Graham guardian., 1895-03-16
His Personality in Story and also in
Tradition.
fs Pictured By artists.
The Ideal Drawn by Poets and
Churchmen.
WHO HAVE STUDIED HIS CHARACTER.

HuV uhtu DlUDlDU nlD OuhNhOlEU,
How He appeared as a Boy, as a Youth,
and as an OLD Man---where
He Was Born.
There has been much specula-
tion among historical writers as to
the nationality and parentage of
st. Patrick. The most general
opinion on the subject has allotted
the birthplace of the saint to a
place called Fitzpatrick, near Dun
barton, in Scotland. DR.. Jaingan,
in his exhaustive treatise on Irish
ecclesiastical history, thinks weight
Of evidence is in favor of France,
as his native country, and he gives
the birthplace at or near Boulonge
Sur-Mer. Probus, also a very an
cient writer, assures us that Saint
Patrick governed the diocese of
Boulonge as bishop, before he set
out for Ireland. Cardinal Moran,
who wrote an article on the birth
place of st. Patrick in the Dublin
Review in 1880, states that he was
a Scotchman, and Father Hogan,
a learned Jesuit, inclines to the
same opinion, while well-known
writer says that he was the son OF
a British official employed under
the Romans, who had previously
achieved the conquest Of England
In work of rare historical val.
ne preserved in the library of Trim,
ity college, 6uSSlin, and known as
THE BOOK OF ARM>.GGH
it is stated that he was born II,
Britain, not far from the shores OF
the Irish sea, and st. Patrick him.
self in one Of the fragmentary
epistles which have decended to us
from that misty and remote period
in which he lived, says: 81 was
born the son of Calpurnius, who
was of the village of Bonavon
Thaburia" (not far from the sea.
Furthermore, the saint distinctly
speaks of himself in his ''confess-
ion" as being "after a few years
again in Britain with my parents, =
from which it appears that he orig
inally came from Britain, and that
his parents lived there. Probus
who is entitled to exceptional
weight on account of the early
period in which he lived ID. 652)
says: While as yet he patrick
was in this country with his father
Calpurnius, and his mother, Con,
essa, his brother, Ruchti, and hi.
sister, Mia, in their city, Arimurit
Ga Roman camp,) there took place
great sedition in these parts o.
the sons of Rethmit, the King o
Britain, devastating Arimuric anc
other adjoining places, and killing
Calpurnius and his wife, and carry
ing away captives their children
Patrick and his brother Ruchti
with their sister landed in Ireland
While therefore
NOTHING is POSITIVELY KNOWN
of st. Patrick's birthplace, no au
thor claims him as an Irishman
The probabilities are that he wa
the son of an English official, wh'
resided at former Roman CAM
near Both, and that the;place whicl
the saint speaks of as "Bonavon'
is the river Avon, which runs int
the Irish sea, and which sea II
those early Saxon times, was visit
ed by pirates who carried the bo.
a slave to Ireland. Patrick also
in his epistle to his friend Coroci
tus, speaks of the Irish as "a fol
eign nation" and he in turn wa
Tcerred to by the pagan Druid
of Meient Ireland, whom he wa
destind to supplant in royal favo
as a foreigner, coming from owe
the sea-" But whatever place 0
I =