Saint Patrick

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Patrick (5th century), bishop, apostle of Ireland. Much controversy has surrounded the chronology of Patrick's life and the extent of his achievements. The exaggerated view of him as the only apostle of Ireland who converted the whole country single-handed (based on a conflation of late Lives and the primatial claims of the see of Armagh) has given place to a widespread conviction that nearly all that can be known of Patrick comes from his authentic writings: his Confessio (or autobiography), and the Letter to Coroticus (protesting against British slave-traders).

Patrick was British by birth, the son of a decurio (town councillor) who was a deacon, while his grandfather was a priest. The place of his birth was somewhere in the west between the mouth of the Severn and the Clyde, called Bannavem Taburniae. While still a youth, he was captured by Irish pirates and reduced to slavery for six years. The location of his service (mainly in tending his master's herds) is not certainly identified, but he used the time to pray, in contrast to his earlier years in Britain when he ‘knew not the true God’ and did not heed clerical ‘admonitions for our salvation’. After six years he was told in a dream he would soon go to his own country. He either escaped or was freed, made his way to a port 200 miles away (perhaps on the SE. coast), and eventually persuaded some sailors to take him with them. After various adventures in a strange land, including near-starvation, Patrick returned to his family, much changed. He received some form of training for the priesthood, which included the Latin Bible which he came to know well; but it was not a ‘higher education’, the lack of which he regretted, and for which he was criticized. His own Latin writings are simple but articulate, sometimes ironical.

There was some contact with Gaul at this time and perhaps with the papacy, which had sent Palladius to be the ‘first bishop of the Irish who believe in Christ’. Palladius' mission does not seem to have lasted long and Patrick was in fact his successor. There was some opposition to his appointment, probably from Britain, but Patrick made his way to Ireland c.435. He worked principally in the North, setting up his see at Armagh and organizing the Church into territorial sees, as elsewhere in the West (and East). While Patrick encouraged the Irish to become monks and nuns, it is not certain that he was a monk himself; it is even less likely that in his time the monastery became the principal unit of the Irish church. The choice of Armagh seems determined by the presence nearby of a most powerful king; there Patrick had a school and presumably a small familia in residence; from this base he made missionary journeys. There seems to have been little contact with the Palladian Christianity of the south-east.

Patrick's writings are the first literature certainly identified from the British Church and reveal a scale of values and a type of activity which are full of interest. Although not specially learned, Patrick had sincere simplicity and deep pastoral care. He was concerned with abolishing paganism, idolatry, and sun-worship; he made no distinction of classes in his preaching and was himself ready for imprisonment or death in the following of Christ. In his use of Scripture and in his eschatological expectations (and presumably in much else besides) he was a typical but very individual 5th-century bishop. One of the traits which he retained as an old man was a consciousness of his being an unlearned exile and formerly a slave and fugitive, who learnt to trust completely in God.

The historical Patrick is much more attractive than the Patrick of legend, the thaumaturge who expelled snakes from Ireland or ‘explained’ the Trinity by reference to the shamrock, or accomplished single-handed immense missionary tasks of conversion which actually took many evangelists and several generations to accomplish. Places sometimes associated with him in the past, such as Lérins (Côte d'Azur), Croagh Patrick, even Saul and Downpatrick, cannot be proved to have the significance in his life which they were once believed to have. Even the place of his death and burial are not known for certain. This was how it became possible for Glastonbury to claim that the relics of Patrick the Older, which had long been there, were those of the historical St. Patrick. Eight ancient English churches were dedicated to Patrick, as were several chapels in Pembrokeshire (Dyfed). He remains the most popular of the saints of Ireland (of whom he is the patron) to this day. In art he is usually depicted in bishop's vestments, treading on snakes, but there seem to be no early notable examples. In the National Museum at Dublin shrines survive of his bell and his tooth (12th and 14th centuries): they presumably derive from the Downpatrick shrine.

The cult of Patrick spread from Ireland to the numerous Irish monasteries in Europe in the early Middle Ages; the Normans encouraged it in Ireland and elsewhere, while in modern times it has spread to the United States and Australia, where it flourishes especially among families and churches of Irish origin. The principal cathedral of New York is dedicated to him, as are numerous modern parish churches in the English-speaking world. His feast is constant in calendars and martyrologies for 17 March: a subsidiary feast of the finding of the bodies of Patrick, Columba, and Brigid in 1185 by Malachy was kept in Ireland and some places in England such as Chester on 24 March. There was also a translation feast on 10 June; but Glastonbury's Patrick had 24 August as his feast.

Bibliography
Click here for a list of abbreviations used in this bibliography.

• Works printed by L. Bieler, Libri Epistolarum sancti Patricii Episcopi (1961); translation and commentary by the same in The Works of St. Patrick (‘Ancient Christian Writers’, 1953). The later Lives are in W. Stokes, The Tripartite Life of Patrick and other documents relating to that Saint (2 vols., 1887). For the Book of Armagh: J. Gwynn, Liber Ardmachanus: the Book of Armagh (1913) (and cf. P. Grosjean, ‘Analyse du Livre d'Armagh’, Anal. Boll., lxii (1944), 32–41). Modern studies on Patrick are numerous: D. A. Binchy, ‘Patrick and his Biographers’, Studia Hibernica, ii (1962), 7–173; R. P. C. Hanson, St. Patrick: his Origins and Career (1968) and The Life and Writings of the Historical St. Patrick (1983). J. B. Bury, St. Patrick and his Place in History (1905); L. Bieler, The Life and Legend of St. Patrick (1948); E. Macneill, St. Patrick (1964); J. Ryan (ed.), St. Patrick (1958). Special mention should be made of articles by P. Grosjean, ‘Patriciana’, Anal. Boll., xliii (1925), 241–60; ‘Notes sur les documents anciens concernant S. Patrice’, ibid., lxii (1994), 42–73; ‘Notes d'hagiographie celtique’, ibid., lxiii (1945), 65–130; ‘S. Patrice d'Irlande et quelques homonymes dans les anciens martyrologes’, J.E.H., i (1950), 151–71: ‘Les Pictes apostats dans l'építre de S. Patrice’, Anal. Boll., lxxvi (1958), 354–78. See also: J. Toynbee, ‘Christianity in Roman Britain’, J.B.A.A., xvi (1953), 1–24; K. Hughes, The Church in Early Irish Society (1966), M. W. Barley and R. P. C. Hanson, Christianity in Early Britain (1968); E. A. Thompson, Who was St. Patrick? (1985); R. Sharpe, ‘Some problems concerning the Organization of the Church in early medieval Ireland’, Peritia iii (1984), 230–70; D. N. Dumville, St. Patrick 493–1993 (1993); D. Howlett, The Letters of St. Patrick the Bishop (1994)

St. Patrick (died ca. 460) was a British missionary bishop to Ireland, possibly the first to evangelize that country. He is the patron saint of Ireland.

Although Patrick was the subject of a number of ancient biographies, none of them dates from earlier than the last half of the 7th century. A great deal of legendary information, often contradictory, gathered around his name. Of the various works ascribed to Patrick, the authorship of only two is certain, the Confession, written in his later years, and the Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus, written at some point during his career as bishop. These two works provide the only certain knowledge of Patrick's life.

Patrick was born in a village that he identified as Bannavem Taberniae, probably near the sea in southwestern Britain. Evidence does not allow a more exact date for his birth than sometime between 388 and 408. His father, Calpornius, was both a deacon and a civic official; his grandfather, Pontius, was a priest. Patrick's family seems to have been one of some social standing, but, in spite of the clergy in it, he did not grow up in a particularly religious or intellectual environment.

At the age of 16 Patrick was abducted by Irish pirates and taken to Ireland, where he tended sheep and prayed for 6 years. In his words, "The love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened." In this religious fervor a voice came to Patrick, promising him a return to his own country.

Patrick was given passage on a ship by its sailors. The details of his voyage home are unclear; some believe that Patrick returned from Ireland to Britain by way of Gaul. This seems unlikely. Again, little is known of this period in his life. It may be that he resumed his education, although he was never learned. Indeed, he wrote at the beginning of the Confession, "I blush and fear exceedingly to reveal my lack of education; for I am unable to tell my story to those versed in the art of concise writing."

