Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick (386–March 17, 493 Anno Domini, was a missionary. He is regarded as as the patron saint of Ireland and the patron saint of Nigeria. Nigeria was evangelized primarily by Irish missionariesandpriests from Saint Patrick's Missionary Society known as the Kiltegan Missionaries. His full Christian name is Patrick Frances Carninal Moran.

Early Life

He was thought to have been born somewhere along the west coast of Britain in the little village of Bannavem of Taburnia, named vico banavem taburniae in his Confessio. This town has never been identified with certainty as his birthplace. Kilpatrick Scotland, is thought to be his birthplace according the the catholic annuls. Some of the other suggested sites include Dumbarton, Furness[1] and Somerset. Patricks parents were Calphurnius and Conchessa of high Roman descent. They held the office of decerio in Britain or Gaul. When Patrick was only sixteen years old he was swept away by Irish marauders along with thousands of other people. They were sold as slaves. Patrick was sold to an especially cruel master who was a druid priest by the name of Milchu. His captivity lasted for six years and though harsh, it availed Patrick the mastery of the Celtic culture and language. It was there on the hillsides and woodlands of Ballymena, there where Patrick tended sheep, that he formed a profound relationship with God.

Religious Pursuits

One day an angel appeared to him and admonished him telling him he should leave the druids place of servitude. In obedience to the admonition, he escaped and travelled for about 200 miles to Westport, a city along the coast. There he boarded a ship back to Britain. Although he was back with friends, his heart was in service to God. His religious life led him to Auxerre, France, where he was later appointed by Saint Germaine into the Priesthood. Patrick studied under St. Germaine for eighteen years.

There was always a yearning in Patrick to return to Ireland. This desire was furthered when St. Germaine asked him to be a missionary to Ireland. In the summer of 433 Patrick and his companions arrived at the mouth of Vantry River in hostile Irish territory. Patrick visited Ballymena where he had been a slave. He sent word to Milchu that in pavement for his servitude and cruelity he was to receive the Blessing and freedom of God's children. But, when Milchu learned of the Irish aposltes coming, he set himslef and his mansion on fire and was destroyed. Patrick gained a reptution of performing miracles, signs and wonders. Benen the son of Secsme, a druid chieftan, so loved Patrick that while he slept he showered him with sweet scented flowers, joined with Patrick in the work of converting Irishmen to Christianity. Later Benen became Patrick's succussor.

Patrick was noted to have gone to the summit of Eagle Mountain which has an elevation of 4,000 feet to fast and pray for forty days. Patrick pious life style awarded his the status of a martyr. He was noted for his meekness and humility. Many of his convertees wanted to give gifts to him but he always returned them. Even his clothing a ,which was a loin cloth made of goats hair was his main attire. He just wanted to bring the truth and the blessing to the Irish people whom he loved and believed that God loved.

This is recorded in Patrick's autobiography Confessio.

Early life

Britain at this time (407-410) was undergoing turmoil following the withdrawal of Roman troops and Roman central authority. Having been under the Roman cloak for over 350 years, the Romano-British were having to look after themselves. Populations were on the move on the European continent, and the recently converted British Christians were being colonised by pagan Anglo-Saxons.

Mission

His first converted patron was Saint Dichu. Dichu was a druidian priest who raised his sword to kill the missionary Patrick. His arm became stiff as a board. From this experience Dichu was converted to Christianity. He made a gift of a large sabhall(barn) for a church sanctuary. This first sanctuary dedicated by St Patrick became, in later years, his chosen retreat. A monastery and church were erected there, and there Patrick died; the site, Saul County Down, retains the name Sabhall (pronounced "Sowel").

Patrick set up his Episcopal see at Armagh and organized the church into territorial sees, as elsewhere in the West and East. While Patrick encouraged the Irish to become monks and nuns, it is not certain that he was a monk himself. It is even less likely that in his time the monastery became the principal unit of the Irish Church, although it was in later periods. The choice of Armagh may have been determined by the presence of a powerful king. There Patrick had a school and presumably a small familia in residence; from this base he made his missionary journeys. There seems to have been little contact with the Palladian Christianity of the southeast.

One famous story is told of the annual vernal fire lit by the High King of Ireland at Tara. All the fires were extinguished so they could be renewed from the sacred fire from Tara. Patrick lit a rival, miraculously inextinguishable Christian bonfire on the hill of Slane, at the opposite end of the valley. This season was associated with Easter by chroniclers who followed Patrick's own account in his Confessio.

Patrick was not the first Christian missionary to Ireland, as men such as Secundus and Palladius were active there before him. However, tradition accords him the most impact. a His missions seem to have been concentrated in the provinces of Ulster and Connaught, who had never before experienced Christianity. Patrick established the Church throughout Ireland on lasting foundations. He travelled throughout the country preaching, teaching, building churches, opening schools and monasteries,and converting chiefs and bards. Everywhere he went his preaching was supported with miracles. He also threw down the idol of Crom Cruach in Leitrim.

