Ireland's Saint: The Essential Biography of St. Patrick

by John Bagnell Bury, Jon M. Sweeney (Editor)

Discover how a boy became devoted to the people who enslaved him, returned to their shores, and changed Ireland forever... He was taken from his home in England and dragged across the sea to Ireland. When he escaped, he traveled on the European continent, lived for a while as a monk, and then returned as a missionary to the people who had enslaved him. Many legends surround the life of St. Patrick. He competed with Druids and negotiated with tribal leaders. He traveled all over the emerald isle bringing both Christianity and the Roman Empire to its shores. J. B. Bury, the first modern biographer of St. Patrick, sought to find the man beneath the layers of myth and legend. Explore Patrick’s place in history, the influence of earlier Christians on Patrick’s work, the political and social conditions in the Roman Empire at that time, and much more. This new edition of Bury’s classic biography has been re-edited, introduced by Jon M. Sweeney, and includes sidebar notes from other biographers, mystics, historians, and storytellers of Ireland. Praise for Jon M. Sweeney’s biography of St. Francis of “There is no sounder introduction to Francis’ life.” – Catholic News Service

“This new and updated edition…is nothing short of astonishing in its power to touch the heart and revive the soul.” –St. Anthony Messenger

“Sweeney achieves a fine balance between excellent scholarship and sweet accessibility for every average reader.” –Walter Wangerin, Jr.

Genres: Nonfiction, Biography, History, Church History, Christianity, Religion, Ireland

205 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1905

About the author

John Bagnell Bury (often published as J.B. Bury) was a classical scholar, historian, and philologist. He held the chair in Modern History at Trinity College, Dublin, for nine years, and also was appointed Regius Professor of Greek at Trinity, and Regius Professor of Modern History at Cambridge University.

Reviews

[Doug Schreiber · Rating 4 out of 5]

Bury's early 20th century biograhy of the 5th century saint does a good job of telling the saints story while teaching history of the Church, Ireland and the Roman Empire. All of which are relevant to St Patrick's story. Much of the knowledge of the saint is "Myth" and "Legend." Bury does a good job of analyzing the myth and legent to seek the truth and tell the story of one of the greatest evangelist the church has known.

THe book is annotated by Jon Sweeney. His insight helps get a victorian era publication up to today and adds great understanding.

[Deacon Tom (Feeling Better) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very Interesting Biography

I thoroughly enjoyed this biography of the life of Saint Patrick. It had wonderful stories as you might expect but it was also well documented and footnoted like any good academic undertaking you should be.

[Sonya · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a revised older work. What we know about Patrick would fill one page of this 200 page book. It tells more of the time and legends associated with Patrick (with a lot of speculation) but would be interesting for those who would want to know about what Ireland was like before Christianity. I would have appreciated a map of Ireland (the work does include two small area maps but don't show you how they fit into the broader area) and the dates for when St. Patrick supposedly lived are hard to find. The notes added by the editor are frequent but are included on the page next to the text it refers to. This is sometimes good but perhaps would have been better as footnotes or endnotes.

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 2 out of 5]

Originally published at the beginning of the twentieth century during a period of severe anti-Catholicism, the original Protestant author attacks the legends and beliefs regarding St. Patrick of Ireland. The editor attempts to glorify Burry and justify his history.

[Don Heiman · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 2008 Paraclete Press released Jon M. Sweeney’s book based on his edited and annotated text of J.B. Bury’s 1905 book about the legacy of St. Patrick. Sweeney’s and Bury’s book is titled “Ireland’s Saint: The Essential Biography of St. Patrick”. Sweeney’s annotations appear on the same pages of Bury’s historic text. The book about Saint Patrick has two story lines —one storyline is Bury’s historic writings and the other is the updated storylines based on Sweeney’s research notes about Saint Patrick’s legacy. The book begins with a discussion of St. Patrick’s early child life.

