This post is part of an ongoing series on the Scriptures of Saint Patrick of Ireland.
Dioceses of Roman Empire, c. 300
A second part of “The Patrick Problem” involves geography: the question of whether Patrick was trained in Gaul. As with Patrick’s chronology, there are three basic answers to this query: first, that Patrick visited Gaul but did not train there; second, that he never visited or trained in Gaul; third, that he was trained in Gaul. Continue reading
This post is part of an ongoing series on the Scriptures of Saint Patrick of Ireland.
Apart from the general statements about Patrick noted in my previous post, although much has been written concerning the saint’s life, little has been satisfactorily concluded. This is especially true on the two issues which Charles Thomas terms “The Patrick Problem”: chronology and geography.[1] On the question of chronology, T.M. Charles-Edwards writes, “Not a single date can be given to any event of Patrick’s life. Even relative dates are difficult to find.”[2] For historians, of course, such ambiguity cannot stand. Using a variety of reconstructive methods,[3] scholars have come to three basic positions concerning the dates for Patrick’s death: c. 491 CE, the “Duo-Patrician” Theory, and c. 461 CE. Continue reading
