No More Learning

Patrick, at Tara, that of St. Fiech, from the O'Curry Manuscripts, and that of St. Sech- nall, with a metrical translation, from the pen of the gifted writer. There is also an annotated list of St. Patrick's successors, in the See of Armagh.
ological Society in the Year m. dccc. xlix,"
Christianity, to the present Time," chap, iii. , p. 41. Glasgow, 1874, 8vo.
"
444 See
with the Monasteries of each County, Bio- graphical Notices of the Irish Saints, Prelates and Religious, compiled from the most authentic Records, Foreign and Do- mestic," chap, ii. , iii. , iv. , v. , vi. , pp. 6 to 29, chap, xvi. , pp. 99, 100, chap, xx. , pp. 188 to 191, chap, xxvii. , pp. 253 to 258. New York, 1876, 8vo.
434 This work is
St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland," By M. F. Cusack, Kenmare, 1869, 4to.
in vol. et in ii. , p. 339, seq. ,
intituled,
commencing
Fourth Series, A. D. 1873.
" TIae Life of
443 He published, at Calcutta, in 1877, Roy. 8vo, Avith Irish text, from the Leabhar 437 Another and a more compendious Breac, and with an English Translation, The Lives of St. Patrick, St. Columba, and
work, " The Life of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland," by M. F. Cusack, has more lately appeared, London, 1877, 8vo.
438 See "The Legends of St. Patrick," London, 1872, crown 8vo.
"•ss See "Lives of the Saints," vol. iii. ,
March xvii. St. Patrick, Apostle of Ire-
land, pp. 285 to 306. London, 1872, et seq. 8vo.
44° See "Kalendars of Scottish Saints,"
St. Brigid.
44* See "The Ecclesiastical History of
Ireland, from the earliest Period to the present Times," vol. i. , book i. , chap, i. , pp. I to 24. London, two volumes, 1875, 8vo.
447 See his most admirable work, lately issued, "A Compendium of Irish Bio- graphy, comprising Sketches of Distin- guished Irishmen, and of eminent Persons,
pp. 431 to 434. Edinburgh, 1872, 4to.
4't' See "Biographical Sketches of connected with Ireland, by Office or by
Ancient Irish Saints," sect. i. St. Patrick, pp. I to 13. London, 1874, 8vo.
their Writings," pp. 430 to 432. Dublin, 1878, 8vo.
442 See a series of papers in " Loca Patri-
Archaeological Association of Ireland : History of the Saint," London, 1878, 8vo.
448 See "The Life of Saint Patrick, ciana," published in successive Parts of Apostle of Ireland, with a preliminary "The Journal of the Royal Historical and Enquiry into the Authority of the traditional
_
"
in Scotland, from the Introduction of
443 See
History of the Catholic Church
History of the Irish Church,
436 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
them, for purposes of elucidating the saint's history, or that of the times, in which he Hved. But, it must ahvays be borne in mind, that the more
ancient documents, especially those more nearly approaching his own period, and written by persons, supposed to have some immediate connexion with it,
and with the subject of their compositions, ought naturally possess most interest and value, for all future investigators. On those documents, deemed to be of best authority, and most accessible, we shall endeavour to rest our
statements, in succeeding chapters. We must try, likewise, to preserve unity of narrative, by compressing or intertwining facts recorded, or traditional circumstances set forth, into that especial place and sequence, they seem most naturally to occupy.
CHAPTER II,
VARIOUS CONJECTURES AS TO THE COUNTRY OF ST. PATRICK'S BIRTH—THE ANCIENT EXTENT OF BRITAIN—DIFFERENT LOCALITIES ASSIGNED FOR THE IRISH APOSTLE's BIRTHPLACE—FRANCE, SCOTLAND, WALES AND ENGLAND CONTEND FOR THIS HONOUR—EXAMINATION OF THE QUESTION.
