Everything Everyone Should Know About St. Patrick

The First Christian Missionaries

Contrary to popular belief, St. Patrick was not the first Christian missionary in Ireland, though he was certainly its most successful. Some evidence exists of missionaries traveling through Ireland by the late fourth century A.D., but they seemed to have enjoyed little success. The best-known missionary before Patrick was Palladius, sent by Pope Celestine in 431 A.D. to minister to “the Irish who believe in Christ.” Many scholars believe that at least some of the deeds and accomplishments later attributed to Patrick were more likely those of Palladius (some contend that Patrick and Palladius were one in the same). There were others as well, Auxilius and Iserninus worked in the south of Ireland while Secondinas preached in the north and east.

St. Patrick
St. Patrick, or Patricius as he was known in Latin, is the patron saint of Ireland. He is traditionally credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland, though it is more accurate to say that he was the leading figure among many missionaries engaged in that task.
No one knows for certain where Patrick was born, but based on his own account, it was most likely in southwestern Britain. In recent years many people have expressed delight in the “irony” that Ireland’s patron saint was actually “English.” The problem, of course, is that no one in the 5th century was what we would call “English.” Rather, the people living in present-day England were Romanized Celts, or Britons. Patrick was thus a Celtic Briton who went by the name of Succat. Patrick’s father was a low-level Roman official and a deacon. Patrick’s grandfather had been a priest.

St. Patrick’s Calling
At age sixteen, Patrick was captured by Irish raiders under the command of Niall of the Nine Hostages and taken to Ireland as a slave. For the next six years he labored tending sheep and pigs for one Miliucc near Mount Slemish in Antrim. Life as a herdsman was rough. Patrick barely survived, poorly clothed and without protection from the elements and frequently near starvation. He sought consolation in constant prayer. Finally, his prayers were answered by a mysterious voice that said “Your hungers are rewarded: you are going home.” Miraculously, he walked unharmed two hundred miles to the Wexford coast. There he managed to stowaway aboard a ship transporting Irish wolfhounds to the continent. After reuniting with his family in Britain, he experienced a vision in which he was handed a letter inscribed with the words vox hiberionacum, or Voice of the Irish, and heard people calling him “come and walk among us once more.”
It was not long before Patrick headed for Gaul to study for the priesthood. He was ordained about the year 430 A.D. and, haunted as he was by his years of captivity there, Patrick headed for Ireland.

St. Patrick’s Mission
Patrick began his mission in Ireland sometime about 432 A.D., possibly as successor to Palladius, first bishop of Ireland. Although Christian missionaries had arrived before him, the Irish remained a pagan people. Patrick faced enormous dangers from local chieftains and bands of marauders, but especially from the druid priests who correctly perceived him as a threat to their authority. “[E]very day,” he wrote, “I am ready to be murdered, betrayed, enslaved.”
Patrick concentrated his missionary efforts in the west and north of Ireland. He converted countless thousands during his mission and established, according to tradition, bishops throughout north, east and western Ireland (everywhere, it seems, but Munster). Patrick, as primatial bishop, established his see at Ard Macha (present-day Armagh), symbolically a stone’s throw from the seat of Ulster kings at Emain Macha.
When he died ca. 461 A..D. much of Ireland had been exposed to the teachings of Christianity. The process of conversion, however, took time and as late as the seventh century groups of non-Christian Irish continued to resist.

St. Patrick’s Lorica
One of the most important works attributed to Patrick is his prayer called “St. Patrick’s Lorica” for its alleged power to protect him from harm. It reads in part:
I arise today
Through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun,
Radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind,
Depth of sea,
Stability of earth,
Firmness of rock.

I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me:
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to save me
From snares of devils,
From temptations and vices,
From everyone who shall wish me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone and in multitude.

[NOTE: source of translation: Thomas Cahill]
Some scholars note that the language is more seventh century than fifth and therefore question whether or not Patrick himself wrote the prayer. “On the other hand,” as Thomas Cahill writes in his classic, How the Irish Saved Civilization, “it is Patrician to its core, the first ringing assertion that the universe itself is the Great Sacrament, magically designed by its loving creator to bless and succor human beings. … If Patrick did not write it (at least in its current form) it surely takes its inspiration from him.”

St. Patrick’s Legends
Of the many legends associated with St. Patrick, two stand out. First, it is said that he drove the snakes out of Ireland. The problem with this story is that Ireland never had any snakes to drive away. Separated from England (where snakes of all sorts abound) and the Continent thousands of years ago, Ireland emerged from the Ice Age snake-free. If St. Patrick were alive today, of course, he would have his spokesperson come forward to offer a slightly modified legend which stretched but did not break the limits of belief: “Since Patrick’s arrival in Ireland no snakes have been sighted.”
A second and more plausible legend is that he used the shamrock to explain the mystery of the Trinity (by comparing the three leaves with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit). The legend is unverifiable, since Patrick doesn’t mention it in his writings. Some have suggested it derives from an earlier Celtic tradition of using the shamrock as a metaphor representing a “trust in your soul,” “belief in your heart” and “faith in your mind.” Some missionary, if not Patrick himself, very likely Christianized this concept. Few in Ireland seem troubled by these details, and the shamrock remains the Irish national symbol.

St. Patrick’s Legacy
Much of what we know about St. Patrick comes from his Confessio, a kind of spiritual autobiography. A unique mystical chant attributed to Patrick, called the Lorica, is preserved in the Liber Hymnorum, or Book of Hymns. A handbell that he is alleged to have used during Mass is on display in Ireland’s National Museum.
And, of course, every year, on March 17, St. Patrick is honored in Ireland and throughout the world. The date, according to tradition, corresponds to the day of his death (c. 493) at Saul, near Downpatrick in County Down. The style of celebration varies by country and even region. For centuries the people of Ireland marked the day as a solemn religious event, perhaps wearing green, sporting a shamrock, and attending mass, but little more. Certainly there was no massive parade like the ones found in American cities like Boston, New York and Chicago. These have the aura of proud pageantry about them, but sadly much of St. Patrick’s Day in America has been neither religious nor contemplative, but instead an excuse for excessive drinking. Fortunately, the revival of interest in Irish and Irish American culture has prompted parade organizers, church officials, and others to de-emphasize drinking and encourage more appropriate activities such as concerts and poetry readings.
Interestingly, as the American Irish move toward a more Irish form of celebrating March 17, the Irish in Ireland have begun to imitate their American cousins. St. Patrick’s Day parades now occur in most major Irish cities. Differences still remain. Parades in Ireland tend to be more like Mardi Gras pageants than the more formal and earnest shows of ethnic pride found in America.
A more somber remembrance of Patrick occurs every year in Ireland, on the last Sunday of July. Thousands of pilgrims ascend – some barefoot and others on bloodied knees — the nearly half-mile high mountain in the west of Ireland named Croagh Patrick. The devotional ceremony is in memory of the time in 441 when Patrick fasted there.

By Edward T. O’Donnell