Was St. Patrick a Murderer? (And 19 Other Scandalous Questions About the ‘Apostle of Ireland’)

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A quick exercise to get us started: What words and phrases come to mind when you think of Saint Patrick?

Pious? Holy? Snake-driver? Shamrock-wielder? Pagan-tamer? Wearer-of-the-green?

What about slave? Abolitionist? Lady-lover? Shape-shifter? Necromancer? Or even… murderer?

Given St. Patrick’s status as an exalted figure not only in Irish history, but also world history (see quotation from Irish poet, dramatist, and author Seumas MacManus below), it should come as no surprise that the facts and fictions concerning Patrick’s life and deeds have become jumbled.

“The coming of Patrick may be said to have had sublime effect not on Ireland alone, but upon the world. It was a world event… He was one of the greatest of Celts, became one of the greatest of Irishmen, and one of the very great among men.”

source: The Story of the Irish Race: A Popular History of Ireland

In the centuries since Patrick’s death in 460 CE (or thereabouts), overzealous biographers and hagiographers and…