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Sean mcgee

Being more sceptical about the sceptics

Reviewed in the United States on May 6, 2019

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This book is neo-modern scepticism, it is irreverent sophism built on the sands of speculation. St. Patrick’s holiness, his vocation, his achievements, his legacy are all undermined by the author’s conjecture and fabrications. Flechner mocks St. Patrick’s own version of events and wants to remove the miraculous, the anecdotes and the colour from St. Patrick’s hagiographers and does not at any time consider Providence, the good faith of the Saint’s biographers or the Church’s Tradition.
The author’s main speculation that St Patrick came to Ireland not as a captive slave but to escape imperial hereditary duties, thus preserving for a future day his family wealth, is a post hoc fallacy. Just because such Roman hereditary laws existed does not mean they were the cause of St. Patrick’s initial stay in Ireland. To insinuate then that the Saint was involved in chattel slavery is ludicrous and to further imply that St. Paul, in his letter to Philemon, and St. Gregory the Great condoned this intrinsic evil is a failure by the author to make the critical distinction with cultural indentured servitude. Flechner is desperate to destroy Patrick’s sanctity and to build an alternative Patrick motivated by greed and pride. One has to wonder how such an alternative would have encountered Christ and followed Him with the missionary zeal of the real Patrick? He accuses St. Patrick of “crafted rhetoric” to evade and deceive but it is Flechner alone, with his caricatures and strawmen, that is really using rhetorical deception.
The book also fails to reference St. Patrick’s time in the Lerins Abbey on the Isle of Saint Honorat where he met St. John Cassian and was introduced to the great tradition of the Desert Fathers. A further failure is the author’s muddled presentation of the heresy of Pelagianism. This heresy is a denial of the reality of Original Sin and the need for grace to achieve perfection and salvation. However, Flechner falsely says that the Pelagians accepted the reality of both Original Sin and grace. He then uses these inaccuracies as a foundation to misrepresent St. Jerome and to ridicule St. Patrick’s hagiographers.
Best to be forearmed with the axiom “be more sceptical about the sceptics” when reading this book

Raunch Fodder

Fantastic biography, engaging and well written

Reviewed in the United States on March 26, 2019

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This is a really engaging historical biography, that puts forward compelling new interpretations of St. Patrick, his upbringing in Roman Britain and his contribution to the conversion to Christianity of Ireland. The author follows the traditional story of Patrick, but adds to it in important ways and raises tough questions about some aspects of the saint's biography, for example: why were there people who accused him for having ulterior motives for leaving Britain? I have very little experience in reading texts from Patrick's period, and so there is a lot that I learned from this biography on how historians challenge sources and how they cope with the lack of evidence. The author doesn't impose his interpretations but takes the reader on a journey, always showing different possible interpretations, and asking how much value we can place on them. I found this a really good guide for learning hoe to read ancient sources.

MS

A Significant Contribution to a Vexed Field

Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2019

Those of us with a penchant for early British and Irish history have
for a long time necessitated a new biographical study of Patrick. This
book answered my expectations by stepping outside the conventional
narrative and treading a whole new path that circumvents some of the
tiered old unanswerable questions which historians wore themselves
(and their readers) out by asking: were there two Patricks, was there
a connection between Patrick and the other missionary of he fifth
century, Palladius, and a host of factual questions that cannot be
answered unless new evidence will come to light. You will find some of
these old questions in the book, but only as a way of dispensing with
the outmoded views. What you will find instead is a lot of emphasis on
Patrick as first and foremost an author and the questions of how his
own works ought to be interpreted in the context of late antique Latin
literature. There is a lot of discussion (perhaps a bit too long) on
principles of Roman forensic rhetoric and how Patrick's autobiography,
which is written in response to accusations against him, makes the
most of rhetorical principles to resist the accusations and to offer
an alternative story. This is the story of Patrick that we most of us
were told and that we are already familiar with: it may have happened
in the way that he tells it, or he may have embellished, maybe even
invented a lot of details. Whether Patrick's story is to be believed,
is for us, is difficult to say and Flechner reminds us time and time
again that the point is not to sit in judgement but to be open minded
in our research. This book gives us a way of challenging the story in
an informed way, but it does not force us to abandon Patrick's version
entirely. All this is packaged in an elegant presentation that I found
a delight to read.

Jilda Caccavo

Covid companion

Reviewed in the United States on January 17, 2021

I originally bought this book as a sort of tongue-in-cheek present for a good Irish friend of mine. However, with covid lockdown restrictions, the next time when we were supposed to meet continued to be delayed. With the book sitting on my desk day in and day out, and the date on which I would be parting with it getting further and further pushed, I decided to crack it open and peak inside. Am I glad I did! Talk about a great way to procrastinate. And I didn’t even have any particular interest in St. Patrick to begin with. However, for a non-fiction work, it did read far more like a thriller than a historical account. I particularly enjoyed the way the author painted an image of the period in which the events took place – I felt like I was watching a period film in my head. If you’re looking for a read that will not only keep you captivated (and who doesn’t need a good distraction nowadays?), but will teach you something in the process (I’m prepared for my next St. Patrick’s cocktail party!), don’t look any further.

