{"id":5081,"date":"2015-03-17T22:58:36","date_gmt":"2015-03-17T22:58:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.culturedallroundman.com\/?p=5081"},"modified":"2022-03-17T23:55:56","modified_gmt":"2022-03-17T22:55:56","slug":"saint-patrick-in-context-dates-legends-and-the-confessio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturedarm.com\/staging\/5793\/saint-patrick-in-context-dates-legends-and-the-confessio\/","title":{"rendered":"Saint Patrick in Context: Dates, Legends, and The Confessio"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Patrick1\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He is Ireland\u2019s outstanding\u00a0patron saint, conventionally held to have brought Christianity to the country in 432, and his feast day every 17 March is the cause for commemoration and revelry throughout the world \u2013 but remarkably little can be stated with any degree of certainty about the life of Saint Patrick. Saint Patrick\u2019s Day is celebrated on the\u00a0traditional date of his death \u2013 but the Irish annals locate his death at various dates across a period of more than thirty years, from around 460 to 493. His birth is less clear still, with the textual evidence allowing only that none of his writings date from before the onset of the fifth century.<\/p>\n

Patrick\u2019s precise role in the establishment of Christianity in Ireland is equally a matter of debate. Some strands of Irish legend suggest that Cormac mac Airt, the most famous of the High Kings of Ireland, had converted to the Christian faith before his death. According\u00a0to the Annals of the Four Masters<\/em>, compiled between 1632 and 1636, Mac Airt reigned over the country from 254 to 266. Modern historians tend to place his demise in the year 277. T. W. Rolleston, writing in 1910 in\u00a0The High Deeds of Finn and Other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland<\/em>, notes:<\/p>\n

\u2018Cormac, it is said, was the third man in Ireland who heard of the Christian Faith before the coming of Patrick. One was Conor mac Nessa, King of Ulster, whose druid told him of the crucifixion of Christ and who died of that knowledge.\u00a0The second was the wise judge, Morann, and the third Cormac, son of Art. This knowledge was revealed to him by divine illumination, and thenceforth he refused to consult the druids or to worship the images which they made as emblems of the Immortal Ones.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

And Rolleston quotes Cormac mac Airt on his deathbed, which he was allegedly consigned to after choking on a salmon bone:<\/p>\n

\u2018\u201dWhen I am gone I charge you that ye bury me not at Brugh of the Boyne where is the royal cemetery of the Kings of Erinn.\u00a0For all these kings paid adoration to gods of wood or stone, or to the Sun and the Elements, whose signs are carved on the walls of their tombs, but I have learned to know the One God, immortal, invisible, by whom the earth and heavens were made. Soon there will come into Erinn one from the East who will declare Him unto us, and then wooden gods and cursing priests shall plague us no longer in this land. Bury me then not at Brugh-na-Boyna, but on the hither-side of Boyne, at Ross-na-ree, where there is a sunny, eastward-sloping hill, there would I await the coming of the sun of truth.\u201d\u2018<\/em><\/p>\n

According to Prosper of Aquitaine, who continued the historical Chronicon<\/em> of Saint Jerome between 433 and 455, in 431 Pope Celestine I sent the deacon Palladius from Rome to minister to Ireland and serve as the country\u2019s first Christian bishop. Prosper posits this within the context of the Pelagian heresy \u2013 which held that human nature is not tainted by original sin \u2013 and Pope Celestine I\u2019s desire to ensure that Pelagianism did not take root in Ireland. Some sources have Palladius retreating to Britain within months of his arrival, after receiving an unwelcome reception from the locals; but other sources suggest he stayed in Ireland with his companions for several decades. Whatever, scholars of Irish history following T. F. O\u2019Rahilly have maintained that many of the traditions now associated with Patrick are the result of conflations with the life of Palladius.<\/p>\n

\"1024px-St_patricks_gravesite\"<\/a>
The reputed burial site of Saint Patrick at Down Cathedral, in the town of Downpatrick in Northern Ireland<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ciar\u00e1n of Saigir, the first of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland, is also sometimes considered to have preceded Patrick and to warrant the title of Ireland\u2019s first saint \u2013 although his life has been variously dated between the fourth and sixth centuries. At least the Vita Columbae\u00a0<\/em>establishes Saint Columba \u2013 another of the Twelve Apostles of Ireland, credited with the spread of Christianity to Scotland, and standing alongside Patrick as one of Ireland\u2019s three patron saints \u2013 as living definitively after Patrick, between 521 and 597. Ireland\u2019s other patron saint is Saint Brigit of Kildare: associated with numerous miracles and the foundation of monasteries for men and women, whose mother was reportedly baptised by Saint Patrick, and whose life is conventionally dated from\u00a0451 to 525.<\/p>\n

