|
My Favorite Prayers "St. Patrick's Breastplate" sometimes known as "The Deer's Cry" (The artistic depiction is a stained glass window in Saint Patrick's Cathedral in Armagh) |
|
The
Story of the Prayer of Saint Patrick
in 385 AD
to a wealthy
family
. . .
in Britannia (OR Britain)
. . .
enjoying the pleasures of life as a pampered aristocrat
captured by
barbarians
taken to another
land (Ireland) AND
. . .
forced into cruel slavery
gods and
goddesses
magical
practices
witchcraft
sorcery AND
. . .
evil spells
In
his turmoil in this dark land, young Patrick:
began to turn to
The God
he had willingly
neglected
. . .
as a youth
one night
Patrick heard a Voice
that told him
. . .
"soon you will go back to your own country."
another voice
that said
. . . "Your ship is
ready."
ran away from
his master
walked 200 miles
to shoreline AND
. . . found a ship bound for Britain
His
family was overjoyed to see him, BUT HE WAS:
different!
new man!
Christian! AND
. . . served God in every way he
could
of Irish people
pleading
desperately
. . .
for someone to come AND
. . .
preach the Gospel of Christ to them
When
he was fully prepared for missionary work:
his name was always passed over
by the Church Authorities
.
. . but finally at age of 47
.
. . he was sent as a missionary
. . .
to Ireland
And
Ireland would never be the same again!
was get the King of Ireland's attention
by breaking one of the sacred laws
of Irish paganism
.
. . Patrick built a massive fire
.
. . on the wrong hill
.
. . at the wrong time
.
. . NEAR the King's palace
Patrick
didn't know if:
he would live OR
he would die
. . . BUT HE WOULD PREACH TO THE
KING
to the Palace
Patrick and his
followers
. . . sang and chanted this hymn
More....
"Who
was this man Patrick, and what were his great accomplishments that so many
should celebrate him more than 1500 years after he left this earth? Like St.
Nicholas, whose identity has been utterly changed into that of a child's
Christmas fantasy, the name of St. Patrick is now more generally associated with
parades, "Kiss Me I'm Irish" buttons and green bagels than with the
great work of evangelization that was his life's work. But Patrick was, as
Nicholas, a real person.
Many details about Patrick are lost to us, but there is agreement on several
key facts. Patrick was not Irish; he was born on the island of Britain possibly
to a Roman family in about the year 387 AD. Raised in relative comfort, his
name in Latin was Patricius. At the age of 16 years, he was kidnapped by a
party of marauding Irish raiders, carried to Ireland, and sold into slavery. He
was sent by his Irish master to tend sheep on the misty hills of Ulster.
Miserable and alone, he turned increasingly to prayer. He served this solitary
exile for six years until in a dream God told him to flee from his captivity.
Walking a great distance to the coast, he found the ship that would take him
back to his family.
The reunion with his family was only temporary. In another dream, he described
hearing a call from the people of Ireland to come back to them and walk among
them. Patrick understood this as God's call to missionary service to go as a
Christian witness to the Irish. In answer to that call, he traveled to France
where he undertook studies for the priesthood. He was eventually ordained by St.
Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre.
Pope Celestine I eventually entrusted to Patrick the mission of evangelizing
the Irish, who, on their isolated island, were a pagan and warlike people
having never been conquered by the legions of Rome. Fulfilling his youthful
dream, Patrick, now a bishop in the company of several disciples, returned to
Ireland in March of the year 433 AD. He was almost 50 years old.
Not a great deal is known of Patrick's preaching, but he and his companions
were certainly fearless to approach such a fierce, unfriendly population with
faith their only protection. However, one story endures. It is that of his use
of the simple three-leafed Irish shamrock to illustrate to the high king at the
capital at Tara the nature of the Blessed Trinity - Three Persons in One God.
It is significant that the shamrock, the metaphor for God Himself, has come
down through the centuries as the symbol of the Irish people.
Thomas Cahill, author of "How the Irish Saved Civilization," points
out that one of the most remarkable things about St. Patrick's evangelization
of Ireland is that it was peaceful. Christianity had come to many other nations
in Europe at the point of a sword, only in the bloody aftermath of Roman
conquest. Not so Ireland. In those other cases, the conquered nations had
accepted Christianity. But in this case, Christianity had accepted Ireland. The
evangelizing work of Patrick and those who helped him and came after him was
completely successful.
Another of Cahill's observations is that this universal conversion fortuitously
came just in time for Christian Ireland to become the repository for almost 200
years of the culture and civilization of Christian Europe, which at that very
time was falling into the shadows of barbarian invasion. In due course,
Christian missionaries came out of Ireland bringing back to Europe that which
had lain beyond the reach of the invaders who had destroyed the Roman Empire.
It is not by accident that Ireland has been called the Isle of Saints and
Scholars.
From the days of St. Patrick, who died on March 17, 461, down to the present,
the Irish have been steadfast in their Christian faith. As a nation, they have
suffered much through the centuries. Perhaps the greatest sorrow is that so
many have been forced to wander far from the island to which Patrick came to
bring them spiritual life. It is not surprising then that when the sons and
daughters of Ireland celebrate who they are they do so on the feast of their
great spiritual benefactor."
- Kate O'Beirne
Murray Moerman (