For all the hundreds of words written by and millions of words
written about Ireland's patron saint, we have to admit to not knowing a
lot about Patrick.
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And they might even draw on the traditions of two Patricks, with Palladius mixed in ...
Just the Facts ... on and by Saint Patrick
The only undisputed records of Saint Patrick's life are his scarce biographical sketches in the Confessio
and the letter to Coroticus' soldiers (whoever they were). Both
documents were written by Patrick himself and contain fairly
unspectacular details:
- Patrick was probably born in Britain (more than likely England or Wales, though he may have come from further afield) into a wealthy Christian family with strong church connections;
- Patrick was abducted by raiders as a young man or boy, taken to Ireland and kept as a servant or slave to herd sheep;
- Following divine inspiration, maybe a vision, Patrick fled from Ireland, wandered an unspecified desert and finally arrived back in Britain;
- Rising within the church, Patrick was chosen to convert the Irish and sent back to the island;
- His rise and mission were not universally welcome, he hints at a "dark secret" rivals knew about;
- Patrick had a definitely apocalyptic vision of his mission in Ireland.
Saint Patrick's Time and Place
While
Patrick himself never provided definite dates or places, the common
assumption is that his mission in Ireland started in 432. This
particular year might only have been chosen for numerological reasons by
later chroniclers and should thus not be seen as definite. In fact, the
mission may well have started a few years later, 456 is often mentioned
by experts .
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We simply have no way to connect Saint Patrick to any definite date, just a general period.
Also
bear in mind that Saint Patrick's was not the first mission to Ireland -
chroniclers relate that a certain Palladius was already sent there in
431. While we know even less about Palladius than we do about Patrick,
the latter's biographers seem to agree that the earlier mission was a
failure. Again, this might just have been a PR-exercise on behalf of
Saint Patrick.
Saint Patrick - Harbinger of the Apocalypse
One point that may need a bit more explanation is Patrick's "apocalyptic vision". In his confessio
he repeatedly refers to Ireland as the furthest extreme of the world
that he will bring into the arms of the church. This ties in with the
popular believe that the Final Judgement would come once all nations
accepted Christ - thus implying that the completion of Patrick's mission
would bring the End of Days.
Obviously Patrick's geographical
knowledge even of the world as it was known in his times was very
patchy. He seems to have been totally and genuinely convinced, however,
that he was chosen to convert the Irish and thus ring in the end of the
world as he knew it.
This, in a nutshell, is the sum total
knowledge of Patrick as related by himself. With some additional "facts"
supplied by his earliest biographers.
Saint Patrick's Legend Lives
Though
Saint Patrick obviously did not bring about the apocalypse, he became a
cult figure in Early-Christian Ireland and was soon proclaimed a saint.
Note that this was a simple process of acclamation in the early middle
ages, not the complicated and long-winded papal process it is today. A
saint was somebody who led an exemplary Christian life. But Patrick, at
least according to his later biographers, also managed to work some
truly stunning miracles.
His main feat seems to have been driving
the snakes out of Ireland. The slithering ones had been connected to sin
since the Garden of Eden. Zoologists will, however, tell you that there
never were any snakes in Ireland anyway. Modern interpretation thus
sometimes simply equates "snake" with "sin" and sees Saint Patrick
driving sin (or rather Paganism) out of Ireland by bringing Christianity into it.
Patrick's other recorded deeds my be as allegorical as the snake episode. His famous forty days and nights of fasting on Croagh Patrick
for instance would not be totally impossible physically. It might,
however, be lifted straight from Biblical references. We'll never know
for sure. Did Saint Patrick really light a a paschal fire on the Hill of Slane to defy the High King
of Tara and his druids ? Why not - it would have been easy to do and
certainly have helped to raise the missionary's profile. Separating the
facts from the fictions in Patrick's biographies is next to impossible.
And bear in mind that there are other royal places in Ireland, plus more kings than you can shake a sceptre at ... so how important would Tara have been?
Saint Patrick and the Shamrock
Finally
- why just is Saint Patrick nearly always shown with a shamrock?
Apparently he tried to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity to some
Irish pagans. Who simply could not get their heads around the
conflicting messages that there is but one God, but that He is a Trinity
at the same time.
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So Patrick plucked a shamrock and used this to
exemplify the Holy Trinity. "Look, it is made up of three identical yet
separate pieces - and those three pieces do not exist in isolation but
are one." The Irish got the message and the shamrock became a national
symbol.
Just Patrick? Or Saint Patrick?
What's in a name
after all? A lot - if you see it from a historical perspective. These
days we are used to speak about Saint Patrick, but in his lifetime
things would have been different. Patrick himself never claimed any
special place, let alone sainthood. The opposite is true - he called
himself unworthy, a sinner and uneducated. Just Patrick.
Whether
this was "fishing for compliments" or true humility we will simply never
know, maybe a mixture of both. Surely Patrick perceived his mission as
important, bringing on the Final Judgement after all, but then he saw
himself only as an important tool in the hand of God.
At the same
time there would have been many people in Ireland going "Yer man
Patrick, he's a real saint, y'know ?" But only later was Patrick elevated
to the status of a fully fledged saint, recognized by his followers and
Rome ...
To be absolutely correct, the historical Patrick should
maybe just be called Patrick, the man - Saint Patrick then being
reserved for the legend. But even some aspects of the historical Patrick
as related by the man himself might be just legend . After all, in all
humility, he was convinced he was on a mission from God.
And Finally ... Just One Patrick to Convert Them All?
This
is one of the historical enigmas surrounding the patron saint of
Ireland - he may actually have been more than one man on mission . There
is strong evidence that the stories, legends and traditions may
originally have been attached to two Patricks, one having been the afore-mentioned Palladius ...