Only two of Patrick\u2019s writings survive. These are the Confessio<\/em>, an account of his life; and the Epistola<\/em>, a brief letter directed against the British chieftain Coroticus and the actions of his soldiers. Many of the legends surrounding Patrick stem from\u00a0Muirch\u00fa\u2019s Vita sancti Patricii<\/i>, known in English as The Life of Saint Patrick<\/i>, and compiled about 680. Inspired by an earlier Life of Saint Brigit<\/em> written by\u00a0Cogitosus,\u00a0Muirch\u00fa drew for his Life of Saint Patrick<\/em>\u00a0from the Confessio<\/em> and the Epistola<\/em>. But he elaborated on his source material \u2013 introducing literary qualities and quotes from classical literature as well as the Bible; extending the scope of Patrick\u2019s travels; and attributing to him miracles otherwise unattested \u2013 to such an extent that his work is considered hagiography and of scant historical merit.<\/p>\n

The imagery of Patrick banishing all snakes from Ireland stems from a separate life of the saint, written by Jocelyn of Furness late in the twelfth century. The scientific evidence indicates that, following the\u00a0last Ice Age, there were no snakes on the island for Patrick to banish; and the depiction may be read as figurative rather than literal. The twelfth century also marks the beginning of the legend of Saint Patrick\u2019s Purgatory, and the popularity of the pilgrimage site on Station Island in Lough Derg, County Donegal. Thus against these mythologising accounts, the Confessio<\/em> remains the source of our clearest information regarding Saint Patrick\u2019s life.<\/p>\n

Patrick\u2019s Confessio<\/em>, written in Latin, has reached us via eight medieval manuscripts, with the earliest being the ninth-century Irish illuminated manuscript Book of Armagh<\/em>. The first part of the\u00a0Book of Armagh<\/em>\u00a0comprises a wealth of material on Patrick, including the life by Muirch\u00fa and another from the same period by T\u00edrech\u00e1n, and the Confessio<\/em>. It then incorporates much of the New Testament, drawn from Jerome\u2019s Vulgate and from the earlier Vetus Latina<\/em> (\u2018Old Latin<\/em>\u2018) texts, with addenda; and closes with Sulpicius Severus\u2019\u00a0Life of St.\u00a0Martin of Tours.<\/i><\/p>\n

\"Armagh2\"<\/a>
A page from the Book of Armagh, the ninth century illuminated manuscript in the collection of the Library of Trinity College, Dublin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Book of Armagh<\/em>\u00a0contains the Confessio<\/em> in an abridged form, with significant passages omitted \u2013 apparently deliberately, in an attempt to advance Patrick as the most successful Christian missionary to Ireland. There are six Confessio<\/em> manuscripts from between the tenth and twelfth centuries, held in Paris, London, Rouen, two in Salisbury, and Arras. And a final manuscript dates from the seventeenth century, now in the collection of the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Together these manuscripts contain various missing passages and textual differences.<\/p>\n

The first printed edition of the Confessio<\/em>\u00a0was edited by Sir James Ware and published, in Latin, in 1656. It was based on the Book of Armagh<\/em>, London, and Salisbury manuscripts. In 1668, Daniel Papebroch published another Latin edition this time based on the Arras manuscript. This edition is significant because two leaves of the Arras manuscript were subsequently lost; leaving Papebroch\u2019s publication the primary source for the missing passages.<\/p>\n

In 1905 Newport J. D. White edited a Latin edition of the text under the title\u00a0Libri Sancti Patricii: The Latin Writings of Saint Patrick<\/i>. A \u2018diplomatic transcription\u2019 of the Book of Armagh<\/i>, including its excerpt of the Confessio<\/i>, was edited by John Gwynn in 1913.\u00a0Basing his research on all eight of the manuscripts, plus White\u2019s 1905 edition, in 1950 Ludwig Bieler published what is still considered the canonical version of the reconstructed Latin text.<\/p>\n

Newport J. D. White published in 1920 an English translation of the Confessio<\/em> in his book\u00a0St. Patrick: His Writings and Life<\/i>. His translation of the text was preceded across the nineteenth century by a wealth of English translations undertaken by Irish theologians, who routinely offered opposing perspectives on Patrick\u2019s life and work. Indeed, the historical context and the language of the Confessio<\/em> became hotly contested among Catholics and Protestants, as the two faiths fought for proprietorship over Patrick\u2019s legacy in Ireland.<\/p>\n

