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Annually, discussions about Saint Patrick resurface, often clouded by misconceptions and exaggerations. In this article, Morgan Daimler takes us on a journey to unravel the myths surrounding this historical figure, shedding light on the truth behind the tales.
Join us as we sort through some of the most common fallacies surrounding St.Patrick and the role he plays in Irish History. [You can find out more about Irish History and the events that shaped it here]
âšA Guest Post by Morgan Daimler
Every March the pagan community, without fail, sees a surge in conversations and diatribes on saint Patrick, usually rooted in the ideas that Patrick was a maniac who wiped out the druids (represented by snakes), destroyed Irish paganism, and singlehandedly converted the entire island.
Every year I work to try to dispel these modern myths about Patrick, Druids, snakes, and conversion in Ireland. Lora OâBrien and I even have a class on the subject to help people sort out the modern propaganda from the history. So, letâs dive into the cliff notes version of whatâs really going on here, one issue at a time.
Saint Patrick vs the Druids
Did saint Patrick destroy the Druids in Ireland?
This is probably the thing that I hear the most often about saint Patrick, leaning into the Christian propaganda of the 7th and 12th centuries which positioned Patrick as the champion of Christianity in Ireland. In reality the druids survived well after Patrickâs 5th century lifetime.
Druids, as a class, are included in the 7th and 8th century laws tracts and although their role had been diminished from their pre-christian prominence they did still exist and still had a role within society (Kelly, 1988). There is even an 8th century hymn calling on godâs protection against âthe magic of women, blacksmiths, and druidsâ (Kelly, 1988). So we can say quite definitively that Patrick didnât wipe out the Druids.
Snake symbolism
Are Snakes a symbol for Druids in the stories? One of saint Patrickâs most well-known miracles involves him ridding Ireland of snakes, an easy miracle to claim since Ireland hadnât had snakes since before the last ice age.
Many pagans firmly believe that the snakes in Patrickâs story are actually a metaphor for the druids. This idea is very widespread in the pagan community, but is coming from one source in the 1911 book âFairy Faith in Celtic Countriesâ (page 444) where a man speculates that a certain lough is where saint Patrick had a final confrontation with the Druids and drove them out, and that he assumes the druids and snakes were the same because the lough is also where local folklore says the snakes were driven out.
However, there are no earlier sources suggesting this and it is quite clear that the snakes in the older stories were meant to be literal snakes. This was simply a way to explain why the animal didnât exist on the island.
Paganism Oppressor?
Did Patrick destroy Irish paganism and convert the Irish, in its entirety, to Christianity? This idea is coming from some extreme views that claim Patrick committed genocide against the Druids, effectively destroying the pagan priesthood and Irish paganism with it and forcing conversion by the sword.
Now, beyond the fact weâve already addressed Patrick vs the Druids above it must be noted that the process of converting the culture to Christianity in Ireland wasnât something that happened quickly, nor was any single person responsible for it, and it didnât happen with violence but with slow cultural change.
It is true that Christians have worked hard to make Patrick the face of conversion in Ireland in the 1500 years since his death, but Patrick himself in his Confessio very clearly stated that he didnât know if heâd had any significant impact in Ireland and faced a lot of pushback from the pagans for his work.
The Truth behind the Myth
It must also be noted that Patrick was not the first Christian in Ireland, nor the most significant during his lifetime â that would probably be Palladius. Ultimately Patrick seems to have little effect on Irish paganism during his life, and only took on the reputation as a mass converter hundreds of years after his death.
Saint Patrick is a figure who has taken on an oddly massive role in paganism as a kind of anti-pagan boogieman, a figure that can be pointed to as all that is terrible in Christian evangelism and can be embraced by those who prefer to consider themselves tragic victims of a cultural change that occurred more than a millennia ago.
He is, in reality, someone who should be insignificant to history yet who, thanks to amazing church PR, looms large over modern Catholicism and paganism both. The Patrick that most people think they know never existed, he is the product of legends turned into myths.
And perhaps, as pagans, it’s time we let go of our hatred of that mythological figure and see past it to the truth â to the persistence and survival of Irish paganism. Perhaps its time we stop giving Patrick power and take our own power back instead.
Maybe it’s time to stop feeding energy into a Christian narrative about Patrick and his life that is not only false but actively harmful to us.
References:
- Evans Wentz, W., (1911) Fairy Faith in Celtic Countries
- Kelly, F., (1988) A Guide to Early Irish Law
- Saint Patrick (n.d.) Saint Patrick’s Confessio http://www.cin.org/patrick.html
âïž Learn More About the Real Story of St.Patrick –Â Click Here đ
I will be sharing this far and wide. Thanks, Morgan!
A wonderful article from one of my favorite pagan authors, Morgan Daimler! Thank you for this.