Paterini. See Patarenes.
Paterniani is the name of ISIanichoean heretics mentioned by St. Augustine and Prsedestinatus as be- lieving that the upper and intellectual part of the body was created by God, and the lower or sensual part by the evil one. They were also called Venustians (from Venus, the heathen goddess, who patronized unchas- tity), and were condemned for their immorality as well as their heresy by Damasus in a council held at Rome in A.D. 367. See Augustine, Hceres. Ixxxv ; Praedest. ^fprfs. Ixxv; Labbe, Cora«7/«, ii, 1038.
Pater-Noster (Lat. for Our Father), the name among the Romanists for the Lord's Prayer (q. v.). It is claimed by many Protestants that this prayer was not intended by Christ as a formula of Christian prayer, because it contains no allusion to his atonement, nor recognises the offices of the Holy Ghost. It has nev- ertheless been generally adopted bj' the Protestant churches in worship on account of its beautj' and terse- ness, and because Christ gave it in illustration of the simplicity of Christian prayer. But Protestants con- demn the too general use made of it by the Romanists. Since the 13th century they have used it in the open- ing of divine service, and by the Council of Trent a catechism was published which contains a detailed ex- position and conmientary of it ; and in all the services not only of the Roman Missal, Breviary, Ritual, Pro- cessional, and Ordinal, but in all the occasional services prescribed from time to time, it is invariabl)' intro- duced. In the Rosary (q. v.) of the Virgin IMary it is combined with the Hail JIary,the prayer addressed to the Virgin (whence the larger beads of the " Rosarj'" are sometimes called Patcr-Nosters), and perhaps the most usual of all the formal shorter devotions among Roman Catholics is the recitation a stated number of times of the " Pater," with one or more "Ave Marias,"
PATERNUS
765
PATHROS
generally concluding with the Doxolog}'. The Roman Catholics do not use the concluding form of this prayer as commonly used by Protestants, "For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen."
Paternns, St. (1), a French prelate of the early mediaival period, was born aljout 365. He was the founder of tiie Church of Yannes, and was taken from the solitude in wiiich he lived to ascend the episcopal chair, then but recently established by king Moriadec. Constrained bj' persecution to leave his church, Pa- ternus returned to his hermitage, where he died about 4-18. His remains were successively carried to Mar- niontier, Issoudun, and to the church of his own name at Vannes. He is honored by the Roman Catholic Church on April 13.
Paternns, St. (2), flourished in the second half of the oth century. He was consecrated, in 401, in his own church by St. Perpet, archbishop of Tours. The bishops assembled for this ceremonj' dressed according to the discii>line of the sixteenth canon published by the Council of Vannes. Paternus died towards the close of the 5th centurj', after having experienced great an- noyances from tlie people of his diocese.
Paternns, St. (3), called also St. Pair, or Paer, or Pois, was born at Poitiers about the j-ear 482. His father, Patranus, with the consent of his wife, went to Ireland, where he ended his days in holy solitude. Paternns, fired by this pious example, early embraced a monastic life in the abbej' of Ansion, called in suc- ceeding ages Marnes, and at present, after the name of a holy abbot of that house, St. Jovin des Marnes, in tlie diocese of Poitiers. After some time, burning with a desire to extend the monastic influence, he passed over to Wales, and in Cardiganshire founded a convent called Llan-patern-vaur. He made a visit to his father in Ireland, but was soon recalled to the mon- astery. Shortly afterwards he retired with St. Scu- bilion, and embraced an austere anchoretical life in the forest of Sciey, in the diocese of Coutances, near tlie sea. This desert, which was then of great extent, but has since been graduall}^ gained upon by the sea, was anciently a favorite resort of the Druids. St. Pa- ternus converted to the faith the idolaters of that and many neighboring parts, as far as Bayeux, and pre- vailed upon them to demolish a pagan temple in this desert which was held in great veneration bj' the an- cient Gauls. St. Senier, St. Gaud, and St. Aroastes, holy priests, were his fellow-hermits in this wilderness, and his fellovv- laborers in these missions. Paternus assisted in 557 at the third Council of Paris. He was consecrated bishop of Avranches by Germanus, bishop of Rouen. The Church of Avranches prospered great- ly under his administration, and became noted. Pa- ternus occupied the episcopal chair of A^Tanches for thirteen years, and died April 16, 565, on the same day with St. Scubilion. Both were buried at the same place, in the oratorj' of Sciey, now the parish church of St. Pair, a village much frequented by pilgrims, neur Granville, on the sea-coast. Paternus is titular saint of a great number of churches in those parts of France. He is commemorated by the Roman Catholic Church on April 16. See Gallia Christinna, vol. xi ; Alibe Trosvau, L'Eglise de Breinrjnfi ; Bolland, Acta Sanctorum, April 15 and 16; Butler, Lives of the Fa- thers, Martyrs, and Saints, April 10. — Hoefer, Now. Biog. Ginerale, xxxix, 326.