^9 This comes very near to the thirty-five years,
assigned
for it, in Jocelyn's Life of our
"
saint.
"
saint.
O'Hanlon - Lives of the Irish Saints - v3
Todd remarks, that the Scot- tish or Irish traditions seem to fluctuate, be- tween the years 491 and 492 for St.
Patrick's death—corresponding with the common era 492 and 493.
This appears, from the sundry
The dates in those Annals are counted from
our Lord's Incarnation, a year before the
common era of our Lord's Nativity. See
"
St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland," chap, iii. , pp. 496, 497, and nn. i, 2, 3. Words- worth has his death, at this year ; and, in his "Occasional Sermons," he has some other observations on the age of St. Patrick,
St. Columba, &c. These were published in London, 1852,
' The Annals of — —as also in Tigemacli
p. 2.
79^ LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
Owing to the variations of statement, several writers, treating about St.
Patrick, decline to give any particular date for his death. ^9 Scotland is said
to have had the following holy men, who were contemporaneous with St.
Patrick, viz. : Sernan, Apostle of the Orkneys ; Ternan, the successor of St. Ninian ; Queran, Abbot of Benchor ; Kentigern, who was over the monas-
teryofCulross. ^° Yet,theforegoingstatementisextremelydoubtful,andit has not been calculated with very great accuracy.
The time spent on his Irish missionary career varies, according to the state- ment of various writers ; and, as a consequence, these have calculated it, in as- signing the date for his death. The Glastonians reduced it to eight,^' while Jocelyn allowed for it thirty-five, years. Again, the distinction between the Irish ApostleandSan-Patrick, with a confusion of the years for their respective deaths, and the differences of date, may serve to account for the divergencies of calcula- tion. Relativeperiodsandpersons,withtheireras,havebeenintroduced,like- wise,toincreasethedifficulty. Thus,Nenniushasstated,thatsixtyyearselapsed, between the death of St. Patrick and that of St. Brigid,^^ and he allows four years only to intervene, between the death of St. Brigid and the date for St.
" ab adventu ad mortem S. Patricii pro 58
annis in poemate anni Sexaginta cum aliquot mensibus ab Anno—432 ad 17 Martii Anno
"
493, statuuntur. " Ogygia," pars, iii. ,
cap. xci. , p. 424. Likewise, the Calendar of the O'Clerys has it, that our saint re-
of age, we are told, when he was sold as a
slave, 6 years in captivity, 40 in the Roman
provinces, and 70 years engaged on his Irish mission.
'^ "
See Chronicon. " Edition in Pertz's
" Monumenta Germanias Historica," tomus
v. , p. 536.
'5 As for instance, Peter Lombard, in
"De Regno Hibernias, Sanctorum Insula, Commentarius," &c. , cap. xiv. , pp. 76, 77. Rt. Rev. Bishop Moran's edition. Also, Bishop Challoner, in " Britannia Sancta," part, i. , pp. 180, 181 ; Le Conite de Monta-
signed his spirit, in the year 493. See, also, "
Colgan's Trias Thaumaturga," Quinta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. vii. , p. 234. In James Stuart's " Historical Me-
moirs of the City of Armagh," chap, i. , it is said, he died on the 17th of March, A. u. 493. See p. 85. Also, P. Pius Bonifacius
""
Gams, in his Series Episcoporum Eccle-
siae Catholicse quotquot innotuerunt a beato
Petro Apostolo," at p. 206.
'5 Among these may be"classed, the
learned Dr. Todd, in his St. Pati"ick,
lembert, in Les Moines d'Occident," tome ii. , liv. ix. ; Le Vicomte Hersart de la Ville-
marque, in "La Legende Celtique et la Poesie des Cloitres en Irlande, en Cambric
et en Bretagne," sect, xix. , p. 121. The
Apostle of Ireland," chap, iii. , p. 497 ; Rev. *'"
Robert King, in his Primer of the History of the Holy Catholic Church in Ireland," vol. i. , book i. , chap, v. , p. 493 ; the Rev.
