St Patrick

The death of Jerome brings us to the year 420. The Roman Empire is on the point of collapse, the Dark Ages are about to descend upon Western Europe, and extant records about the lives of saints, or anything else, start to become thin on the ground. Nevertheless, one character of whom a little is known, dating from this period is Patrick, patron saint of Ireland. The exact dates of his birth and death are disputed, but one dating puts them in 390 and 461 respectively. Since the 1940′s it has generally become scholarly orthodoxy that what had, up until then, been accepted as the details of Patrick’s life is in fact a conflation of two saintly biographies; Patrick and Palladius. together with some exagerated claims, which were later made for him by prelates with political motives. Most of the accepted details of Patrick’s life now drawn from the writings of the saint himself.

Patrick was born somewhere in the western half of what later became Britain. (In the fifth century, Britain was a collection of minor fiefdoms such as the Angles, Picts and Britons). Patrick was the son of a deacon and had a priest as his grandfather. Whilst still in his youth he was captured by Irish pirates, and taken to Ireland where he was sold as a slave. Patrick spent six years as a slave, mostly tending his master’s herds. It was during this period that he became a Christian, as he gradually abandoned the paganism he had previously embraced.

After six years in captivity he had a dream in which he was told that he would soon escape his captivity, and a ship was waiting to take him back to his homeland. Subsequently he decamped, and broke free from his master. He made his way to the Irish coast, from whence he was able to persuade some sailors to take him with them when they sailed for Britain.

He returned to his family a changed man. Deciding to train for the priesthood, he acquired a basic knowledge of Latin, although the Latin style of his writing is regarded as inelegant. After another dream, resembling that of St Paul when he found himself being called into Macedonia, Patrick decided to return to Ireland. He there ordained priests, and encouraged many people to become monks and nuns. Limerick and Armagh are both put forward as places where he spent much of his time. As in Britain, paganism was still widely embraced amongst the Irish population of the fifth century, and Patrick was much concerned to bring it to an end – although without the more forceful methods employed by the Church in later centuries. Not that much more is known about the Patrick of history, rather than legend; even the place of his burial is unknown. Many locations lay claim to him; including Glastonbury in England. The currently accepted date of his death is 461.