St. Patrick Portrayed as a Druid

A reader asked: "Where did you find the information about Patrick's intolerance toward non-converts and his running down his own sister?"

It was probably from The Life and Writings of St. Patrick, John Healy, 1905. 

"'Driver the chariot over her,' says Patrick; and the chariot went over her three times for each time she would come and place herself in front of it."  St. Patrick’s Labors in Armagh, P 502.

Dr. Healy (1841–1918) was Archbishop of Tuam from 1903 to 1918. "The Life and Writings of St. Patrick" is considered to be one of the fullest accounts of St. Patrick's mission in Ireland.

"Dr. Healy has collected the popular traditions; has identified, wherever possible, the sites of the old Patrician churches, and to our mind has given the most accurate, the most complete, and the most interesting account of what may be called the topography of St. Patrick’s life." —The Irish Ecclesiastical Record

I guess the larger question is: what were Healy's sources? I have read this account in more than one book. I think the original source comes from The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick. You can download and read it here at Project Gutenberg: Most Ancient Lives of Saint Patrick

Of course, that three times thing is a charm—signifying a druidic event. (Drumroll.) Of what, I'm not sure. However, what's even more curious is that that Patrick's sister placed herself in FRONT of the chariot three times. Maybe it's more about the chariot itself, than putting one's self in harm's way.

When Saint Patrick was trying to convert King Lóegaire to Christianity, the ghost of Cú Chulainn appeared in his chariot, warning him of the torments of hell.  —Cú Chulainn (Wiki)

St Patrick was reputed to have driven three times over the prostrate body of his coarb, or disciple, Sechnaill, or Secundinus, (who was not only Patrick's nephew—his sister's son—but also one of the first bishops of Armagh).  

And thrice, like some great warrior of the bards,
Your conquering wheels above me you have driven. —From The Legends of Saint Patrick, by Aubrey De Vere, 1872, P. 247.

What is it exactly with this "meek and mild" Patrick fellah doing running over all his relations with chariots? A case of being a really bad driver, perhaps it was a faith-based DUI? But we know that Patrick had his own personal chariot driver, Odhrán. Later ninth and tenth c. interpolations of the Patrick stories seem to have distorted the meaning of the original roughshod tradition. Whatever that was.

To drive over someone, is probably a metaphor, as in overthrow. As in driving out snakes. So, I hope it's a trope of sorts—perhaps once understood in Irish, but clearly something got lost in translation.

"St. Patrick's Breastplate," a journey poem composed in the style of a druidic incantation or "Lorica," on the theme of Patrick's this victory over paganism. (It was written in 8th c. Old Irish and is sometimes attributed to Sechnaill. You can see the original here—but there's no chariot line.)     

Christ with me, Christ before me,
Christ behind me, Christ within me,
Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ at my right, Christ at my left,
Christ in the fort,
Christ in the chariot seat…

My reader also commented upon the  "multitude of "historical documents" and that most them contradict one another." Well, I think the above paragraphs prove this theory out nicely.

I try and read the oldest known documents from manuscripts (prima materia), and then fill in my knowledge base from there as I juggle and weigh the varied accounts. 

In this case, I studied with UC Berkeley Celtic Studies Chair, and Rhetoric Chair, professor, Dr. Dan Melia. We read several medieval hagiographies including  Adamnán's "Life of St. Columba," which also gave me glimpses into that realm—at least from ca. 650 AD.

And we read the "Confessio of Saint Patrick & Letter to Coroticus" (probably written by himself) which is as close as one can get to the source material. Adamnán's "biography" gives us a glimpse of  how Irish saints were viewed—using the druidic model. (You can read a translation online here:)

I found I had to hold more than one world view: 20th c. synopses were not useful, many 19th c. treatises were loony, but the Medieval view—what was known, what was expected, was most enlightening, provided that you were able to put on a Medieval mindset. No 21st. c. anachronisms or historicity through a modern lens need apply.