Canon James Craigie Robertson's
"
of the Christian Church," vol. i. , book ii. ,
chap, xi. , sect. 4, p. 508; Archdeacon
Scottish Saints," pp. 431, 433. Citing
"
iii. , p. 4; Bishop Forbes' Kalendars of
Cotton's
Fasti Ecclesioe Hibernicas," vol. "
Cave and we find, in O'Flaherty,
Bishop Tanner's Bibliotheca Britannico-Hiber-
"
spent thirty-nine years, at Glastonbury. See ""
nica" these words :
gloria satur, tandem obiit A. ccccxciii. die 17 Martii, astatis suce 122. " See, p. 579,
Dierum, laborum, ac
Ussher's
Primordia," cap. xii. , p. 371,
History
and cap. xvii. , p. 879.
^^ '*
Brigida;
In the Ulster Annals, it has been assigned to
A. D. 524, while in some other documents it
ofhis
recti 26lh of the solar cycle, the Calends of "Primordia," cap. xvii. , p. 883, that,
and n. (m. ) '*
of dates and
to a
facts, preserved in the "Leabhar Breac,"
St. Patrick died "in the one hundred an—d
January being on Friday, the first day after the bissextile, on the l6th of the Calends of April, which, in that year, fell on Wednes- day, the 13th of the Moon. Fol. 99, b. I.
According
summary
twentieth— year
age,
i. e. , the27th
is in Ussher inhis placed 525. observes,
'' The of his life was 16 chronology
years
following Sigebert's chronology, who assigns St. Brigid's death to A. D. 518, such compu- tation should give A. D. 458, for the depar- ture of St. Patrick.
*3 Neimius " nativitate Cohmakillas says,
Roman Breviary only states, in St. Patrick's Office : Assiduis tandem curis pro Ecclesia
consumptus, verbo et opere clarus, in ex- trema senectute divinis Mysteriis refectus, obdormivit in Domino," &c. , noct. ii. , sect. vi. Officium S. Patricii.
^° See Camerarius, " De Statu Hominis Veteris simul ac novae Ecclesia;, et Inlide- lium Conversione," lib. i. , cap. iii. , sect. 2, p. 167.
-' The Glastonians state, that St. Patrick
Nennius writes, in his
num," cap. xi. : "A morte Patricii usque ad obitum Sanctas 60 anni sunt. "
Plistoria Brito-
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 799
Columba's birth. '^s This computation will bring us, towards the year 465. ^4 Dis-
crepancies exist, likewise, in all early chronology, and these affect every depart- mentofIrishhistoricalstudy. Thedatesaresubject,atpresent,tomuchdoubt, and a strong disposition to disbelieve in them prevails, except in so far as these can be supported by collateral authorities. ^s Again, some of our annalists have followed one ecclesiastical guide, and some another. Thus, Tigernach places the birth of Christ, in the year of the world 3952, Keating in 4035, and the Four Masters in the year 5201. The years of the several events, so chronicled, must be deducted from these numbers respectively, before we can compare them with—say the foundation of Rome—or with one another. That being done, however, it will be found, that the discrepancies are greatest, in the earliest events, and those differences tend to disappear, as we approach the common terminus. ^^
Tradition has generally assigned the death of St. Patrick to a Wednesday, onthe17thofMarch. Acceptingsuchdataaspossible,thedatea. d. 465, Dr. Lanigan^7—vvho discusses the matter with great critical ability—assigns for the death of St. Patrick. It so happens, that Wednesday, March 17th, fell out in 471. But, this advanced period seems inconsistent, with the chrono- logyassignedforSt. -Patrick'ssuccessors,intheSeeofArmagh. Byadopt- ing the year preferred by Dr. Lanigan, we have ten years^^ for the Apostle's administration of that See, and about thirty-three for the whole period of his Irish mission. -^ Again, March 17th fell on a Wednesday, in 482,3° as also in 493. 3' Thus, there were four years, in a course of less than thirty, to whichthatcriterionapplied. Asa. d. 490,491,or492,shouldnotservetoco- incide, very justly has Ussher argued for 493, on this score. ^^ Again, Jocelyn33 makes the year, 493, that of St. Patrick's death, and the first year of
theEmperorAnastasius,34whosereignbegan,however,in491. There,Jocelyn places it, in the pontificate of Pope Felix II. , alias III. 35 Yet, Dr. Lanigan
usque ad obitum SanctK Brigidae 4 sunt
anni. " St. Columkille was not bom before
the year 520.
^'' The
birth of Columba, seems to be 521.
admit, that this was known to Nennius
he might —have collected it from Adamnan and Bede it will follow, that he placed St. Brigid's death in 525. Deducting from this date the sixty years back to St. Patrick, we have, according to him, our Apostle's exit occurring, in the year 465.
