To the generosity of my scholar I owe several extracts of Patrick's life, which I now share with you, arranged in proper order. So for today, you will read nothing but the following:
13In the year AD 387 there lived a respected family of Roman origin in an area of the north-western coast of Gaul, in what is now Boulogne. The father held the office of senator and later deacon. They had a son, who was abducted from the coast of Armorica as a boy, taken captive, and taken to Ireland. Here a man named Milcho bought him as a slave, and Patrick had to herd his sheep. As he was wandering by himself across the mountains in the Dál Riada area (today's county Antrim), deep sighs and hot prayers to God often escaped him. God sees what is hidden and introduced him deeper and deeper to self-knowledge, strengthening his faith in the Redeemer and his love of truth. For six years Patrick had been a slave, when suddenly the yearning for freedom awoke in him more strongly than ever. When he was dreaming, a voice told him that he would soon see his homeland, because a ship would be ready for him. Therefore in the seventh year of his imprisonment he fled to the south-western
coast of Ireland, where the captain of a merchant ship took him on board after some reluctance. It is said that there was a law in Ireland according to which a slave was granted freedom in the seventh year, and many people think that Patrick obtained his freedom in this manner. Before long he disembarked on the coast of Gaul and was reunited with his relatives and friends. From then on he had only one wish: to make up for the lost years of boyhood by diligent study. The famous monastery of St. Martin, near Tours, seemed to be suitable for this purpose, and after a four-year stay he was consecrated. But Ireland remained deeply imprinted on him, and whether waking or dreaming, it occupied his soul. Once a messenger from Ireland appeared to him in his dream, carrying countless letters, one of which bore the inscription: ‘The voice of the Irish’. And it seemed to him that he heard human voices from the western seas, out of the forest of Foclut,14 who cried out, ‘Please, holy youth, do come and walk among us as before!’ ‘My heart was touched so deeply’, St. Patrick relates, ‘that I could not read any more — and I woke up.’ — The things he tells us in his simple way, have no tinge at all of the miraculous, with which the legends about his life usually abound. From that dream, which to some extent naturally follows from a fervent and pious imagination, one can only see how dear Ireland must have been to him, and that he was already thinking of doing sacred work. He was in his thirtieth year when he committed himself to the spiritual guidance of St German of Auxerre,
and in 429 he followed him and Lupus to England to purge that country of the Pelagians' errors. Nine years later, we find him in a monastery at Lerins, a lonely island on Lake Tuscany. The quiet seclusion and communication with the friars there contributed much to render him more and more capable for his future occupation. At that time Pope Celestine decided to send missionaries to Ireland as well, and he selected Palladius who was a deacon of the Roman Church, and later Ireland's first bishop. Although he converted some souls to Christianity, soon his enemies forced him to flee, and after being shipwrecked by a storm on England's northern coast, he died at Fordun. So much is certain that God had chosen not Palladius, but St. Patrick as his instrument for the conversion of Ireland. St. Patrick, having been sent from St. Germain to Rome, had received permission from the Pope to go to Ireland as a missionary just after Palladius had already arrived there. After Palladius' death, what was more natural than to receive Patrick happily who had just travelled through France, and to appoint him his successor. In Ebora he was consecrated bishop, and after a short stay in England he soon landed near Dublin.15 In some places of Leinster he met with resistance; this circumstance and his desire to convert the old Milcho, the longing to see the area again where he had spent his youth, moved him to go to Strangford (in today' s
barony of Lecale). Once he met a shepherd who, seeing the missionary and his companions, hastened to tell his master that pirates roamed the area. Soon the chieftain himself appears, it is Milcho, and vehemently he attacks the alleged robbers. But when he spots St. Patrick, he feels so surprised by the pious expression of his features, by his mildness and calmness that he lowers his raised weapon, inviting everyone to his dwelling. Even the tough heart of Milcho could no longer resist St. Patrick's love, and so he and his pagan house mates abandoned their idols. In a barn that belonged to the chieftain, the saint now held his services, and therefore the unsightly temple was called Sabbul Padruic or Patrick's barn. He preferred this place over all the others, just like the mountain where he had often prayed before as a slave. One day when he visited those dear places and Milcho again, to his dismay he found him returned to heathendom and refusing to speak to him. However, soon Patrick was comforted by the faith of a young man whom he named Benignus because of his kindness. From his conversion onwards Benignus became his constant companion, and after Patrick's death Benignus was appointed his successor and bishop of Armagh. The saint and Benignus pitched their tents in Slane. It was before Easter time, when they lit the fire at dusk, as was the custom in the church at that time.
