Irish History
And
The Fighting Irish
And
The Fighting Irish
( The Arrival of St. Patrick )
Saint
Patrick. Apostle of Ireland, born Kilpatrick, near Dumbarton Scotland in the year 387. Died
at Saul, Downpatrick, Ireland in or around 493. He had for his parents Calphurnius and Conchessa. The former belonged to a Roman family of high rank and held the office of Decurio in Gaul or Britain. Conchessa was a near relative of the great patron of Gaul, St. martin of Tours. It was while Patrick ( said to have been born Maewyn Succat ) was in his 16th year that he was carried off into captivity by Irish marauders and sold as a slave to the Irish Chieftain Milcho, in Dalriada, a territory of the present County Antrim, where for 6 years he tended his master's flocks in the Valley of the Baird and on the slopes of Slemish near the modern towns of Ballymena.
Patrick eventually escaped, returning to his family and then entering the church. He later returned to Ireland as a missionary in the north and west of Irelnd. He relates to his " Confessio " that during his captivity while tending the flocks he prayed many times in the day: " The love of God. " he added.
Patrick eventually escaped, returning to his family and then entering the church. He later returned to Ireland as a missionary in the north and west of Irelnd. He relates to his " Confessio " that during his captivity while tending the flocks he prayed many times in the day: " The love of God. " he added.
And his fear increased in me more and more, and the faith grew in me, and the spirit was
roused, so that in a single day, i have said as many as a hundred prayers, and in the night nearly the same, so that whilst in the woods and on the mountain, even before the dawn, i was roused to prayer and felt no hurt from it, whether there was snow or ice or rain, nor was there any slothfulness in me, such as i see now, because the spirit was then fervent within me.
roused, so that in a single day, i have said as many as a hundred prayers, and in the night nearly the same, so that whilst in the woods and on the mountain, even before the dawn, i was roused to prayer and felt no hurt from it, whether there was snow or ice or rain, nor was there any slothfulness in me, such as i see now, because the spirit was then fervent within me.
In the ways of benign providence, the six years of Patrick's captivity became a remote preperation for his future apostolate, He required a perfect knowledge of the Celtic tongue in which he would one day announce the glad tidings of Redemption, and as his master Milcho was also a druidical high priest, he became familiar with all the details of Druidism from whose bondage he was destined to liberate the Irish race.
Admonished by an Angel, Patrick after six years, fled from his cruel master and bent his steps towards the west. He related in his " Confessio " that he had to travel about 200 miles: and his journey was probably towards Killala Bay and onwards thence to Westport. He found a ship ready to set sail and after some rebuffs was allowed on board. In a few days he was among his friends once more in Britain, but now his heart was set on devoting himself to the service of God in the sacred ministry. We meet with him at St. Martin's monastery at Tours, and again at the island sanctuary of Lerins which was just the aquiring widespread renown for learning and poetry; and wherever lessons of heroic perfection in the exercise of Christian life could be acquired, the fervent Patrick was sure to bend his steps. No sooner had St. Germanin entered on his great mission at Auxerre than Patrick put himself under his guidance, and it was at that great bishop's hand that Ireland's future apostle was a few years later promoted to the priesthood. It is the tradition in the territory of the Morini that Patrick under St. Germain's guidance for some years was engaged in missionary work among them. When Germain commissioned by the Holy See proceeded to Britain to combat the erroncous teaching so of Pelagius, he chose Patrick to be one of his missionary companions and thus it was his privilege to be associated with the representative of Rome in the triumphs that ensued over heresy and Paganism, and in many remarkable events of the expedition, such as the miraculous calming of the tempest at sea, the visits to the relics at St. Alban's shrine and the Alleluia victory. Amid all these scenes, Patrick's thoughts turned towards Ireland, and from time to time he was favoured with visions of the children from Focluth, by the Western sea, who cried to him: " O holy youth, come back to Erin, and walk once more amongst us. "
Pope St. Celestine I, who rendered immortal service to the Church by the overthrow of the Pelagian and Nestorian heresies, and by the imperishable wreath of honour decreed to the Blessed Virgin in the General Council of Ephesus, crowned his pontificate by an act of the most far-reaching consequences for the spread of Christianity and civilization, when he entrusted St. Patrick with the mission of gathering the Irish race into the one fold of Christ. Palladius had already received that commission, but terrified by the fierce opposition of a Wicklow Chieftain had abandoned the sacred enterprise. It was St. Germain, Bishop of Auxerre, who commended Patrick to the Pope. The writer of St. Germain's life in the ninth century, Heric of Auxerre, thus attests this important fact:
