Life of Saint Patrick

Ireland at the time of Saint Patrick

Ireland’s prehistory, most of which predates the Celtic tribes who settled here around 500 BC, remains unclear.  Sacred places, oriented carefully according to astrological calendars, included groves, wells, cairns, burial mounds, and standing stones. According to folklore, fairies haunted such ruins—pre-Celtic spirits rising in the wisps of the morning fog.

Christian transliterations of Ireland’s prehistoric oral tradition describe an era of mighty violence. As the claim of a king depended on contest, so the honour of a warrior required continual bloodshed. Unsurprisingly, many fathers of Irish myths died before the birth of their children. A High King ruled over the Chief Kings, such as those of Ulster, Meath, Leinster, Munster, and Connacht. Lesser clans and princedoms established themselves therein. In battle, a king relied on his clan and on the druids who might offer to their faction supernatural advantages.

Druidic Weaponry

Irish druidic priests, like the druids of Celtic Britain and France, studied obscure secrets of which we know little. Their pantheon included Celtic gods and goddesses, local deities, and elementals, such as the sun, the moon, fire and water. Among the few established intellectuals of Irish society, druids also served as the local teachers and doctors.

In combat, Early Irish relied on druids to conjure storms and obscuring fogs, divination, magic potions, spells to paralyse or bewilder enemies, enchanted weaponry, as well as fierce cunning. Mythological druids also wielded the power of flying, shapeshifting, and even raising a Tolkienesque army of the dead.

Certain weapons were regarded with superstitious awe. For instance, the arsenal of Irish myth includes glowing sabres and talking blades that could paralyse adversaries with fear. The poisonous Spear of Celtchar was said to burn with such venomous bloodlust that it drank cauldrons of blood. It poisoned its owner to death and would kill at least nine men with each throw. Of the nine, at least one would be a king, crown prince, or mighty chieftain.

Kidnapped into Slavery

Across the Irish sea, Saint Patrick grew up in the civilisation of the British Roman Empire. Son of a deacon and grandson of a priest, he grew up during the episcopacy of Saint Martin of Tours, whose hagiography ranks among the earliest and most enduring favourites of the Irish church. Nevertheless, he did not understand Christianity until he was captured by Irish raiders and sold into slavery. He recounts his life story in his Confessio:

I was about sixteen at the time. At that time, I did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity in Ireland, along with thousands of others…. I was reproved strongly and brought low by hunger and nakedness daily. I almost perished. I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God, and he looked down on my lowliness and had mercy…. He protected me and consoled me as a father does for his son...

In Ireland, I tended sheep every day, and I prayed frequently during the day. More and more the love of God increased, and my sense of awe before God. Faith grew, and my spirit was moved, so that in one day I would pray up to one hundred times, and at night perhaps the same. I even remained in the woods and on the mountain, and I would rise to pray before dawn in snow and ice and rain. I never felt the worse for it, and I never felt lazy – as I realise now, the spirit was burning in me at that time.

God’s Rescue

One night in my sleep I heard a voice saying to me: ‘You have fasted well. Very soon you will return to your native country.’ Again after a short while, I heard a someone saying to me: ‘Look – your ship is ready.’ It was not nearby, but a good two hundred miles away. I had never been to the place, nor did I know anyone there. So I ran away then, and left the man with whom I had been for six years. It was in the strength of God that I went – God who turned the direction of my life to good; I feared nothing while I was on the journey to that ship.

The ship was about to leave on the day I arrived. I said I needed to set sail with them, but the captain was not at all pleased. He replied unpleasantly and angrily: ‘Don’t you dare try to come with us.’ When I heard that, I left them and went back to the hut where I had lodgings. I began to pray while I was going; and before I even finished the prayer, I heard one of them shout aloud at me: ‘Come quickly – those men are calling you!’

