182. Vita S. Patricii, auctore Joscelino de Furnesio.
Incip. Prol." Plurimorum propositum erat et studium."
Incip. Vita.-"Extitit vir quidam Calphurnius nomine."
Expl.-"hujusmodi scripta incendio deleta sunt."*

This piece was first printed at Antwerp in 1514; by Messingham, in his "Florilegium;" in 1624, by Colgan, ii. 64. ;t and by the Bollandists in 1668 ("Acta Sanctorum," 17 March, ii. 540-580). See also the same work, 24 Aug. v. 741. col. 2. There is no Saint of whom more Lives have been written or

66

* Colgan adds: "Decessit enim S. Patricius anno Incarnationis Dominica cccc. nonagesimo tertio, pontificante Felice Papa, primo anno imperii "Anastasii Imperatoris, principantibus Aurelio Ambrosio in Britannia, "Forcherno in tota Hibernia, Jesu Christo monarchiam tenente in omnibus 66 et super omnia. Ipsi gloria, laus, honor, et imperium per infinita sæcula "sæculorum. Amen." This is added as a note in the " Acta Sanctorum." † Colgan prints seven Lives, and various other pieces.

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A large amount of information respecting St. Patrick and the writers of his Life has been collected by Archbishop Usher, in his "Antiq. Brit. "Eccl." c. xvii. p. 425, and by Henschenius in his Prolegomena to the Life of Patrick by Josceline, "Acta Sanct.” ii. 517 (March). See also "Opuscula S. Patricio adscripta, notis ad rem historicam antiquariam "spectantibus, illustrata opera et studio J. Waræi, 8vo. Lond. 1656." On this subject Colgan (Preface) writes :-"Inter multos namque qui "de virtutibus et gestis S. Patricii scripserunt, numerantur viginti circiter "Sanctorum albo adscripti, et ex his sex, nisi et septem, non solum ipsius "Sancti Patriarchæ synchroni, sed et discipuli, qui ipsas res gestas oculis conspexerunt, quorum sequentem elenchum, et tempus quo floruerint, paucis perstringo. S. Secundinus, Episcopus Domnachensis et ipsius S. "Patricii nepos ex sorore et in munere Primatis suffraganeus, anno 448 mor"tuus. S. Lomanus, ex sorore, nepos S. Patricii, et Episcopus Athrumensis, "circa annum 450, vel saltem ante an. 460, mortuus. S. Mel, Episcopus "Ardachadensis, ejusdem etiam ex alia sorore nepos, anno 488 mortuus. "S. Patricius, ex fratre nepos, qui paulo post mortem patris ac patrui sui anno 493 mortui, ejus acta scripsit. S. Benignus, S. Patricii discipulus, et " in Archiepiscopatu Ardmachano successor, quique proinde floruit anno "494. S. Fiecus, Archiepiscopus Lageniæ, qui de S. Patricii, paulo post ejus mortem, circa annum 500, laudibus et virtutibus patrii sermonis rythmum scripsit. S. Kienanus, Episcopus Damleigensis, qui anno 490 floruit. "S. Evinus, Abbas Rossensis, qui circa annum 550 floruit. Hos septem sanctos scripsisse Acta S. Patricii et singulos fuisse ejus discipulos (si S. "Evinum excipiam, quem non alio argumento, quam temporis quo floruit, "ratione inter ejus discipulos connumero) ac, etiam obiisse vel vixisse annis "memoratis diversis testibus et rationibus ostendo infra, 216 et sequen"tibus. Tres vero priores S. Patricii tunc viventis (ut ex dictis patet), "quatuor vero posteriores paulo post ejus mortem Acta scripserunt, ut loco "citato ostendi. Alii posterioris ætatis Actorum S. Patricii scriptores :-S.

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66

A.D, 493.

A.D. 493. fables told than of St. Patrick, the Apostle of Ireland. The

two principal ones are, that by Josceline, written in the 12th century, and that attributed to Probus, who is said to have lived in the ninth century; but they are both valueless for historical purposes, on account of their narratives being filled with alleged miracles and frivolous stories.

