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16 Gaelic Society of Inueniess.
Grampians were converted by Ninian, they appear soon to baxe
lapsed into i)aganism. Again there are evidences of a tradition
in Trehmd tliat Ninian went to that country and preached
Christianity, and he is commemorated there under the name of
Monen—tlie term of endearment " mo " being very frequently
prefixed to the names of saints—while, at a later period, the
monastery at Whithern, supposed to have been founded by
Ninian, was undoubtedly resorted to by Irish ecclesiastics for
instruction. Bede states that about 430, Palladius was sent by
(/'destine, the Roman Pontift', to the Scots (that is the Irish) that
believed, to be their first bishop, and from this it might be inferred
that Christianity had made some progress in Ireland before that.
In the 8th century there is no doubt the Irisli believed that they
had been converted by Saint Patrick : and that a saint of this
name did go to Ireland about the year 432, and became at least a
main instrument in tJie conversion of the Irisli, is beyond doubt.
There remains a confession or account of himself by St Patrick,
and a letter by him to Coroticus, the British prince then reigning
at Dumbarton, which those competent to judge accept as genuine.
From these it appears he was born in the Roman })rovince of
Britain, that his father was a deacon, and also a decurio or
" bailie" of a Roman provincial town, that his grandfother was a
presbyter, that his father lived in " Bannavern of Tabernia," that
in his youth he was carried as a captive to Ireland and remained
there for six years, that he then escaped and returned to his
parents, and that he afterwards went back to Ireland as a mission-
ary, and in or about his 45th year was ordained a bishop In his
confession he says that he converted many in Ireland who had
liitlicrto worshipjjcd unclean idols, that he had ordained many
cU'iics, and that the sons of the Scoti, and the daughters of
princes, were seen to be monks and virgins of Christ. All this
seems to be authentic, but it is singular that Bede, while he
mentions Palladius, makes no mention uf Patrick, and that, when
about 100 years after his death, the Irish and Scottish Church
came in contact witli the Cluirch of Rome, and liad to defend
tlieir peculiar customs, tliey do not appeal to tlie authority of
Patrie. Columbanus, in his controversy with the Clergy of (Jaul
does not mention him, nor does Colman of Lindesfarne, in his
controversy witli Wilfred, in presence of King Oswy, a))pcal to
his authority, and Adamnan only once mentions him incid