Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Being one-half Irish myself, I did a little research today on St. Patrick the man. He is typically remembered for supposedly driving the snakes out of Ireland, but in reality his greatest legacy is that he brought Christianity to Ireland.
Somewhere around the year 400AD, when he was a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. Ireland at this time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him. During his 6-year captivity he turned to God in prayer. Here is what he wrote in his journal,
“The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same.” “I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain.”
When he was 20, he had a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. There he found some sailors who took him back to Britian, where he reunited with his family. In Britain he began to study for the priesthood and returned to Ireland in 433AD to preach the gospel. He converted thousands to faith in Jesus, throughout his 40-year ministry to the irish people. He trained 1000 pastors, planted 700 churches, and was the first noted person in history to take a strong public stand against slavery.
He used the shamrock, the symbol of St. Patrick’s day, as a way of explaining the trinity.
As we celebrate this Patrick’s Day, let’s not think back to the man who drove the snakes out of Ireland, but the man whom God used to bring the gospel to a needy island. Let’s be men and women of prayer like St. Patrick and let God use us to bring the gospel to this needy land. Sláinte!
Thanks Bryan for a great reflection on the faith and ministry of St. Patrick. It’s wonderful to reclaim the true meaning of these kinds of originally Christian-based celebrations. I read that there are around 80 million people of known Irish descent scattered around the world (compared to around 6 million on the island of Ireland). About 14% of Canadians are reported to be of full or partial Irish descent of which I also am one. It is, I believe, the biggest diaspora of any people group. So if we pray for the Irish to reclaim this legacy of faith in the Triune God, we’re praying for a lot of people! I also thought of “How the Irish saved Civilization” by Thomas Cahill which is an interesting read and chronicles the ongoing legacy of the seeds Patrick planted by God’s grace.