aving mentioned his final escape from the traders, he proceeds:
"iterum post paucos annos in Britanniis eram cum parentibus meis." I
believe that "post paucos annos" has been interpreted by some in this
sense: "a few years after my capture." But this is an unnatural
explanation. The words naturally refer to what immediately precedes,
namely, his escape. The only thing that can be alleged in favour of
Britain is the intimation in the dream that he would "quickly come to
his native land" (_cito iturus ad patriam tuam_). "This, of course,"
continues the Professor, "represented his expectations at the time of
his escape. But the very fact that he fails to say that the promise was
literally fulfilled, and glides over the intervening years in silence,
strongly suggests that his expectation was not realised" (Appendix C,
pp. 339--340).

Professor Bury, being a Protestant, treats the Divine admonition given
to the Saint as a dream; not as the voice of God speaking to His
servant, but as an ardent desire on the Saint's part which met with
disappointment. Catholics, on the contrary, fully believe that God's
promise was fulfilled, and that St. Patrick did actually return to his
own native country, which the Professor very satisfactorily proves was
Gaul and not Britain. The Armorican theory of St. Patrick's birthplace
affords a very natural and easy explanation of the difficulty which the
Saint's return to Gaul from captivity must present to all who try to
prove that he was a native of Great Britain.

ST. FIACC'S NEMTHUR WAS SITUATED IN THE SUBURBS OF BOULOGNE.

I.
Natus est Patritius Nemturri
Ut refertur in narrationibus,
Juvenis (fuit) sex annorem decem
Quando ductus est sub vinculis.

II.

Succat ejus notnen in Tribubus dictum,
Quis ejus Pater sit notum,
Filius (fuit) Calpurnii, filii Otidi,
Nepos deaconi Odissi.

III.

Fuit sex annis in servitate,
Excis hominum (Gentilium) non vescebat,
Fuit ei nomen adoptivum Cothriagh
Quatuor Tribubus quia inserviit.

IV.

Dixit Victor(ei) servo
Milchonis, Iret trans fluctus.
Posuit suos pedes supra saxum,
Manet exinde ejus vestigia.

[Picture: CALIGULA'S TOWER, CALLED NEMTOR BY THE MARINI.]

V.

Profectus est trans Alpes omnes,
Trans Maria, fuit faelix expedition
Et remansit apud Germanum
In australi parte australis Lethaniae.

The following beautiful free translation of these verses is taken, with
kind permission, from Monsignor Edward Watson, M.A.'s, translat