There was a tribe called Brittani in northern France, mentioned by Pliny, and the Welsh Triads distinctly declare that the Britons of Great Britain came from thence.
There can be no doubt, however, that St.Patrick was intimately connected with Gaul.

His mother, Conchessa, was either a sister or niece of the great St.Martin of Tours; and it was undoubtedly from Gaul that the saint was carried captive to Ireland.
Patrick was not the baptismal name of the saint; it was given him by St.
Celestine[118] as indicative of rank, or it may be with some prophetic intimation of his future greatness.

He was baptized by the no less significant appellation of Succat--"brave in battle." But his warfare was not with a material foe.

Erinn received the faith at his hands, with noble and unexampled generosity; and one martyr, and only one, was sacrificed in preference of ancient pagan rites; while we know that thousands have shed their blood, and it maybe hundreds even in our own times have sacrificed their lives, to preserve the treasure so gladly accepted, so faithfully preserved.[119] Moore, in his _History of Ireland_, exclaims, with the force of truth, and the eloquence of poetry: "While in all other countries the introduction of Christianity has been the slow work of time, has been resisted by either government or people, and seldom effected without lavish effusion of blood, in Ireland, on the contrary, by the influence of one zealous missionary, and with but little previous preparation of the soil by other hands, Christianity burst forth at the first ray of apostolic light, and, with the sudden ripeness of a northern summer, at once covered the whole land.

Kings and princes, when not themselves amongst the ranks of the converted, saw their sons and daughters joining in the train without a murmur.