points to the conclusion that the family was of Roman extraction; but his mother, whose name was Conchessa, was the daughter of Erkbalius, or Ocbasius, (Erkbald?) a Frank. [51] A Welsh tradition claims S. Patrick as the son of Mawon of Gower, in Glamorganshire. [52] The Morini occupied this part of Gaul; the name signifies their maritime position, as does Amorica, the district "by the sea." The ancient Amorica stretched along the whole of the north coast of Gaul; but the Norman invasion and settlement cut the two Celtic peoples of the Bretons and Morini apart. [53] This name, about the time of Constantine, supplanted the older Latin name of Gessoriacum. [Illustration: S. PATRICK. After Cahier. March 17.] His birth took place about the year 387, for at his consecration to the episcopate, a person divulged a fault he had committed thirty years before, when a boy of fifteen; and he was consecrated at the end of 431, or the beginning of 432; when the news of the death of Palladius reached him. When S. Patrick was sixteen years old, Nial Navigiallach, or Nial of the Nine Hostages, an Irish king, in ravaging the coasts of Great Britain and Gaul, entered the port of Bonona, in 403, and carried off S. Patrick and many other youths captive. On being brought to Ireland, S. Patrick became the servant or slave of a man named Miliac, or Milcho, who lived in Dalrhidia, which is now comprised within the county of Antrim. Some say that he was a prince; others that he was a _magus_, that is, invested with a religious function; and others represent him only as a rich man. S. Patrick calls his master merely "a man," without adding anything concerning his situation in life. With that profound humility, which every line written by this truly great saint breathes, he tells us that he had been very careless about religion when a boy; but that, when he found himself in the misery of slavery, God opened his eyes to behold the wondrous things of His law. His occupation was to tend sheep on the wild brown bogs; and amidst snow, frost, or rain, he rose before daylight, that he might "prevent the day-break" with his prayers.[54] [54] An instance of the way in which later writers have amplified the incidents may here be given. Probus adds that he diligently perused the psalter and hymns, and Jocelin that he read the whole psalter through every day. "As if," says Dr. Lanigan, "he could have found books containing them in the North of Ireland at that period, or, when suddenly made a prisoner, had time to provide himself with religious tracts, or, while still a careless boy, was anxious about them."