Saint Patrick ( _la. Patricius, [Brown, pp. 51] Irish: "Naomh Pádraig") was a Roman Britain-born Christian missionary and is thepatron saint of Ireland along with Brigid of Kildare and Columba. When he was about sixteen he was captured by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. He entered the church. He later returned to Ireland as a missionary in the north and west of the island, but little is known about the places where he worked and no link can be made between Patrick and any church. By the eighth century he had become the patron saint of Ireland. The Irish monastery system evolved after the time of Patrick and the Irish church did not develop the diocesan model that Patrick and the other early missionaries had tried to establish.

The available body of evidence does not allow the dates of Patrick's life to be fixed with certainty, but it appears that he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the second half of the fifth century. Two letters from him survive, along with laterhagiographies from the seventh century onwards. Many of these works cannot be taken as authentic traditions. Uncritical acceptance of the "Annals of Ulster" (see below) would imply that he lived from 378 to 461, and ministered in modern day northern Ireland from 433 onwards.

Background

Most modern studies of Saint Patrick follow a variant of T. F. O'Rahilly's "Two Patricks" theory. He is believed to be of Italian nationality. That is to say, many of the traditions later attached to Saint Patrick originally concerned Palladius, a deacon fromGaul who came to Ireland, perhaps sent by Pope Celestine I (died 431). Palladius was not the only early cleric in Ireland at this time. Saints Auxilius, Secundinus and Iserninus are associated with early churches in Munster and Leinster. By this reading, Palladius was active in Ireland until the 460s. [Byrne, pp. 78–79; De Paor, pp. 6–7 & 88–89; Duffy, pp. 16–17; Fletcher, pp. 80–83; MacQuarrie, p. 34; Ó Cróinín, pp. 22–23; Thomas, pp.300–306; Yorke, p. 112.]

Prosper of Aquitaine's contemporary chronicle states:

Palladius was ordained by Pope Celestine and sent to the Irish believers in Christ as their first bishop. [De Paor, p. 79.]

Although the evidence for contacts with Gaul is clear, the borrowings from Latin into the Old Irish language show that links with former Roman Britain were many. [Charles-Edwards, pp. 184–187; Thomas, pp. 297–300; Yorke, pp. 112–114.] 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. [Charles-Edwards, pp. 233–240.]

Patrick in his own words

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

Patrick was born at Banna Venta Berniae. [This location is not certain, and a variety of interpretations have been made. De Paor glosses it as " [probably near Carlisle] " and Thomas argues at length for the area of Birdoswald, twenty miles (32 km) east of Carlisle on Hadrians Wall. See De Paor, pp. 88 & 96; BritThomas, pp. 310–314.] Calpornius, his father, was adeacon, his grandfather Potitus a priest. When he was about sixteen, he was captured and carried off as a slave to Ireland. [De Paor, p. 96.] Patrick worked as a herdsman, remaining a captive for six years. He writes that his faith grew in captivity, and that he prayed daily. 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, where he found a ship and, after various adventures, returned home to his family, now in his early twenties. [De Paor, pp. 99–100; Charles-Edwards, p. 229.]

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. [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.]

Much of the "Declaration" concerns charges made against 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. [Thomas, pp. 337–341; De Paor, pp. 104–107; Charles-Edwards, pp. 217–219.]

From this same evidence, something can be seen of Patrick's mission. He writes that he "baptised thousands of people". 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. [Charles-Edwards, pp. 219–225; Thomas, pp. 337–341; De Paor, pp. 104–107.]

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. [De Paor, p. 107; Charles-Edwards, p. 221–222.]

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, [This is presumed to refer to Patrick's tonsure.] 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." [After Ó Cróinín, p.32; De Paor, p. 180. See also Ó Cróinín, pp. 30–33.]

The second piece of evidence which comes from Patrick's life is the "Letter to Coroticus" or "Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus". In this, Patrick writes an open letter announcing that he has excommunicated certain Brythonic warriors of Coroticus who have raided in Ireland, along with Picts and Irishmen, taking some of Patrick's converts into slavery. Coroticus, based largely on an 8th century gloss, is taken to be King Ceretic of Alt Clut. [De Paor, pp. 109–113; Charles-Edwards, pp. 226–230.] It has been suggested that it was the sending of this letter which provoked the trial which Patrick mentions in the "Confession". [Thomas, pp. 339–343.]

