Who was Saint Patrick? /

Scheduled for publication on St. Patrick's day, this study of the elusive patron saint of the Irish is unique in at least one respect. Thompson (emeritus professor of Nottingham University, England) relies solely on evidence gathered from Patrick's own writingstwo books in Latin: Epistle to the Soldiers of Coroticus and Confessionto form a biography. He eschews the legends and apocrypha, many amusing, that have over the centuries embellished the meager facts known about Patrick, yet Thompson strives to appeal to general readers as well as theologians and scholars. Terming Patrick ``a bad writer but . . . not an out-and-out crackpot,'' he poses credible hypotheses about Patrick's origins as a Briton, his enslavement in County Mayo, his delayed rise to the bishopric and his unusual reaching out to the non-Christian barbarians of fifth-century Ireland. An intriguing story filled with unanswerable questions but highly readable and satisfying. Photos not seen by PW. History Book Club selection. (March 17) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

E.A. Thompson, emeritus professor of classics at Nottingham University, holds that absolutely all we know about St. Patrick comes from his Confession and Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus. His analysis of these documents gives many details of life in 5th-century Britain and Ireland, debunks medieval lives of Patrick and much modern scholarship, and shows that Patrick was not Ireland's first bishop, did not work miracles, and did not drive the snakes from Ireland. What he did do was decide, against much opposition, to devote his old age to converting Irish pagans, and thus he became the first Western bishop to evangelize outside the boundaries of the Roman Empire. For professional and amateur, especially Irish, historians. W. Charles Heiser, S.J., St. Louis Univ. Lib. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

The legends and myths that shroud the identity of the man who converted the Irish to Christianity are not easily dispelled. However, this book tries mightily to winnow out the inaccuracies by sticking to the two extant works of St. Patrick, the Epistles to the Soldiers of Coroticus and the Confession. You may not know for certain if he drove the snakes from the Emerald Isle, but scrupulous scholarship and an archeological-like reconstruction of the times give you a good grasp of his reality. That a man born in Britain at the edge of the Roman Empire would survive as a historical figure of great stature when most, if not all, of his contemporaries are lost to us forever is itself miraculous. Part of the reason is that we have his writings--strange, awkward and poorly written in a vulgar Latin, but nonetheless alive with all the passion and commitment of this energetic man. His own words are what help to define him and to allow Thompson to make shrewd guesses at what we don't know about gaps in his life. The place of Patrick's birth, his kidnapping and slavery, his escape and return to his home in England, all this and more are reconstructed. However, the person of Palladius causes difficulty in the St. Patrick story. He was appointed Bishop of Ireland by the Pope before St. Patrick's mission. This has prompted a great deal of speculation even to the point of claiming the existence of two Saint Patricks, one Palladius, the other the popular Saint. Sorting out 1500 years of mystery shrouded in fancy is Thompson's job and he goes at it with a line-by-line analysis of the Saint's work. It is an admirable exegesis, but often hard on the ordinary reader. Still, it will reward most with its picture of a doughty, determined man whose insecurities are all too human. This St. Patrick is a man the author likes, and makes us like as well. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.