Slave, Saint, and Symbol: Saint Patrick’s Life and Legacy

Catalog description

Explores how Patrick, a man taken to Ireland as a slave in Late Antique Britain, became the saint celebrated annually around the world on March 17. Includes how he portrayed himself in his own writings, how seventh-century political machinations promoted a cult that made him the chief saint of Ireland, how medieval writers depicted him as saving epic heroes from hell, and how he eventually became an enduring secular symbol of Ireland itself. Students read a variety of primary and secondary sources to think critically about the changing legacy of one man over a millennium and a half..