It’s Saint Patrick's Day and someone asks, “Who was Saint Patrick, anyway?”
What would you say?
Patrick is best known for chasing the snakes out of Ireland, but there is so much to this man (who was actually not Irish) but whose robust faith changed the Emerald Isle forever.
Here are three things to know about St. Patrick:
Number 1: When Patrick was a teenager, he was kidnapped and enslaved by the Irish.
Patrick was born into a middle-class family in Roman Britain around 390 A.D. When he was a teenager, marauding Irish raiders attacked his home. Patrick was captured, taken to Ireland, and sold to an Irish king who put him to work as a shepherd.
In his excellent book, How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill described Patrick’s life: “The work of such slave shepherds was bitterly isolated. Months at a time spent alone in the hills.” Though Patrick had been raised in a Christian home, he did not really believe in God. But now hungry, lonely, frightened, and bitterly cold, Patrick began seeking out a relationship with his Heavenly Father. As he wrote in his confessions, “I would pray constantly during the daylight hours and the love of God surrounded me more and more.”
Number 2: God led Patrick out of slavery and into faith.
Six years after his capture, God spoke to Patrick in a dream, saying, “Your hungers are rewarded. You are going home. Look, your ship is ready.”
If he obeyed God’s voice and fled, Patrick would become a fugitive slave, constantly in danger of capture and punishment. But he did obey, and God protected him. The young slave walked nearly 200 miles to the Irish coast, where he boarded a waiting ship and traveled back to Britain and to his family.
But the restless young man could not settle back into his old life. Eventually, Patrick recognized that God was calling him to enter a monastery. In time, he was ordained as a priest, and eventually as a bishop. But he never forgot about Ireland.
Number 3: Thirty years after fleeing Ireland, Patrick returned as a missionary.
The Irish of the fifth century were a pagan, violent and barbaric people. Human sacrifice was commonplace. Patrick understood the danger and wrote, “I am ready to be murdered, betrayed, enslaved, whatever may come my way.” As Cahill noted, Patrick's love for the Irish can be seen throughout his writings. He worried constantly for their spiritual and physical welfare.
Through Patrick, God converted thousands. As Cahill put it, “Only this former slave had the right instincts to impart to the Irish a new story, one that made sense of all their old stories and brought them a peace they had never known before. Because of Patrick, a warrior-people lay down the swords of battle, flung away the knives of sacrifice, and cast away the chains of slavery.”
As with many Christian holidays, Saint Patrick's Day has lost much of its original meaning. But rather than merely settling for parades and cardboard leprechauns and wearing green, we ought to tell Patrick’s story. Though he didn't actually chase the snakes out of Ireland, as many believe. the Lord used St. Patrick to bring a sturdy faith to Ireland and to forever transform the Irish people.
So, the next time someone asks, “Who was Saint Patrick?” Remember these three things:
- When Patrick was a teenager, he was kidnapped and enslaved by the Irish.
- God led Patrick out of slavery and into faith.
- 30 years after fleeing Ireland, Patrick returned as a missionary.
What Would You Say?
What Would You Say? : Oct 8, 2025, 12:17:31 PM