Elected a bishop, Patrick was sent by the Church in Britain to evangelize Ireland. His friends tried to dissuade him from "throwing himself into danger among enemies who have no knowledge of God." But Patrick believed that he had a divine call. One purpose of the Confession is to set forth his confidence in that calling and to witness the divine help that enabled him to fulfill it.

As a missionary bishop in Ireland, Patrick was a typical 5th-century bishop. He recorded that he baptized many thousands of people. He celebrated the Eucharist, instituted nuns and monks, and ordained clergy. No record shows that he consecrated other bishops or indeed that other bishops existed in Ireland.

The Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus gives the details of one event in his career. In reprisal for an Irish raid on the southwestern coast of Britain, Coroticus attacked the Irish coast, indiscriminately slaughtering its inhabitants. The Letter reports that one band of Coroticus's soldiers killed a group of newly baptized persons and took more captive. Patrick excommunicated Coroticus and called upon him to repent his crime and to free his prisoners.

Criticism of Patrick's work came to him from Britain; his seniors, he records, "brought up sins against my laborious episcopate." The basis for such charges is unknown; they did include his betrayal by a friend to whom Patrick had much earlier confessed a sin that he had committed at the age of 13. The Confession appears to be in part Patrick's defense of and justification of his episcopate to his superiors in Britain.

Although Patrick probably made his headquarters at Armagh, as a missionary he traveled around the island a great deal. It is not certain where he died; local traditions give various locations. It is also impossible to date his death more precisely than approximately 460. Patrick himself wrote a suitable epitaph in his Letter: "I, Patrick, a sinner, unlearned, resident in Ireland, declare myself to be a bishop."

Further Reading

Two compilations of St. Patrick's writings are St. Patrick: His Writings and Life, translated by Newport J. D. White (1920), and The Works of St. Patrick, translated and annotated by Ludwig Bieler (1953). The best and most recent study of Patrick is Richard P. C. Hanson, Saint Patrick: His Origins and Career (1968), a careful analysis of all the sources, which presents convincing arguments for accepting only the Confession and Letter as factual. John B. Bury, The Life of St. Patrick and His Place in History (1905), is a reconstruction of events based upon the ancient chronicles and legends. Thomas F. O'Rahilly, The Two Patricks (1942), asserts that another bishop sent to Ireland was called Patrick. See also Paul Gallico, The Steadfast Man: A Biography of St. Patrick (1958).

Did Saint Patrick really drive all the snakes out of Ireland? Did he convert the Irish by convincing them of the reality of the trinity by using the shamrock as an illustration? Did he convert Ireland all by himself?

Probably not.

The snake myth may refer to the fact that the Genesis serpent represented sin. And Patrick was a convincing preacher who was aided by a geographical situation that prevented snakes from reaching Ireland in the first place.

The shamrock was symbolic of the luck of the Irish. Patrick probably didn't even think of it-but as a teaching device, it works.

But none of this detracts from the legend. Patrick was an amazing missionary.

He was probably born in Scotland, perhaps of British ancestry and maybe in a village called Bannavem Taberniac. The other possibilities are Gaul or Kilpatrick, near Dunbarton. His father seems to have been a deacon or some kind of civic official. But his grandfather was a priest. The year was somewhere near 385 ce, and his name was Patricius Magonus Sucatus.

In 405 Patrick was captured by Irish raiders. He became a slave in Ireland, and it is unclear why he decided to go back there after he finally escaped and returned to his family, either seven or ten years later. Somehow, over the next fifteen years, he received some kind of training for the priesthood. He seems to have been ordained about 415 ce.

If you count the "probably," "seems to have," "maybe," and "possibly" statements so far, you begin to get the idea we don't know a lot about what his early life was like. What we do know is that, whatever the cause and however it happened, he returned to Ireland and did great missionary work. His legend may have grown over the centuries, but it created for him an Irish reputation and legacy that cannot be discounted.

He was said to have been a bit of a mystic, seeing visions and hearing voices. But regardless of his methods, Ireland is Catholic because of him.

"I was like a stone lying in deep mire," he wrote. "And he that is mighty came, and in His mercy lifted me up, and verily raised me aloft and placed me on top of the wall."

He is said to have converted whole villages with his compassionate logic and ability to speak to Irish sensibilities. During Mass he once accidentally speared a potential convert in the foot when, lost in the beauty of the Mass, he pounded too hard with his bishop's mace. The convert thought it was part of the initiation rite and considered himself blessed to share in Christ's crucifixion.

Patrick was said to have baptized whole villages, a hundred or so at a time. He is probably the best-known and most beloved missionary the Roman Catholic Church ever sent forth. And the most successful.

His famous prayer reveals his spiritual center:

Christ be with me,

Christ within me,

Christ behind me,

Christ before me,

Christ beside me,

Christ to win me,

Christ to comfort and restore me.

Christ beneath me,

Christ above me,

Christ in quiet,

Christ in danger,

Christ in hearts of all that love me,

Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.

Sources: Rabenstein, Katharine I. “Saint Patrick of Ireland.” http://users.erols.com/saintpat/ss/0317 patr.htm. September 15, 2003.

Patrick, St (c.389-c.461). Patron saint of Ireland. Born in Britain, in his youth he was seized by raiders and taken to Ireland. In slavery for six years, he was sustained by prayer. Told in a dream of his impending return home, he made his way to the coast and joined a merchant ship, facing many dangers before rejoining his family. In clerical training, he seems to have spent some years in France, where he was probably consecrated by St Germanus before embarking on his evangelistic work in Ireland. Often at risk, he was fearlessly determined to destroy paganism. Through his tireless efforts, countless numbers were baptized and confirmed, many clergy ordained, and his see established at Armagh, whence he began to organize the emerging church on Roman diocesan lines.

Patrick, St (d. ?493), Christian missionary and patron saint of Ireland. He was born near the west coast of Roman Britain, and had the given name Succat. His father, Calpurnius, was a deacon and a municipal official. After being captured by Irish raiders at 15, he was made a servant in Ireland for six years, herding pigs for Milchu on Mount Slemish, Co. Antrim. There, in the first of seven dream-visions, as tradition relates, he was instructed how to escape on a ship exporting wolfhounds. After his return to Britain, he dreamt he heard the voices of the Irish calling to him. He confronted the druidic order at the court of the High King Laegaire at Tara [see also kingship]. In the tradition, he destroys the idol Crom Cruaich and banishes snakes from the country. The conversion of Ireland to Christianity appears to have occurred within his lifetime, and Patrick records that he baptized thousands in his journeys through Ireland, ordaining clergy and founding churches. The Confessio provides an autobiographical account of his work in Ireland. The Lorica or Breastplate of St Patrick is believed to be of later provenance, and has no historical connection with the saint.

Evangelist to and national saint of Ireland who flourished in the 5th century. Details of St Patrick's life have been traced to five documents, a Confessio and ‘Epistle to Coroticus’ attributed to him and thought reliable, and three memoirs/biographies written long after his death, that of Muirchú (late 7th cent.), Tírechán (late 7th cent.), and the anonymous Bethu Phátraic or Vita Tripartita [Tripartite Life] (c.896–901), which draws on the first two texts and adds much material. Learned opinion (see D. A. Binchy, 1962, below) now accepts the authenticity of the Confessio and ‘Epistle’ but regards the three later texts as unhistorical and deriving from native hagiographic tradition. None of these documents has allowed us to date St Patrick's mission with certainty. The once-accepted dates of 432–61 are now rejected, in part because ‘432’ is a magical numerical formula, and 456–93 are now favoured. The uncertainty of Patrick's death-date, once given as early as 431, occasioned T. F. O'Rahilly's theory (1941) of the Two Patricks, the ‘second’ being a Gaul named Palladius, which has not gained wide acceptance. Further lives of St Patrick were written after the coming of the Anglo-Normans (1169), in which some of the more fabulous motifs attached to the biography were first given credence. Additionally, St Patrick is also a character in early Irish literary texts, such as Altrom Tige Dá Medar [The Nurture of the Houses of the Two Milk Vessels] and more importantly Acallam na Senórach [The Colloquy of the Elders], in which he makes contentious dialogue with the Fenian heroes Oisín and Caílte. Subsequently St Patrick became a figure in a huge number of stories from Irish oral tradition, many of which remain alive in the popular imagination.

