re, 
9 
fessions of his great contemporary, St. Augustine of Hippo. In 
these two writings occur the allusions which are the only certain 
ground that we have to rely upon. It would take us too long to 
enter into the question of their authenticity. It must suffice to 
say that they are generally accepted as the genuine writings of the 
Saint. The Bollandist, for instance, whose name is synonymous for 
accurate and extensive scholarship, acknowledge their authenticity ; 
so does Archbishop Ussher. Dr. Todd, a recent Protestant his- 
torian, quotes in their favour Spelman, Ducange, Mabillon and 
others. In one word, they are quoted on all hands as our 
only and sufficient evidence for what we know of the Saint’s life. 
We shall rely for our materials, then, upon these two writings 
alone, leaving aside altogether the fuller, but much less authentic, 
details of the later lives. The later these are in date, and the 
further removed from original sources, the more detailed and 
dogmatic do they become. ‘The most recent ones are quite con- 
fident in their identification of localities which are barely referred 
to in the older documents. ‘These Lives are the original sources 
of many of the traditions about the Saint, but as authorities on 
archzeology are of the very slightest value. The one or two simple 
statements which the Saint makes about himself are worth more 
than all the guesses of later writers put together. 
This then is how the Saint speaks of himself :—‘‘ According to 
the flesh I am of noble birth, my father being a decurion; but I 
have bartered my nobility for the good of others. . . I, Patrick, 
had for father Calphurnius, who was of the town Banaven Tabernia. 
He had a farm close by where I was made captive. . . I was 
carried captive into Ireland with many thousands of men,—as we 
indeed deserved, for we had not kept the commandments nor 
obeyed our priests who taught us the way of salvation.” 
From these passages, and from others too long to quote, we 
learn the following facts. Saint Patrick was born at a place in 
Britain called “‘Banaven Taberniz” (Banavie of the Tents or 
Camps.) His father seems to have been an officer in a Roman 
legion stationed at that place, and to have been of Gaulish, or 
perhaps Frankish, nationality. His mother (Conchessa) was most 
