Wednesday, March 2, 2016

The Real Story of St. Patrick by Christine Lindsay



Just like all holidays, St. Patrick's Day takes on some ridiculous forms of celebration from green beer to dressing up in silly clothes.

There are some fantastical legends about St. Patrick, such as him banishing all the snakes from Ireland. While it’s true there are no snakes there, it wasn’t the saint to the Irish who managed that. Ireland is like New Zealand, Hawaii, and Iceland in that regard--just no snakes.

There are certain truths though that we can rely on about St. Patrick, from some of his own writing, The 
Confession and A Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus. It is true that Patrick was born around the year 389 and into a Christian family in Britain. His family were Romanized Britons and not nationals. His father Calpurnius was a magistrate and a deacon in the local church. 

Patrick was indeed kidnapped when he was around 12. 

He'd been out on his father's farm when Irish raiders captured him. He was taken to Ireland and sold as slave, spending the next 6 years as a sheep herder.

But like many of us, when bad things happen we often turn our sights toward God. It was while Patrick was a captive that his nominal Christian faith grew deeper. As a teen and a young man Patrick tried to shared his faith with his captors. Eventually Patrick did escape and made his way back to Britain to be reunited with his family. 

He was not a highly educated man, but did go to France and spent time as a monk in the Abby of Lerins in Gaul. One night Patrick dreamed that he heard a voice calling to him in the Irish language (Gaelic), “We beseech you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more.”  

While Patrick was not the first missionary to Ireland, he did return to Ireland as a bishop in 432. For the next 30 years until his death, his preaching and baptisms strengthened the already growing church. Due to Patrick’s promotion of the ascetic life of worship, he boldly went into areas that were firmly pagan, teaching the Irish Druids how to worship the Creator instead of His creation.  

He died and was buried in Downpatrick in N. Ireland, and I have been to his grave. 
My aunt, me, and my daughter Lana 2006

Like many ancient cultures, Ireland has a rich oral tradition, and while there is nothing in Patrick’s writings to confirm this, he probably did use a simple shamrock to explain the Trinity. Tradition says that St. Patrick picked up a shamrock, which in the Irish Gaelic language means diminutive clover, and explained that this little piece of flora was one leaf and yet it was made up of three leaves. 

The shamrock helped the Irish, including me as an Irish child, to understand an amazing aspect to God’s person: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, the Three in One.

Click on this link Londonderry Dreaming to hear some toe-tapping Irish music.

Irish-born Christine Lindsay is the author of multi-award-winning Christian fiction. She is currently writing her eighth book. To celebrate St. Patrick's Day, why not read some of Christine's books set in Ireland or that feature an Irish hero, check our Londonderry Dreaming and Sofi's Bridge coming May 2016.

Londonderry Dreaming available as an ebook, and Sofi's Bridge coming out in ebook and print May 2016.

11 comments:

  1. My knowledge of St. Patrick was limited to the VeggieTales episode--which lines up with what you've shared, by the way. Thanks for telling us what you know. Love having the inside story :)

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    1. Thanks Patricia, as a person born in Ireland it always strikes me so funny what people think about St. Patrick's Day. Glad I was able to tell you a bit about that godly man from so long ago.

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  2. Fascinating! I bet that was a wonderful trip!

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    1. It was a wonderful trip, and I hope to go again soon.

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  3. Excellent! What a far cry from green beer! I loved Ireland when I was there researching my Banks of the Boyne epic--years ago, but wonderful memories.

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    1. Yep, Donna, as we both know there is so much beauty in the British Isles and Ireland. I can't wait to go back again soon.

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    2. Yep, Donna, as we both know there is so much beauty in the British Isles and Ireland. I can't wait to go back again soon.

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  4. Nice, honest tribute. A great lesson too, for the green beer, shamrock and leprechaun fanatics! My cousin lives in beautiful Enniscron, County Sligo - do you know it?

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    1. No!!!! I didn't know that. I've been to Sligo only once and very briefly. Oh my, we have a lot in common.

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  5. So I had no idea there were no snakes in Ireland (or New Zealand and Hawaii for that matter)! My Irish ancestors were correct when they proclaimed it "a little slice of Heaven here on earth!"

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  6. Interesting post! It should go viral just for the cute dog in shades. Thanks for sharing a smile!

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