Top reviews from other countries

Sean mcgee

Being more sceptical about the sceptics

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 17, 2019

Verified Purchase

This book is neo-modern scepticism, it is irreverent sophism built on the sands of speculation. St. Patrick’s holiness, his vocation, his achievements, his legacy are all undermined by the author’s conjecture and fabrications. Flechner mocks St. Patrick’s own version of events and wants to remove the miraculous, the anecdotes and the colour from St. Patrick’s hagiographers and does not at any time consider Providence, the good faith of the Saint’s biographers or the Church’s Tradition.
The author’s main speculation that St Patrick came to Ireland not as a captive slave but to escape imperial hereditary duties, thus preserving for a future day his family wealth, is a post hoc fallacy. Just because such Roman hereditary laws existed does not mean they were the cause of St. Patrick’s initial stay in Ireland. To insinuate then that the Saint was involved in chattel slavery is ludicrous and to further imply that St. Paul, in his letter to Philemon, and St. Gregory the Great condoned this intrinsic evil is a failure by the author to make the critical distinction with cultural indentured servitude. Flechner is desperate to destroy Patrick’s sanctity and to build an alternative Patrick motivated by greed and pride. One has to wonder how such an alternative would have encountered Christ and followed Him with the missionary zeal of the real Patrick? He accuses St. Patrick of “crafted rhetoric” to evade and deceive but it is Flechner alone, with his caricatures and strawmen, that is really using rhetorical deception.
The book also fails to reference St. Patrick’s time in the Lerins Abbey on the Isle of Saint Honorat where he met St. John Cassian and was introduced to the great tradition of the Desert Fathers. A further failure is the author’s muddled presentation of the heresy of Pelagianism. This heresy is simply a denial of the reality of Original Sin and the need for grace to achieve perfection and salvation. However, Flechner falsely says that the Pelagians accepted the reality of both Original Sin and grace. He then uses these inaccuracies as a foundation to misrepresent St. Jerome and to ridicule St. Patrick’s hagiographers.
Best to be forearmed with the axiom “be more sceptical about the sceptics” when reading this book

Alice Pink

Riveting retelling of a story that everyone thinks they know

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 2, 2019

Verified Purchase

A friend recommended that I buy this book as a gift for myself after she couldn't stop raving about it. I found the book interesting overall, but especially the chapters on Britain in Patrick's time, on the missionary life, and on the medieval reception of the saint. Some chapters more interesting than others, and indeed a couple of chapters I found a bit hard-going, like the chapter on Ireland in Patrick's time (so little evidence survives from the period). Also, some chapters have more narrative than others, which are rather analytical and apply conceptions of Roman law that are fascinating, but take a bit of effort to grasp. Eventually a picture of Patrick does emerges from all this, but not a complete picture, because of the limitations of the evidence. But the gaps in the evidence are themselves addressed in a constructive way as the author grapples with ways to overcome them.

John Henry

Makes important new discoveries and is very modest about it

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 12, 2019

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Reading this book now, and I keep gasping with surprise with every page. Yes, the book will call to question what you know about Patrick from folk tales and it will tell you a lot of exciting new things, but it does much more than this: the book will change your thinking about figures from antiquity. Men like Patrick were not just zealous pious missionaries, but learned and calculated men of action with international connections, who were both bringing about real change and telling their own story beautifully. Patrick emerges as a fascinating character, and there are plenty of anecdotes linking the story to the modern era, for example analogies with the missionary David Livingstone, and there is even a reference to Asterix.

Sonya Manner

The best book on the subject that I read

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on July 19, 2019

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Too much has been said and written about Patrick from a reverential, often confessional, perspective. This book breaks new ground by retaining respect for its subject, but at the same time not being afraid of asking pointed questions about Patrick's life, questions that perhaps Patrick would have liked us to ask: why was he put on trial, how did he defend himself, why did various people believe that he left Britain to make a profit in Ireland, and how did Patrick respond to these charges. Patrick is seen as a clever orator and writer, who gained a following thanks to his charisma and unique leadership skills. The best book on the subject that I read: illuminating, clear, sensitive, and challenges received narratives.

Theresa Fordham

Well-researched biography

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2019

Verified Purchase

With some books of history the process of discovery and the process of writing are inseparable. This is one of those books. It seems that the author didn't just write up his research findings but put on paper the process of research as it unfolded. This makes it thrilling for a reader to follow the author through a tangled web of historical evidence, not always knowing how the plot will unfold. Along the way the reader picks up all sorts of new information about the period and not just about Patrick himself. You come out of the experience knowing more than you would have expected about Roman religion, slavery, missionaries and monasticism. And obviously also about St. Patrick.

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