Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Patrick (373-463)
PATRICK (373–463), saint and bishop, born in 373, originally named Sucat (Welsh, Hygad, warlike), was son of Calpornius, a Scot,who was a deacon, and the son of Potitus, a priest. To this pedigree the Armagh copy of the 'Confession' and the 'Hymn of Fiacc' add that the father of Potitus was Odissus, a deacon. The father, Calpornius, was a man of wealth and a decurion or magistrate of Ailclyde, now Dumbarton, then a British fortress garrisoned by Roman troops. He had a country house on the western coast, and there the boy Sucat was staying in 389, when he was captured in a raid of the Picts and Scots. The Roman troops, who had occupied the territory from 369, had been withdrawn in 387. Sucat was carried off to the north of Ireland, and sold to Miliuc, chieftain of North Dalaradia in the county of Antrim. There he endured many hardships, tending cattle on the mountains and in the woods in the inclement winters of that region. When at home he had been careless in religious matters, but now a spiritual change passed over him, and he became earnest in prayer. After six years of bondage he had a dream, in which he was told that he should return to Scotland, his native country; and another, informing him that his ship was ready at a port about two hundred miles away. Leaving his master, he made his way to the port, found a ship getting under way, and was, with some reluctance, taken on board. The cargo was partly composed of the valuable Irish wolf-dogs which were a monopoly among the Irish princes, and were in great demand in the east, and, as the servant of Miliuc, Sucat had learned the way of managing them. After a voyage of three days the vessel reached its destination in the Loire, then the depot for the trade of the British Isles (Ridgeway). Thence the party set out by the trade route across the forest or 'desert,' as he calls it, to Narbo or Marseilles, where trade with the east was carried on. Arrived at the end of their journey, Patrick's engagement was at an end, and he was free to devote himself to the missionary life on which his heart was set.
On parting with his shipmates he was in the neighbourhood of Aries, and within reach of Auxerre and Tours, and could thus take advantage of the schools of Gaul to remedy the deficiencies of his education. He does not mention with whom he studied. According to the 'Tripartite Life,' he went first to Bishop Germanus at Auxerre, and then to Martin at Tours. This is also the account in the 'Fifth' life in Colgan, as well as in Jocelyn. But it involves a gross anachronism, for Martin died many years before Germanus became bishop of Auxerre. Dr. Todd is evidently right in regarding Germanus's name as an interpolation. Martin of Tours without doubt was the master under whom Patrick studied. He is frequently mentioned in Irish literature; his gospel is said to have been preserved at Derry, and his life, by Sulpicius Severus, accompanies that of Patrick in the 'Book of Armagh;' of Germanus little or nothing was known in Ireland. The time Patrick spent with St. Martin is stated by Colgan and the 'Third' and 'Fifth' lives in his collection as four years, which corresponds with his own account in the 'Confession,' that his stay abroad was only 'a few years.'
When Patrick returned to his parents in Britain, his mind was full of the project of preaching to the Irish. In a dream a man named Victorious appeared to him and handed him a letter, inscribed 'The voice of the people of Ireland;' he seemed to hear voices from the west of Ireland, saying, 'Come, holy youth, and henceforth walk among us.' His parents and elders urgently advised him not to venture among the heathen Irish. Much affected by their entreaties, a further trial awaited him. He had told a friend, in confidence, of a fault committed at the age of fifteen, and this was made an objection to his consecration as bishop, apparently before a British synod. He was thirty years old when the charge was revived against him, and had thus just arrived at the age for consecration.
Here his personal narrative in the 'Confession' fails us. Of the extant 'lives,' the 'Tripartite,' which is in Irish, is the most complete, and, with some additions and corrections from the 'life' by Muirchu in the 'Book of Armagh,' supplies the most trustworthy information accessible. We thus learn that he went abroad to be consecrated a bishop by Amatorex or Amator, who, according to Probus and the scholiast on Fiacc's hymn, was bishop of Auxerre, who died in 418. On his consecration, he assumed the name of Patrick or Patricius. Returning to Britain, he stayed there for an uncertain period. At its close he set out for Ireland, accompanied by a missionary party, The date is matter of controversy. Dr. Whitley Stokes calculates that he came 'about 397;' but as he was born in 373, was thirty years of age before his mission commenced, and did not come directly to Ireland after his consecration, we shall be safer in adopting 405, the date given by Nennius. The erroneous postponement of the event to 432 has led to much confusion.