The circumstance, where St. Patrick was born, has been a subject of difference and of doubt, among historians and biographers ; but, it cannot lead the judicious reader to such an absurd conclusion, as that the great Irish Apostle never existed. ^ Yet, we find so-called antiquaries, who arrived at such an extravagant inference. The total silence of Platina, who wrote the Life of Celestine, regarding St. Patrick's Irish mission, while giving an account of Palladius and of Germanus, having been sent respectively to Scot- land, and to England, has furnished the negative argument,^ in one case ; while, the silence of early writers, and the incredible number of miracles ascribed to our saint,3 are alleged as very silly reasons for the Irish Apostle's non-existence. However, the negative and positive objections, here advanced, are most easily disposed of, when we consider the early evidences yet extant, in reference to St. Patrick's career.
The question of St. Patrick's native country and birthplace has an
interest, for all candid investigators, far beyond the claims of rival nations, forthehonouritshouldconfer. Ithasbeendebated,indeed,withconsider-
able learning and earnestness, both by Irish, and by foreign writers ; yet, as Ireland does not prefer any serious claim to a distinction, of which she might well feel proud, so can an Irishman afford to be impartial, in prosecuting such an enquiry. It is interesting, not merely because, in reality, it offers a curious archgeological problem ; but, also, because, in some measure, it may afford illustrations, regarding the character of one, among the greatest saints and men, produced by his own, or by any other, age. Without sufficient grounds to establish their position, some writers have considered St. Patrick, as a native of Ireland ; however, most biographers, historians, and anti- quaries, treating about him, incline to the belief, that he was by birth a Briton. This generic title, notwithstanding, will not determine the particular country, to wliich we should turn, in order to find the origin of his family and race.
Ere the dawn of historic light, an ancient people^ seems to have inhabited
Chapterii. —' Suchhypothesishasbeen
advanced by one Maurice, in his " Defence
of Episcopacy," pubHshed about 1700, by
Ryves. Dr. Ledwich, and, some few other
writers of little judgment, or authority, land : a History of Ancient Alban," vol. i. , prefer to adopt this opinion. book i. , chap, iv. , pp. 164, 165.
*ForRyves.
^ Such are Ledwich's chief motives, for
denying St. Patrick's existence.
"
* See William F. Skene's Celtic Scot-
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 437 insular Britain, even before the Picts,5 Caledonians,^ Britons,^ Albainns,^
leader and
^neas the celebrated Trojan founder of tlie Roman Empire^^
came with his followers, from Bretagne,'^ into the island, afterwards named Britannia, from him. However, there are writers, who question the foregoing
accounts,'^ as deeming them inconsistent, with genealogical and chronological calculations. '9 Iberians or Basques^" are supposed to have preceded the his-
toric people, in Britain ; but, from Ireland, our old records relate, that the early waves of population first spread over to the neighbouring island. Perhaps,too,othercolonistsreachedit, fromtheEuropeanContinent. Through
'" "The — proper Scots,
were a Gaelic colony
statements of one Guanach — an probably
'° and Saxons,'^ on the theatre of action. " In the appear
Cymri,9 Scots,
heroic period, many nations have derived name, from some distinguished leader; and, if we seek for the oldest forms of British and Irish traditions, it will be found, that Briotan Maol—an Irishman of Scythian descent—or Briti- nia,'3 or Britan,^^ gave denomination to his followers, and to that country, where they dw—elt. Another account has it, that one Brutus, '5 the younger son —of
s These are also called Cniithnigli.
^ A learned on the very Dissertation,
Caledonian tribes and their Antiquities, will
"
be found, in George Chalmers'
or an Account, Historical and Topographic
of North Britain," vol. i. , book i. , chap, ii. , pp. 57 to 102.
^
reader may consult, what is stated, in Sir Winston
Islands adjacent, from the earliest Anti-
Regarding the insular Eritons, the
'3 Heis " called,
the son of Isocon," in
Churchhill's "Divi Britannici. " pp. 41 to 68.
Britaius,
one account.
'* See " The Irish Version of the Historia
Britonum of Nennius," edited by Dr. Todd and by the Hon. Algernon Herbert, pp. 26, 27. See, also. Dr. Geoffrey Keating's " General History of Ireland," part i.
