Who Was the Real St. Patrick?

“My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and
they follow me. (John 10:27 NLT)

Celebrating the Life of a

Shepherd Turned Missionary

Did you know that St. Patrick was not really Irish? What kind of shenanigans is that?

St. Patrick was born around 373 A.D. in the British Isles near the modern city of Dumbarton in Scotland. His real name was Maewyn Succat. He took the name of Patrick or Patricius, meaning “well-born” in Latin after he became a priest.

During Patrick’s boyhood, the Roman Empire was near collapse and too weak to defend its holdings in distant lands [far from Rome]. Britain became easy prey for raiders, including those who crossed the Irish sea from the land known as Hibernia or Ireland. When Patrick was sixteen, he was seized by raiders and carried off to Ireland.

Most of what is known about St. Patrick comes from his own Confession, written in his old age. In Confession he wrote about his capture.

As a youth, nay, almost as a boy not able to speak, I was taken captive… I was like a stone lying in the deep mire; and He that is mighty came and in His mercy lifted me up, and raised me aloft … And therefore I ought to cry out aloud and so also render something to the Lord for his great benefits here and in eternity –benefits which the mind of men is unable to appraise.

After Patrick was captured and taken to Ireland as a slave by an Irish chieftain named Niall, he was sold to another chieftain in northern Ireland. Much of Patrick’s time was spent alone on the slopes of Slemish Mountain, tending his master’s flocks of sheep. During the long lonely hours in the fields and hills of Ireland, Patrick found comfort in praying. In his Confession he wrote:

… every day I had to tend sheep, and many times a day I prayed – the love of God and His fear came to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was moved so that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers and almost as many in the night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the mountains; … and I felt no harm, and there was no sloth in me – as now I see, because the spirit within me was fervent.

Six years passed slowly by. Then in a dream, Patrick heard a voice saying, “Thy ship is ready for thee.” This was God’s way, he felt, of telling him to run away.

That night he fled. Assured God was leading him, Patrick plunged through the bogs and scaled the mountains which separated him from the sea. He escaped Ireland by ship, but God would call him back years later. Patrick had escaped his boyhood enslavement in Ireland only to hear the call of God as a man to return. He was being called on, he felt, to convert the Irish to Christianity …

You can read the rest of this exciting story here…

The excerpt above is quoted from the article “Who Was the Real St. Patrick” published by the Rocky Mountain Family Council.

Related

• Saint Patrick’s Day for Kids by Tomi DePaola

• Is the Trinity Really a Bible Doctrine?

• Visit Amydeanne's Word-Filled-Wednesday at The Internet Cafe for sweet fellowship and Scripture encouragement.

Photos: Ireland by bass_noll & St. Bridgette, St. Patrick's Spiritual Daughter in Christ by Fergal Claddagh (Flickr)

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Do you think it's worthwhile to study historical Christian figures like St. Patrick?