Landing at the mouth of the Vartry river in the county of Wicklow, and meeting with a hostile reception, he re-embarked, and, sailing along the east coast, touched at Inis-patrick, from which he passed on to Strangford Lough, where he landed. Dichu, the local chieftain, granted him a building known as the 'Sabhall' or barn. Here he continued 'a long time, sowing belief until he brought all the Ulstermen by the net of the Gospel to the harbour of life.' Among these was Mochaei [q. v.], whom he eventually ordained, giving him a book of the Gospel, a 'menistir,' and a crozier, named the Eitech. The menistir, from the Latin ministerium, was, according to Dr. Lanigan, a case containing 'a copy of the Gospels and the vessels for the sacred ministry.' On similar occasions he sometimes gave 'the seven books of the law,' i.e. the 'Heptateuch,' or 'the four books of the Gospel.' A journey to Tara and a conflict with the king and his Druids a story abounding in 'fables partly prodigious and partly ridiculous' (Lanigan) are said to have taken place at the first Easter after Patrick's arrival in Ireland; but a calculation (Todd) shows that thus seven months only would be allowed for the conversion of all Ulster, which must have been the work of years. The visit to Tara could not have taken place until after 428.
Patrick insisted on a strict discipline among his followers. Bishop Mel, one of his party, was left at Ardagh in the county of Longford, and was accompanied by a consort-sister, who resided with him. Unfavourable rumours of the relations between them reaching Patrick's ears, he came to make inquiry, when the lady presented herself carrying burning embers in her chasuble, as an evidence of her innocence. Nevertheless Patrick is credited with having formulated a canon at a synod which he is said to have held with his disciples Auxilius and Isserninus about 450, to the effect that 'men and women should be apart, so that the name of the Lord may not be blasphemed.' At Magh Sleacht, on the borders of Cavan, was the idol Cenn Cruaich (British Pennocrucium?), covered with gold and silver, with twelve lesser idols around it, covered with brass. It had fallen aslant, and the smaller figures had sunk into the ground up to their heads, an evidence of the decline of idolatry. Having founded a church here, he passed over the Shannon into Roscommon. There he purchased some land, which he paid for with a mass of gold, from which the place became known as Tir brotha, 'the land of the ingot.' One of the causes which contributed to the success of his mission was that he paid his way, as he mentions more than once in his 'Confession.' He evidently came well provided with funds, and the 'Tripartite,' exaggerating this, tells us that one of his prayers before he entered on his mission was that the Lord would grant him 'as much gold and silver as the nine companions could carry, to be given to the Gael [Irish] for believing'! He was particular in returning gifts laid on the altar, he tells us, his object being to make it clear that he was completely disinterested. In the county of Roscommon he had an interview with two of the king's daughters, who, finding him and his party engaged in prayer by the side of a well in the early morning, asked them many questions about the God of the Christians. Ultimately they were instructed and baptised and received the Eucharist. They are said to have tasted of death, i.e. a death unto sin. The writer of the 'Tripartite,' however, took the words literally, and describes their immediate death and burial.
In Magh Selga were three pillar-stones, probably objects of heathen worship, which Patrick appropriated to Christian use, by inscribing them with the words Jesus, Soter, and Salvator, in memory of the three languages on the cross.
Passing on to Mayo, 'he left two salmon alive in the well of Aghagower, and they will abide there for ever.' Such sacred fish were popularly believed to be not uncommon in Ireland. Thence he ascended Croagh Patrick in the county of Mayo, the scene of the legend of his banishing the reptiles related by Jocelyn. The latter terms it 'St. Patrick's Purgatory,' because any one who underwent the penance there was 'purged' from all his sins, and would not 'enter hell.' The name was at a later date given to a cave on the island in Lough Derg, which was known throughout Europe, and quite superseded the original place of penance. The practice of well-worship which he found prevalent he endeavoured to discourage, though he failed to suppress it.