Patrick wrote that he expected on a daily basis, to be violently killed or enslaved again. His Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus protested British slave trading. He also protested the slaughter of Irish Christians by Coroticus's Welshmen. This is the first identified literature of the British or Celtic Catholic Church.[2]. Patrick gathered many followers, including Saint Benignus, who would become his successor. His chief concerns were the raising up of native clergy, and abolishing Paganism, idolatry, and Sun-worship. He made no distinction of classes in his preaching and was himself ready for imprisonment or death. He was the first writer to condemn all forms of slavery.

Pious legend credits Patrick with banishing snakes from the island, though post-glacial Ireland never actually had snakes [3]; One suggestion is that snakes referred to the serpent symbolism of the Druids of that time and place. One could find such symbol on coins minted in Gaul (see Carnutes). It could also have referred to beliefs such as Pelagianism, symbolized as "serpents." Legend also credits Patrick with teaching the Irish about the concept of the Trinity by showing them the shamrock, a three-leaved clover. Through this example, Patrick highlighted the Christian dogma of 'three divine persons in the one God' (as opposed to the Arian belief that was popular in Patrick's time).

In his use of Scripture and eschatological expectations, Patrick was typical of the 5th-century bishop. One of the traits which he retained as an old man was a consciousness of being an unlearned exile, a former slave and fugitive, who learned to trust God completely.

Death: a contentious date

Patrick died in AD 493 according to the latest reconstruction of the old Irish annals. Prior to the 1940s it was believed without doubt that he died in 461 and thus had lived in the first half of the 5th century. A lecture entitled "The Two Patricks", published in 1942 by T. F. O'Rahilly, caused enormous controversy by proposing that there had been two "Patricks", Palladius and Patrick, and that what we now know of St. Patrick was in fact in part a conscious effort to meld the two into one hagiographic personality. Decades of contention eventually ended with most historians now asserting that Patrick was indeed most likely to have been active in the mid-to-late 5th century.

The compiler of the Annals of Ulster stated that in the year 553:

• "I have found this in the Book of Cuanu: The relics of Patrick were placed sixty years after his death in a shrine by Colum Cille. Three splendid halidoms were found in the burial-place: his goblet, the Angel's Gospel, and the Bell of the Testament. This is how the angel distributed the halidoms: the goblet to Dún, the Bell of the Testament to Ard Macha, and the Angel's Gospel to Colum Cille himself. The reason it is called the Angel's Gospel is that Colum Cille received it from the hand of the angel."

The placement of this event under the year 553 would certainly seem to place Patrick's death in 493, or at least in the early years of that decade.

It is believed that March 17 was his death date (according to the Encyclopedia Britannica) and it is the date popularly associated with him as his feast, known as St. Patrick's Day.

For most of Christianity�s first 1,000 years, canonizations were done on the diocesan or regional level. Relatively soon after very holy people died, the local Church affirmed that they could be liturgically celebrated as saints. [4] For this reason, St. Patrick was never formally canonized by the Pope.

The cult of Patrick

Two of Patrick's biographers, Muirchú and Tírechán, are believed to have contributed to the cult of Patrick. They overemphasized Patrick's associations with the church of Armagh. This seemed to make their stronghold as the head church of Ireland more effective. They wrote Life and Times of Patrick and Memoir of Patrick in the late seventh century.

Orthodox Church

The Orthodox Church, especially English speaking orthodox Christians living in the British Isles as well as in North America, also venerate St. Patrick. There have even been icons dedicated to him[5]. All pre-schismatic saints, whether of East or West, are venerated equally.

St.Germaine recommended him to the Pope Celestine. Celestine gave him his name Patecius, Patritius. It became later pater civium (the father of his people).

See also

• Cathedral of Saint Patrick
• Saint Patrick Parish
• St. Patrick's Purgatory
• List of people on stamps of Ireland
• St. Patrick's Day

References

ISBN links support NWE through referral fees

• NewAdvent.org: St. Patrick
• Catholic.org: St. Patrick
• Saint Patrick Centre: Saint Patrick's Legacy
• MSN Encarta: Saint Patrick
• HistoryChannel.com: Who Was St. Patrick?
• IrishAbroad.com: Life and History of St. Patrick
• AmericanCatholic.org: The Real St. Patrick and Celtic Spirituality
• Slate.com: St. Patrick Revealed
• Saint Patrick in Orthodoxy

Further reading

• Confession of Saint Patrick, translated by John Skinner (Image 1998)
• How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill (Anchor 1996)

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