Since March is the month noted for the celebration of St. Patrick, before the month was over, I thought it would be nice to find out some trivia about the popular saint.

St. Patrick

Yep, St. Patrick dabbled with paganism while he was a teenager.  I’m sure his parents weren’t thrilled since they were Christians.  Just goes to show you that teenagers drove their parents nuts 2,000 years ago too.  Not sure if that makes anyone feel better, but at least you parents of teenagers can know that your misery has been shared by parents just like you for many, many years.  Of course, he could blame the people to whom he was a slave for introducing the practice to him.  [All said tongue-in-cheek!]

Here’s what I found out:  Patrick was born of fairly high rank in the land now known as Scotland around the year 387.  His parents, were considered Britons because of where they lived, but were also Roman citizens.  His father’s family name was Calphurnius and his mother was called Conchessa.  Some stories say she was niece to St. Martin of Tours. When he was about 14 or 16, he was captured from his home by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland to herd and tend sheep and cattle.  Ireland at that time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him, probably not voluntarily.  There are a couple of St. Patrick’s original writings that have survivied the centuries.  At some point during his captivity, he turned  back to God.  He wrote,

“The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same.” “I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain.”

He existed there for six years before gaining his freedom.  He escaped after having a dream in which he was told, he believed by God, to leave Ireland by going to the coast.  There he found some sailors who took him back to Britian, where he reunited with his family.  So, I’m sure, that when his family saw him again, they really didn’t care what he had done while being held in Ireland!  I’m sure they were just ecstatic that he was home.  After six years of hell though, he probably wasn’t the same person inside as the boy that was taken all those years ago.

He studied to become a priest, was ordained a bishop and returned to Ireland to preach to and convert the pagan people there.  Saint Patrick’s day is observed on March 17, the date of Patrick’s death.  He is believed to have died around the year 493, but have would have made him a mighty old man.

I’ll post more later on his life during his preaching days in Ireland.  There are so many interesting facts about Patrick it’s too much to put into one post!

Blessings!

Deneen