What comes into your mind when you think about St. Patrick’s Day? Is it the parades, the waves of green, and everyone getting to be ‘Irish for the day’? Is it a day of binge drinking with your friends on the lot? Even in the most innocent of descriptions about St. Patrick’s Day, one thing seems to be consistently forgotten: St. Patrick himself. How is it possible that we celebrate the Feast of St. Patrick on March 17th, and yet so many people ignore its actual purpose? All of these questions find their answers in how secular our society has become, in our ignorance of religious feasts and our focus on earthly desires. So, then: who is this St. Patrick, and why does he deserve to be appreciated with something other than binge drinking?
St. Patrick was a brilliant 5th century Saint who was responsible for bringing the entire island of Ireland to Christ. He was a gifted evangelist, so he could explain the fundamentals of the Christian faith to the pagans in Ireland in a way that made sense. For example, St. Patrick used his famous shamrock to explain the Trinity to the pagans, who were able to grasp the concept of Threeness from their own faith. With this foundation, Patrick was able to teach the Truth and establish the Church in Ireland. Since the Irish were deeply steeped in oral tradition, it is unfortunate that many of Patrick’s works are not written down like those of of equally popular saints. We know of Patrick mostly through his Confession and the tradition of the Church that speaks about his bravery and miracles. His bravery was seen in his ability to speak directly to the Pagan Kings of Ireland, to their druids, and to ignore the threats of violence that resulted from his attempt to convert them. His miracle-working and effectiveness was seen in his conversion of those same people who threatened him and success in saving their souls. How great is this Saint that, while staring down imminent danger, he did all things for Christ?
To understand the Patrick that exists in tradition, it is important to understand the Saint from his own perspective in his Confession. The Confession begins with the following admission: “My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers.” As we think of our own lives as believers, and I think particularly of my own life, we must note that this is a man who genuinely believes that he, a sinner, is the least of all believers. This man is a Saint and the Confession is his defense of not seeking any ulterior motive in baptizing the Irish. He views himself as a lowly person who deserves neither status nor riches. Later in the Confession, Patrick discusses the temptation that he faces constantly in the pagan society, but he adamantly protects himself from those who wish him ill. He puts all his trust into the Lord. Patrick survived slavery, torture, 12 dangers (and many more that lay hidden, which Patrick spares his reader from seeing), with the confidence that the Lord was the author of his protections. To put it simply: Patrick was a Saint who was indebted to God for his freedom and, rather than using his earthly freedom for his own pleasure, decided to use that freedom to win souls for God. In his Confession, Patrick describes a portion of his life’s journey and how God, in all His mercy, helped Patrick to win over thousands of souls in Ireland during the 5th century onward.
One story of St. Patrick is worthy of note in that it has been passed down in the Church through the centuries as a ‘small “t” tradition’ because its credibility is questionable, due to Ireland’s oral history. The tradition regards his 40 days fasting and praying on Croagh Patrick, one of the holiest mountains in Ireland. His intention, for those 40 days, was to pray for the salvation of the Irish people in present and future generations. In such an intense period of prayer, Patrick communicated with God through an angel and petitioned that, when he would be in Heaven, no unbeliever of Christ would ever hold Ireland. One of the most famous parts of his petition is his request that when “the twelve royal seats shall be on the Mount, and when the four rivers of fire shall be about the Mount, and when the three peoples shall be there - that is, the people of Heaven, the people of Earth, and the people of Hell - I myself shall be judge over the men of Erin on that day.” The angel told him that the Lord would not grant his request, so Patrick resolved to remain on the mountain until it was granted - with the stipulation that someone would follow in his place to fast should he die in the process. Patrick was then blessed with the proclamation that, “all creatures, visible and invisible, including the twelve Apostles, entreated, and they have obtained what you have requested.” This powerful proclamation may lack a base in theology, but the sentiment stands that Patrick intensely desired to save the Irish and wishes to watch over them through his intercession until the Judgement Day. No witnesses to his claim exist, since Patrick was alone on the mountain for 40 days, but if we are to trust in his claim, Patrick prayed for the intercession of all of Heaven to grant his request. While Christ is the judge, the sons and daughters of Ireland and their worldwide descendants should have some hope that St. Patrick is praying for them every day - including on that final day.
Patrick was truly a man of God and a man who humbled himself before the foot of the Cross. It is egregious that we have decided as a society to embrace drinking culture rather than to prostrate ourselves before Christ. We must ask ourselves: how would the Saint himself want us to celebrate his Feast Day? To put it simply, we ought to use our reason to come to love God rather than lose our reason in loving temporary pleasures. If you are of Irish descent, you have a powerful patron in St. Patrick, who loved the Irish people so greatly that he was granted God’s grace to live over one hundred years and see the establishment of the traditions and foundation of the Church in Ireland. We are called to be Christians every day and bear the suffering that comes with our faith. Let us pray for the intercession of our powerful patron, St. Patrick, that we may have the faith to earnestly honor our Irish heritage on his Feast Day rather than submit to the drunkenness of the world. To end with a final quote from St. Patrick in his Confession:
“I pray for those who believe in and have reverence for God. Some of them may happen to inspect or come upon this writing which Patrick, a sinner without learning, wrote in Ireland. May none of them ever say that whatever little I did or made known to please God was done through ignorance. Instead, you can judge and believe in all truth that it was a gift of God. This is my confession before I die.”
““While Christ is the judge, the sons and daughters of Ireland and their worldwide descendants should have some hope that St. Patrick is praying for them every day —including on that final day.”
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