According to the Confessio, supposedly written in rough Latin in the author's old age, Patrick was a native of Roman Britain, the son of one Calpurnius, the deacon of the village of Bannaven Taberniae, which has been ascribed to Cumberland, Northampton, the Severn valley, the Isle of Anglesey, and two points in southern Scotland, one near Hadrian's Wall and another near Carlisle. His original Celtic name is alleged to have been Succat. Captured by Irish raiders at 16, Patrick was sold into bondage to herd pigs and sheep for a chief named Milchú in ‘a lonely place’, possibly the north-west or the Slemish Mountains of Co. Antrim. During six years of slavery he thought often of the Christian message and realized he had a vocation to the priesthood. Then guided by a dream, he escaped and walked a very long way, presumably to the southern coast, where he found passage on a merchant craft with a pagan crew for a three-day voyage. Eventually he returned to his home in Britain. He does not say where he was trained, but tradition suggests he was the disciple of St Germanus of Auxerre. Later chosen to be bishop, he returned to Ireland to become ‘a slave for Christ’ among the people who had enslaved him. Other Christian missionaries, notably the Gaulish Palladius, would have preceded him, but St Patrick was more successful and left a more lasting heritage. In his own words, during a thirty-year mission he ‘baptized thousands, ordained clerics everywhere and rejoiced to see the flock of the Lord in Ireland growing splendidly’. Given that 5th-century Ireland lacked cities and towns in the European sense, St Patrick could not be expected to have founded permanent churches, but he is traditionally thought to have established his see at Armagh near the Ulster ‘capital’ of Emain Macha. The Primate of Ireland still resides there as Comharba Phádraig [the successor of Patrick], but recent scholarship (Sharpe, 1982) challenges Armagh's claim. By tradition alone he is thought to have died on 17 March at Sabhall [Irish, barn], coextensive with the town of Saul, near Downpatrick, Co. Down. The other text thought authentic, the Latin ‘Epistle to Coroticus’, beseeches a British chieftain to free Irish Christian captives. Lastly, the saint is thought to have composed the prayer-poem ‘St Patrick's Breastplate’ or ‘The Deer's Cry’, in which the saint avoids an ambush on the way to evangelize Tara by turning himself and a companion, Benén, into a deer and a fawn, a Christian usage of the power of féth fíada.

Other episodes in St Patrick's life, still in wide circulation at the end of the 20th century, lack reliable documentation. These include: the lighting of the first Paschal fire at Slane; the use of the three-leafed shamrock to explain the mystery of the Christian Trinity; the destruction of the idol Crom Crúaich in Co. Cavan; the conversion of Lóegaire mac Néill of Tara; the conversion of Angus mac Natfráich of Cashel, who did not cry out when Patrick punctured his foot during baptism because he thought it was part of the ceremony; the banishing of the monster Caoránach, ‘the mother of the devil’, to Lough Derg, Co. Donegal, or the inauguration of pilgrimages there. The association with Croagh Patrick, a place of pilgrimage in Co. Mayo, is cited in the memoir of Tírechán, a writer himself from north Connacht. The most famous of all apocryphal attributions, the driving of snakes from Ireland, first appears in the credulous Anglo-Norman biographies of the 12th and 13th centuries; the absence of snakes on the island had been noted as early as AD 200 by the Roman geographer Solinus.

Apart from the additional works of wonder and attributed magical powers (e.g. the fairy herb plantain is known as capóg Phadraig [Patrick's leaf] in Irish), the most significant addition to St Patrick's persona comes in his contentious dialogues with the Fenian heroes Caílte and Oisín, first in Acallam na Senórach [The Colloquy of the Elders] and in the many poems in Fenian popular tradition, sometimes called Ossianic. Here St Patrick is sometimes on the losing end of arguments pitting the values of the lost pagan tradition, often embodied in Fionn mac Cumhaill, against the discipline of the new faith, which is often portrayed as severe and joyless. Patrick's nickname in these dialogues is Tálcend [adze-head], presumably making a pun on his bishop's mitre and his hard-headed unwillingness to hear the other side. Frequent mention is also made of his bell, Finnfaídech, which orders time.

Bibliography

• See: The Life and Writings of the Historical St. Patrick, ed. R. P. C. Hanson (New York,1983)
• Four Latin Lives of St. Patrick, ed. and trans. Ludwig Bieler (1971)
• The Patrician Texts in the Book of Armagh, ed. and trans. Ludwig Bieler (Dublin, 1979)
• St. Patrick: His Writings and Muirchú's Life, ed. and trans. A. B. E. Hood (Totowa, NJ, 1978)
• Bethu Phátraic: The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick, ed. and trans. Kathleen Mulchrone (Dublin, 1939)
• The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick and Other Documents Relating to the Saint, ed. and trans. Whitley Stokes (2 vols., London, 1887
• repr. New York, 1965). Commentary: Ludwig Bieler, The Life and Legend of St. Patrick (Dublin, 1949)
• D. A. Binchy, ‘Patrick and His Biographers: Ancient and Modern’, Studia Hibernica, 2 (1962), 7–173
• James Carney, The Problem of St. Patrick (Dublin, 1961, 1973)
• R. P. C. Hanson, Saint Patrick: His Origins and Career (Oxford, 1968)
• Alannah Hopkin, The Living Legend of St. Patrick (London, 1989)
• Thomas F. O'Rahilly, The Two Patricks (Dublin, 1942, 1971)
• Richard Sharpe, ‘St. Patrick and the See of Armagh’, Cambridge Medieval Celtic Studies, 4 (Winter 1982), 33–59
• cf. B. K. Lambkin, ‘Patrick, Armagh, and Emain Macha’, Emania [Belfast], 2 (1987), 29–31
• David Dumville, St. Patrick, A.D. 493–1993 (Woodbridge, UK, and Rochester, NY, 1993)
• George Otto Simms, The Real Story of St. Patrick (Dublin, 1993)
• E. A. Thompson, Who Was St. Patrick? (Suffolk, 1985
• New York, 1986)

Early Life and His Calling

The facts of Patrick's life are largely obscured by legend. He belonged to a Christian family of Roman citizenship. Captured when barely 16 by Irish marauders and enslaved, he worked for six years as a herder on the slopes of Slemish (near Ballymena, Co. Antrim) or of Croaghpatrick or (most likely) of both. Then, in response to a voice, he escaped and embarked for Gaul.

Patrick spent some years wandering on the Continent and probably visited the Monastery of St. Martin at Marmoutier. He entered the monastery at Lérins and received the tonsure. He returned c.413 to his native Britain and lived for some years with relatives. During this time he had a vision that called him to return to Ireland to Christianize it. Accordingly, he returned to Europe (c.419) to perfect himself as a missionary. The next 12 years were spent in study at Auxerre. In 431, St. Palladius, first missionary bishop sent to Ireland, died; Patrick was consecrated (432) in his place by St. Germanus of Auxerre.

In Ireland

In the winter of 432 Patrick landed near Saul and remained until spring, when he went to Tara and gained his first major converts. He defied the pagan priests of Tara by kindling the Easter fire on Slane, a nearby hill. This challenge to paganism created at first indignation, and subsequently respect, in the court of the high king. Tara became Patrick's headquarters, and with a band of followers he successively converted Meath, Leitrim, Cavan, and W Ireland. Further details of his missions are only generally known.

In 444 or 445, with the approval of Pope St. Leo I, Patrick established his archiepiscopal see at Armagh. St. Patrick's mission was successful; Ireland was almost entirely Christian by the time of his death. He understood and wisely preserved the social structure of the country, converting the people tribe by tribe. Out of his hierarchy, organized by tribal units, developed the Celtic abbot-bishop system. At Patrick's instance, the traditional laws of Ireland were codified. Patrick modified them to harmonize with Christian practice, and he mitigated the harsher ones, particularly those that dealt with slaves and taxation of the poor. He introduced the Roman alphabet. In 457 he retired to Saul, where he died.

