Patrick, bishop, apostle of Ireland Traditional Cache
Boreal Walker: Cache is gone and beacon is gone. Not going to fix this one.
Patrick, bishop, apostle of Ireland
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Much controversy has surrounded the chronology of Patrick's life and the extent of his achievements. The exaggerated view of him as the only apostle of Ireland who converted the whole country single-handed (based on a conflation of lave Lives and the primatial claims of the see of Armaugh) has given place to a widespread conviction that nearly all that can be known of Patrick comes from his authentic writings: his Confessio (or autobiography), and the Letter to Coroticus (protesting against British slave-traders).
Patrick was British by birth, the son of a decurio (town councillor) who was a deacon, while his grandfather was a priest. The place of his birth was somewhere in the west between the mouth of the Severn and the Clyde, called Bannavem Taburniae. While still a youth, he was captured by Irish pirates and reduced to slavery for six years. The location of his service (mainly tending his master's herds) is not certainly identified, but he used the time to pray, in contrast to his earlier years in Britain when he 'knew not the true God' and did not heed clerical 'admonitions for our salvation.' After six years he was told in a dream he would soon go to his country. He either escaped or was freed, made his way to a port 200 miles away (perhaps on the SE coast), and eventually persuaded some sailors to take him with them. After various adventures in a strange land, including near-starvation, Patrick returned to his family, much changed. He received some form of training for the priesthood, which included the Latin Bible which he come to know well; but it was not a 'higher education', the lack of which he regretted, and for which he was criticized. His own Latin writings are simple but articulate, sometimes ironical.
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