Will the real St Patrick please stand up?...

I own a little book called 'The Real St. Patrick' by John Holmes of Northern Ireland. I have decided that as we draw nearer to celebrating the holiday set aside to the life of this man, I will write some excerpts from it to give you some myths, legends and throw in some truth also, about this character.

He says...

" It has been said that Patrick received much of his education and his religious training on the continent, (Europe) was sent to Ireland by the Bishop of Rome, landed initially at Wicklow, built his first Church near Saul, established his headquarters at Armagh, illustrated the doctrine of the Trinity by using a shamrock, was enormously successful, confounded his enemies through miraculous powers, overcame the opposition of the High King at Tara, climbed to the top of Croagh Patrick to commune with God, died on the 17th march and was buried at Downpatrick in Co.Down, N.I.

The truth is that not a single word of these 'facts' has any historical credibility at all.

...during those dark years after his decease, in the providence of God, somehow, somewhere in Ireland, two works of Patrick himself were reverently preserved and copied. These two writings, a 'letter' to the soldiers of a ruler called Coroticus and the 'Confession' (or testimony) are judged to be absolutely authentic-they are historical documents of incredible value. Scholars almost weep that Patrick has not told us more about his work and of the life and times in which he lived.

These two works are Ireland's oldest literature and are about the only known Latin writings of that age to have come out of a country of the Barbarians, that is outside of the Roman Empire.

We cannot emphasis too strongly that any real assessment of Patrick's character and work must depend only on his own words.
So who was St Patrick?....."

In chapter 2 tomorrow I will focus on his 'Early Days'....

PS. Happy Birthday to my Beloved....