|
Who was this man Patrick, and what were his great accomplishments
that so many should celebrate him more than 1500 years after he
left this earth? Like St. Nicholas, whose identity has been utterly
changed into that of a child's Christmas fantasy, the name of St.
Patrick is now more generally associated with parades, "Kiss
Me I'm Irish" buttons and green bagels than with the great
work of evangelization that was his life's work. But Patrick was,
as Nicholas, a real person
 Many
details about Patrick are lost to us, but there is agreement on
several key facts. Patrick was not Irish; he was born on the island
of Britain possibly to a Roman family in about the year 387 AD.
Raised in relative comfort, his name in Latin was Patricius. At
the age of 16 years, he was kidnapped by a party of marauding Irish
raiders, carried to Ireland, and sold into slavery. He was sent
by his Irish master to tend sheep on the misty hills of Ulster.
Miserable and alone, he turned increasingly to prayer. He served
this solitary exile for six years until in a dream God told him
to flee from his captivity. Walking a great distance to the coast,
he found the ship that would take him back to his family.
The
reunion with his family was only temporary. In another dream, he
described hearing a call from the people of Ireland to come back
to them and walk among them. Patrick understood this as God's call
to missionary service to go as a Christian witness to the Irish.
In answer to that call, he traveled to France where he undertook
studies for the priesthood. He was eventually ordained by St. Germanus,
the Bishop of Auxerre.
Pope
Celestine I eventually entrusted to Patrick the mission of evangelizing
the Irish, who, on their isolated island, were a pagan and warlike
people having never been conquered by the legions of Rome. Fulfilling
his youthful dream, Patrick, now a bishop in the company of several
disciples, returned to Ireland in March of the year 433 AD. He was
almost 50 years old.
 Thomas
Cahill, author of "How the Irish Saved Civilization,"
points out that one of the most remarkable things about St. Patrick's
evangelization of Ireland is that it was peaceful. Christianity
had come to many other nations in Europe at the point of a sword,
only in the bloody aftermath of Roman conquest.
Another
of Cahill's observations is that this universal conversion fortuitously
came just in time for Christian Ireland to become the repository
for almost 200 years of the culture and civilization of Christian
Europe, which at that very time was falling into the shadows of
barbarian invasion. In due course, Christian missionaries came out
of Ireland bringing back to Europe that which had lain beyond the
reach of the invaders who had destroyed the Roman Empire. It is
not by accident that Ireland has been called the Isle of Saints
and Scholars.
From
the days of St. Patrick, who died on March 17, 461, down to the
present, the Irish have been steadfast in their Christian faith.
As a nation, they have suffered much through the centuries. Perhaps
the greatest sorrow is that so many have been forced to wander far
from the island to which Patrick came to bring them spiritual life.
It is not surprising then that when the sons and daughters of Ireland
celebrate who they are they do so on the feast of their great spiritual
benefactor.
Click for a Printer Friendly Version
|
