Saint Patrick by Jonathan Rogers

Happy Saint Patrick's Day - a day early!!

Saint Patrick is part of a series of biographies entitled Christian Encounters written by a variety of authors for Thomas Nelson Publishers. I was pleasantly surprised to find a canonized Catholic saint among the titles offered.

Jonathan Rogers bases his biography on two known writings of St. Patrick - "The Confession of St. Patrick" and "The Letter sent to the soldiers of Coroticus" which he includes in appendices. He blends the knowledge gleaned from these sources with research, speculation and legends to create a story of St. Patrick's life as slave and later Bishop of Ireland.

I can't quite figure out how I feel about this book; at times I enjoyed it and other times I didn't - especially when the author speculated out loud having nothing to back up his thoughts. It seems to me that the author doesn't full understand the Catholic faith as he didn't capitalize Pope on the very first page of the introduction nor Holy Orders just a few pages later. These might seem like little things, but to me it shows a lack of understanding and respect for what is important to my faith. I liked the way the author compared St Patrick to St Paul pointing out similarities in their leading others to Christ. I do wish I had read the appendices prior to reading the biography; I'll have to reread at a later date with that knowledge in the forefront of my mind.

I received this book free from Thomas Nelson Publishers as part of their BookSneeze book review bloggers program. I was not required to write a positive review. The opinions I have expressed are my own. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255  “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”