Patrick’s father Calpurnius is a Catholic deacon who also is a community land owning city leader. Calpurnius’ father was a Catholic 4th century Presbyterian. At the age of 16 Patrick was kidnapped in England and taken to Ireland where he spent 6 years caring for mountain pigs close to the town of Westport in Ireland’s County Mayo. While in captivity, he prayed for his freedom; and through an amazing chain of events he was able to escape captivity and travel by boat and then by foot to Italy. From Italy he went to northern Gaul (France) where he stayed at a monastery in the town of Lerins. He lived in the monastery for several years. During his stay at the monastery, he experienced “spiritual liberation.” He left the monastery at Lerins and returned to his Romano-British homeland. When he arrived, Patrick was told his parents had died. He then decided after several weeks of meditation to go back to Ireland. His decision was based on his desire to become a missionary visionary and practice the spiritual life values he learned when he lived at the Lerin monastery. J.B. Bury’s and Jon Sweeney’s book next discuss the events that led to Patrick’s priestly ordination, how he became a Bishop of the Catholic Church, and the chain of events that resulted in his mission to covert Ireland’s population to Catholic doctrines. The book also features the political and social conditions that leveraged Patrick’s spiritual leadership, and the initiatives that formed the foundation for changes he made to tribal, clan, and cult beliefs of those who lived in northern Ireland. Tradition suggests that St. Patrick built his first church community in Northern Ireland at Ard Macha (modern-day Armagh) in the 5th century. According to J.D. Bury, Patrick in a very short time period was able to establish a religious community among Druids and cult communities in the region where he was enslaved as a teenager. He then expanded his following by making many of his parishioners spiritual leaders who then proselytized communities throughout northern and western Ireland. In Sweeney’s annotation notes, he wrote that Ireland was entirely pagan in 432 ad. Shortly thereafter, the northern portions of Ireland became Catholic. When this happened, Patrick won the favor of King Laoghsire; and after receiving the King’s favor, Bury writes that Patrick went to Rome and visited with Pope Leo about his Irish mission. After the Vatican visit he returned to Ireland and established a church at Armagh that would become according to Bury “the supreme ecclesiastical city of Ireland.” There are some Irish historians who believed that St. Patrick died when he was 120 years old (year 493 ad), while others reported he died at the age of 111 (486 ad). The book’s authors say the date of Patrick’death is undocumented. Saint Patrick’s international celebration day is March 17th. (L/P)

[Melissa Crawford · Rating 3 out of 5]

This history is written in an older style, which makes it a tougher read than most. My main criticism is that it should have included more maps, comparing the ancient tribal areas with modern day Ireland. The few maps that were included weren’t very clear and the captions were in some sort of “medieval” font that made them hard to read. Also, a timeline at the beginning of the book pointing out major milestones would have been helpful to keep track.

I learned a lot about the actual life of St. Patrick vs the legends, but the maps and timeline would have made it a more enjoyable read.

[Alex · Rating 4 out of 5]

Surprisingly still readable account (written 120 years ago) of the life of St. Patrick. This version is an annotated edition that puts the original narrative into a 21st Century context.

[James · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is is one of my nerdy religious reads. I read this book on St. Patrick on St. Patrick's Day because it was St. Patrick's day. Yep. I am that guy. In past years, I read the confessions of St. Patrick to redeem the day (because it is about more than just green beer).

J.B. Bury's text is over a hundred years old, but this edition combines his text with Jon Sweeney's editorial notes. Bury was a sympathetic-critical reader of the St. Patrick traditions but more work has been done since his original publications. Sweeney helps fill in the gaps.

I am not an expert on Patrick and haven't read all the literature on his life (or what we know and suspect about his life) but this text enriched my understanding of this great saint's legacy.

[Drew · Rating 3 out of 5]

Important book from a research or history standpoint. It would have been more interesting if it had included good maps of Ireland so that you could track where Patrick was.

[John Hanscom · Rating 4 out of 5]

An annotated update to an earlier work, and well worth reading.

[Shalon · Rating 3 out of 5]

Its so difficult to read a book on St. Patrick because so much is unknown and/or legend. I did learn a lot, though, and am happy to have read it.

[Julie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good book about the man who brought Christiantiy to Ireland.