A New Edition of The Tripartite Life of St Patrick

Just in time for the feast of St Patrick next Tuesday, we are very glad to share this announcement from Mr Phillip Campbell and Cruachan Hill Press.

Some of the most popular publishing projects I’ve been involved with over the last several years have been my reprints of the lives of St. Brigid of Kildare and St. Columba of Iona, two of the best-known saints of Ireland’s golden age. I have been pleasantly surprised by the enthusiastic reception these works have elicited, which testifies to the growing interest among Catholics in rediscovering the vast heritage of Catholic Ireland. I am therefore very happy to announce, after two years of labor, the addition of a third title to the collection: The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick and Other Works (Cruachan Hill Press, 2026).

Composed between the 8th and 11th centuries, The Tripartite Life of St. Patrick is the most popular biography of the great founder of the Irish church. Originally written in both Gaelic and Latin, it was meant to be read in three parts over the three successive days of Patrick’s festival. It is from this text that we get many of the most notable stories of his life: his contest with the druids of King Laoghaire at Tara, the establishment of his church at Armagh, his miraculous escape from his persecutors under the guise of a deer, and his famed Lent on Cruachan-Aighle, where he won the extraordinary grace of judging the Irish himself on the Judgment Day. Whatever Patrick story you’re thinking of, chances are it can be found in the Tripartite Life. This is, therefore, an indispensable resource for anyone who loves the great patron saint of Eíre.

But that’s not all! I have also included both of Patrick’s known works, his Confession and Epistle to Coroticus in their entirety, along with the earliest hagiography on the saint, The Metrical Life of St Patrick by St. Fiacc. You may not be familiar with Fiacc, but he is one of the most important eyewitnesses to Patrick’s life and ministry. As the son of the Chief Bard of Ireland and himself a druid in the service of King Laoghaire, Fiacc witnessed Patrick’s showdown with the druids firsthand and became one of the saint’s earliest converts. Written in old Irish, the Metrical Life is arranged in quatrains of thirty-four stanzas. A good deal of the poem reiterates material from the Confession, but we also see the introduction of other episodes that would go on to become integral to Patrick’s hagiographical tradition, like Brittany as the place where Patrick fled to after escaping slavery, and his schooling with St. Germanus of Auxerre.

The Confession and Epistle to Coroticus are the versions found in The Most Ancient Lives of St. Patrick, edited by Fr. James O’Leary and published in New York in 1904. St. Fiacc’s Metrical Life is an original translation from the Old Irish made by Fr. O’Leary. The Tripartite Life is given in the translation by Whitley Stokes (1830–1909), a renowned Victorian-era Irish lawyer, scholar and antiquarian. The whole book is 176 pages, 6 x 9 paperback.

Now perhaps the reader is thinking, “A quick Amazon search reveals several other editions of The Tripartite Life, as well as these other works. Why should I choose this one?”

For one thing, this work is not a cheap OCR reprint like most of the schlocky editions floating around on Amazon. This is a completely original edition, lovingly worked through line by line, chapter by chapter, with the help of a whole team of people. Phrases left in Latin by Whitley Stokes have been translated, and some of the Victorian grammar has been cleaned up for ease of reading. So you’re getting a lot better product for your money than you would with some crummy OCR scan.

Furthermore, there is substantial original content in this edition you won’t find anywhere else, most notably a 26-page introductory essay covering Patrick’s life and legacy, with a discussion of the various source texts and historical background. In addition, the text has been enriched with a generous number of explanatory endnotes, elaborating on the history, geography, and etymology of the names and places mentioned in the text.

Finally, another reason to consider this edition is because there are two different ways you can save when you do! From now through the end of Easter week, you can get 15% off if you purchase from the Cruachan Hill webpage using the promo code PATRICK15 at checkout. Alternately, if you want to bundle The Tripartite Life with the lives of Brigid and Columba, you can choose the Irish Saints Collection and get all three books at a generously discounted price.

We also have two other texts that readers with an interest in Catholic Ireland may want to take note of: The St. John Ogilvie Prayer Book, a prayer book in the Gaelic tradition with an original introduction by His Excellency Athanasius Schneider, and The Saga of Ireland: A Concise History of the Emerald Isle by Phillip Campbell (me), a 480-page history of Ireland peppered with historical fiction vignettes, laid out beautifully by Michael Schrauzer and illustrated by the lovely artwork of Chris Lewis of Baritus, which you can see below.

I have always been deeply moved by the story of St. Patrick. That one man can accomplish so much in God’s service is truly an enduring testament to the mighty works that grace is capable of affecting in a willing soul. I am sure that you, too, will be both edified and educated by this new edition of Patrick’s best-known and beloved vitae. May St. Patrick bless this humble work, and may all the saints of Erin remember us before the throne of God.