PAT'RICK, SAINT ( 373 ?-103 ?) . The apostle of Ireland. Of the existence of this holy man there is no question. but every other fact about him has been hotly disputed. This is the more strange as he left an autobiography, but as his object in it was rather to exalt the work than the worker, he was not careful to give facts in their chronological order or to detail his life; so that for the purposes of a sketch of his life the document has little value. According to the facts which can be gathered from this work Patrick was horn at llanavem Taberni.e, in Scot land, probably identical with the modern Dum barton, on the Leven near its confluence with the Clyde. a few miles northwest of Glasgow. Dis father was Calpornius. deacon in the Church, also a decurion and a man of means and standing. His baptismal name was Sucat. When he was sixteen years old he was captured by pirates and carried to Ireland. where lie was sold to Miline, chieftain of North Dalaradia, in the County of Antrim, North Ireland. He lived as a slave for six years, employed in tending cattle. His sad condition drove him to find consolation in God. and he learned to wait upon the divine will. In obedience to a divine intimation, lie tied from his master and journeyed south 200 miles. He found a ship about to sail for France, and after a little parley was taken on board as a servant, and in three days landed at the mouth of the Loire. Then for twenty-eight days he trav ersed a wild country with the ship's company until they came to Marseilles. Here he parted from his companions and went to Tours, where the famous Martin 441.v.) was Bishop. IC, as SI )1 It' accounts state. his mother was the sister of this Martin. his going to Tours was the more natural. Ile lived with :Martin for four years.
At last he returned to ;40 ml. But the desire to devote himself to preaching the Gospel to the Irish was strengthened by visions and voices, and he wcut to Auxerre in France to be conse crated by Bishop Amator. It was on this ocea shm that he assumed the name of Patrick. by which he is now exclusively known. In 405 he began his missionary work in Deland, and the rest of his long life was spent in incessant labors with eomnensorate success. lie came to Ire land with a thorough knowledge of the language and of the people and seems to have encountered little opposition. He found no Christians and left no heathen. It is probable that he died at Armagh in 463. His bell is in the .,11useum of Arts and Scienees in Dublin; his crosier was pre served till the Reformation. but then unfortu
nately it was burned.
Pesilles the Patrick of history there is the Patrick of legend, and the less attractive Patrick of controversy. Aiming the many legends which have gathered about him the most. familiar is that he banished the snakes from Ireland. Others represent him as escaping from his foes by miraculous agencies. For example, it is related that on one occasion when a company was lying in wait to slay Patrick aml his companions, he chantol his hymn, called a 'Breastplate,' and the oppments mistook the Christians for wild deer with a fawn behind them. These legends have othaneed Patrick's reputation and doubtless sonic of them have some foundation in fact. The Patrick of controversy is now by birth a French man, now an Irishman; now of the third century, now mythical; now a Presbyterian, now a devoted follower of the Roman Church; now deriving his orders from Scotland and now from Rome; now remarkably successful. now really accomplishing very little.
Patrick %VaS emphatieally a man of deeds and not of words, and so his literary remains are few. though of great interest. First is his auto biography. which he calls his Confession. This was written in Latin. in which tongue he had be come very rusty. Next eulaes his Epistle to Coroticus. a Welsh prinee. who had taken eap tive some of the Irish Christians. Patrick wrote to secure. if possible, their release. Finally, his hymn in Irish, called a 'Breastplate,' which is a confession of faith, showing plainly the very simple character of Patrick's faith. other remains bearing his name have not such good claim to be called genuine. All his remains, genuine and disputed, are in Migne, Patr. LaL, also in better shape with the Tripartite Life, one of the sources of his biography. in the "[tolls Series," No. 89, two parts, edited V Whit ley Stokes (London. 1887). For English trans lations of his genuine works and notes. consult: Wright, The 'Writings of Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland (London, 1889) ; and Olden. Epistles and Hymns of Saint Patrick (Dublin, 1870: 3d ed. 1S95). For his life, consult: Miss Cusack, Life of Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland 1871, with a translation of the Tripartite Life from the original Irish by Hennessey) ; also Todd, Saint Patrick, Apostle of Ireland (Dublin, 1864); Morris, Ireland and Saint Patrick (London, 1888) ; Newell. Saint Patrick, His Lifc and T«whing (ib., 1S90) ; Shearman, Loca Patriciana (ib., 1879).