He was buried in Downpatrick, which was a great European shrine until its destruction by the English government in 1539. Also enshrined to him is Croaghpatrick. Patrick's connection with Saint Patrick's Purgatory in Lough Derg is undoubtedly only legendary. His personality is said to have been unusually winning, and many legends have become attached to his name. Feast: Mar. 17.

Bibliography

The prime source for Patrick's life is the Confessions, a moving apology for his life and work written during his last years. Some years earlier he had written the Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus. This is an angry appeal to raiders, supposedly Roman-British Christians, to repudiate their ruler Coroticus for his bloody raid on Ireland and to return the women taken captive. St. Patrick was probably the author of the Lorica (or Breastplate) of St. Patrick, also called The Cry of the Deer (in Irish, Fáed Fíada), a mystic poem of faith written in Irish and Latin. See L. Bieler, ed., Works of Saint Patrick (1953); biographies by J. B. Bury (1905, repr. 1998), P. Gallico (1958), and P. Freeman (2004); study by R. P. C. Hanson (1968).

For other uses, see Saint Patrick (disambiguation).

Saint Patrick
Honored in	Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodoxy Anglican Communion Lutheran Church
Major shrine	Glastonbury Abbey; Armagh
Feast	17 March (Saint Patrick's Day)
Patronage	Ireland, Nigeria, Montserrat, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Boston, Loíza, Murcia (Spain), engineers, paralegals, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne; invoked against snakes, sins, witchcraft[1]

Saint Patrick (Latin: Patricius; Primitive Irish: *Qatrikias;^[2][3] Old Irish: Cothraige or Coithrige;^[4] Middle Irish: Pátraic; Irish: Pádraig; Old Welsh: Patric; Middle Welsh: Padric; Welsh: Padrig; Old English: Patric; ca. 387 – 17 March, 493^[5] or ca. 460^[6]) was a Romano-Briton and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland, although Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille are also formally patron saints.

Two authentic letters from him survive, from which come the only generally-accepted details of his life.^[7] When he was about 16, he was captured from Wales by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After entering the Church, he returned to Ireland as an ordained bishop in the north and west of the island, but little is known about the places where he worked. By the seventh century, he had come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland.

Most available details of his life are from later hagiographies from the seventh century onwards, and these are now not accepted without detailed criticism. Uncritical acceptance of the Annals of Ulster would imply that he lived from 340 to 440, and ministered in what is modern-day Northern Ireland from AD 428 onwards. The dates of Patrick's life cannot be fixed with certainty but, on a widespread interpretation, he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the second half of the fifth century.^[8]

Saint Patrick's Day is observed on March 17, the date of his death.^[9] It is celebrated both inside and outside Ireland, as both a liturgical and non-liturgical holiday. In the dioceses of Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation; outside Ireland, it can be a celebration of Ireland itself.

Contents 1 Background 2 In his own words 3 Death 4 Seventh-century writings 5 In legend 5.1 St. Patrick banishes all snakes from Ireland 5.2 St. Patrick uses shamrock in an illustrative parable 5.3 St. Patrick's dead ash wood walking stick grows into a living tree 5.4 St. Patrick speaks with ancient Irish ancestors who were born long before his time 6 Saint Patrick's Bell 7 Sainthood and modern remembrance 8 Places associated with Saint Patrick 9 In literature 10 See also 11 References 12 Further reading 13 External links

Background

Most modern scholars of Saint Patrick follow a variant of T. F. O'Rahilly's "Two Patricks" theory.^[10] That is to say, many of the traditions later attached to Saint Patrick originally concerned Palladius, who Prosper of Aquitaine's Chronicle says was sent by Pope Celestine I as the first bishop to Irish Christians in 431.^[11] Palladius was not the only early cleric in Ireland at this time. The Irish-born Saint Ciaran Saighir the Elder lived in the later fourth century (352–402 AD) and was the first bishop of Ossory. Ciaran the Elder along with Saints Auxilius, Secundinus and Iserninus are also associated with early churches in Munster and Leinster. By this reading, Palladius was active in Ireland until the 460s.^[12]

Prosper associates Palladius' appointment with the visits of Germanus of Auxerre to Britain to suppress the Pelagian heresy and it has been suggested that Palladius and his colleagues were sent to Ireland to ensure that exiled Pelagians did not establish themselves among the Irish Christians. The appointment of Palladius and his fellow-bishops was not obviously a mission to convert the Irish, but more probably intended to minister to existing Christian communities in Ireland.^[13] The sites of churches associated with Palladius and his colleagues are close to royal centres of the period: Secundus is remembered by Dunshaughlin, County Meath, close to the Hill of Tara which is associated with the High King of Ireland; Killashee, County Kildare, close to Naas with links with the Kings of Leinster, is probably named for Auxilius. This activity was limited to the southern half of Ireland, and there is no evidence for them in Ulster or Connacht.^[14]

Although the evidence for contacts with Gaul is clear, the borrowings from Latin into the Old Irish language show that links with former Britain were many.^[15] Saint Iserninus, who appears to be of the generation of Palladius, is thought to have been a Briton, and is associated with the lands of the Uí Cheinnselaig in Leinster. The Palladian mission should not be contrasted with later "British" missions, but forms a part of them.^[16]

In his own words

Slemish, County Antrim, where Saint Patrick is said to have worked as a shepherd while a slave.

Two Latin letters survive which are generally accepted to have been written by St. Patrick. These are the Declaration (Latin: Confessio) and the Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus (Latin: Epistola).^[17] The Declaration is the more important of the two. In it Patrick gives a short account of his life and his mission.

St. Patrick was born in Roman Britain at Banna Venta Berniae, a location otherwise unknown,^[18][19][20] though identified in one tradition as Glannoventa, modern Ravenglass in Cumbria.^[21] Calpornius, his father, was a deacon, his grandfather Potitus, a priest. When he was about sixteen, he was captured and carried off as a slave to Ireland.^[22] Patrick worked as a herdsman, remaining a captive for six years. He writes that his faith grew in captivity, and that he prayed daily.^[23] After six years he heard a voice telling him that he would soon go home, and then that his ship was ready. Fleeing his master, he travelled to a port, two hundred miles away he says,^[24] where he found a ship and, after various adventures, returned home to his family, now in his early twenties.^[25]

Patrick recounts that he had a vision a few years after returning home:

I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: "The Voice of the Irish". As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us.^[26]

A. B. E. Hood suggests that the Victoricus of St. Patrick's vision may be identified with Saint Victricius, bishop of Rouen in the late fourth century, who was the only European churchman of the time to advocate or practice conversion of pagans, and who visited Britain in an official capacity in 396.^[27]

Much of the Declaration concerns charges made against St. Patrick by his fellow Christians at a trial. What these charges were, he does not say explicitly, but he writes that he returned the gifts which wealthy women gave him, did not accept payment for baptisms, nor for ordaining priests, and indeed paid for many gifts to kings and judges, and paid for the sons of chiefs to accompany him. It is concluded, therefore, that he was accused of some sort of financial impropriety, and perhaps of having obtained his bishopric in Ireland with personal gain in mind.^[28]

From this same evidence, something can be seen of St. Patrick's mission. He writes that he "baptised thousands of people".^[29] He ordained priests to lead the new Christian communities. He converted wealthy women, some of whom became nuns in the face of family opposition. He also dealt with the sons of kings, converting them too.^[30]

St. Patrick's position as a foreigner in Ireland was not an easy one. His refusal to accept gifts from kings placed him outside the normal ties of kinship, fosterage and affinity. Legally he was without protection, and he says that he was on one occasion beaten, robbed of all he had, and put in chains, perhaps awaiting execution.^[31]

Murchiú's life of Saint Patrick contains a supposed prophecy by the druids which gives an impression of how Patrick and other Christian missionaries were seen by those hostile to them:

Across the sea will come Adze-head,^[32] crazed in the head,
his cloak with hole for the head, his stick bent in the head.
He will chant impieties from a table in the front of his house;
all his people will answer: "so be it, so be it."^[33]

