Exploring the real Saint Patrick, insights from his own writings

Saint Patrick, the 5th-century missionary and bishop, comes across in his own words as a complex and deeply human figure who, despite enduring considerable hardship and public criticism, played an important role in the spread of the Christian faith in Ireland.

St Patrick – also known as Patricius, Pátraic and Pádraig – is the patron saint of Ireland. Every year on 17 March, people in Ireland and around the world celebrate St Patrick’s Day with parades and festivities. Yet, the true historical figure of Patrick is relegated to the shadows.

Unlike most early Irish saints, Patrick left behind two works that we know with certainty were personally written by him. These two Latin texts – the Epistola and the Confessio – were almost certainly composed in the 5th century.

The Epistola

The first of Patrick’s works, the Epistola (or Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus), is a short open letter condemning the British chieftain Coroticus and his soldiers for killing, attacking and enslaving Patrick’s newly baptized Irish converts. The saint strongly denounces their actions and declares that the marauders are essentially excommunicated.

The Confessio

The second of Patrick’s works, the Confessio (or Confession), is a far more substantial open letter that offers rare autobiographical insight into Patrick’s life, character, mission and convictions. Written to his ecclesiastical superiors in Britain, it was composed in response to unspecified accusations against the Irish bishop. It has been described as a confession, a testimony of faith and a declaration of his role in spreading Christianity in Ireland. Patrick wrote the Confessio in his later years as an old man, and so it provides a retrospective view of much of his life.

What do we learn about St Patrick from his writings?

The real Patrick

From his own writings, it is clear that the historical Patrick was a real, flesh-and-blood person, grounded in time and space, with deeply human qualities, complex emotions and lived experience. While these texts do not establish a precise timeline, they reveal several key facts about the saint’s life.

Early life and family background

In the Confessio, Patrick shares details about his upbringing, giving us a glimpse into his early life. He reveals that he was born into a Christian family in Roman Britain (Brittanniae), with his father, Calpornius, a deacon and his grandfather, Potitus, a priest. Nothing is mentioned regarding his mother.

Patrick says:

“My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner.”

The location of the vicus or village of Bannavem Taburniae has long been debated. Some argue it was near the southwest coast of Britain or in Wales, while others contend it was in northwest Britain (possibly Cumbria), though its precise location remains uncertain.

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Elsewhere, Patrick’s reference to his family home as a uillula (rural estate) and his reference to his father as a decurio (Roman civil official in the governing body of a town) indicate that his family had moderate wealth and a degree of social standing.

“In my human nature I was born free, in that I was born of a decurion father. But I sold out my noble state for the sake of others – and I am not ashamed of that, nor do I repent of it.”

Education and learning

On numerous occasions, Patrick humbly describes himself as rusticissimus (most rustic) and indoctus (unlearned). At the beginning of the Epistola, he declares, “I, Patrick, – an unlearned sinner indeed – have been established a bishop in Ireland”, and in the Confessio, he introduces himself by stating, “My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person and the least of all believers”.

However, his family background suggests he would likely have had access to a Roman-style education and would have acquired, as a child, the basic skills of reading and writing. This education would have been cut short when he was taken prisoner. Once he had escaped, he would have undergone further education as part of his clerical training (possibly in Gaul). In addition, his writings suggest a higher level of education than he openly acknowledges.

Scholars have long classified Patrick’s language as a popular or vulgar form of Latin typical of the 5th century and described his writings as unpolished and reflective of spoken rather than literary traditions. However, David Howlett has disputed this view, arguing that Patrick’s writings demonstrate skilful use of rhetorical devices and sophistication in language, literary structure and style reminiscent of Biblical texts. Despite his self-deprecating characterization, Patrick’s writings exhibit considerable skill and show he was acquainted with the work of various Church Fathers. His modesty, therefore, should not be mistaken for a lack of formal education.

Captivity and conversion

Patrick was about 16 years old when he was captured by Irish pirates and taken to Ireland as a slave “along with thousands of others”. He spent six years in Ireland tending sheep every day. It was during this period of captivity and hardship that he underwent a profound religious transformation. As he writes in the Confessio:

“It was there that the Lord opened up my awareness of my lack of faith. Even though it came about late, I recognized my failings. So I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God.”

Missionary work in Ireland

After six years of enslavement in Ireland, Patrick managed to escape and eventually returned home to his parents in Britain:

“They welcomed me as a son, and they pleaded with me that, after all the many tribulations I had undergone, I should never leave them again.”

