SAINT PATRICK OF IRELAND

Feast Day - March 17

Lived (c. 386 – 461)

Patron Saint of Nigeria, Ireland and Engineers

Stories about Saint Patrick of Ireland are numerous; but the fact remains that there are two solid qualities in him: He was humble man and he was a very courageous man. The determination to accept suffering and success with equal indifference guided the life of God’s instrument for winning most of Ireland for Christ.

Details of his life are not too certain. Although, recent research places his dates of birth and death a little later than early legends. There are possibilities that he may have been born in Dunbarton, Scotland, Cumberland, England, or in northern Wales but, he always refer to himself as a Roman and a Briton. When he was 16, he was taken captured by Irish raiders alongside a large number of his father’s slaves and vassals and they were all sold as slaves in Ireland. Forced to work as a shepherd, where he suffered greatly from hunger and cold.

Patrick escaped after six years, probably to France, and later returned to Britain at the age of 22. His captivity lead to his spiritual conversion. He may have studied at Lerins, off the French coast; he spent years at Auxerre, France, and was consecrated bishop at the age of 43. His greatest dream was to proclaim the good news to the people of Ireland.

In a dream vision it seemed “all the children of Ireland from their mothers’ wombs were stretching out their hands” to him. He understood the vision to be a call to do mission work in pagan Ireland. Despite opposition from those who felt his education had been defective, he was sent to carry out the task. He went to the west and north–where the faith had never been preached–obtained the protection of local kings, and converted a large number of people.

Because of the Island’s pagan background, Patrick was emphatic in encouraging widows to remain chaste and young women to consecrate their virginity to Christ. He ordained many priests, divided the country into dioceses, held Church councils, found several monasteries and continually urged his people to greater holiness in Christ.

He suffered much opposition from pagan druids and was criticized in both England and Ireland for the way he conducted his mission. In a relatively short time, the island had experienced deeply the Christian spirit, and was prepared to send out missionaries whose efforts were greatly responsible for Christianizing Europe.

Patrick was a man of action, with little inclination toward learning. He had a rock-like belief in his vocation, in the cause he had espoused. One of the few certainly authentic writings is his Confessio, above all an act of homage to God for having called Patrick, unworthy sinner, to the apostolate.

It is not an irony that his burial place is said to be in County Down in Northern Ireland, the scene of strife and violence.