BARONIUS and Matthew of Westminster declare that St. Patrick was born
in Ireland, but scarcely any writer of the present day ventures to
express that view. O'Sullivan, Keating, Lanigan, and many French
writers contend that he was a native of Armoric Gaul, or Britain in
France. Welshmen are strongly of opinion that Ross Vale, Pembrokeshire,
was the honoured place; whilst Canon Sylvester Malone attributed the
glory to Burrium, Monmouthshire, a town situated, as Camden narrates,
near the spot where the River Brydhin empties itself into the Usk. The
Scholiast, Colgan, and Archbishop Healy seem to have no doubt as to the
Saint's birth at Dumbarton. Ware believes that a town that once stood
almost under the shadow of the crag possessed a stronger claim; Usher
and the Aberdeen Breviary are equally positive that Kilpatrick was the
town. Cardinal Moran, on the other hand, has convinced himself that St.
Patrick first saw the light of day at a place that once stood near the
present town of Hamilton, just where the river Avon discharges itself
into the Clyde. Some English writers have strongly advocated the claims
of a Roman town named Bannaventa that once stood near the present site
of Davantry, Northamptonshire. Professor Bury, in his "Life of St.
Patrick," had the doubtful honour of inventing a new birthplace for the
Saint; he tells us that St. Patrick was born at a Bannaventa, "which
was probably situated in the regions of the Lower Severn."