St. Patrick: Much More Than Ireland

Public policy does not happen in a vacuum— it is planned and carried out by people within a particular culture. Religion plays a role in all cultures, and religious figures have helped shape those cultures. Some of the most prominent of these figures have become official saints in the Christian world.

One of the Catholic Church’s considerations in the canonization process is whether a candidate lived Christian virtues in a “heroic” manner. On the level of popular piety and culture, the saints’ stories, legends, and alleged miracles are as important as their virtues. I have been studying the lives of saints to see if I can find in them lessons that might be useful to build and nurture a free society.

We celebrate the feast of St. Patrick (c. 389 – 461) on March 17, which is his likely birthday. His missionary work took place for almost three decades, from 432 to the time of his death in 461. Devotion to his memory spread beyond Ireland and Britain, especially in France, Italy, and Germany. St. Patrick is one of many saints who have helped unite very diverse cultures with common principles. In the case of Patrick, apart from teaching his Catholic faith, he also helped promote a common language, Latin, which he instituted as the ecclesiastical language in his land.

He was born during the Roman period in Britain. His father, Calpurnius, was an alderman and later a deacon. Patrick’s family belonged to the landed middle class. But it was not an easy life. One of Patrick’s prominent biographers, J. B. Bury, wrote that at the time the “evils of perverse legislation were aggravated by the corruption and tyranny of the treasury officials which the Emperors, with the best of purposes, seemed powerless to prevent.”

St. Patrick became enslaved when he was only 16 while at his father’s estate on the west coast of England. Irish raiders captured him and took him further west to Ireland. After six years working as a slave shepherd, he escaped. In a way, it was thanks to international trade. He found a trading ship, which historians say was exporting Irish wolfhound dogs. These dogs were in high demand by local chieftains and on the Continent, not only for chasing wolves and elk but also as fighting “gladiator” dogs.

After escaping, he became a more devout Christian, training for the priesthood in continental Europe. In 431, Pope Celestine I appointed him as the successor of Palladius, the first bishop of Ireland.

In addition to his efforts to expand the acceptance of Latin, St. Patrick contributed to a more unified world by improving the organization of Christianity and expanding it by helping convert many Irish kingdoms. He “brought Ireland into connection with the Church of the Empire and made it formally part of the universal Christendom” The Irish had trade with Britain, Gaul, and Spain “but now the island was brought into a direct and intimate association with western Europe by becoming an organized part of the Christian world” (Bury pp. 212-213)

The New Catholic Encyclopedia explains his efforts for Church organization in a territory where no one had preached the Gospel before, the west and north of Ireland. Such a task “had to be adapted to the political and social conditions.” He founded cathedral churches with “quasi-monastic” chapters, as in the Continent. After relying on clergy from Gaul (now mainly France) and Britain, he quickly began to win converts. He was a man of action, and, rather than exploring new ideas, he relied on orthodox doctrine.

Historians compare him to St. Boniface (c. 675 – 754), another saint born in England who influenced much of Europe and Christian culture. Boniface cut down a giant oak tree at Geismar, Germany, which the region’s people regarded as sacred, representing Thor, the hammer-wielding god. Many converted when Boniface felled the oak, and only good things followed. In Patrick’s lands, there was another idol; the biographer Bury writes: “It was apparently a stone, covered with silver and gold, standing in a sacred circuit, surrounded by twelve pillar stones.” Patrick stuck it down with his staff, as Boniface did with the oak. Both helped shape Christianity in Europe.

Many will celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a drink where Irish also excel and which Christian monks perfected: beer. I have not been able to find any information about Patrick’s drinking. Boniface, however, became the patron saint of brewers.

When I think of St. Patrick’s feast, my mind goes to the image of Ireland as a nation, its wonderful people, and how most of the Western world celebrates its feast day. But not all we know of St. Patrick’s life is true. As Bury wrote, and other historians know, “the medieval hagiographer may be compared to the modern novelist; he provided literary recreation for the public, and he had to consider the public taste” (Bury p. 205). One of the most common images associated with St. Patrick, his use of a shamrock to symbolize the Holy Trinity, is based on legend. Similar to this is the story that he expelled all snakes from Ireland. But the many true stories have left a legacy to celebrate.

Quotes from J. B. Bury, 1905, The Life of St. Patrick and His Place in History, Second edition, Macmillan, London.