I shall begin with the canons of the synods at which St. Patrick is said to have presided.

I. The first of these is a collection of thirty-four canons, entitled, "Synodus episcoporum id est, Patricii, Auxilii, et Isernini," which was first published in 1639 by Henry Spelman in his Concilia Magne Brit. et Hib., from a MS. of considerable antiquity in the library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. This synod is assigned to the year 450, as agreeing best with the fact that Auxilius and Iserninus were united with St. Patrick in holding it, and contains internal evidence of high antiquity. For-I. Can. 6 excommunicates all ecclesiastics whose wives appear unveiled in public-" Si uxor ejus non velato capite ambulaverit," from which it appears that celibacy was not then enjoined to the clergy.† 2. Some of the canons imply the existence of heathenism in the country. As Can. 8, which provides a penalty for an ecclesiastic who becomes surety for a Gentile; and Can. 14, which imposes a penance on such Christians as consult augurs, "more gentilium." The learned and copious notes of M. Villanueva have pointed out in these canons many remarkable usages and peculiarities of the primitive church of Ireland.§ Of the two bishops who were united with St.

• Harris assigns it to the year 448, (Ware's Bishops, p. 20,) and others, with still less probability, to the year 439. (See M. Villanueva's Scholia, No. 1, p. 6, et seq., and Ware's notes Opusc. S. Patr. p. 122.)

+ It is curious that M. Villanueva takes no notice of this passage, although he attempts to explain the circumstance of St. Patrick's father being a deacon, and his grandfather a priest, by supposing them to have taken orders after their marriage. In the copy of this canon, printed by Martene, ( Thesaur. Anecdot., tom. iv., col. 5,) the word ejus is left out-" Et uxor si non velato capite ambulaverit."

See also Can. 13 and 16.

§ One very remarkable peculiarity of the Irish church, introduced by St. Patrick, was the practice of annual synods or councils of the bishops; and hence the number of canons attributed to early periods of the church of Ireland which have come down to our times. Another peculiarity was the great number of episcopal sees. The author of the Tripartite Life tells us that St. Patrick consecrated 370 bishops, ( Vit. Trip., p. iii., c. 97.) Nonnius (Hist. Walens.) says 355, and Jocelin 350, (Vit. S. Pat., cap. 185.) From Can. 6 of the foregoing collection, it appears that St. Patrick either introduced the tonsure into Ireland, or changed the form of it—“ Quicunque clericus, ab ostiario usque ad sacerdotem......si non more Romano capilli ejus tonsi sunt......pariter a laicis contempnentur, et ab ecclesia separentur." Lanigan (Eccl. Hist. of Ireland, vol. iv., cap. 32, p. 361, &c.) doubts the genuineness of the clause relating to tonsure, which he thinks was not received in Ireland before the seventh or eighth century. M. Villanueva, however, maintains its genuineness, and endeavours to prove that the Roman form of tonsure was introduced by St. Patrick. This was sometimes called the form of St. Peter, being supposed to have been devised by that apostle-" Ad similitudinem spineæ coroneæ Domini." (Alcuin de Div. Off., apud Villan., p. 34.) There was another form of tonsure attributed to St. Paul, which was used in the eastern church, and probably in Ireland before the introduction of the Roman. But it is certain that in St. Jerome's time the shaven crown was peculiar to the priests of the heathen. (Bingham Antiq., book vi., ch. 4, $ 16.)

Patrick in drawing up these canons, it may be necessary to say, that St. Auxilius was the son of St. Patrick's sister, and was Bishop of Ceall-usaille, or Kill-vasille, or Kill-auxille, [i. e., cella Auxilii,] near Kildare. He died A.D. 459 or 460. (See his Life, published by Colgan, Acta SS. Hiberniæ, ad 19, Martii.) St. Iserninus, also called Esserinus, Esserninus, and sometimes Serenus, was Bishop of Kill-chuilinn, and died about the year

470.

II. Another collection of thirty-one canons or capitula, is also extant, and ascribed to St. Patrick. A copy of it was sent to Archbishop Ussher from a MS. at Angers, in France, by the celebrated Sirmondi, and was published in 1639 by Spelman, in his "Concilia Britanniæ." The date of this synod cannot be determined with any certainty, and the text is very corrupt.

III. Three canons, ascribed to St. Patrick, in an ancient Anglo-Saxon MS. collection of canons, (Codex Canonum Titulorum, lxvi.), which formerly belonged to the Augustinian monastery at Canterbury, and is now preserved in the Cotton Library, were first printed by Ware, in 1656, and afterwards by Wilkins, in his "Concilia Anglia et Hibernia" they are entitled "De Unitate Subditorum," "De Furto in Ecclesia Peracto," and "De Veris Viduis." From this last it would seem, that the office of deaconess was then in use in the Irish church. (See Bingham Antiq., book ii., chap. 22.)

