ST/JD/110

Palladius

Gender

Male

Floruit (period)

Early medieval

Floruit date range

? - ?

Description

First bishop of the Irish. There are three direct references to him in the contemporary writings of Prosper of Aquitaine. First, in his chronicle under the year 429, the deacon Palladius is said to have been responsible for inducing Pope Celestine to send Germanus, bishop of Auxerre, as papal representative to Britain to combat Pelagianism. In the second, also in the chronicle (s.a. 431), it is written that Celestine sent Palladius as the first bishop for the Irish who believed in Christ. In the third, in Prosper's Contra collatorem (against Cassian, author of the Conferences), written a year or two later, Celestine is praised for two achievements in the far north-west: he has saved ‘the Roman island’ for Catholicism and has made ‘the barbarian island’ Christian (chap. 21). The pope, therefore, was being praised for having saved Britain from Pelagianism and for having initiated the conversion of Ireland. T.M. Charles-Edwards, 'Palladius', ODNB.