Admonished by an Angel, Patrick after six years, fled from his cruel master and bent his steps towards the west. He related in his " Confessio " that he had to travel about 200 miles: and his journey was probably towards Killala Bay and onwards thence to Westport. He found a ship ready to set sail and after some rebuffs was allowed on board. In a few days he was among his friends once more in Britain, but now his heart was set on devoting himself to the service of God in the sacred ministry. We meet with him at St. Martin's monastery at Tours, and again at the island sanctuary of Lerins which was just the aquiring widespread renown for learning and poetry; and wherever lessons of heroic perfection in the exercise of Christian life could be acquired, the fervent Patrick was sure to bend his steps. No sooner had St. Germanin entered on his great mission at Auxerre than Patrick put himself under his guidance, and it was at that great bishop's hand that Ireland's future apostle was a few years later promoted to the priesthood. It is the tradition in the territory of the Morini that Patrick under St. Germain's guidance for some years was engaged in missionary work among them. When Germain commissioned by the Holy See proceeded to Britain to combat the erroncous teaching so of Pelagius, he chose Patrick to be one of his missionary companions and thus it was his privilege to be associated with the representative of Rome in the triumphs that ensued over heresy and Paganism, and in many remarkable events of the expedition, such as the miraculous calming of the tempest at sea, the visits to the relics at St. Alban's shrine and the Alleluia victory. Amid all these scenes, Patrick's thoughts turned towards Ireland, and from time to time he was favoured with visions of the children from Focluth, by the Western sea, who cried to him: " O holy youth, come back to Erin, and walk once more amongst us. "
Pope St. Celestine I, who rendered immortal service to the Church by the overthrow of the Pelagian and Nestorian heresies, and by the imperishable wreath of honour decreed to the Blessed Virgin in the General Council of Ephesus, crowned his pontificate by an act of the most far-reaching consequences for the spread of Christianity and civilization, when he entrusted St. Patrick with the mission of gathering the Irish race into the one fold of Christ. Palladius had already received that commission, but terrified by the fierce opposition of a Wicklow Chieftain had abandoned the sacred enterprise. It was St. Germain, Bishop of Auxerre, who commended Patrick to the Pope. The writer of St. Germain's life in the ninth century, Heric of Auxerre, thus attests this important fact:
Since the glory of the father shines in the training of the children, of the many sons in Christ whom St Germain is believed to have had as disciples in religion, let it suffice to make mention here, very briefly, of one most famous, Patrick, the special Apostle of the Irish nation, as the record of his work proves. Subject to that most holy discipleship for
18 years, he drank in no little knowledge in Holy Scripture from the stream of so great a well-spring. Germain sent him, accompanied by Segetius, his priest, to Celestine, Pope of Rome, approved of by whose judgement, supported by whose authority, and strengthened by whose blessing, he went on his way to Ireland.
18 years, he drank in no little knowledge in Holy Scripture from the stream of so great a well-spring. Germain sent him, accompanied by Segetius, his priest, to Celestine, Pope of Rome, approved of by whose judgement, supported by whose authority, and strengthened by whose blessing, he went on his way to Ireland.
It was only shortly before his death that Celestine gave this mission to Ireland's Apostle and on that occasion bestowed on him many relics and other spiritual gifts, and gave him the name " Patercius " or " Patritius " not as an honorary title, but as a foreshadowing of the fruitfulness and merit of his apostolate whereby he became ' pater civium ' ( the father of his people ) Patrick on his return journey from Rome received at Ivrea the tidings of the death of palladius, and turning aside to the neighboring city of Turin received episcopal consecration at the hands of its great Bishop, St. Maximus, and thence hastened on to Auxerre to make under the guidance of St, Germain due preperations for the Irish mission.
It
was probably in the summer months of the year 433, that Patrick and his companions landed at the mouth
of the Vantry River close by Wicklow Head. The Druids were at once in arms against him. But Patrick was not disheartened. The intrepid missionary resolved to search out a more friendly territory in which to enter on his mission, First of all, however, he would proceed towards Dalriada, where he had been a slave, to pay the price of ransom to his former master, and in exchange for the servitude and cruelty endured at his hands to impart to him the blessing and freedom of God's children. He rested for some days at the islands off the Skerries coast, one of which still retains the name of Inis-Patrick, and he probably visited the adjoining mainland, which in older days was known as Holm Patrick. Tradition fondly poits out the impression of St. Patrick's foot upon the hard rock - off the main shore, at the entrance to Skerries harbour. Continuing his journey northwards he halted at the mouth of The River Boyne. A number of natives there gathered around him and heard with joy in their own sweet tongue the glad tidings of Redemption.
The Skerries shore and the impression of
Patrick's foot.
Patrick's foot.
There to he performed his first miracle on Irish soil to confirm the honour due to the Blessed Virgin, and the Divine birth of our Saviour. Leaving one of his companions to continue the work of instruction so auspiciously begun, he hastened forward to Strangford Loughand there quitting his boat continued his journey over land . . .
