-"Quod oppidum in Campo Taburniae est;" thus indicating an
early belief that France was the land of his nativity. St. Patrick's
mention of Britanniae, however, appears to be conclusive. There was a
tribe called Brittani in northern France, mentioned by Pliny, and the
Welsh Triads distinctly declare that the Britons of Great Britain came
from thence.

There can be no doubt, however, that St. Patrick was intimately
connected with Gaul. His mother, Conchessa, was either a sister or niece
of the great St. Martin of Tours; and it was undoubtedly from Gaul that
the saint was carried captive to Ireland.

Patrick was not the baptismal name of the saint; it was given him by St.
Celestine[118] as indicative of rank, or it may be with some prophetic
intimation of his future greatness. He was baptized by the no less
significant appellation of Succat--"brave in battle." But his warfare
was not with a material foe. Erinn received the faith at his hands, with
noble and unexampled generosity; and one martyr, and only one, was
sacrificed in preference of ancient pagan rites; while we know that
thousands have shed their blood, and it maybe hundreds even in our own
times have sacrificed their lives, to preserve the treasure so gladly
accepted, so faithfully preserved.[119]

Moore, in his _History of Ireland_, exclaims, with the force of truth,
and the eloquence of poetry: "While in all other countries the
introduction of Christianity has been the slow work of time, has been
resisted by either government or people, and seldom effected without
lavish effusion of blood, in Ireland, on the contrary, by the influence
of one zealous missionary, and with but little previous preparation of
the soil by other hands, Christianity burst forth at the first ray of
apostolic light, and, with the sudden ripeness of a northern summer, at
once covered the whole land. Kings and princes, when not themselves
amongst the ranks of the converted, saw their sons and daughters joining
in the train without a murmur. Chiefs, at variance in all else, agreed
in meeting beneath the Christian banner; and the proud druid and bard
laid their superstitions meekly at the foot of the cross; nor, by a
singular blessing of Providence--unexampled, indeed, in the whole
history of the Church--was there a single drop of blood shed on account
of religion through the entire course of this mild Christian revolution,
by which, in the space of a few years, all Ireland was brought
tr