Who Was St. Patrick?
Parades, shamrocks, green clothes, and Irish pubs — all things we’ve come to associate with St. Patrick’s Day. Even though the Catholic Church deemed March 17 a religious feast day to commemorate St. Patrick, people of all religious or non-religious stripes celebrate him today.
But who was the man in green? Who was this figure that modern civilization celebrates every year? As it turns out, St. Patrick was a devout Christian who helped change the landscape of an entire country.
THE PRISONER
Although the dates aren’t certain, St. Patrick was born and raised in northern England around the year AD 390. At the time, this was the edge of the Roman Empire near Hadrian’s Wall. At age sixteen, Irish raiders came to his homeland and took him and thousands of others into captivity. Here’s his later reflections on these events:
I am Patrick, a sinner, most unlearned, the least of all the faithful, and utterly despised by many. My father was Calpornius, a deacon, son of Potitus, a presbyter of the village Bannaventa Berniae; he had a country seat nearby, and there I was taken captive. I was then about sixteen years of age and did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity to Ireland with many thousands of people — and deservedly so, because we turned away from God, and did not keep his commandments.1
Notice that Patrick tells us that his dad was a deacon and his grandfather a presbyter. That is to say, St. Patrick grew up in a Christian home, though he tells us he didn’t become a Christian until his Irish captivity. Furthermore, he believes his captivity was because his people had turned away from God.
THE CHRISTIAN
Having been taken away from his home and sold into slavery, Patrick turned to God as his source of strength. He wrote:
And there (in Ireland) the Lord opened the understanding of my unbelieving heart that I might at last remember my sins and be converted with all my heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my miserable state, and had mercy on my youth and ignorance, and watched over me before I knew him.2
While Patrick experienced the greatest difficulty of his life, God got a hold of his heart and helped him see his need of forgiving grace. Clearly, what the Irish meant for evil, God meant for good (Gen. 50:20).
Additionally, Patrick tells us that his time in slavery was spiritually enriching. One specific example was his prayer life:
But after I came to Ireland — every day I had to tend sheep, and many times a day I prayed — the love of God and his fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was moved so that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as many in the night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountains; and I used to get up for prayer before daylight, through snow, through frost, through rain, and I felt no harm, and there was no sloth in me — as I now see, because the Spirit within me was then fervent.3
Patrick, who began captivity with almost no religious inclinations became a devout Christian while a slave.
THE MISSIONARY
After six years of captivity, Patrick escaped back to his English homeland. We don’t know much about the next 10-20 years of his life, but it appears that he spent his time in preparation and informal theological training for an eventual return to Ireland as a missionary. Then around AD 430, he returned as a missionary to Ireland — the land of Celtic pagans — for the next thirty years.
Similar to the missionary stories of William Carey and John Paton, his companions tried to talk him out of going back to the Irish. He tells us:
Many tried to prevent this my mission; they would even talk to each other behind my back and say: Why does this fellow throw himself into danger among enemies who have no knowledge of God?4
Truth is, Ireland was a dangerous place for a Christian missionary. So much so, that Patrick had to repeatedly pay local kings to protect him as he traveled through their lands.On more than one occasion, Patrick mentions many converts, sometimes thousands of them, who came to Christ from “idols and filthy things” as a result of his ministry.5These converts ranged from slaves to the children of kings and queens. During his thirty years as an Irish minister, Patrick regularly preached, baptized, celebrated the Lord’s Supper, confirmed new converts, and ordained new ministers.6
THE TRINITARIAN
Despite no formal training, Patrick was a staunch proponent of orthodox Trinitarian theology. While he almost never quotes sources other than the Bible, one extended quote comes from a Trinitarian Creed. It runs as follows:
There is no other God, nor ever was in times past, nor will be hereafter, than God the Father unbegotten, without beginning, from whom is all beginning, who holds sway over all things, as we declare; and his Son Jesus Christ, whom we affirm most assuredly to have always been with the Father before the origin of the world, spiritually and ineffably begotten by the Father before all beginning, and by him all things visible and invisible were made; he was made man, and when death had been overcome, he was received into heaven beside the Father… and he has poured forth upon us abundantly the Holy Spirit, the gift and pledge of immortality, who makes those who believe and obey sons of God and co-heirs with Christ: it is him that we confess and adore, one God in the Trinity of the holy name.7
As a missionary in a polytheistic culture, Patrick’s articulation of Trinitarian theology was paramount. While not the Nicene Creed, Patrick’s confession closely resembles the confession that Christians universally accept.
ST. PATRICK
Over the course of thirty years, Patrick evangelized the pagan Irish world. As a direct result of his ministry, thousands of people came to Christ. More than that, the Gospel radically transformed the entire country of Ireland.
As we’ve seen, Patrick was a committed Christian. His commitment to Scripture, orthodox theology, prayer, and evangelism speaks volumes. He truly is deserving of the name St. Patrick.
So as St. Patrick’s day rolls around this weekend, I hope you’ll celebrate the day along with everyone else. But I hope you’ll celebrate it for different reasons. Go ahead and wear green (you don’t want anyone to pinch you after all) and remember the incredible Christian that was St. Patrick.
