THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
Strasburg, 1S78; R. Sohm, i. 400 sqq., Leipsic, 1892; and E. Friedberg, p. 30, ib. 1903; and the literature under Eastern Church.
PATRIARCHS, TESTAMENT OF THE TWELVE.
See PsEUDEPIGRAPHA.
PATRICIANI. See Symmachians.
PATRICK, SAINT: The traditional apostle of Ireland. So great is the mass of legend connected with his name that some have been led to question his existence. In earlier times two Patricks were assumed, " the older " (Sen Patrick) and " the apostle." Most investigators now try to distinguish between a historical and a legendary Patrick. For such an attempt by Heinrich Zimmer see Celtic Church, I., 2. What is attempted here is merely to supplement what is there said by indicating the difficulty of the problem, and noting some views which are at variance with those of Professor Zimmer.
The contemporary sources for Patrick are: (1) his own writings, of which the Confessio and the Epistolaad Coroticum (more properly "Letter concerning Coroticus or to his Christian subject") are conceded to be genuine; unfortunately existing copies of both are not free from suspicion of having been tampered with. The hymn (in Irish), called the Faed Fiada (" Deer's Cry ") and the Lorica (" Breastplate "), is more doubtful; it gives no facts, but has value for its indications of doctrine. (2) The Hymn ofSecundinus (Sechnall) is valuable only for its description of Patrick as a religious teacher by one who had personal knowledge. The later sources include (1) the so-called Lives, all containing more or less of the legendary, marvelous, and fictitious. They begin with the memoir by Muirchu Maccu-Machtheni and the collections of Tirechan in the seventh century and culminate in the life by Jocelin in the twelfth. The so-called Tripartite Life (eleventh century) is the most complete and perhaps the most trustworthy. (2) Chronicles, hymns, scholia, prefaces, and the like, all late and untrustworthy.
It is impossible to fix dates for Patrick. Most writers, accepting Prosper's statement about Palladius (Chronicon, an. 431) and assuming that Patrick followed Palladius and was ordained by Pope Celestine I. (d. 432), put his mission in 432. Whitley Stokes advocates c. 397; Olden thinks that Patrick preceded Palladius and is inclined, with Killen, to accept 405, the date given by Nennius. Todd gives 440. Nicholson tried to show that Patrick belonged to the third century. His birth is variously placed in 372 (Ussher, Tillemont, Petrie); c. 373 (Stokes, Olden); 378 (the Bollandists) ; 387 (Lanigan). The year of his death is given as 455 (Tillemont); 460 (the Bollandists); c. 463 (Stokes, Olden); 464 (Nennius); 465 (Lanigan, Killen); 492 or 493 (Ussher, Petrie, Todd, following the most common tradition). The opening sentence of the Confessio appears to state that when he was sixteen his father owned an estate at " Bannavem Tabernia?." But the passage is not clear, may be corrupt, and does not in any case give the birthplace. " Bannavem Tabernia^ " should probably be emended to read Bannaventa Britannia (cf. The Academy, May Jl, 1895, pp. 402-403). Bannaventa was in Northamptonshire near Daventry. Attempts to locate
" Bannavem Taberniae " placed it in Gaul (Boulogne?) and at Ailclyde (Dumbarton), Scotland.
Patrick's own writings are silent concerning the period in his life between his escape from captivity in Ireland and his reappearance there as missionary. Olden thinks that the pirates who helped him to escape took him to Gaul and that his wanderings or residence in that country begin at this time. He is said to have studied with Germanus at Auxerre and with Martin at Tours. But he can not have studied with both, and his bad Latin, his ignorance of the doctrine and practise of the Roman Church, and his lack of knowledge of the Vulgate make it hard to believe that he studied with either. Some deny that he went to Rome. His own writings do not intimate that he was ever there, it is thought improbable that a Briton of his time would be drawn thither, while a visit and ordination at Rome, if lacking, would be an inevitable invention of later times. Perhaps he was ordained in Gaul (by Amator of Auxerre? d. 418) and assumed the title Patricius then. Canon Bright conjectures that he was consecrated in his native country. Whitley Stokes thinks that he began his work in Ireland, labored for thirty years with but little success, and then, attributing his failure to the lack of Roman authority, started for the capital; on the way he spent some time at Auxerre and was there when the death of Palladius became known; whereupon Germanus at once sent him back to Ireland well provided with assistants and funds.
Concerning his work in Ireland there are only late accounts, exaggerated and full of the marvelous. He is said to have settled first in the present County Down, to have converted all Ulster, and then to have proceeded westward to Mayo. Daire, a local chieftain, allowed him to build a church on the hill of Macha (Ardmacha, Armagh) and there the seat of the primacy was established. It seems quite certain that he did not visit a large part of the south. A visit to Tara at the Easter following his arrival is recorded and the conversion of the king, Laeghaire, is described with embellishments. His burial place is given as Saul, Armagh, Downpatrick, and Glastonbury. It was probably Armagh, where his bell, his crosier, and his New Testament were long preserved. The crosier was burnt at the time of the Reformation. The bell and the New Testament (or a copy of it) are now in Dublin. He was never canonized at Rome and passes as a saint merely by popular usage.
Bibliography: Patrick's writings, genuine and spurious, with the hymn of Secundinus, are in MPL, liii. 789-840; the genuine works, with the more important sources and a valuable introduction and notes, may be found in The Tripartite Life of Patrick, with Other Documents Relating to that Saint, ed. with translations of the Irish, by Whitley Stokes, in Rolls Series, no. 89, 2 vols., London, 1887 (cf. pp. cxxix.-cxliii. for Stokes' attempt to construct the " Personal History of Patrick"); the genuine writings, the hymn of Secundinus, and canons attributed to Patrick are also in Haddan and Stubbs, Councils, ii. 2, pp. 296- 338; Eng. transls. are by C. H. H. Wright in Christian Classics Series, vol. vi., London, 1895, new ed., 1909, and T. Olden, Dublin, 1895; seven of the Lives were collected by J. Colgan in his Trias thaumaturga, Louvain, 1647; the Confessio, the Epistola, and the life by Jocelin, with a commentary and appendix, are in ASB, Mar., u. ol'~ 592; Jocelin's life was translated by E. L. Swift, Dublin, 1809; reprinted with translations of the Confession