So, I am nearing the end of my first semester of seminary, and all that stands in my way of wrapping this thing up is an Old Testament final, a Greek final, and a 20 page Christian Heritage paper on St. Patrick.
St. Patrick is crazy, y'all.
First of all, it is truly incredible that we even know anything about him in the first place. There are only two letters he wrote that survive today, and they were not even discovered until the 7th century. This is interesting considering that Patrick died in early 5th century. What happened for a solid 200 years?!?!
Sure, we look at the hagiography about him and hear that he drove snakes out of Ireland, taught the barbaric Irish about the Holy Trinity using a shamrock, and much more.
But really, how did we even come to St. Patrick's day?! And how did that become about wearing green and Leprechauns? Quite frankly, St. Patrick is noticeably absent from the holiday we celebrate on his behalf.
Most scholars cannot agree on who Patrick was, historically speaking, and most scholars don't even like to acknowledge the legends surrounding him. Sad, because even though I don't think St. Patrick actually drove out all the snakes from Ireland, I believe that that hagiography is an important part of St. Patrick's identity as was known to medieval Ireland.
Bleh.
I don't want to write anymore about St. Patrick. Consensus is that nobody can really agree on who he is historically. And nobody wants to acknowledge his legends from an scholarly point of view.
St. Patrick, who are you????
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