St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography (review)

Patrick, a British bishop, preached Christianity in at least some places in Ireland at some time between the fourth and sixth centuries and wrote two letters: one, later known as his Confessio, addressed criticisms of his ministry; the other denounced the slaving activities of a group of Christian slavers for taking other Christians captive. Every historically 'credible' detail of this bishop's life and work is derived from these two letters by exegesis. This dearth of evidence would normally mean that Patrick would merit a brief entry in an encyclopedia; yet given the status of his cult as 'apostle of Ireland'—and there is no firm evidence for that cult prior to the seventh century—he has been, and is, the subject of major fascination combining for many whose ethnic origins are Irish a heady mix of national myth, religious identity, cultural celebration, and romantic nostalgia. This gulf between the size of contemporaneous evidence and that of the cult has been bridged by the mythopoetic processes of repeated story among those who held that memory as a central feature of their identity and annual liturgy. But these processes of legend have been firmly rejected in recent generations not only by historians but by many others who see the legend as burying the 'real man' and for whom the 'historical Patrick' is the one about whom they really want to know. It is for this group that this book has been written.

Strictly speaking, no biography of Patrick is possible—even his dates are unknown. Yet, this book presents itself as getting at the historical man, setting that apart from later legendary images. It achieves this by painting a generic landscape for the period, adding the meagre details from Patrick's writings, and, then assuming that he was an actor in that landscape, imagining how he and those around him would have felt about such events as his capture as a slave in youth, his return home after escape, and then his preaching in a non-Roman environment. The generic landscape is well constructed, drawing on many late Roman pagan and Christian sources. His second source is archaeological evidence from the insular world—very well used—and a picture of society derived from early Irish law. Although those legal sources are much more recent than the society he wishes to picture, this is an issue Freeman does not address. Thirdly, he extracts every biographical detail he can from the patrician letters. However, he assumes that Patrick's own beliefs are simply those of every Latin bishop of the time—a basic tenet of the cult—despite the fact that his ministry was criticized by his fellow bishops.

This book largely follows the consensus of modern scholarship regarding Patrick and so fills a real need for an accessible but reliable account for the person in the street who wants to know more than the cult-image, and, in addition, Freeman has added plain translations of the two letters. However, on one matter Freeman has followed a minority position among scholars: most place Patrick's work in the later fifth century, but he opts for the later fourth century without warning his readers that this is a contentious point or that it creates many difficulties in understanding the development of Christianity in Ireland. Lastly, the cult claimed that Patrick converted the whole island; Patrick's writings do not, but few, including Freeman, have challenged the cult's claims. Notwithstanding my quibbles, this is a sober and well-researched book that merits recommendation to its target audience.