St. Pat and the "snakes"

[crackwise]

Does anyone know the real history of St. Patrick?

From what I know (and I’ll surely be corrected if I’m wrong), the “snakes” that St. Patrick rid Ireland of were the Druids. Essentially, the Catholic church winning out over the pagans.

If anyone can shed any more light on the situation, please edify.
This could go GQ I guess, but it seems more MPSIMS.

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~handcrafted signatures since 1975~

[pluto]

A real good source for info on St. Patrick and Irish history in general is How The Irish Saved Civilization. I don’t remember the author off the top of my head but I’ll look it up and get back.

It’s an enjoyable read, plenty of detail but not heavy going. It has the Straight Dope on Patrick. (He was an essential part of their saving civilization. Really.) I came away with a new appreciation for Ireland.

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“You have no choice but to be impressed.”
Tony Rothman and George Sudarshan
Doubt and Certainty

[pluto]

The author is Thomas Cahill.

[Arnold_Winkelried]

I’ve never heard that the snakes were supposed to represent the druids, but here are two short biographies of Saint Patrick available on the internet.

The Life of St. Patrick

From the Catholic Encyclopedia

[crackwise]

Thanks Pluto and AW. I’ve almost bought that book on a couple of occassions.
I’ll check the on-line biographies.

[tomndebb]

I was always told that there had never been snakes in Ireland and that “driving them out” was just added to Pat’s list of miracles.

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Tom~

[Doobieous]

Hmm I had three really angry and vindictive “wiccan” girls in HS tell me very adamantly that the snakes were really the pagans.

[tomndebb]

This site puts together the comment I made with the one Doobieous made:
http://www.st-patricks-day.com/legpat.html

Patrick is most known the world over for having driven the snakes from Ireland. Different tales tell of his standing upon a hill, using a wooden staff to drive the serpents into the sea, banishing them forever from the shores of Ireland. One legend says that one old serpent resisted, but the saint overcame it by cunning. He is said to have made a box and invited the reptile to enter. The snake insisted the box was too small and the discussion became very heated. Finally the snake entered the box to prove he was right, whereupon St Patrick slammed the lid and cast the box into the sea. While it is true there are no snakes in Ireland, chances are that there never have been since the time the island was seperated from the rest of the continent at the end of the ice age. As in many old pagan religions serpent symbols were common, and possibly even worshipped. Driving the snakes from Ireland was probably symbolic of putting an end to that pagan practice.

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Tom~

[tomndebb]

Doobieous and crackwise, sorry.

[OpalCat]

Doob: did any “catholics” ever tell you their side?

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–
From an actual catalog: “Disco balls create an enchanting, dazzling effect of light shafts, adding movement and glamour to any occasion”
the Abrams’ bris was certainly memorable
O p a l C a t
www.opalcat.com

[Irishman]

Opal, what are they going to say, he didn’t chase out the Druids, he wasn’t the one responsible for the near total conversion of Ireland (Eire, Erin, whatever) to Catholicism?

[Doobieous]

Originally posted by OpalCat:
**Doob: did any “catholics” ever tell you their side?
**

Well Opal, most Catholics would say it’s probably a legend as to why there are no snakes in Ireland.

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I myself am an incorrigible conlang slut. I love oral lex.