Saint Palladius

Palladius (fl. early 5th Century) was the first bishop of the Christians of Ireland, preceding Saint Patrick. It is possible that some elements of their life stories were later conflated in Irish tradition. Palladius was a deacon and member of one of the prominent families in Gaul. Pope Celestine I consecrated him a bishop and sent him to Ireland "to the Scotti believing in Christ". The Palladii were reckoned among the noblest families of France and several of them held high rank about this time in the Church of Gaul. The Gallo-Roman poet Rutilius Claudius Namatianus, in his poem De reditu suo, recounting his voyage from Rome to Gaul in 417, mentions a young relative of his called Palladius, who had been sent from Gaul to Rome to study law. He refers to Palladius's father, Exuperantius, as bringing peace, law and freedom to Armorica. Exuperantius was apparently praefectus praetorio Galliarum ("Praetorian prefect of the Gallic provinces") when he was killed in an army mutiny at Arles in 424. Prosper of Aquitaine in his Chronicon mentions a deacon called Palladius, who in 429 urged Pope Celestine I to send bishop Germanus of Auxerre to Britain to bring the Britons back to the Catholic faith. Butler and P.F. Moran say that Palladius was a Deacon of Rome, as it is unlikely that a deacon of Auxerre would exercise the influence in Rome that many have assigned to Palladius; and that it is in accordance with St Prosper's usage to indicate the Roman deacon by the simple title "diaconus." Historian Kathleen Hughes regards it as more probable that he was a deacon of Germanus, and that Germanus sent him to Rome, to request a commission to travel to Britain at the request of the British bishops to help combat Pelagianism. In 431, Prosper's Chronicon records: "Palladius, having been ordained by Pope Celestine, is sent as first bishop to the Scotti believing in Christ", according to the Chronicon of Prosper of Aquitaine.