To these M. Villanueva has added two canons relating to divorce and adultery, from the same MS. in Corpus Christi College library from which Spelman edited the synod of St. Patrick, St. Auxilius, and St. Iserninus, already noticed. The MS., however, does not distinctly say whether they are St. Patrick's

or not.

M. Villanueva has also annexed two canons, De Excommunicatione, and De Abstinentia Ciborum, which are attributed to St. Gildas, an Irish abbot, and Professor in the ancient school of Armagh in the fifth and beginning of the sixth century. The latter of these appears (but with some variations) in the collection of canons made in Ireland in the eighth century, published by D'Achery. M. Villanueva speaks of Gildas as identical with Gildas called Albanius, and Badonicus, without seeming to be aware that their identity has been questioned, and apparently on

Some of these canons are found in a MS. collection, which will be mentioned hereafter, entitled, "Codex Canonum Titulorum," lxvi., in the Cotton Library, and are there ascribed to St. Patrick, without any mention of the other bishops. (Ware, Annot., p. 123.)

Although Ware gives those canons as existing in the MS. at Bene't College, Cambridge, yet, as M. Villanueva remarks, he appears to have transcribed them from the Cotton MS., which he follows in his text.

Spicileg., tom. ix., lib. xii., cap. 14.

very sufficient grounds. But this is not the place to discuss the point.*

IV. The next is a collection of nine canons, ascribed to St. Patrick, in the Cotton MS. already noticed. Two of them (the fifth and sixth) were first published by Ussher, and the rest by Ware. They are assigned to the year 456.

V. The next is a short fragment, entitled, “ Fragmentum Synodi Ibernensis," which determines the punishment of such as may have shed the blood of, or robbed a bishop, a chieftain,† or a scribe. The first sentence is, perhaps, worth quoting, as containing apparently an allusion to the judges or brehons of Ireland, and also as shewing the esteem in which a scribe was then held-" Synodus Ibernensis decrevit: sanguis episcopi vel excelsi principis, vel scribæ, qui ad terram effunditur, si collirio indiguerit, cum qui effuderit sapientes crucifigi judicant, vel vii. ancillas reddat." This and another synod, called Synodus Sapientia, which consists of seven canons concerning the payment of tithes, are supposed by Martene to be the same, and to have been celebrated in St. Patrick's times. They are both edited by Martene, (Thesaur. Nov. Anecdot., tom. iv.,) from a MS. eight hundred years old.§ The canons on tithes enforce the duty of their payment ex jure naturali, as well as ex institutione ecclesia. It speaks also of the payment of first fruits, which are thus defined-" Primus fructus omnis rei, et animal quod primùm nascitur in anno." M. Villanueva remarks, "Singularia quidem sunt, et notatu digna quæ de solvendarum decimarum et primitiarum in Ibernia ratione ab hac synodo sanciuntur." So that it appears that the Irish were always "singular" in their mode of paying tithes. What would St. Patrick say to the manner in which they are paid now?

VI. The next piece is entitled "Proverbia S. Patrici," which, though not properly canons, are of the same character, and perhaps were collected from some of his synodical enactments. Joceline speaks of a book of Proverbs, (libellus Pro

See Ware's Writers of Ireland, by Harris; Butler, Lives of the Saints, in Jan. 29; O'Connor, Rer. Hib. Scriptores, vol. i.; Ussher, Brit. Eccl. Primord., cap. xiii. and xv.

So I at first thought the word princeps ought to be understood; but on consideration I suppose that it rather means an ecclesiastical superior, as Ware seems to have proved, in his note on Can. 2 and 3 of the collection of nine canons ascribed to St. Patrick, (p. 119). See also M. Villanueva's notes, p. 162. From the mention of the sapientes, Martene concludes that this fragment is a part of the Synodus Sapientia. I know not whether I am right in supposing the brehons to be alluded

to.

To explain this apparently curious alternative, the reader must be reminded that vii. ancillæ meant the price or ransom of seven female slaves. Collirium probably means a tomb, or mound of stones or earth, such as are common in Ireland. The word is not mentioned by Du Cange; but see Gesner.

§ Villanueva, Op. S. Patr., p. 170.

verbiorum,) but the fragment before us does not occupy an He says also that it was written in the Irish lan

octavo page.
guage "Ibernice scriptus, ædificatione plurima plenus."

These are all the canons attributable to St. Patrick which are known to exist, and it is probable that the great work, called in Irish "Canon Phadruig,” (i. e., Canons of Patrick,) which Joceline tells ust was compiled by the saint, consisted of a complete collection of those and other similar synods of which we have now no remains.

