Part 9 (1/2)
[109] _Sources_.--The Abbe M'Geoghegan says that there is a very ancient registry in the archives of the house of Sales, which mentions that the King of Ireland remained some time in the Castle of Sales. See his _History_, p. 94.
CHAPTER VIII.
St. Patrick--How Ireland was first Christianized--Pagan Rome used providentially to promote the Faith--The Mission of St.
Palladius--Innocent I. claims authority to found Churches and condemn Heresy--Disputes concerning St. Patrick's Birthplace--Ireland receives the Faith generously--Victoricus--St. Patrick's Vision--His Roman Mission clearly proved--Subterfuges of those who deny it--Ancient Lives of the Saint--St. Patrick's Canons--His Devotion and Submission to the Holy See.
[A.D. 378-432.]
It has been conjectured that the great Apostle of Ireland, St. Patrick, was carried captive to the land of his adoption, in one of the plundering expeditions of the monarch Nial--an eminent instance of the overruling power of Providence, and of the mighty effects produced by causes the most insignificant and unconscious. As we are not writing an ecclesiastical history of Ireland, and as we have a work of that nature in contemplation, we shall only make brief mention of the events connected with the life and mission of the saint at present; but the Christianizing of any country must always form an important epoch, politically and socially, and, as such, demands the careful consideration of the historian. How and when the seed of faith was sown in ancient Erinn before the time of the great Apostle, cannot now be ascertained. We know the silent rapidity with which that faith spread, from its first promulgation by the sh.o.r.es of the Galilean lake, until it became the recognized religion of earth's mightiest empire. We know, also, that, by a noticeable providence, Rome was chosen from the beginning as the source from whence the light should emanate. We know how pagan Rome, which had subdued and crushed material empires, and scattered nations and national customs as chaff before the wind, failed utterly to subdue or crush this religion, though promulgated by the feeblest of its plebeians. We know how the material prosperity of that mighty people was overruled for the furtherance of eternal designs; and as the invincible legions continually added to the geographical extent of the empire they also added to the number of those to whom the gospel of peace should be proclaimed.
The first Christian mission to Ireland, for which we have definite and reliable data, was that of St. Palladius. St. Prosper, who held a high position in the Roman Church, published a chronicle in the year 433, in which we find the following register: ”Palladius was consecrated by Pope Celestine, and sent as the first Bishop to the Irish believing in Christ.”[110] This mission was unsuccessful. Palladius was repulsed by the inhabitants of Wicklow,[111] where he landed. He then sailed northward, and was at last driven by stress of weather towards the Orkneys, finding harbour, eventually, on the sh.o.r.es of Kincardines.h.i.+re.
Several ancient tracts give the details of his mission, its failure, and his subsequent career. The first of those authorities is the Life of St.
Patrick in the Book of Armagh; and in this it is stated that he died in the ”land of the Britons.” The second Life of St. Patrick, in Colgan's collection, has changed Britons into ”Picts.” In the ”Annotations of Tierchan,” also preserved in the Book of Armagh,[112] it is said that Palladius was also called Patricius,[113] and that he suffered martyrdom among the Scots, ”as ancient saints relate.”
Prosper also informs us, that Palladius was a deacon[114] of the Roman Church, and that he received a commission from the Holy See to send Germa.n.u.s, Bishop of Auxerre, to root out heresy,[115] and convert the Britons to the Catholic faith. Thus we find the Church, even in the earliest ages, occupied in her twofold mission of converting the heathen, and preserving the faithful from error. St. Innocent I., writing to Decentius, in the year 402, refers thus to this important fact: ”Is it not known to all that the things which have been delivered to the Roman Church by Peter, the Prince of the Apostles, and preserved ever since, should be observed by all; and that nothing is to be introduced devoid of authority, or borrowed elsewhere? Especially, as it is manifest that no one has founded churches for all Italy, the Gauls, Spain, Africa, and the interjacent islands, except such as were appointed priests by the venerable Peter and his successors.”