'5 to some he was the According accounts,
son of Sylvius, the son of Ascanius, son to . ^neas. He is said, to have been driven out of Italy, to the Islands of the Torrian or Tyrrhene (Mediterranean) sea. Thence, he was expelled, by the Greeks ; and, after- wards, he went to France, where he founded Torinis, or Tours. At length, it is stated, he passed to the northern Island, and when himself, his followers, and his descendants, had filled it with inhabitants, the country received the name of Britannia.
" Or Albannaich. We are told, by Lieu- tenant-Colonel Forbes Leslie, that Albion was the name first applied to Britain—
" the same as Albainn, which evidently by
name Caledonia was known to the Gaels of Ireland. "—"The Early Races of Scotland, and their Monuments," vol. i. , chap, ii ,
P- 25-
9 By Sir William Betham, this race is de-
rived from the Cimric Chersonesus, or Jut- land, in the north of Europe. See "The Gael and the Cymbri, or an Inquiry into the Origin and History of the Irish Scoti, Britons, and Gauls, and of the Caledonians,
. . .
Picts, Welsh, Cornish and Bretons. "
Cymbri, chap, xi. , pp. 379
418.
original Scotia," Edward A. Freeman's
" of the Norman of Hi=;tory Conquest Eng-
'7 Some writers state, that Brutus first
conquered this part of Gaul, and called it
lanu, lis causes and its results," vol. i. , chap, ii. , p. 14, n.
Bretagne. Seethatearlyblack-letterbook,
" See Sharon Turner's learned "
"Le Grandes de Croniques
History of the Anglo-Saxons : comprising the His- toiy of England from the Earliest Period to
Bretagne," printed at Paris, in the seventeenth year of
the Norman Conquest," in three volumes, 8vo. , 4th edition. See regarding them, also, that admirable work of John Mitchell Kemble "The Saxons in
Louis XII. 's reign, in the year 15 14. Livre Premier, fol. iiii.
a His- tory of the English Commonwealth till the Period of the Norman Conquest," in two
hisce et —falsa
hujusmodi arguere, quam
volumes, Svo.
" In reference to the
consult " Britannia : or a Chorographical
Description of the flourishing Kingdoms of England, Scotland and Ireland, and the
sonium. Anno cld. ldclix.
'5 See " of Great John Speed's History
Britaine," book v. , chap, iii. , pp. 161 to 166. London edition, 1650, fol.
'° See W. Boyd Dawkin's " Cave Hunt- ing," p. 214.
subject
sular ethnological enquiry, the reader should
England,
Caledonia,
The
denies,
from the Ireland,
to
as no one
'*
This account is said to — on the depend
of this in-
William Camden. Translated from the edition, published by the Author in MDCVii. , Enlarged by the latest discoveries, by Richard Gough, F. A. and R. SS. , in three folio volumes. Illustrated with Maps
quity. " By
and other copperplates.
unknown Irish
the Chronicles of the Romans.
as also on
historiographer
'^
who concludes, " Et facilius sane est in
Amongst these is William Camden,
verum adstruere. " "Britannia," p.
2. Edition, Amstelodami, apud Joannem Jan-
438 LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
the Phoenicians, and their Carthaginian colonists, the Greeks had obtained some indistinct knowledge of the lernian—rather than the British—Islands, so early asthesixthcenturybeforetheChristianera. Theywerethencalledthelernian — withtheideaIrish—Isles ^' inthe
corresponding ; and,
subsequent century, they were very imperfectly known to Herodotus,^^ as the Cassiterides, or Tin Islands. InthefourthcenturybeforeChrist,thetwochiefislandsoftheBritan- nicgrouparecalledAlbionandlerne,byAristotle =^3 while,theGreekPoly-
;
bius,^* who lived in the second century before Christ, has allusion to them.
