Was there a real St. Patrick?
I just finished reading an historical novel entitled Patrick, Son of Ireland by Stephen R. Lawhead. After reading this book, which was a good story, it inspired me to find out more about the man. After some study and research, I find that the book is sorely lacking in actual facts and is more like the imagining of an alternate history of Patrick. There is nothing included in it about Patricks’ spiritual journey which made him become revered as a Saint and missionary, who is credited with transforming Christianity in Ireland. I am a fan of Lawhead, and have enjoyed his historical novels, but this one is a bit puzzling because it does not follow what is actually known about Patrick’s actual life, from his autobiographical writings.
The guy in the book is rather selfish, uses everyone for his own gain and then all of a sudden near the end of the story he changes to this magnanimous man, giving up wealth and position and wants to race back to Ireland to apologize to his old lover there and go back to the Druids. It was confusing. No descriptions about what caused his spiritual transformation to a Priest who went around Ireland sermonizing and baptizing thousands into Christianity, establishing churches and challenging pagan kings. It was not a story about the actual St. Patrick. It was pretty good fiction but an inaccurate biography. Read it as a story, but don’t take it as an accurate retelling of the actual St. Patrick.
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| A selection of Historical Fiction books by author Stephen R. Lawhead. |
Who was St. Patrick?
Even though there are still many questions about who Patrick was and the details of his life, there exist two of his writings where several details about his life are told. Other accounts were written 150 years after his death. The first document is called the Confessio or Declaration, and it is an autobiographical work where Patrick himself tells his life story; that at age 16 he was captured (being born about 386 AD and living in the Roman controlled border area of Wales and England), by Irish raiding pirates who attacked his home estate and took him to Ireland where he served as a shepherd/slave to Irish Druids. He was born to a wealthy family in Britain and his father was a deacon, his Grandfather a Priest in a Roman British settlement, but at the time Patrick says he was not particularly religious, and his name was Magnus or Maewyn Succat. He took the name of Patricius when he was ordained a Priest. Irish call him Padrig or Paddy and Americans call him Patrick. The other work attributed to him is called the Letter to Soldiers of Coroticus or the Epistola, telling of a legal battle and about excommunicating a man named Corotius.
In the Confessio, he confesses that he went back to Ireland even though according to the religious rules he was not supposed to leave where he was serving. He tells how he escaped slavery after 6 years and walked across Ireland to the coast where he begged passage on a boat back to England. After they disembarked the crew was stuck in the wilderness for a month but he eventually reunited with his family and later studied religion in Gaul, then went back as a missionary and Priest to Ireland.
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| A statue of St. Patrick. |
Patrick says he experienced voices, visions or dreams that helped him shape his life. The first one was while he was a lonely shepherd slave, he spent his days in prayer and contemplating life. He was told in a dream that he would escape and go back. After arriving back in his homeland, while the crew was stuck in the wilderness for a month, he said he was praying to God for sustenance and then a herd of wild boar appeared, and they had food. Then while he was home, he was told in a dream to return to Ireland and be a missionary to the Irish, so he set about gaining a religious education and studying with Priests and Monks in Gaul. Then he did return to Ireland to minister to the few Christians already there and baptize and teach the rest of the Irish people. He is known for helping the poor, converting the wealthy, establishing nunneries and churches, and was able to understand and get along with the common people, which helped him become popular.
Patrick is known as the Patron Saint of Ireland by Catholics and other religions. The holiday St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th is celebrated on the day of his death and has become a traditional day to feel Irish patriotism and celebrate Irish culture. Many tales have been created of his deeds and doings. The Irish have a grand oral tradition of folklore so it is agreed by scholars that the deeds have been woven into great fantastical collection of tales over time. For instance, it has been said that Patrick brought Christianity to Ireland, but the object of his missionary quest was to minister to Christians already in Ireland and to teach others about it. Also, it is said that he banished snakes from Ireland. There is no evidence of any snakes in the fossil record of Ireland, there are no native snakes in Ireland, and the isle of Ireland was covered by glaciers in the ice age so snakes could not have lived there prehistorically. This story is thought to also be an allegory about the fact that Patrick was instrumental in converting the Celts, considered pagans, to Christianity.
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| Traditional depiction of St. Patrick. |
Some scholars say his autobiography was written as an allegory of his life, not an actual history and point out similarities to Biblical illusions and symbolism in it. He is generally pictured with a clover in one hand and a cross or staff in the other wearing Priestly vestments. Some say he has been confused and his story intertwined with another Priest serving in Ireland around the same time named Palladus. There is still much that is murky or unknown about the real life of St. Patrick, but he and all things Irish are celebrated each year on March 17th.
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| The Celtic Cross, said to be a combination of the sun and the Christian cross devised by Patrick. |
Want to learn more?
Sources: History.com, biography.com, Wikipedia,
https://leapoffaithchloe.com/meet-the-real-st-patrick/,
bbc travel article- Who was the real St. Patrick found at: http://www.bbc.com/travel/story/20140304-who-was-the-real-st-patrick.
Books (non-fiction) about St. Patrick:
St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography by Phillip Freeman
The Real St. Patrick by H A Ironside
St. Patrick: The Real Story in his own words, by Jim McCormack
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| St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York City. |