Patrick subsequently became a Christian deacon and later a priest. He recounts a powerful dream in which he heard the so-called “voice of the Irish”:

“We beg you, holy boy, to come and walk again among us.”

In his sole use of an Irish placename, Patrick says that the voice was of those beside silva Focluti (wood of Voclut), which is “near the western sea” – almost certainly a reference to the Atlantic Ocean. Silva Focluti is arguably located in the Mayo barony of Tirawley. Motivated by this call and a deep desire to spread the gospel, Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary:

“I have travelled everywhere . . . in many dangers, and even to the furthest parts where nobody lived beyond, and where nobody ever went to baptize and to ordain clerics or to bring people to fulfilment.”

Patrick’s Confessio conveys the emotional toll that his work in Ireland had on him. He candidly describes his homesickness and expresses his longing for his family, and yet he remains steadfast in his commitment to his evangelical mission in Ireland:

“I could wish to leave them to go to Britain. I would willingly do this, and am prepared for this, as if to visit my home country and my parents. . . God knows what I would dearly like to do. But I am bound in the Spirit, who assures me that if I were to do this, I would be held guilty. And I fear, also, to lose the work which I began – not so much I as Christ the Lord, who told me to come here to be with these people for the rest of my life.”

While Patrick played an important role in spreading Christianity in Ireland, he continually attributes his success not to his own abilities but to the grace of God:

“I am greatly in debt to God. He gave me such great grace, that through me, many people should be born again in God and brought to full life. Also that clerics should be ordained everywhere for this people who have lately come to believe . . .”

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Patrick’s fury

In the Epistola, Patrick expresses deep anger and hurt over the actions of Coroticus and his soldiers, condemning their capture and slaughter of his newly baptized followers as a rebellion against God. In both texts, Patrick firmly emphasizes his authority as a bishop, and it is in this role that he declares these men excommunicated, highlighting their betrayal of the Christian faith and the harm done to fellow Christians. This statement is more of a commentary on how these men excommunicated themselves through their own actions rather than a formal church sentence, which was a later development in canonical law. Patrick warns that their pursuit of worldly power will lead to their downfall and urges repentance.

He also laments the loss of the faithful under his care:

“Greedy wolves have devoured the flock of the Lord, which was flourishing in Ireland under the very best of care – I just can’t count the number of sons of Scots [meaning Irish] and daughters of kings who are now monks and virgins of Christ.“

What the letter demonstrates is that Patrick was not merely a missionary but also a pastoral leader, one who sought to protect his community and cared deeply for both their spiritual and physical wellbeing.

Patrick’s defence

In the Confessio, Patrick describes the painful circumstances that led him to write this letter. He reveals that he had faced harsh criticism from his ecclesiastical superiors in Britain, who raised an incident from his youth – something, not explicitly explained, that occurred in his teenage years and was exposed through a betrayal of confidence by a close friend.

Patrick reflects on this betrayal, noting,

“They brought up against me after 30 years something I had already confessed before I was a deacon. What happened was that, one day when I was feeling anxious and low, with a very dear friend of mine I referred to some things I had done one day – rather, in one hour – when I was young, before I overcame my weakness. I don’t know – God knows – whether I was then fifteen years old at the time, and I did not then believe in the living God, not even when I was a child.”

 The betrayal by his trusted friend deeply troubled Patrick, even years later:

“But I grieve more for my very dear friend, that we had to hear such an account – the one to whom I entrusted my very soul. I did learn from some brothers before the case was heard that he came to my defence in my absence. I was not there at the time, not even in Britain, and it was not I who brought up the matter. In fact it was he himself who told me from his own mouth: ‘Look, you are being given the rank of bishop.’ That is something I did not deserve. How could he then afterwards come to disgrace me in public before all, both good and bad, about a matter for which he had already freely and joyfully forgiven me, as indeed had God, who is greater than all?”

Patrick also speaks of his subsequent treatment by his superiors: 

“One time I was put to the test by some superiors of mine. They came and put my sins against my hard work as a bishop. This hit me very hard, so much so that it seemed I was about to fall, both here and in eternity. But the Lord in his kindness . . . strongly supported me when I was so badly treated. . . I pray that God not hold this sin against them.”

The Confessio thus serves both as a personal defence against these accusations and as a testimony to the greatness of God as experienced by Patrick.

A complex figure

Patrick’s writings reveal a complex individual shaped by personal struggles and deep spiritual devotion. His writings offer a realistic portrayal of a missionary and foreigner in Ireland who faced real challenges: physical hardship, betrayal and a yearning for a different life. The weight of public accusations from his superiors, coupled with the sting of a friend’s betrayal, left a lasting mark on him. Yet, these moments of suffering highlight his resilience, deep faith and desire to serve his flock. Patrick’s words demonstrate that he was profoundly human, but this made him no less a saint.