But, until the year 55, before the Christian era, little had been known, to the Greeks and Romans, regarding the manners, usages and tribal divisions of the Britons. Then the invasion of Julius C8esar,^5 and the subsequent writing of his celebrated Commentaries,^^ add much to our information, on this subject. Tacitus,""?
with several other Greek and Latin historians, has increased our early knowledge of the Britannic Islands, and to such accounts, the student of their history must direct attention. From the Albiones,^^ the most ancient in- habitants of classically known Britain, the Picts and Caledonians ^9 were the sole remaining descendants, in Scotland. 3° Before the birth of Christ, we have few authentic records of their social state, and still less of their historic life ; however, an Irish or a Scots' migration introduced the people of our island, as very early colonizers of the southern and western parts of Scot- land. 3^ The Britons extended their inroads, in a corresponding measure, so that a varied population must have been in possession of Caledonia, before theRomansbegantoestablishsettlementswithinit. 3^ Fewandverydoubtful are the accounts of Diodorus Siculus^s and of Strabo,34 in reference to those distant islands. After the birth of Christ, our information becomes more ex-
=" A Greek
— poet, supposed
to have been ^' See "Annaliura," lib. xii. ,
Orpheus but, in reality, his name was xxxii. , xxxiii. , xxxiv. , xxxv. , xxxvi. , xxxvii. ,
—
Onomacritus about this period, alUides to
—"'VvriffOKTiv'Iepvlffiv S. ffffov tKW/xai. " Argonaut, v. 1 171. Leipsic edition, 1764, 8vo. This proves, that then Ireland was the
chief, most distinctive, and, perhaps, most populous island of the entire group.
" lie flourished 445 years before Christ.
"
Historianim," iii. , sect. 115. Ed. Schweigha;us, Argentorati, A. D. 1796.
"
term for Albanach.
'^ These names were not acknowledged by
themselves, but they were imposed on them by the Romans and Britons.
: them —
xxxviii. , xxxix. , xl. ;
Ilistoriaium," lib.
See Liber,
=3 He flourished 345 years, A. c. See Customs," vol. i. , part i. , chap, i. , p. 14.
" De Mundo," lib. iii. , Ed. Kappii, Altcnb.
—3' A legendary account of this
1792.
^•« In his celebrated History,
written m
probably
Forty Books, of which only five are pre- served,withsomefragmentsofothers. See
Ilistoria Britonum ofNennius. Edited,withatranslationand lib. iii. , cap. 57. Ed. Schweighceus, Leip- notes, by Dr. James Henthorn Todd, and
sise, 182S.
*s This remarkable man was born, at
Rome, the 12th of the month, Quintilis, A. U. C. 653, and after becoming the first Roman Emperor, he was assassinated, in the fifty-sixth year of his age, 43 years before the Christian era. The late Emperor of the French, Napoleon III. , has produced a
"
most interesting and learned
Jules Csesar," in two large 8vo volumes, but this work only brings his life events to the
by the Hon. Algernon Herbert, pp. 120 to 167. Also, see Appendix.
3^ For the most satisflxctory accounts and illustrations of this matter, we refer to William F. Skene's " Chronicles of the Picts, Chronicles of the Scots, and other Early Memorials of Scottish History. " Also to his admirable work, " Celtic Scotland : a History of Ancient Alban," vol. i. , book i. , chap, iv. , v. , pp. 16410274, with accom- panying Map.
33 He lived about the before
of the Rubicon. A large 410 Atlas of Maps and of Plates serves to illustrate the ancient Topography of places mentioned, in reference to his expeditions. Paris, 1865.
" year 44, Bibliothecce Ilistorica? ," lib.
passage
»6See"DeBelloGallico,"lib. iv. ,v.
3*Heflourishedinthe
year 30,
A. c. See
Histoire de
and
migration the main well based on
"Vita
This seems to have been the classic
xlv. also iii. , cap. . \liv. , ;
"^
Agricoloe. "
3" See William F. Skene's "
of Scotland, their Origin, History and Anti- quities ; with a Sketch of their ^Ianners and
in— or tradition
history
Irish Version of the
will be
met with, in the ""
Christ. See
i. , cap. 4. , lib. iii. , cap. 38, and lib. v. , cap. 21, 22. Ed. Dindorfii, Lipsiae, 1S28.
