Irish Children's Books (Pauline Books and Media)

Two of the most recognized and beloved saints in Catholicism are St. Patrick and St. Brigid. Today, I am reviewing two children's books on these saints, available from Pauline Books and Media. The first one is called Patrick and the Fire. Patrick and the Fire begins with a boy named Bevan herding goats, a task he did not particularly like. While doing his job, a man named Patrick greets him and asks where to find the King. Bevan explains to him that it would not be a good day to meet the king, but Patrick insists. It is the feast day of a god named Balor, and the king must light the first fire. Patrick has an idea to light a fire first in honor of Christ's Resurrection. Doing so infuriates the king until Patrick explains to him who God is. The king is puzzled at first, but seeing Patrick's bravery and the fact that he can't extinguish Patrick's fire causes the king to reconsider. He instead grants Patrick permission to spread the Gospel through all of Ireland. This is a nice little book that gives your children a religious story mixed with history, legend, and a little bit of adventure. I really like how the book opens with the prayer to St. Patrick and closes with a brief biography on who St. Patrick was.

Brigid and the Butter tells the story of a little girl who lives on the farm with her mother. They are not a wealthy family at all and barely have enough to eat themselves, but Brigid is a cheerful girl and a hard worker. She is in charge of milking the cows and churning the butter, and she loved the taste of butter. One day Brigid heard Bishop (future Saint) Patrick preaching about Jesus feeding the hungry all because a little boy sacrificed his food so others could eat. This caused Brigid to think deeply. In the coming days, a starving woman came to her door asking for food. Brigid had no bread, only butter. She was hesitant at first to help the woman, but she remembered the words of Bishop Patrick. She gave the woman the only food she had (the butter) and after Brigid thanked God for the opportunity to help the woman, God blessed her with twice as much butter as she had sacrificed. This is a sweet story that shows children that you should joyfully help others. Like its companion book, Patrick and the Fire, it too includes a prayer to Saint Brigid and a brief biography on this saint.

These books were provided to me for free by Pauline Books and Media in exchange for an honest review.

The World of Saint Patrick (Oxford University Press)

March 17th is quickly approaching. Even the secular world knows this to be St. Patrick's Day. However, their associations with the day are grossly misinformed. They think of leprechauns, pots of gold, shamrock shakes, and green beer with an excuse to get drunk for no good reason. What they don't realize is that March 17th is actually the day he died. He used the shamrock to help simplify the mystery of the Trinity. He also banished all the "snakes" from Ireland. These probably weren't real snakes, but the serpent symbolism of the Druids. If you would like to learn more about St. Patrick, I recommend you read writings about him, by him, and about other saints from Ireland. Oxford University Press has compiled a nice collection in their recent book The World of Saint Patrick. Within this book, the following texts are included:

• Saint Patrick's Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus
• Saint Patrick's Confession
• The First Synod of Saint Patrick
• The Hymn of Saint Secundinus
• Saint Patrick's Breastplate
• Muirchu's Life of Saint Patrick
• The Life of Saint Brigid
• The Voyage of Saint Brendan

Each of these three other saints - Secundinus, Brigid, and Brendan were people who lived in the century following St. Patrick's death. I am familiar with Saint Patrick's Confession and Saint Patrick's Breastplate, but the other texts were new to me. In both his Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus, we see St. Patrick's humility, as he starts both works with an introduction of who he is. His first description for himself in both works is a sinner. The Life of Saint Patrick and The Life of Saint Brigid were both insightful and gave us key info on their lives, as well as some of the legends associated with them. In both tales, we also get brief descriptions of some of the miracles that both St. Patrick and St. Brigid performed.

The Voyage of Saint Brendan was the most enjoyable selection for me. For starters, I had never heard of Saint Brendan before, and it's always fascinating to learn about new saints. Like many tales of early saints, people can try to read too much into them and take tradition to be history as we know it, meaning actual facts and dates. Those who try to draw the conclusion that Saint Brendan and his companions made it to the Americas would be reaching for something that might not have happened. Instead, one should read this tale as a spiritual journey. Saint Brendan and his fellow monks were searching for their "desert" like the monks and spiritual fathers in Egypt had. The account of them encountering Judas while sailing was a mixture of interesting and puzzling. I read it several times, and I have to wonder both the significance and spiritual lesson one takes from it.

So if you are an Irish-American Catholic, a Catholic with a love for Irish saints, or just someone who enjoys reading older texts about saints, I highly recommend this book for you.

This book was provided to me for free by Oxford University Press in exchange for an honest review. If you found this review helpful, please click here and hit Yes!