Ignoring the fact that the author of the "Tripartite Life" and Probus tell the same tale, the Archbishop of Tuam, in his excellent "Life of St. Patrick," states "that the Scholiast on St. Fiacc whilst expressly declaring that Nemthur, St. Patrick's birthplace, was in North Britain, namely, Ail Cluade, adds that young Patrick, with his parents, brother and sisters, went from the Britons of Ail Cluade over the Ictian Sea, southwards, to visit his relatives in Armorica, and that it was from Latevian Armorica that Patrick was carried off captive to Ireland. The Scholiast here confounds the Armoric Britons of the Clyde with the Armoric Britons of Gaul, or Letavia, who had no existence then at so early a date. No doubt they were kindred Britons, but the name Britannia and Britons were not at that time given to Armorica of Gaul" (Appendix i., p. 585).
Nothing is here said by His Grace about Probus or the "Tripartite Life," who agree with the Scholiast that the Saint was captured in Armorica. When treating of Britannia in Gaul, it will be proved from the "Sacred Histories of Sulpicius Severus" that Armorica was called Britannia when the Council of Ariminium was held in the year 359. It is evident, however, that the author of the "Tripartite Life" was firmly convinced that St. Patrick was captured in Armorica, from the description he gives of the flight of his captors: "The seven sons of Fachmad went afterwards on the sea, having with them Patrick and his two sisters in captivity. The way they went was northward around Erin, until they landed in the north, and they sold Patrick to Miluic."
From this narrative it is evident that the captives were carried by the fleet northwards around Erin until they arrived in the neighbourhood of Lough Larne, Antrim, where St. Patrick was sold as a slave. The captors afterwards sailed southwards and sold St. Patrick's sisters at Louth. They must, therefore, as Father Bullen Morris surmises, have sailed around the western coast of Erin after sailing away from Armorica. It is clear, as the same writer does not fail to observe, that such a course cannot fit in with the Dumbarton theory: "A voyage northwards from the mouth of the Clyde would take the Irish fleet to the North Pole" ("Ireland and St. Patrick," p. 26).
The Scholiast and the author of the "Tripartite Life" are of opinion that St. Patrick was made captive by the seven sons of Fachmad, King of Britain, who are represented as making a raid into Armorica. Jocelin declares that the capture was made by pirates. The Second, Third, and Fourth "Lives" are unanimous in stating that the Saint was captured by the Irish Scots. St. Patrick's own words in the Epistle to Coroticus, "Have I not tender mercy on that nation which formerly took me captive?" leave no doubt as to his capture by the Irish Scots. Colgan endeavours to harmonise both accounts by suggesting that the sons of Fachmad were British exiles in Ireland, who fought under the standard of King Niall when he invaded Armorica, and that they may have been the actual captors of the Saint.
[All that the Second and Third "Lives" testify]
As the Second and Third "Lives of St. Patrick" are practically and almost verbally identical up to the end of Section XL, the same translation up to that point will suffice for both.
"Patrick was born at Nemthur. He had a sister named Lupita, whose relics are preserved at Armagh. Patrick was born in the Field of Tents. It was called Campus Tabernaculorum because the Roman army, at some time or other, pitched their tents there during the cold winter season.
"IV.—The boy, however, was reared at Nemthur. . . .
"XI.—This was the cause of his exile and arrival in Ireland: An army of Irish Scots embarked, as usual, in their ships, and forming a large fleet sailed over to Britain, and brought back from thence many captives and carried them to Ireland, the captives numbering altogether one hundred of both sexes. Patrick was, as he himself testifies, in his sixteenth year at that time."
The following addition is given in the Third "Life": "Patrick, who was also called Suchet, was sprung from the British nation, and his country and the place where he was born was situated not far from the sea. His father's name was 'Calburnius,' the son of a venerable man named Potitus; but his mother, Conches by name, was the daughter of Dechusius. Both parents of this holy man were devoted to religion."