evidence that he made a journey to Rome (441–443) and brought back with him valuable relics. On his return he founded the church and monastery of Armagh, the site of which was granted him by Daire, king of Oriel, and it is probable that the see was intended by him to be specially connected with the supreme ecclesiastical authority. Some years before his death, which took place in 461, Patrick resigned his position as bishop of Armagh to his disciple Benignus, and possibly retired to Saul in Dalaradia, where he spent the remainder of his life. The place of his burial was a matter of dispute in early Ireland, but it seems most likely that he was interred at Saul.
Two highly important documents purporting to have been written by Patrick have come down to us. Although the genuineness of these writings has been impugned on various occasions by different scholars, there seems to be no reason for assuming that they did not emanate from the saint’s pen. The one is the Confession, which is contained in an imperfect state in the Book of Armagh (c. 807), but complete copies are found in later MSS. The Confession, written towards the end of his life, gives a general account of his career. Various charges had been brought against him by his enemies, among them that of illiteracy, the truth of which is borne out by the crudeness of his style, and is fully admitted by the writer himself. Before being admitted to deacon’s orders he had communicated to a friend some fault which he had committed when about fifteen years of age. This friend had not considered it an obstacle to ordination. Later the secret was betrayed and came to the ears of persons who, as he says, “urged my sins against my laborious episcopate.” It is impossible to ascertain who these detractors were—possibly British fellow-workers in Ireland. The other document is the so-called Letter to Coroticus. The soldiers of Coroticus (Ceretic), a British king of Strathclyde, had in the course of a raid in Ireland killed a number of Christian neophytes on the very day of their baptism while still clad in white garments. Others had been carried off into slavery, and a deputation of clergy which Patrick had sent to ask for their release had been subjected to ridicule. In his Letter the saint in very strong language urges the Christian subjects of the British king not to have any dealings with their ruler and his bloodthirsty followers until full satisfaction should have been made. The text of this letter occurs in a number of MSS. but is not contained in the Book of Armagh. It is however certain that it was known in the 7th century. A strange barbaric chant commonly known as the Lorica or Hymn of St Patrick is preserved in the Liber hymnorum. This piece, called in Irish the Faed Fiada or “Cry of the Deer,” contains a number of remarkable grammatical forms, and the latest editors are of opinion that it may very well be genuine. From such slender material it is not easy to form a clear conception of the saint’s personality. His was evidently an intensely spiritual nature, and in addition to the qualities which go to form a strong man of action he must have possessed an enthusiasm which enabled him to surmount all difficulties. His importance in the history of Ireland and the Irish Church consists in the fact that he brought Ireland into touch with western Europe and more particularly with Rome, and that he introduced Latin into Ireland as the language of the Church. His work consisted largely in organizing the Christian societies which he found in existence on his arrival, and in planting the faith in regions such as the extreme west of Connaught which had not yet come under the sway of the gospel.
Authorities.—Apart from the Letter and Epistle mentioned above our chief sources of information with regard to the life of St Patrick are contained in the Book of Armagh. The one is the memoir by Tirechán, a bishop who had been the disciple of Bishop Ultan of Ardbraccan in Meath (d. 657). The first part of this memoir, which was probably compiled about 670, deals with the saint’s work in Meath, the second with his activity in Connaught. Various additions are appended to this compilation, and there are still further additional notes. The other biography was written towards the end of the 7th century by Muirchu Maccu Machtheni, who dedicated his work to Bishop Aed of Slébte (d. 700). The first portion deals with Patrick’s career down to his arrival in Ireland and contains an unvarnished statement of fact. But when the story passes to Ireland Muirchu’s narrative becomes full of the mythical element. The influence of Muirchu’s work can be traced in all later biographies. Bury has shown that both Tirechán and Muirchu drew from written material which existed in part at any rate in Irish. Among later lives we may mention the hymn Genair Patraicc, commonly attributed to Fiacc, which is considered by the latest editors to have been originally composed about 800. Three anonymous Latin lives were published by Colgan in his Trias Thaumaturga (Louvain, 1645), and there exists an 11th-century Irish life in three parts published by Whitley Stokes for the Rolls series (1887). A Latin translation of a different copy of this work, now lost, was published by Colgan. Lastly a life by an otherwise unknown Irish writer named Probus occurs in the Basel edition of Bede’s works (1563) and was reprinted by Colgan.
