ABOUT the middle of the fourth century a noble decurion named
Calphurnius espoused Conchessa, the niece of St. Martin of Tours.
Heaven blessed their union with several children, the youngest of whom
was a boy, who received at his baptism the name of Succath, which in
the Gaelic tongue signifies "valiant."
Jocelin is responsible for the statement that the parents of the future
Apostle of Ireland took, by mutual consent, the vow of celibacy after
St. Patrick's birth, and that Calphurnius, like St. Gregory of Nyssa,
St. Hilary, and St. Germanus, who were all married men, "closed his
days in the priesthood" (chap, ii., p. 2). "There were thousands of
priests and Bishops," as Dr. Dollinger observes, "who had sons before
their ordination" ("History of the Church," vol. ii., p. 23, note).
There are others, however, like Father Bullen Morris, who are of
opinion that St. Patrick's declaration in the "Confession" that his
father was "a deacon" is a mistake on the part of the copyist for
"decurion," and, as a proof of this contention, they point to the words
made use of by the Saint in his Epistle to Coroticus, which is
admittedly genuine: "I am of noble blood, for my father was a decurion.
I have bartered my nobility--for which I feel neither shame nor
sorrow--for the sake of others." It is difficult to reconcile this
statement with the assurance given in the "Confession" that his father
was a humble deacon. "It is inconceivable," as Father Bullen Morris
argues, "that the Saint, sprung from a noble family, should base his
claim to nobility on the fact that his father, Calphurnius, was a
deacon. On the other hand, the theory that Calphurnius was a Roman
officer fits in with both statements of the Saint" ("St. Patrick,
Apostle of Ireland," p. 285, Appendix).
The same author gives another reason for calling in question this part
of the text of the "Confession" in the "Book of Armagh." A scribe made
an addition to the genealogy of St. Patrick as recorded in the Book,
writing on the margin "Son of Odisseus"; and these words are actually
introduced into the text by Dr. Whitley Stokes, in his edition of the
"Confession," without either note or comment. It is easy to imagine,
therefore, that ancient Celtic writers, with their passion for
genealogies, should tamper with the ancestors of St. Patrick.
Nicholson, a distinguished Irish scholar, was, of opinion that the
addition "a deacon" was mere guesswork on the part of the copyist, and
wrote "incertus liber hic"--"the book is here unreliable" ("St.
Patrick, Apostle of Ireland," Appendix, pp. 286--288).
Moreover, if the word "a deacon" in the "Book of Armagh" is the true
reading, it must surely be a matter for surprise that St. Patrick, who
sternly enforced the law of celibacy in Ireland as part of the
discipline of the Catholic Church, should describe himself as the son
of a deacon without either comment or explanation, and more especially
when we remember that the Council of Elvira, A.D. 305, and the Council
of Aries, A.D. 314, had enforced the laws of celibacy--"The severe
discipline of the Councils of Elvira and Aries," writes Alzog,
"obtained the force of law and became general throughout the Western
Church" ("Universal Church History," vol. i., chap, iv., pp. 280, 281).
The practice of clerical celibacy, therefore, existed in the Western
Church probably before Calphurnius was born, and certainly before he
was old enough to get married.
Calphurnius was admittedly a decurion, or Roman officer. Now Pope
Innocent I., in his Letter to Exuperius, Bishop of Toulouse, in the
year 405, in answer to a number of questions submitted to him by the
Bishop, stated that there was an impediment to the ordination of men
who had served in the army on account of the loose morality prevalent
in the camp. As the Pope was simply laying down the rules of discipline
already existing in the Church, Calphurnius, being a Roman officer,
could not have been ordained without the removal of the impediment. All
this tends at least to prove that we should read "decurion" for
"deacon" in the "Confession."
According to the "Book of Sligo," St. Patrick was born on Wednesday
(373), baptized on Wednesday, and died on Wednesday, March 17th, A.D.
493.