In Tirawley Patrick had an interview with the twelve sons of Awley respecting the division of their inheritance on their father's death. This is placed by Tirechan in the second year of his mission, which, according to the popular and erroneous date, would be 434; but in this and other matters that writer cannot be relied on. The 'Annals of the Four Masters' place Awley's death at 449. In Sligo Brón and MacRime, two bishops, apparently ordained by his followers, who were permitted to confer orders, came to him, and he wrote an 'Alphabet' for them, probably an elementary treatise. On one occasion, while he was in retirement, 'his household were conferring orders and sowing faith,' and displeased him by consecrating an unsuitable person. Cetiacus and Sachellus at another time ordained 'bishops, priests, and deacons' without consulting Patrick, and were censured by him. One of Patrick's followers, Bishop MacCarthenn, held the office of 'champion,' part of his duty being to carry the saint on his back over difficult places. MacCarthenn was afterwards placed at Clogher as bishop, and Patrick gave him the 'domnach airgid,' which Jocelyn terms a chrismatory. This curious relic is now in the Museum of Science and Art in Dublin. The conditions laid down by him for the episcopate in the case of Fiacc, bishop of Sletty, are that the candidate must be 'of good appearance, well born, a man with one wife unto whom hath been born only one child.' On Fiacc's consecration he bestowed on him a crozier, a menistir, and a 'polaire,' or writing tablet.
Patrick's religious observances are thus described: 'All the Psalms and Hymns and the Apocalypse, and all Spiritual Canticles of the Scripture, he chanted every day,' and from vespers on the eve of Sunday until the third hour on Monday he would not travel.
The change which Christianity produced in the demeanour of the fierce Irish chieftains gave rise to the quaint story of Eoghan, son of Niall, whose appearance he improved at his request, after his conversion, by changing his features and making him taller.
It has been asserted that he spent seven years in Munster, but Dr. Lanigan could find no evidence of it; while Professor Zimmer believes he only paid a flying visit thither. Local tradition attributes the christianising of the southern coast to others, and particularly to Ailbe, Ciaran (fl. 500-560) [q. v.], Declan [q. v.], and Ibhar [q. v.]
It seems to have been at an early period that Patrick founded his first mission settlement near Armagh. Feeling the want of a centre for his work, he applied to Daire, the chieftain of the place, for a site on the hill. Daire refused this, but gave him a small fort on the low ground, where Patrick erected some circular or beehive houses. This was known as the Fort of Macha, and here he and his companions had their headquarters 'for a long time.' Ultimately Daire granted him Ardmacha, the hill or height of Macha, now Armagh, on which he built his church, which has since been the seat of the primacy. According to Bishop Reeves, 'a long train of political and religious events' probably intervened between these two grants. Sechnall or Secundinus, one of his chief assistants, who resided chiefly at the Fort of Macha, composed a panegyric on him, which is still extant, It is an alphabetical poem in Latin, descriptive of his character and teaching, and, like the 'Confession' and 'Letter to Coroticus,' quite free from legendary matter.
It was probably in Down or Antrim that the massacre of his Christian converts by Ceretic or Coroticus, king of Ailclyde, took place. In his letter to Coroticus he expresses deep indignation at the cruel outrage, and recounts the denunciations of scripture against the enemies of God.
There is a strange conflict of opinion as to the year of Patrick's death. The popular date is 493, but its only foundation is the assumption that, having come in 432, he laboured sixty years; but 432 not being admissible, the date of 493 must be abandoned. Tirechan and Giraldus Cambrensis give 458, the Bollandists 460, and Lanigan 465. The date accepted by Mr. Stokes is 463, and is doubtless correct. The difference of opinion as to his place of burial is equally great. The places named are Saul, Downpatrick, Armagh, and Glastonbury, while several authorities say he was like Moses, as no one knew where he was buried. We may take the evidence of St. Bernard on this point as decisive. He was the friend and biographer of Malachy, archbishop of Armagh, and must have had the best information. His account is that the remains of St. Patrick were at Armagh in his time, i.e. the twelfth century; and there is evidence that they were there long before that date. His grave was termed by Latin writers Lipsana Patricii, i.e. the tomb of Patrick, and by the Irish Ferta, 'the tomb,' a name afterwards given to the Fort of Macha, in which it was situated. Pilgrimages were made to it, and the psalms to be recited on such occasions are mentioned in the 'Book of Armagh.' The sacred objects associated with him were also preserved there; they were his bell, his crosier, called the 'Bachall Isa,' or staff of Jesus, and a copy of the New Testament believed to be his. The bell is in the Museum of Science and Art in Dublin; the crosier was burnt at the Reformation; the 'Book of Armagh' is in Trinity College.
