hardly be so much on his guard in his tenses when speaking
of the Saint. The Latin style, too, is characteristic of the
period, for the language is, as we might expect, rather like
that of St. Patrick himself—by no means elegant, and not
always even grammatically correct.
The Shorter Preface given by Stokes in Irish, and by
Colgan in Latin, tells us the history of the Hymn. It was
Sechnall, son of Restitutus, of the Lombards of Letha.and
of Darerca, Patrick's sister, who composed it. Secundinus
was his Roman name, but the Irish called him Sechnall.
Domnach Sechnaill (now Dunshaughlin) was the place;
and the time of its composition was the reign of Laeghaire,1
son of Niall. Its purpose was to praise Patrick, and also,
it would seem, to appease him. For Patrick had heard
how Secundinus had remarked that " he (Patrick) is a good
man, were it not for one thing, that he preached charity so
little;" and hearing it, Patrick was angered. " It is for
charity's sake I do not preach it, for the saints after me
will need men's gifts and service, and therefore I do not
ask them," said Patrick. The Hymn attained its object,
for Patrick ' made peace with his nephew' when he heard
it. ' This was the first Hymn made in Ireland.' ' It was
composed in the order of the alphabet'—that is, the first
letter of each stanza in succession followed the order of ^he
alphabet. There are twenty-three stanzas, with four lines
in each stanza, and fifteen syllables in each line. There
are, the writer adds, three words in it ' without meaning,'
that is, introduced merely for the sake of the rhyme.
When Sechnall had composed his Hymn he went to read
it for Patrick, merely saying that he had made a eulogy
for a certain Son of Life, which he wished him to hear. "
The praise of God's household is welcome to me," said
Patrick. Then Sechnall began with the second stanza—
omitting the first, in which Patrick's name is mentioned—
and proceeded to read through the Hymn. Stopping him,
however, at the lines: Maximus namque in regno coelorum vocabitur
Qui quod verbis docet sacris factis adimplet bonis,
and walking further on, Patrick said to Sechnall, " How
can you call him 'Maximus in regno ccelorum?' How can
a mere creature be the ' greatest?'"—for he well knew the
Gospel only calls him " great." 1 The Irish of Stokes has, ' Tempus Acda,' Son of Ncill,
or of Laeghaire."Oh, the superlative," replied Sechnall, "is there put
for the positive, and only means ' very great.'"l It was.
however, the rhythm and not the meaning that needed a
word of three syllables. Then when the Hymn was
finished, Sechnall claimed from Patrick the Bard's usual
reward, thereby giving him to understand—what the Hymn
itself showed—that Patrick himself was the ' Son of Life'
who was eulogised. "Thou shalt have it," said Patrick; "as many sinners
shall go to heaven because of (reading) this Hymn as
there are hairs on thy cowl." " I will not be content with that," said Sechnall. "
Then whoever will recite it lying down and rising up
will go to heaven." " I will not be content with that," said Sechnall, " for
the Hymn is long, and it will be hard to remember it." "
Then its efficacy or grace shall be on the three last
stanzas." " Deo gratias," said Sechnall. " I am now content." -
The Preface in the Lebar Brecc, besides giving a sketch
of St. Patrick's history, adds very much to the plain tale
given before, and seems to contain unauthentic and later
additions. Patrick is represented as going to Sechnall in
great wrath when he heard of the latter's observation about
his not preaching charity as he might. Sechnall, hearing
of his coming, or seeing him approach, left the oblation at
the altar just before Communion, ' to kneel to Patrick'
by way of apology; but Patrick, still in wrath, went to
drive his chariot over Sechnall, when God raised the
ground around him on either side, so that Sechnall was not
hurt! Then followed the explanation of his not preaching
charity given above, and a mutual reconciliation.8
1 The Longer Preface suggests that it means that Patrick was the
greatest of his o\rn race,' that is, the greatest uf the 13ritons or of the Scots
in heaven.—Tripartitc. 8The Tripartite says that Patrick said:—"Whoever of the men of
Ireland shall recite tl1L- three last stanzas, or the three last lines, or the three
last words, and shall come at death with a pure intention, his soul shall be
ready "—to go to heaven, we pre-une.
