Celebrating St. Patrick's Day:
Who Was St. Patrick?

There are several excellent resources on the web concerning the history of St. Patrick, the man. Here is a short synopsis of several biographies. There are some links at the bottom of the article that are helpful as well.

Patrick, the Patron Saint of Ireland, was born into either a Scottish or English family in the fourth century. There is some question, though many people believe he was English. He was kidnapped as a teenager by a man called Niall of the Nine Hostages. Niall later became a King of Ireland.

After his kidnapping, Patrick, was sold into slavery in Ireland. He worked as a shepherd. The conditions were terrible. While a slave, he drew comfort in the Christian faith that so many of his people had abandoned under Roman rule. However, some of the biographies mention that Patrick was a Pagan prior to his own conversion to Christianity.

While Patrick was still a slave, he had a dream that he should flee captivity and head south where a ship was to be waiting for him. He travelled over 200 miles from his northern captivity to a town called Wexford where a ship was waiting.

When he arrived in England he was captured again by bandits and returned to slavery. He escaped again, this time after two months instead of six years, and spent the next seven years traveling Europe "finding himself".

During this time of finding himself, he furthered his education and studied Christianity in a Monastery in France. He returned to England as a priest of the Christian faith. Another dream greatly influenced him and he became convinced that the Irish people were calling out to him to return. He went to the Monastery in Auxerre where it was decided that a mission should be sent to Ireland. Patrick was not selected for this task to his great disappointment. The monk that was selected was called Paladius, but he died before he could reach Ireland and a second mission was decided upon.

Patrick was made a Bishop and together with a small band of followers, he traveled to Ireland to begin to fulfill his dream.

One of the first things Patrick did was confront the most powerful man in Ireland, Laoghaire who was the High King of Tara, knowing that if he could gain this man’s support he would be safe to spread the Word throughout Ireland. To get his attention Patrick and his followers lit a huge fire to mark the commencement of Spring. Tradition had it that no fire was to be lit until the King’s fire was complete, but Patrick broke this rule in hopes of causing a confrontation with the King.

Of course the King couldn’t let this blatant breaking of the rules pass, and he rushed into action with the intention of making war on the Patrick and his followers. Patrick calmed the King and with quiet composure impressed the King that he had no other intention than that of spreading the word of the Gospel. The King accepted the missionary, which really irritated the Druids who were jealous of their place in society.

In order to test Patrick and his God, the Druids challenged him to make snow fall. Patrick declined the test saying that it was God’s work but it immediately began to snow anyway and only stopped when Patrick blessed himself.

Next comes the beginning of the famous story of the shamrock. Patrick was still trying to convince the King of his religion when he reached down for some Shamrock growing on the ground. Patrick explained to the King that there was only stem on the plant, but three branches of the leaf, and that this represented the Blessed Trinity. Although the King did not convert to Christianity, he was impressed enough with Patrick’s sincerity the he granted him permission to spread the word of his faith.

There are many stories of Patrick spreading Christianity across Ireland, including the famous one told of how he drove the snakes from the land.

Patrick died on March 17th in the year 461 at the age of 76. There are several monuments to him in Ireland, though it is unknown exactly which grave his remains are actually in.

Other links that you may find useful:

The Real Saint Patrick
The St. Patrick Centre
The St. Patrick You Never Knew

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