St. Patrick: History, Mystery & Myth

Episode 4: St. Patrick - Show Notes

Brief Chronology (most dates are approximate):
• 390s - Birth of Patrick
• 397-398 - Augustine writes his Confessions
• 400-410s - Patrick is kidnapped, sold into slavery in Ireland, and escapes after 6 years
• 406 - Rhine River freezes and barbarians invade Gaul
• 410 - Goths sack Rome
• 431 - Mission of Palladius to Ireland (possibly followed by or related to Patrick's mission)
• 449 - Vortigern invites Angles and Saxons to Britain as mercenaries (according to Bede)
• 461 - Death of Patrick (traditionally March 17)

(See the "Time Line" included as an appendix in St. Patrick of Ireland by Philip Freeman, which gives a more extensive chronology of the fall of Rome and events in Patrick's lifetime.)

Summary:

When Patrick was born in the late 4th century, his native land of southern Britain was still a Roman province, but the western Roman Empire was crumbling fast. No one actually knows where Patrick’s family estate or the nearby village Bennavem Taburniae that he mentions was, except that it must have been close to the sea in western Britain. In his Confessio, Patrick says his father was a deacon in the Church named Calpornius and that his grandfather Potitus was a priest. Patrick’s name (really Patricius) means “Patrician” - as in upper class, noble. (Freeman, Ch. 1)

St. Patrick left behind two letters in Latin, but in everyday life he may have spoken a lost Celtic language similar to modern Welsh. His medieval biographer Muirchú records him saying a possibly Old British word, "Mudebroth!", perhaps meaning "By God's judgment!" once when he was irritated (see Freeman, Ch. 1).

Like St. Augustine, Patrick was not one of those saints who got off to a great start. He alludes to a great sin from his teenage years that he is always very vague about and that comes back to cause controversy for him later. He admits that he does not take religion seriously in his youth. That changes when Patrick gets captured by Irish raiders near his home sometime in the early 400s. There were probably thousands of people (including many Christians) taken captive in this period of Roman decline and sold to work on farms in Ireland. (Freeman, Ch.2)

After Patrick was enslaved, he was sold and put to work watching sheep, perhaps in northwestern Ireland, which was lonely and physically miserable work since it meant spending lots of time outside in the cold and rain. Cold and alone, Patrick started to rediscover his Christian faith, praying night and day. Finally, he hears a voice telling him it is time to escape. Trusting in God, he just walks away one day and heads for the faraway eastern coast. He sails with a crew of pagans to either Britain or (possibly) Gaul. In any case, the crew unexpectedly ends up someplace so bleak that he describes it as a “desert” and they almost starve to death. One sensational theory is that it might be Gaul in the year 407, when the barbarians flood the western empire. (Cahill p. 104). But it seems just as likely, if not more so, that they found themselves on an unfamiliar shoreline in Britain far from their intended port due to some accident (See Freeman, Ch. 3). The pagans challenge Patrick to make his God save them, so Patrick prays and a herd of pigs crosses their path.

Eventually Patrick returned to his family in Britain, but as time passes he dreams that he is being called back to Ireland. He dreams that someone named Victoricus (a fellow captive?) comes with letters for him, one of which is inscribed "voice of the Irish." The letters cry out for him to return to Ireland.

No one knows exactly when Patrick finds his way back to Ireland as a missionary. Traditionally the year is 432. The reason this date is given, according to Thomas O’Loughlin, is that it puts Patrick one year after the supposedly short-lived mission of a bishop named Palladius, who was sent to the Irish by Pope Celestine in 431. Phillip Freeman speculates that maybe Patrick trained as a priest in Gaul and there, because he knew the Irish language, was attached to Palladius's mission. Some also speculate that Patrick may have know St. Germanus of Auxerre, who travelled from Gaul to combat the Pelagian heresy in Britain. We just don’t know, but these theories do tie everything together nicely.

