Patrick of Ireland
Patrick was a Romanized Briton who, at sixteen, was carried off by Irish raiders and sold as a slave. Tending his master’s pigs in hunger and cold, the nominal Christian turned to the God of his fathers. After six years he escaped, made his way home, and then, in obedience to a call he believed came from God, returned to Ireland as an evangelist. The traditional date for the start of his mission is 432.1
Daily I expect murder, fraud or captivity, but I fear none of these things because of the promises of heaven. I have cast myself into the hands of God almighty who rules everywhere.2 PatrickConfession
He preached across Ireland among the Celts, a people bound by superstition and the magic of the druids, often relying on local kings for protection. Humble about his lack of learning, he called himself “a sinner,” and he was one of the earliest Christians to speak out strongly against slavery.3 The legends of the snakes and the shamrock came much later.
His Legacy
Patrick helped establish a church close to the monastic ideal, in which power lay with the abbots and bishops were chosen by the monastic clergy. This Celtic pattern, so different from the diocesan order of Rome, sent missionaries such as Columba across Britain and Europe, until the Synod of Whitby aligned the English church with Rome. Protestants have long valued his Confession for its humble trust in the grace and providence of God.4