Roman Empire: A Dying World

The Roman Empire of Saint Patrick’s lifetime was crumbling, slowly but surely. The borders of the Western Roman Empire resisted huge swells of refugees. These starving tribes, such as the Vandals and Alans, struggled desperately to escape invaders, in particular the Huns, from the east. In 406 AD, refugee tribes finally broke through the Frankish-Roman defensive line. Half-deranged with grief and desperation, they crossed the Rhine River in the dead of winter. Saint Jerome, whose hometown of Trier witnessed the Rhine crossing, describes what followed:

Savage tribes in countless numbers have overrun all parts of Gaul. The whole country between the Alps and the Pyrenees, between the Rhine and the Ocean, has been laid waste by hordes… The once noble city of Moguntiacum (Mainz) has been captured and destroyed. In its church many thousands have been massacred. … The provinces … are, with the exception of a few cities, one universal scene of desolation. And those which the sword spares without, famine ravages within. I cannot speak without tears of Toulouse which has been kept from falling hitherto by the merits of its reverend bishop Exuperius. Even the Spains are on the brink of ruin and tremble daily …while others suffer misfortunes once in actual fact, they suffer them continually in anticipation.

_{– Jerome, Letter 123 to Ageruchia (c. 409 AD)}

By the time Saint Patrick and his companions landed, around 409 AD, the ravaging invaders were moving south into the Iberian Peninsula. Saint Patrick describes the land in left their wake:

Salvation by Faith

Then I said to them with some confidence: ‘Turn in faith with all your hearts to the Lord my God, because nothing is impossible for him, so that he may put food in your way – even enough to make you fully satisfied! He has an abundance everywhere.’ With the help of God, this is actually what happened! A herd of pigs appeared in the way before our eyes! They killed many of them and there they remained for two nights, and were fully restored, and the dogs too were filled. After this, they gave the greatest of thanks to God, and I was honoured in their eyes.

Saint Patrick and his companions witnessed how the glory of the Roman Empire faded. With its architectural masterpieces smashed, temples robbed, and libraries torched, little remained recognisable. Moreover, those populations which survived – only a fraction of what had been – tended to be homeless, illiterate and disoriented by dread.

His Calling

A few years later I was again with my parents in Britain. They welcomed me as a son, and they pleaded with me that, after all the many tribulations I had undergone, I should never leave them again. It was while I was there that I saw, in a vision in the night, a man whose name was Victoricus coming as it were from Ireland with so many letters they could not be counted. He gave me one of these, and I read the beginning of the letter, the voice of the Irish people. While I was reading out the beginning of the letter, I thought I heard at that moment the voice of those who were beside the wood of Voclut, near the western sea. They called out as it were with one voice: “We beg you, holy boy, to come and walk again among us.” This touched my heart deeply, and I could not read any further; I woke up then. Thanks be to God, after many years the Lord granted them what they were calling for.

Training in France

Pursuant to his calling, Saint Patrick served as a monk in France for nearly 20 years. He likely trained in Auxerre under Saint Germanus, and in Lerins, at a monastery which had been founded in 410 AD according to the rule of Egyptian Desert Father Saint Pachomius. Because enslavement had interrupted his studies, he often felt unlearned compared to his brethren. For example, he describes in his Confession how he struggled to believe that he could achieve the sort of victory which God had promised him:

There were many who forbade this mission. They even told stories among themselves behind my back, and they said: ‘Why does he put himself in danger among hostile people who do not know God?’ It was not that they were malicious – they just did not understand, as I myself can testify, since I was just an unlearned country person. Indeed, I was not quick to recognise the grace that was in me.

For much of his adult life, Saint Patrick prepared himself for the task set before him. In 432 AD, when he was nearky 50 years old, the Church ordained him as bishop and sent him to Ireland.

Saint Patrick’s First Easter in Ireland

Saint Patrick’s mission began with his legendary meeting of Irish High King Laughaire. He needed the King’s permission to evangelise the Irish. For a runaway slave, such a request would ordinarily be out of the question. Moreover, in preaching Christianity, Saint Patrick threatened many of the king’s top advisors, who wielded dangerous Druidic powers. Saint Patrick’s boldness can be verified by the historical scope of what he later accomplished, confident of the high king’s consent as he spread Christianity throughout Ireland.