Josceline, who flourished about the year 1185, was a monk of Furness, and compiled this biography at the request of Thomas, Archbishop of Armagh, and others. It is a compilation from the legends relating to Patrick, current in Ireland. He quotes four Lives, written by the disciples of S. Patrick. He also wrote Lives of Bishop Kentigern, St. Helena, the mother of Constantine, and David, King of Scotland. Tanner, on the authority of Stowe (Hist. Lond. 525), and Pits (884), states that Josceline also wrote a 66 History of the Bishops of

Britain (De Britonum Episcopis)."

182 a. Vita S. Patricii.

MS. Bodl. Rawl. B. 485 ff. 1-46b§ vell. 4to. xiv. cent.

Incip.-" Multis præpositum erat et studio."

Expl.-"ipsi gloria, laus, et honor et imperium, per infinita "sæculorum sæcula. Amen."

Colophon." Explicit Vita sanctissimi patris Patricii.

"Columba Abbas anno 576 obiit. S. Vitanus, Episcopus Ardbrecanensis,

anno 655 decessit. S. Tirechanus, Episcopus, S. Vltani discipulus, floruit 66 anno 650. S. Eleranus, cognomento Sapiens, anno 664 al. 665 obiit. S. "Mochuatennus floruit anno 690 vel 700. S. Adamnanus, Abbas Hiensis, "obiit anno 703. S. Colmanus, Huamacensis, Monachus Ardmachanus, "obiit anno 720. S. Kieranus, Abbas de Belachduin, obiit anno 770. S. "Hermitius, Episcopus Clocharensis, S. Conlatus, Presbyter, qui sæculo "octavo vixerunt. Venerabilis Beda an. 730. B. Probus, circa annum 920. "Jocelinus de Furnesio, Cambro-Britannus, Monachus Cestriensis, in Bri"tannia, et postea Dunensis in Hibernia, floruit anno 1185 ; qui et Acta S. "Patricii eleganter et accurate scripsit." See also Colgan, ii. 216-219.

* William of Malmesbury is supposed to have written a Life of St. Patrick, in two books. Leland, "Collectanea," iii. 272, has extracts from it, but no MS. of it has occurred to the compiler of this Catalogue.

† Colgan's authority for calling Josceline "a monk of Chester and afterwards of Downe, in Ireland," has not been discovered.

See "Acta Sanctorum" Commentarius Prævius, § 23, ii. 521.

§ This Life is followed by part of another, imperfect at the beginning and end (ff. 47-74.)

182 b. Vita S. Patricii.

MS. Bodl. Rawl. B. 505. ff. 1-89b. vell. fol. dble. cols. xiv. or xv. cent.

Incip. imperf.-" et qui nunquam cognovit." Expl.-" ipsi gloria, laus, et honor et imperium, per infinita "sæculorum sæcula.

Amen."

Colophon." Explicit vita sanctissimi patris Patricii, "cujus meritis deleatur culpa descriptoris. Amen."

These last-mentioned Lives (Nos. 182a, 1826) appear to be by Joscelin of Furness.

183. Life of S. Patrick (Hibernicé).*

MS. Egerton 93. vell. large 4to. dble. cols. xv. cent.

The first page of this MS. is almost entirely obliterated, but the commencement appears to be "populus qui sedebat in "tenebris vidit lucem magnam; et sedentibus in regione "umbræ, lux orta est eis." From fol. i. retro, to the end of the piece it is written in the Irish character and language.

This is the tripartite Life of S. Patrick, which is published in Latin by Colgan, ii. 117-169, and attributed by him to St. Evinus.

There is no other copy of this valuable tract known to exist in the original Irish language. Folios 2 and 6 have been abstracted, and the tract ends at folio 18. The portion of the MS. containing this tract was written in the year 1477.

The Life is followed by the Hymn or Prayer of S. Patrick, as published by Dr. Petrie in the "Transactions" of the Royal Irish Academy.

184. Vita Tripartita S. Patricii, auctore (ut videtur)
S. Evino.

Incip. Præf.-" Populus qui sedebat in tenebris."
Incip. Vita.-"De Britannis Aleluidensibus."

Expl. Vita.-" continuo operatur miracula."

