Book Review 2

Saint Patrick by Jonathan Rogers is a biography of Ireland’s most beloved saint. Rogers takes his information from the writings of St. Patrick himself; and includes various legends about the deeds of the great man. Patrick’s two known writings are included in the Appendices.

I enjoyed this book. I love stories about St. Patrick, and to have available his own writings and Rogers’ extrapolations from them are great. I liked the way Jonathan Rogers brought out the known facts of St. Patrick’s life and illustrated them with various legends and myths that are told about him.

I didn’t feel that I really learned very much new about St. Patrick from this book; except perhaps for the fact that he was somewhat of a borderline renegade priest (in that he took his commission from God as being greater and more important than his commission from the Roman Catholic Church). I really liked having Patrick’s own writings available at the end of the book, and thought that was a great touch to the authenticity of the work.

I don’t really think it’s necessary to give an overview of the book here. If you don’t know anything about St. Patrick, this is a fabulous first book for learning about him. If you do know about St. Patrick, this is a nice little addition to your library- particularly for having access to his own translated letters. Otherwise, it’s a nice little book- but not one I would have spent money on personally (I got it from Booksneeze- free, for reviewing it).