What is absent from Patrick’s writings?

Patrick’s own works do not include many of the best-known elements of his story, such as the snake banishing episode or his reputed use of shamrock to explain the mystery of the Holy Trinity.

Patrick makes no mention of Palladius, the Continental deacon sent by Pope Celestine in 431 “to the Irish believing in Christ” as their first bishop, as recorded in the chronicle of Prosper of Aquitaine. This crucially implies that Christianity had already reached Ireland before Patrick. Indeed, Patrick does not claim to have converted the entire population of Ireland or to have been the only missionary on the island but instead mentions working in regions where no other missionary had ventured before, at the edge of the known world.

There is also no mention of battles with druids or kings, not even a reference to Loíguire, the king of Tara. Nor does he allude to the Paschal Fire on the Hill of Tara. He does not refer to any mountain where he tended sheep during his enslavement, whether it be Slemish or Croagh Patrick. Likewise, Lough Derg in southeast Donegal, the site of Patrick’s Purgatory, gets no mention.

These stories, which have become so entrenched in Patrick’s image, surfaced later, mainly in hagiographies and folk traditions. People tend to get very hung up on what is not mentioned in Patrick’s writings, perhaps overlooking what they can actually tell us about the real-life man.

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The preservation of Patrick’s works

Patrick’s two works are the oldest texts, in any language, written in Ireland that have survived. They are preserved in eight extant manuscript copies: one in the 9th-century Book of Armagh on display in Trinity College Dublin and the others in manuscripts produced between the 10th and 12th centuries, held in England and France.

Later Patrician texts

Possibly the earliest known reference to St Patrick appears in the Latin hymn “Audite omnes“, dating to c.600, which is attributed to Colmán Elo of Lynally, Co. Offaly. By the 630s, during the Easter controversy, Patrick is referred to as papa, which indicates his status. However, neither of these sources provides details of Patrick’s life.

By the late 7th century, roughly 200 years after Patrick’s death, two hagiographies – Muirchú’s Life of St Patrick and Tírechán’s Collectanea – were composed in Hiberno-Latin.

Muirchú

Many of the best-known episodes of Patrick’s story can be traced to Muirchú’s account, written around 680. Likely drawing from a copy of the Confessio, Muirchú includes much of the same genealogical detail but also names Patrick’s mother as Concessa. He places Patrick in southeast Ulster during his time as a slave and later at Tara, the symbolic seat of northern overlordship. Muirchú links Patrick to ruling dynasties and presents him as a powerful and heroic figure.

An important episode in Muirchú’s narrative is Patrick’s dramatic defeat of the druids at Tara and his triumph over the high king Loíguire. Rather than depicting Patrick converting individuals one by one, Muirchú has the saint defeat paganism across the entire island of Ireland in one fell swoop through Loíguire’s conversion.

A series of miracles followed, as did the founding of Armagh. Indeed, his motivation for writing this Life is to bolster Armagh’s claim as the head church in Ireland. Muirchú also records the saint’s final resting place in Downpatrick and identifies 17 March as his feastday – a date that soon appeared in external calendars and martyrologies, including Willibrord’s early 8th-century calendar.

Tírechán

Tírechán’s Collectanea, also written in the second half of the 7th century, adheres more closely to Patrick’s own surviving works. Tírechán, a native of Tirawley, emphasizes the saint’s missionary work and the establishment of the Irish Church. He presents Patrick’s journey through Ireland, listing placenames, dynasties, church foundations and clerical appointments, as well as various sites, monuments and landmarks. The text brings the saint into contact with named persons and places, with a particular focus on Connacht.

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According to Terry O’Hagan, Tírechán’s motivation for writing the Collectanea is evident in his claim that certain early churches were founded by Patrick, thus bestowing upon them a degree of ancestral legitimacy and authority (whether genuine or not).

Tripartite Life and other texts

The early 9th-century Martyrology of Tallaght holds that Patrick was the apostle of the whole of Ireland. Also from the 9th century, the Tripartite Life, Bethu Phátraic, written in the vernacular, introduces many new details: Patrick is now linked to the Britons of Dunbarton in Scotland, is described as a nephew of St Martin of Tours and has two sisters, both of whom were also sold into slavery with him (further additions to his pedigree appear in later texts). This Life also marks the first time Patrick is credited with evangelizing Munster.

