“"Saint Patrick" reads like someone's college thesis, which isn't, in this case, a bad thing. Rogers writes extremely well, and I found it very easy to follow his well-sourced tome. The problem here is that not much is truly known about St. Patrick. What we do know about him comes from the two extant writings attributed to him (found at the end of the book, which is a good thing) and legend, of which there are seemingly endless legends about Ireland's most famous priest.
Rogers does a good job in bringing us into the world that Patrick was born into: the Roman Empire has collapsed, Ireland is the end of the known world, and is filled with nothing more than cannibalistic barbarians. Patrick, born the son of privilege, is kidnapped and forced into slavery as a teen, sent to the farthest reaches of Ireland to toil. Upon his escape, Patrick begins what becomes a rebellious, yet legendary move towards the Church, becoming the Bishop of Ireland and the first true missionary to bring the Word outside of the Roman empire.
And there Rogers stops. I would have liked to have known much more about Patrick: how his life ended, more about the myths and legends surrounding him, more about how he affected the Church overall, how he became a saint. Rogers provides none of this, which is unfortunate. He does leave us with a very good introduction to the Saint, but not much more.”
missed wrote this review Saturday, May 15, 2010.
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