The second piece of evidence that comes from Patrick's life is the Letter to Coroticus or Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus, written after a first remonstrance was received with ridicule and insult. In this, St. Patrick writes^[34] an open letter announcing that he has excommunicated Coroticus because he had taken some of St. Patrick's converts into slavery while raiding in Ireland. The letter describes the followers of Coroticus as "fellow citizens of the devils" and "associates of the Scots [of Dalriada and later Argyll] and Apostate Picts".^[35] Based largely on an eighth century gloss, Coroticus is taken to be King Ceretic of Alt Clut.^[36] It has been suggested that it was the sending of this letter which provoked the trial which Patrick mentions in the Confession.^[37]

Death

According to the latest reconstruction of the old Irish annals, Patrick died in AD 461 on March 17, a date accepted by some modern historians.^[38] Prior to the 1940s it was believed without doubt that he died in 420 and thus had lived in the first half of the fifth century.^[39] A lecture entitled "The Two Patricks", published in 1942 by T. F. O'Rahilly, caused enormous controversy by proposing that there had been two "Patricks", Palladius and Patrick, and that what we now know of St. Patrick was in fact in part a conscious effort to blend the two into one hagiographic personality. Decades of contention eventually ended with most historians^[who?] now asserting that Patrick was indeed most likely to have been active in the latter half of the fifth century.^[40]

While Patrick's own writings contain no dates, they do contain information which can be used to date them. Patrick's quotations from the Acts of the Apostles follow the Vulgate, strongly suggesting that his ecclesiastical conversion did not take place before the early fifth century. Patrick also refers to the Franks as being pagans. Their conversion is dated to the period 496–508.^[41]

There is plentiful evidence for a medieval tradition that Patrick had died in 493. An addition to the Annals of Ulster states that in the year 553 (approximately two hundred and fifty years before the addition was made):

I have found this in the Book of Cuanu: The relics of Patrick were placed sixty years after his death in a shrine by Colum Cille. Three splendid halidoms were found in the burial-place: his goblet, the Angel's Gospel, and the Bell of the Testament. This is how the angel distributed the halidoms: the goblet to Dún, the Bell of the Testament to Ard Macha, and the Angel's Gospel to Colum Cille himself. The reason it is called the Angel's Gospel is that Colum Cille received it from the hand of the angel.^[42]

The reputed burial place of St. Patrick in Downpatrick

The placing of this event in the year 553 indicate a tradition that Patrick's death was 493, or at least in the early years of that decade, and the Annals of Ulster report under 493:

Patrick, arch-apostle, or archbishop and apostle of the Irish, rested on the 16th of the Kalends of April in the 120th year of his age, in the 60th year after he had come to Ireland to baptise the Irish.

This tradition is also seen in an annalistic reference to the death of a saint termed Patrick's disciple, Mochta, who is said to have died in 535.^[43]

St. Patrick is said to be buried at Down Cathedral in Downpatrick, County Down, alongside St. Brigid and St. Columba, although this has never been proven. The Battle for the Body of St. Patrick demonstrates the importance of both him as a spiritual leader, and of his body as an object of veneration, in early Christian Ireland. Saint Patrick Visitor Centre is a modern exhibition complex located in Downpatrick and is a permanent interpretative exhibition centre featuring interactive displays on the life and story of Saint Patrick. It provides the only permanent exhibition centre in the world devoted to Saint Patrick.^[44]

Seventh-century writings

An early document which is silent concerning Patrick is the letter of Columbanus to Pope Boniface IV of about 613. Columbanus writes that Ireland's Christianity "was first handed to us by you, the successors of the holy apostles", apparently referring to Palladius only, and ignoring Patrick.^[45] Writing on the Easter controversy in 632 or 633, Cummian—it is uncertain whether this is the Cummian associated with Clonfert or Cumméne of Iona—does refer to Patrick, calling him our papa, that is pope or primate.^[46]

Two works by late seventh-century hagiographers of Patrick have survived. These are the writings of Tírechán, and Vita sancti Patricii of Muirchu moccu Machtheni.^[47] Both writers relied upon an earlier work, now lost, the Book of Ultán.^[48] This Ultán, probably the same person as Ultan of Ardbraccan, was Tírechán's foster-father. His obituary is given in the Annals of Ulster under the year 657.^[49] These works thus date from a century and a half after Patrick's death.

Tírechán writes

"I found four names for Patrick written in the book of Ultán, bishop of the tribe of Conchobar: holy Magonus (that is, "famous"); Succetus (that is, the god of war); Patricius (that is, father of the citizens); Cothirtiacus (because he served four houses of druids)."^[50]

Muirchu records much the same information, adding that "[h]is mother was named Concessa."^[51] The name Cothirtiacus, however, is simply the Latinized form of Old Irish Cothraige, which is the Q-Celtic form of Latin Patricius.^[52]

The Patrick portrayed by Tírechán and Muirchu is a martial figure, who contests with druids, overthrows pagan idols, and curses kings and kingdoms.^[53] On occasion, their accounts contradict Patrick's own writings: Tírechán states that Patrick accepted gifts from female converts although Patrick himself flatly denies this. However, the emphasis Tírechán and Muirchu placed on female converts, and in particular royal and noble women who became nuns, is thought to be a genuine insight into Patrick's work of conversion. Patrick also worked with the unfree and the poor, encouraging them to vows of monastic chastity. Tírechán's account suggests that many early Patrician churches were combined with nunneries founded by Patrick's noble female converts.^[54]

The martial Patrick found in Tírechán and Muirchu, and in later accounts, echoes similar figures found during the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity. It may be doubted whether such accounts are an accurate representation of Patrick's time, although such violent events may well have occurred as Christians gained in strength and numbers.^[55]

Much of the detail supplied by Tírechán and Muirchu, in particular the churches established by Patrick, and the monasteries founded by his converts, may relate to the situation in the seventh century, when the churches which claimed ties to Patrick, and in particular Armagh, were expanding their influence throughout Ireland in competition with the church of Kildare. In the same period, Wilfred, Archbishop of York, claimed to speak, as metropolitan archbishop, "for all the northern part of Britain and of Ireland" at a council held in Rome in the time of Pope Agatho, thus claiming jurisdiction over the Irish church.^[56]

Other presumed early materials include the Irish annals, which contain records from the Chronicle of Ireland. These sources have conflated Palladius and Patrick.^[57] Another early document is the so-called First Synod of Saint Patrick. This is a seventh-century document, once, but no longer, taken as to contain a 5th century original text. It apparently collects the results of several early synods, and represents an era when pagans were still a major force in Ireland. The introduction attributes it to Patrick, Auxilius, and Iserninus, a claim which "cannot be taken at face value."^[58]

In legend

St. Patrick banishes all snakes from Ireland

Pious legend credits St. Patrick with banishing snakes from the island,^[59] chasing them into the sea after they attacked him during a 40-day fast he was undertaking on top of a hill.^[60] This hagiographic theme draws on the mythography of the staff of Moses, messenger of Yahweh to gentile Egyptians. In Exodus 7:8–7:13 , Moses and Aaron use their staffs in their struggle with Pharaoh's sorcerers, the staffs of each side morphing into snakes. Aaron's snake-staff prevails.^[61]

However, all evidence suggests that post-glacial Ireland never had snakes, as on insular "Ireland, New Zealand, Iceland, Greenland and Antarctica...So far, no serpent has successfully migrated across the open ocean to a new terrestrial home" such as from Scotland at one point only eight miles from Ireland, where a few native species have lived, "the venomous adder, the grass snake, and the smooth snake", as National Geographic notes,^[62] and although sea snake species separately exist.^[60][63] "At no time has there ever been any suggestion of snakes in Ireland, so [there was] nothing for St. Patrick to banish", says naturalist Nigel Monaghan, keeper of natural history at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, who has searched extensively through Irish fossil collections and records.^[60] The List of reptiles of Ireland has only one land reptile species native to Ireland; the viviparous or common lizard.