Several abbreviated Lives of the saint were composed in the 11th and 12th centuries, both in the vernacular and in Latin. The saint also featured in the Lives of other saints, as well as in numerous pieces of medieval poetry and prose.

Influenced by Anglo-Norman motives, the late 12th-century Vita Patricii by Jocelin of Furness places Patrick in Dublin for the first time – the text was written at a time when the bishops of Dublin were challenging Armagh’s claims to primacy. Patrick also appears in the Topographia Hibernica, a 12th-century work by the notorious Gerald of Wales (Giraldus Cambrensis), which mixes historical events and figures with fantastical elements.

Jocelin and Gerald of Wales are the earliest sources for the story of Patrick driving all of the snakes out of Ireland. This episode, rooted in early Christian symbolism and allegory rather than historical reality, became one of his most famous legends associated with the saint. These two writers were also the first to refer to Lough Derg as the site of Patrick’s Purgatory. At Lough Derg, pilgrims entered a cave where they experienced physical and sensory deprivation to replicate the suffering of purgatory. The site soon achieved fame across Europe. The earliest known reference to St Patrick using a shamrock as a teaching aid appears even later, possibly in the 17th century.

Ultimately, it is these later texts, rather than Patrick’s own writings, that have shaped his popular image.

Patrick’s dates

There has been much debate about the chronology of Patrick’s life. No scholar seriously doubts a 5th-century date for the saint’s own writings, though neither text contains any reference that would enable the construction of an absolute chronology. Nonetheless, it seems plausible that Patrick grew up in the early 5th century, or more likely the late 4th, given his references to Roman administrative structures, units of measurement, currency and educational systems, which were in use in late Roman Britain.

The references to Patrick in the various medieval Irish annals and chronicles are retrospective interpolations, largely based on educated guesswork.

Interestingly, Muirchú, writing in the 7th century, refers to Palladius, who was sent to Ireland in 431. Muirchú claims that Palladius was unsuccessful in Ireland and soon departed for Rome, ultimately dying in Britain en route. (However, there is evidence in an observation by Prosper of Aquitaine and in a sermon by Pope Leo the Great in 441 that suggests that Palladius’ Irish mission was a success.)

Consequently, the Irish annals retrospectively placed Patrick’s arrival in Ireland in 432, just a year after Palladius. Subsequent entries in the annals mention Seachnall (Secundinus), Usaille (Auxilus) and Iserninus being sent to assist Patrick in his mission in 439, and the foundation of Armagh by Patrick is recorded in 444.

The annals variously record the death of the saint, under different guises, as having occurred in 457, 461 and 493 – the latter in the Annals of the Four Masters. Most scholars agree that Patrick most likely died in the later 5th century, though the exact year remains a matter of debate.

According to 7th-century sources, Patrick died in Saul (Sabhall), Co. Down, where he is said to have founded his first church and was buried in nearby Downpatrick. Several late 13th-century annal entries present a conflicting story: they state that the relics of Saints Patrick, Colum Cille and Brigid were revealed to Nicholas Mac Maoil Íosa, archbishop of Armagh, in Saul and that the archbishop had the saints’ remains exhumed. Despite these claims, the tradition that Patrick was buried in Downpatrick remains the more widely accepted.

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Given the inconsistencies in these records, it is difficult to apply a firm chronology to the details of Patrick’s life, but a 5th-century timeframe remains the most widely favoured by scholars.

St Patrick’s legacy

St Patrick came to be recognized as the father of Irish Christianity and the “apostle of Ireland”. He is Ireland’s first national saint and a potent symbol of Irish identity. However, the legends surrounding him became so exaggerated and fantastical that some now question whether he existed at all. While myth and reality have become intertwined over time, Patrick’s own writings provide clear evidence of his existence, which is beyond reasonable dispute.

Despite the ongoing debates over various aspects of his life and legend, St Patrick’s Day, with its huge commercial appeal, garners far more attention than the saint ever has. The first St Patrick’s Day parades were held in America, with a couple of isolated events in the early 17th century, followed by more regular parades from the 18th century onwards. These 18th-century events mainly involved groups of Protestant Irish immigrants gathering to celebrate their roots, but by the later 19th century, the parades took on a more distinctly Irish Catholic character. Through the efforts of the Gaelic League, 17 March became a public holiday in Ireland with the passing of the St Patrick’s Day Holiday Act of 1903.

While the modern celebration of St Patrick’s Day has shifted its focus, St Patrick remains a powerful symbol of faith for many. For those interested in reading Patrick’s own words, a digital edition of the Confessio and Epistola, along with translations and scholarly articles, is available at Confessio.ie.

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