336 Patrick Plebeians usually lived in apartment homes called insulae These homes were usually built of wood and were extremely susceptible to fire since running water was not available As the insulae were without kitchens, families would purchase meals consisting of coarse bread, bean or pea soup, porridge, and, if the family saved enough, chicken or rabbit once a month Plebeians lived in very unsanitary conditions: Two families often shared oneroom apartments, and chamber pots were often emptied out into the street below There were very few ways for a plebeian to advance socially The first was to save enough sesterces to become an equestrian Another way to advance was to be adopted by a patrician family Plebeians could earn equestrian titles by achieving any of the three highest military awards: Coronae Graminea, Civica, or Aurea The final opportunity for social advancement was in politics Plebeians could seek election as a tribune of the plebs He was elected by the Assembly of the Citizens and was the only plebeian allowed to participate in Senate meetings After a six-month term, tribunes automatically became a member of the Senate and the equestrian order Roman social and political classes provided the world with new concepts of citizenship These concepts included placing limitations on the upper class as well as opportunities for the lower classes to advance themselves They revolutionized the way the Western world looked at society See also government Rome: buildings, engineers; Rome: Further reading: Guy, John Roman Life New York: Scholastic, 1998; Simpson, J., et al Ancient Rome Alexandria, VA: Time-Life Books, 1997 George Derr Patrick (c 390–461 c.e.) Christian leader The folklore surrounding St Patrick is bigger than life, out of proportion to the modest historical information we have But it is not so outlandish in comparison to the impact he had on Ireland Patrick began his mission precisely at the time that Celtic spirituality was coming out of the shadows of the Roman Empire and the Western Latin Church Patrick was born in Britain as Roman imperial order waned He was kidnapped by Irish pirates at the age of 15 and sent to Ireland as a slave for six years Most likely during this period Patrick devel- oped a rapport with his captors and learned their native Gaelic language Though he was born into a Christian and Romanized family, he was not particularly religious until his imprisonment He began to pray and had some kind of religious experience, an assurance that he would be delivered He was converted in Ireland He escaped from his captors, returned to his homeland, and began studies for the priesthood It is not certain where he did his studies, but he might have traveled to Gaul where he read and wrote in Latin and learned the particulars of the monastic life There he had another religious experience, a dream, which confirmed for him that he was to return to Ireland as a missionary Perhaps as early as 432 c.e the pope commissioned Patrick as bishop to spread Christianity among the Irish people He resolutely set off for this remote and dangerous island, never to return to the Romanized world He probably worked in the northern parts of the island, leaving the south, where there were pockets of Christianity, to the first bishop of Ireland, Palladius He spent his time consulting and conciliating among local Irish chieftains, educating their sons, preaching among the Celtic peoples, and eventually institutionalizing the Irish church through native ordinations and the establishment of monasteries For more than 30 years his work was difficult and exhausting He was not as inclined to scholarship and writing as he was to hard work and prayer Thus, he left behind only two compositions: Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus, a piece that criticizes the British military authorities for their harsh treatment of Celtic Christians, and Confession, an autobiographical apologia for his life and mission The popular stories of miracles involving snakes and shamrocks are the stuff of medieval legends His writings mentioned above show that Patrick was a devoted and prayerful pastor of his Irish flock, yet conscious of the need to submit to the mainline Latin Church His creeds and doctrines were most likely quite conventional Nonetheless, he also allowed for the indigenous church to develop its own monastic forms, and Irish abbots and monasteries soon assumed their dominant position that typified Celtic spirituality The Western Church celebrates his feast day on March 17 See also Brendan the Navigator; Celts; monasticism Further reading: Bieler, Ludwig, and Richard Sharpe, eds Studies on the Life and Legend of St Patrick London: Ashgate Publishing, 1985; Freeman, Philip St Patrick of Ireland New York: Simon and Schuster, 2005 Mark F Whitters