The only biological candidate species for appearing like a native snake in Ireland is the slow worm, actually a legless lizard, a non-native species more recently found in The Burren region of County Clare as recorded since the early 1970s, as noted by the National Parks and Wildlife Service of Ireland, which suspects it was deliberately introduced in the 1960s. So far, the slow worm's territory in the wild has not spread beyond the Burren's limestone region which is rich in wildlife.^[62]

One suggestion, by fiction author Betty Rhodes, is that "snakes" referred to the serpent symbolism of the Druids^[64] during that time and place, as evinced on coins minted in Gaul. Chris Weigant connects "big tattoos of snakes" on Druids' arms as "Irish schoolchildren are taught" with the way in which, in the legend of St. Patrick banishing snakes; the "story goes to the core of Patrick's sainthood and his core mission in Ireland."^[65]

St. Patrick uses shamrock in an illustrative parable

The Shamrock

Legend (dating to 1726, according to the OED) also credits St. Patrick with teaching the Irish about the doctrine of the Holy Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a three-leafed plant, using it to illustrate the Christian teaching of three persons in one God.^[66] For this reason, shamrocks are a central symbol for St Patrick’s Day.

The shamrock had been seen as sacred in the pre-Christian days in Ireland. Due to its green color and overall shape, many viewed it as representing rebirth and eternal life. Three was a sacred number in the pagan religion and there were a number of "Triple Goddesses" in ancient Ireland, including Brigid, Ériu, and the Morrigan.

St. Patrick's dead ash wood walking stick grows into a living tree

Some Irish legends involve the Oilliphéist, the Caoránach, and the Copóg Phádraig. During his evangelising journey back to Ireland from his parent's home at Birdoswald, he is understood to have carried with him an ash wood walking stick or staff. He thrust this stick into the ground wherever he was evangelising and at the place now known as Aspatria (ash of Patrick) the message of the dogma took so long to get through to the people there that the stick had taken root by the time he was ready to move on.

St. Patrick speaks with ancient Irish ancestors who were born long before his time

The 12th century work Acallam na Senórach tells of Patrick being met by two ancient warriors, Caílte mac Rónáin and Oisín, during his evangelical travels. The two were once members of Fionn mac Cumhaill's warrior band the Fianna, and somehow survived to Patrick's time.

Saint Patrick's Bell

The Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell

The National Museum of Ireland in Dublin possesses a bell first mentioned, according to the Annals of Ulster, in the Book of Cuanu in the year 552. The bell was part of a collection of "relics of Patrick" removed from his tomb sixty years after his death by Colum Cille to be used as relics. The bell is described as "The Bell of the Testament", one of three relics of "precious minna" (extremely valuable items), of which the other two are described as Patrick's goblet and "The Angels Gospel". Cille is described to have been under the direction of an "Angel" for whom he sent the goblet to Down, the bell to Armagh, and kept possession of the Angel's Gospel for himself. The name Angels Gospel is given to the book because it was supposed that Cille received it from the angel's hand. A stir was caused in 1044 when two kings, in some dispute over the bell, went on spates of prisoner taking and cattle theft. The annals make one more apparent reference to the bell when chronicling a death, of 1356, "Solomon Ua Mellain, The Keeper of The Bell of the Testament, protector, rested in Christ."

The bell was encased in a "bell shrine", a distinctive Irish type of reliquary made for it, as an inscription records, by King Domnall Ua Lochlainn sometime between 1091 and 1105. The shrine is an important example of the final, Viking-influenced, style of Irish Celtic art, with intricate Urnes style decoration in gold and silver. The Gaelic inscription on the shrine also records the name of the maker "U INMAINEN" (which translates to "Noonan"), "who with his sons enriched/decorated it"; metalwork was often inscribed for remembrance.

The bell itself is simple in design, hammered into shape with a small handle fixed to the top with rivets. Originally forged from iron, it has since been coated in bronze. The shrine is inscribed with three names, including King Domnall Ua Lochlainn's. The rear of the shrine, not intended to be seen, is decorated with crosses while the handle is decorated with, among other work, Celtic designs of birds. The bell is accredited with working a miracle in 1044 and having been coated in bronze to shield it from human eyes, for which it would be too holy. It measures 12.5 × 10 cm at the base, 12.8 × 4 cm at the shoulder, 16.5 cm from base to shoulder, 3.3 cm from shoulder to top of handle and weighs 1.7 kg.^[67]

Sainthood and modern remembrance

The neo-gothic St Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, as seen from Rockefeller Center.

March 17, popularly known as St. Patrick's Day, is believed to be his death date and is the date celebrated as his feast day.^[68] The day became a feast day in the universal church due to the influence of the Waterford-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding, as a member of the commission for the reform of the Breviary^[69] in the early part of the 17th century.

For most of Christianity's first thousand years, canonisations were done on the diocesan or regional level. Relatively soon after the death of people considered to be very holy people, the local Church affirmed that they could be liturgically celebrated as saints. As a result, St. Patrick has never been formally canonised by a Pope; nevertheless, various Christian churches declare that he is a Saint in Heaven (he is in the List of Saints). He is still widely venerated in Ireland and elsewhere today.^[70]

St. Patrick is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on March 17. St. Patrick is also venerated in the Orthodox Church, especially among English-speaking Orthodox Christians living in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland and in North America.^[71] There are Orthodox icons dedicated to him.^[72]

Places associated with Saint Patrick

Slemish, County Antrim

St Patrick's statue at Saul, County Down

St Patrick's Oratory at the top of Croaghpatrick, County Mayo

• Slemish, County Antrim and Killala Bay, County Mayo

When captured by raiders, there are two theories as to where Patrick was enslaved. One theory is that he herded sheep in the countryside around Slemish. Another theory is that Patrick herded sheep near Killala Bay, at a place called Fochill.

• Saul, County Down (from Irish: Sabhall Phádraig, meaning "Patrick's barn")^[73]

It is claimed that Patrick founded his first church in a barn at Saul, which was donated to him by a local chieftain called Dichu. It is also claimed that Patrick died at Saul or was brought there between his death and burial. Nearby, on the crest of Slieve Patrick, is a huge statue of Saint Patrick with bronze panels showing scenes from his life.

• Hill of Slane, County Meath

Muirchu moccu Machtheni, in his highly mythologized 7th century Life of Patrick, says that Patrick lit a Paschal fire on this hilltop in 433 CE in defiance of High King Laoire. The story says that the fire could not be doused by anyone but Patrick, and it was here that he explained the holy trinity using the shamrock.

• Croagh Patrick, County Mayo (from Irish: Cruach Phádraig, meaning "Patrick's stack")^[74]

It is claimed that Patrick climbed this mountain and fasted on its summit for the forty days of Lent. Croagh Patrick draws thousands of pilgrims who make the trek to the top on the last Sunday in July.

• Lough Derg, County Donegal (from Irish: Loch Dearg, meaning "red lake")^[75]

It is claimed that Patrick killed a large serpent on this lake and that its blood turned the water red (hence the name). Each August, pilgrims spend three days fasting and praying there on Station Island.

• Armagh, County Armagh

It is claimed that Patrick founded a church here and proclaimed it to be the most holy church in Ireland. Armagh is today the primary seat of both the Catholic and Protestant Churches in Ireland and both cathedrals in the town are named after Patrick.

• Downpatrick, County Down (from Irish: Dún Pádraig, meaning "Patrick's stronghold")^[76]

It is claimed that Patrick was brought here after his death and buried in the grounds of Down Cathedral.

Other places named after Saint Patrick include:

• Ardpatrick, County Limerick (from Irish: Ard Pádraig, meaning "high place of Patrick")^[77]
• Patrickswell or Toberpatrick, County Limerick (from Irish: Tobar Phádraig, meaning "Patrick's well")^[78]
• St Patrick's Chapel, Heysham
• St Patrick's Island, County Dublin
• St Patrick's Isle, off the Isle of Man
• Llanbadrig (church), Ynys Badrig (island), Porth Padrig (cove), Llyn Padrig (lake), and Rhosbadrig (heath) on the island of Anglesey in Wales
• Templepatrick, County Antrim (from Irish: Teampall Phádraig, meaning "Patrick's church")^[79]

In literature

• Robert Southey wrote a ballad called Saint Patrick's Purgatory, based on popular legends surrounding the saint's name.

• Stephen R. Lawhead wrote the fictional Patrick: Son of Ireland based on the life of the celebrated Saint.^[80]

• Parke Godwin wrote the fiction novel The Last Rainbow based on the life of Saint Patrick and incorporating elements of fantasy established in his earlier novel Firelord.

• Dutch/Scottish singer Chris Anderson wrote a poem called "Saint Patrick's Lament", based on the Saint's remembrance festival Saint Patrick's Day.