St. Bede the Venerable (writing in the early 8th century) does not mention Patrick. Instead, he gives credit to Palladius for being the first bishop of Ireland (Bede, I.13). Miurchú (writing in the late 7th century) explains that Palladius was sent to evangelize Ireland but dies early without accomplishing much, with the result that Patrick is really the one who deserves to be remembered as converting Ireland. Both writers unfortunately have axes to grind. Bede may have wanted to emphasize the role of Rome and may have not really appreciated the contribution at the time of the humble Briton, Patrick. However, Muirchú also has an agenda in emphasizing Patrick since it helped build up the authority of Armagh's claim to be leading bishopric of Ireland.

Patrick's own account, in his Confessio, is more vague. He does not describe how he evangelizes Ireland in detail, except to say that he was a bishop and baptizes thousands of people. It is likely he had a long and difficult ministry to the many Christian slaves spread across northern Ireland, along with a steady stream of converts. At some point some of his flock were kidnapped by a British ruler named Coroticus, prompting Patrick to condemn Coroticus in one of the letters that has been preserved. It is possible this letter caused a backlash against Patrick, prompting him to write the second letter, the Confessio. (See Freeman, Ch. 11 and 12). In that document he alludes to accusations against himself several times and the mysterious sin from his youth. History does not record how the disputes ended, but Muirchú tells us that according to legend when Coroticus would not listen to Patrick, God transformed Coroticus into a fox.

According to one tradition, Patrick died in 461. He is remembered as bishop of Armagh. His feast day is March 17.

Sources:

• Patrick: The Man and His Works, ed. by Thomas O'Loughlin (Triangle, SPCK 1999) - Contains the "Confessio" and "Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus," along with extensive notes and bibliography.
• "The Life of Patrick" by Muirchú, in Celtic Spirituality, ed. by Oliver Davies and Thomas O'Loughlin (Paulist Press, 1999) - Part of the Classics of Western Spirituality. It contains all of the key primary sources related to St. Patrick and many other sources related to the early centuries of Christianity in Ireland and Britain.
• St. Patrick of Ireland by Philip Freeman (Simon & Schuster, 2001) - Highly recommended.
• How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill (Nan A. Telese / Doubleday, 1995)
• The Ecclesiastical History of the English People by Bede, trans. by Leo Sherley-Price (Penguin Putnam, 1990 revised edition) - Book I, Ch. 13 mentions Palladius briefly. The notes by D.H. Farmer explain that Bede bases his view on Prosper of Aquitaine.

Children's Books
• Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland by Tomie DePaola (Holiday House, 1992) - This was our favorite children's book about St. Patrick.

• Paddy and the Wolves by Steve Nagel and Jen Norton (Peanut Butter & Grace, 2017) - Imaginative recent book, but does not focus on the historical Patrick.
• The Story of St. Patrick: Irish Myths & Legends in a Nutshell, Book 3 by Ann Caroll and Derry Dillon (Poolberg Press, 2016) - A little more accurate, but also a little darker. Maybe better for older kids.
• The Wolf and the Shield: An Adventure with St. Patrick (Friends with the Saints) by Sherry Weaver Smith (Pauline Books and Media, 2016)
*Note on the Children's Books: As noted in the episode, some of these books are not good introductions to the history, but they are still enjoyable.
Film
• St. Patrick: Apostle of Ireland (Janson Media, 2008) - This documentary is available on Amazon Prime. It discusses Patrick's possible debate and dialogue with Druidism in ancient Ireland, as we mention in the episode. There was quite a bit more from this film that we did not get to that is also worth thinking about, such as Patrick's possible connection to the Croagh Patrick.

Intro Music Credit:
*Special Thank You to Paul Spring for allowing us to use his song "Itasca" from the album Borderline EP (2014)!

Image Credit:

• Detail from Irish manuscript from 2nd half of 8th century or 1st half of 9th century, depicting the evangelist Luke, from the British Library, Additional 40618 f. 21v Luke, available online at http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/ILLUMIN.ASP?Size=mid&IllID=1567