On the same evening King Loegaire had gathered with his princes for the pagan feast of Bealtaine. Their law forbade any fire until the great pillar in the palace of Tara was lit. But too late! Patrick's Easter fire was already burning and to the amazement of the royal court it could be spotted from the heights of Tara. Now Loegaire asked anxiously who dared break the law. And the magicians and druids, almost with a sense of prophecy, answered him: ‘If this fire does not go out tonight, it will burn forever; it will rise above all the fires of our oldest divine services, and he who has lit it can become a destroyer of our kingdom.’ Immediately St. Patrick was summoned. The princes were sitting in a circle on the grass, and one, Herc, Dego's son, shaken by the noble appearance of the pious man, jumped up to greet him; Patrick answered their questions plainly, and informed them about the essence of his mission. Everyone listened to him with such pleasure that on the following day he was asked to preach in the palace. There, in front of the gathered court, he testified to his faith and after contending with the magicians overcame them by the Word of Truth. On that day the famous poet Dubtach was converted, who wanted to write poetry only about religious objects from then on; and the king, who was struck by the power of the sermon, exclaimed: ‘I had rather believe than die!’. And in fact, he did not put any obstacles in the way of the missionary effort. Even though Patrick had to confess that the Gospel was accepted mainly
by the poor, the higher classes, kings and princes were also converted. The women in particular received his words willingly, and he himself relates that he once baptized a young lady from Scotland, who was very beautiful and witty. But that meaningful dream, the voice of the Irish, was still on his mind, and so it came to pass that he crossed the forests on the western seashore inspired by that memory. One day, various circumstances forced him to go further and further west; the night had fallen, and Patrick and his companions camped at a spring. As soon as the morning dawned, and they commenced their devotion, they sang a hymn of praise. Meanwhile, the king's two daughters, Ethenea and Fethlimia, had approached the spring to bathe. How amazed they were to see these men, who were standing right there in white robes, and holding books in their hands, and of course they asked: ‘Are you supernatural beings or humans?’ Patrick seized that opportunity to introduce them to the true God and our Lord Jesus Christ, because they were burning with desire to know where God dwelt, whether in heaven or on earth, on mountains or in valleys. Soon they were convinced of the truth of his words, and received baptism at that spring. They also consecrated their lives from that day on to the ministry of their redeemer and the church. At the same time, the missionary overthrew the idol Crom Cruach in the county of Leitrim and built a church in his place.
