Hoefer's "Nouvelle Biographic generale depuis les Temps les phis recules jusqu'a nos Jours," tome xli. , cols. 89 to 91.
landists' " Bed^," in " Acta
Government,
as it was in
, pp. 369
406.
Stiliingfleet's
Martyrologies,
Scotia S. Patricii Confessoris. " See the Bol-
Martyrologium
Sanctorum," tomus ii. Martii. Prjefacio, &c. , p. xix. With this edition, the Bollan- dists place the additions of Florus and of other old Martyrologists. Yet, the foregoing extract, referring to our Apostle's feast, is an original entry from Bede himself; and, again, in a Metrical Martyrology, found at Rheims, with his name attached, under the title of Martius, we read :
"Patricius Domini servus conscendit ad
aulam. "
=? ' There is a fragment of the
"
History
4^4 L//ES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
672, or 673, to A. D. 735. Again, the old Celtic, or, British, author; generally known as Nennius,*? ' has declared, in his "Historia Britonum,'' ^72 that no British writers could furnish him with records, and that liis materials for history had been borrowed, from neighbouring nations. The work, whicii goes under his name, is of obscure origin, but the writer is said to have been
Nennius, on the authority of a Prologue, or Prologues, in some Manuscript copies. He is called, likewise, the disciple of Elbodus, or Elvodugus, sup- posed to have been Elbodus, Bishop of North Wales. ^73 Nennius thus says, we are to thank strangers for anytliing that we know, in those more ancient times, of our people, of our religion, or of our island. ^74 Such a statement occurs,inhisPrefaceandApology. ^75 Thisancienthistorian,whohadbeen
writers assign his period, to about the year 760. He flourished, as Ussher supposed, in 808. ^^77 However, this work has been interpolated, by different writers. It is related, there, that when St, Palladius left Ireland, he went to Britain, and died in Pictland. Nennius then declares, that on receiving an account of Palladius' death, Patrick, another agent, was sent by Celestine, to convert the Scots to the faith of Christ. ^78 Besides the different Latin copies of Nennius extant, we find, that Irish versions were in circulation. =^79 One of these has been ably edited, for the Irish Archaeological Society,^^° and, it con- tains very curious references, to the Pagan and Christian history of Ireland,^^'
"
"another
monkish
West Britain, or Wales. Gale states, that he flourished a. d. 620. ^? ^ Other
styled
Gildas," by many
\vriters,
it is livedin thought,
of the Britons," by Nennius, translated into
Gaedhlic, by Gilla Caomhain, the poet and
chronologist, who died a. d. 1072. This is
to be found, in one of the oldest, among our
Irish Manuscripts now preserved, and which
is known by the name of " Leabhar na Morley's "English Writers," vok i. , book h-Uidhre," or the " Book of the Dun Cow. "
Of this, however, only a fragment, at present
remains, and it is kept in the Royal Irish
Academy. It has been lately, most elegantly icae, Anglo-Danicte, Scriptores xv. ," ex and accurately reproduced in lithograph, vetustis Codd. MSS. editi, p. 93. This and edited, by Professor Bryan O'Looney,
and Mr. Joseph O'Longan. As the edition
had been limited to two hundred copies, it
is already scarce. This Manuscript had are that edition, issued by Gale, at Oxford,
been originally compiled, by MDelmuire, son of the son of Conn-na-m-Bocht, and the author was killed, in the middle of the great stone church of Cluainmacnoise, by a party of robbers, in the year 1106, according to Dr. O' Donovan's "Annals of the Four
A. D. i69i,thatby C. Bertram, jointly with St. Gildas, at Copenhagen, in 1757, and 1758, in that by W. Gunn, B. D. , London, 1819, and that by Jos. Stephenson, London, 1838.
^'^See,PraefacioadLectorem. Ibid.
^77 See " Britannicarum Ecclesiarum An-
tiquitates," cap. xvii. , p. 494.
^? ^See Nennii " Historia Britonum," cap.
liv. , Iv. , p. 112.
^79 The reader will find an account of
Nennius and of his writings, in Thomas
" Britannica Liter- Wright's Biographia
aria," &c. Anglo-Saxon Period, sect, i. , pp. 135 to 142.
^'^° It is intituled
neAch Annfo pp " The Irish Version of the Historia Britonum of Nennius. " Edited Avith a Translation and Notes, by James Henthorn Todd, D. D. , M. R. I. A. , Fellow of
Masters," vol. ii. , pp. 982, 983, and n. (d. ) Ibid. The contents of the MS. , as they stand now, are of a mixed character, his- torical and romantic, and relate to the Tuatha De Danann and ante-Christian, as well as to the Christian A
period. description of this Codex, and of its contents, is pre-
fixed, by the editors, at pp. viii. to xxv.
Another
copy
of the "Leabhar Breath-
:
teAbhA|v bi\eAch-
neach," was to be found in the Book of Hy-
Many, which formerly belonged to Sir
William Betham.
^T^ Among the Stowe Manuscripts, under
Charles O'Conor's original correspondence, Trinity College, Dublin, &c. The Intro-
there is one thus described : Nos. Iv. and
Ivi. 12. Index Rerum quae in MSS. Codi-
cibus Vallicellianis continentur, ct de qui-
busdam Britannicis et Ilibernicis. Amongst the text of this published vei"sion has been
Historia Brittonium, edita ab Anachoreta Marco, ejusdem Gentis S. Epis- copo. "—Rev. Dr.