-= The Christian world computes by the vulgar era, and calls the existing year that of our Lord, making, in the corrected com- putation of Petavius and of Ussher, four years in advance of the present date. In the most venerable records of past events, antecedent to our era, the dates vaiy to a
very much larger extent, according to the various manuscripts and the systems of their
interpreters. We need not, therefore, be surprised to find equal discrepancies of date,
in the pre-Christian period of our own annals ; but, we may observe, that the dis-
agreement arises, in a great measure, from the employment of different Anno Mundi epochs, for events before the birth of our Lord.
son's "Inaugural Lecture of the Meath An-
tiquarian Society," pp. 5, 6. Trim, 1879, 8vo.
day, in A. D. 460.
^* This very general opinion prevailed,
and, he assumes, that the See of Armagh had not been founded, before a. d. 454.
^9 This comes very near to the thirty-five years, assigned for it, in Jocelyn's Life of our
"
saint. See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's
tical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, vii. ,
sect, xii. , and nn. 129, 131, 134, 135, pp. 361 to 364.
^° This was the year, in which larlath died ; and, as Dr. Lanigan thinks, therefore it is inadmissible.
year,
17th
that has the best claim to the —If we and
of March fell on Monday, in A. D. 458, and on a Thurs»
-°
Saxon Chronicle. See Sir Samuel Fergu- sect, xxiv. , p. 46.
Beginning, say, with Bede and the
toire Ecclesiastique," tome vii. , liv. xxx. ,
^^ He that the shows,
^i Four years are marked with the Domi- nical letter C, viz. , A. D. 465, 471, 482 and 493.
^^ See " Primordia,^' cap. xvii. , p. 882.
33 See Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. cxcvi. , p. 108.
34 jocelyn also states, that Aurelius Am- brosius was then Governor in Britain, and that Forchernus reigned in Ireland,
35 This Pontiff, however, died the 25th of
February,
A. D.
492.
See " His- Fleury's
Ecclesias-
8oo LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[March 17.
contends, that St. Patrick could not have lived on to this late period; because his reputed biographers St. Mels^ and St. Kienan^? had died before it, as also some of our saint's predecessors, in the See of Armagh. 38 The age of St. Patrick, when he departed this life, has been as variedly estimated, as the year for his death. While some writers assert, moreover, that as many as eighty years39 are to be allowed for his Irish missionary career, others re- strict it to only a very few years. Thus, eighty-two,-*" eighty-three,t^ ninety-
two,42 ninety-seven,-ts and ninety-nine years,>' are stated. One hundred and eleven-ta or twelve years,i^ as also, one hundred and twenty*? years, are given.
3* If St. ;Mel, as asserted, wrote St.
Patrick's Life, he must have survived the
subject of his biography, and consequently, the most Blessed Primate died, prior to A. D. 488— the year assigned for St. Mel's death. Ussher saw into this difficulty, and accord- ingly added from himself to " S. Patricii" the words, " ad hue superstitis. " See " Index Chronologicus," ad A. D. cccclxxxviii. Ware, in "Writers of Ireland," acted in like manner. In such tracts, it is always pre-supposed, that the person, whose Acts are given, after per- severing unto the end, had been removed to heaven.
cxxxii. , must have been originally Ixxxii. — a c having been substituted for /, owing to the mistake of a copyist. The BoUandists calculate the sixty years of Apostolic life, commonly assigned for St. Patrick's mission in Ireland, from the time he was about twenty-two years of age, and not long re- leased from bondage. Their calculations, in trying to determine precisely the date for journeys, said to have been made to Rome by St. Patrick, after the commencement of his Irish Apostolate, are based on relations, the accuracy of which may well be ques-
tioned. Dr. " Ecclesiastical See, Lanigan's
History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, iv. , sect, ii. , and nn. 11, 12, 13, 14, pp. 133 to 135.
^' See the BoUandists' "Acta Sancto- rum," tomus ii. , Martii xvii. De S. Pa- tricio Episcopo, &c. , sect, v. , p. 523. There
they state, that having completed his eighty- second year, he died in his eighty-third. See
"
Adrian Baillet's Les Vies des Saints,"
&c. , tome iii. , xvii. Mars. S. Patrice, sect. i. ,p. 439. Ed. Paris, 1701, 8vo. Also, Abbe
" Histoire tome Ecclesiastique,"
if Mel had not written such Memoirs, the very report of his having done so shows, that he was considered as a sur-
Even,
vivor of St. Patrick.
