[#] = indicates passages from the writings of St Patrick (from his own hand) at the bottom.
The life of Saint Patrick seems to parallel that of the fall of Israel. St. Patrick’s father was a deacon and grandfather was a priest [1]. As a youth St Patrick knew how he should behave from the priests who were warning him but he didn’t listen. He and thousands others went into captivity because of their stubborn and rebellious heart. St. Patrick said that he deserved his captivity for ignoring the warnings from the priests [1]. Similarly the Lord sent prophet after prophet to Israel to urge them to repent and return to God but Israel ignored them.
It was in Ireland, scattered among the heathens, that St. Patrick realized the ramification of his sins and lack of faith. It was in Ireland that he finally he repented and turned his whole heart to Jesus [2]. I thought I was inadequate in praying when I read that King David prayed 7 times a day –Ps119:164. St. Patrick exceeded King David by praying up to 200 times a day [16]. St Patrick was forged into a mighty prayer warrior in captivity.
St. Patrick admitted that he wasn’t a scholar of the bible but a “simple country person, a refugee, and unlearned” [12]. Doesn’t God use the weak and the foolish over the wise? – 1Cor1:27
St. Patrick preached baptism and he baptized thousands of persons [14, 50] “in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” [40] following the commandment of Mt 28:19
Mat_28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
St. Patrick preached the simple Gentile message of Acts 21:25 after he had baptized them.
Act_21:25 As touching the Gentiles which believe, we have written and concluded that they observe no such thing, save only that they keep themselves from things offered to idols [19], and from blood, and from strangled, and from fornication[42].
‘The Annals of the Four Masters’ (Ref#2 below) is Ireland’s history from 4 Irish historians written in 1636. Annal M493.2 speaks about St. Patrick being sent by Pope Celestine the First to Ireland. There are others that believe that the Patrick that was sent to Ireland by the Pope was a different Patrick about the same time as St. Patrick (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick “Two Patricks” theory)
Noteworthy of the 4 Masters comments was that St. Patrick baptized people in fresh water and sea inlets where there was abundant amount of water. You don’t need that much water if you are just sprinkling or pouring. That brought thoughts of Jn3:23 where John was baptizing “because there was much water there”.
Main points of the 4 Masters about St. Patrick:
Pope Celestine the First had sent to preach the Gospel and
-
- separated them from the worship of idols and spectres,
- who conquered and destroyed the idols which they had for worshipping;
- who had expelled demons and evil spirits from among them,
- “It was he that baptized” “both fresh waters and sea inlets”
- many cells, monasteries, and churches were erected throughout Ireland;
- seven hundred churches was their number.
- It was by him that bishops, priests, and persons of every dignity were ordained;
- seven hundred bishops, and three thousand priests was their number.
- He worked so many miracles and wonders, that the human mind is incapable of remembering or recording
St. Patrick was a primitive Catholic but not as the present day Roman Catholic. His religious teaching came from his father (a deacon) and grandfather (a priest). Both his father and grandfather religious training came from before the Catholic church existed.
The Council of Nicaea (completed in 325 AD) began the Catholic church. The Catholic Church was 14 years old prior to St Patrick’s birth or 30 years old when he went into captivity.
The Catholic Church world was very different than today:
The 66 books of the bible was formalized six years after he escaped being held in captivity for 6 years (66 books formalized in 367 AD)
- The multiple Catholic Inquisitions (perversion of the spreading of the gospel by murder) of the middle ages hadn’t begun yet (begun in 1118 AD)
- Priest could still marry (finalized Celibacy of the Clergy in 1139 AD)
- Baptism was still water immersion (added sprinkling by The Council of Ravenna, in 1311 AD)
- The Crusades hadn’t happened yet (1096 – 1436 AD)
- Communion was the symbol of Christ not the actual body (Transubstantiation was finalized in 1215 AD)
- The printed bible wasn’t around yet (Gutenberg’s printing press came about in 1439 AD)
- The Immaculate Conception was Jesus’ sinless birth (Immaculate Conception changed to Mary’s sinless birth in 1854 AD)
St Patrick was called to go back to Ireland to preach the gospel by way of a vision [23]. He stuck to the basics and spread the gospel throughout Ireland. He suffered great hardships [35] in great similarities to Paul’s when he was going forth and preaching. He endured and converted the pagans to the Gentile faith.
His life of service as a laborer in the field is an incredible testimony showing how one person can make a difference.
