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  • 13 - Sinner, Slave, Bishop, Saint: The Social and Religious Vicissitudes of St Patrick

  • from Part IV - Social and Religious Histories of Slavery on the Borders of the Empire and Beyond
  • Edited by Chris L. de Wet, Maijastina Kahlos, University of Helsinki, Ville Vuolanto, University of Tampere, Finland
  • Book:
    Slavery in the Late Antique World, 150 – 700 CE
    Published online:
    27 January 2022
    Print publication:
    17 February 2022, pp 281-297

  • Summary

    Thus begins one of the most unusual and intriguing documents of late antiquity, the Confession of St Patrick, describing the circumstances in which a Romano-British teenager was taken from his home and sold into slavery in barbarian Ireland. The Confessio is Patrick’s defence against criticisms by certain members of the British church hierarchy who were attacking his past and his missionary efforts in Ireland. It was written sometime in the second half of the fifth century, but is plagued by chronological vagueness, references to unknown places, and a Latin that has suggested to some it was not his native tongue. Nevertheless, the Confessio is still the closest thing we have to a slave narrative from antiquity. It is one of only two authentic writings of St Patrick, the other being the earlier Epistola ad milites Corotici (Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus), addressed to the soldiers of a British warlord who had attacked and enslaved newly baptized Irish converts.