Note N77 — St. PETER (continued 10)

The learned Archbishop Usher will not allow Palladius to have been the First Bishop of Ireland; alleging against that Opinion several Fragments out of the Lives of Irish Saints, some of whom are said to have been Bishops, and to have converted many of their own Countrymen, as early as the Middle of the Fourth Century[1]. From the Fragments he produces I cannot judge of the Pieces themselves. But Bollandus, who seems to have perused them, maintains them to be of no earlier a Date than the Twelfth Century; and most of them to be fabulous, which indeed he proves undeniably by several Passages quoted from them[2]. And can the Authority of such Pieces invalidate, or indeed any-ways affect the Authority of Prosper, who tells us in express Terms, that Palladius was ordained by Celestine, the First Bishop of Ireland? As for what the Primate offers to elude the Authority of Prosper, it is scarce worthy of Notice; viz. that the Word Primus is not to be found in the Edition of that Writer by Du Chesne. For it is to be found, as Usher himself owns, in all the other Editions, and even in Bede, as well as in every other Author, who has copied Prosper’s Chronicle.