The following is a brief summary of Patrick\u2019s life and my reflection, in part, of why St. Patrick is so dear to me.<\/p>\n
— Denise<\/p>\n
In a world where thousands of words and images litter the streets of our minds and hearts, where do we as humans start as we try to sift through it all? I always find myself right back at the familiar words, \u201cIn the beginning\u2026.\u201d I can think of no other source that is as life-giving as God\u2019s Love Letter to us. In my years of study, I still have not scratched the surface of the beauty and profound mystery of The Creator\u2019s words to His beloved creatures. Within those words, there is hope, joy and life that stand against the hopelessness, sorrow and the shadow of death we see and hear and feel incessantly advertised around us. There are far too many beautiful words in His letter to choose just a few, but if I had to choose, these words show forth the seeming paradox of the Most Powerful, Tender Being that exists. Psalm 62:11-12:<\/p>\n
God has spoken once, Twice I have heard this:<\/em> Daily we are given opportunities to witness the great power and the gentle love of The Creator. This is something<\/p>\n St. Patrick learned and lived.\u00a0 At the age of sixteen, he was seized by pirates, taken from his home and sold as a slave to Miliucc, for whom Patrick became a shepherd. Hunger and harshness were his primary companions for six years. But he found another companion. As a young man of comfort in Briton, Patrick admitted that he really didn\u2019t believe in God.\u00a0 As a slave in severity in the hills of Ireland, he found the spirit within himself awakened. He described God as being his very source of life to Whom he prayed 100 times through the desolate days, and 100 times again through the bleak night watches.<\/p>\n During one of those night watches, Patrick was urged in a dream to go out to a ship that would carry him home. He walked many miles to the sea, and found the ship as he had been told. He boarded the ship and sailed home. Patrick soon discovered that home was no longer home. He continued to find his only comfort in his Shepherd and applied himself to further know Him. Later, through another dream, Patrick was called to return to Ireland. This time he sailed to its shores willingly, embraced Ireland as his true home, loved its people fiercely, and revealed the passionate love of God to them. As he walked the Emerald Isle, he saw the power of God in creation and the compassion of God in redemption.\u00a0 In his Confessio<\/u> St. Patrick wrote, \u201cThat is why I must shout aloud in return to the Lord for such great good deeds of his, here and now and forever, which the human mind cannot measure\u201d (Confessio, 12 ).<\/p>\n Inspired by the courage of St. Patrick, a monk named Dallan Forgaill, who was losing his sight, wrote the Irish poem, \u201cRop t\u00fa mo Baile\u201d\u00a0which was translated by Mary Byrne in 1912, and became the song, Be Thou My Vision. These ancient words, first penned, or plumed, somewhere between the 6th<\/sup> and 8th<\/sup> centuries, run in my mind and spirit like a current throughout my days.<\/p>\n Be Thou my Vision, O Lord of my heart;<\/em> The essence of this presence, this light, is revealed in these words from Hebrews 1:3<\/p>\n He is the sole expression of the glory of God,<\/strong><\/p>\n the Light-being, the out-raying, the radiance of the divine, and<\/strong><\/p>\n He is the perfect imprint\u00a0and very image of God’s nature,<\/strong><\/p>\n upholding\u00a0and maintaining\u00a0and guiding\u00a0and<\/strong><\/p>\n propelling<\/strong><\/p>\n the universe<\/strong><\/p>\n by His mighty word of power.<\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n To misquote a well-worn meme, God is:<\/p>\n PHENOMENAL COSMIC POWER<\/p>\n in an<\/em><\/p>\n itty bitty living space.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n The following more detailed information is from the article:<\/p>\n Saint Patrick — “found Ireland all heathen and left it all Christian!” – American Minute with Bill Federer<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Patrick’s\u00a0British name at birth was Sucat, but his Latin name was\u00a0“Patricius,”\u00a0meaning “Nobleman.”<\/p>\n Rome\u00a0had to withdraw its\u00a0Legions\u00a0from other areas of the Empire, such as Britain, in order to place them along the\u00a0Roman border.<\/p>\n This left\u00a0Britain,\u00a0which had been a\u00a0Roman territory\u00a0since the time of Julius Caesar,\u00a0unprotected.<\/p>\n Marauding bands and lawless mobs\u00a0raided Britain’s unprotected\u00a0Roman settlements\u00a0and carried away thousands to sell into\u00a0slavery in Ireland.<\/p>\n Ireland\u00a0was ruled by the bloodthirsty, superstitious pagan\u00a0Druids.<\/p>\n Thomas Cahill wrote in\u00a0How the Irish Saved Civilization<\/em>\u00a0(Random House, 1995):<\/p>\n “Romans,\u00a0in their first encounters with these exposed,\u00a0insane warriors,\u00a0were\u00a0shocked and frightened\u00a0… They were\u00a0howling\u00a0and, it seemed, possessed by demons, so outrageous was their strength … featuring all the\u00a0terrors of hell\u00a0itself.”