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Way of Introduction
 Saint
Patrick is perhaps the best known male saint of the Western world. All
over the world you will find parishes and schools named after him. St
Patrick
statues are found everywhere. Many cities throughout the world host St
Patrick Day processions down their main streets: the St Patrick Day
procession
in New York is the best known. But Irish communities around the world
and
those who wish they were Irish, get together in city parks and
celebrate
the great saint's spirit and how he has played a major role in
inspiring
the world with the Christian message.
On
February 2nd, 1808, when Bishop Daniel Delany formally declared Saint
Patrick
to be the patron saint of the four men who were dedicating their lives
to continue the mission of St Patrick as Brothers of Saint Patrick, he
bestowed upon them a great name and a great spiritual legacy. Like
Saint
Patrick and as declared in his great prayer The Breastplate,
the
Brothers strive to see Christ in his creation and in the people to whom
they have committed their lives.
There
are many books and several film documentaries on Saint Patrick: Who was
he? Where did he come from? What did he actually achieve in Ireland?
Was
there one Saint Patrick or two? Did he actually exist? Was Saint
Patrick
a Catholic??? The types of questions can be surprising but not the fact
that there are all types of questions: Patrick lived over 1500 years
ago
in a land which was then primitive and illiterate. The story of Patrick
is very certainly hidden in a light Irish mist.
The
following information ofn the life of Saint Patrick has been taken from
the internet at the address http://users.erols.com/saintpat/ss/0317patr.htm
Dates
and Prayers
Feast
Day: March 17
Born
in Scotland, c. 385-390; died in Ireland c. 461.
The
Breastplate of Saint Patrick
(version
used by the Patrician Brothers)
Christ
with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me.
Christ
beneath me, Christ above me, Christ at my right hand, Christ on my
left.
Christ
where I lie, Christ where I sit, Christ where I arise.
Christ
in the heart of everyone
who
thinks of me.
Christ
in the mouth of everyone
who
speaks to me.
Christ
in every eye that sees me.
Christ
in every ear that hears me.
St.
Patrick's Prayer
This
day I call to me:
God's
strength to direct me,
God's
power to sustain me,
God's
wisdom to guide me,
God's
vision to light me,
God's
ear to my hearing,
God's
word to my speaking,
God's
hand to uphold me,
God's
pathway before me,
God's
shield to protect me,
God's
legions to save me.
Patrick
the Slave
It
is unclear exactly where Patricius Magonus Sucatus (Patrick) was
born--somewhere
in the west between the mouth of the Severn and the Clyde--but this
most
popular Irish saint was probably born in Scotland of British origin,
perhaps
in a village called Bannavem Taberniae. (Other possibilities are in
Gaul
or at Kilpatrick near Dunbarton, Scotland.) His father, Calpurnius, was
a deacon and a civil official, and his grandfather was a priest.
About
405, when Patrick was in his teens (14-16), he was captured by Irish
raiders
and became a slave in Ireland. There in Ballymena (or Slemish) in
Antrim
(or Mayo), Patrick first learned to pray intensely while tending his
master's
sheep. After six years, he was told in a dream that he should be ready
for a courageous effort that would take him back to his homeland.
He
ran away from his owner and travelled 200 miles to the coast. His
initial
request for free passage on a ship was turned down, but he prayed, and
the sailors called him back. The ship on which he escaped was taking
dogs
to Gaul (France). At some point he returned to his family in Britain,
then
seems to have studied at the monastery of Lerins from 412 to 415.
Called
to Ireland
He
received some kind of training for the priesthood in either Britain or
Gaul, possibly in Auxerre, including study of the Latin Bible, but his
learning was not of a high standard, and he was to regret this always.
He spent the next 15 years at Auxerre were he became a disciple of
Saint
Germanus of Auxerre and was possibly ordained about 417.
It
is said that in visions he heard voices in the wood of Focult (Focault)
or that he dreamed of Ireland and determined to return to the land of
his
slavery as a missionary. In that dream or vision he heard a cry from
many
people together and he read a writing in which this cry was name 'the
voice
of the Irish.'
In
his Confessio Patrick writes: "It was not my grace, but God who
overcometh
in me, so that I came to the heathen Irish to preach the Gospel . . .
to
a people newly come to belief which the Lord took from the ends of the
earth." St. Germanus consecrated him bishop about 432, and sent him to
Ireland to succeed Saint Palladius, the first bishop, who had died
earlier
that year.
Spreading
Christianity
There
is no reliable account of his work in Ireland, where he had been a
captive.
Legends include the stories that he drove snakes from Ireland, and that
he described the Trinity by referring to the shamrock, and that he
singlehandedly--an
impossible task--converted Ireland. Nevertheless, St. Patrick
established
the Catholic Church throughout Ireland on lasting foundations: he
travelled
throughout the country preaching, teaching, building churches, opening
schools and monasteries, converting chiefs and bards, and everywhere
supporting
his preaching with miracles.
At
Tara in Meath he is said to have confronted King Laoghaire on Easter
Eve
with the Christian Gospel, kindled the light of the paschal fire on the
hill of Slane, confounded the Druids into silence, and gained a hearing
for himself as a man of power. He converted the king's daughters (a
tale
I've recounted under their entry). He threw down the idol of Crom
Cruach
in Leitrim.
