Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/51

Patrick 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. 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' are said to have taken place at the first Easter after Patrick's arrival in Ireland; but a calculation 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,