Note 344 — Chapter X · THE CHURCH.

“Ingenuus fui secundum carnem, Decorione patre nascor,” are the words in his epistle to Coroticus. According to the Confession, Patrick was about sixteen years old when he was carried off to Ireland, whither he returned to preach Christianity about thirty years afterwards. It is curious to contrast the numerous miracles ascribed to his early youth and childhood by Jocelyn and others with the ingenuous admission in the Confession, of the temporary errors of his youthful days, and of his carelessness and unbelief from infancy until his captivity. The Confession and Epistle to Coroticus will be found in Rer. Hib. Scrip. Vet., vol. i. p. cvii.