The Lives of the Saints, Volume 03 (of 16): MarchBaring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Religion
The Lives of the Saints, Volume 03 (of 16): March
Baring-Gould, S. (Sabine)
Christian saints
There was also, or was supposed to be, a Patrick Senior, who is
commemorated on August 4th. This Patrick, according to Ranulph of
Chester (Polychronicron, lib. v. c. 4) was an Irish abbot, who in 850
retired to Glastonbury, and there died on the 25th of August. But that
being S. Bartholomew's day there, his festival was put back to the day
before. A great confusion arose, partly from this and partly from S.
Patrick being spoken of in the Annals as Sen Patrick, or Senex Patrick,
the old man Patrick, dying in 458.[61] Now, some of the writers of the
Lives were determined to give to S. Patrick a long life, equal to that
of Moses, just as they made the contest of Moses and the magicians a
model for a contest of Patrick and the Wise-men; so they made this Sen
Patrick into a Patrick the elder, distinct from the great apostle. And
this mistake has found its way into the catalogues of the archbishops
of Armagh, which has, besides S. Patrick, a namesake of his surnamed
_Senior_. But this subject has been further obscured by the fables
concerning Glastonbury, as the monks there, having a body of a Patrick
of Ireland, supposed or pretended that it was the body of the great S.
Patrick, and they asserted that he had come over to Glastonbury, and
had died and been buried there. The Irish writers finding themselves
puzzled by these Glastonbury stories, and unwilling to allow the
Glastonians the honour of having among them the remains of S. Patrick,
endeavoured to compromise the matter by giving them, instead of the
apostle, Sen-Patrick, or Patrick Senior. This, however, was not what
those monks wished for. They insisted on having the right S. Patrick,
and him alone they understood by the name of Patrick Senior.
[61] And in some of the most ancient lives, which speak of S. Patrick
at the end of his career as Sen-Patrick, the old man Patrick.
As soon as the news of the saint's death had spread throughout Ireland,
the clergy flocked from all quarters to celebrate his funeral. This
they did with extraordinary pomp and great profession of lights,
insomuch that for a considerable time, during which the obsequies were
continued, both day and night, we are told, darkness was dispelled,
and the whole time seemed one continuous day. This expression of
the ancient hymn of Fiech has given source to a legend that on this
eventful occasion the sun went not down, but real daylight lasted for
the whole function. It is said that a furious contest was very near
breaking out concerning the place in which S. Patrick's remains should
be deposited. To prevent bloodshed, matters were providentially so
managed that his body was interred at Down. It is said to have been
discovered and translated in 1185.
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