The lives of medieval Irish saints contain both motives and themes with examples in Irish secular tradition as well as those that follow models observed in biblical writings and European vitae. Indeed, the contents of vitae reflect the values a society hold to be the most important.
Thus, when Christian traditions and values were imported into Irish society, they became persistent enough that they were significant to the writers of the lives of saints; manifestations of those qualities appeared in all literature. Obviously, the shared qualities that had been beheld culturally independent appeared in the literature of both.
However, the native traditional qualities that are evident in the hagiography are those which were held as central beliefs of Irish life and culture even after Christianity was introduced. In that respect, the manifestation of a specific motif does not necessarily reflect the literature that might have influenced it.
Rather, it reflects the value system and the society in which it originated. This paper will analyze the general characteristics reflected in hagiographic literature of Ireland via the media of one vita, “The Life of Patrick” by Muirchu.
A distinctive feature of the Irish hagiography is prayer and fasting with vigil. A particular interesting demonstration of prayer vengeance in the hagiography is the combination of prayer and fasting with vigil to summon retribution. In Ireland, fasting has a complex lineage, starting with long legal history as a way of compelling someone of superior or equal position to conform to demands of due restitution.
This kind of legal fasting actually influenced later hagiography. For instance, Saint Patrick fast against God to obtain boons for him and his followers, His boons are even called a les which is a legal term for remedy attained through court proceedings, highlighting the assumption that fasting per se is considered as a lawsuit against God. Fasting is also associated with scriptural legacy, although the biblical context is somehow different.
Nonetheless, elements of scriptural fasting appear in the Irish hagiography. In medieval times, Saint Patrick not only fasted for the help of God but also commenced a forty-day and forty-night fasting according to the example of Elijah, Moses and Christ (Davies & O’Loughlin 96). According to Muirchu, his protracted withdrawal moves a wearied angel to agree to the demands of the saint (95).
Other common characteristic of medieval Irish saints’ life is the supernatural circumstances surrounding their lives. The vita manifests a number of divine dreams Patrick received, though one might claim them to be part of the usual Christian life. Many might now decline alternating customs of conversing with God, except that all such imaginings occurred at considerable moment in Patrick life.
Muirchu points out that the dreams were unusually different from those manifested in other hagiographies (Davies & O’Loughlin 102). While most of them were mysterious and fantastic, Saint Patrick’s dreams appear to be clear and to the point, requiring no further interpretation. In addition, the words used for most of them suggest a divine response to the saint’s prayer.
Yet another unique characteristic in the Irish hagiography is the discussion of saints’ displaying the ability to work miracles. Saint Patrick displayed his ability to work miracles in many instances. For instance, the Irish saint displayed mastery of the miraculous in roguish manner sometimes, often using them to get out of trouble or win the confidence of his followers.
When Macc Cuill and his group of bandits attempted to test whether Patrick was truly a holy, a mysterious miracle was manifested (Davies & O’Loughlin 108). Muirchu says that “Macc and his men placed a healthy member of the gang in the middle with a cloak over him.
Since the man pretended to be fatally sick, the group demanded a healing miracle from Patrick. Understanding all the deceits and lies, the saint pronounced the death of the man which was revealed to be true after the man was uncovered” (108).
Passive retaliation judgment is also a common feature in Irish hagiography. It describes the apparent vengeance in which the saints committed no act to invoke the disciplinary miracles that occur. Most clearly, these portrayals display the identity of the saint as a recipient of God’s favour; a channel not for own authority or power but for a divine force that occurs independently of the saint when required.
In the Life of Patrick for instance, the horses of Daire, a wealthy man, die after being pastured on field promised to Patrick. The wealthy man hires men to kill the saint, but dies himself; the dead are all brought up at the solemn behests of the man’s wife and relatives (Davies & O’Loughlin 110).
Since pasturing on one’s field without permission was a way of claiming property, it is clear that Daire’s act of trespass is a self-confirming statement that his claim surpasses that of Patrick and both heavenly and earthly penalty naturally follow.
Outright malediction is also another outstanding characteristic in the Irish hagiography. The saints were ready to subject equal pain on those who deliberately went against his demand. They deliver the stunning and lethal decrees of outright malediction both in situations tempting them or thrilling those subjected to their actions.
Through the use of language and gesturers to show the maledictory act, curses give an immediate fulfillment that often impress the Life’s audience. Patrick stands out as the leader of outright malediction. The saint curses rivers to instantaneous and permanent sterility because the inhabitants declined to share fish with him and his followers, or because two boys in his followers drown in the rivers.
Indeed, the maledictory acts of the saint such as damning a river to sterility, inflicts upon the inhabitants of the region a permanent hunger similar to that imposed upon him by the inhabitants accomplishing the restitution of his own harm and turning it to the injurers.
In spite of the limited number of texts at the foundation of Irish hagiography, a particular characteristic of sanctity is evident in the vengeful episodes and scripture parallels of early vitae. This is manifested in the explicit comparison derived by Muirchu between confrontation of Saint Patrick’s with Lochru and the mythical conflict between Peter and Simon Magus in The Acts of Apostles.
The myth shows Simon Magus committing an act of Thaumaturgy barnstorming to challenge the identity of Christ, from which move he is mortally brought down by the prayers of Peter. When Muirchu places Patrick on the same level as Peter, he declares the saint a recipient of the same apostolic indulgence as that granted upon Peter by Jesus. Patrick is in fact compared implicitly and explicitly to Elijah, Moses and Christ.
He brings to Ireland the written Law of God like Moses, witnesses to the divinity of Jesus like Elijah, and performs miracles like Jesus (Davies & O’Loughlin 106). The saint also considered to have a right to judge Ireland at the end of days just like the apostles are to judge the Israel tribes (Davies & O’Loughlin 116).
Works Cited
Davies, Oliver and O’Loughlin Thomas. “Celtic Spirituality”. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1999. Web.