• In Lloyd Alexander's novel Time Cat, the main characters encounter an enslaved Irish shepherd implied to be the future St. Patrick.

See also

• Croagh Patrick
• St. Patrick's blue
• St. Patrick's Flag
• St. Patrick's Purgatory
• Ireland
• Druid

References

1. ^ "Roman Catholic Patron Saints Index". http://www.americancatholic.org/Features/Saints/patrons.asp. Retrieved 25 August 2006. 
2. ^ O'Rahilly, Thomas Francis (1942), The Two Patricks: A Lecture on the History of Christianity in Fifth-century Ireland, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, pp. 43–44, http://books.google.com/books?id=DW8sAAAAIAAJ 
3. ^ Ball, Martin J.; Fife, James (2002), The Celtic Languages, USA: Routledge, pp. 82–83, ISBN 0-415-28080-X 
4. ^ Old Irish is a Q-Celtic language, which means that the sound /p/ in other languages is converted to the sound /k/.
5. ^ St Patrick in the Catholic Encyclopedia (1913).
6. ^ Common Worship: Services and Prayers for the Church of England, The Calendar, p. 7
7. ^ Macthéni, Muirchú maccu; White, Newport John Davis (1920). St. Patrick, his writings and life. New York: The Macmillan Company. pp. 31–51, 54–60. http://books.google.com/books?id=1OZlAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA31#v=onepage&q&f=false. 
8. ^ All About Saint Patrick's Day Church Year Retrieved 2011-02-20
9. ^ St. Patrick's Day The History Channel Retrieved 2010-02-11
10. ^ O'Rahilly, The two Patricks, Dublin 1942
11. ^ De Paor, p. 79.
12. ^ Byrne, pp. 78–79; De Paor, pp. 6–7 & 88–89; Duffy, pp. 16–17; Fletcher, p.300–306; Yorke, p. 112.
13. ^ There may well have been Christian "Irish" people in Britain at this time; Goidelic-speaking people were found on both sides of the Irish Sea, with Irish being spoken from Cornwall to Argyll. The influence of the Kingdom of Dyfed may have been of particular importance. See Charles-Edwards, pp. 161–172; Dark, pp.188–190; Ó Cróinín, pp. 17–18; Thomas, pp. 297–300.
14. ^ Duffy, pp. 16–17; Thomas, p. 305.
15. ^ Charles-Edwards, pp. 184–187; Thomas, pp. 297–300; Yorke, pp. 112–114.
16. ^ Charles-Edwards, pp. 233–240.
17. ^ Both texts in original Latin, various translations and with images of all extant manuscript testimonies on the "Saint Patrick's Confessio HyperStack website". Royal Irish Academy Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources. http://www.confessio.ie. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
18. ^ De Paor glosses it as "[probably near] Carlisle" and Thomas argues at length for the areas of Birdoswald, twenty miles (32 km) east of Carlisle on Hadrian's Wall. There is a Roman town called Bannaventa in Northamptonshire, but this is likely too far from the sea. See De Paor, pp. 88 & 96; Thomas, pp. 310–314; Bury, p. 17.
19. ^ MacNeill, Eoin (1926), "The Native Place of St. Patrick", Papers read for the Royal Irish Academy, Dublin: Hodges, Figgis, pp. 118–140, http://www.archive.org/details/papersirishacad00macnuoft  – MacNeill argues for an origin in South Wales, noting that the western coasts of southern Scotland and northern England held little to interest a raider seeking quick access to booty and numerous slaves, while the southern coast of Wales offered both. In addition, the region was home to Uí Liatháin and possibly also Déisi settlers during this time, so Irish raiders would have had the contacts to tell them precisely where to go in order to quickly obtain booty and capture slaves. MacNeill also suggests a possible home town based on naming similarities, but allows that the transcription errors in manuscripts make this little more than an educated guess.
20. ^ The Catholic Encyclopedia states he was born in Kilpatrick, Scotland. "St. Patrick". 5 October 2011. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11554a.htm. 
21. ^ http://www.webanswers.com/social-sciences/spiritual-religious/who-is-saint-patrick-768a50 , http://www.encyclopedia.com/article-1G2-3407708528/patrick-st.html and http://www.wikipedia.org/History_of_Cumbria
22. ^ De Paor, p. 96.
23. ^ "Confession of St. Patrick, Part 16". Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/patrick/confession.iv.html. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
24. ^ "Confession of St. Patrick, Part 17". Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/patrick/confession.v.html. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
25. ^ De Paor, pp. 99–100; Charles-Edwards, p. 229.
26. ^ De Paor, p. 100. De Paor glosses Foclut as "west of Killala Bay, in County Mayo", but it appears that the location of Fochoill (Foclut or Voclut) is still a matter of debate. See Charles-Edwards, p. 215.
27. ^ Hood p. 4
28. ^ Thomas, pp. 337–341; De Paor, pp. 104–107; Charles-Edwards, pp. 217–219.
29. ^ "Confession of St. Patrick, Part 50". Christian Classics Ethereal Library at Calvin College. http://www.ccel.org/ccel/patrick/confession.x.html. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
30. ^ Charles-Edwards, pp. 219–225; Thomas, pp. 337–341; De Paor, pp. 104–107.
31. ^ De Paor, p. 107; Charles-Edwards, p. 221–222.
32. ^ This is presumed to refer to St. Patrick's tonsure.
33. ^ After Ó Cróinín, p.32; De Paor, p. 180. See also Ó Cróinín, pp. 30–33.
34. ^ "Letter To Coroticus, by Saint St. Patrick". Gilder Lehrman Center at Yale University. http://www.yale.edu/glc/archive/1166.htm. Retrieved 2010-03-11. 
35. ^ Todd, James Henthorn (1863), "The Epistle on Coroticus", St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland, Dublin: Hodges, Smith, & Co. (published 1864), pp. 383–385, http://books.google.com/books?id=um44AAAAMAAJ&pg=PA383 
36. ^ De Paor, pp. 109–113; Charles-Edwards, pp. 226–230.
37. ^ Thomas, pp. 339 – 343.
38. ^ See Dumville, pp. 116–12; Wood, p. 45 n. 5.
39. ^ Byrne, pp. 78–82; the notes following Tírechán's hagiography in the Book of Armagh state that Palladius "was also called Patrick, while other sources have vague mentions of 'two Patricks'", Byrne, p.78. See De Paor, pp. 203–206, for the notes referred to.
40. ^ Why did St. Patrick Become a Saint Why Guides Retrieved 2011-02-20
41. ^ Stancliffe.
42. ^ De Paor, p. 122.
43. ^ De Paor, p. 121.
44. ^ About Us The Saint Patrick Centre Retrieved 2011-02-20
45. ^ De Paor, pp. 141–143; Charles-Edwards, p. 182–183. Bede writing a century later, refers to Palladius only.
46. ^ De Paor, pp 151–153; Charles-Edwards, p. 182–183.
47. ^ Both texts in original Latin and English translations and images of the Book of Armagh manuscript copy on the "Saint Patrick's Confessio HyperStack website". http://www.confessio.ie. Retrieved 2011-09-14. 
48. ^ Aideen O'Leary, "An Irish Apocryphal Apostle: Muirchú's Portrayal of Saint Patrick" The Harvard Theological Review 89.3 (July 1996), pp. 287–301, traces Muichù's sources and his explicit parallels of Patrick with Moses, the bringer of rechte Litre, the "letter of the Law"; the adversary, King Lóegaire, takes the role of Pharaoh.
49. ^ Annals of Ulster, AU 657.1: "Obitus...Ultán moccu Conchobair."
50. ^ De Paor, p. 154.
51. ^ De Paor, pp. 175 & 177.
52. ^ White, Newport J. D. (1920), St. Patrick, His Writings and Life, New York: The Macmillan Co, p. 110, http://books.google.com/books?id=1OZlAAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover 
53. ^ Their works are found in De Paor, pp. 154–174 & 175–197 respectively.
54. ^ Charles-Edwards, pp. 224–226.
55. ^ Ó Cróinín, pp. 30–33. Ramsay MacMullen's Christianizing the Roman Empire (Yale University Press, 1984) examines the better-recorded mechanics of conversion in the Empire, and forms the basis of Ó Cróinín's conclusions.
56. ^ Charles-Edwards, pp. 416–417 & 429–440.
57. ^ The relevant annals are reprinted in De Paor, pp. 117–130.
58. ^ De Paor's conclusions at p. 135, the document itself is given at pp. 135–138.
59. ^ Robinson, William Erigena. New Haven Hibernian Provident Society. St. Patrick and the Irish: an oration, before the Hibernian Provident Society, of New Haven, March 17, 1842. pg 8. [1]
60. ^ ^{a b c} "Snakeless in Ireland: Blame Ice Age, Not St. Patrick - National Geographic News". http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080313-snakes-ireland.html. Retrieved 17 March 2011. 
61. ^ Hassig, Debra, The mark of the beast: the medieval bestiary in art, life, and literature (Taylor & Francis, 1999)
62. ^ ^{a b} "Snakeless in Ireland: Blame Ice Age, Not St. Patrick - National Geographic News". http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2008/03/080313-snakes-ireland_2.html. Retrieved 17 March 2011. 
63. ^ "Why Ireland Has No Snakes - National Zoo". http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/NewsEvents/irelandsnakes.cfm. Retrieved 25 August 2006, 17 March 2011. 
64. ^ Keeper of the Celtic Secrets Google Books Retrieved 2011-02-20
65. ^ Weigant, Chris, "Saint Patrick and the Snakes," (Huffington Post, March 17, 2010)
66. ^ St. Patrick's Day Facts: Snakes, a Slave, and a Saint National Geographic Retrieved 2011-02-10
67. ^ The Bellshrine of St. Patrick, Clan McLaughlan website
68. ^ Great Synaxaristes: (Greek) Ὁ Ἅγιος Πατρίκιος Ἀπόστολος τῆς Ἰρλανδίας. 17 Μαρτίου. ΜΕΓΑΣ ΣΥΝΑΞΑΡΙΣΤΗΣ.
69. ^ "The Catholic Encyclopedia: Luke Wadding". http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15521d.htm. Retrieved 15 February 2007. 
70. ^ "Ask a Franciscan: Saints Come From All Nations - March 2001 Issue of St. Anthony Messenger Magazine Online". http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Mar2001/Wiseman.asp#F4. Retrieved 25 August 2006. 
71. ^ "St Patrick the Bishop of Armagh and Enlightener of Ireland". http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=100821. Retrieved 11 November 2007. 
72. ^ "Icon of St. Patrick". http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/patrick.htm. Retrieved 17 March 2008. 
73. ^ Placenames NI
74. ^ Placenames Database of Ireland: Croaghpatrick
75. ^ Placenames Database of Ireland: Lough Derg
76. ^ Placenames Database of Ireland: Downpatrick
77. ^ Placenames Database of Ireland: Ardpatrick
78. ^ Placenames Database of Ireland: Patrickswell
79. ^ Placenames Database of Ireland: Templepatrick
80. ^ "Patrick: Son of Ireland | Books". StephenLawhead.com. 2007-08-23. http://www.stephenlawhead.com/books/patrick.shtml. Retrieved 2009-10-04. ^{[dead link]}

