Synopsis
Who was Saint Patrick? This new documentary film delves beneath the myth of Ireland's patron saint to reveal that the patron saint of Ireland was an ordinary man who accomplished the extraordinary by placing his faith in God. Precious few historical facts are known of this man who walked through pre-Christian 5th century Ireland. Two documents written by Patrick, the Confession and his Letter to Coroticus, an Irish warlord, are all that remain. Yet these brief writings captured his emotional state, his innermost feelings and aspirations. Exquisitely filmed on location in Ireland, and using dramatic wide-screen black and white re-creations, SAINT PATRICK: APOSTLE OF IRELAND, visually traces the great saint's footsteps. Patrick's actual confessions are read in voice-over, and evocative music further carries viewers back in time to re-live the experience of walking side by side with Patrick. From his birth to his death, viewers are able to witness Patrick's physical struggles and to participate fully in his transformation and spiritual mission. St. Patrick was born in Roman Britain during the last days of the Roman Empire, at a time when order and authority had fallen into disarray and Britain's west coast lay vulnerable to frequent plundering raids by the pagan Irish. At 14 years of age, Patrick was taken captive by pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland. He spent the next six years enslaved and immersed in the pre-Christian Druid culture of the Celtic people -- the same people he one day returned to convert. When he returned as a bishop to lead the Irish faithful, he chose instead to bring Christianity to those Irish not yet converted, and he did so without bloodshed, over a span of four decades. Considering the fact that the Irish to whom he sought to bring the gospel were a barbaric, warlike people who still practiced slave trading and human sacrifice, Patrick was without doubt a man of great strength of character, physical toughness, and bravery. As a result of his life and work, there emerged a uniquely Celtic form of Christianity, a religion firmly Christian in belief yet not far removed from the ancient traditions of the Irish people. As author Thomas Cahill writes, this new form of Irish Christianity exhibits a sense of the natural world "as a healing mystery, fraught with divine messages. The early Irish Christianity planted in Ireland by Patrick is joyful and celebratory in the way it approaches the natural world. It is really not a theology of sin but of the goodness of creation, and it really is intensely incarnational." Structured in three parts to correspond to three phases of St. Patrick's life, SAINT PATRICK: APOSTLE OF IRELAND, a production of Insight Film and Video Productions of Canada, was directed by David Tennant. In addition to Patrick's own words, the film features on-camera interviews with two noted experts on Irish history, Father Frank Fahey of Ballintubber Abbey, and Michael Slavin, author of The Book of Tara. The film stars Nicholas McCarthy as Saint Patrick.