There are few Christian saints more misunderstood than St. Patrick. Ireland’s patron saint is best known for driving the snakes off the island, but that isn’t even close to the most interesting thing about him. Both the legend of St. Patrick and the details of his real life have been poorly remembered. Driving the snakes out of Ireland is nothing compared to the wizard duels described in the medieval sources. Have we completely missed the boat on what makes St. Patrick worth remembering? Tune-in and find out how poisoned wine, miracle pigs, and demon fossils all play a role in the story.

Works Cited

Bury, John B. St. Patrick the Life and World of Ireland’s Saint. Tauris Parke Paperbacks, 2010.

Flechner, Roy. Saint Patrick Retold: the Legend and History of Ireland’s Patron Saint. Princeton University Pres, 2021.

Freeman, Philip. St. Patrick of Ireland: a Biography. Simon & Schuster, 2009.

Farrelly, James. “The Truth about St. Patrick’s Day.” The Conversation, 9 Feb. 2021, theconversation.com/the-truth-about-st-patricks-day-111396.

O’Rahilly, Thomas Francis. The Two Patricks: a Lecture on the History of Christianity in Fifth-Century Ireland. Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, 1981.

“The Project Gutenberg EBook, The Most Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick, by Various, Edited by James O’Leary.” The Project Gutenberg EBook of The Most Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick, by Various, www.gutenberg.org/files/18482/18482-h/18482-h.htm.