Ref#1) Saint Patrick in his own words: http://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#01
[1] My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner. 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. We deserved this, because we had gone away from God, and did not keep his commandments. We would not listen to our priests, who advised us about how we could be saved. The Lord brought his strong anger upon us, and scattered us among many nations even to the ends of the earth. It was among foreigners that it was seen how little I was.
[2] It was there that the Lord opened up my awareness of my lack of faith. Even though it came about late, I recognised my failings. So I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God, and he looked down on my lowliness and had mercy on my youthful ignorance. He guarded me before I knew him, and before I came to wisdom and could distinguish between good and evil. He protected me and consoled me as a father does for his son
[16] After I arrived 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.
[12] So I am first of all a simple country person, a refugee, and unlearned. I do not know how to provide for the future. But this I know for certain, that before I was brought low, I was like a stone lying deep in the mud. Then he who is powerful came and in his mercy pulled me out, and lifted me up and placed me on the very top of the wall. That 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.
[14] In the knowledge of this faith in the Trinity, and without letting the dangers prevent it, it is right to make known the gift of God and his eternal consolation. It is right to spread abroad the name of God faithfully and without fear, so that even after my death I may leave something of value to the many thousands of my brothers and sisters – the children whom I baptised in the Lord.
[17] It was there one night in my sleep that 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.
[19].. They also found some wild honey, and offered some of it to me. However, one of them said: “This honey must have been offered in sacrifice to a god.” Thanks be to God, from then on I tasted none of it.
[23] 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.
[35] It’s a long story – to tell each and every deed of mine, or even parts of it. I’ll make it short, as 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….
[40] It is right that we should fish well and diligently, as the Lord directs and teaches when he says: “Follow me, and I will may you fishers of men.” And again he says through the prophets: “Behold, I send many fishers and hunters, says God”; and other such sayings. Therefore it is very right that we should cast our nets, so that a great multitude and crowd will be taken for God. Also that there should be clerics to baptise and encourage a people in need and want. This is what the Lord says in the gospel: he warns and teaches in these words: “Go therefore and teach all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and behold I am with you all days, even to the end of the age.” Again he says: “Go out therefore to the whole world and announce the gospel to every creature. Whoever believes and is baptised will be saved; whoever does not believe will be condemned.” And yet again: “This gospel of the kingdom will be announced all over the world, as testimony to all the nations; and then will come the end.” In the same way, the Lord foretold this through the prophet as he said: “And it will come about in the last days, says the Lord, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters will prophesy; your young people will see visions and your older people will dream dreams. Indeed, on my servants, men and women, I will pour out my Spirit and they will prophesy.” Hosea says: “Those who were not my people, I will call my people; and her who has not obtained mercy, I will name the one who has obtained mercy. In the place where it was said: You are not my people: there they will be called children of the living God.”
[42] An example is this. There was a blessed Irish woman of noble birth, a most beautiful adult whom I baptised. She came to us a few days later for this reason. She told us that she had received word from a messenger of God, who advised her that she should become a virgin of Christ, and that she should come close to God.
[50] 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.
Ref#2) Annals of the Four Masters ( http://www.ucc.ie/celt/online/T100005A/ ) Annal M2242M2242.0 – The Age of the World, to this Year of the Deluge, 2242.
M493.0 – The Age of Christ, 493. M493.1 – The fifteenth year of Lughaidh. M493.2 Patrick, son of Calphurn, son of Potaide, archbishop, first primate, and chief apostle of Ireland, whom Pope Celestine the First had sent to preach the Gospel and disseminate religion and piety among the Irish, was the person who separated them from the worship of idols and spectres, who conquered and destroyed the idols which they had for worshipping; who had expelled demons and evil spirits from among them, and brought them from the darkness of sin and vice to the light of faith and good works, and who guided and conducted their souls from the gates of hell (to which they were going), to the gates of the kingdom of heaven. It was he that baptized and blessed the men, women, sons and daughters of Ireland, with their territories and tribes, both fresh waters and sea inlets. It was by him that many cells, monasteries, and churches were erected throughout Ireland; seven hundred churches was their number. It was by him that bishops, priests, and persons of every dignity were ordained; seven hundred bishops, and three thousand priests was their number. He worked so many miracles and wonders, that the human mind is incapable of remembering or recording the amount of good which he did upoh earth. When the time of St. Patrick’s death approached, he received the Body of Christ from the hands of the holy Bishop Tassach, in the 122nd year of his age, and resigned his spirit to heaven