Wherever he went, he baptized many souls eager for salvation. Here and there the churches, which he provided with priests who were his disciples, increased in number, and took over the work he had begun to build. Sometimes however, he deprived himself of all contact and especially in Lent he kept fasting and praying for a long time on the lonely mountain that was called the Eagle.16 Legend tells that flocks of sea birds and birds of prey, frightened by the sight of a human being in such a solitude, turned into demons, trying to disturb the saint's devotions. From here he went to Tir-amalgaidh, now Tyrawley, near the forest of Foclut where the messenger had called him in his dream. He came to this area after the king's death, when his seven sons were fighting fiercely for the throne. But no sooner did they hear St. Patrick's words than they were moved to peace and believed, and twelve thousand pagans were baptized at the same time with them. But he did not lack enemies either who despised his teaching, and once his life was even in great danger. A chieftain called Tailge sought to kill him as soon as he passed through the king's county. But Odran, who was leading Patrick's cart and noticed the assault, asked him to swap seats. So it happened that Odran was thought to be the saint, and it was he who received the deadly blow. It is remarkable that during the heathen conversion on this island this was the only blood shed by an Irishman's hand. Later, when Patrick
visited Lecale, the captain of a band of robbers sought his life. But God foiled these attempts this time too, and the robber became a believer. Maccaldus, as he was called, was overcome with deep remorse, now asked the holy man to impose penitential exercises on him for his misdeeds. To this end, Maccaldus was to leave Ireland immediately and confide in the waves, all alone in a weak vessel; he was not allowed to take anything with him but a short robe. He was to go ashore where the wind would take him and then dedicate his life to God. He obeyed; the wind guided his boat to the Isle of Man, where two pious bishops kindly received him responding to him with a lot of wisdom, as his spiritual state required. Maccaldus became more and more faithful, and his conduct was impeccable. He was universally loved, and later appointed bishop of the island. Dubthach, the poet, too, remained constant in his faith, for on a journey through Leinster the apostle visited the poet in his abode in Kinsellagh, where they edified one another by spiritual conversations. There Patrick was glad to witness that Fiech17 Dubthach's disciple, confessed his faith in Christ; after being ordained priest he later worked with love and holy zeal as Bishop of Slatty (recte Armagh).After all the provinces of Ireland were filled with the Gospel and the churches were multiplying, St Patrick deemed it necessary to establish an episcopal see and chose the district of Macha. Here, where once the royal
castle of Emania had been, later Patrick's episcopal see, knowns as Armagh, towered, and Salhul18 which was in the barony of Lecale, the area where he had first preached the Gospel. In AD 465 in Salhul he suddenly felt death approaching, and now he wished to die in Armagh, although on the journey there he felt inwardly impelled to return, because it would be his fate to spend his last hours in Salhul. Eight days later he passed away on 17 March, at the age of 78. As soon as the news of his death spread, all the bishops and priests rushed to the burial of the beloved man. All through the night they kept singing psalms at the side of the cherished corpse and it is said so many torches were burning that the night seemed transformed into day. At this point Benignus was elected as Bishop of Armagh, according to the apostle's wishes, who had said of him: ‘He will be the heir of my power.’ Several men, such as Fortunatus, Columba, also known as Columb Cille, were lights of the church. About Columba the following is said: "la lumière que St. Columban répandit par son savoir et sa doctrine dans tous les lieux où il se montra, l'a fait comparer par un écrivain du même siècle au soleil dans sa course de l'orient a l'occident. II continua après sa mort de briller dans plusieurs disciples qu'il avait formés aux lettres et à la piété." ("The light that St Columba spread by his knowledge and his doctrine everywhere where he showed himself, has made a writer of the same century compare him to the sun on its course from east to west. After his death he continued to shine through a number of his disciples who he had trained in arts and piety.") ( Histoire littéraire de la France.)At that time, Ireland was known throughout Europe as ‘the holy island, or the island of saints and
of believers’. Soon St. Brigid established the first convent and called it Cill Dara, ‘cell of the oak’, because of a high oak tree that characterized this place. As late as the twelfth century, its trunk still stood out as a relic of venerable times, for nobody dared cut it down.According to Usher, the Church founded by St. Patrick in Ireland was independent of the Roman Church insofar as it subjected itself strictly to the Gospel; its confession of faith was that of the Lutheran Church until the time when the supremacy of the Roman episcopal see was asserted in the canon of one of the first Irish synods. For once there had been contention about the celebration of Easter, and since the canon required that all questions were to be submitted to the head of all cities, a deputation was immediately sent to Rome, and — in exchange — received Roman malpractices. However, their monasteries kept the strictest discipline for a long time. Soon pilgrimages were ordered in which princes took also part, as the annals report. Statutes, errors and human opinions proliferated.
But now it is time for me to let St. Patrick go, no matter how much I have come to love his life. You see, dear father, that I have been browsing some dusty folios for his sake, and so I hope you will also credit me with this unusually prolix and lengthy epistle.