The ONLY way you could possibly know I am lying is that you lived as a contemporary to Patrick, met him, and He told you of his birthday. Did that happen BoL? Were you alive 1600 years ago and living in Scotland and met Patrick either there or in Ireland and celebrated his birthday with him? Huh? Because I can tell you I wasn't. Which means if you were not living then, you and I are relying on historians to inform us as best they can, of the facts, and if not facts, at best educated opinions. Now for you to be calling me a liar, is to suggest that I am taking that figure out of thin air and not bothering to use historians who have studied chroniclers and archives to ascertain to the best of their ability, the truth.
So BoL, do you know for certain that I dredged that figure up out of my imagination, or are you the one in fact guessing and clutching at straws?
You see, it depends on who one uses as his source. Now I grew up in the Catholic church. I am only too familiar with the wild stories and myths and surround the saints and are used to instill fear, wonder, and devotion in young minds to the Catholic way of life. Patrick was no exception, from ridding Ireland of snakes, to stealing relics from the pope, and few others besides. So your historians BoL, your Catholic sources I am sorry simply cannot be trusted, particularly when they have been known, nay, renowned , for forgeries and lies to uphold false teachings and falsified histories in support of Catholic dogma. Does the
Donation of Constantine ring a bell BoL?
The source I have used to verify my dates of Patricks ministry and birth, certainly may not be exact, for there are no copies of birth certificates from the local maternity ward or council confirming them, nevertheless,
Henry Wace in his exhaustive tome,
A Dictionary of Christian Biographies, page 1305 describes the times of Patricks life using the best sources
he could ascertain, and placed his birth no earlier than 372AD, because it is written in Irish annals that his slave owning druid priest master Michu began his reign in 388AD, and Patrick was 16 years old when taken captive. As for his ministry, there are no records anywhere, apart from dubious Catholic legends, that Patrick went any where near Gaul to be taught, and certainly no evidence anywhere of his having a conversation with the pope and being blessed and ordained a priest. So upon his arrival back home after escaping, it is quite possible that he learned his Christian faith from his father and grandfather, who were both well established pastors in the local church, and Patrick beginning his ministry a few years later, when around 20 years of age...anywhere between 390 and 400AD.
Palladius who was sent there by Celestine in 430, found the Celtic church in Ireland already very well established, and when he demanded the church to surrender to Roman authority, was sent packing. So for the Celtic church to be well established, means Patrick must have begun his ministry there in Ireland well before Palladian ever set foot on Irish soil...at least a couple of decades.
When Patrick speaks of the island from which he was carried captive, he calls it “the Britains.” This was the title given the island by the Romans many years before they left it. After the Goths sacked the city of Rome in 410, the imperial legions were recalled from England in order to protect territory nearer home. Upon their departure, savage invaders from the north and from the Continent, sweeping in, upon the island, devastated it and erased its diversified features, so that it could no longer be called “the Britains.” Following the withdrawal of the Roman legions in 410, the title “the Britains” ceased to be used. Therefore from this evidence it would seem logical to reach the conclusion that Patrick wrote his letters and documents before that date.
This date agrees with the time when Columba, the renowned graduate of Patrick's school who brought Christianity to Scotland, began his ministry. Columba graduated when the schools founded by Patrick had grown to sizable proportions. The time which elapsed between the founding of the schools by Patrick and their growth in the days of Columba would indicate that Patrick began his ministry in Ireland about 390.
So BoL...lies? Or just different and eminently more reliable sources? I think the latter. But then you do have this childish penchant for calling people liars simply because you disagree with them.