Patrick of Ireland
c. 385 – c. 461 · Bishop of Armagh
Also known as Saint Patrick · Patricius
Feast: 17 March (Catholic)
British missionary bishop who evangelized Ireland in the fifth century. Wrote the Confessio and the Letter to Coroticus, the only sure primary documents.
Highlights
- Main contribution
- Patrick returned as a missionary to the land where he had once been enslaved.
- Best first read
- Confession (Confessio)
- Primary source
- Patrick, Confessio
Patrick returned as a missionary to the land where he had once been enslaved. His Confession is rare because it lets a fifth-century missionary explain himself in the first person: frightened, unpolished, convinced that God had sent him back to Ireland. The Christianity associated with Patrick grew through preaching, baptism, local leadership, and monasteries rather than Roman imperial machinery. His importance is not the legends about snakes, but the record of a wounded man going back with the gospel.
Notable works
- ·Confession (Confessio) · 460
- ·Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus · 460
Primary sources
- ·Patrick, Confessio
- ·Patrick, Epistola ad Coroticum
Book of the day
Ecclesiastical History
Eusebius of CaesareaA reading pick tied to today's figure, quote, era, or event. The ancient source behind a huge amount of what we know about bishops, martyrs, succession lists, and early controversies.
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