Watch Fr. Chris Alar's "Explaining the Faith" talk, "Saint Patrick: Fact vs. Fiction"
St. Patrick made the heroic choice to return to Ireland, the land where he’d been held as a slave, and spend the rest of his life serving his former captors as one of the greatest missionaries in the history of the Church.
By Chris Sparks
Why not make this your best Lent ever? To do that, maybe it’s time to try something new that will deepen your faith and be a catalyst for growth in holiness. Let St. Patrick be your guide.
What would you do to those who kidnapped you, kept you from your family and home, and enslaved you?
Would you want to go back to them and bring them the Good News of Jesus Christ? Would you want to proclaim the mercy and forgiveness of God? Would you want to bring them hope?
My first reaction is that I would run far and fast in the opposite direction. If your answer is yes, then you’re a better person than me.
But St. Patrick (feast day: March 17), made the heroic choice to return to Ireland, the land where he’d been held as a slave, and spend the rest of his life serving his former captors as one of the greatest missionaries in the history of the Church.
Scottish, not Irish
Born at Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton, in Scotland, in the year 387, he was kidnapped at the age of 16 and forced to work as a shepherd. During his six years as a slave, he spent much of his time in prayer, bringing good out of an evil situation. He also learned the language of Ireland, and became familiar with the religion of the druids through his enslaver, who was a druid himself. When a vision led him to successfully escape, Patrick made his way back to Christian Europe, eventually was ordained a priest and bishop, and then set out to bring Christianity to Ireland.
He travelled the length and breadth of Ireland, preaching the Gospel to the Irish, baptizing and confirming, and doing wonders. One of my favorite stories about him came from early in his ministry.
It was the night of a pagan festival, Beltane, the night when all other fires were to be lit from the king’s fire. And Patrick decided to make a point. He lit the Easter fire, the fire of the King of Kings, and took the opportunity to proclaim the lordship of the carpenter’s Son from Nazareth, the Son of the Living God. And, as kings like Herod tend to do when Jesus seems to be a threat to their supremacy, the High King of Ireland sent his soldiers out to put out the Easter fire, the fire of the Light of the World. His druids, it is said, told him that if Patrick’s bonfire burned the whole night through, then he would no longer be ruler of those lands.
They were right, in a way, and wrong in others.
Jesus doesn’t come to overthrow all earthly authorities, but to transform them, to renew them. He comes to make all men new, to sanctify those of us born and struggling here below, to draw us all into a new and eternal life and love. That has radical implications for the way the world works over the long haul, but in the short term, both Herod and the pagan king of Ireland were still in power to the end of their lives.
Patrick's fire
So Patrick’s fire burned the whole night through. Patrick had come back to Ireland to bring the Light of Christ. In his youth, he’d been taken prisoner, enslaved, and sold to an Irish master. Eventually, he’d made his escape, guided through faith and prayer. Once he’d regained his freedom, he went about becoming ordained a priest and bishop, and then set out to bring the Gospel to those who’d enslaved him.
Saint Patrick died at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland, on 17 March, though the year is disputed. Some say 493; others say 460 or 461.
As we celebrate his feast, let us ask St. Patrick's intercession for our country, our Church, and our local community. Let us turn to St. Patrick with trust in his powerful intercession, asking that he help convert our enemies into friends, into brothers and sisters in Christ, just as he did through his ministry to the Irish.
Saint Patrick, Apostle to the Irish, pray for us!
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