The Writings of Saint Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland/Notes on The Confession of Tours

by Saint Patrick

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THE CONFESSION OF TOURS.

 

1. The original is here 'rex regum, dominus dominantium,' which is an exact quotation (et only being omitted) of the Vulgate rendering of Rev. xix. 16.
2. The phrase here employed, 'arbiter omnis seculi,' conveys a deep thought, if we could regard the writer as fully conscious of the difference in meaning between the Latin words 'arbiter' and 'judex,' the former of which signifies one who gives judgment according to what is right and equitable, the latter, one who judges according to strict law.
3. The expression, 'magister gentibus,' here employed is somewhat peculiar.
4. 'Vita perpetua.'
5. 'Lætitia in veritate.'
6. 'Tu es exultatio in æterna patria.'
7. The original is here 'lux lucis,' which must be distinguished from the Latin 'lumen de lumine,' used as the translation of the expression in the Nicene Creed, φῶς ἐκ φωτός, which conveys the idea of Christ as the Light proceeding from the Father, the fountain of light.
8. 1 Tim. ii. 4, the portion enclosed within inverted commas is identical with the Vulgate translation. Hence we have given the wording of the Rheims translation in the so-called Douay Bible.
9. This is the Douay rendering of Ezek. xviii. 21, as the Latin of the original of the words under quotation marks is identical with the Vulgate of that passage, 'vita vivet et non morietur.'
10. Lat. 'in omni corde.'
11. Lat. 'multiplicata sunt delicta mea super me.' Such passages as Isa. lix, 12 and Psa. xl. 12 may have been in the writer's mind, but there is no actual quotation of Scripture.
12. Lat. 'per nos.'
13. The Latin here is 'et quod velle nos dicimus, nostris actibus adprobamus.' M. Berger suggests that nos is a mistake for non. We have followed his suggestion in the translation above, but with some hesitation.
14. The Latin is 'quia in sacramentis tuis meus sensus infirmus est.' The words are easy to translate, though the meaning conveyed thereby is not quite clear.
15. Lat. 'qui ex nobis duro corde verba non suscipis.'
16. The Latin is here at fault. 'Jhesus Christus Dominus noster' is in the nominative, and not in the vocative case.
17. The Latin here is faulty, 'ego peccavi in cælo et in terra et coram te.' The Vulgate in Luke xv. 21 has correctly 'peccavi in cœlum et coram te.'
18. Lat. 'luxoriam' instead of 'luxuriam.'
19. Lat. 'peccavi per fornicationem et per gulam.'
20. Lat. 'peccavi per instabilitatem mentis fidei et per dubietatis impietatem.'
21. Lat. 'peccavi per vagationem et per discretionem mentis meæ.' In late Latin 'discretio' is sometimes used in the meaning of judgment, perhaps here with the idea of straining after matters too high, Comp. Psa. cxxxi.
22. The MS. has 'per observationem.' M. Berger corrects 'per [in]observationem.'
23. The Latin is, 'per amissionem bonorum constitutorum.'
24. The Latin is, 'per accidiam vanam et per stuporem mentis.' 'Accidia,' more correctly spelled 'acedia' (see Du Cange's Glossarium med. et infimæ Latin.), is the Greek ἀκηδία, loss of care, and then grief, or melancholy, sometimes arising from ennui. Jerome explains 'acedia' as a disease common among monks.
25. Compare the references to spells and other divinations of that kind in the Hymn of St. Patrick.
26. Lat. 'per scrutationem Majestatis Dei.'
27. Lat. 'per dominici diei operationes et per inlecebr[os]as cogitationes.' So M. Berger corrects the MS. reading.
28. Lat. 'per tristitiam seculi,' a thought evidently borrowed from 2 Cor. vii. 10, where the same expression is used in the Vulgate.
29. Lat. 'et per amorem pecuniæ;' comp. 1 Tim. vi. 10, but the Vulgate has there 'cupiditas' and not 'amor pecuniæ.'
30. Lat. 'per commessationem.'
31. Compare the story of St. Patrick having refused the honey offered in sacrifice to false gods, as told in his Confession, at p. 44.
32. Lat, 'sed habeo te sacerdotem summum ad quem confiteor omnia peccata mea.'
33. Lat. 'Id tibi soli, Deus meus.'
34. Quoted exactly from the Vulgate version, Psa. l. 6 (in English version, Psa. li. 4).
35. Lat. 'fletum.'
36. The Lat. is identical with that in Psa. l. 13 in the Vulgate version; the Psalm in the English version is Psa. li. 11.
37. Compare St. Patrick's references to the devil in the Epistle to Coroticus, pp. 68 and 69.
38. Lat. 'doctrinam meam.'
39. A quotation from the Vulgate version, Psa. cxlii, 10, with the insertion of the words 'tu es doctor meus et,' 'Thou art my teacher and.' The Psalm in the English Bible is Psa. cxliii, 10