3' St. Kienan of Duleek, who died in 487,
must have survived St. Patrick, if it be true,
as stated, that a Life of the latter glorious
Apostle had been composed, by the former saint. Colgan's evasion, that Kienan might have written that work before St. Patrick's death, will not answer the description of what is called the Life of a Saint. See
Fleury's
"Trias Thaumaturga," Quarta Appendix vi. , liv. xxvi. , sect, xiii. , p. 152, and Rohr-
ad Acta S. Patricii, pars, iii. , p. 217.
3** Thus, our Annalists place the death of
St. Benignus in 468, but his successor, St. Jar- lath, died in 482. He was again succeeded
by Cormac, in the See of Armagh, and his death is announced, to have taken place, in 497. Computations founded on St. Patrick's prophecies regarding St. Brendan, and those of Nennius, referring to St. Patrick, St. Columkille and St. Brigid, seem worthy of some consideration, on this subject of enquiry.
bacher's
"
Histoire Universelle de I'Eglise
3» Thus, "Vincentius octoginta annos numera—l: nee inveniri ejus sepulchrum,
Catholique," tome viii. , liv. xxxix. , p. 20. *^ According to a copy of ^larianus Scotus' Chronicon, at A. D. 491 ; but, here the text of Marianus seems to have been vitiated. Colgan enters upon an analysis of other passages, to slww, that Marianus wished to present St. Patrick, in various computations, as having lived one hundred
and twenty years.
^3 According to Richard Stanihurst, in his
"Vita S. Patricii," lib. ii. , p. 74.
** According to the Annals of Boyle, as
addit. " "
Centuria Ecclesiasticce
quoted by Ussher.
•5 to According
the Tablet. Glastonian
Quinta
Historice," tomus ii. , cap. x, , col. 1429.
° The BoUandists make our saint eighty-
John of Teignmouth and John Capgrave follow this account, in their Legends of the British Saints, when treating about St.
two years old, at the time of his death, viz. ,
A. D. 460. See Commentarius Prcevius ad Patrick.
"•^ " Vitam S. Patricii, sect. v. Porter has See Father Peter Ribadeneira's Lives
adopted the Bollandist doubts, concerning of the Saints," &c. , part i. , p. 159. Dublin the great number of years, commonly edition.
allowed for St. Patrick's life. See " Com- •7 The Irish Tripartite L—ife gives our pendium Annalium Ecclesise Regni Hiber- Apostle this number of years thus differing
nire," p. 126. Baronius, in "Annales from the Latin Tripartite, in one passage, Ecclesiastici," tomus vi. , sect, xx. , p. 399, but agreeing with it in another. See Miss
ad A. D. 49 1, and Petavius, have a conjecture, Cusack's "St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland," that the number of St. Patrick's years, as p. 500. The Breviary of Aberdeen states, found in Probus, to have been written that he lived to be 120 years. See, also,
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. Sot
But, Rev. Dr. Lanigan argues, that the latter computation was chiefly owing to the theories of earUer authors, when dividing the missionary acts of St.
Patrick,"*^ into cycles of years, so as to give him altogether 120 years,''^ as the
Irish PoemS'— Patrick's Testaments^ endeavours to distribute the presumed 120 years of his life into even cycles. But, this tract was evidently written, long after the
term of his mortal — A pilgrimage. ^" spurious
called
St.
saint's death. 53
Two years and six score was his age, or one hundred and
twenty-two years, according to the Rev. Jeoffry Keating,54 the O'Clerys' Calendar,andvariousotherauthorities. s5 Ourglorioussaintdied,attheage
of a hundred and
Again, one hundred and thirty-one,57 as also, one hundred and thirty-two^^
to the account of — twenty-three years, according Jocelyn. 5^
James Stuart's "Historical Memoirs of the Patrick's age. See cent, i. , sect, xliiii. , p.
City of Armagh," chap, i. , p. 85, and Archdeacon Cotton's "Fasti Ecclesise Hi-
bcrnicse," vol. iii. , p. 4.
"^ Thus, the Abbate Certani has it :
"Cose neir anno cento e venti di sua eta,
—
43-
55 Such as Sigebert, in his Chronicle, at
A. D. 491, Florence of Worcester, Matthew
of Westminster, a copy of Marianus Scotus,
Raynulphus, Roger of Wendover, and the
" Centuria Ecclesiasticae " Quinta Historic,
cap. X. , col.
