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Green – the color of Ireland, the emerald isle; fostering the tradition of the wearing of green on St. Patrick’s Day. Images of a pugnacious character, with a look of defiant determination on his face and shamrocks abound. Pride in being Irish is expressed in parades and ceremonies all across the country. But beyond celebrating one’s Irishness, who was St. Patrick (Ireland’s patron Saint) and why should we remember and honor him?

Patricius, a Romanized Briton, was captured by slave-traders from Ireland at the age of 16. During his exile in the wilderness tending his captors cattle, he began to take seriously his neglected faith. He had thought priests foolish, didn’t really believe in God and hadn’t paid much attention to the Catholic/Christian teaching of his youth. He spent years in isolation suffering from the want of food, adequate clothing and shelter, lacking all the comforts of home he had been accustomed to in England; but he grew from a careless, care-free boy into a devout seeker of truth and found his place in the world as a result. He did indeed seek a way out of slavery but more importantly he sought God, and having found him he sought a place of service through him.

Patricius had a vision one night promising him release from bondage. Encouraged by this he walked two hundred miles to the eastern shore; upon his arrival convincing a commercial ship bound for the European continent to take him on as well, finally boarding another ship returning him to Britain. However, nothing was as he remembered it; he had grown up physically, emotionally, and spiritually. He was different from who he was at his capture and from who he might have become if he had not been. He grew restless at home in leisure and had dreams of the needy masses of Ireland asking him to return; feeling compelled to answer their pleas, he went first to an island monastery off the coast of Gaul and received training in the church’s theology. But he became known as St. Patrick, apostle to the Irish nation, not by learning the right words to say and rituals to perform, but by falling in love with its people. The hate and distrust of Irish for English and vise versa is deeply rooted and the resulting violence long practiced. For him, an Englishman, captured and treated harshly at best, to escape and then return to become the patron saint of these people is absolutely contrary to human nature and nothing short of miraculous.

Patrick succeeded beyond measure. Within his lifetime the Irish slave trade came to a virtual stand-still and most other violent crimes saw a marked decrease; this among a people noted throughout their early history as violent barbarians. He did not chase all the snakes from Ireland, he may have used the shamrock to explain the Trinity (now the national symbol); but he did confront kings and denounce the evils of his day as he befriended the friendless and downtrodden. Patrick dedicated the last thirty years of his life to leading his “warrior children” as he called them to Christ, convincing them to seize the everlasting prize – the kingdom of God – as opposed to seizing one another’s kingdoms. As Europe was rushing from peace to chaos as a result of the fall of Rome to the barbarian hordes of northern Europe , Ireland was just as quickly rushing from chaos to peace as the result of her introduction to the Prince of Peace almost single-handedly through Patrick. The direct result of his unceasing teaching of the gospel of love, forgiveness, and patience leading to a new sense of civility throughout the land and the preservation of much of the wisdom of the European continent to be rediscovered in years to come.

He did this by showing genuine concern expressed in loving action which spoke volumes to a poor, uncouth, even barbaric people. He showed them how to be brave, yet kind; how to be men of peace among warriors; how to be a warrior for people as opposed to being a warrior people. He gave them a living alternative, the words of Christ fleshed out in reality. As a result, Ireland became unique in religious history by being the only land of its time into which Christianity was introduced without bloodshed (although much has been shed in the intervening years) and yet this island nation was almost entirely “conquered” for Christ by the time of St. Patrick’s death. A people, their culture and way of thinking not wiped out and replaced – but changed, uplifted and refined; prepared to be used by God in far-reaching ways.

Irishmen, Scotsmen and many Scots-Irish people played pivotal roles in the early settlement of the American colonies and Irish pride is legitimate in their contributions to freeing those colonies from English rule; through which we gained many of the essential freedoms we still enjoy today. But the specter of the hard-drinking, hard-swearing, hard-living Irishman is a degeneration of the Irishman that grew out of St. Patrick’s work. Their contributions to freedom, economic well-being, education and unfettered religious practice is what should be remembered and applauded.

Englishmen and Irishmen – living together in peace, love, and prosperity. (If not fully realized then the ideal taking root as a result of their present uneasy peace.) Hard to imagine in a world where English and Irish have spent a lot of time, effort and money killing each other; and taking great joy in doing so. Let’s hope the example of Saint Patrick will speak fresh and new to all people today because the real message of St. Patrick is based in a deep-seated love of Christ and our fellowman, a genuine effort to understand as well as being understood, and a desire to serve rather than being served.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

"Refreshment in Refuge" from Gina Burgess

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