Introduction
Patrick was born into a well-to-do family in a town somewhere in Roman Britain, perhaps about 410. But however obscure his origins may have been, he was destined to be known everywhere as the man who brought Christianity to Ireland, and in that cause he accepted anything and everything that God asked of him.
AT sixteen,* Patrick was abducted from his comfortable home and smuggled across to Ireland, where he was put to work as a shepherd.* He was thus deprived of a Roman education (his father was a Roman citizen and town councillor), but out on the hard hills, Patrick learnt to pray, and to trust in Providence.
After six years he escaped, and against the odds found his way home. Yet he dreamt that a man came and presented the petitions of Ireland’s people, begging him to come back, and be their bishop.
Feeling still too rustic and uneducated to answer the summons, Patrick went first to St Martin’s monastery at Tours, and then to Lérins, where he met Germanus, bishop of Auxerre. In 429, this Germanus had been tasked with stopping the spread of ‘Pelagianism’, the ideas of a rather moralistic British monk in Rome who had forgotten how much we all need God’s grace; and Germanus added Patrick, now a priest, to his team.
Most scholars accept a date in the fifth century for St Patrick’s mission to Ireland. If it is true that Patrick worked alongside Germanus (?378-?448) in his visit to Britain in 429 then that helps us a little – it might also mean he was present at the The Alleluia Victory. The sixth-century (or later) Irish Annals date his repose in 461-462 or 492-493.
His hometown is transcribed in one of Patrick’s two surviving letters as Bannaven Taburniae, otherwise unknown. One possibility is Ravenglass in Cumbria, a Roman seaside settlement called Glannoventa, ‘the market on the shore’, easily reached by Irish merchants selling to prosperous Romans. Glanna Venta Hiberniae, maybe - the seaside market of Ireland?
Précis
St Patrick was born in Roman Britain late in the 4th century. At sixteen, he was abducted and taken to Ireland as a slave, but the experience only committed him more strongly to Christianity and to the Irish people. Six years later he escaped, and after studying in France he returned to Britain with the influential Bishop Germanus of Auxerre. (60 / 60 words)
St Patrick was born in Roman Britain late in the 4th century. At sixteen, he was abducted and taken to Ireland as a slave, but the experience only committed him more strongly to Christianity and to the Irish people. Six years later he escaped, and after studying in France he returned to Britain with the influential Bishop Germanus of Auxerre.
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Variations: 1.increase the length of this precis to exactly 65 words. 2.reduce the length of this precis to exactly 55 words. 3.introduce one of the following words into the precis: because, besides, if, must, not, or, until, who.
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Sevens Based on this passage
Suggest answers to this question. See if you can limit one answer to exactly seven words.
How did Patrick first come to visit Ireland?
Variations: 1.expand your answer to exactly fourteen words. 2.expand your answer further, to exactly twenty-one words. 3.include one of the following words in your answer: if, but, despite, because, (al)though, unless.
Jigsaws Based on this passage
Express the ideas below in a single sentence. Do not be satisfied with the first answer you think of; think of several, and choose the best.
Patrick was kept as a slave. He did not receive a proper education. He learnt to pray.