Saint Patrick: A Life From Beginning to End (Irish History Book 4) by Hourly History

Author:Hourly History [History, Hourly]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Hourly History
Published: 2018-10-09T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter Six

Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus

“Now you, Coroticus—and your gangsters, rebels all against Christ, now where do you see yourselves? You gave away girls like prizes: not yet women, but baptized. All for some petty temporal gain that will pass in the very next instant.”

—Saint Patrick

Patrick is credited for many good works that he performed during his time in Ireland. Perhaps the most famous legend surrounding Saint Patrick is the way in which he drove all snakes from Ireland, causing the island to be free from serpents to this day. The story goes that Patrick chased the snakes into the sea because they attacked him while he was fasting on top of a hill. There is however no evidence to suggest that snakes have been part of Ireland’s fauna since the last ice age.

Other stories seem more credible. During Patrick’s time as a missionary in fifth-century Ireland, he was not only a hero to his appointed clergymen, but to women as well. At this time, women were seen as property, a commodity to be bought or sold. It was not uncommon for a family to sell a daughter or arrange a marriage that would benefit them politically or monetarily. Patrick upset this order of operations by informing women that they did not have to choose this path—they had a choice in Jesus Christ. As these women made the conversion to Christianity, some opted to become servants for Christ. This was not without strong opposition from their families. Patrick remained firm and informed the women they were certainly doing right by Christ by choosing to remain chaste, or virgins for Christ. The sense of control women felt over their own destinies was empowering, but many men were angered as they felt their possessions were being taken away.

Patrick is also credited with having brought a sense of importance regarding learning and literacy to Ireland. During this period, the Roman Empire was facing collapse, and many politicians and philosophers believed it was the end of civilized society as the world knew it. Christians in other parts of the world did not feel that the Irish could be saved, or that they were even worthy of such salvation. Patrick changed this mindset with his bringing of the Christian faith to Ireland. In doing so, he promoted the importance of studying Scriptures and reading texts that had been written by faithful servants of the church.

Not everyone was pleased with the work Patrick was doing in Ireland however. Perhaps the most famous example of this is that of King Coroticus. King Coroticus essentially sought to chastise Patrick and his flock by taking them as slaves. Patrick, enraged because his flock was being sold into bondage as he had been so many years ago, confronted the king. He was met with nothing more than ridicule, and as a result, wrote the Epistola, excommunicating all of them from the faith.

Patrick writes in his Epistola, which was a letter to the soldiers of King Coroticus, that he grieves

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