Review of St. Patrick: The Irish Legend (2000) by Jeannette S — 11 Jun 2008

In general, this is an exciting, smooth blend of fact and legend about one of my favorite saints, Patrick, who is mainly responsible for the almost completely peaceful conversion of the Irish Celts to Christianity in a relatively short period of time.

Having said that, I do have a couple of technical criticisms of this film, however:

1. Historically, Patrick's father was a deacon of the Catholic/Christian Church, and his grandfather was a priest. (Clerical celibacy was not a required Church discipline in the Latin Rite, at this point.) This film portrays Patrick's father as being against his son's vocation to Holy Orders. So, this does not make sense, given the family's strong tradition with this particular sacrament.

2. There is a depiction of what might be viewed as the violation of the seal of the confessional, which has NEVER occurred in the 2,000 years of Catholic Christianity. (Priests may not reveal anything they hear in the exercise of the sacrament of Reconciliation--Confession or Penance--even when threatened with death. Such a violation would result in automatic and immediate excommunication from the Church. Many priests have gone to prison or to their deaths rather than violate this seal.) According to Patrick's own CONFESSION, a friend did betray him somehow, but Patrick never says exactly how the friend did so. We can safely assume, I think, that it had nothing to do with the sacrament of Confession/Reconciliation/Penance.

In spite of these two points, this is a great film to watch annually on or around St. Patrick's Day! Then, read THE CONFESSION OF ST. PATRICK to fill in the gaps.