Of his other works, genuine and suppositious, the following have been published by Ware and M. Villanueva :

I. "Confessio S. Patricii de Vita et Conversatione sua." M. Villanueva, in his edition of this valuable relic, has followed the text as published by the Bollandists, adding, in the margin, the various readings of the four MSS. which Ware had collated for his edition of the Opuscula. These were the book of Armagh, a MS. in the Cotton Library, and two MSS. in the library of the Dean and Chapter of Salisbury. This work has also been called "Odoiporicon," or "Itinerarium," and its genuineness appears to be fully established. Of the indications of antiquity in which it abounds, one of the most remarkable is its quoting the Ante-Hieronymian version of the Bible. The version revised by Jerome, which afterwards became The Vulgate, had not been fully received in St. Patrick's time, although it came gradually into use very soon after. M. Villanueva does not appear to have been aware of the publication of Sir William Betham.

II. "S. Patricii Epistola ad Christianos Corotici tyranni subditos." This valuable document was first published by Sir James Ware from three MSS., one in the Cotton Library, and the others in the cathedral of Salisbury. M. Villanueva has given the various readings of these MSS. at the bottom of the page; but, in his text, he follows that published by the Bollandists, whom he has also followed in substituting the more correct title given above, instead of "Epistola ad Coroticum" prefixed to it by Ware. In the MS., however, from which the Bollandists copied, the Epistle follows the Confession immediately, with-. out any title; and the title they have given it is derived from internal evidence, for the writer says, (note 1), "Manu mea scripsi atque condidi verba ista danda atque tradenda militibus mittenda Corotici," which Sir William Betham, I know not why, has translated" I have written with my own hand these words to Coroticus, to be delivered by him to the soldiers." The whole tenor of the Epistle is inconsistent with the supposition of its

* Jocel. Vit. S. Pat., cap. clxxxv.

Irish Antiquarian Researches, vol. i., part. 1.

+ Loc. Cit.

being written to Coroticus, whom, in one place, he calls Coroticus the enemy, and adds, "Mente enim longe est a charitate Dei, traditor Christianorum in manus Scottorum atque Pictorum." And again-" Per tyrannidem Corotici, qui Deum non veretur." The genuineness of this Epistle is, I believe, universally admitted. Like the Confessio, it also quotes the AnteHieronymian version of the Bible, and contains many other indications of antiquity which I have not space to particularize. I must refer to the valuable paper on the Life of St. Patrick in the "British Magazine" for September, for further remarks on these interesting remains of the Apostle of Ireland.

III." Liber de Abusionibus Sæculi." This book has been published among the suppositious writings of St. Augustine and of St. Cyprian; but Ware suspects it to be the same as the book of Proverbs which Joceline mentions (in a passage already referred to) as having been written by St. Patrick in the Irish language. The Latin style is purer and more elegant than that of the Confessio and Epistola ad Corotici Subditos; and the modern Vulgate of Jerome is everywhere quoted, from which Ware conjectures that it was translated into Latin by some Irish scholar, after the death of St. Patrick.* It is ascribed to St. Patrick in an ancient collection of canonst made in Ireland in the eighth century, by Haelhucar and Arbedoc. But, for further information, the reader must be referred to Ware's notes,‡ and to the Monitum prefixed to this tract in M. Villanueva's edition of it.

IV. "Liber de Tribus Habitaculis." This work is ascribed to St. Patrick in an ancient MS. of it preserved in the Royal Library in Paris, and also in a MS. which Ware saw at Cambridge. It is printed by the Benedictine editors of St. Augustine among the spurious writings of that Father.§ By others it has been ascribed to St. Bernard. Ware, although he has published it in the Opuscula, decides against its having been written either by St. Patrick or by St. Augustine.

V. "Charta S. Patricii, sive de Antiquitate Avalonica." This piece is published in the Bibliotheca Patrum, and also by Sir James Ware. But it is evidently of a period much later than that of the Irish saint. It bears an indication of its spuri

To this conjecture, Butler (Lives of the Saints, in 17 Mar.) and Dr. Lanigan (Eccl. Hist. of Ireland, vol. i., chap. vii., p. 371) appear to subscribe.

+ The same from which D'Achery extracted and published some canons. (Analect., tom. ix., p. 491.) Haelhucar is described as an abbot, and Arbadoc as an ecclesiastic (clericus). The names appear to be Anglo-Saxon, not Irish.

Opusc. S. Patr. ascripta (p. 138). Compare also Pamelii Annot. in S. Cypriani Op., and the Admonitio of the Benedictine edition of St. Augustine.

Op. S. Aug., tom. vi. Append. col. 159.

Tom. v., parte iii. 793, colon. 1618.