Wednesday 12th March 2025. Speaker, Mr Felim O’Neill. Topic, St Patrick
The speaker on Wednesday 12th March was club president Mr Felim O’Neill with a talk on Saint Patrick – the facts, myths, legends and legacy. Our President is a historian with a gift for research and the ability to uncover gems of knowledge with which to surprise his audience. And so it was with his talk as Felim forensically examined such facts as are available about the Saint – where and when he was born; who were his parents; what sort of upbringing he might have had and his life as teenager before being kidnapped. Felim did a good job of separating fact from fiction about Patrick’s time in Ireland, his escape from slavery, his slow journey home, subsequent conversion and return to Ireland. From what can be gleaned from his confession and scant correspondence with Corotidus, Patrick’s life as a missionary was not easy.
Felim dealt dismissively with popular legends such as the banishing of snakes from Ireland and Patrick’s supposed ability to turn himself into a deer. None of this however diminishes the saint’s legacy. Patrick is celebrated around the world and Patrick is globally a very common name for boys.