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| Monument to St. Patrick, Westport |
"Rogamus te, sancte puer, ut venias et adhuc ambulas inter nos." (From St Patrick's Confession. Note 'Rogamus te' abbreviated to RGMS TE on monument panel)
The Confession is contained in the Book of Armagh and is dated to the early 9th century. Like the Book of Kells, this Book has happily been digitized by Trinity College Dublin, allowing us to see the original text (here). Our extract is found on Folio 23v, c. three-quarters way down the second column -- in the reproduction below, lines 6-7. (The last line ends with amplius non potui legere, i.e. my heart was so touched that I could not read any more.) As can be seen, the superb ornamentation of the Gospels in the Book of Kells far outshines the more ordinary script found in the Book of Armagh.
As for the google digital script used here in the 21st century, the writer sees he is returning to a topic first dealt with ten years ago in 2016 (here), this time with a precious view of the original manuscript.
Hearing this call was a turning point in the life-story of St Patrick as told in his Confession. Born in Britain, he had been taken captive by some Irishmen and brought to Ireland. Later he escaped back to Britain where he went for the priesthood and was eventually consecrated bishop (read his biography here). It was at this stage that visitors from Ireland came with a letter for him. In reading it, Bishop Patrick was moved by the appeal that it contained to come back again -- of his own free will and for a much friendlier welcome this time. The Westport scene depicts his landing in Ireland.
The Confession is contained in the Book of Armagh and is dated to the early 9th century. Like the Book of Kells, this Book has happily been digitized by Trinity College Dublin, allowing us to see the original text (here). Our extract is found on Folio 23v, c. three-quarters way down the second column -- in the reproduction below, lines 6-7. (The last line ends with amplius non potui legere, i.e. my heart was so touched that I could not read any more.) As can be seen, the superb ornamentation of the Gospels in the Book of Kells far outshines the more ordinary script found in the Book of Armagh.
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| TCD Book of Armagh, Folio 23v |
May our lives continue to unfold well for us all as, like St Patrick, at a certain moment in our life's journey, we feel we hear a silent call to start down a road that seems to be opening up for us -- in the traditional phrase, 'our vocation'.