Palladius was accompanied by four companions: Sylvester and Solinus, who remained after him in Ireland; and Augustinus and Benedictus, who followed him[116] to Britain, but returned to their own country after his death. The _Vita Secunda_ mentions that he brought relics of the blessed Peter and Paul, and other saints, to Ireland, as well as copies of the Old and New Testament, all of which were given to him by Pope Celestine.
The birthplace of the great Apostle of Ireland has long been, and still continues, a subject of controversy. St. Fiacc states that he was born at Nemthur,[117] and the Scholiast on St. Fiacc's Hymn identifies this with Alcuith, now Dumbarton, on the Firth of Clyde. The most reliable authority unquestionably is St. Patrick's own statements, in his _Confessio_. He there says (1) that his father had a farm or villa at Bonavem Taberniae, from whence he was taken captive. It does not follow necessarily from this, that St. Patrick was born there; but it would appear probable that this was a paternal estate. (2)The saint speaks of Britanniae as his country. The difficulty lies in the identification of these places. In the _Vita Secunda_, Nemthur and Campus Taberniae are identified. Probus writes, that he had ascertained as a matter of certainty, that the _Vicus Bannave Taburniae regionis_ was situated in Neustria. The Life supposed to be by St. Eleran, states that the parents of the saint were of Strats-Cludi (Strath-Clyde), but that he was born in Nemthur--”Quod oppidum in Campo Taburniae est;” thus indicating an early belief that France was the land of his nativity. St. Patrick's mention of Britanniae, however, appears to be conclusive. There was a tribe called Brittani in northern France, mentioned by Pliny, and the Welsh Triads distinctly declare that the Britons of Great Britain came from thence.
There can be no doubt, however, that St. Patrick was intimately connected with Gaul. His mother, Conchessa, was either a sister or niece of the great St. Martin of Tours; and it was undoubtedly from Gaul that the saint was carried captive to Ireland.
Patrick was not the baptismal name of the saint; it was given him by St.
Celestine[118] as indicative of rank, or it may be with some prophetic intimation of his future greatness. He was baptized by the no less significant appellation of Succat--”brave in battle.” But his warfare was not with a material foe. Erinn received the faith at his hands, with n.o.ble and unexampled generosity; and one martyr, and only one, was sacrificed in preference of ancient pagan rites; while we know that thousands have shed their blood, and it maybe hundreds even in our own times have sacrificed their lives, to preserve the treasure so gladly accepted, so faithfully preserved.[119]
Moore, in his _History of Ireland_, exclaims, with the force of truth, and the eloquence of poetry: ”While in all other countries the introduction of Christianity has been the slow work of time, has been resisted by either government or people, and seldom effected without lavish effusion of blood, in Ireland, on the contrary, by the influence of one zealous missionary, and with but little previous preparation of the soil by other hands, Christianity burst forth at the first ray of apostolic light, and, with the sudden ripeness of a northern summer, at once covered the whole land. Kings and princes, when not themselves amongst the ranks of the converted, saw their sons and daughters joining in the train without a murmur. Chiefs, at variance in all else, agreed in meeting beneath the Christian banner; and the proud druid and bard laid their superst.i.tions meekly at the foot of the cross; nor, by a singular blessing of Providence--unexampled, indeed, in the whole history of the Church--was there a single drop of blood shed on account of religion through the entire course of this mild Christian revolution, by which, in the s.p.a.ce of a few years, all Ireland was brought tranquilly under the dominion of the Gospel.”
It is probable that St. Patrick was born in 387, and that in 403 he was made captive and carried into Ireland. Those who believe Alcuith or Dumbarton to have been his birthplace, are obliged to account for his capture in Gaul--which has never been questioned--by supposing that he and his family had gone thither to visit the friends of his mother, Conchessa. He was sold as a slave, in that part of Dalriada comprised in the county of Antrim, to four men, one of whom, Milcho, bought up their right from the other three, and employed him in feeding sheep or swine.
