The story of the real St. Patrick

St. Patrick was a British youth born in the late 4th century. As a youth, he was uninterested in Christianity and shirked his scholastic duties for more libertine pursuits. Though he came from a Christian home, he remarks in His Confessions that he probably didn't even believe in God.

At age 16, he was taken captive by Irish raiders and brought to live as a slave in the Land of Erin (Ireland). After working as a shepherd for a time, he was later transfered to the ownership of the chief druid of the island where he learned the ways of the pagans, especially legends that a mystic figure named Iosa had visited the druids, proclaiming a mystic message the druids only understood in the hindsight brought by missionaries like Patrick. It was during this time that Patrick began to understand the faith of His fathers.

At age 22, Patrick was able to escape from the Ireland and bartered for passage on a ship living the Irish coast. It still took him a few years to arrive home, but he eventually did, settiling in for what he believed was a life of relative obscurity. This was until He had a vision of a man named Victorius with a stack of letters, on top of which was read "The Voice of the Irish". Each of these letters had a different Irish voice beging him "to come and walk among us once more". He was unable to read more, in his own words, feeling "stabbed in the heart" by the plantitive cries of his former captors. He had no choice but to return to Ireland.

St. Patrick was one of the many great lights largely responsible for the Preaching of the Gospel in Ireland. It was a distinctly Irish Gospel, using symbols like the three-leaf clover and the sun (a druid pagan symbol) to explain the message of salvation in a way people could understand. His underground movement attracted the persecution of several local kings who tried to stamp out this Spiritual revolution. The were eventually unsucessful as several times as the Lord rescued Patrick several times through Divine intervention, even once transforming him and his disciples into deer to escape the the angry intentions of their pursuers. Through this, and many other stories, Patrick has become a role model for the modern missions movement and a symbol of the vibrant spiritual life of the persecuted church, even today.

You can read Patrick's own account at

http://prayerfoundation.org/st_patricks_confession_1.htm

or for a great fictional rendition of the Patrick story read Patrick: Son of Ireland by Stephan Lawhead.

Happy St. Patrick's day!!!!

Daniel