Early Irish Saints

by John J. O'Riordain

These short, popular essays on fourteen well-known and well-loved early Irish saints present a very readable and informative amalgam of often-scarce historical fact and much folklore and legend.

Genres: Religion, History, Nonfiction, Irish Literature

96 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2001

About the author

Father John J. Ó Ríordáin, CSSR, PhD

Reviews

[Keith Mokry · Rating 4 out of 5]

A decent treatment of many prominent early Irish saints. Their lives are presented in essay form, assessing what one can historically say about them but also sharing their legends (and even explaining why some of these legends fail to sound very saint like). It is written from a more orthodox Catholic framing too which aids it much, especially in its discussions of the Celtic church and the Easter dating conundrum.

[Michael · Rating 1 out of 5]

Really, really, really, really, really, really,really, really, really, really, really,really, really, really, really, really, boring book. It's like reading the back of an Irish saint trading card. Snore. Patrick Brendan, Bridget...sorry, my peeps. This guy is a snore.

[rián o'kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book can only be described as something adjacent to history. Instead of dealing with the nature of sainthood in the first centuries of Christianity in Ireland, the author attempts to describe the lives of various early and influential saints.

Unconcerned with matters of 'fact' or 'history', this book tries to describe 'truth' which often more closely aligns with 'misinformation'. There is no bibliography to check the sources and the author casually and frequently makes false claims such as 'gentlemen in shining armour ... calling the girls they married their brides - a variant of the name Brigid.' No? That is so easy for an editor to check ...

I noticed that the blurb (sneakily?) avoids calling this book 'historical' and instead describes itself saying 'These short popular essays on fourteen well-known and well-loved early Irish saints present a very readable and informative amalgam of often scarce historical fact and much folklore and legend from the tradition of the people.'

The cover of the book and the pages were all very nice. The style of the articles is easy-going but that doesn't excuse the lazy relationship with fact. I recommend you avoid this book.

[Keith Beasley-Topliffe · Rating 4 out of 5]

A great introduction to the early (5th to 7th centuries) Irish saints, men and women who established Celtic spirituality and eventually shared it across Europe. It covers 14 saints from Patrick to Gall in brief sketches of their lives and teachings, trying to distinguish between legend and history without going into scholarly discussions about them. Either way the author invites appreciation of the effect the stories have had on hearers and readers in building up their faith and prompting imitation. This book is good for both those purposes and maybe even inspiring further reading.

[Brian · Rating 3 out of 5]

I thought perhaps that this book would include more stories and legends about these saints, but it attempts to be a spiritual biography despite there not being much existing information about the actual lives of these individuals. It’s an interesting approach that I’m not altogether sure is effective, although it did leave me wanting to learn more about some of the saints, so I guess that’s something.