St Patrick

Saint Patrick (; or ; ) was a fifth-century Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigid of Kildare and Columba. He is also the patron saint of Nigeria. Patrick was never formally canonised by the Catholic Church, having lived before the current laws were established for such matters. He is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, the Lutheran Church, the Church of Ireland (part of the Anglican Communion), and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, where he is regarded as equal-to-the-apostles and Enlightener of Ireland.

The dates of Patrick's life cannot be fixed with certainty, but there is general agreement that he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the fifth century. A recent biography on Patrick shows a late fourth-century date for the saint is not impossible. According to tradition dating from the early Middle Ages, Patrick was the first bishop of Armagh and Primate of Ireland, and is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland (despite evidence of some earlier Christian presence on the island), and converting Ireland from paganism in the process.

According to Patrick's autobiographical ''Confessio'', when he was about sixteen, he was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland. He writes that he lived there for six years as an animal herder before escaping and returning to his family. After becoming a cleric, he returned to spread Christianity in northern and western Ireland. In later life, he served as a bishop, but little is known about where he worked. By the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland.

Saint Patrick's Day, considered his feast day, is observed on 17 March, the supposed date of his death. It is celebrated in Ireland and among the Irish diaspora as a religious and cultural holiday. In the Catholic Church in Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation.

Sources

Two Latin works survive which are generally accepted as having been written by St. Patrick. These are the ''Declaration'' () and the ''Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus'' (), from which come the only generally accepted details of his life. The ''Declaration'' is the more biographical of the two. In it, Patrick gives a short account of his life and his mission. Most available details of his life are from subsequent hagiographies and annals, which have considerable value but lack the empiricism scholars depend on today.

Name

The only name that Patrick uses for himself in his own writings is , which gives and ( or ); English ''Patrick''; ; ; .

Hagiography records other names he is said to have borne. Tírechán's seventh-century ''Collectanea'' gives: "Magonus, that is, famous; Succetus, that is, god of war; Patricius, that is, father of the citizens; Cothirthiacus, because he served four houses of druids." "Magonus" appears in the ninth-century ''Historia Brittonum'' as ''Maun'', descending from British ''*Magunos'', meaning "servant-lad". "Succetus", which also appears in Muirchú moccu Machtheni's seventh-century ''Life'' as ''Sochet'', is identified by Mac Neill as "a word of British origin meaning swineherd".Eoin Mac Neill, ''St. Patrick'', Clonmore and Reynolds, 1964, pp. 87–88 Cothirthiacus also appears as ''Cothraige'' in the 8th-century biographical poem known as ''Fiacc's Hymn'' and a variety of other spellings elsewhere, and is taken to represent a , although this is disputed. Harvey argues that ''Cothraige'' "has the form of a classic Old Irish tribal (and therefore place-) name", noting that ''Ail Coithrigi'' is a name for the Rock of Cashel, and the place-names ''Cothrugu'' and ''Catrige'' are attested in Counties Antrim and Carlow.

Dating

The dates of Patrick's life are uncertain; there are conflicting traditions regarding the year of his death. His own writings provide no evidence for any dating more precise than the 5th century generally. His Biblical quotations are a mixture of the Old Latin version and the Vulgate, completed in the early 5th century, suggesting he was writing "at the point of transition from Old Latin to Vulgate", although it is possible the Vulgate readings may have been added later, replacing earlier readings. The ''Letter to Coroticus'' implies that the Franks were still pagans at the time of writing; their conversion to Christianity is dated to the period 496–508.

The Irish annals date Patrick's arrival in Ireland at 432, but they were compiled in the mid-6th century at the earliest. The date 432 was probably chosen to minimise the contribution of Palladius, who was known to have been sent to Ireland in 431, and maximise that of Patrick. A variety of dates are given for his death. In 457 "the elder Patrick" () is said to have died: this may refer to the death of Palladius, who according to the ''Book of Armagh'' was also called Patrick. In 461/2 the annals say that "Here some record the repose of Patrick"; Hennessy, W. M. (trans.)
Annals of Ulster; otherwise, Annals of Senat
', Vol. I. Alexander Thom & Co. (Dublin), 1887. in 492/3 they record the death of "Patrick, the arch-apostle (or archbishop and apostle) of the Scoti", on 17 March, at the age of 120.

While some modern historians accept the earlier date of for Patrick's death, scholars of early Irish history tend to prefer a later date, . Supporting the later date, the annals record that in 553 "the relics of Patrick were placed ''sixty years after his death'' in a shrine by Colum Cille" (emphasis added). The death of Patrick's disciple Mochta is dated in the annals to 535 or 537, and the early hagiographies "all bring Patrick into contact with persons whose obits occur at the end of the fifth century or the beginning of the sixth". However, E. A. Thompson considers that none of the dates given for Patrick's death in the Annals are reliable. A recent biography suggests that a late fifth-century date for the saint is not impossible.

