222 Proceedings of the Royal Irish Academy. 



being the home of his family. In Britannis ermn cum parentihus meis 

 (Conf. 23). Pergens in Brittanniis . . . quasi ad patriam et parentes 

 (Conf. 43). 



Moreover, it seems probable that he was of British race. At least 

 that is a plausible inference from the language he uses in Ep. §§ 2, 11 ^ 

 about Coroticus, who was most probably a JS'orth- British chieftain, 

 Non dico ciuihus meis neque ciuihus sanctorum Romanorum .... Si 

 mei me noyi cognoscunt. He was ashamed, that is, to own Coroticus and 

 his followers, as fellow-countrymen. They were "his own." Cf. 

 S. John i. 11. 



The father's name is variously spelt — Calpornus, Calpornius, 

 Calpurnius. We have seen that he was a decurio^ and possessed a 

 uillula. "We learn incidentally from Ep. 10 that he had a considerable 

 establishment, seruos et ancillas domus patris mei. Patrick emphasizes 

 more than once the fact that his father was in a good social position, 

 Bar em ingenuitatem meam (Conf. 37). Ingenuus fui secundum carnem; 

 ueyididi .... nohilitatem meam (Ep. 10). Calpornus was also a 

 deacon in the church, and his father again, Potitus, had been a 

 presbyter. The obvious meaning of Patrem hahui Calpornum 

 diaconum filium quendam Potiti preshyteri is that Calpornus and 

 Potitus were in Holy Orders when their children were born. Long 

 after the enactments of Popes Siricius (a.d. 385), Innocent I. 

 (a.d. 405), and Leo I. (a.d. 443), and the disciplinary canons of the 

 Councils of Orange (a.d. 441) and of Tours (a.d. 461), the law of 

 clerical celibacy was not strictly observed, even in places less remote 

 than was Bannavem Taberniae. The remarkable thing about this 

 statement is that it is made without any explanation, qualification, or 

 apology. The writer is a bishop himself (Ep. 1) ; he fully appreciates 

 the spiritual value of celibacy (Conf. 41, 42) ; he has not always lived 

 on the confines of civilisation ; he has spent some time in Gaul (Conf. 

 43) ; and after we have made every allowance for a son's reluctance to 

 pass judgment on his father, it must be acknowledged that the inci- 

 dental language of Patrick here indicates a date not later than the 

 fifth century. The point is, not what was allowed or connived at in 

 later times, but what was likely to be the character of public utter- 

 ances by church dignitaries on the subject of clerical marriage. 



As we have touched upon the question of the date of these 

 writings, some other indications of the fifth century may here be 

 noticed. In Ep. 14, the Pranks are spoken of as heathen, gentes, who 

 raided the Christians in Gaul. This points to a date anterior to a.d. 

 496, when the Pranks with their King, Clovis, entered the Christian 