The dates in those Annals are counted from
our Lord's Incarnation, a year before the
common era of our Lord's Nativity. See
"
St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland," chap, iii. , pp. 496, 497, and nn. i, 2, 3. Words- worth has his death, at this year ; and, in his "Occasional Sermons," he has some other observations on the age of St. Patrick,
St. Columba, &c. These were published in London, 1852,
' The Annals of — —as also in Tigemacli
p. 2.
79^ LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. [March 17.
Owing to the variations of statement, several writers, treating about St.
Patrick, decline to give any particular date for his death. ^9 Scotland is said
to have had the following holy men, who were contemporaneous with St.
Patrick, viz. : Sernan, Apostle of the Orkneys ; Ternan, the successor of St. Ninian ; Queran, Abbot of Benchor ; Kentigern, who was over the monas-
teryofCulross. ^° Yet,theforegoingstatementisextremelydoubtful,andit has not been calculated with very great accuracy.
The time spent on his Irish missionary career varies, according to the state- ment of various writers ; and, as a consequence, these have calculated it, in as- signing the date for his death. The Glastonians reduced it to eight,^' while Jocelyn allowed for it thirty-five, years. Again, the distinction between the Irish ApostleandSan-Patrick, with a confusion of the years for their respective deaths, and the differences of date, may serve to account for the divergencies of calcula- tion. Relativeperiodsandpersons,withtheireras,havebeenintroduced,like- wise,toincreasethedifficulty. Thus,Nenniushasstated,thatsixtyyearselapsed, between the death of St. Patrick and that of St. Brigid,^^ and he allows four years only to intervene, between the death of St. Brigid and the date for St.
" ab adventu ad mortem S. Patricii pro 58
annis in poemate anni Sexaginta cum aliquot mensibus ab Anno—432 ad 17 Martii Anno
"
493, statuuntur. " Ogygia," pars, iii. ,
cap. xci. , p. 424. Likewise, the Calendar of the O'Clerys has it, that our saint re-
of age, we are told, when he was sold as a
slave, 6 years in captivity, 40 in the Roman
provinces, and 70 years engaged on his Irish mission.
'^ "
See Chronicon. " Edition in Pertz's
" Monumenta Germanias Historica," tomus
v. , p. 536.
'5 As for instance, Peter Lombard, in
"De Regno Hibernias, Sanctorum Insula, Commentarius," &c. , cap. xiv. , pp. 76, 77. Rt. Rev. Bishop Moran's edition. Also, Bishop Challoner, in " Britannia Sancta," part, i. , pp. 180, 181 ; Le Conite de Monta-
signed his spirit, in the year 493. See, also, "
Colgan's Trias Thaumaturga," Quinta Appendix ad Acta S. Patricii, cap. vii. , p. 234. In James Stuart's " Historical Me-
moirs of the City of Armagh," chap, i. , it is said, he died on the 17th of March, A. u. 493. See p. 85. Also, P. Pius Bonifacius
""
Gams, in his Series Episcoporum Eccle-
siae Catholicse quotquot innotuerunt a beato
Petro Apostolo," at p. 206.
'5 Among these may be"classed, the
learned Dr. Todd, in his St. Pati"ick,
lembert, in Les Moines d'Occident," tome ii. , liv. ix. ; Le Vicomte Hersart de la Ville-
marque, in "La Legende Celtique et la Poesie des Cloitres en Irlande, en Cambric
et en Bretagne," sect, xix. , p. 121. The
Apostle of Ireland," chap, iii. , p. 497 ; Rev. *'"
Robert King, in his Primer of the History of the Holy Catholic Church in Ireland," vol. i. , book i. , chap, v. , p. 493 ; the Rev.
Canon James Craigie Robertson's
"
of the Christian Church," vol. i. , book ii. ,
chap, xi. , sect. 4, p. 508; Archdeacon
Scottish Saints," pp. 431, 433. Citing
"
iii. , p. 4; Bishop Forbes' Kalendars of
Cotton's
Fasti Ecclesioe Hibernicas," vol. "
Cave and we find, in O'Flaherty,
Bishop Tanner's Bibliotheca Britannico-Hiber-
"
spent thirty-nine years, at Glastonbury. See ""
nica" these words :
gloria satur, tandem obiit A. ccccxciii. die 17 Martii, astatis suce 122. " See, p. 579,
Dierum, laborum, ac
Ussher's
Primordia," cap. xii. , p. 371,
History
and cap. xvii. , p. 879.
