Then far away beyond the seas,
In happy flight o'er many a land,
O'er many a mountain on he flees
To face Lethania's southern strand,
Nor rested long upon the road
Until he gained Germain's abode."
St. Fiacc states that the Apostle of Ireland was born at Nemthur--
Nemthur, as all commentators agree, is not the name of a town, but of a
tower. "Neam-thur Hebernica vox est quse coelestem, sive altam turrim
denotat." "Neamthur is an Irish word which denotes a heavenly, or a
high tower" (Rerum Hibernicarum Scriptores Veteres, Tom i., p. 96--
O'Conor).
Assuming that St. Patrick was born in the suburbs, and close to the
town of Bononia, or Banaven, as it has already been proved from his
"Confession," St. Fiacc's declaration that his Patron was born at
Nemthur admits of a very lucid explanation. Nemthur was situated in the
suburbs and close to the town of Bonaven. St. Fiacc gives the name of
the district, but St. Patrick gives the name of the town near which he
was born.
Singularly enough Caligula's famous tower on the sea coast of Boulogne
was called Turris Ordinis by the Romans, but Nemtor by the Gauls, as
Hersart de la Villemarque clearly proves in his "Celtic Legend" (p.
213), and the tower itself has given its name to the locality where it
once stood, which is called even at the present time Tour d'Ordre--the
French translation of "Turris Ordinis."
The history of this tower, on account of its close connection with the
history of St. Patrick, cannot fail to be interesting. Caligula, or
Caius Caesar, who died A.D. 41, meditated a descent upon Britain, and
with that object marshalled his troops at Bononia. Fearful, however, of
the dangers and fatigues of a long campaign in that inhospitable
island, and full of childish vanity, he determined at length, as
Suetonius humorously observes, "to make war in earnest; he drew up his
army on the shore of the ocean, with his ballistse and other engines of
war, and, while no one could imagine what he intended to do, on a
sudden commanded them to gather up sea shells and fill their helmets
and the folds of their dresses with them, calling them 'the spoils of
the ocean due to the Capitol and the Palatium.' As a monument of his
success, he raised a lofty tower, upon which, as at Pharos, he ordered
lights to be burnt in the night time for the guidance of ships at sea"
("Lives of the Twelve Caesars," Caligula, p. 283).
"It seems generally agreed," writes Forester, the translator of
Suetonius' Lives, "that the point of the coast which was signalised by
this ridiculous bravado of Caligula, somewhat redeemed by the erection
of a high house, was Itium, afterwards called Gessoriacum and Bononia
(Boulogne), a town belonging to the Gaulish tribe of the Morini" (note,
p. 283).
For many centuries this tower called Turris Ordens, Turris Ardens, or
Turris Ordinis by the Romans, and Neamthur by the Gauls, spread its
light over land and sea on the north-eastern cliffs of Boulogne.
A description of the tower is given in the "Memoirs of the Academy of
Inscription," quoted by Bertrand in his "History of Boulogne," as
follows: "The form of this monument, one of the most striking erected
by the Romans, was octagon. It was entirely abolished about a hundred
years ago, but, fortunately, a drawing of it, made when the lighthouse
was still perfect, is still in existence, and has been exhibited to the
Academy by the learned Father Lequien, a Dominican monk, native of
Boulogne. Each of its sides, according to Bucherius, measured 24 to 25
feet, so that its circumference was about 200, and its diameter 66
feet. It contained twelve entablatures, or species of galleries, on the
outside, including that on the ground floor. Each gallery projected a
foot and a half further than the one above it, and consequently their
size diminished with each succeeding gallery. On the top fires were
lighted to serve as a beacon to vessels at sea. A solid foundation was
formed, not only under the lighthouse, but for some distance beyond the
external walls. It was constructed of stones and bricks in the
following manner: first were seen three layers of stones, found on the
coast, of iron grey colour, then two layers of yellow stone of a softer
nature, and upon these two rows of hard red bricks, two inches thick,
and a foot and a half long, and a little more than a foot broad"
("Bertrand's History of Boulogne," pp. 13, 14).
"Caligula's tower was built on the north-eastern cliffs, about half a
mile from the sea, but within the suburbs of Boulogne. The constant
encroachment of the tide had reduced that distance to 400 feet in 1544,
when Boulogne was captured, and fortifications built around the tower
by the English troops. Still, however, the merciless waves rushed
onward to the coast, undermining the cliffs more and more, until at
length, on July 29th, 1644, Caligula's tower fell headlong with a crash
into the sea.