In 433 AD, Saint Patrick’s first year in Ireland, Easter coincided with a pagan festival. Darkness was meant to reign until the pagan High King lit a druidic flame from Tara Hill. As night fell, the royal entourage gathered, waiting to kindle their own fires from the sacred fire. Saint Patrick, however, usurped the King’s primacy and lit a large Paschal bonfire on the hilltop of Slane, about 10 miles away and visible from Tara.

According to the account of Muirchú, the earliest known hagiography of Saint Patrick, the chief Druids had prophetically foreseen Saint Patrick’s fire: a flame which threatened to overtake the entire island. Alarmed, the King’s men attempted to put out the fire, but without success. Not understanding, they claiming that Saint Patrick had enchanted it with sorcery. 

Saint Patrick’s Breastplate Prayer

Muirchú’s account continues into the following day, when Saint Patrick received summons from the King. Celebrating Easter, he and his companions left Slane on foot in a procession of glad tidings. Hidden along their path, soldiers waited to ambush and kill them. Saint Patrick’s breastplate prayer ―a prayer of protection―encouraged him and his companions, and the soldiers saw passing only a small herd of deer.

Saint Patrick arrived to find that a large crowd had gathered for the pagan feast. The King called for a wizarding contest in order to establish, between Saint Patrick’s God and the Druidic gods, which was greater.

Muirchú describes how the young Saint Benen and a druid each exchanged cloaks and entered a pyre of boughs. Then, the pyres were burned. The fire burned the druid and the druid’s cloak from Saint Benan’s shoulders. However, it did not touch Saint Benan’s cloak or Saint Benan.

The Druids waved their wands and drew darkness, cold, and even icy snow upon the springtime slopes, thus threatening the crops. Saint Patrick prayed away the malevolent weather. “The crowds,” according to Muirchú, “cheered and were greatly astonished and touched in their hearts.” The power to terrify and destroy they understood well enough. But the power to restore, to give life, to care for the lilies of the field even as feet crushed them—what sort of God was this?

“…the Mighty Strength of the Trinity“

Saint Patrick presented a shamrock to the king as a living witness to the Holy Trinity, who empowered him to serve with “mighty strength.” Perhaps the Irish already perceived the trinitarian nature of the divine. For instance, numerous triskelion appear in prehistoric monuments, such as at Newgrange. Saint Patrick’s Holy Trinity, however, challenged the customs of old.

Saint Patrick preached that the stars, the sun, moon, and nature, whose majesty the Celtic people readily understood as elements of druidic worship, all obey the will of One far greater:

The sun which we see rising for us each day at His command, that sun will never reign nor will its splendour continue forever…. We, however, believe in and adore the true sun, that is, Christ, who will never perish.

Spiritual Warfare rather than Bloodshed

Rather than measuring the worth of a man, as per pagan Celtic custom, according to how many enemy skulls he displayed, Saint Patrick taught that the True God measures man’s worth according to the secrets of his heart, according to every moment he had experienced in terms of infinite potential and responsibility.

Instead of glorying in the bloodshed of our rivals, Saint Patrick gloried in the hunting down of our true enemy, found in our passions, sin, and faithlessness.  Fearless in his witness, Saint Patrick relied on a right understanding of reality itself, cultivated through a right practice of faith: prayer, fasting, and intimacy with the True and Living God. Convicted by Saint Patrick’s example, Irish Kings, princes, head druids, and warriors soon became renown ascetics!

Courage amid Hostility

In his ascetic practices, Saint Patrick endured voluntary hunger and privation so that his courage and faith would grow to endure times of true crisis. Saint John Chrysostom articulates this understanding of the Early Church:

Let us also scorn luxury and destroy the power of the stomach that we may, when the time that requires such courage comes for us, be prepared in advance by the help of a lesser ascesis, to show ourselves glorious at the time of battle.

