for folly and negligence, who did not let His anger burn fiercely against me; who allowed me to work with Him, though I did not promptly follow what was shown me, and what the Spirit suggested.'
It is only incidentally that Patrick gives any information as to how he was occupied during this time of waiting. He tells us that he was living with his relatives 'in the Brittanias'[1] at the time when he had the dream about the 'Voice of the Irish.' He seems also to have been with them when his final resolve was taken, for he tells us that in going to Ireland he gave up all the advantages arising from his father's social position. 'My father was a decurio,' he says. 'I do not blush, neither am I sorry that I have bartered my nobility for the good of others.' From this it would appear that most of his time was spent with his family at their home in Britain.
In other places he speaks of his brothers in Gaul, probably using the word brothers in a religious sense, that is to say, members of the same ecclesiastical community. He says that his object in writing the Confession is that after his death he might leave it to his brethren in Gaul. And again he tells us that he sometimes earnestly desired to leave his work in Ireland in order that he might 'go as far as Gaul, to visit his brethren and see the face of the saints of the Lord.' The two statements are not incompatible. He may well have spent part of his time
- ↑ The Romans divided England into six provinces, of which two were named Brittania (Prima and Secunda). Brittania Prima was mostly south of the Thames, Brittania Secunda was in the west, and included Wales and some adjoining parts of England. Patrick speaks of his home being in the Brittanias, but gives no more precise information.