cap. xxxi. ,
Highlanders
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 439
tended, through allusions made thereto, by Pomponius Mela,35 and by the
second Pliny. 3^ Caius Julius Solinus37 not only presents an account of
Britain, but also of Hibernia, of Caledonia, of the Hebudan and Orcaden
Islands, and of the distant Thyle or Tliylen. Geographically speaking, the
whole statement abounds with inaccuracies ; but, the writer details many
curious rumours, especially in reference to Hibernia. 3^ However, the Geo-
grapher Claudius Ptolemy,39 quoting more ancient authorities, was one of the
earliest Continental writers known, who gave a detailed, but still inaccurate,
description of the two Bretannic Islands, Ibernia and Albion. 4° Again, the
Greek Poet, Dionysius Periegetes,'»^ places these two Britannic Islands oppo-
site the mouths of the Rhine ^'^ while the Greeks, Marcianus Heracleota,'*3 ;
''
and Agathemerj-t-f with a Latin
the fourth century, relate many curious particulars of both those islands. "fs Again, Festus Rufus Avienus,46 a Latin poet,'*? from the account of Hamil-
263, 268, 269, 271, 277, 278. 1807, tomus i.
Ed. Oxford,
third century. See cap. 4, 8, 14. Ibid.
Geographise," lib. ii. ,
*° See " lib. Geographic,"
preserved. Theywerefirstpublished,A. D. 1634. ThesewereincludedinWernsdorf's
"
Poetoe Latini Minores. " Helmstadite, 1791, tome V.
•^ He flourished, about the latter end of the fourth century after Christ.
4^ He flourished, in the sixth century, B. C. 45 " Haec inter undas multa cespitem
jacet,
Eamque late gens Hibernorum colit.
Propinqua rursus insula Albionuni
patet. " —"
Oroe Maritimse. "
5° It is otherwise known as the " Iter Bri-
tannicarum. " See the Editio Wesselingii,
Amstetsed, 1735, p. 463.
5' Some think he composed it, in the
second, and others, in the beginning of the fourth, century.
5- This is thought to have been traced,
about the close of the fourth century. See
Editio Mannerti, LipsiK, 1824.
S3 It is supposed, that this account had
been drawn up, in the beginning of the fifth century. See it in Jean-Georges Grcvius
"Thesaurus Antiquitatum Romanorum," tomus vii. In Partibus Orientis, cap. Iv. ,
i. , cap, 7, II, 15, lib. ii. , cap. i, 2, 3, lib. vii. , cap. 5, pp. 214, 215, lib. viii. , cap. 2, pp. 223, 224,
Apud Bertium, Lugd. Batav. 1618. Also, ""
the Syntaxis Mathematics, torn, i. , lib. ii. , p. 85. Apud Halma, Paris, 1813.
*' He flourished, as is generally supposed, towards the close of the second century of the Christian era.
*^ See " Orbis Periegesis," versibus 283 et seq. , 561 et seq. Apud Hudson," Geo- graphi Minores," tomus iv. , p. 50, Oxonii, 1712.
*3 He is thought to have lived, in the
third See his " century.
Peripli,"
lib.
i. , pp.
cxliv. In Partibus
Occidentis, cap. i. , ii. ,
See " De Situ
•s An edition of this work has been issued by Gronovius, Lugd. Batav. 1722, pp. 711,
Cosmographia," composed about the end of
and to the Hiberni, and the adjacent island of Albion. But, perhaps, the most valuable
"
of the
distant Thule he even writes, concerning the sacred isle,"ty inhabited by
the — alludes to the
car,t^ Carthaginian, plains
of all the early topographical descriptions of Britain is that, called the
rarium Antonini Augusti," ^° by an anonymous writer si the
; also, fragment
of Peutinger's MapjS^ relative to Britain, and the " Notitia Utriusque Im- perii. " S3 Besides these, we have, at a later period, an interesting account of
""
his Geographiae," lib. i. , p. 92, lib. ii. , pp. 107, no, 130, 142, 153, 156, 159, 167, 168, lib. iii. , pp. 197, 239, lib. iv. , pp. 261,
9) 35) 48, 49) 57- Apud Hudson, Geo- graphi Alinores," tomus i. Ibid.
35 He flourished A. D.