Patrick's extant works are the 'Epistles,' consisting of the 'Confession' and the letter to Coroticus, and an Irish hymn, all of which are considered genuine. The canons of a synod attributed to him, Auxilius and Isserninus, have been published; but they are admittedly interpolated, and in their present shape cannot be earlier than the eighth century. Two single canons are also attributed to him—one relating to unity, the other to appeals to Rome; the latter corresponds with a longer one in the 'Book of Armagh,' and is attributed to the eighth century by Mr. Haddan; a more exact calculation proves its date to be between 664 and 790 (History of the Church of Ireland). A tradition names him as one of nine appointed to revise the pagan laws of Ireland, the result of their labours being the 'Senchus Mor;' but the form in which that collection now exists belongs to a later age.
The systematic misstatements in the early 'lives' respecting the date of his mission were clearly introduced in order to give greater importance to Patrick's position. When the Irish came in contact with Augustine of Canterbury and his clergy, in the beginning of the seventh century, they seem to have felt that the learning and culture of those men who came from the capital of the world with the prestige of a papal mission threw into the shade their humble and unlearned saint. Hence a spirit of national pride led a party in the Irish church to ascribe to him a learning he never claimed, and a Roman mission of which he knew nothing. Further, the Roman clergy were urgent in pressing their observance of Easter on the Irish church, and to this end it was important that Patrick should be supposed to have come from Rome. The special mission of Adamnan to Ireland in 697 on the Easter question gave a further impulse to this movement (Zimmer). Patrick's stay in Gaul and his studies there were exaggerated and his travels extended to the islands of the Tyrrhene Sea and Italy.
The new importance attributed to him demanded a higher position for his see, and this is one of the objects with which the 'Book of Armagh' was compiled, as Dr. Petrie has shown, in 807. When the false theory of Patrick's Roman mission was fully developed, it was necessary to assign it to a later date than the authentic facts of Patrick's career warranted. For Prosper's 'Chronicle' authoritatively stated that Pope Celestine sent Palladius, whose mission failed, as 'first bishop' ('primus episcopus') in 431 to the Irish, who at the time were believers in Christ ('ad Scotos in Christum credentes'). Patrick's Roman champions consequently averred that Pope Celestine also sent him, and, if that were so, since Celestine died in 432, that year must have been the date of Patrick's acceptance of his credentials. But the early biographers of Patrick perceived the further difficulty that if Prosper's account of Palladius were to be adopted, it followed that Ireland was a Christian country when Palladius arrived in 431, and that the conversion of Ireland could not therefore, on this evidence, be attributed to him, and still less to Patrick. To evade this inference another device was resorted to. Prosper's words were misquoted by Muirchu in the 'Book of Armagh,' who affirms that Palladius came 'to convert the island' ('ad insulam convertendam'), and he having failed in the attempt, the work remained for Patrick. No one has hitherto noticed this perversion of Prosper's words.
In order to meet another difficulty arising from the wilful postponement of his mission some thirty years, occupation had to be found for him during that period. According to one account he was engaged in study, in contradiction to his own words; another says he was wandering in the islands of the Tyrrhene Sea a strange occupation for a missionary passionately eager for the conversion of Ireland. In a like spirit the necessity of adding an additional tutor was acknowledged, for St. Martin flourished too early to act as Patrick's tutor at so late a period as 430 or thereabouts, and therefore Germanus was interpolated (Todd); but, unfortunately for the credit of the writer, he is placed before, instead of after, Martin. Again, if the commencement of his mission was to be postponed from 405 to 432, Amator, who died in 418, was too early as his consecrator, and therefore Celestine is joined with Amator, despite the date of the latter's death.
