The life of St. Patrick and his place in historyBury, J. B. (John Bagnell)
History
The life of St. Patrick and his place in history
Bury, J. B. (John Bagnell)
Christian saints -- Ireland -- Biography; Ireland -- Church history -- To 1172; Patrick, Saint, 373?-463?
6. The notice of the visit to Ardd Senlis seems to imply an earlier
foundation there (317).
7. Sanctus Iarnascus in Mag-n-Airniu (320₂₆) is introduced as if
Christianity had already been planted there. It may be noticed that in
this passage the words _uiris uiiii. aut xii_. show that Tírechán was
using a written source; he was doubtful about the reading.
8. Entering Tirawley, Patrick crosses the Moy. This implies that he came
from the east, not from the south, as Tírechán’s itinerary would imply.
If we assume as probable the correctness of the statement that Patrick’s
work in Connaught belongs to three different visits, we may draw
tentatively the following conclusions:—
1. In the first visit, which was prior to A.D. 441, he worked (_a_) in
Tirerrill, and (_b_) in north Sligo, where Brón was ordained bishop for
his church (Killespugbrone) under Knocknaree. Perhaps he also visited
(_c_) the neighbourhood of Elphin. He visited (_d_) Mag Airthic and (_e_)
the district of the Ciarrigi, and (_f_) Mag-n-Airniu. In these regions he
converted the father of Sachellus.
It is possible that on this occasion he extended his journey to Mount
Aigli, and fulfilled the special aim of his missionary ambition by
planting a church (Ached Fobuir) near the southern limits of the forest
of Fochlad.
2. On another occasion he crossed the Shannon, as described by Tírechán,
at Lake Bofin; worked in Mag Glais and Mag Ái; revisited the Elphin
district; founded Baslic, proceeded to Lake Tecet, revisited Mag Airthic
and the Ciarrigi, etc.
3. On a third occasion, he proceeded straight (from Tara) to Tirawley in
the company of Endae and the sons of Amolngaid. After his plantation of
his faith in Tirawley he may have revisited other parts of Connaught. The
visit falls soon after Amolngaid’s death, which may have been c. 445 A.D.
It seems not at all unlikely that the second and third visits thus
distinguished occurred chronologically in reverse order. It must also be
borne in mind that he would have probably revisited many places in the
course of the two later visits.
Conclusions very similar to mine have been reached by Dr. Gwynn, who
discusses the subject in a “Supplemental Note to Chapter V.” of his
Introduction to the _Book of Armagh_. There are in the abbreviated
memoranda (which has been described above in Appendix A, ii. 2) vestiges
of the material used by Tírechán, and Dr. Gwynn points out that the first
group supplies evidence of the existence of a tradition as to Patrick’s
work in Tirerrill, independent of the rest of the itinerary which
Tírechán sketched. The first group is:—
Ailbe iSenchui. altare ... Machet Cetchen Rodán Mathona ...
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