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Ms former slave. St. Patrick then re- traced his steps to Magh-inis (Lecale) where his friend Dichu resided, and spent some time teaching and preaching in the neighbourhood. There the faith first began to spread. Having thus laid the foundation of Christianity in the north, he determined to celebrate Easter at Tara, and accordingly went by sea to the mouth of the Boyne, and proceeded on foot up the valley to the seat of the supreme power in Ireland. At Slaue he lighted his Pas- chal fire. It was the season when, accord- ing to pagan custom, every light throughout the country should be extinguished. St. Patrick's fire, seen from Tara, caused astonishment and indignation, and the Ard Kigh demanded who was guilty of such presumption. The druids declared that it was a light that unless immediately extinguished would last for ever. St. Patrick was summoned into the King's (Laoghaire's) presence. Then we are told of a contest between St. Patrick and the King's druids, evidently suggested by the Old Testament narrative of the conflict between Elijah and the priests of Baal. The Saint discomfited the druids, and next day preached before the King and his court. On this occasion he is said first to have recited his hymn, commencing: "I bind to myself to-day the strong power of an invocation of the Trinity, the faith of the Trinity in unity, the Creator of the elements." Dr. Todd says that " internal evidence is in favour of the antiquity and authenticity of this composition." St. Patrick, although making a strong impression upon many members of the court, was unable to convert Laoghaire himself, who ended his life a pagan. Yet no opposition was made to his freely preaching and teach- ing throughout the country. Christianity was gladly accepted; churches began to rise on every side, and teachers and bishops were consecrated. The Book of Armagh gives an extremely interesting account of St. Patrick's interview with the Princesses Ethne and Fedelm, hard by a fountain on the side of Cruachan, in Eoscommon, and of the discussion between them regarding Christianity. He spent altogether seven years in Connaught before revisiting Ulster, and then proceeded southwards through Meath, by Naas, and on to Wicklow. Etracing his steps, he founded churches in Ossory, and journeyed to Cashel. St, Patrick spent seven years in Munster. About 445 he founded Armagh the chief Daire presenting to him the site for the city, together with the rights of chieftain- ship, which descended to his successors in the see, and contributed to the subsequent
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ecclesiastical importance of the place, St. Patrick next proceeded to reform the ancient druidical and pagan laws of Ireland, and made the beginning of the col- lection now known as the Senchus Mor, sometimes called Cain Patraic — Patrick's Law. In 460 he called a synod for the purpose of enacting canons for the go- vernment of the Church. The year 493 is generally accepted as the date of his death, which probably occurred at Saul, in the present County of Down. He is believed to have been buried at Downpatrick. Dr. Todd, in concluding his biography, writes: "On the whole, the biographers of St. Patrick, notwithstanding the admixture of much fable, have undoubtedly pourtrayed in his character the features of a great and judicious missionary. He seems to have made himself ' all things,' in accord- ance with the apostolic injunction, to the rude and barbarous tribes of Ireland. He dealt tenderly with their usages and prejudices. Although he sometimes felt it necessary to overturn their idols, and on some occasions risked his life, he was guilty of no offensive or unnecessary ico- noclasm. A native himself of another country, he adopted the language of the Irish tribes, and conformed to their politi- cal institutions."Concerning his Confes- sion Dr. Todd says: "It is older than any of the extant biogi-aphies of the Saint, for they almost all quote and adopt its words ; a copy of it was transcribed at the end of the 8th or very early in the 9th century into the collection called the Book of Armagh. This copy professes to have been taken from the autograph of St. Patrick,.. It was certainly trans- cribed from a manuscript which even in the year 800 was beginning to become obscure, and of whose obscurities the transcriber more than once complains. It possesses, therefore, no mean external evidence of authenticity," The Confession was first printed by Sir James Ware in 1656, Dr, Lanigan unhesitatingly accepts what Dr, Todd doubts the account of St, Patrick having been appointed by Pope Celestine to visit Ireland as an assistant to Palladius, A bell and portions of manuscript believed to have belonged to the Saint are preserved in the museum of the Eoyal Irish Academy. Mr. Nichol- son, basing his argument upon passages in the Confession, the fact of there having been many Christians in Ireland at the date assigned to the Saint's advent, and the legends of conferences between Ossian and St. Patrick, has arrived at the conclusion that St, Patrick lived in the 3rd, not the 5th century. Numerous
