St. Patrick of St. Patrick's Day

So much about St. Patrick is based on legend, that we can’t even be sure when, and where, he was born.  He writes (in Latin) about his birthplace, but passing centuries have blurred the true meaning of his words.  He says he was from

...the settlement [vicus] of Bannavem Taburniae.

Where is that? 

• The Oxford Dictionary of Saints (by David Hugh Farmer) says it is “somewhere in the west between the mouth of the Severn and the Clyde.”  That could put Patrick’s birthplace in the country we know as Scotland.

• Or ... Maybe his home was “near St. David’s in South Wales,” as suggested by Oliver St. John Gogarty. 

• On the other hand ... since his father was both a cleric and a Roman official in Britain, maybe scholars who think the future saint was born near the Birdoswald section of Hadrian’s Wall are right.  If so, he spent his early years in Cumbria, part of England's now-famous Lake District.

• Then, again ... what about the viewpoint (expressed, among others, by David Bercot, in Let Me Die in Ireland, The True Story of Patrick) that Patrick’s village “was probably situated near the southwestern coast of Britain.”  (Bercot, footnote 1, page 4.)

Why is the location of St. Patrick’s birthplace so confusing?  In short ... It’s a matter of history. 

Even in the seventh century, as evidenced by the Book of Armagh (a treasure now maintained at Trinity College, Dublin), no one really knew where Bannavem Taburniae was located.  

What we do know, within a reasonable degree of certainty, is that Ireland’s patron saint was born somewhere in Britain (probably near the end of the fourth century).