Patrick
wrote that he daily expected to be violently killed or enslaved again.
He
gathered many followers, including Benignus, who would become his
successor.
That was one of his chief concerns, as it always is for the missionary
Church: the raising up of native clergy. He wrote: "It was most
needful
that we should spread our nets, so that a great multitude and a throng
should be taken for God.. . . Most needful that everywhere there should
be clergy to baptize and exhort a people poor and needy, as the Lord in
the Gospel warns and teaches, saying: Go ye therefore now, and teach
all
nations. And again: Go ye therefore into the whole world and preach the
Gospel to every creature. And again: This Gospel of the Kingdom shall
be
preached in the whole world for a testimony to all nations."
There
was some contact with the pope. He visited Rome in 442 and 444. As the
first real organizer of the Irish Church, Patrick is called the Apostle
of Ireland. According to the Annals of Ulster, the Cathedral Church of
Armagh was founded in 444, and the see became a center of education and
administration. Patrick organized the Church into territorial sees,
raised
the standard of scholarship (encouraging the teaching of Latin), and
worked
to bring Ireland into a closer relationship with the Western Church.
Patrick's
Writings
His
writings show what solid doctrine he must have taught his listeners.
His
Confessio (his autobiography, perhaps written as an apology against his
detractors), the Lorica (or Breastplate), and the "Letter to the
Soldiers
of Coroticus," protesting British slave trading and the slaughter of a
group of Irish Christians by Coroticus's raiding Christian Welshmen,
are
the first surely identified literature of the British Church.
What
stands out in his writings is Patrick's sense of being called by God to
the work he had undertaken, and his determination and modesty in
carrying
it out: "I, Patrick, a sinner, am the most ignorant and of least
account
among the faithful, despised by many. . . . I owe it to God's grace
that
so many people should through me be born again to him."
Stories
and Symbols
 Towards
the end of his life, Patrick made that 'retreat' of forty days on
Cruachan
Aigli in Mayo from which the age-long Croagh Patrick pilgrimage derives.
Patrick
may have died at Saul on Strangford Lough, Downpatrick, where he had
built
his first church. Glastonbury claims his alleged relics (Attwater,
Benedictines,
Bentley, Bieler, Bury, Delaney, Encyclopedia, MacNeill, White).
We
are told that often Patrick baptized hundreds on a single day. He would
come to a place, a crowd would gather, and when he told them about the
true God, the people would cry out from all sides that they wanted to
become
Christians. Then they would move to the nearest water to be baptized.
On
such a day Aengus, a prince of Munster, was baptized. When Patrick had
finished preaching, Aengus was longing with all his heart to become a
Christian.
The crowd surrounded the two because Aengus was such an important
person.
Patrick got out his book and began to look for the place of the
baptismal
rite but his crozier got in the way.
As
you know, the bishop's crozier often has a spike at the bottom end,
probably
to allow the bishop to set it into the ground to free his hands. So,
when
Patrick fumbled searching for the right spot in the book so that he
could
baptize Aengus, he
absent-mindedly
stuck his crosier into the ground just beside him--and accidentally
through
the foot of poor Aengus!
Patrick,
concentrating on the sacrament, never noticed what he had done and
proceeded
with the baptism. The prince never cried out, nor moaned; he simply
went
very white. Patrick poured water over his bowed head at the simple
words
of the rite.Then it was completed. Aengus was a Christian. Patrick
turned
to take up his crozier and was horrified to find that he had driven it
through the prince's foot!
"But
why didn't you say something? This is terrible. Your foot is bleeding
and
you'll be lame. . . ." Poor Patrick was very unhappy to have hurt
another.
Then
Aengus said in a low voice that he thought having a spike driven
through
his foot was part of the ceremony. He added something that must have
brought
joy to the whole court of heaven and blessings on Ireland:
"Christ,"
he said slowly, "shed His blood for me, and I am glad to suffer a
little
pain at baptism to be like Our Lord" (Curtayne).
 In
art, St. Patrick is represented as a bishop driving snakes before him
or
trampling upon them. At times he may be shown (1) preaching with a
serpent
around the foot of his pastoral staff; (2) holding a shamrock; (3) with
a fire before him; or (4) with a pen and book, devils at his feet, and
seraphim above him (Roeder, White). He is patron of Nigeria (which was
evangelized primarily by Irish clergy) and of Ireland and especially
venerated
at Lerins (Roeder, White).
Other
Sites
There
are many Saint Patrick sites on the internet. Type in Saint Patrick
and you will be presented with quite a directory. Here are just two
from
such a directory:
<>
St Patrick Prayer Services
Happy to
receive your St Patrick's prayer service so we can share it with
others. Just email to prayers@patricianbrothers.com
it can be either in 'doc' format or as a pdf. We will acknowledge your
contribution.
We also have a PowerPoint and a DVD presentation based on the
Breastplate. This uses the Shaun Davey musical version of "The Deers
Cry" which contains the Breastplate. Let us know on the email address
above if you are interested.
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