Saint Patrick Retold: The Legend and History of Ireland's Patron Saint

by Roy Flechner

A gripping biography that brings together the most recent research to shed provocative new light on the life of Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick was, by his own admission, a controversial figure. Convicted in a trial by his elders in Britain and hounded by rumors that he settled in Ireland for financial gain, the man who was to become Ireland' patron saint battled against great odds before succeeding as a missionary. Saint Patrick Retold draws on recent research to offer a fresh assessment of Patrick's travails and achievements. This is the first biography in nearly fifty years to explore Patrick's career against the background of historical events in late antique Britain and Ireland.

Roy Flechner examines the likelihood that Patrick, like his father before him, might have absconded from a career as an imperial official responsible for taxation, preferring instead to migrate to Ireland with his family's slaves, who were his source of wealth. Flechner leaves no stone unturned as he takes readers on a riveting journey through Romanized Britain and late Iron Age Ireland, and he considers how best to interpret the ambiguous literary and archaeological evidence from this period of great political and economic instability, a period that brought ruin for some and opportunity for others. Rather than a dismantling of Patrick's reputation, or an argument against his sainthood, Flechner's biography raises crucial questions about self-image and the making of a reputation.

From boyhood deeds to the challenges of a missionary enterprise, Saint Patrick Retold steps beyond established narratives to reassess a notable figure's life and legacy.

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

304 pages, Hardcover

First published March 2, 2021

About the author

Roy Flechner is associate professor of early medieval history at University College Dublin. His books include The Hibernensis (two volumes) and Making Laws for a Christian Society.

Reviews

[A'Leah Draper · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this book, it was fascinating to find out the St Patrick felt the entrance to purgatory was on Donegal. If you are interested in Irish history this is a much read

[Peter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Roy Flechner is a medievalist historian at the University College in Dublin, the capital of Ireland. Flechner’s 2019 biography of Saint Patrick is entitled Saint Patrick Retold: The Legend and History of Ireland’s Patron Saint. Flechner’s biography provides a lot of background on the life and time of Saint Patrick and how he is remembered up until the early 20th Century when he became a symbol of Irish Nationalism. Flechner wanted to write a technical biography of Saint Patrick that is still accessible to the lay reader (Flechner 6). I think he was successful in this regard, it is technical, but a non-medievalist can read it and understand it. I think having Flechner’s biography be more technical work in his favor, which causes the reader to take his conclusions seriously. The biography includes black-and-white pictures of artifacts and locations mentioned in the text. Maps are also included. Each chapter has footnotes. Flechner’s biography successfully portrays the world of Saint Patrick. In the words of Flechner, Saint Patrick “would have experienced a world that through far-reaching political, economic, and religious changes” of “late Roman Britain and late Iron Age Ireland” (Flechner xv). Interestingly enough Saint Patrick’s writings are only written eyewitness accounts that survive from this period of British and Irish history (Ibid). Flechner’s biography, Saint Patrick Retold, is worth reading if one is interested in the world and times of Saint Patrick.

[Anastasia Bannor · Rating 5 out of 5]

When an author chooses to walk the fine line between academic and popular prose there is always a risk. For the most part Flechner does a fine job straddling this divide. In this book I was reading through some material about ancient rhetoric and the history of biblical interpretation that I won't normally be interested in. But the author managed to make it all hang together well so I didn't even feel that I was out of my comfort zone. But, like other readers have noted, there is some content that is more fitting for academics. What I can say is that if you want to learn some new things, even things you didn't expect a biography to tell you, this is the book for you. But here and there you will have to put up (or leap over) some dense paras.

[Mike Clinton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Roy Flechner effectively complicates Saint Patrick and frustrates any efforts to certainty about his historical identity. His book is an exercise in analyzing the interpretations projected onto Patrick and a critique of the sources used in doing so. Patrick's biography serves not as a life to be imaginatively reconstructed as it is a portal to analyze the world of Britain and Ireland during the late Roman era that Patrick somehow inhabited, although we can never be sure exactly how. The last chapter, on "Imagining Patrick in the Middle Ages," and the epilogue reflecting on the cultural memory of Saint Patrick work well together to show how his image has been constructed and deployed over the centuries.

[Ricky Balas · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think other reviewers have covered this well, but I think the book is equal parts fascinating and dry. One of my qualms with Flechner is he opens the book stressing this as a "popular" history geared toward a wide audience. It most certainly isn't. I love a good scholarly work (and this is certainly a good scholarly work), but don't open stating it as something that it is not as that only leads to confusion about its purpose and intended audience. The end was really interesting, while the rest of it required some brain work.

[Alexis Kaelin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Ha! I was wondering why this did not have good reviews. Then I read it. It has everything Irish Catholics looking for a book on Patrick hate! Critical textual analysis questioning Patrick's accounts, mentions of Patrick probably not being the first Christian to try to spread the faith there, oh, and the Irish aren't really Celts, just speak a Celtic language. It is a scholarly attempt to place Patrick in his historical time. If you want that, then it's pretty good. If you are looking for The Tale of St. Patrick, there are other good places to look.

[Román Healy · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting read about the life of St. Patrick, which also highlights the challenges of explaining it with so few sources. Today, only two texts written by Patrick himself are available to us.

Nonetheless, I give it 3 stars because it is quite dense and not made for people starting out on this period of time and religion. It assumes that the reader is aware of the historical context and makes the read quite tedious for beginners

[Louise Job · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are interested in biographies this will be a new experience for you. We all know the legends, but this book is about the person behind the legends. How to separate the history from the legends and tell the true story? What is a true story? These are the questions that the book asks. There are fascinating revelations, but I won't say more to avoid spoils.

[Eimer Murphy-Bengall · Rating 5 out of 5]

After reading an article about this book in the Wall Street Journal, I was curious to read more. The book is a tidy all-round history of St. Patrick told in an academic yet readable way. Every now and again the discussion got a bit hard going, but it's easy to skip these parts and read on. The book was planned in a way that lets readers read each chapter on its own if they want. Recommended.

[Kaylee Schmelzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Some interesting information about St. Patrick, especially in the last couple chapters. Like others have noted, it's very dry for a work that claims to be both for scholars and casual audiences. I feel like more background knowledge would really help break up the slog of terminology and references.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Flechner's attempts at separating myth from history are interesting but the narrative is frequently heavy with dense, technical details and burdened by leaden prose.

[Francesca · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing book! I really loved it!
Finally a historical book about Saint Patrick!

[nick · Rating 5 out of 5]

padráig off the shits