CHAP. XXIII.

THE MISSIONS OF PALLADIUS AND ST. PATRICK TO IRELAND.

WHILST the Pelagian heresy was distracting the Church in Britain, the sister island, Ireland, up to this time almost unnoticed by historians, was imbibing the precepts of Christianity from the teaching, first of Palladius, and secondly of the famous St. Patrick. The Bishop of Rome in the year 425 was Celestine, who, urged by pious zeal for the orthodox cause, commanded Celestius, one of the disciples of Pelagius, to be expelled from Italy". In the same year, he sent Palladius to convert the Scots, who inhabited the

b

north of Ireland, and the western isles of Scotland. But the missionary met with no success, and was obliged to flee to Britain, where he shortly afterwards died, in the country of the Picts c.

Upon the death of Palladius, Pope Celestine appointed Patricius, commonly called St. Patrick, to fulfil the mission which his predecessor had abandoned. "Patrick was the son of a deacon named Calpurnius, who lived at Bonavern Taberniæ, near the village of Enon, places which have baffled the ingenuity of antiquaries; for while some writers assert

A

Prosp. con. Collat. c. 21.

C

Nennius, c. 55.

b Id. Chron. Nennius, c. 55. d St. Patrick was appointed in 431.

that Patrick was a native of Gwyr, or Gower, in Glamorganshire, others maintain that he was born in Clydesdale, in North Britain; and others, that Armorica must be considered as the land of his birth. The original name of Patrick was Manuin, or Magontius. He was born about the year 384, and, as he tells us in his Confession,' was only sixteen years of age, when he was made a captive. He was carried into Ireland, and became the slave of Milchu, king of Dalraida. Escaping thence, after some years of captivity, he repaired to Rome, and long remained in that city, devoting himself to literature, and to the study of Theology'."

When the news of the death of Palladius reached Rome, Germanus had left Britain, and proceeded to Ravenna to present a petition on behalf of the inhabitants of Armorica". Whilst he was in Italy, he became acquainted with the young Patrick, and it was principally by his instigation that the pope chose the young man to become the bearer of the tidings of salvation to Ireland".

In company with Patrick went an old priest named Seger, together with other ecclesiastics, whose names, with the exception of two, Auxilius the priest, and Iserninus the deacon, have not been recorded. When they arrived in Gaul, the future apostle of the Irish was consecrated bishop, and at the same time assumed the name by which he has since been known.

After all the necessary ceremonies were fulfilled, the missionaries set sail, and soon landed on the coast of Britain, where they remained a few days, and

Maun, in Nennius, c. 57.

Bede, i. 21.

f

Thackeray, vol. ii. p. 165. Nennius, c. 56. adds, that an angel of God, named Victor, also urged the Pope to appoint St. Patrick!

A

preached. But, as this was not their ultimate destination, they continued their journey towards Ireland. Of their adventures in Cornwall and Wales, through which they are said to have passed, Giraldus Cambrensis and John of Teignmouth have related many marvellous stories; which, though they may not merit our belief, yet are in harmony with the growing superstition of their age, and do not impugn the claim of St. Patrick to the honour of having first converted the Irish to Christianity. It was in the year 432 or 433, that the pious emissaries of Celestine reached the scene of their labours: and it was in the fifth year of the reign of one king Loigere, and in the 5330th year of the world, as we learn from the British writer Nennius, that they first began to convert and baptize the people. The holy man spent forty years in preaching the Gospel to the inhabitants of Ireland, and in the course of this long ministry is said to have wrought miracles more numerous and wonderful than those which were performed by Christ Himself. "He displayed all the virtues of an apostle, gave sight to the blind, cleansed lepers, made the deaf to hear, cast out devils from the bodies of those who were possessed, raised nine dead men to life, and at his own cost redeemed many of both sexes from slavery*.

Even the more common and probable labours of the missionary have been aggravated, in order to excite the wonder and admiration of the ignorant. He is said to have written three hundred and sixty-five A B C's, or short catechisms, and to have founded

the same number of Churches. He also ordained three hundred and sixty-five bishops, and three thousand priests. In Connaught alone he converted and i Nennius, c. 59. * Ibid.

baptized twelve thousand persons, and in one day christened seven kings, sons of Amolgith. As if to complete the parallel between the Saint and the Saviour, the ancient writers have audaciously related, that he fasted forty days and forty nights on a hill in Connaught, called Cruachan Eli, where, in the air,' he offered up to the Almighty three petitions on behalf of those Irishmen, who should receive the faith of Christ. His first prayer was, that every Irishman might be repentant, however late in life; the second was, that they never should fall a prey to the barbarians; and the third, that no inhabitant of that country might be alive on the Day of Judgment: and to ensure the last of these petitions, it was promised that the whole island should be deluged by a flood of water seven years before the final consummation of all things'.

In process of time, St. Patrick died at a very advanced age, and this fact in his history has been the occasion of a comparison instituted between him and Moses, for the grave of the Irish missionary, like that of the Hebrew lawgiver, has never yet been found; and as his very existence has in later ages been considered doubtful, it is probable, that the place of his sepulture will still remain a secret to posterity.

Nennius, c. 61.

CHAP. XXIV.

ENFEEBLED STATE OF BRITAIN IN THE FIFTH CENTURY-THE BRITONS APPLY TO ROME-THEY APPLY A SECOND TIME TO ETIUS-THE GROANS OF THE BRITONS-VORTIGERN-AURELIUS AMBROSIUS-THE SAXONS, HENGIST AND HORSA-THE HISTORY OF THE ANCIENT BRITONS ENDS-CONCLUSION.

THE stream of British history, hardly emerging at the invasion of Julius Cæsar from its original obscurity, flows with a narrow and slender current through the first four centuries of the Christian era; but in the year 410 it loses itself in the chaos to which all Europe was then for a time reduced. The Britons, left to themselves, found it impossible to maintain their newlyacquired freedom, and the whole country became a prey to calamities, which could only be cured by a bitter and bloody remedy. To trace the events which occurred in this country during the brief period of its independence is no easy task; for, as the history of our island during all the preceding period is no more than an offshoot of the History of the Roman empire, so when Honorius by his letters cast off Britain from his sovereignty, the history of the island almost ceases to exist. If any native records of the fifth century were still remaining, whether obscured by the errors of transcribers or mutilated by the hand of time, we might still hope to extract some information concerning the period in question; but where nothing has been recorded, it is certain that little can be known, and the most painful researches of historians have failed to throw