432 years after Jesus Christ was born, St. Patrick arrived on the island of Ireland to bring the message of the Gospel to a lost people. St Patrick was born in Wales in 387 CE approximately. He was originally a pagan, not a Christian. Although his father was a deacon, Patrick was not a believer.
"I did not, indeed, know the true God".
In his teens, Patrick was captured by a gang of Irish pirates and taken as a slave to Ireland. Patrick came to believe that this was a punishment for his lack of faith. He was put to work for six years herding sheep and pigs on Slemish Mountain in County at age 16.
"I used to stay out in the forests and on the mountain and I would wake up before daylight to pray in the snow, in icy coldness, in rain, and I used to feel neither ill nor any slothfulness, because, as I now see, the Spirit was burning in me at that time."
In an escape bid (while he was a captive in Ireland), Patrick stowed away on a boat bound for Britain, and it landed not far from where his parents lived.
Patrick decided to follow his vocation to become a priest, and after a dream he was inspired to return to Ireland.
"I seemed to hear the voice of those who were beside the forest of Foclut which is near the western sea, and they were crying as if with one voice: 'We beg you, holy youth, that you shall come and shall walk again among us."
Patrick spent several years studying before he felt ready to take up the life of a missionary.
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Patrick eventually returned to Ireland around 432 CE, as the country's second bishop and brought the message of Christ to many people who had never heard it. It is believed that he used the traditional Shamrock plant to explain the trinity. The three leaves represent the Father, Son, and the Holy Spirit; all connected by the same stem. He also created what we call now the Celtic Cross. As a missionary Patrick baptized many thousands of people. It was not an easy task. Patrick tells how his life was at risk, and how the local pagan chiefs sometimes imprisoned him. We know that Patrick sometimes made things easier by giving gifts to the chiefs. Poignantly, Patrick also writes of his longing to leave Ireland.
"How I would have loved to go to my country and my parents, and also to Gaul in order to visit the brethren and to see the face of the saints of my Lord! God knows it! That I much desired it; but I am bound by the Spirit"
But he knew his duty, and remained in Ireland. Patrick had problems not only with himself, and the local pagans, but suffered from some backbiting by fellow clergy who accused him of seeking to win personal status. The claim nearly broke his heart, but anyone who reads his "Confessio" will soon realize that Patrick was the last person to think that he deserved any glory for himself.
"I ought unceasingly to give thanks to God who often pardoned my folly and my carelessness, and on more than one occasion spared His great wrath on me, who was chosen to be His helper and who was slow to do as was shown me and as the Spirit suggested."
Patrick believed that when "every nation" had heard the gospel, Christ would then return, and it seems he believed that he was the person to bring this message of Christianity to the land that represented this "final hurdle" of God’s plan. In Ireland, probably towards the end of his life, Bishop Patrick wrote about his life and work in the "Confessio".
He begins:
"I am the sinner Patrick. I am the most unsophisticated of people, the least of Christians, and for many people I am the most contemptible. . .
I was taken into captivity in Ireland - at that time I was ignorant of the true God - along with many thousand others.
This was our punishment for departing from God, abandoning his commandments, and ignoring our priests who kept on warning us about our salvation. . . "
St Patrick's value doesn't really come from the historical details, but from the inspiration of a man who returned to the country where he had been a child slave, in order to bring the message of Christ.
(From the BBC)