<\/p>\n The\u00a0Druids,\u00a0from whom\u00a0Halloween\u00a0originated, believed that the trees and hills were inhabited by good and evil spirits which constantly needed to be appeased.<\/p>\n Cahill continued:<\/p>\n “(Druids) sacrificed\u00a0prisoners of war to the war gods and newborns to the harvest gods.<\/p>\n Believing that the human head was the seat of the soul,\u00a0they displayed proudly the heads of their enemies\u00a0in their temples and on their palisades; they even hung them from their belts as ornaments, used them as footballs in victory celebrations, and were fond of employing\u00a0skull tops as ceremonial drinking bowls.<\/p>\n They also sculpted heads – both shrunken, decapitated heads.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Around 405 A.D., at the age of 16 years old, while working on his father’s farm near the sea, 50 currachs (longboats) filled with raiders weaved their way toward the shore.<\/p>\n Mary Cagney, author of the article\u00a0“Patrick The Saint”\u00a0(Christian History,<\/em>\u00a0Issue 60), wrote:<\/p>\n “With no\u00a0Roman army\u00a0to protect them\u00a0(Roman legions\u00a0had long since deserted\u00a0Britain\u00a0to protect\u00a0Rome\u00a0from barbarian invasions),\u00a0Patricius\u00a0and his town were unprepared for attack.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Irish warriors,\u00a0wearing helmets and armed with spears, descended on the pebble beach.<\/p>\n The\u00a0braying war horns\u00a0struck terror into\u00a0Patricius’\u00a0heart, and he started to run toward town.<\/p>\n The warriors quickly demolished the village, and as\u00a0Patricius\u00a0darted among the burning houses and screaming women, he was caught.<\/p>\n The barbarians dragged him aboard a boat bound for the east coast of\u00a0Ireland.”<\/p>\n For six years\u00a0Patrick\u00a0herded animals for a\u00a0Druid\u00a0chieftain. He later wrote in his life’s story, called\u00a0The Confession of Saint Patrick:<\/em><\/p>\n “But after I came to\u00a0Ireland\u00a0— every day I had to tend sheep, and many times a day I prayed — the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened.<\/p>\n And my spirit was moved so that in a single day I would say as many as\u00a0a hundred prayers,\u00a0and almost as many in the night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountains; and I used to get up for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain.<\/p>\n … There the Lord opened the sense of my unbelief that I might at last remember my sins and be converted with all my heart to the Lord my God who … comforted me as would a father his son.”<\/p>\n Then\u00a0Patrick\u00a0had a dream, as he wrote:<\/p>\n “One night I heard in my sleep a voice saying to me:<\/p>\n `It is well that you fast, soon you will go to your own country.’ And again … a voice saying to me: `See, your ship is ready.’<\/p>\n And it was not near, but at a distance of perhaps two hundred miles … Then I took to flight … I went in the strength of God who directed my way … until I came to that ship.”<\/p>\n Patrick\u00a0eventually made his way back to\u00a0Britain\u00a0and was reunited with what was left of his family.<\/p>\n Then, when he was about 40 years old, he had another\u00a0dream calling him back to Ireland as a missionary.<\/p>\n In his\u00a0Confession,<\/em>\u00a0Patrick\u00a0wrote:<\/p>\n “In the depth of the night, I saw a man named Victoricus coming as if from Ireland, with innumerable letters, and he gave me one and while I was reading, I thought I heard the voice of those near the western sea call out:<\/p>\n ‘Please, holy boy, come and walk among us again.’<\/p>\n Their cry pierced my very heart,\u00a0and I could read no more, and so I awoke.”<\/p>\n He confronted the\u00a0Druids,\u00a0converted chieftains, and used the\u00a0three-leaf clover to teach the Trinity.<\/p>\n The\u00a0Druids\u00a0tried to ambush and kill\u00a0Patrick\u00a0nearly a dozen times:<\/p>\n “Daily I expect murder, fraud or captivity,\u00a0but I fear none of these things because of the\u00a0promises of Heaven\u00a0…<\/p>\n The\u00a0merciful God\u00a0often\u00a0freed me from slavery\u00a0and from twelve dangers in which my life was at stake-not to mention numerous plots …<\/p>\n … God is my witness, who knows all things even before they come to pass, as\u00a0He used to forewarn even me\u00a0… of many things by a divine message …<\/p>\n … I came to the people of\u00a0Ireland\u00a0to\u00a0preach the Gospel,\u00a0and to suffer insult from the unbelievers …<\/p>\n I am prepared to\u00a0give even my life without hesitation\u00a0and most gladly\u00a0for His name,\u00a0and it is there that I wish to spend it until I die.”<\/p>\n (This sounds like what Paul wrote)<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Encyclopedia Britannica<\/em>\u00a0stated that\u00a0Patrick\u00a0challenged:<\/p>\n “royal authority by lighting the Paschal fire on the hill Slane on the night of Easter Eve.<\/p>\n It chanced to be the occasion of a pagan festival at Tara, during which no fire might be kindled until the royal fire had been lit.”