Life

Patrick was born at the end of Roman rule in Britain. His birthplace is not known with any certainty; some traditions place it in what is now England—one identifying it as Glannoventa (modern Ravenglass in Cumbria). In 1981, Thomas argued at length for the areas of Birdoswald, east of Carlisle on Hadrian's Wall. In 1993, Paor glossed it as " robably nearCarlisle". There is a Roman town known as Bannaventa in Northamptonshire, which is phonically similar to the Bannavem Taburniae mentioned in Patrick's confession, but this is probably too far from the sea. Claims have also been advanced for locations in present-day Scotland, with the Catholic Encyclopedia stating that Patrick was born in Kilpatrick, Scotland. In 1926 Eoin MacNeill also advanced a claim for Glamorgan in south Wales, possibly the village of Banwen, in the Upper Dulais Valley, which was the location of a Roman marching camp.

Patrick's father, Calpurnius, is described as a decurion (senator and tax collector) of an unspecified Romano-British city, and as a deacon; his grandfather Potitus was a priest from Bonaven Tabernia. However, Patrick's confession states he was not an active believer in his youth, and considered himself in that period to be "idle and callow".

According to the ''Confession of Saint Patrick'', he was captured at the age of sixteen from his family's Villa at "Bannavem Taburniae" by a group of Irish pirates. They took him to Ireland where he was enslaved and held captive for six years. Patrick writes in the ''Confession'' that the time he spent in captivity was critical to his spiritual development. He explains that the Lord had mercy on his youth and ignorance, and afforded him the opportunity to be forgiven his sins and to grow in his faith through prayer.

The Dál Riata raiders who kidnapped him introduced him to the Irish culture that would define his life and reputation. While in captivity, he worked as a shepherd and strengthened his relationship with God through prayer, eventually leading him to deepen his faith.

He writes that after six years of captivity 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, where he found a ship and with difficulty persuaded the captain to take him. After three days' sailing, they landed, presumably in Britain, and apparently all left the ship, walking for 28 days in a "wilderness" and becoming faint from hunger. After Patrick prayed for sustenance, they encountered a herd of wild boar; since this was shortly after Patrick had urged them to put their faith in God, his prestige in the group was greatly increased. After various adventures, he returned home to his family, now in his early twenties. Patrick's account of his escape from slavery and return home to Britain is recounted in his ''Declaration''.

After returning home to Britain, Patrick continued to study Christianity. Patrick studied in Europe principally at Auxerre. J. B. Bury suggests that Amator ordained Patrick to the diaconate at Auxerre. Patrick is thought to have visited the Marmoutier Abbey, Tours and to have received the tonsure at Lérins Abbey. Saint Germanus of Auxerre, a bishop of the Western Church, ordained him to the priesthood. Maximus of Turin is credited with consecrating him as bishop.

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."

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 had visited Britain in an official capacity in 396. However, Ludwig Bieler disagrees.

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. The condemnation might have contributed to his decision to return to Ireland. According to Patrick's most recent biographer, Roy Flechner, the ''Confessio'' was written in part as a defence against his detractors, who did not believe that he was taken to Ireland as a slave, despite Patrick's vigorous insistence that he was.

Patrick eventually returned to Ireland, probably settling in the west of the island, where in later life he became a bishop and ordained subordinate clerics. Acting on his vision, Patrick returned to Ireland as a Christian missionary. According to Bury, his landing place was Wicklow, County Wicklow, at the mouth of the river Inver-dea, which is now called the Vartry. Bury suggests that Wicklow was also the port through which Patrick made his escape after his six years' captivity, though he does not offer strong evidence to support this. Tradition has it that Patrick was not welcomed by the locals and was forced to leave and seek a more welcoming landing place further north; he rested for some days at the islands near to Skerries, Dublin, one of which bears the name of Inis-Patrick. The first sanctuary dedicated by Patrick was at Saul. Shortly thereafter Benin (or Benignus), son of the chieftain Secsnen, joined Patrick's group.

From the ''Confessio'', something can be seen of Patrick's mission. He writes that he "baptised thousands of people", even planning to convert his slavers. 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. The ''Confessio'' is generally vague about the details of his work in Ireland, though giving some specific instances. This is partly because, as he says at points, he was writing for a local audience of Christians who knew him and his work. There are several mentions of travelling around the island and of sometimes difficult interactions with the ruling elite. He does claim of the Irish:

Never before did they know of God except to serve idols and unclean things. But now, they have become the people of the Lord, and are called children of God. The sons and daughters of the leaders of the Irish are seen to be monks and virgins of Christ!

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. Patrick says that he was also "many years later" a captive for 60 days, without giving details.

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, 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."

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, Patrick writes an open letter announcing that he has excommunicated Coroticus because he had taken some of 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 f Dalriada and later Argyll">Dalriada.html" ;"title="f Dalriada">f Dalriada and later Argylland Apostasy">apostate