Our national apostle

ST Patrick tells us in a writing called his Confession that his father, Calpornius, was a decurion, or member of a council in a village called Bannavem Taburniae and that he had a villa staffed with servants. He also tells us his father was a married deacon, son of a priest, Potitus. Marriage, in the early church, was no bar to the ministry.
Experts cannot agree as to when and where Patrick was born. It seems he was born around 385AD and brought to Ireland about 16 years later. After six years, he escaped to Gaul, returned here as a bishop in 432, died in 461 and was buried in Saul, County Down.
Because our oldest surviving manuscripts date much later than the fifth century, we know little about our country during St Patrick’s time. We do know that Ireland had been inhabited for more than 3,000 years. It was a country where wealth and status were based on cattle. We know that warfare between one tuath and another usually took the form of cattle raids. The basic unit of society was the family and then the extended family was known as the tuath. As regards food, dairy products such as butter, buttermilk, whey, cream, cheese and of course, milk, were available. Bread, beef and a type of porridge was also used. Rich farmers had their wooden buildings protected by raths or ring forts. Centuries before Patrick came, our ancestors were highly skilled in ornamental metalwork and enamelling.
In the Tripartite Life of St Patrick, as also in the Leabhar Breac and the Book of Leinster, we get some information as regards St Patrick’s household. When he came back in 432, he brought bishops, priests, deacons and others who could help him. He also had a psalmist, cowherd, cook, brewer, charioteer, smith and metalworker. As he moved around Ireland, he had to rely on his own resources. He could however, rely on his chosen helpers.
While most of Ireland was pagan when Patrick arrived in 432, there were some Christians, as a bishop called Palladius had been sent from Rome by Pope Celestine in 431. Patrick was to help Palladius, but because of his death within a year, our national apostle had to spread the light of faith among our pagan ancestors. This he did with great success, while Laoghaire was High King of Ireland. Patrick celebrated Easter 433AD by lighting the paschal fire on the Hill of Slane.
In 441AD, he ascended Cruachan Aigle – the Eagle mountain, now known as Croagh Patrick, on the Saturday before Ash Wednesday. He remained on this very bleak 2,510ft mountain fasting and praying for 40 days and 40 nights.
Patrick held a synod in 459AD at which he dealt with such problems as married clergy, the power of bishops, penitential penances and so on. Patrick devoted his life organising whatever Christianity existed, converting those who were pagan and bringing our country formally within the sphere of universal Christendom. The points of doctrine on which he laid special stress were obedience to the Holy See, devotion to Our Lady, the dogma of the Blessed Trinity and the necessity of Divine help in all human actions.
Apart from his Confession, we have another very interesting manuscript entitled Letter against Coroticus. In it, we learn that a British prince called Coroticus got his soldiers to kill some of Patrick’s newly converted Christians and also sold others into slavery in Scotland. Patrick makes it quite clear to British ecclesiastics that his converts are God’s children, entitled to all rights enjoyed by men and women living within the Roman Empire. He also states he is a bishop, sent by God, to preach the Gospel to the barbarian inhabitants of Ireland. As such, he has a right to a hearing from all right-minded Christians.
There is no proof that St Patrick used a trefoil plant to illustrate the unity of the Trinity. While a number of trefoil plants are known as Shamrock, there is in fact no species of plant to which shamrock applies. The plant most commonly used on St Patrick’s Day is Trifolium dubium, the common yellow clover, to be found all over Ireland. The well-known prayer called the Lorica or Breastplate of St Patrick is first attributed to him in the Book of Armagh, which was compiled early in the ninth century. It is generally held that the famous Bell of the Will, to be seen in the National Museum, is the bell used by Patrick’s bell ringer.
He ends his Confession by stating that his only motive in returning to Ireland was to preach the Gospel. We can best show our gratitude to St Patrick, our national apostle, by remaining loyal to the faith he brought us. “Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me” – from St Patrick’s Lorica.