A Dictionary of Greek and Roman biography and mythology. By various writers. Ed. by William Smith. Illustrated by numerous engravings on wood.

138 PATRICIUS. PATRICIUS.
his coadjutor Abramius lived, nothing can be de- upon which so much has been founded, refers not
termined, except that they were of later date than to Britain but to Armorica, and bring forward
Isaac himself, whose period has been mentioned. strong evidence to prove that Bonavetn Tiberniae is
If we adopt the reading of the Vienna MS. eupt7- Boulogne-sur-mer on the coast of Picardy. The
OerTEs, which, however, is most likely a trans- arguments are stated very fully in Lanigan's Ecclecriber's error for Epn'veuveYv'ec, we must place them siastical History of Ireland, chapter iii.
late enough for the works of Isaac, in the Greek According to several of the most ancient national
version at least (of which, in such case, they would authorities the mission of St. Patrick commenced
be not the authors, but only the discoverers), to during the reign of Laoghaire, son of Niall of the
have been previously lost. (Assemani, I.c.; Lam- Nine Hostages (A. D. 429-458); but the book
becius, 1. c.; Nicephorus, 1. c.; Cave, Hist. Litt. ad of Lecan places him under Lughaidh, a son of the
ann. 430, 440, 540, vol. i. pp. 415, 434, 519, ed. former (A. D. 484-508), while the Annals of
Oxford, 1740-1743; Fabric, Bibl. Graec. vol. xi. Connaught assign his birth to A.D. 336, and his
pp. 119, &c. and p. 706.) [J. C. M.] captivity to A.D. 352. Mr. Petrie, in his learned
PATRI'CIUS, the apostle and patron saint of dissertation on the History and Antiquities of Tara
Ireland. The legends and traditions respecting Hill, enters deeply into the investigation, and
this celebrated personage, preserved in the Acta arrives at the conclusion that if we assume that
Sanctorum, in his life by Jocelin, a monk of Fur- there was a second Patrick in Ireland during the
ness abbey, in Lancashire, who flourished during fifth century, and that many of the acts of the
the twelfth century, and in the Irish annals and first or great St. Patrick have been falsely ascribed
ecclesiastical records, present such a mass of contra- to his namesake and successor, then Irish as well
dictions and imptobabilities, that many critics have as foreign testimonies nearly concur in the followbeen induced to deny his very existence, while ing facts:- 1. That he was born in the year 372.
others have sought to remove a portion of the diffi- 2. That he was brought captive into Ireland in
culties which embarrass the inquiry, by supposing the sixteenth year of his age, in 388, and that
that there were two, three, four, or even five indi- after four or seven years' slavery he was liberated
viduals who flourished at periods not very remote in 392 or 395. 3. That on the death of Palfrom each other, who-all bore the name Patricius, ladius, in 432, he was sent to Ireland as archand who were all more or less concerned in the bishop, having been first, according to some authoconversion of Ireland from paganism. The only rities, consecrated by Pope Coelestinus, or, as
document in which we can repose any confidence is others state, in Gaul, by the archbishop Amatorex,
an ancient tract entitled Confessio S. Patricii, a sort or Amator. 4. That he arrived in Ireland in 432,
of autobiography, in which he gives an outline of his and after preaching there for sixty years, died in
life and conversation. If we admit that this curious the year 492 or 493, at the age of about one hunpiece is genuine, we may perhaps learn from it that dred and twenty years. 5. That he was interred
the author was a native of Scotland, born in the vil- either at Saul or Down.
lage of Benavenz or Bonavemo Taberniae, which is Several works still extant bear the name of Pagenerally believed to have occupied the site of the tricius.
modern Kilpatrick, situated on the right bank of the I. Confessio S. Patricii de Vita et Conversatione
river Clyde, a few miles above Dumbarton, very sua. This, as may be gathered from what has
near the point which marked the termination of the been said above, is not, like many ecclesiastical
Roman wall. He was the son of Calpornius, a Cozfessiones, to be regarded as an exposition of the
deacon, the grandson of Potitus, a presbyter. At views of the author upon difficult points of docthe age of sixteen he was taken prisoner by trine and discipline, but as a sketch of his own
pirates, and conveyed along with a number of his religious life, and especially as an account of the
countrymen to Ireland, where he was employed as mental process by which he was first roused to
a shepherd. Having made his escape, he reached spiritual exertion, the narrative being addressed to
home in safety; but in the course of a few years the people among whom he preached the Word.
was again carried off, and in two months again It was first published by Ware, in his edition of
obtained his freedom. During his first captivity the Opuscula attributed to St. Patrick, from sevehe was led to meditate upon his own depraved ral MSS. preserved in different parts of England
and lost condition, was gradually awakened to a and Ireland; among which is the renowned Book
sense of the truth, and became filled with an earnest of Armagh, long believed to have been traced by
desire to proclaim the promises of the Gospel to the hand of the saint himself. To inquire into
the heathen by whom he was surrounded. Visions the authenticity of the Confession when so little
were vouchsafed to him from on high, on several can be ascertained with regard to the supposed
occasions he was empowered to work miracles, author would be a mere waste of time; but it
and at length, under the conviction that he was ought to be remarked that it is composed in a
directly summoned by Heaven, determined to de- very rude style, and although evidently intervote his life to the task thus imposed upon him by polated here and there, is to a considerable extent
God. No allusion whatsoever is made to his visit free from the extravagance which characterises the
to France and Italy or to his ordination by Pope collections of the Bollandists and the memoir of
Coelestinus, upon which so much stress is laid in Jocelin. The writer, whoever he may have been,
the later and more formal monkish compilations. alludes repeatedly to his own want of education
It must not be concealed, however, that although and to his literary deficiencies.
a lively local tradition supports the opinion that II. Epistola ad Coroticum, or rather Epistola
Kilpatrick in Dumbartonshire was the birth-place ad Chlristianos Corotici tyranni sabditos. On the
of the saint, and although the inhabitants of that wickedness of a Welsh prince, Coroticus, who, in
district still point out a miraculous fountain and a a descent upon Ireland, had. taken many Christian
rock bearing his name, many of the most learned prisoners, and was keeping them in cruel slavery.
Irish historians maintain that the epithet Brito, This letter is expressly mentioned by Jocelin, and