In wintry late February and early March as the winds blow, we happily observe the seasonal reminders of Saint Patrick’s Day, exhorting “the luck of the Irish” for all well-wishers.
This year, as we enjoy Shepherd’s Pie and a pint of Smithwick’s Irish Ale with family and friends, consider the man behind the legend.
In tapping into Saint Patrick’s legacy, foremost in the Philadelphia Main Line is the stained glass window depicting this iconographic man of Christ, an image which is part of a collection housed at Saint Margaret of Antioch Roman Catholic Church in Narberth.
Beautifully crafted and reminiscent of the style of Augusto Giacometti, a Swiss-born artist who lived from 1877 to 1947, these museum-quality images stir intellect, heart, and spirit.
According to the parish description, “Patrick is pictured in a legendary pose— holding up a shamrock, in his right hand, to teach about the Trinity. His heritage includes the Irish monks who traveled around Europe during The Dark Ages.”
“These men founded monasteries in France, Switzerland, Italy, and Germany, as far east as Kiev (sic) in Russia and as far west as Iceland in the North Atlantic.”
Through the research of the Irish historian Tarlach O’Raifeartaigh, it has been corroborated that in A.D. 387 Patrick was born in Britain of a Romanized family.
Yet, at age 16, Patrick was seized by Irish raiders from the villa of his father, Calpurnius, a church deacon and minor local official, and carried into slavery in Ireland.
As a young man, Patrick spent six bleak years in slavery, working as a herdsman in Ireland until he “heard” in a dream that the ship in which he was to escape Ireland was docked in an Irish port and ready to sail to Britain.
Thus, Patrick was able to escape his Irish owner, Miliucc, and return to his homeland and family. He was educated as a priest and after a vision and requested that he return to Ireland to bring the Gospel to the people there.
Saint Patrick is known only for two short works, both composed in Latin: “Confessio,” a spiritual autobiography, and “Epistula ad Coroticum, a Letter to Coroticus,” a denunciation of British mistreatment of Irish Christians.
The best-known passage in Saint Patrick’s “Confessio” tells of a dream, after his escape from slavery in Ireland, in which one Victoricus delivered him a letter titled “Vox Hiberionicum,” “The Voice of the Ones Living in Ireland.”
Despite his doubts about the quality and extent of his religious education and his abilities to convert the fiery Irish tribes to Christianity, Saint Patrick did heed the voice of Victoricus in the dream, guiding him to return to Ireland and to work among the uncivilized Irish.
Patrick spent 30 years in Ireland as a missionary and bishop, evangelizing and baptizing many thousands of people. He confronted violent pagan practices such as human sacrifice and spoke out unequivocally against human slavery, especially the brutal enslavement of women.
In “How The Irish Saved Civilization,” author and scholar Thomas Cahill summarizes, “Patrick found a way of swimming down to the depths of the Irish psyche and warming and transforming the Irish imagination – making it more humane and more noble, while keeping it Irish.”
There is an Irish prayer – called “Saint Patrick’s Breastplate” – associated, perhaps romantically, with Saint Patrick. In this prayer, the reader learns that the universe itself is the “Great Sacrament,” mystically designed by its loving Creator to bless and succor human beings and the natural world:
“I arise today through the strength of heaven:
Light of sun, radiance of moon,
Splendor of fire, speed of lightning,
Swiftness of wind, depth of sea,
Stability of earth, firmness of rock.”
By A.D. 461, the accepted year of Saint Patrick’s death, the Roman Empire had shifted dramatically, just fifteen years before the demise of the last Western Emperor.
Again according to Cahill, taking place at the Roman Empire’s periphery, as the continent jolted from peace to chaos, the land of Ireland was moving even more radically from chaos to peace.
It is in this pivotal period that Saint Patrick won the loyalty and trust of the ruggedly independent Irish and became the patron saint and national apostle of Ireland.
Wherever you are on March 17th and through the final weeks of winter, call for a toast in tribute to Saint Patrick for his love, devotion, and persistence in bringing goodness to those both Irish by birth or in spirit.
Mary Brown, a member of Saint Margaret Parish in Narberth and an Adjunct Professor of Classical Latin at Saint Joseph’s University, is currently the Executive Director of The Classical Association of the Atlantic States.
