Today is Saint Patrick’s Day, which means, at least in America, a sea of green t-shirts, drunken parties with green beer, shamrock and leprechaun decorations, and a borderline disrespectful hyperbole of Irish Culture. The more conservative observers might limit their enjoyment to a McDonald’s Shamrock Shake or eat a bowl of luck charms for breakfast, and even those who do not observe the festivities try to at least wear something green, less they be derided by their peers. Almost nowhere do people actually discuss the individual for which the holiday was named, and I find that to be a shame.
Now, if you did manage to ask someone what they knew about Saint Patrick, most would be able to tell you that he is the patron Saint of Ireland (that one is kind of obvious) and several might even mention that he banished all the snakes from Ireland – a remarkable miracle, seeing as there are no longer any snakes in Ireland (save for people’s pets). In fact, there really never have been any snakes in Ireland, so either Patrick was able to erase them completely from Ireland’s history, or perhaps the legend of Patrick the snake banisher is really a metaphor for something else, an event that morphed into myth over time. I seek to set the record straight on who Patrick really was, to explain what the stories about him reveal about the actual Saint Patrick, so that he might be rightly and properly honored this Saint Patrick’s Day.
To start out one must realize that Patrick was not Irish – He was British. The son of a deacon and the grandson of a priest, Patrick had a Christian upbringing, but was not very devout in his youth. This changed after he was kidnapped as a teenager and sold into slavery in Ireland, where he desperately began to pray to God to keep him alive, and to help him escape. After six years of prayer and work, God began to talk back, letting him know that he would have a chance to escape back to his home. After a daring escape and an intense journey he arrived back home, but in time heard God calling him back to the people of Ireland.
Now, it should be stated that at this time, Ireland was not a very welcoming to Christians. The emerald isle was one of the most pagan places in the world at the time, full of druidic teachings, with some rumors of human sacrifice and cannibalism as common practices. Patrick returned to Ireland with little more than his prayers, his message, and the gospel – he wasn’t even ordained as a bishop, some prior sin in his life disqualified him from such ordination – and he comes head to head with the druids, the pagan religious leaders, said to wield magic, who watched over the land for generations. Perhaps these druids are the “snakes” that Patrick banished from Ireland, less than 100 years later they were all but forgotten, as over 90% of the inhabitants of Ireland were baptized into Christianity.
There are numerous stories of the different ways Saint Patrick led clan leaders to accept Christ, some of them involve miracles such as healing the sick or raising animals back to life, some of them involve him battling demonic spirits, all things in line with the idea of a solitary Saint standing against pagan beliefs practices and rituals. Some key themes reveal themselves though in these myths. Patrick preached forgiveness and generosity, when someone tried to hurt him and fell ill, Patrick would pray for them to be healed, and then the person, upon being healed, would convert to Christian beliefs. Patrick famously had to forgive the man who once owned him as a slave, and ended up baptizing him as a brother in Christ.
Patrick also had a bit of a rebel rousing spirit. One tale suggests that he angered the druid when he lit a peschal fire for his Easter celebration, during the druid celebration of Beltane – a hedonistic fertility celebration – when fires were not supposed to be lit until a certain time. The druids tried to use magic to put out the fire, but to no avail, instead the “fire” of Christianity spread throughout all the island. In other tales Patrick went up on a mountain and fasted for 40 days, much like Moses or Jesus, a sheer challenge of faith, and the myths say he battled demon on the mountain, some of which are directly tied to the old Irish mythological beings like the Tuath de Dannen.
Are these tales true? The details have likely been embellished overtime, but they may be rooted in true events. Patrick probably did fast for 40 days, and “battled” in prayer against the spiritual darkness of Ireland. Patrick might have lit a fire for his Easter celebration to spite the druids, though the idea of fa magical duel with the druids seems overstated, in truth, his presence lit a metephorical fire the druids couldn’t quench.
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In fact, Patrick so dismantled druidism during his life ant the few following generations, that he might be to thank for the very concept of “fairytales.” Before Patrick came along Irish mythology was full of legends and stories of mysterious spiritual beings, “fey-folk,” and creatures with magical cauldrons full of riches. when Patrick came and proved to the peopel that these were false deities, many of these stories went from scary mythology, to stories to tell children at night. The spirits became sprites and fairies, magical woodland creatures, and leprechans with their pots of gold.
But what really stand out about Patrick’s life are his teachings. He used a shamrock as a parable to explain the Trinity – the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit – three persons, but one God. The Shamrock has three leaves on one stem. Honestly, that’s as good as an explanation of the Trinity as I have ever seen, and it shows Patrick taking the inclination of the Irish to honor nature (as the druids did) to teach a profound truth. Another great testament to Patrick’s teaching is the Lorica of Patrick, also called Saint Patrick’s breastplate. This is a poetic prayer that first appears several centuries after Patrick but was attributed to him and is likely inspired by his own prayers. It is a prayer for God’s guidance and protection even picturing Christ as an all encompassing shield around the person praying.
I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation.I arise today
Through the strength of Christ’s birth and His baptism,
Through the strength of His crucifixion and His burial,
Through the strength of His resurrection and His ascension,
Through the strength of His descent for the judgment of doom.I arise today
Through the strength of the love of cherubim,
In obedience of angels,
In service of archangels,
In the hope of resurrection to meet with reward,
In the prayers of patriarchs,
In preachings of the apostles,
In faiths of confessors,
In innocence of virgins,
In deeds of righteous men.I arise today
Through the strength of heaven;
Light of the sun,
Splendor of fire,
Speed of lightning,
Swiftness of the wind,
Depth of the sea,
Stability of the earth,
Firmness of the rock.I arise today
Through God’s strength to pilot me;
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s word to speak for me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s hosts to save me
From snares of the devil,
From temptations of vices,
From every one who desires me ill,
Afar and anear,
Alone or in a multitude.
I summon today all these powers between me and evil,
Against every cruel merciless power that opposes my body and soul,
Against incantations of false prophets,
Against black laws of pagandom,
Against false laws of heretics,
Against craft of idolatry,
Against spells of women and smiths and wizards,
Against every knowledge that corrupts man’s body and soul.
Christ shield me today
Against poison, against burning,
Against drowning, against wounding,
So that reward may come to me in abundance.Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.I arise today
Through a mighty strength, the invocation of the Trinity,
Through a belief in the Threeness,
Through a confession of the Oneness
Of the Creator of creation
What I am trying to say is this, Patrick was a real man who did amazing things that lead to the salvation and transformation of nearly an entire nation within just a few generations. He is the gold standard for missionaries, one person with the simple goal of spreading the Gospel, with the conviction to actually see it through, and a prayer life that did indeed work miracles. And today we honor him by… getting drunk and participating in some of the very debauchery he worked so hard to uproot.
What if instead we took time today to pray his prayer? Asking God to so encircle us with his presence that when people see us they see Christ? What if today we tried to forgive those around us who have taken advatage of us in the past. What if today instead of drinking beer, or ale, or Guinness, or even our Shamrock Shakes, we take time to be generous with each other, and give others something or share something with each other.
There is nothing wrong with wanting to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day, but I encourage you to try and remember the man who’s life and legacy we are celebrating. Even if only for a moment, remember the man who was called to go and bring light to the very darkness he barely escaped, the man who in one lifetime changed an entire nation, the man who banished the “snakes” from Ireland. And if in your celebrations you absolutely must have a Guinness or a Shamrock Shake, at least raise your glass in honor of one of the greatest missionaries who ever lived.