Last summer I was on holiday in South-West Kerry not far from the historic Skellig Michael and on a wet afternoon, I bought a book in a tourist shop- The essential Biography of St Patrick by JB Bury, first published 1905, my copy was printed in 2013. The book was seen by many as the most influential study of the Saint ever written up to then.

A Reflection on the Life of St Patrick- An ordinary man who lived an extraordinary life
Patrick born approx. 389 died 461 AD.

While the main source of our knowledge of Patrick is from his own words written toward the end of his life in his ‘Confessio.’There are other sources for us to appreciate the work of Patrick. While there are many legends about Patrick, most scholars agree on these basic facts, that Patrick’s mother was called Concessa, and his father Calpurnious, he was a deacon of the Roman Church, his grandfather Potitus, was a priest in his village in Britain (when the rule of celibacy was not widely enforced yet).

It is possible that at this time of crisis for the Roman Empire, when soldiers had to leave Britain to return to Rome, Patrick, aged 16 was taken captive by pirates, and to the Kingdom of Connaught, to serve a master in Mayo for six years on Eagle Mountain and we refer to it today as Croagh Patrick. He worked as a shepherd, and it was during this time that he wrote about how often he prayed each day, and he described how he experienced the ‘voice of God’. He wrote that he heard a voice while he slept telling him to fast and that he will return home as there was a ship waiting for him. Patrick interpreted his dreams as divine interventions. The reality was that the port where he might hope to find a vessel to take him home was 180 miles away near the town of Wicklow. For this was the where the port was that foreign ships arrived at.

As you may know, Patrick made his way to the port in Wicklow and eventually persuaded the crew of a ship to take him on board as hired help. They sailed for three days and then had to make their way by land for 28 days. Their food ran out and much of their cargo of dogs (probably Irish wolfhounds) were left to die exhausted. Fearing starvation, the shipmaster asked Patrick to intercede with his God, which Patrick did and soon afterwards a drove of pigs appeared, which provided much needed food.

It was Gaul or France as we know it today, that the ship sailed to. Many parts of Gaul were a wilderness because of war and Patrick travelled with his companions from Gaul to Italy, where he left them. It was in Italy near Island of Lernius near the Cape of Cannes that Patrick found refuge in an island cloister of Honoratus, as monastic settlements had been spreading from the East to the West.

Gradually, Patrick was considering labouring among the heathen in Ireland, In a dream he heard the Irish the voices of the Irish asking him to return. There is a view that it was Patrick’s concern for unbaptised children in Ireland that motivated him to want to return to ensure that all would be free of original sin. Patrick returned to Gaul to prepare for his missionary work in the town of Auxerre, and to win the support of Church authorities for the work. Patrick had an understanding that he would need resources and the support of fellow workers to achieve his goals. Patrick was eventually ordained a deacon by Bishop Amator there. But it would be 14 years later that Patrick set out for Ireland.

However, it was the deacon Palladius that was chosen ahead of Patrick to undertake the missionary work in Ireland, and he was consecrated as a bishop, but Palladius’s visit to Ireland lasted only a year without achieving much. But it was the first manifestation of the authority of Church of Rome in Ireland.

Meanwhile Patrick was preparing for his mission to Ireland in 432, but he became the successor to the bishop Paladius on his death and he was consecrated a bishop most likely by Germanus. As a bishop Patrick would now have more authority and be potentially more effective in his work.

In his preparations Patrick recruited fellow workers, a cargo of spiritual treasurers and ecclesiastical equipment that he would need, such as sacred vessels, vestments, books, and money that he may need to give to pagan princes in establishing clerical communities.

Irish society at that time was primitive, land was divided into small districts, each owned by a tribe and at the head of each tribe was a king. So, when Patrick came to Ireland, King Laoghaire was on the throne of Tara, Patrick knew that any new bishop needed to secure the favour or neutrality of any King he met. And it was an important success for Patrick’s missionary work when King Laoghaire decided to recognise the new Christian communities, even though he did not embrace the faith himself. Perhaps Laoghaire appreciated that Christianity had taken root in Ireland, and it was also the faith of the Roman empire. But he would have come under pressure from the druids in Ireland to reject the new faith.

Patrick came to Ireland not just to make converts but to build up a church and a priesthood, so he needed the means of support if it was to become a stable institution. They needed lands for their use that could only be given to them by the goodwill of those who possessed it.

Patrick made wonderful progress building up the Christian Church in Ireland as he was passionate, a man of deep faith conviction but also had great organisational skills. After eight years of his missionary work in Ireland and about 441, Patrick went to Rome to see the new Pope Leo the Great (440-461 AD) one of the most important popes in the Church who had a fervent missionary spirit. Patrick may have wanted to share his successes with the Pope but also to gain his support regarding establishing a central seat for the Church in Ireland, and it was not long after his return that he founded the Church of Armagh, fixing it as the primatial church in Ireland as it remains today.

So, before I play ‘The Deer’s Cry for a minute or so…’
Let us pray that we can follow our vocational call as Patrick did, so that we can support the building up of faith in our family and parish in the years ahead, knowing that in the payer of St Patrick ‘God’s strength will pilot’ us, guide us and protect us: Amen.

By Deacon Frank