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From: rej@cornell.UUCP (Ralph Johnson)
Newsgroups: net.religion,net.religion.jewish
Subject: Re: Saint Patrick
Message-ID: <6963@cornell.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 16-Mar-84 16:16:38 EST
Article-I.D.: cornell.6963
Posted: Fri Mar 16 16:16:38 1984
Date-Received: Sat, 17-Mar-84 03:40:18 EST
References: <336@ihuxt.UUCP>
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept.
Lines: 12

The story about Saint Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland is
apocryphal: there were never any snakes in Ireland.  I have never
heard anything about Jews mentioned in connection with him.  The
Catholic Church has recently been demoting certain saints on the
suspician that they never existed.  Patrick was a real person.  He
was one of the first Christian missionaries to Ireland and made a
big impact on that country.  He first saw Ireland as a slave and,
after escaping back to his homeland on the mainland, returned to become
an evangelist.  Not being Catholic, nor Irish, I do not know all the
legends about him, but many of them are undoubtly exagerations.
Nevertheless, Patrick was a real, and undoubtly brave and selfless, person.