Subsequently the 'Confession,' the 'Epistle to Coroticus,' and the early life by Muirchu, were all tampered with, chiefly by way of liberal excision, in order to bring them into conformity with the elaborated version of the life of the apostle, according to which his varied foreign experiences deferred his arrival in Ireland till he was sixty years old. A comparison of the Armagh copy of the 'Confession' with the four others preserved in France and England shows it to have been mutilated in a most thoroughgoing fashion for this purpose. Such were the methods adopted by the party who favoured the new tradition to destroy the evidence against it. Similarly, in the first draft of the 'Chronicle' of Marianus Scotus (1072), Patrick was not said to have followed Palladius, but Marianus afterwards interpolated words to show that Patrick began his mission as Palladius's successor. The contrast between these misstatements and the genuine records led, at one time, to the belief that two persons were confused together—one the simple missionary of the 'Confession,' the other the great thaumaturge of whom so many marvels were told. Thus two Patricks came into existence, and two burial-places had to be invented, whence sprang the inconsistencies that characterise the traditional accounts of his tomb. The two Patricks appear for the first time in the 'Hymn of Fiacc,' where they are said to have died at the same time (Windisch). In this we see the idea in its rudimentary stage. A little later they are distinguished as Patrick Senior, or the elder Patrick, and Patrick the Apostle. Separate days were soon assigned to them; but the apostle, with his ever-growing tale of miracles, became the popular favourite, while Patrick Senior gradually faded from view, and in the later literature is never heard of.
Notwithstanding the insurmountable difficulties which the apocryphal story of Patrick involves, it was successfully palmed off on the Irish people by an active party in Ireland. This was rendered possible by the Danish tyranny and the exodus of learned men, for there was no one to criticise it until the revival of learning in the twelfth century, and then it was too firmly established to be overthrown. Patrick is usually termed apostle of Ireland; but as his labours did not extend to the entire country, it would perhaps be more correct to style him, with the 'Annals of Ulster' and the poet Ninnine, 'Chief Apostle of Ireland.' His day is 17 March. But he was never canonised at Rome, and his acceptance as a saint is the outcome of popular tradition.
[The Epistles of St. Patrick and other documents in the Tripartite Life of St. Patrick (Rolls Ser.); St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, by J. H. Todd, D.D.; Vita S. Patricii ex Libro Armachano, ed. R. P. Edmundus Hogan, S. J., Brussels, 1882; on the Patrician Documents, by
Sir Samuel Ferguson (Trans. Royal Irish Acad. vol. xxvii. No. 6); Colgan's Trias Thaumaturga, p. 30, n. 18; Jocelyn's Vita Patricii; Boll. Act. Sanct. at March 17; Epistles and Hymn of St. Patrick, translated by Rev. T. Olden, 3rd edit.; The Church of Ireland (series of National Churches) by the same, chap. ii. App. A; On the Burial Place of St. Patrick, by the same; Proceedings of Royal Irish Academy, 3rd ser. vol. ii. No. 4; On the Consortia of the First Order of Irish Saints, by the same; Proceedings of Royal Irish Academy, 3rd ser. vol. iii. No. 3; Lanigan's Eccl. Hist. vol. i.; Zimmer's Keltische Studien, ii. 183; Professor Ridgway's Greek Trade-Routes to Britain (Folk-Lore Journal, No. 1); Irische Texte von Ernest Windisch (Leipzig, 1880), p. 22 n.; Ussher's Works, vol. vi.; Martyrology of Donegal, p. 153; Skene's Celtic Scotland, vol. i.; Memoir of Adamnan; Reeves's Columba, pp. xl-lxviii; Nennius's Historia Britonum; Todd Lectures, vol. iii. by Rev. B. McCarthy, D.D. (Royal Irish Academy, 1892), p. 19; Petrie's History and Antiquities of Tara Hill (Trans. Royal Irish Academy), vol. xviii.]