The Hibernensis canon law collection quotes a saying attributed to *Patrick (missionary and bishop of Ireland, 5th c., S01962), concerning the violation of relics. Compiled in Latin in Ireland and/or Iona (north-west Britain), c. 690/748.
Evidence ID
E08320
Type of Evidence
Canonical and legal texts
Collectio Hibernensis
43.8. De tanto grauiore pullutione sancti loci, quanto plures in eo sancti
Patritius ait: Quicumque diis, hoc est martiribus, detrahit, Deo detrahit. Quanti enim cumque martires in eo humati sunt loco, tantum Deo detrahit.
'43.8. That the pollution of a holy locus is worse the more saints there are in it
Patrick said: Whoever offends the deities, namely the martyrs, offends God. For the more martyrs are buried in that locus, the more he offends God.'
Text: Flechner 2019, 345.
Translation: Flechner 2019, 732.
Cult PlacesDestruction/desecration of saint's shrine
Non Liturgical ActivityUnspecified relic
Burial site of a saint - unspecified
Rejection, Condemnation, SceptisismDestruction/desecration of saint's shrine
Scepticism/rejection of the cult of saints
Non Liturgical ActivityTransmission, copying and reading saint-related texts
RelicsUnspecified relic
Collections of multiple relics
Source
The Hibernensis canon law collection was compiled in Ireland from a wide range of sources in the late seventh or earlier eighth century, primarily by the scholars Ruben of Munster (ob. 725) and Cú Chuimne of Iona (ob. 747). The Hibernensis' use of the probably posthumous collection of canons attributed to Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury (ob. 690) provides the work's terminus ante quem; its terminus post quem derives from its own first identifiable citation, in a Corbie canon law collection of 748. All extant manuscript witnesses of the Hibernensis were produced in continental Europe, where it had a significant influence up to the twelfth century. It survives in two distinct recensions (Hib. A and Hib. B), neither of which can be shown to have priority over the other (for this and all further discussion, see Flechner 2019 and Flechner 2021).Discussion
This is one of many unidentifiable sources of 'likely Irish origin' cited in the Hibernensis, a number of which are attributed to Patrick (Flechner 2021, 103-5).See also E08319, which immediately precedes this canon in the Hibernensis.
Bibliography
Edition and translationThe Hibernensis, ed. and trans. R. Flechner, 2 vols (Washington, D.C., 2019).
Further reading
R. Flechner, Making Laws for a Christian Society: the Hibernensis and the Beginnings of Church Law in Ireland and Britain (Abingdon, 2021).
Record Created By
Benjamin Savill
Date of Entry
16/08/2022
| ID | Name | Name in Source | Identity | S01962 | Patrick, missionary and bishop of Ireland, 5th c. | Patritius | Certain |
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