The Real Patrick

Two authentic letters from St. Patrick survive, from which come the only universally accepted details of his life. He was born to a wealthy British family, and when he was about 16 he was captured by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland. He lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. During his captivity in Ireland, he worked as a shepherd, outdoors and away from people. Lonely and afraid, he turned to Christ for comfort and became a devout Christian.

Upon His return to Britain, he felt God was calling him to be a missionary to Ireland. After fifteen years of study and training he returned to Ireland. Familiar with the Irish language and culture, Patrick chose to incorporate traditional ritual into his lessons of Christianity instead of attempting to eradicate native Irish beliefs. For instance, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter since the Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire. He also superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish.

Patrick faced great persecution from many of the pagans. He described his sheep as being “torn to pieces and driven away.” He also described “ravening wolves have devoured the flock of the Lord, which in Ireland was indeed growing splendidly with the greatest care.” Many of those whom he converted to Christianity were killed, taken captive, or sold into slavery. On one occasion, some were killed on the day after their baptism and “the fragrance was still on their foreheads when they were butchered and slaughtered with the sword”

Patrick was not the character that legend makes him out to be. Instead, he was someone far greater. He never drove out all the snakes in Ireland or any other silly sort of deed. Instead, he was a devoted missionary in a pagan culture. He faced harsh persecution from the Irish, and yet he faithfully and courageously served as a “servant in Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of life everlasting which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

The following are excerpts from a letter written by St. Patrick to Corotisus.

“I, Patrick, a sinner, unlearned, resident in Ireland, declare myself to be a bishop. Most assuredly I believe that what I am I have received from God. And so I live among barbarians, a stranger and exile for the love of God. He is witness that this is so. Not that I wished my mouth to utter anything so hard and harsh; but I am forced by the zeal for God; and the truth of Christ has wrung it from me, out of love for my neighbors and sons for whom I gave up my country and parents and my life to the point of death. If I be worthy, I live for my God to teach the heathen, even though some may despise me.”

“Did I come to Ireland without God, or according to the flesh? Who compelled me? I am bound by the Spirit not to see any of my kinsfolk. Is it of my own doing that I have holy mercy on the people who once took me captive and made away with the servants and maids of my father’s house? I was freeborn according to the flesh. But I sold my noble rank. I am neither ashamed nor sorry for the good of others. Thus I am a servant in Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of life everlasting which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”

“Hence I do not know what to lament more: those who have been slain, or those whom they have taken captive, or those whom the devil has mightily ensnared. Together with him they will be slaves in Hell in an eternal punishment; for who commits sin is a slave and will be called a son of the devil.”

“I ask earnestly that whoever is a willing servant of God be a carrier of this letter, so that on no account it be suppressed or hidden by anyone, but rather be read before all the people, and in the presence of Coroticus himself. May God inspire them sometime to recover their senses for God, repenting, however late, their heinous deeds - murderers of the brethren of the Lord! - and to set free the baptized women whom they took captive, in order that they may deserve to live to God, and be made whole, here and in eternity! Be peace to the Father, and to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen.”