IT has been often urged, without any solid reason, that the plural
Britannise used for Britain in the "Confession" can only refer to Great
Britain, because that country was sub-divided by the Romans into five
distinct provinces. The reason given cannot be convincing, because
Catullus, who died in the year 54, used the plural for Britain before
the Roman sub-divisions were made, when he wrote, "Nunc timent Galliae,
timent Britanniae"--Caesar, "the Gauls and the Britons fear." The
plural was used by St. Patrick when writing the "Confession" nearly one
hundred years after the Romans with their divisions had left the
country. It was used by Probus, who undoubtedly referred to Armoric
Britain when writing about St. Patrick's native country, for he tells
us in the plural that the Saint was born in Britain (natus in
Britanniis). The plural was, therefore, used both for Britain in Gaul
and for the Island of Britain.
The word Britannia occurs three times in the "Confession." In the "Book
of Armagh" the name appears always in the plural, whilst in the
Bollandist's copy of the "Confession" the name is printed once in the
singular and twice in the plural. St. Jerome uses the singular always
when referring to Britannia; and St. Bede, in his "History," uses the
plural and singular indiscriminately. Whenever Britannia is mentioned,
the context alone can guide us in distinguishing which Britain is
meant. ("Ireland and St. Patrick," by the Rev. Bullen Morris, pp. 24,
25).
St. Patrick also mentions Gaul in the plural ("Gallias"), for although
the whole country was subdivided into three separate nationalities--the
Gauls, the Aquitanians, and the Britons--as Sulpicius Severus had
already mentioned, the three provinces were called Gallise, or the
Gauls, by the Romans. Galliae in the plural, therefore, either meant
the whole country or any one of its sub-divisions, and the context
alone could determine which province was meant.
Having these facts in mind, it is easy to interpret the words of St.
Patrick: "Though I should have wished to leave them, and had been ready
and very desirous of going to Britain [Britanniis], as if to my own
country and parents; and not that alone, but to go even to Gaul
(Gallias) to visit my brethren, and to see the face of the Lord's
Saints, and God knows how ardently I wished it but I was bound in the
Spirit, and He Who witnesseth will account me guilty if I do so--and I
fear to lose the results of the labour which I have begun. And not I,
but the Lord Jesus Christ, Who commanded me to come and remain with
them for the rest of my life--if the Lord so will it, and keeps me from
every evil way, that I should not sin before Him" ("Confession").
St. Patrick's relatives resided in the Gaulish province of Britain, and
the disciples of St. Martin--"the Lord's Saints"--lived at Marmoutier
in the province of Gaul. St. Patrick's natural desire was first to
visit his relatives in Armorican Britain, and next to renew his
friendship with the followers of St. Martin at Marmoutier, but God had
decreed that he should spend all the rest of his days in the land of
his adoption.
Gaul was not only the name of the whole country, which embraced three
provinces--Gallia, Aquitania, and Britannia--it was also the name of
one of the provinces. As Gaul in its widest sense was a different
country from the Island of Britain, so the province of Gaul was quite
distinct from the province of Armoric Britain. The Gauls, Aquitanians,
and Britons, all possessing, as Csesar testifies, separate governments
and different nationalities, regarded one another as distinct races.
Thus Sulpicius Severus represents a Gaul as addressing some Aquitanians
as follows: "When I think of myself as a Gaul about to address
Aquitanians, I fear lest my uncultured speech should offend your too
refined ears"--"Sed dum cogito me hominem Gallum inter Aquitanos verba
facturum, vereor ne offendat nimium urbanas aures sermo rusticior"
(Dialogue 20).