8 The picturesque narrative in the Tripartite shows it
was a very friendly meeting that took place for the recitation of the Hymn. Sechnall and Pat1irk met at the Pass of Midluachair, near Forkhill, north of Dundalk. Each of them
blessed the other, and they sat down to read the Hymn. Patrick, rising up
at the words, ' Maximns in n'qno coelorum,' asked an explanation as they
walked together to ' Klda,' where it was f1nished, and so the explanation
was given, as stated above., It is evident the Scholiast here indulges his fancy in a
very curious fashion, whilst borrowing the substance of
the tale from other incidents recorded in the Life of
St. Patrick, to which we have referred elsewhere. We
have discussed in another place the question of the
parentage of Sechnall, especially the strange statement of
the Scholiast, that his father Restitutus was of the Lombards
of Letha.  Letha is commonly taken to mean Italy, or, in a more
restricted sense, Latium ; and this statement would seem
to imply that the Lombards, or some of them, had settled
there before the end of the fourth century, whereas it is
certain that they did not obtain a settlement in Italy before
the middle of the sixth century—the exact year commonly
given being A.D. 568.  But does Letha mean Latium or Italy ? Todd has
discussed the question at some length without coming
to any definite conclusion. Our own view is that Letha
means not Italia, but Gallia or Gaul, especially Celtic
Gaul,1 which, as we know from Caesar, extended from the
Garonne to the Seine, and from the ocean on the west to
the Cevennes range, which separated Celtic Gaul from what
was then known as the ' Provincia '—a name still retained
in the modern Provence. The Lombards certainly crossed
the Rhine and settled in parts of Gaul long before they
were established in Italy, and a family or colony of them
might have established themselves in Tours or Armorica,
and have there met with relatives of St. Patrick's family.
This would explain how it came to pass that a sister of
Patrick, staying with her own family or relations in Celtic
Gaul, might have met and married there a Lombard of
Letha—that is, a Lombard settled in Gaul.
It is unfortunate that Sechnall, in this poetic eulogy of
St. Patrick, gives us no definite facts regarding the life of
his holy uncle, confining himself to a general description
of his labours and his virtues. From this point of view
the Hymn is valuable, but otherwise it contains nothing
noteworthy. After describing in a general way the holiness of
Patrick's life, and his divine mission to preach the Gospel
1 In the Tripartite  we f1nd ' Burgidala Letha' (p. 239) and ' Airmoric
Letha,' showing that Bordeaux and Brittany were both in Letha, which seems
conclusive proof that Letha = Gallia, to which in sound it is nearer than to
Italia.to the barbarous clans of Ireland, Sechnall describes his
most striking and characteristic virtues—his humility, which
glories only in the Cross; his zeal in preaching the Gospel,
and feeding the flock intrusted to his care; his chastity,
which keeps his flesh a holy temple of the Spirit of God ;
his preaching, which holds up the lamp of the Gospel to
the whole world; his saintly life, which fulfils in act what
he teaches by word ; his utter contempt of worldly fame
and perishable goods, which he esteems mere chaff; his
love of Sacred Scripture, of constant prayer, of the daily
Sacrifice, of the Divine Office, with all the other characteristic
virtues of a saintly bishop and evangelist.
It has been noticed by Stokes that there is no reference
to the Roman Mission in this Hymn. Why, indeed,
should there be? It was a poetic eulogy of a living man,
praising his virtues, but not recording a single fact of his
life, as they were all known to his audience. No reference
to his birthplace, to his captivity, to his parents, to his
teaching, to Germanus, or to Gaul, or to any other extrinsic
facts. Why, then, should the writer go out of his way to
say that Patrick was sent by the Pope to preach in Ireland ?
Everyone knew it; no one denied it. Who, even now, in
preaching the eulogy of a Catholic bishop, living or dead,
says that he was appointed by the Pope? It would be
altogether superfluous ; everyone knows it. He says that
Patrick had a divine mission; that God sent him to preach
in Ireland, just as we now say of any other prelate that it
was God who placed him over his flock; but in the case of
Patrick it was well to emphasise the fact, because his
mission was extraordinary; that is, it was the outcome of
a special divine command, questioned by some, but
emphatically asserted by Patrick himself.
Neither does this Hymn record any miracles of St.
Patrick. It is unusual, certainly, to recount any saint's
miracles during his life, and least of all to his face; but the
Scholiast in the Lebar Brecc has some of his own to tell in
connection with the Hymn. Notcontentwiththepromi.se
that its recital, morning and evening, would secure the
salvation of Patrick's pious clients, he adds that Patrick also
said that" wherein this Hymn shall be sung before dinner,
scarcity of food shall not be there," and also that "the
new house in which it shall be sung first of all, a watching
or vigil of Ireland's saints will be round it," as was revealed
to Colman Elo and Coemghen (Kevin) and other holy men
during the recital of this Hymn, for Patrick and his disciples appeared to them as they recited it. Having promises of such efficacy annexed to its recital it is no
wonder the Hymn became a popular devotion, and one of
the ' Four Honours of St. Patrick'—Hymnum ejus per
totum tempus in solemnitate dormitionis ejus cantare—that
is, it was constantly sung on the i6th, I7th, and i8th of
March, for the solemnity was celebrated for three days—
the vigil, the feast, and the day after.-From: The Life and Writings of St. Patrick., John Healy, 1905.