<\/p>\n As\u00a0Patrick’s\u00a0fire on the Hill of Slane illuminated the countryside,\u00a0King Loigaire\u00a0(King Leary) is said to have exclaimed:<\/p>\n “If we do not extinguish this flame it will sweep over all\u00a0Ireland.”<\/p>\n Mary Cagney, in\u00a0“Patrick the Saint”\u00a0(Christianity Today,<\/em>\u00a0Issue 60), wrote:<\/p>\n “Predictably,\u00a0Patrick\u00a0faced the most opposition from the\u00a0Druids,\u00a0who practiced magic … and advised\u00a0Irish kings.<\/p>\n Biographies of the saint are replete with stories of\u00a0Druids who ‘wished to kill holy Patrick’ …<\/p>\n One biographer from the late 600’s, Muirchu’, described\u00a0Patrick\u00a0challenging\u00a0Druids\u00a0to contests at Tara …<\/p>\n .. The custom was that whoever lit a fire before the king on that night of the year (Easter’s eve) would be put to death.<\/p>\n Patrick\u00a0lit the paschal fire before the king on the Hill of Slane.<\/p>\n The people saw\u00a0Patrick’s\u00a0fire throughout the plain, and the king ordered 27 chariots to go and seize\u00a0Patrick …<\/p>\n Seeing that the impious heathen were about to attack him,\u00a0Patrick\u00a0rose and said clearly and loudly,<\/p>\n ‘May\u00a0God\u00a0come up to\u00a0scatter his enemies\u00a0and may those who hate him flee from his face.’<\/p>\n By this disaster, caused by\u00a0Patrick’s\u00a0curse in the king’s presence because of the king’s order, seven times seven men fell …<\/p>\n And the king driven by fear, came and bent his knees before the holy man.'”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Many miraculous acts were attributed to\u00a0Patrick.<\/p>\n The Life and Acts of Saint Patrick<\/em>\u00a0was compiled by a 12th century Cistercian Monk of Furnes named\u00a0Jocelin.<\/p>\n A popular translation was done by Edmund L. Swift, Esq., Dublin, in 1809, with elucidations of David Rothe, Bishop of Ossory The Life and Acts of Saint Patrick<\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n In his thirty years of ministry,\u00a0Saint Patrick\u00a0is credited with baptizing 120,000 people and founding 300 churches.<\/p>\n Despite his great achievements,\u00a0Patrick\u00a0struggled with an inferiority complex.<\/p>\n In his\u00a0Confession,<\/em>\u00a0Patrick\u00a0wrote:<\/p>\n “I had long had it in mind to write, but up to now I have hesitated. I was afraid lest I should fall under the judgment of men’s tongues because I am not as well read as others …<\/p>\n As a youth, nay, almost as a boy not able to speak, I was taken captive … Hence to-day I blush and fear exceedingly to reveal my lack of education; for I am unable to tell my story to those versed in the art of concise writing — in such a way, I mean, as my spirit and mind long to do, and so that the sense of my words expresses what I feel.”<\/p>\n In his letter to\u00a0Coroticus,\u00a0he wrote:<\/p>\n “I,\u00a0Patrick,\u00a0a sinner, very badly educated.”<\/p>\n Coroticus was a tyrant king in Britain\u00a0who carried off some of\u00a0Patrick’s\u00a0converts into\u00a0slavery.<\/p>\n “Ravenous wolves have gulped down the Lord’s own flock\u00a0which was flourishing in\u00a0Ireland,\u00a0and the whole church cries out and laments for its sons and daughters.”<\/p>\n Patrick\u00a0was one of the first major religious leaders to\u00a0speak out strongly against slavery,\u00a0having himself been a victim.<\/p>\n He is considered one of the first\u00a0“abolitionists,”\u00a0as he condemned the deeds of\u00a0Coroticus,\u00a0calling them “wicked, so horrible, so unutterable,” and exhorted him to “repent and free the converts.”<\/p>\n When the Irish converted to Christianity, they abandoned their pagan\u00a0Druid laws,\u00a0which\u00a0Patrick\u00a0replaced with Bible-based Latin-Irish laws.<\/p>\n Leslie Hardinge wrote in\u00a0The Celtic Church in Britain<\/em>\u00a0(Random House, 1995):<\/p>\n “Wherever\u00a0Patrick\u00a0went and established a church, he left an old Celtic law book,\u00a0Liber ex Lege Moisi (Book of the Law of Moses)<\/em>\u00a0along with the books of the Gospel.”<\/p>\n This became called the\u00a0“Senchus Mor”\u00a0or “Code of Patrick.”<\/p>\n The Code of Patrick\u00a0was taken by missionaries to\u00a0Britain\u00a0where it\u00a0laid the foundation for English Common Law,\u00a0later codified by\u00a0Alfred the Great\u00a0(847-899).<\/p>\n As\u00a0American law\u00a0is based on\u00a0English Common Law,\u00a0one is struck with the thought that\u00a0Saint Patrick\u00a0may have even influenced the\u00a0legal system in the United States.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Liber Hymnorum<\/em><\/a>,<\/em>\u00a0a collection of hymns from ancient manuscripts\u00a0in Dublin, gives the account:<\/a><\/p>\n “Saint Patrick\u00a0sang this when an ambush was laid against his coming by\u00a0King Loegaire<\/a>,\u00a0that he might not go to\u00a0Tara<\/a>\u00a0to sow the faith.<\/p>\n And then it appeared before those lying in ambush that they\u00a0(Saint Patrick\u00a0and his monks) were wild deer with a fawn following them.”<\/p>\n The song is called the\u00a0Lorica,\u00a0which means\u00a0Shield\u00a0or\u00a0Breastplate,\u00a0also referred to as\u00a0The Deer’s Cry.