Within Loigaire’s own immediate kingdom not a few churches claimed to have been founded by Patrick, one or two of them in the neighbourhood of the royal hill. But though the names of the places where these churches were built are recorded, they are in most cases for us mere names; the sites cannot be identified, or can only be guessed at. In a few places in the land of Meath we can localise the literary traditions. We may begin with a church which was founded not by the bishop himself, but by a disciple and, it was believed, a relative. Not far south from Tara lies Dunshaughlin, and the name, which represents[97] Domnach Sechnaill, “the church of Sechnall,” is supposed to preserve the name of Sechnall or Secundinus, said to have been Patrick’s nephew. Here Secundinus is related to have composed the first Latin hymn that was composed in Ireland, and the theme of the hymn was the apostolic work of his master. This hymn is undoubtedly contemporary, and there is no reason either to deny or to assert the authenticity of the tradition which ascribes it to Secundinus, but there are considerations which make it very difficult to accept his alleged relationship to Patrick.[98] It is composed in trochaic rhythm, but with almost complete disregard of metrical quantity,[99] and its twenty-three quatrains begin with the successive letters of the alphabet. Literary merit it has none, and the historian deplores that, instead of singing the general praises of Patrick’s virtues and weaving round him a mesh of religious phrases describing his work as pastor, messenger, and preacher, the author had thought well to mention some of his particular actions. But the hymn has its value. It is among the earliest memorials that we possess of his work; and if it was composed by Secundinus, it was written before Patrick had been fourteen years in Ireland, and is thus older than the greater memorial which he wrote himself before he died. And the writer may have derived his inspiration from Patrick’s own impressions about his work. We may suspect that some of the verses echo words which had fallen from Patrick’s lips in the hearing of his disciple, as when the master is compared to Paul,[100] or described as a fisherman setting his nets for the heathen, or called the light of the world, or a witness of God _in lege catholica_. But Secundinus, if he was the hymnographer, did not live to see the fuller realisation of Patrick’s claims to the fulsome laudations of his hymn. The disciple died long before the master had finished his “perfect life.”[101] [Sidenote: WORK IN MEATH]