St Patrick And Ireland

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 31974, 29 April 1969, Page 14

St Patrick And Ireland

Sir,—Your cabled news item concerning Armagh, "where St Patrick introduced Roman Catholicism to Ireland,” is inaccurate. The Christianity which Patrick taught was not Roman Catholic but was of the Monastic Celtic Church, which Rome opposed and overcame. “He (Patrick) never mentions either Rome or the Pope or hints that he was in any wayconnected with the ecclesiastical capital of Italy. He recognises no authority but that

of the Word of God " (Dr Killens, “Ecclesiastical History of Ireland." Vol. 1. pp. 12-15.) The Catholic historian, Belli-! shiem. freely admits that Christianity was established in the British Isies before! Catholicism, and concerning the Celtic Church of Scotland, of which Patrick’s grandfather was a presbyter, he writes (p. 239. “History of the Catholic Church and Scotland”): "The Scots . . . had no doubt kept up the traditional practice of the ancient Monastic Church of Ireland, which observed Saturday rather than Sunday as the day of rest." This is hardly Roman Catholic Yours, etc . A N. RIGGINS April 28. 1969