Patrick's Backstory

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

I don’t want to spoil your fun, but I did some research on our friend Patrick and in his two published writings from the early 400’s there is no mention of shamrocks, redheads, snakes, parades, beer, or the famous prayer attributed to him. These things all came hundreds of years later as legend in the honoring of a saint.

However, what I did find in Patrick’s writings may inspire some of us on our spiritual journeys today. 

He wrote two works: Confessio and the Epistola (or Letter) to Coroticus. You can geek out on those writings in Latin or English at this website. Or I am happy to summarize it for you… 

Patrick was kidnapped from his family home on the coast of Britain when he was 16 years old.

He was trafficked with “thousands of men” into slavery in Ireland. 

This type of trafficking was happening a lot in the early 400’s as slave laborers were of high value to work in agriculture. Britain had been under Roman control and as the Roman occupation loosened, people were left vulnerable and unprotected. 

While people were without protection and their government was in chaos, human trafficking rings operated in many countries to build economic structures and military forces to gain power with the hopes of acquiring larger regions of land, natural resources, and trade routes. We still see this type of human behavior happening today. 

During the six years he was a captive slave in Ireland, Patrick writes that he developed a deep spiritual life. 

While working in the fields, he would pray and talk with God constantly. He writes that he began to notice “the spirit was burning” within him. At age 22, he heard a voice in a dream say, “soon you will depart for your home country.” And then on another night, he heard: “Behold, thy ship is ready: arise and walk.” That night he left the property of his captors and walked over 200 miles to a shipyard. After multiple tries, he was able to board as a stow-away on a ship sailing to Britain and was reunited with his family. 

He credits this act of liberation from slavery to his dedication to conversations with God and in gratitude he commits his life to ministry. 

In his 40’s Patrick feels a calling from God to return to Ireland to teach Christianity. Commentators write that he would never have chosen to return to the country where his trauma of slavery occurred. They write that this solidifies his calling was a Divine calling rather than a human desire, which led him to eventually being named a saint. 

He is known as Saint Patrick in the Catholic Church today.

And another fun fact for you, he was not made a saint through the formal Vatican canonization process by a pope. Patrick became a saint before that process was institutionalized. The way the early saints became saints was through public veneration within a local church. That doesn’t lessen his holiness, but it does help us understand why there are so many tall tales of lore and misattributions of stories surround Patrick. 

So take that backstory on Patrick for what you will today. I think stories of background and reading the original writings of our spiritual-greats help us to remember that there are multiple ways to tell a story (and they change over the centuries), but often there is deep wisdom in the backstory of someone’s experience. 

I’m hoping, as we explore this story today together, we grow in compassion for people taken against their will away from their homes and families. May we pause to imagine a 16 year old taken from his home as we wear green today.

May we also consider that maybe within the current atrocities among humans, a profound sense of faith in the power of Love is growing. 

Patrick took his suffering and transformed it into love in action.

The silver lining of suffering is often an upleveling in human consciousness.

Let’s hope for that. 

Now go get a green beer and have a great week,