Patrick: The Pilgrim Apostle of Ireland

Rating:
Summary: Fascinating, though academic
Review: In this fascinating book, Irish religious scholar Maire B. de Paor examines Saint Patrick, patron saint of Ireland. In a scholarly manner, Ms. De Paor goes through Patrick's Confessio and Epistola Excommunicating Coroticus. Each line is examined in detail, producing a breathtaking amount of information about Patrick and his times.

As the above description suggests, this book was written for the scholarly reader, but it is not inaccessible to even the casual reader. Though the text is often exhaustingly academic, what makes this book well worth reading is that it is such an overflowing well of information on Patrick. And, I must say that I enjoyed the author's religious stance, treating Patrick's faith as alive, rather than a historical artifact.

So, if you really want to understand St. Patrick, then I highly recommend that you get this book.

Rating:
Summary: The Definitive Work On This Fascinating Man
Review: Máire Bríd de Paor, an Irish religious scholar and a Presentation Sister, has simply produced the most compelling work to date on St. Patrick. This is a book which anyone truly interested in the topic must own, and an absolute necessity for any library worth its salt! Its exhaustive yet essential resources include the complete original text (and the best English translation to date) of Patrick's own words in his two surviving works - the Confessio and the Epistola. Through a thoughtful and compelling exposition of these works, de Paor leaves us feeling closer to Patrick, in his lifelong quest to emulate Christ. More than 1,500 years before Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Mohandas Gandhi and Susan B. Anthony, St. Patrick was writing forcefully in favor of the end of slavery and the liberation of women. You'll read this marvelous book, savor it, refer back to it. It involves a bit of work, mind you, but with that investment, you'll be invigorated by the sheer power and energy of this great man, who reaches across the millenia with a message as fresh as when it was penned.

Rating:
Summary: Challenging but rewarding
Review: The author has an obvious affection for Patrick, and I doubt you'll finish this wonderful book without growing to like him too. I recommend you read this book out of order: Start with the introduction (36 pages), and then skip to the back to read the author's translation of Patrick's two written works - his "confession" and letter to a roman officer. The rest of the book analyzes these two documents in light of the other facts known about this fifth century great.