\"Lombard_School_15th_Cent._XX_St._Patrick_Baptising_Christian_Con\"<\/a>
Painting from the Lombard School of the late fifteenth century, depicting Saint Patrick baptising converts to Christianity<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Significant were Charles H. H. Wright\u2019s The Writings of St. Patrick, The Apostle of Ireland<\/i>, published in 1894; and Margaret Anna Cusack\u2019s The Life of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland<\/i>, published in 1871.\u00a0Cusack\u2019s The Life of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland<\/i> in fact contained two translations of the Confessio<\/i>,\u00a0the first by\u00a0Cusack, and a second by William M. Hennessy. Where Wright\u2019s work was written from a Protestant point of view, Cusack and Hennessy shared a Catholic mindset.\u00a0Both publications engaged with an earlier study of the Confessio<\/em> by James Henthorn Todd, a noted nineteenth-century religious scholar and liberal Protestant. In the introduction to her work, Cusack praised Todd\u2019s talents as an archaeologist. However, she asserted:<\/p>\n

\u2018But a love of truth and of the faith, combine to make it incumbent on a Catholic writer, boldly and freely, to show the fallacies into which a learned and honourable man was led by early prejudice [\u2026] we find that the so-called \u2018Memoir\u2019 of St. Patrick\u2019s Life and Mission is simply a continuous criticism on, and rejection of, every circumstance which would tend to prove that St. Patrick was a Catholic.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

At stake was a difference of belief which particularly implicated the doctrine of the intercession of saints. Roman Catholics, Eastern Orthodox, and Oriental Orthodox maintain that saints can be petitioned, through prayer, to intercede in human affairs. Protestants on the other hand believe that invoking individual saints amounts to idolatry. Theologians of different backgrounds in the 1800s \u2013 with Wright and Todd on the one side and Cusack and Hennessy on the other \u2013 interpreted the stated events of Patrick\u2019s life and his particular utilisations of language to stress or deny that he invoked the saints; and to impress or dismiss the value of his holy visions.<\/p>\n

A highly personal account, which sees Patrick restating his faith and repeatedly apologising for his lack of eloquence and short vocabulary, the Confessio<\/em>\u00a0begins with his birth in\u00a0Roman Britain, fathered by \u2018Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae\u2019. Patrick recounts being captured at \u2018about sixteen\u2019 years of age,\u00a0and taken to Ireland as a slave,\u00a0whereupon he finds Christianity. Escaping to Britain by boat after six years, Patrick undergoes a series of religious experiences and \u2013 after another brief spell as a captive \u2013 eventually returns to Ireland of his own volition. He ministers throughout the country, and baptises \u2018many thousands of people\u2019.<\/p>\n

Amid the praise he offers God and the depictions of his ministry, there are assorted curiosities, as Patrick vaguely suggests some misdeed which he committed when he was fifteen; an act of betrayal by a friend; quarrels over the acceptance of gifts; and his disputes with the Irish kings. He closes his Confessio<\/em> with the following testament:<\/p>\n

\u2018I pray for those who believe in and have reverence for God. Some of them may happen to inspect or come upon this writing which Patrick, a sinner without learning, wrote in Ireland. May none of them ever say that whatever little I did or made known to please God was done through ignorance. Instead, you can judge and believe in all truth that it was a gift of God. This is my confession before I die.\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

Patrick\u2019s Confessio<\/em>\u00a0in English translation at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library:\u00a0http:\/\/www.ccel.org\/ccel\/patrick\/confession.txt<\/a><\/p>\n

A full guide\u00a0to the Confessio<\/em>, including the manuscripts and print editions, and translations into various languages in prose and verse, courtesy of the Royal Irish Academy and the\u00a0Hypertext Stack Project:\u00a0http:\/\/www.confessio.ie\/#<\/a><\/p>\n

Margaret Anna Cusack\u2019s The Life of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland<\/i>, published in 1871:\u00a0https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/lifeofsaintpatri00cusa<\/a><\/p>\n

Charles H. H. Wright\u2019s The Writings of St. Patrick, The Apostle of Ireland<\/i>, published in 1894:\u00a0https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/writingsofsaintp00patr<\/a><\/p>\n

Thomas William Rolleston\u2019s\u00a0The High Deeds of Finn and Other Bardic Romances of Ancient Ireland<\/em>, published in 1910:\u00a0http:\/\/www.gutenberg.org\/files\/14749\/14749-h\/14749-h.htm<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He is Ireland\u2019s outstanding\u00a0patron saint, conventionally held to have brought Christianity to the country in 432, and his feast day every 17 March is the cause for commemoration and revelry throughout the world \u2013 but remarkably little can be stated with any degree of certainty about the life of Saint Patrick. 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