Indeed, Saint Patrick performed his mission work in Ireland despite persistent danger to his life and to the lives of his companions. He describes in his breastplate prayer some of the dangers he challenged through faith:

I summon today all these powers between me (and these evils): against every cruel and merciless power that may oppose my body and my soul, against incantations of false prophets, against black laws of heathenry, against false laws of heretics, against craft of idolatry, against spells of witches and smiths and wizards, against every knowledge that endangers man’s body and soul. Christ to protect me today against poison, against burning, against drowning, against wounding, so that there may come abundance of reward.

Facing Danger

During his ministry, Saint Patrick describes encountering several life-threatening situations:

I tell of how the good God often freed me from slavery, and from twelve dangers which threatened my life, as well as from hidden dangers and from things which I have no words to express.

“…At times I gave gifts to kings, over and above what I paid to their sons who travelled with me. Despite this, they took me and my companions prisoner, and very much wanted to kill me, but the time had not yet come. They stole everything they found in our possession, and they bound me in iron. On the fourteenth day, the Lord set me free from their power; all our possessions were returned to us for God’s sake, and for the sake of the close friendship we had had previously.

“…It happened again after many years that I was taken a prisoner. On the first night I was taken captive, I heard a divine answer saying to me: “You will be with them for two months.” This is how it was: on the sixtieth night, the Lord freed me from my captor’s hands.

“..so that you may have me for yours”

Saint Patrick refused to accept gifts or bind himself to the power structure, not even in exchange for protection from the many dangers he faced. He recognised that earthly ties would have constrained the Gospel messages to please corrupted human politics:

I have tried to keep a guard on myself and for the Christians and virgins of Christ and religious women who were giving me small gifts of their own accord. When they would throw some of their ornaments on the altar, I would give them back to them. They were hurt at me that I would do this. But it was because of the hope of the eternal gift, that I was careful in all things, in case unbelievers would trap me or my ministry of service for any reason. Nor did I want to give those who could not believe even the slightest reason for speaking against me or take my character away.

Perhaps, however, when I baptised so many thousands of people, did I hope to receive even the smallest payment? If so, tell me, and I will return it to you. Or when the Lord ordained clerics everywhere through my poor efforts, and I gave this service to them for free, if I asked them to pay even for the cost of my shoes – tell it against me, and I will return it to you and more.

I spend myself for you, so that you may have me for yours.

Fearless in Faith

Saint Patrick thus offered the Gospel message and his ministerial services freely to all. For protection, he relied on God alone:

In 441 AD, Saint Patrick fasted for 40 days in the wilderness, according to the custom of Egyptian desert ascetics, to prepare for Great and Holy Pascha. On the barren skree slopes of Croagh Patrick, Saint Patrick prayed earnestly for the lasting salvation of the Irish he loved. According to legend, his wish was granted in a vision of burning faith.

Saint Patrick’s Legacy

By the time he died in 465 AD, the Orthodox wonderworker Saint Patrick had baptised tens of thousands into the faith. At a time when bishops pastored one congregation rather than several, Saint Patrick “founded 365 churches and consecrated the same number of bishops, and ordained 3,000 presbyters” (Ancient British and Irish Churches, William Cathcart, page 282). He also performed many miracles, including raising more people from the dead than any other known Orthodox saint.

Saint Patrick’s legacy remains visible in the Celtic Cross. Ireland’s high latitude causes extreme fluctuations of daylight across the year. As a result, the sun meant life for the early Irish, both literally, by growing crops and pastures, and spiritually. For example, they aligned their temples and tombs to capture sunlight precisely according to the solar calendar.

Saint Patrick brought this flickering faith into Christian fullness. He taught that Christ was the True Sun—Son of God Almighty and light of the world. Eventually, the life-giving beauty of the sun encircled the figure of the crucified Christ. So iconic of the Irish Faith, the Celtic cross thus shows Christ’s glorious triumph, each new day, over darkness and death.