Life of Saint Patrick
A narrative Life of Patrick, written in Ireland about two hundred years after his time and preserved in the Book of Armagh. It links Patrick with Armagh and tells of his contest with the druids at Tara.
Read the text at confessio.ie ↗Latin text, edited by Ludwig Bieler (Royal Irish Academy) ↗
Muirchú says at the end of his table of contents that he wrote at the request of Áed, bishop of Sleaty, whose death the Annals of Ulster record under the year 700. He had Patrick’s Confession in front of him and follows it for the captivity and escape. For the mission itself he had, as his prologue admits, uncertain and conflicting traditions.
The Life is evidence for what was told about Patrick in the late seventh century, and for the claims of the church of Armagh at that time. Its stories of the fire at Slane, the contest with King Lóegaire’s druids and the gift of the hill of Armagh by Dáire have no support in Patrick’s own writings.
Cited in
- c. AD 432–461 or 493 (traditional), traditional date