In honor of St. Patrick's Day, I decided to post a "short" biography which I did for a class last semester. Through studying the man, I have found that I deeply respect his impact on global Christianity. I hope his story challenges and encourages you!
Before we dive into his life, I should note that very few primary sources exist which speak of Patrick. For some reason, Patrick was not a man of many letters. But, in God’s sovereignty, there are two writings of Patrick which still remain to this day. In preparation, I have mainly pulled biographical information from his writing entitled St. Patrick’s Confessions in which Patrick offers a sort of autobiography. They take a form much like the writings of St. Augustine and offer major details into Patrick’s life. With all this said, we will study what we know of the life of St. Patrick.
The Story
Patrick was born around the end of the Fourth Century in an unknown town of Britain to a middle-classed family. Britain was part of the Roman Empire; now, this bit of information is extremely important to our understanding of Patrick. During this time, the Roman Empire, which had held most of the world’s power for several centuries, was on the decline due to repeated invasions by barbarian countries; Ireland was one of these barbarian countries. Patrick, being of a strong Roman family, likely grew up hearing stories of these invasions which only furthered his disgust for these foreign lands.
Patrick’s father, Calpornius, was a deacon, and his grandfather, Potitus, was a priest. This leads us to know that his family had at least claimed to be Christian. Patrick, on the other hand, claims that he “did not recognize the True God” as a young boy in his early teenage years.[1] We can expect that Patrick was wrapped up in the material things of this world as a young child in a middle-classed family and took advantage of a family which claimed Christianity. In our modern American society, we can learn much from this statement from Patrick; how many of us are merely assuming our children to know about God because we claim Christianity?
Now, somewhat immediately in Patrick’s account, we jump to the first major event in Patrick’s life. Somewhere around the age of 16, Patrick was captured by a band of Irish raiders and brought back to Ireland as a slave; this was a fairly normal occurrence at the time, and Patrick probably knew exactly what was happening. Patrick knew that he was unlikely to see his family again as he would spend the rest of his life in Ireland. Then, in his account, he notes that this event was an act of God’s supreme sovereignty. He states that he, along with the others taken captive “fully deserved to suffer like this” due to sin in their lives![2] Now, how many of us would make this type of statement when taken captive? Instead of placing blame on the Irish raiders, he placed the blame on himself!
Patrick offers little information into his life in Ireland. He tells us that he spent most of his time as a shepherd in the fields of Ireland. During this time, Patrick spent numerous hours in prayer. After all, what else is there to do in the fields? He tells us that, through these prayers and reading of Scripture, “more and more the love of God and fear of him grew strong” within him.[3] Patrick had come to know the Lord! Do you see how beautiful this is? Patrick had been sent to Ireland as a slave but had been obtained freedom through Christ in that same wretched country! No wonder Patrick sees his slavery as God’s provision in his life! Once again, there is a small lesson to be learned here; we should not be quick to judge God’s provision. Many times, God uses the hard, tough circumstances to mold us into humble servants.
After nearly six years in captivity, Patrick received a series of dreams from God which tells him that he will soon travel back home to Britain. A few days later, Patrick is told to travel nearly 200 miles on foot, jump on a boat, and sail home. Patrick follows this escape plan and finds himself on a ship to Britain. At this point, his story is vastly similar to the story of the Israelites escaping Egyptian captivity. When the ship arrives at land, they spent several days lost in wilderness; as this happens, the crew begins to grumble and complain for lack of food. Much like the Exodus story, God provides the food. Also at this time, Patrick falls into some sort of temptation by Satan, and, at some point, he is taken into captivity again. We don’t know how long this lasted because the story immediately jumps to him arriving at home in Britain. Once again, God’s sovereignty is shown throughout this story!
Arriving at home, Patrick tells of his warm reception followed by a strange dream. In the dream, he is met by a man named Victoricius who gave Patrick a letter.[4] The short letter began with the words, “The Voice of the Irish”, and continued to say, “Holy broth of a boy, we beg you, come back and walk once more among us”.[5] This dream led him to believe that God was calling him back to Ireland. Isn’t this absurd? Why on earth would God call him back to his place of captivity? Even more, why would Patrick listen to this? Well, Church, the answer is simple: Patrick believed that God had love for all peoples of all nations. Patrick doesn’t seem to question this calling and begins preparation into the ministry. For the rest of his life, Patrick can’t help but to hear and remember “the pleading of their voices”.[6]
Once again, the story leaves a huge gap. We know that he spent several years in preparation and debate as to his role as a bishop. Patrick offers insight that there were several people who didn’t agree that he was qualified to go to Ireland. In fact, this is a huge reason for him writing this Confession. Nonetheless, Patrick went to Ireland and served among the people until his death around the end of the Fifth Century. While serving in Ireland, we know that he baptized many people and led them into a life of biblical holiness; he had a passion for the monastic lifestyle, which he talked several into seeking; years later, although Patrick was not the first Christian missionary to Ireland, his name would be synonymous with Irish Christianity. This great man, who had once been forced into slavery among these people, gave the rest of his life in willing service for their souls. He most likely died on March 17, the day traditionally attributed to his death and celebrated to this day, and will forever be known as “Patrick of Ireland”.
