Today we celebrate the feast day of Saint Patrick, patron Saint of Ireland, Nigeria, and Engineers.
Patrick is the subject of many myths, but the reality is that we should recognize his two enduring traits: courage and humility. The life of God’s instrument for converting the majority of Ireland to Christianity is the resolve to accept both misery and prosperity with equal indifference.
Unknown facts surround his life. According to recent research, his birth and death dates happened a little later. Patrick could have been born in Cumberland, England, Dunbarton, Scotland, or northern Wales. Being a Roman and a Briton, he identified himself as. He was abducted by Irish invaders at the age of 16, along with many of his father’s vassals and slaves, and sold as slaves in Ireland. He endured severe cold and hunger due to working as a shepherd.
Patrick fled after six years, most likely to France, and at 22, came back to Britain. His spiritual evolution had been a result of captivity. He may have attended school in Lerins, an island off the coast of France; he lived for many years in Auxerre, France, and became a bishop at 43. His top priority was to tell the Irish the excellent news.
He had a dream: “all the children of Ireland were stretching out their hands from their mother’s wombs” to him. He took the vision as a summons for missionary activity in heathen Ireland. He was assigned to complete the work despite criticism from others who thought his education had been subpar. He traveled to the west and north, where no one had ever preached the gospel, won the support of the regional kings, and won many followers.
Patrick urged young women to dedicate their virginity to Christ and widows to remain chaste due to the island’s pagan history. He established many monasteries, called Church councils, consecrated many priests, divided the nation into dioceses, and encouraged his people to greater holiness in Christ.
He encountered a lot of resistance from druids who practiced pagan religions and received criticism for his methods in both England and Ireland. The island had quickly become significantly influenced by Christianity and was ready to send forth missionaries, whose work was crucial in the conversion of Europe.
Patrick had no interest in learning and was a man of action. He had unwavering faith in his calling and the cause he had championed. His Confessio, which is primarily an act of devotion to God for having called Patrick, an unworthy sinner, to the apostolate, is one of the few unquestionably authentic texts.
The fact that his last resting place is said to be in County Down in Northern Ireland, a region long marred by conflict and violence, offers hope rather than irony.
Source: franciscanmedia.org