Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 44.djvu/53

Patrick Zimmer believes he only paid a flying visit thither. Local tradition attributes the christianising of the southern coast to others, and particularly to Ailbe, Ciaran (fl. 500-560) [q. v.], Declan [q. v.], and Ibhar [q. v.]

It seems to have been at an early period that Patrick founded his first mission settlement near Armagh. Feeling the want of a centre for his work, he applied to Daire, the chieftain of the place, for a site on the hill. Daire refused this, but gave him a small fort on the low ground, where Patrick erected some circular or beehive houses. This was known as the Fort of Macha, and here he and his companions had their headquarters 'for a long time.' Ultimately Daire granted him Ardmacha, the hill or height of Macha, now Armagh, on which he built his church, which has since been the seat of the primacy. According to Bishop Reeves, 'a long train of political and religious events' probably intervened between these two grants. Sechnall or Secundinus, one of his chief assistants, who resided chiefly at the Fort of Macha, composed a panegyric on him, which is still extant, It is an alphabetical poem in Latin, descriptive of his character and teaching, and, like the 'Confession' and 'Letter to Coroticus,' quite free from legendary matter.

It was probably in Down or Antrim that the massacre of his Christian converts by Ceretic or Coroticus, king of Ailclyde, took place. In his letter to Coroticus he expresses deep indignation at the cruel outrage, and recounts the denunciations of scripture against the enemies of God.

There is a strange conflict of opinion as to the year of Patrick's death. The popular date is 493, but its only foundation is the assumption that, having come in 432, he laboured sixty years; but 432 not being admissible, the date of 493 must be abandoned. Tirechan and Giraldus Cambrensis give 458, the Bollandists 460, and Lanigan 465. The date accepted by Mr. Stokes is 463, and is doubtless correct. The difference of opinion as to his place of burial is equally great. The places named are Saul, Downpatrick, Armagh, and Glastonbury, while several authorities say he was like Moses, as no one knew where he was buried. We may take the evidence of St. Bernard on this point as decisive. He was the friend and biographer of Malachy, archbishop of Armagh, and must have had the best information. His account is that the remains of St. Patrick were at Armagh in his time, i.e. the twelfth century; and there is evidence that they were there long before that date. His grave was termed by Latin writers Lipsana Patricii, i.e. the tomb of Patrick, and by the Irish Ferta, 'the tomb,' a name afterwards given to the Fort of Macha, in which it was situated. Pilgrimages were made to it, and the psalms to be recited on such occasions are mentioned in the 'Book of Armagh.' The sacred objects associated with him were also preserved there; they were his bell, his crosier, called the 'Bachall Isa,' or staff of Jesus, and a copy of the New Testament believed to be his. The bell is in the Museum of Science and Art in Dublin; the crosier was burnt at the Reformation; the 'Book of Armagh' is in Trinity College.

Patrick's extant works are the 'Epistles,' consisting of the 'Confession' and the letter to Coroticus, and an Irish hymn, all of which are considered genuine. The canons of a synod attributed to him, Auxilius and Isserninus, have been published; but they are admittedly interpolated, and in their present shape cannot be earlier than the eighth century. Two single canons are also attributed to him—one relating to unity, the other to appeals to Rome; the latter corresponds with a longer one in the 'Book of Armagh,' and is attributed to the eighth century by Mr. Haddan; a more exact calculation proves its date to be between 664 and 790 (History of the Church of Ireland). A tradition names him as one of nine appointed to revise the pagan laws of Ireland, the result of their labours being the 'Senchus Mor;' but the form in which that collection now exists belongs to a later age.

The systematic misstatements in the early 'lives' respecting the date of his mission were clearly introduced in order to give greater importance to Patrick's position. When the Irish came in contact with Augustine of Canterbury and his clergy, in the beginning of the seventh century, they seem to have felt that the learning and culture of those men who came from the capital of the world with the prestige of a papal mission threw into the shade their humble and unlearned saint. Hence a spirit of national pride led a party in the Irish church to ascribe to him a learning he never claimed, and a Roman mission of which he knew nothing. Further, the Roman clergy were urgent in pressing their observance of Easter on the Irish church, and to this end it was important that Patrick should be supposed to have come from Rome. The special mission of Adamnan to Ireland in 697 on the Easter question gave a further impulse to this movement. Patrick's stay in Gaul and his studies there were exaggerated and his travels extended to the islands of the Tyrrhene Sea and Italy.

The new importance attributed to him demanded a higher position for his see, and this is one of the objects with which the 'Book of