Outline and explain the issues included in uncovering the historical Patrick (30 Marks)

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Outline and explain the issues included in uncovering the historical Patrick (30 Marks)

Charlotte McCaffrey

When explaining the issues involved in uncovering the historical background, it is a most difficult task.  This is for a number of reasons, but the main reason would be the lack of historical information in Patrick’s writings.  Patrick felt dates were unimportant, and so didn’t include many of them in his writings.  This means that his writings are a lot more useful for getting an insight into his thoughts and feelings, for hearing Patrick’s spiritual journey in his own words, and hearing about the difficulties he faced in his mission, and how he responded to them.  However, whenever it comes down to historical background, key dates, or geographical information, Patrick’s writings aren’t as useful as would be hoped, and therefore a lot of scholars draw their own conclusions, which we must take into account when trying to make our own.  Kenney says that when we search for historical facts within Patrick’s writings, “we are faced with an exasperating incoherence, which leaves the meaning constantly in doubt” and suggests that Patrick may actually be a much more obscure character than we would like to admit.

Séan MacAirt refers to the fifth century as the “lost century”, because of the absence of any historical information.  We are still in the era of pre-history, which the exception of Patrick’s writings, and Prosper’s reference to the arrival of Palladius.  Within these two documents, which are of the utmost importance, there are only two place names given to us, and no dates, so it is very hard to gather historical fact.  O’Rahilly rightly says of humble Patrick “the last thing that the saint could have imagined, would be that hundreds of years later, the document would be scrutinised again and again with a view to gleaning biographical details of the writer’s life.”  The big problem is that there is a two-hundred year gap between the time Patrick actually lived, and when he was first written about, so this leaves plenty of room for false information or inaccuracy.

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In Patrick’s Confessio, Patrick tells us of his birth place, Bannaven Taburniae, but he does not tell us where it is actually located.  There have been many unsuccessful attempts to agree on the location of the birth of Patrick; however there has been an agreement on three basic points that must be taken into account when trying to determine the location.  The first of these is that it would have to be in the West of Britain.  This is to facilitate easy access to the Irish raiders.  At a young age, Patrick was taken captive, and taken to Ireland, ...

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