See J. B. Bury, The Life of St Patrick and his Place in History (London, 1905); J. H. Todd, St Patrick the Apostle of Ireland (Dublin, 1861); H. Zimmer, article “Keltische Kirche” in Realencyklopädie fûr protestantische Theologie und Kirche (1901; trans. by Miss Meyer, “The Celtic Church in Britain and Ireland,” London, 1902); J. Gwynn, Liber Ardmachanus; Whitley Stokes, The Tripartite Life of St Patrick (London, 1887); N. J. D. White, “The Writings of St Patrick” (critical edition) in Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy (1904). (E. C. Q.)
PATRICK, SIMON (1626–1707), English divine, was born at Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, on the 8th of September 1626. He entered Queen’s College, Cambridge, in 1644, and after taking orders in 1651 became successively chaplain to Sir Walter St John and vicar of Battersea, Surrey. He was afterwards (1662) preferred to the rectory of St Paul’s, Covent Garden, London, where he continued to labour during the plague. He was appointed dean of Peterborough in 1679, and bishop of Chichester in 1689, in which year he was employed, along with others of the new bishops, to settle the affairs of the Church in Ireland. In 1691 he was translated to the see of Ely, which he held until his death on the 31st of May 1707. His sermons and devotional writings, which are very numerous, were long held in high estimation, and his Commentary on the Historical and Poetical Books of the Old Testament, in 10 vols., brought down as far as the Song of Solomon, was reprinted as recently as 1853. His Friendly Debate between a Conformist and a Nonconformist was a controversial tract which excited considerable feeling at the time of its publication in 1668, but he lived long enough
to soothe by his moderation and candour the exasperation it
had caused. He also contributed to a volume of Poems upon
Divine and Moral Subjects (1719).
The first collected edition of his works appeared at Oxford in 1859 (9 vols., 8vo); a small Autobiography was published also at Oxford in 1839.
PATRIZZI, FRANCESCO (Franciscus Patritius) (1529–1597),
Italian philosopher and scientist, was born at Clissa, in
Dalmatia, and died in Rome. He gained the patronage of the
bishop of Cyprus, who brought him to Venice, where his abilities
were immediately recognized by his appointment to the chair
of philosophy at Ferrara. He was subsequently invited to
Rome by Clement VIII. In spite of his almost incessant controversies
with the Aristotelians, he found time to make a comprehensive
study of contemporary science. He published in
15 books a treatise on the New Geometry (1587), and works on
history, rhetoric and the art of war. He studied ancient theories
of music, and is said to have invented the thirteen-syllable verse
known subsequently as versi martelliani. In his philosophy he
was mainly concerned to defend Plato against the followers of
Aristotle.
His two great works, Discussionum peripateticorum libri XV. (Basel, 1571), and Nova de universis philosophia (Basel, 1591), developed the view that, whereas Aristotle’s teaching was in direct opposition to Christianity, Plato, on the contrary, foreshadowed the Christian revelation and prepared the way for its acceptance. In the earlier treatise he attacks the life and character of Aristotle, impugns the authenticity of almost all his works, and attempts to refute his doctrines from a theological standpoint. In the second and greater work he goes back to the theories and methods of the Ionians and the pre-Socratics generally. His theory of the universe is that, from God there emanated Light which extends throughout space and is the explanation of all development. This Light is not corporeal and yet is the fundamental reality of things. From Light came Heat and Fluidity; these three together with Space make up the elements out of which all things are constructed. This cosmic theory is a curious combination of materialistic and abstract ideas; the influence of his master Telesio (q.v.), generally predominant,
