them and recognised by succeeding generations, much of the history which we have already sketched would have been impossible. It is generally believed to belong to the eighth century.
The biographies of Saint Patrick have all the same tendency. Incidents the most improbable were invented, and stories of miracles were told—all with the purpose of exalting Patrick, and making it appear that Armagh was the central point from which his work was directed. It is a remarkable fact, when taken in connection with the extraordinary number of Lives of Saint Patrick written from the eighth century onward, that Adamnan, the biographer of Columba, never mentions him; nor does Bede, whose information was derived from Columban sources, seem to have been aware of his existence. The first knowledge we have of him from any source besides his own works, is the simple phrase, 'Patrick our Pope,' used by Cummian in 634.
The influence of Armagh was for the most part directed to the bringing of Ireland into conformity with the practices of the Romans. The see rose into prominence as the upholder of the new fashions, and it was no doubt in turn helped in its struggle for supremacy by the exterior support which it thus obtained. The very name Celepedair, 'Servant of Peter,' borne by an abbot of Armagh who died in 757, tells us how this devotion to Rome was begining to take root. Irish ecclesiastics were fond of taking names of this kind. For example, we have Maelpaudhrig, which means Servant of Patrick; Malcolm, Servant of Columba; Celetighearnach, Servant of Tighernach, and many others; but the saints they chose to serve were almost invariably natives of Ireland.
