The Role of Christianity in the Transformation of Society In Ireland from 400 to 800 CE Peter Brown does a remarkable job tracing the history of Ireland during the early middle ages by digesting the coeval writings of Christian saints and delivering a palatable narrative for readers. Reinterpretation of Brown’s text can be broken down into chronological units, each divided by a particular saint, while threaded with a flowing chronicle of contemporary society. Ireland in the early middle ages was mostly pagan. Yet, during the beginning of the fifth century, the coast of Ireland contained colonies of British Christian slaves, of whom many Irish had adopted their exotic religion. Prosper of Aquitaine wrote that Pope Leo I had sent a bishop named Palladius on a mission to Ireland to preach to those pre-existing Irish Christians. This was an attempt by the Catholic Church to bear responsibility for Christianity in the lands outside of the empire (p. 130-1). In the 440’s, a young man was taken by Irish raiders from a British city to Ireland as a slave. Patricius (hereafter referred to as Patrick) was the son of a deacon who exhibited no desire for religion until his capture, during which he prayed constantly, night and day. At one point, Patrick escaped Irish captivity and returned home. He was ordained as bishop and made an unexpected decision to return to Ireland. He attempted to recover Irish Christians from British slave raiders, albeit unsuccessfully. Patrick composed two writings, Letter to Coroticus and Confession, both of which have tremendous importance historically. They were the first
Wharram 2 substantial writings in Latin from outside of the Roman Empire. He passed sometime in the 490’s, and Brown questions his long term success regarding the conversion of many Irish natives. Rather, he states “What led to the permanent success of the