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The Breastplate of Saint Patrick\u00a0(translation by Cecil Frances Alexander):<\/p>\n “I bind unto myself today<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The strong name of the Trinity,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n By invocation of the same,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The Three in One, the One in Three.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n I bind this day to me for ever<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n By power of faith, Christ’s incarnation;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n His baptism in the Jordan river;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n His death on the cross for my salvation.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n His bursting from the spiced tomb;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n His riding up the heavenly way;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n His coming at the day of doom;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n I bind unto myself today.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n I bind unto myself today<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The power of God to hold and lead,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n His eye to watch, his might to stay,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n His ear to harken to my need;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The wisdom of my God to teach,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n His hand to guide, his shield to ward,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The Word of God to give me speech,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n His heavenly host to be my guard.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Against all Satan’s spells and wiles,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Against false words of heresy,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Against the knowledge that defiles,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Against the heart’s idolatry,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Against the wizard’s evil craft,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Against the death-wound and the burning,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The choking wave, the poison’d shaft,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Protect me, Christ, till thy returning.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Christ be with me, Christ within me,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Christ behind me, Christ before me,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Christ beside me, Christ to win me;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Christ to comfort and restore me;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Christ beneath me, Christ above me,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Christ in quiet, Christ in danger,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Christ in hearts of all that love me,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Christ in mouth of friend and stranger.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n I bind unto myself the name,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The strong name of the Trinity,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n By invocation of the same,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n The Three in One, and One in Three,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Of whom all nature hath creation,<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Eternal Father, Spirit, Word;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Praise to the God of my salvation;<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n Salvation is of Christ the Lord!”<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n On MARCH 17, around 461 AD,\u00a0Saint Patrick died.<\/p>\n Patrick’s\u00a0influence was profound that over 1500 years later, there is still a date on the calendar to remember him.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The World Book Encyclopedia<\/em>\u00a0(Chicago, IL: Field Enterprises, Inc., 1957, p. 6142) stated of\u00a0Saint Patrick:<\/p>\n “He found\u00a0Ireland\u00a0all heathen and left it all Christian.”<\/p>\n <\/p>\n https:\/\/americanminute.com\/blogs\/todays-american-minute\/saint-patrick-found-ireland-all-heathen-and-left-it-all-christian-american-minute-with-bill-federer<\/a><\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The following is a brief summary of Patrick\u2019s life and my reflection, in part, of why St. Patrick is so dear to me. — Denise In a world where thousands of words and images litter the streets of our minds and hearts, where do we as humans start as we try to sift through it… Continue reading Saint Patrick’s Day 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\nThat power belongs to God<\/em>
\nAlso to You, O Lord, belong loving-kindness\u00a0and\u00a0compassion.<\/em><\/p>\n
\nNaught be all else to me, save that Thou art;<\/em>
\nThou my best thought by day and by night,<\/em>
\nWaking and sleeping, Thy presence my light.<\/em><\/p>\n