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St. Paddy. Patron Saint of Ireland. Victim of Physical Piracy. These are all titles to the titular Saint, Maewyn Succat, better known as St. Patrick. As far as saints go, this guy had a better publicity team. He has his own national holiday, Hollywood movies, and is the patron saint of all of Ireland (you tend to remember people like that.). Seeing as we celebrate his death day every March 17th, I figured it's time to gather people around the Irish campfire and tell a few tales about the most famous Irish missionary in history. The patron saint of Ireland was born in Britannia, today's United Kingdom, in 387 AD. As far as history could tell, he never even intended to go to Ireland. But the pirates who “offered him a ride” (read: kidnapped him) were very “persuasive” (read: threatening.) Yes, St. Patrick was given a lift to the Emerald Isles at age 16 by Irish raiders, and worked as a slave for six more years of his life. He had a strong faith in God though, so when he had a dream of a ship that would take him back to Britain, he saw it as a sign and managed to escape. He made it back to Britain and suffered from starvation and a second forced slavery career before finally reuniting with his family. God isn't done with him yet though. Through dreams and letters, St. Patrick sensed the call of the Irish, asking him to walk amongst them again. When Patrick did return, he was in his element. St. Patrick walked amongst the Irish, baptizing and confirming them. Being a saint in the ancient ADs, he was always at risk of being martyred or imprisoned (wouldn’t you know it, but there is at least one confirmed case of St. Patrick in chains.) But he didn’t care. He kept living life as righteously, virtuously, and honestly as he could, and would go on to convert thousands of people. As the saying goes, "Hardship often prepares an ordinary person for an extraordinary destiny" (C.S. Lewis). And nothing says hardship like getting stolen on a pirate ship. If you’ve ever stepped into a religion class or entered a Sunday mass, you have probably heard of the Holy Trinity. I'm no priest, much less a saint, but if you haven’t heard of it, I’ll try and explain it as simply as I can. The Trinity is the idea that the one true God is made up of three persons (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.) It’s a well known fact within Christian communities that we have come to accept and understand. But try explaining it to a couple of Irish folk with short religious attention spans. It isn’t the easiest task, but St. Patrick was good at getting their attention. He had gathered a small crowd and decided that the teaching of the day would be about the Trinity. Faced with the challenge of explaining the Trinity to an audience whose members have a hundred different other gods they could believe in, St. Patrick used something that would be familiar to the Irish and grew right under their noses. He plucked a shamrock out of the ground and masterfully explained the concept of the Holy Trinity using its three leaves. Just as three leaves make a clover, three persons make God. One day, St. Patrick was walking along the lush hills of Ireland when suddenly he had an idea: “I should get rid of all snakes. Permanently” (St. Patrick, probably). Maybe one too many people were complaining about having snake problems. Maybe he just had a strong case of Ophidophobia (the extreme fear of snakes.) Whatever the case, he wanted those oversized, scaly worms out of his life. And so, according to legend, Patrick thumped his staff on those lush, green hills, and the divine power of God banished the snakes off the Emerald Isles and into the sea. In an interesting twist though, historians and scientists claim that there were never snakes in Ireland for him to banish. We may never know the truth, but one thing is for sure: It makes a good St. Patrick's Day legend. Over the years, St. Patrick has received plenty of criticism. He is an Irish saint who wasn't born in Ireland. Experts say that snakes never lived in Ireland. Some people say St. Patrick didn't even wear green. But even if these stories are exaggerated, the message and meaning St. Patrick was trying to put out are real. He did struggle in life, but managed to find his calling doing work in a place he never expected. He was a good person who did all he could to help the people of Ireland, and it wasn’t in vain. 85% of Ireland today is Christian, a number that probably wouldn’t exist without St. Patrick. Being part-Irish, I probably owe my Catholic faith to St. Patrick. He has been remembered through holidays, movies, and official canonization. You don’t need a four leaf clover to tell that St. Patrick was pretty lucky.
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AuthorEvery two weeks, author Diego Campbell will be writing about a patron saint of the month of publication! Archives
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