St. Patrick – Do you really know who this day is named after?

This day celebrates the man nicknamed St. Patty; and of course, drinking and being Irish (which may be redundant). But I discovered the real St. Patrick during a sermon at church, a few St. Patrick’s Days ago. It was given by an Irishmen, Dr. Tony Devine (an EdD from UB) who highlighted St. Patrick’s spiritual journey and his contributions to the Christian world.
St. Patrick was a boy of 15 when he was captured by slave dealers from Great Britain. He was brought to Ireland where he worked as a shepherd on the cold icy hills for Irish warlords. Patrick (he was not a saint then) had every reason to develop hatred towards the Irish warlords and his capturers. Instead, he prayed to God out in the pastures, reportedly averaging 100 prayers a day! He wrote in one of his confessions, “the spirit was in me and fervent.”
His prayers were heard. After six years as a slave, Patrick received a vision of a ship waiting nearby that would bring him back home. Patrick followed the message of his vision and reached Britain soil once more. However, he received yet another vision in which the people of Ireland were calling to him. His family thought he was crazy, but Patrick followed the direction he received from God to go back to live as a model for the Irish people to follow.
Ireland was then a land of Pagans and Druid priests, human sacrifices and war, as well as worshipping of spirits and natural objects. Patrick brought the spirit and values of the gospel to these people. Patrick brought the gospel to the ends of the earth, a man deemed “great” by the Bible.
Patrick had no manual to help in setting up a new religion in a foreign land, he had to rely on the guidance of God through his long and trusted relationship. He was able to love and understand the Pagan people of Ireland. Patrick explained to the people that the Pagan God of Oak was connected to the cross on which Jesus died because the crucifix too was made of Oak. Patrick went through Ireland escaping Druid priests who were against him while establishing monasteries everywhere. So, the people caught on and by the end of his life, St. Patrick had converted the whole of Ireland to Christianity.
St. Patrick has a greater effect on modern day than many know! During the dark ages, the monasteries and schools St. Patrick set up were the only places of light in Europe. It was in these institutions that Christianity continued and advanced. Without the work and faith of St. Patrick, Christianity and what it means to be Irish would have been very different from what it is today.