 | | | Subject: He's Welsh, you know
Posted Mar 3, 2000 by Blatherskite the Mugwump - Bandwidth Bandit
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
3
  | | Ummm...no. Actually, he was a Gaulish Celt, and a slave to a Roman family. He escaped slavery and fled to the Emerald Isle, where he brought the Christian religion. But, since it was being brought over by an uneducated slave, some of the details weren't quite right. Not only that, but, unlike the fully indoctrinated Roman Catholic monks, he was quite open minded, and so a lot of the pagan influences found their way into the Irish Catholic faith. His greatest legacy was a platoon of scholar-monks, who sought to preserve the classical works of Greece and Rome. So, at the same time the Roman Catholics were burning down the Great Library at Alexandria, Irish Catholics were faithfully copying much of what was being lost. When Roman Catholics disagreed with a certain text, they burned it, but Irish Catholics copied it word for word, but made editorials in the margins like "this is pure rubbish, here."
|
|  |
| | | Subject: He's Welsh, you know
Posted Mar 3, 2000 by Woodpigeon
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
4
| | There is a precedent for this - In the small town of Baltimore in West Cork sometime in the 16th century (I think) a crowd of Algerian Pirates decended on the place and took away all the townsfolk. It's absolutely true. I have not heard of too many Algerian people called O'Flaherty and Murphy, but there you are.
CR
|
| |
| |
| | | Subject: He's Welsh, you know
Posted Mar 5, 2000 by violagirl
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
7
| | Ok, here's the basic story as learned by Irish kids at school. St. Patrick was Welsh (or English or from Brittany - we're never quite sure), and was kidnapped by pirates (one of whom was called Niall of the Nine Hostages) and brought to Ireland. There he worked minding pigs up a mountain, as you do. To comfort himself he prayed and stuff, and got a vision telling him that there was a boat in the harbour that would take him home.
When he got back to Wales (or England or Brittany)he started getting these dreams where the children of Ireland called him to go back. So, he went back to Ireland where he brought Christianity.
there were actually TWO St. Patrick's. Before the Welsh one arrived in Ireland there had been a bishop sent from Rome whose name was also Patrick - his job was to convert the pagan Irish, but he didn't succeed.
|
| | | Subject: He's Welsh, you know
Posted Mar 6, 2000 by The Cow
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
9
| | Actually, he wasn't a slave to a Roman family originally. Aparently, according to The Oxford Dictionary of Saints, he was the son of some relatively important Roman and got kidnapped, sold as a slave, found God, ran off, and was sent to Ireland by the Catholic Church to finish off the previous Patrick's work.
Interestingly, it puts his work with Shamrocks on the same level as his work on snakes - ie: pure thaumology / magic / balls.
|
| | | Subject: He's Welsh, you know
Posted Mar 6, 2000 by The Cow
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
11
| | On Roman vs. Irish:
This is quite rare, actually. The Roman Catholic church don't really seem to like anyone: it was still heretical to believe that the earth orbited the sun until around 1960.
He learnt to read and write and stuff from some Catholic teaching, but apparently it was very rustic latin.
|
| | | Subject: He's Welsh, you know
Posted Mar 6, 2000 by Aine
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
13
| | About the snakes -
Not only did St Patrick get rid of all the snakes from Ireland, he also got rid of all fossilized remains of snakes AND any references to snakes in the ancient literature and legends.
He's what we call a thorough saint (or the village liar, whichever you prefer!)
|
| | | Subject: He's Welsh, you know
Posted Mar 7, 2000 by Woodpigeon
This is a reply to this Posting
| | Posting
15
| | Actually there is a kind of snake in Ireland - known as the slow worm. It is found somewhere off the western seaboard - Kerry or Clare I think. Strictly speaking it is not a snake, but it is reptilian, and has no arms or legs. Sounds like a snake to me but I am not a reptile enthusiast.
As for Patrick, the name comes from Patricius, which derives from Father-figure (Patrician, patron, patronise etc.). It is a Latin word.
CR
|
|
