RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA
Celtic Church
Origin
of the
Irish
Church.
figured in Ireland as Sucat Patricius, and in his writings merely as Patricius. If this name entered into the Irish vernacular of the fifth century, according to linguistic laws it should appear in Irish of the seventh century as Cathrige or Cothrige. And it is a fact that a number of sources (Tirechan, Fiacc's Hymn, and others) state that Patrick was also called Cothrige.
As a result of the foregoing argument, the origin and early history of the Celtic Church in Ireland seems to be as follows: Christianity was brought to Ireland from Britain during the n„^"e fourth century as a natural outcome of the close intercourse between southwest Britain and southeast Ireland. The actual foundation of a Church, extending over large parts of the island, must be regarded as a result of that first great wave of monasticism which swept over Gaul and Britain from the middle of the fourth century and carried a number of half-Romanized Christian Britons to Ireland. Two facts confirm this view: (1) The great repute of Martin of Tours in Ireland, so great that in the ninth century it was thought desirable to bring the new apostle, Patrick, into close relations with Martin, and he was even accounted the latter's nephew. (2) The difference between the organization of the Irish Church and that of the British Church from which it sprang. Just how fast and how far Christianity spread can not be ascertained, but it seems safe to say that the northeast coast was Christian about 400. It is noteworthy that Patrick, in the two passages of the " Confession " where he speaks of his six years' captivity in North Ireland (Haddan and Stubbs, ii. 296, 11. 5 sqq.; 300, 11. 16 sqq.; Tripartite Life, ii. 357, 11. 7 sqq.; 361, 11. 19 sqq.), does not intimate by a single word that the Irish with whom he lived were heathen. This is the more remarkable since he dwells with horror on the paganism of the pirates into whose hands he fell when he made his escape (Haddan and Stubbs, ii. 301, 1. 16- 303, 1. 2; Tripartite Life, ii. 362, 1. 19-363, 1. 34). No doubt the Saxons drove a number of Christian Britons into Ireland, as well as to the Armorican coast of Gaul, during the fifth century.
A Briton named Sucat played a prominent part in the Irish Church during the second third of the fifth century. The following outline of his life is based upon his own statements in the " Confession," and the notices of Prosper, interpreted as above. He was born about 386 in the borough of Bannaventa in central Britain, probably near the modern Daventry in Northamptonshire. His family possessed some wealth and had been Christian for generations. He led an easy worldly life until the age of sixteen (402), when plundering Irish carried him off as a slave to North Ireland. For six years (402-408) he was a swineherd. Reflection and changed circumstances made him a new man. He practised austerities, saw visions, and heard voices which counseled him to flee. He reached the coast and fell in there with heathen (doubtless Saxons), who took him to Britain and led him about the country for sixty days. Then he escaped
5. St. Patrick.
and finally arrived at his home (408 or 409). There he became a deacon. His visions continued, and eventually he came to believe himself called to be the bishop of Ireland. In his native place, where he was looked upon as an enthusiast, narrowminded, and of defective education, obstacles arose to his consecration. His parents and friends were against it. So he left home at the age of thirty-eight (c. 424), and followed the old road by way of Auxerre (where he stayed some time with Germanus), through the Rhone valley, by way of Aries, along the coast of Provence and the Lerinian islands, through Upper Italy, to Rome. If Ultan may be believed (Tirechan, Tripartite Life, ii. 302, 11. 19-23), he spent seven years wandering through Gaul and Italy. His barbarian name was Latinized into Palladius. At Rome he gained influence, probably the more readily since for twenty years Britain had been separated from the empire and the connection between the British Church and Rome had become difficult. Perhaps also he exaggerated his family's position and influence to the leading ecclesiastical circles. In 429 he was instrumental in sending Germanus of Auxerre to Britain, and in 431 he attained his heart's desire and was consecrated episcopus for Ireland. He reached Ireland in 432, dropped the Roman translation of his name, and assumed in its stead the title Patricius. There are no trustworthy details of his activity in Ireland. But he was never recognized as its " appointed bishop." In the letter on Coroticus he says complainingly " although now I am despised by some," and in the " Confession," written near the end of his life, he characterizes himself as " despised by most." His very limited literary education may well have aroused the scorn and derision of his more cultured associates. How far he extended his missionary efforts in Connaught and the Northwest, where there must still have been opportunity for such work, can hardly be ascertained from the " Confession," the only source of any authority. Its words are those of a monkish ascetic to whom convertere ad deum is identical with " to enter a monastery," and definite inferences can not be drawn from its statements.
There are some indications of the locality where the historical Patrick lived. Muirchu {Tripartite Life, ii. 275, 1. 13) says that the legendary Patrick landed at a port called Hostium Dee, near the present Wicklow. As the tendency of the legend required Patrick to settle in the North as soon as possible, it is probable that an item of true tradition is preserved here. Muirchu was himself from County Wicklow and used the " Confession " and " Epistle " of Sucat as sources of his life. Aed, at whose request Muirchu wrote, was bishop of Sletty in Queen's County, near Carlow. Cummian, who was the first to mention the legendary Patrick, was also a native of the South. Therefore the South of Ireland possessed the material left by the historical Patrick (the Confessio and the Epistola) as well as notices of his life. Hence it is probable that Patrick settled somewhere in County Wicklow. He died Mar. 17, 459, according to the statement in the Luxeuil Calendar and the most trustworthy entries of the Annals. He was soon forgotten.
Celtic Church