Exposed to the severity of the weather day and night, a lonely slave in a strange land, and probably as ignorant of the language as of the customs of his master, his captivity, would, indeed, have been a bitter one, had he not brought with him, from a holy home, the elements of most fervent piety. A hundred times in the day, and a hundred times in the night, he lifted up the voice of prayer and supplication to the Lord of the bondman and the free, and faithfully served the harsh, and at times cruel, master to whom Providence had a.s.signed him. Perhaps he may have offered his sufferings for those who were serving a master even more harsh and cruel.
After six years he was miraculously delivered. A voice, that was not of earth, addressed him in the stillness of the night, and commanded him to hasten to a certain port, where he would find a s.h.i.+p ready to take him to his own country. ”And I came,” says the saint, ”in the power of the Lord, who directed my course towards a good end; and I was under no apprehension until I arrived where the s.h.i.+p was. It was then clearing out, and I called for a pa.s.sage. But the master of the vessel got angry, and said to me, 'Do not attempt to come with us.' On hearing this I retired, for the purpose of going to the cabin where I had been received as a guest. And, on my way thither, I began to pray; but before I had finished my prayer, I heard one of the men crying out with a loud voice after me, 'Come, quickly; for they are calling you,' and immediately I returned. And they said to me, 'Come, we receive thee on trust. Be our friend, just as it may be agreeable to you.' We then set sail, and after three days reached land.” The two Breviaries of Rheims and Fiacc's Hymn agree in stating that the men with whom Patrick embarked were merchants from Gaul, and that they landed in a place called Treguir, in Brittany, some distance from his native place. Their charity, however, was amply repaid. Travelling through a desert country, they had surely perished with hunger, had not the prayers of the saint obtained them a miraculous supply of food.
It is said that St. Patrick suffered a second captivity, which, however, only lasted sixty days; but of this little is known. Neither is the precise time certain, with respect to these captivities, at which the events occurred which we are about to relate. After a short residence at the famous monastery of St. Martin, near Tours, founded by his saintly relative, he placed himself (probably in his thirtieth year) under the direction of St. Germain of Auxerre.
It was about this period that he was favoured with the remarkable vision or dream relating to his Irish apostolate. He thus describes it in his _Confessio_:--
”I saw, in a nocturnal vision, a man named Victoricus[120] coming as if from Ireland, with a large parcel of letters, one of which he handed to me. On reading the beginning of it, I found it contained these words: 'The voice of the Irish;' and while reading it I thought I heard, at the same moment, the voice of a mult.i.tude of persons near the Wood of Foclut, which is near the western sea; and they cried out, as if with one voice, '_We entreat thee, holy youth, to come and henceforth walk amongst us.'_ And I was greatly affected in my heart, and could read no longer; and then I awoke.”
St. Patrick retired to Italy after this vision, and there spent many years. During this period he visited Lerins,[121] and other islands in the Mediterranean. Lerins was distinguished for its religious and learned establishments; and probably St. Germain,[122] under whose direction the saint still continued, had recommended him to study there.
It was at this time that he received the celebrated staff, called the _Bachall Isu_, or Staff of Jesus.
St. Bernard mentions this _Bachall Isu_, in his life of St. Malachy, as one of those insignia of the see of Armagh, which were popularly believed to confer upon the possessor a t.i.tle to be regarded and obeyed as the successor of St. Patrick. Indeed, the great antiquity of this long-treasured relic has never been questioned; nor is there any reason to suppose that it was not in some way a miraculous gift.
Frequent notices of this pastoral staff are found in ancient Irish history. St. Fiacc speaks of it as having been richly adorned by an ecclesiastic contemporary with the saint.
A curious MS. is still preserved in the Chapter House of Westminster Abbey, containing an examination of ”Sir Gerald Machshayne, knight, sworn 19th March, 1529, upon the Holie Mase-booke and the _great relicke of Erlonde, called Baculum Christi_, the presence of the Kynge's Deputie, Chancellour, Tresoror, and Justice.”
Perhaps it may be well to conclude the account of this interesting relic by a notice of its wanton destruction, as translated from the Annals of Loch Ce by Professor O'Curry:--