Printed in Latin, by Colgan, ii. 117-169, and translated from three old Irish MSS., of one of which MS. Egerton 93 (No. 183) is a transcript.*

There is a Catalogue of the Irish MSS. in the British Museum, compiled by Eugene Curry, Esq., in 1849.

VOL. I.

E

A.D. 493.

A.D. 493. 185. A Life of St. Patrick compiled from the older Lives
of that Saint. (Hibernicé.)

MS. Egerton 170. Paper. 4to.

Probus and Josceline are quoted at p. 94.

186. S. Patrick's Hymn (Hibernicé).

MS. Egerton 190. Paper. Small 4to. xviii. cent.
Similar to that in MS. Egerton 93. (No. 183.)

187. Vita Sancti Patricii Episcopi.

MS. Bibl. Pub. Cant. Ff. 1. 27. 21. vell. fol. xiii. cent.

Incip. "Patricius, qui vocatur."

Expl.-"Cui honor, et gloria, et virtus, et potestas in sæcula
"sæculorum. Amen."

This appears to be the MS. referred to by Usher (Brit.
Eccl. Antiq. c. xvii.). It has various readings in the margin.
Capgrave apparently used this MS. for his "Nova Legenda."

It is said to have been written by Probus,* though Pits
(c. 299) ascribes it to Giraldus Cambrensis, probably being
deceived by finding it in the volume containing the works of
Giraldus Cambrensis. Wharton (Anglia Sacra, ii. xxiii.)
remarks: "De illa (Vita) autem Giraldus in omnibus scrip-
"torum suorum catalogis tacet." It has also been attributed
to Beda (Opp. iii. 225-242, ed. 1612).

This life is so full of fable that the Bollandists would not
print it; yet, strange as it may seem, Archbishop Usher
thought it valuable. Tillemont (Hist. Eccl. xvi. 782) also
condemned it. See Hist. Lit. de la France, v. 209. The Bol-
landists gave the preference to the Life of Patrick written
by Josceline of Furness (No. 182), but it is not easy to de-
termine the reason for their partiality.

* Probus was a native of Ireland, but, like many of his countrymen, he
settled in Germany. He became an inmate of the Monastery of St. Alban's
at Mayence, and was upon terms of intimacy with Lupus of Ferrieres,
several of whose Epistles are addressed to Probus. The Annals of Fulda
(Pertz. i. 373) give the date of his death (26 May, 859), but Colgan and Sir
James Ware place it in the tenth century, Ware; and Messingham in the
eighth century. All that is known respecting him and his writings has been
carefully collected by the authors of the Hist. Lit. de la France, v. 209.

188. B. Patricii, Primi Prædicatoris et Episcopi totius A.D. 493. Britanniæ, Vita et Actus; auctore Probo.

Incip." Sanctus Patricius, qui et Sochet vocabatur, Brito "fuit natione."

Expl.-"sit nobis in præmio æternum evasisse supplicium: "præstante Domino nostro Jesu Christo, qui cum Patre et "Spiritu Sancto vivit Deus per omnia sæcula sæculorum. "Amen."

Printed in Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniæ,” ii. 51–61.

189. Vita S. Patricii, auctore (ut videtur) S. Elerano Sapiente.

Ex. MS. Monast. Alnensis.

Incip.-"Quidam Sanctum Patricium ex Judæis dicunt "originem duxisse."

Expl.-" usque in hodiernum diem conferuntur."

Colophon." Explicit de vita, et conversatione, atque "miraculis sanctissimi Patricii, Hibernensium Apostoli." (See No. 196.)

190. Vita S. Patricii, auctore (ut videtur) S. Patricio juniore, aliove magni Patricii discipulo.

Ex MS. Monast. S. Huberti in Ardvenna.

Incip.-"Natus est igitur in illo oppido Nemthor nomine."
Expl.-" nullus tamen rex erit de semine tuo in æternum."
Printed in Colgan's "Acta Sanctorum Hiberniæ," ii. 11.

191. Vita S. Patricii.

Ex MS. Biburgensibus in Bavaria.

Incip.-"Natus est igitur Patricius in illo oppido Nemthor "nomine."

Expl.-"in qua exultatione et beatitudine perfruitur in "præsentia Trinitatis, cui honor et gloria in sæcula sæculorum. "Amen."