Further reading

• Brown, Peter (2003), The rise of Western Christendom : triumph and diversity, A.D. 200-1000 (2nd ed.), Oxford: Blackwell, ISBN 0-631-22138-7 
• Bury, John Bagnell (1905), Life of St. Patrick and his Place in History, London 

*Byrne, Francis J. (1973), Irish Kings and High-Kings., London: Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-5882-8 

• Cahill, Thomas (1995), How the Irish Saved Civilization, New York: Doubleday, ISBN 0-385-41849-3 
• Charles-Edwards, T. M. (2000), Early Christian Ireland, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, ISBN 0-521-36395-0 
• Dark, Ken (2000), Britain and the end of the Roman Empire, Stroud: Tempus, ISBN 0-7524-2532-3 
• De Paor, Liam (1993), Saint Patrick's World: The Christian Culture of Ireland's Apostolic Age, Dublin: Four Courts Press, ISBN 1-85182-144-9 
• Duffy, Seán,, ed. (1997), Atlas of Irish History, Dublin: Gill and Macmillan, ISBN 0-7171-3093-2 
• Dumville, David (1994), "The Death date of St. Patrick"", in Howlett, David, The Book of Letters of Saint Patrick the Bishop., Dublin: Four Courts Press, ISBN 1-85182-136-8 
• Fletcher, Richard (1997), The Conversion of Europe: From Paganism to Christianity 371–1386 AD., London: Harper Collins, ISBN 0-00-686302-7 
• Hood, A. B. E (1978), St. Patrick: his Writings, and Muirchú's Life, London and Chichester: Phillimore, ISBN 0-85033-299-0 
• Hughes, Kathleen (1972), Early Christian Ireland: Introduction to the Sources, London: Hodder & Stoughton, ISBN 0-340-16145-0 
• Iannello, Fausto (2008), "Note storiche sull’Epistola ad Milites Corotici di San Patrizio", Atti della Accademia Peloritana dei Pericolanti, classe di Lettere, Filosofia e Belle Arti 84: 275–285 
•  Moran, Patrick Francis Cardinal (1913). "St. Patrick". Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company. 
• McCaffrey, Carmel (2003), In Search of Ancient Ireland, Chicago: Ivan R Dee, ISBN 978-1-56663-525-7 
• MacQuarrie, Alan (1997), The Saints of Scotland: Essays in Scottish Church History AD 450–1093, Edinburgh: John Donald, ISBN 0-85976-446-X 
• Ó Cróinín, Dáibhí (1995), Early Medieval Ireland: 400–1200, London: Longman, ISBN 0-582-01565-0 
• O'Loughlin, Thomas (1999), Saint Patrick: The Man and his Works, London: S.P.C.K. 
• O'Loughlin, Thomas (2000), Celtic Theology, London: Continuum 
• O'Loughlin, Thomas (2005), Discovering Saint Patrick, New York: Orbis 
• O'Loughlin, Thomas (2005), The Capitula of Muirchu's Vita Patricii: do they point to an underlying structure in the text?, , Analecta Bollandiana 123: 79–89 
• O'Loughlin, Thomas (2007), Nagy, J. F., ed., The myth of Insularity and nationality in Ireland, Dublin: Four Courts Press, pp. 132–140 
• O'Rahilly, T. F. (1942), The Two Patricks: A Lecture on the History of Christianity in Fifth-Century Ireland, Dublin: Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies 
• Stancliffe, Claire (2004). "Patrick (fl. 5th cent.)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/21562. Retrieved 2007-02-17. 
• Thomas, Charles (1981), Christianity in Roman Britain to AD 500, London: Batsford, ISBN 0-7134-1442-1 
• Wood, Ian (2001), The Missionary Life: Saints and the Evangelisation of Europe 400-1050, London: Longman, ISBN 0-582-31213-2 
• Yorke, Barbara (2006), The Conversion of Britain: Religion, Politics and Society in Britain c.600–800, London: Longman, ISBN 0-582-77292-3 

External links

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Saint Patrick

Wikisource has original works written by or about: Saint Patrick

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Saint Patrick

• Writings of Saint Patrick
• The Most Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick, edited by James O'Leary, 1880, from Project Gutenberg.
• Page devoted to the life of St. Patrick at Catholic.org
• BBC: Religion & Ethics, Christianity: Saint Patrick (Incl. audio)
• Opera Omnia by Migne Patristica Latina with analytical indexes
• Oase Sankt Patrick
• CELT: Corpus of Electronic Texts at University College Cork includes Patrick's Confessio and Epistola, as well as various lives of Saint Patrick.
• Saint Patrick's Confessio Hypertext Stack as published by the Royal Irish Academy Dictionary of Medieval Latin from Celtic Sources (DMLCS) freely providing digital scholarly editions of St Patrick's writings as well as translations and digital facsimiles of all extant manuscript copies.

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Persondata
Name	Patrick, Saint
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	unknown, late 4th century to mid-5th century
Place of birth	Banna Venta Berniae, Britain (suggested to be near Birdoswald, Cumbria, England)
Date of death	17 March, (traditional), year unknown, mid to end 5th century[dubious – discuss]
Place of death

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