^^ '*
Brigida;
In the Ulster Annals, it has been assigned to
A. D. 524, while in some other documents it
ofhis
recti 26lh of the solar cycle, the Calends of "Primordia," cap. xvii. , p. 883, that,
and n. (m. ) '*
of dates and
to a
facts, preserved in the "Leabhar Breac,"
St. Patrick died "in the one hundred an—d
January being on Friday, the first day after the bissextile, on the l6th of the Calends of April, which, in that year, fell on Wednes- day, the 13th of the Moon. Fol. 99, b. I.
According
summary
twentieth— year
age,
i. e. , the27th
is in Ussher inhis placed 525. observes,
'' The of his life was 16 chronology
years
following Sigebert's chronology, who assigns St. Brigid's death to A. D. 518, such compu- tation should give A. D. 458, for the depar- ture of St. Patrick.
*3 Neimius " nativitate Cohmakillas says,
Roman Breviary only states, in St. Patrick's Office : Assiduis tandem curis pro Ecclesia
consumptus, verbo et opere clarus, in ex- trema senectute divinis Mysteriis refectus, obdormivit in Domino," &c. , noct. ii. , sect. vi. Officium S. Patricii.
^° See Camerarius, " De Statu Hominis Veteris simul ac novae Ecclesia;, et Inlide- lium Conversione," lib. i. , cap. iii. , sect. 2, p. 167.
-' The Glastonians state, that St. Patrick
Nennius writes, in his
num," cap. xi. : "A morte Patricii usque ad obitum Sanctas 60 anni sunt. "
Plistoria Brito-
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. 799
Columba's birth. '^s This computation will bring us, towards the year 465. ^4 Dis-
crepancies exist, likewise, in all early chronology, and these affect every depart- mentofIrishhistoricalstudy. Thedatesaresubject,atpresent,tomuchdoubt, and a strong disposition to disbelieve in them prevails, except in so far as these can be supported by collateral authorities. ^s Again, some of our annalists have followed one ecclesiastical guide, and some another. Thus, Tigernach places the birth of Christ, in the year of the world 3952, Keating in 4035, and the Four Masters in the year 5201. The years of the several events, so chronicled, must be deducted from these numbers respectively, before we can compare them with—say the foundation of Rome—or with one another. That being done, however, it will be found, that the discrepancies are greatest, in the earliest events, and those differences tend to disappear, as we approach the common terminus. ^^
Tradition has generally assigned the death of St. Patrick to a Wednesday, onthe17thofMarch. Acceptingsuchdataaspossible,thedatea. d. 465, Dr. Lanigan^7—vvho discusses the matter with great critical ability—assigns for the death of St. Patrick. It so happens, that Wednesday, March 17th, fell out in 471. But, this advanced period seems inconsistent, with the chrono- logyassignedforSt. -Patrick'ssuccessors,intheSeeofArmagh. Byadopt- ing the year preferred by Dr. Lanigan, we have ten years^^ for the Apostle's administration of that See, and about thirty-three for the whole period of his Irish mission. -^ Again, March 17th fell on a Wednesday, in 482,3° as also in 493. 3' Thus, there were four years, in a course of less than thirty, to whichthatcriterionapplied. Asa. d. 490,491,or492,shouldnotservetoco- incide, very justly has Ussher argued for 493, on this score. ^^ Again, Jocelyn33 makes the year, 493, that of St. Patrick's death, and the first year of
theEmperorAnastasius,34whosereignbegan,however,in491. There,Jocelyn places it, in the pontificate of Pope Felix II. , alias III. 35 Yet, Dr. Lanigan
usque ad obitum SanctK Brigidae 4 sunt
anni. " St. Columkille was not bom before
the year 520.
^'' The
birth of Columba, seems to be 521.
admit, that this was known to Nennius
he might —have collected it from Adamnan and Bede it will follow, that he placed St. Brigid's death in 525. Deducting from this date the sixty years back to St. Patrick, we have, according to him, our Apostle's exit occurring, in the year 465.
