The name of Palladius shows this saint to have been a Roman, and
most authors agree that he was deacon of the church of Rome. At
least St. Prosper in his chronicle informs us, that when Agricola,
a noted Pelagian, had corrupted the churches of Britain with the
insinuation of that pestilential heresy, pope Celestine, at the
instance of Palladius the deacon, in 429, sent thither St. Germanus,
bishop of Auxerre, in quality of his legate, who, having ejected the
heretics, brought back the Britons to the Catholic faith. The concern
of Palladius for these islands stopped not here; for it seems not
to be doubted, but it was the same person of whom St. Prosper again
speaks, when he afterwards says, that in 431 pope Celestine sent
Palladius, the first bishop, to the Scots then believing in Christ.
From the lives of SS. Albeus, Declan, Ibar, and Kiaran Saigir, Usher
shows[52] that these four saints preached separately in different
parts of Ireland, which was their native country before the mission
of St. Patrick. St. Ibar had been converted to the faith in Britain;
the other three had been instructed at Rome, and were directed thence
back into their own country, and according to the histories of their
lives, were all honored with the episcopal character. St. Kiaran
Saigir (who is commemorated on the 5th of March) preceded St. Patrick
in preaching the gospel to the Ossorians, and was seventy-five years
of age on St. Patrick’s arrival in Ireland. Hence it is easy to
understand what is said of St. Palladius, that he was sent bishop to
the Scots believing in Christ: though the number of Christians among
them must have been then very small. St. Prosper, in his book against
the _Author of the conferences_,[53] having commended pope Celestine
for his care in delivering Britain from the Pelagian heresy, adds,
that “he also ordained a bishop for the Scots, and thus, whilst he
endeavored to preserve the Roman island _Catholic_, he likewise
made a barbarous island _Christian_.” Usher observes that this can
be understood only of Ireland; for though part of North-Britain was
never subject to the Romans, and the greatest part of it was then
inhabited by the Picts, yet it never could be called a distinct
island. It is also clear from Tertullian, Eusebius, St. Chrysostom,
and others, that the light of the gospel had penetrated among the
Picts beyond the Roman territories in Britain, near the times of the
apostles. These people, therefore, who had lately begun to receive
some tincture of the faith when our saint undertook his mission, were
doubtless the Scots who were settled in Ireland.
The Irish writers of the lives of St. Patrick say, that Palladius
had preached in Ireland a little before St. Patrick, but that he
was soon banished by the king of Leinster, and returned to North
Britain, where they tell us he had first opened his mission. It
seems not to be doubted but he was sent to the whole nation of the
Scots, several colonies of whom had passed from Ireland into North
Britain, and possessed themselves of part of the country, since
called Scotland.[54] After St. Palladius had left Ireland, he arrived
among the Scots in North Britain, according to St. Prosper, in the
consulate of Bassus and Antiochus, in the year of Christ 431.[55] He
preached there with great zeal, and formed a considerable church.
The Scottish historians tell us, that the faith was planted in North
Britain about the year 200, in the time of king Donald, when Victor
was pope of Rome. But they all acknowledge that Palladius was the
first bishop in that country, and style him their first apostle.[56]
The saint died at Fordun, the capital town of the little county of
Mernis, fifteen miles from Aberdeen to the south, about the year 450.
His relics were preserved with religious respect in the monastery of
Fordun, as Hector Boetius[57] and Camden testify. In the year 1409,
William Scenes, archbishop of St. Andrew’s and primate of Scotland,
enclosed them in a new shrine enriched with gold and precious stones.
His festival is marked on the 6th of July in the Breviary of Aberdeen
and the Scottish Calendars; but in some of the English on the 15th of
December. Scottish writers, and calendars of the middle ages, mention
St. Servanus and St. Ternan as disciples of St. Palladius, and by him
made bishops, the former of Orkney, the latter of the Picts. But from
Usher’s chronology it appears that they both lived later.
* * * * *
It is easy to conceive how painful and laborious the mission of this
saint must have been; but where there is ardent love, labor seems a
pleasure, and either is not felt or is a delight. It is a mark of
sloth and impatience for a man to count his labors, or so much as
to think of pains or sufferings in so glorious an undertaking. St.
Palladius surmounted every obstacle which a fierce nation had opposed
to the establishment of the kingdom of Jesus Christ. Ought not our
hearts to be impressed with the most lively sentiments of love and
gratitude to our merciful God, for having raised up such great and
zealous men, by whose ministry the light of true faith has been
conveyed to us.