White — Latin Writings of St. Fatrich, 221 



writings, considered by themselves, without reference to any other 

 document whatever. We shall endeavour to deal with them as if they 

 were a recent find in some European library, and as if nothing had been 

 hitherto known of the church-history of Ireland. 



The first of these two documents is styled by the writer himself 

 his Confession, in §§ 61, 62. Breuiter exponam uerha confessionis meae 

 . . . , Haec est confessio ynea ; and the main purport of this confessio 

 is summed up in the words, Testijicor .... quia mimqiiam hahui 

 aliquam occasionem praeter euangelium et promissa illius ut imquam 

 redirem ad gentem ilJam unde prim uix euaseram. I testify .... 

 that I never had any cause, except the Gospel and His promises, for 

 ever returning to that nation from wlience previously I scarcely 

 escaped." 



To return to Ireland and preach the Gospel there, was then the 

 uotum animae suae to which he alludes in § 6, Opto fratrihus et cognatis 

 meis scire qualitatem meam ut possint perspicere uoium animae meae, I 

 wish my brethren and kinsfolk to know what manner of man I am, 

 that they may be able to understand the desire of my soul." 



We gather from other statements why it was that this desire, 

 which would seem to us a laudable one, should need any apology. His 

 action was not only against the wish of his family, but also against 

 that of " not a few of his elders " (§ 37). Many," he says, " were 

 forbidding this embassage .... and saying : ' Why does this 

 fellow thrust himself into danger amongst enemies who have no know- 

 ledge of God ?'.... It did not seem meet in their eyes on account 

 of my rusticity " (§ 46). This confessio is then an Apologia pro uita 

 sua rather than an autobiography ; and we need only expect to find in 

 it what seemed to Patrick the facts bearing immediately on his retui'n 

 to Ireland. But besides the vindication of his character and motives, 

 •Patrick informs us that he had also another object in writing, i.e. the 

 natural desire to leave behind him something by which he might be 

 remembered — a legacy to his brethren and spiritual children, to 

 strengthen and confirm their faith (§§ 14, 47). 



It is well to remember at the outset of our enquiiy that the writer 

 of the Confessio did not intend to give an account of his life ; but he 

 does incidentally give us some information about himself. He does 

 not expressly state where he was born ; but as his father owned a 

 small farm near a town, uicus, named Bannavem Tabemiae, and was, 

 moreover a decurio, i.e. a town councillor, presumably of that town, 

 we may safely assume that Patrick was born there. Bannavem 

 Taberniae was certainly in Britain, since he twice speaks of Britain as 



