Synopses & Reviews
St. Patrick is perhaps the most venerated saint of the modern age, whose feast day is marked each year by massive celebrations across the world, from Dublin to New York and Sydney to Rio de Janeiro. In spite of his popularity very little is known of his life, which is clouded by myth and uncertainty. The facts that are known--that he was born in the late fourth century in Roman Britain, was captured by Irish raiders at the age of 16 and sold into slavery, and escaped six years later to Britain where he became a priest and later a bishop before returning to Ireland to proselytize--give only a vague sense of the man behind the legends.
J.B. Burys biography, which remains the definitive work on the saint, dispels many of the myths and paints a vivid and exacting portrait of the world around St. Patrick, revealing the influences and inspirations that transformed him from a minor fifth century missionary into the patron saint of Ireland and a source of living inspiration for countless people--the Irish above all--some 1,500 years after his death.
Review
"J. B. Bury was a great historian and he remains as readable and provocative as ever." -- Robert Conquest, historian and author of Stalin: Breaker of Nations and Reflections on a Ravaged Century
About the Author
J. B. Bury (1861-1927) was an eminent classical scholar and historian who wrote extensively on Greek, Roman and Byzantine history and was instrumental in the revival of Byzantine studies. Bury is famous for his major histories of the Roman Empire as well as for his classic work The Invasion of Europe by the Barbarians.
Table of Contents
* On the Diffusion of Christianity Beyond the Roman Empire * The Captivity and Escape of Patrick * In Gaul and Britain * The Political and Social Condition of Ireland * In the Island-Plain, In Dalaradia * In Meath * In Connaught * Foundation of Armagh and Ecclesiastical Foundation * Writings of Patrick and his Death * Patrick's Place in History *