Dating Patrick's life and mission

According to the latest reconstruction of the old Irish annals, Patrick died in AD 461, a date accepted by some modern historians. [See Dumville, pp. 116-12; Wood, p. 45 n. 5.] Prior to the 1940s it was believed without doubt that he died in 461 and thus had lived in the first half of the 5th century. [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.] 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 meld the two into one hagiographic personality. Decades of contention eventually ended with most historians now asserting that Patrick was indeed most likely to have been active in the mid-to-late 5th century.

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 pagan. Their conversion is dated to the period 496–508. [Stancliffe.]

The compiler of the Annals of Ulster stated that in the year 553:

I have found this in the Book of Cuanu: The relics of Patrick were placed sixty years after his death in a shrine byColum 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. [De Paor, p. 122.]

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 baptize the Irish.

There is also the additional evidence of his disciple, Mochta, who died in 535. [De Paor, p. 121.]

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. [cite web | title=About the Centre | work=Saint Patrick Visitor Centre | url=http://www.saintpatrickcentre.com/ | accessdate=2008-05-30]

Early traditions

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. [De Paor, pp. 141–143; Charles-Edwards, p. 182–183. Bedewriting a century later, refers to Palladius only.] 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. [De Paor, pp 151–153; Charles-Edwards, p. 182–183.]

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. Both writers relied upon an earlier work, now lost, the "Book of Ultán". [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. ] 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. ["Annals of Ulster", AU 657.1: "Obitus...Ultán moccu Conchobair."] 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)." [De Paor, p. 154.]

The Patrick portrayed by Tírechán and Muirchu is a martial figure, who contests with druids, overthrows pagan idols, and curses kings and kingdoms. [Their works are found in De Paor, pp. 154–174 & 175–197 respectively.] On occasions 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. [Charles-Edwards, pp. 224–226.]

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. [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.]

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. [Charles-Edwards, pp. 416–417 & 429–440.]

Other presumed early materials include the Irish annals, which contain records from the Chronicle of Ireland. These sources have conflated Palladius and Patrick. [The relevant annals are reprinted in De Paor, pp. 117–130.] 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 fifth 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". [De Paor's conclusions at p. 135, the document itself is given at pp. 135–138.]

Patrick in legend

Pious legend credits Patrick with banishing snakes from the island, though post-glacial Ireland never had snakes; [cite web|title="Why Ireland Has No Snakes - National Zoo|FONZ"|accessdate=25 August|accessyear=2006|url=http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/ReptilesAmphibians/NewsEvents/irelandsnakes.cfm] one suggestion is that "snakes" referred to the serpent symbolism of the Druids of that time and place, as shown for instance on coins minted in Gaul (see Carnutes), or that it could have referred to beliefs such as Pelagianism, symbolized as “serpents”. Legend also credits Patrick with teaching the Irish about the concept of the Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a 3-leaved clover, using it to highlight the Christian belief of 'three divine persons in the one God' (as opposed to the Arian belief that was popular in Patrick's time). Whether or not these legends are true, the very fact that there are so many legends about Patrick shows how important his ministry was to Ireland. 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 good news 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. 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. They traveled with the saint and told him their stories.

ainthood and remembrance

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. 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 [cite web|title="The Catholic Encyclopedia: Luke Wadding"|accessdate=15 February|accessyear=2007|url=http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15521d.htm] 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. [cite web|title="Ask a Franciscan: Saints Come From All Nations - March 2001 Issue of St. Anthony Messenger Magazine Online"|accessdate=25 August|accessyear=2006|url=http://www.americancatholic.org/Messenger/Mar2001/Wiseman.asp#F4]

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 [cite web|title="St Patrick the Bishop of Armagh and Enlightener of Ireland"|accessdate=11 November|accessyear=2007|url=http://ocafs.oca.org/FeastSaintsViewer.asp?SID=4&ID=1&FSID=100821] . There are Orthodox icons dedicated to him. [cite web|title="Icon of St. Patrick"|accessdate=17 March|accessyear=2008|url=http://www.orthodoxengland.org.uk/patrick.htm] On March 17, 1776, the day that British forces under GeneralSir William Howe evacuated Boston during the American Revolutionary War, the password of the day at General George Washington's Continental Army encampment was "Saint Patrick".