-= The Christian world computes by the vulgar era, and calls the existing year that of our Lord, making, in the corrected com- putation of Petavius and of Ussher, four years in advance of the present date. In the most venerable records of past events, antecedent to our era, the dates vaiy to a
very much larger extent, according to the various manuscripts and the systems of their
interpreters. We need not, therefore, be surprised to find equal discrepancies of date,
in the pre-Christian period of our own annals ; but, we may observe, that the dis-
agreement arises, in a great measure, from the employment of different Anno Mundi epochs, for events before the birth of our Lord.
son's "Inaugural Lecture of the Meath An-
tiquarian Society," pp. 5, 6. Trim, 1879, 8vo.
day, in A. D. 460.
^* This very general opinion prevailed,
and, he assumes, that the See of Armagh had not been founded, before a. d. 454.
^9 This comes very near to the thirty-five years, assigned for it, in Jocelyn's Life of our
"
saint. See Rev. Dr. Lanigan's
tical History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, vii. ,
sect, xii. , and nn. 129, 131, 134, 135, pp. 361 to 364.
^° This was the year, in which larlath died ; and, as Dr. Lanigan thinks, therefore it is inadmissible.
year,
17th
that has the best claim to the —If we and
of March fell on Monday, in A. D. 458, and on a Thurs»
-°
Saxon Chronicle. See Sir Samuel Fergu- sect, xxiv. , p. 46.
Beginning, say, with Bede and the
toire Ecclesiastique," tome vii. , liv. xxx. ,
^^ He that the shows,
^i Four years are marked with the Domi- nical letter C, viz. , A. D. 465, 471, 482 and 493.
^^ See " Primordia,^' cap. xvii. , p. 882.
33 See Sexta Vita S. Patricii, cap. cxcvi. , p. 108.
34 jocelyn also states, that Aurelius Am- brosius was then Governor in Britain, and that Forchernus reigned in Ireland,
35 This Pontiff, however, died the 25th of
February,
A. D.
492.
See " His- Fleury's
Ecclesias-
8oo LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS.
[March 17.
contends, that St. Patrick could not have lived on to this late period; because his reputed biographers St. Mels^ and St. Kienan^? had died before it, as also some of our saint's predecessors, in the See of Armagh. 38 The age of St. Patrick, when he departed this life, has been as variedly estimated, as the year for his death. While some writers assert, moreover, that as many as eighty years39 are to be allowed for his Irish missionary career, others re- strict it to only a very few years. Thus, eighty-two,-*" eighty-three,t^ ninety-
two,42 ninety-seven,-ts and ninety-nine years,>' are stated. One hundred and eleven-ta or twelve years,i^ as also, one hundred and twenty*? years, are given.
3* If St. ;Mel, as asserted, wrote St.
Patrick's Life, he must have survived the
subject of his biography, and consequently, the most Blessed Primate died, prior to A. D. 488— the year assigned for St. Mel's death. Ussher saw into this difficulty, and accord- ingly added from himself to " S. Patricii" the words, " ad hue superstitis. " See " Index Chronologicus," ad A. D. cccclxxxviii. Ware, in "Writers of Ireland," acted in like manner. In such tracts, it is always pre-supposed, that the person, whose Acts are given, after per- severing unto the end, had been removed to heaven.
cxxxii. , must have been originally Ixxxii. — a c having been substituted for /, owing to the mistake of a copyist. The BoUandists calculate the sixty years of Apostolic life, commonly assigned for St. Patrick's mission in Ireland, from the time he was about twenty-two years of age, and not long re- leased from bondage. Their calculations, in trying to determine precisely the date for journeys, said to have been made to Rome by St. Patrick, after the commencement of his Irish Apostolate, are based on relations, the accuracy of which may well be ques-
tioned. Dr. " Ecclesiastical See, Lanigan's
History of Ireland," vol. i. , chap, iv. , sect, ii. , and nn. 11, 12, 13, 14, pp. 133 to 135.
^' See the BoUandists' "Acta Sancto- rum," tomus ii. , Martii xvii. De S. Pa- tricio Episcopo, &c. , sect, v. , p. 523. There
they state, that having completed his eighty- second year, he died in his eighty-third. See
"
Adrian Baillet's Les Vies des Saints,"
&c. , tome iii. , xvii. Mars. S. Patrice, sect. i. ,p. 439. Ed. Paris, 1701, 8vo. Also, Abbe
" Histoire tome Ecclesiastique,"
if Mel had not written such Memoirs, the very report of his having done so shows, that he was considered as a sur-
Even,
vivor of St. Patrick.
