Was St. Patrick a bad man?

[mcwise30]

I have this friend that got all up in arms about St. Patrick yesterday, and told me this:

“St. Patrick wasn’t Irish; and after escaping slavery he came to Ireland to threaten the Irish pagans, our much romanticised Druids, with death if they refused Christian conversion. There’s a reason “Patty” is a slur and why it’s the day of his death that is observed; he was a murderer. The “snakes” he’s credited with “driving from Ireland” were Irish people who fostered an eons-old spirituality on the Emerald Isle, now largely lost to time and the obscurity imposed by whitewashed history.”

I know there must be exaggeration here, and I was wondering if you could clear this up for me?

 

[ComplineSanFran]

I have this friend that got all up in arms about St. Patrick yesterday, and told me this:

“St. Patrick wasn’t Irish; and after escaping slavery he came to Ireland to threaten the Irish pagans, our much romanticised Druids, with death if they refused Christian conversion. There’s a reason “Patty” is a slur and why it’s the day of his death that is observed; he was a murderer. The “snakes” he’s credited with “driving from Ireland” were Irish people who fostered an eons-old spirituality on the Emerald Isle, now largely lost to time and the obscurity imposed by whitewashed history.”

Well, it’s the story of winners who are the ones who write the history. Your friend is basically telling the truth, only from the side of the pagan/losers. We have the same dynamics of the legends of white Europeans discovering America, much to the destruction of Native Americans.

We have learned that both sides are true and both sides have their stories to tell. I saw this clearly this past year with Junipero Serra. He did great things in bringing Christianity to California, and he did horrible damage also.

Perhaps it is the same with St Patrick.

 

[1ke]

I have this friend that got all up in arms about St. Patrick yesterday, and told me this:

Your friend is very mistaken. I don’t know where people get this stuff, out of a Cracker Jack box it seems.

St. Patrick wasn’t Irish;

And, to that I say-- so what?

and after escaping slavery he came to Ireland to threaten the Irish pagans, our much romanticised Druids, with death if they refused Christian conversion.

Or not. He was a slave IN Ireland. He escaped back to Britain. But his love for the Irish people brought him back to Ireland as a missionary.

newadvent.org/cathen/11554a.htm

There’s a reason “Patty” is a slur

But not the reason they think.

and why it’s the day of his death that is observed;

Well, this person is obviously not acquainted at all with the Catholic faith and the celebration of Saints’ feast days, nearly all of which are on the date of their death.

he was a murderer.

There is no historical evidence for this.

The “snakes” he’s credited with “driving from Ireland” were Irish people who fostered an eons-old spirituality on the Emerald Isle, now largely lost to time and the obscurity imposed by whitewashed history."

Ok, whatever. Your friend is delusional and not likely to listen to any actual history.

I know there must be exaggeration here, and I was wondering if you could clear this up for me?

Are you unfamiliar with St Patrick? Read the article I linked.

 

[1ke]

Perhaps it is the same with St Patrick.

Or perhaps not.

St Patrick did not force anyone to convert nor murder anyone.

 

[JimG]

How the Irish Saved Civilization

 

[Corki]

I have this friend that got all up in arms about St. Patrick yesterday, and told me this:

“St. Patrick wasn’t Irish; and after escaping slavery he came to Ireland to threaten the Irish pagans, our much romanticised Druids, with death if they refused Christian conversion. There’s a reason “Patty” is a slur and why it’s the day of his death that is observed; he was a murderer. The “snakes” he’s credited with “driving from Ireland” were Irish people who fostered an eons-old spirituality on the Emerald Isle, now largely lost to time and the obscurity imposed by whitewashed history.”

I know there must be exaggeration here, and I was wondering if you could clear this up for me?

An Irishman would never use “Patty” to refer to a Patrick or Padraig. “Patty” is the slang of Patricia.

Almost all Saints are commemorated on the day of their death. For a Saint, that is the observance of the day they received their heavenly reward.

 

[pianistclare]

I guess your firiend believes all that junk on FaceBook?

Wow.
That;'s too bad.

 

[MaryHelp777]

olrl.org/lives/patrick.shtml

Read this history of Saint Patrick and the reputed 40,000 miracles God worked through him.

The Irish of the time were pagans, St Patrick by giving them Jesus gave them and all their descendents the gift of eternal life and the true faith.

 

[1ke]

An Irishman would never use “Patty” to refer to a Patrick or Padraig. “Patty” is the slang of Patricia.

“Paddy” or “Patty” in Britain is the racial slur equivalent towards the Irish of the “n” word in the U.S. referring to blacks.

 

[TyburnTreeHuggr]

On the first point of Patrick not being Irish, you’d do well to point out that most “Irish” people on the island aren’t indigenous, nearly everyone having roots to one of the several Viking invasions and resettlements, the early 1000’s Scottish gallowglasses, the one of two major pre-Norman Invasions English Settlements, the actual Norman invasion, or the following Protestant foreign resettlement on confiscated lands.

Want to know why there isn’t an established Historical cuisine like there is in other European countries? Because the island was overrun again and again and again by different cultures each surplanting the other, finally merging into the “Irish” we know today. Patrick being not indigenously Irish is more the rule than the exception.

For the other points, your friend is a fool.

 

[The_Serpent]

St. Patrick was born in Gaul, so he may have been celtic. The name comes from a religious order that royalty and nobles belonged to in his time, Patriti. The story of the snakes is a question mark. There is a story in the ancient annals that claims the serpents left when the Melesian invasion came to Ireland. Melesius having been blessed by Moses as the Scythians left Scythia, and passed through the Egypt on there migration to Ireland. So it may come from that legend. Read more on St. Patrick by clicking on the link!

carllebron.blogspot.com/search/label/St.%20Patrick

 

[ComplineSanFran]

Or perhaps not.

St Patrick did not force anyone to convert nor murder anyone.

Yes? What are your sources? I don’t know one way or another, so I would like to learn.

 

[twf]

Yes? What are your sources? I don’t know one way or another, so I would like to learn.

The burden of proof is on those making outlandish claims. How could it have a basis in fact? With what army would he have accomplished these acts of terror? St Patrick wasn’t a ruler or a conqueror or an invader. He didn’t represent any foreign power. He was a slave. A lowly slave who served an Irish master. After gaining his freedom he later became a travelling missionary.