"Passengers from Folkestone to Boulogne gaze with reverence or
curiosity on the Calvary on the northeastern cliffs, which fishermen
salute with uncovered heads when sailing out to reap the harvest of the
sea. Close to the Calvary there is a mass of ruins overhanging the
cliff, which is all that remains of the fortifications built round
Caligula's tower by the English conquerors. The tower itself once stood
over the site occupied by the Hotel du Pavillion et des Bains de Mer,
opposite the place for sea bathing" ("Bertrand's History of Boulogne,"
pp. 15, 16).
"The Celtic Legend," published by Hersart de la Villemarque in 1864,
clearly shows how the history of Bononia and of its celebrated tower is
connected with his--St. Patrick's--life. One of the legends is entitled
"St. Patrick," and commences as follows: "On the shore of the channel
separating England from France, near the famous place from which Caesar
embarked for the Isles of Britain, a fortified enclosure was erected
overlooking and protecting the coast and territory which formed part of
the possession of the Morini Gauls. This important strategic point was
called in Latin, Tabernia, or the 'Field of Tents' (Le Champs du
Pavilion), because the Roman army had pitched their tents there. About
a mile distant, a group of buildings formed a fairly-sized village,
which at first was called by the Gauls Gessoriac, _then Bonauen
Armorik_, and afterwards named Bononia Oceasensis by the Roman Gauls,
and finally Boulogne-sur-Mer by the French.
"A light-house, or Nemtor, as it was called in the Celtic language,
kept watch during the night over the camp, village, and sea, preserving
the Gaulish frontier from piratical incursions.
"At the foot of the light-house stood the residence of a Roman officer
named Calphurnius, who had the supervision of the fire in the tower,
amongst the more costly and ornamented houses than the others, where
the free-and-easy life and customs of the Romans found a last refuge.
He lived there attended by domestic and military servants. He had
fought under the Imperial flag and attained the rank of a Decurion (p.
354). . . .
"Forgetfulness of God, disobedience to His laws, which are also the
best laws of human society, led to the ruin both of the colony of
Bononia and of St. Patrick's family. One day a mutiny, from which the
servants of Calphurnius could not have kept aloof, broke out amongst
the soldiers in the camp, just at the time when pirates, who had come
from different parts of the Irish coast and formed themselves into a
fleet so as to plunder the towns on the sea coast of Gaul with greater
security, took advantage of the dissensions amongst the inhabitants of
Boulogne and besieged the town. Fine furniture, carpets, and valuable
garments, vessels of gold and silver, arms and instruments of every
kind, everything that they could seize in the houses, in the town, in
the camp, in the rural dwellings close by, in the stables, in the ox
stalls, in the sheep pens: horses, cows, pigs, cattle and sheep were
carried off and placed on board the ships. Those who attempted any
resistance were put to death, whilst others, undergoing the fate of
domestic animals, were sold into slavery. Amongst the defenders of the
colony who perished were Calphurnius, his wife, and many of his
household. St. Patrick was numbered amongst the captives. The corsairs,
having set sail, landed him in Ireland, where they sold him to a small
chieftain in Ulster named Milcho" ("La Legende Celtique," par le
Vicomte Hersart de la Villemarque, Membre de 1'Institut Paris, 1864,
Librarie Academique. Dedier et Cie., Librarie Editeurs, 35 Quai des
Augustines).
There is a constant tradition that St. Patrick was a native of
Boulogne, and that tradition is expressed in the Celtic Legend just
quoted. Even the present "Guide Book" of that town (Merridew's, 1905)
volunteers the following information, which, although erroneous as to
dates, is interesting as referring to St. Patrick's connection with the
city: "About the year 249 St. Patrick arrived in Morinia, and for some
time resided at Boulogne" (p. 10). Feather Malbrancq, in his "History
of the Morini," quotes the "Chronicon Morinense," "The Life of St.
Arnulphus," and "The Catalogue of the Bishops of that See" to prove St.
Patrick's connection with the town. Although it is certain that St.
Patrick never presided over that See, the fact of his being numbered
amongst the Bishops admits of an easy explanation if he was a native of
that town.