3' St. Kienan of Duleek, who died in 487,
must have survived St. Patrick, if it be true,
as stated, that a Life of the latter glorious
Apostle had been composed, by the former saint. Colgan's evasion, that Kienan might have written that work before St. Patrick's death, will not answer the description of what is called the Life of a Saint. See
Fleury's
"Trias Thaumaturga," Quarta Appendix vi. , liv. xxvi. , sect, xiii. , p. 152, and Rohr-
ad Acta S. Patricii, pars, iii. , p. 217.
3** Thus, our Annalists place the death of
St. Benignus in 468, but his successor, St. Jar- lath, died in 482. He was again succeeded
by Cormac, in the See of Armagh, and his death is announced, to have taken place, in 497. Computations founded on St. Patrick's prophecies regarding St. Brendan, and those of Nennius, referring to St. Patrick, St. Columkille and St. Brigid, seem worthy of some consideration, on this subject of enquiry.
bacher's
"
Histoire Universelle de I'Eglise
3» Thus, "Vincentius octoginta annos numera—l: nee inveniri ejus sepulchrum,
Catholique," tome viii. , liv. xxxix. , p. 20. *^ According to a copy of ^larianus Scotus' Chronicon, at A. D. 491 ; but, here the text of Marianus seems to have been vitiated. Colgan enters upon an analysis of other passages, to slww, that Marianus wished to present St. Patrick, in various computations, as having lived one hundred
and twenty years.
^3 According to Richard Stanihurst, in his
"Vita S. Patricii," lib. ii. , p. 74.
** According to the Annals of Boyle, as
addit. " "
Centuria Ecclesiasticce
quoted by Ussher.
•5 to According
the Tablet. Glastonian
Quinta
Historice," tomus ii. , cap. x, , col. 1429.
° The BoUandists make our saint eighty-
John of Teignmouth and John Capgrave follow this account, in their Legends of the British Saints, when treating about St.
two years old, at the time of his death, viz. ,
A. D. 460. See Commentarius Prcevius ad Patrick.
"•^ " Vitam S. Patricii, sect. v. Porter has See Father Peter Ribadeneira's Lives
adopted the Bollandist doubts, concerning of the Saints," &c. , part i. , p. 159. Dublin the great number of years, commonly edition.
allowed for St. Patrick's life. See " Com- •7 The Irish Tripartite L—ife gives our pendium Annalium Ecclesise Regni Hiber- Apostle this number of years thus differing
nire," p. 126. Baronius, in "Annales from the Latin Tripartite, in one passage, Ecclesiastici," tomus vi. , sect, xx. , p. 399, but agreeing with it in another. See Miss
ad A. D. 49 1, and Petavius, have a conjecture, Cusack's "St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland," that the number of St. Patrick's years, as p. 500. The Breviary of Aberdeen states, found in Probus, to have been written that he lived to be 120 years. See, also,
March 17. ] LIVES OF THE IRISH SAINTS. Sot
But, Rev. Dr. Lanigan argues, that the latter computation was chiefly owing to the theories of earUer authors, when dividing the missionary acts of St.
Patrick,"*^ into cycles of years, so as to give him altogether 120 years,''^ as the
Irish PoemS'— Patrick's Testaments^ endeavours to distribute the presumed 120 years of his life into even cycles. But, this tract was evidently written, long after the
term of his mortal — A pilgrimage. ^" spurious
called
St.
saint's death. 53
Two years and six score was his age, or one hundred and
twenty-two years, according to the Rev. Jeoffry Keating,54 the O'Clerys' Calendar,andvariousotherauthorities. s5 Ourglorioussaintdied,attheage
of a hundred and
Again, one hundred and thirty-one,57 as also, one hundred and thirty-two^^
to the account of — twenty-three years, according Jocelyn. 5^
James Stuart's "Historical Memoirs of the Patrick's age. See cent, i. , sect, xliiii. , p.
City of Armagh," chap, i. , p. 85, and Archdeacon Cotton's "Fasti Ecclesise Hi-
bcrnicse," vol. iii. , p. 4.
"^ Thus, the Abbate Certani has it :
"Cose neir anno cento e venti di sua eta,
—
43-
55 Such as Sigebert, in his Chronicle, at
A. D. 491, Florence of Worcester, Matthew
of Westminster, a copy of Marianus Scotus,
Raynulphus, Roger of Wendover, and the
" Centuria Ecclesiasticae " Quinta Historic,
cap. X. , col.
