Today, we commemorate the feast of St. Patrick. Born about the year 359, in the British Isles, he brought Christianity to the island of Ireland, during a period of hostility and pagan beliefs.
At the age of 16, he was captured as a prisoner and taken to Ireland. He was forced to herd animals. Despite his difficult life there, he not only held fast to his faith but also learned prayer and contemplation. After he was treated as a slave for six years in Ireland, he miraculously escaped and returned home. But, in a dream he was told to back and Christianize the pagan Ireland.
St. Patrick prepared for his task of returning to Ireland, by studying in a monastery and was ordained a priest in 417. About 16 yrs. later, he was sent by his superiors to assist Bishop Paladius in Ireland. Once the bishop died, St. Patrick was consecrated bishop by St. Germanus. As bishop of Ireland, he traveled the length and width of the country and planted the faith wherever he went. He even was able to convert several members of the royal family.
In 442, when he had traveled to Rome, Pope Leo the Great commissioned him to organize the church of Ireland. In winning a pagan nation for Christ, St. Patrick established many monasteries for men and women. The monasteries became famous for their piety and education. St. Patrick’s work would have an unbelievable impact, manyyears later, as the Irish monks would carry the Catholic faith to England, France, and Switzerland. And centuries later Irish priests would be sent as missionaries to many parts of the world including here in the United States.
St. Patrick is reputed by some accounts have raised no less than 33 people back to life, many of whom had been dead years. His penances, sacrifices, miracles and conversions were astounding and there are also a couple of prophecies attributed to him. The first relates that the faith he brought to Ireland will blaze throughout the island for a period of time, then gradually dim and eventually appear to be almost extinguished, with but a few glowing embers; but then will gradually resurge, beginning in the north and eventually returning throughout Ireland.
Another prophecy of the great saint of Ireland is that he said barbarian nations should never over the Irish. And that noone shall conquer the Irish, that is the Scots. He also saidseven years before the judgment Ireland shall be destroyed in the sea, so that the devil may not rule over us. Today, people see the total submersion of Ireland as a sign, that the anti-Christ will begin to rule the world and it will occur 7 years prior to the Day of Judgement.
After living a life of labor and prayer, he died on March 17th, 461, in a monastery in Saul at the age of 102. St. Patrick is often pictured with a three-leaf clover, because it is believed he used it as an example to explain the Trinity to the pagans.
Today, let us pray to St. Patrick, that through his powerful intercession, many of the countries of Europe, which have once again fallen into pagan life, may once again, become centers of faith.