Page:Writings of Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland.djvu/107

Rh life of St. Patrick himself, the scribe might have had no scruple whatever in correcting, according to his ability, instances of faulty Latin, such as abound in St. Patrick's own writings. It would also be natural to make St. Patrick's quotations from Scripture conform to the Vulgate version which was in common use for ages prior to the ninth century. Although there are cases of doubtful Latinity in the Latin original edited by M. Berger, it is clear that St. Patrick could not have written Latin as pure as that found in this MS. The Latinity of the piece may not, for the reason stated, be quite conclusive against its Patrician authorship. Nor is the Patrician authorship conclusively disproved by the fact that the Bible quotations, where not loosely quoted from memory, are in this confession all derived from the Vulgate.

M. Berger observes that these books of penitence appear to have come originally from Ireland. Books of that kind seem to have been designed to teach those who used them how to make their humble confessions before God in prayer. M. Berger remarks that the names of authors are in several cases apparently assigned to them at random. He remarks that the Penitential of St. Columba is the first work in the series of such compositions, the authenticity of which can be affirmed with certainty. He considers the Confession of Angers to be probably a genuine Irish work, although it is more than doubtful that St. Patrick was its author. But when we reflect on the close connection into which the monastery of Tours, where it was probably written, was brought with Ireland, it is possible that the scribe may have had evidence in favour of the Patrician authorship, which has not come down to us. In its present form the language of this