Patrick, a saint for our time
Our patron saint’s core Christian message is as relevant today as ever, writes Alf Mccreary
ST Patrick’s Day today is a pale shadow of previous celebrations to honour our patron saint. Due to the pandemic, there will be no colourful street parades, no traditional church services, including the usual annual inter-church pilgrimage from Saul to Down Cathedral, though many services will be streamed. There will be no sporting events, like the Schools’ Cup rugby, or the Macrory Cup GAA finals, and very little to resemble a normal St Patrick’s Day.
There may, of course, be “Paddywhackery” house parties, some of which bring their own big problems and all of which which have nothing to do with the austere, yet loveable, man who brought Christianity to Ireland in the fifth century.
Patrick, who died some 1,561 years ago, is often depicted in stained-glass windows, greetings cards and banners as a shadowy, robed figure, largely lost in the mists of time. In reality, however, he has a remarkable resonance to our modern world.
As a slave, Patrick was trafficked to Ireland from Roman Britain.
“Trafficked” is a term sadly familiar in our time, but, after a period of imprisonment working as a swineherd here, he escaped.
Remarkably, however, in a later vision, he was called back to Ireland to spread the gospel and he returned voluntarily as a “migrant” missionary, another term which is all too familiar to us today.
During his tumultuous ministry in Ireland, he initially settled in Armagh, but later he shrewdly moved his ministry to the Downpatrick area, where new political rulers were in charge.
In pre-pandemic days, thousands of pilgrims made their way to his grave outside Down Cathedral, though some historians are not convinced that he was buried there — even though a cardinal had to make the tortuous journey from Rome to the burial ceremony, just to give it the official blessing from the Pope.
Patrick was an active and courageous missionary in fifth-century Ireland, which had its share of hard men and dodgy operators, as well as good people who embraced this new and challenging Christianity.
Our patron saint was also politically astute and was able to curry favour with the leading rulers of his day in order to gain converts and to further the Christian cause.
He was also capable of immense, righteous anger.
When a thuggish brigand from Wales, called Coroticus, sent a raiding party to Ireland and carried off a large number of recent Christian converts, including young females, who would undoubtedly become sex slaves, Patrick was incandescent with rage.
Patrick’s Confessio, his autobiography, written in rudimentary Latin — not unlike like the English idiom of some of today’s popular newspapers — underlines his deep humanity.
He begins by stating: “I, Patrick, a sinner, most unlearned, the least of all the faithful, and utterly despised by many.”
Patrick is reputed to have brought the message to Ireland far and wide, but in reality his
Irish travels are more limited than people suppose.
There are questions as to whether he really did go to Croagh Patrick, or Lough Derg, both of which are normally sites of annual Patrician pilgrimages. It was none other than the late Cardinal Tomas O’fiaich, a former Catholic Primate and a Professor of History at Maynooth, who claimed that “most of his missionary work took place north of a line running from Galway to Wexford... The saint who proclaimed himself as ‘the most unlearned of men’ must surely be enjoying the battles of scholars in pursuit of him.”
Despite such historic conjecture, there is solid evidence that Patrick did come to Ireland, that he was based largely in the north-east of the island and that he did bring Christianity here.
Patrick did not banish the snakes, because there were no snakes in the Ireland of his day either, but he tried to abolish practices which were distinctly un-christian.
Some scholars conjecture that the story of Patrick banishing the snakes was a colourful reference to this man of God banishing serpents, which were phallic symbols in his age of sexual promiscuity.
His great achievement was to establish a network of people and structures to enable the Irish church to grow and to become a civilising light of Christian culture.
However, what would he think of us today?
Undoubtedly, he would suffer an immense shock, because in his lifetime he truly believed that there was nothing beyond the shores of Ireland which, he thought, lay literally at the edge of the known world.
So, he would be utterly bewildered by our world of 2021 AD.
Casting that aside and supposing that Patrick was with us today, I think that he would be deeply distressed by the state of Ireland.
Instead of the one Holy Catholic Church, of which he was an ardent member, he would see two major Christian churches symbolised by the two great Armagh cathedrals named after him, but staring across the valley at each other in the Primatial City.
He would also be told that, after decades of virtual isolation from each other, the relationships are now much more tolerant and respectful than they have ever been, though with much still to be done.
Patrick would also discover that church-going, which used to be so obligatory in both main traditions, has now fallen off significantly.
Our patron saint would also note, sadly, the violence in Ireland, past and present, as well as the rampant materialism and secularism of modern Ireland, with its sexual mores, addictions and consumption far removed from the standards he tried to set.
On the other hand, he would note that large numbers of migrants have been integrated into modern Ireland, just as he was long ago.
Patrick would no doubt wish to continue preaching the basic message of Christianity, to which he had devoted his life, and to urge people today to trust and obey God and to treat and love their neighbours as themselves.
In 2021, St Patrick remains a worthy patron saint for us all. But the big question we should ask ourselves is this: are we still worthy of him?
‘Patrick didn’t banish the snakes because there were none in the Ireland of his day’