A reflection for St. Patrick's day

March 17th, is the feast day of St. Patrick, a saint who is celebrated widely not just in Ireland but in many other countries around the world. It is a day of celebration that is marked by parades, bands, music, costumes, green lights, and alcohol. Yet behind all these celebrations is the story of an ordinary man who faced an extraordinary mission: to bring the Christian faith to the pagan Irish almost sixteen centuries ago. The outcome was one of the most notable success stories of the early Church, one that resulted not only in the Irish being converted to the faith, but them becoming missionaries of the faith themselves.  

Patrick composed at least the two short works which still survive. These are known as his Confessio or Confession and His Letter to Coroticus. These are the oldest texts, in any language, written in Ireland that have survived. Patrick is the only individual from ancient Roman Britain that we truly get to know, simply on account of his authorship of these works. Secondly, he is the only citizen of the late Roman Empire to have been taken prisoner by raiders and sold into slavery, who lived to tell his story.

From his Confession we know that Patrick was born and raised somewhere in Britain. We know he was captured as a slave at 16yrs old and he spent six years as a captive in Ireland. He escaped and returned to the land of his birth. He then returned to Ireland and preached the Gospel for around 30yrs until his death in AD 461.

During the 6 years as a slave Patrick learned the language of the Irish people and was sensitive to the culture. Patrick got to know Irish ways and grew to love the Irish people. This was obviously indispensible to his missionary efforts. He did not ride in on a white horse as an outsider bringing a foreign salvation; he came to the Irish as one who had spent the time becoming one of them. His ministry was marked by evangelizing, preaching and teaching. It is thought that thousands of Irish came to faith in Christ.  Patrick’s evangelistic results were solidified and established through his own work and the people that followed him.

History testifies that Patrick’s efforts began a chain of events that not only led to the Christianization of Ireland but to the arrival of Irish missionaries into mainland Europe. Missionaries including the monastic saints Columbanus (c. 540-615) and Malachy (1094-1148) who brought key elements of Christian faith that promoted ecclesial and social unity, which were absorbed by cultures in a way that fostered education, virtue, and basic human rights. This was the legacy of these Irish men and women of courage, and it originated with Patrick, their father in faith. For this reason, St. Patrick is celebrated not just by the Irish but by churches around the world, who thank God for the gift of faith received by their Irish ancestors, who brought the faith to other cultures and peoples after the example of Patrick himself. What the story of Patrick teaches us with renewed force and effect is simply that Christian mission matters. On his feast day, we remember Saint Patrick and give thanks for what God achieved through him. May we never doubt the wonders God continues to do in our own day through men and women who share Patrick’s passion.

Dr. Miriam A Kelly

Tutor

Irish Church History