StP_Man_of_Spirit

St. Patrick’s two outstanding spiritual qualities - his consciousness of his lowliness and of the gift of the Holy Spirit - come to full flowering in his exile, which he calls “the land of my captivity”.

His exile was both physical and spiritual. He said he did not know the true God from his youth but, as a slave for six years in Ireland, he came to know Jesus who had taken the form of a slave. He says: “… there I sought Him, and there I found Him” (C 33).

And through his experience in the ordinary course of his work as a slave he came to know God who protected him, a God who knew him and comforted him as a Father would comfort his son.

To come to know the true God was the whole of Patrick’s life. He makes a distinction between knowing the true God and knowing about the true God. He could not have escaped knowing about the true God as his grandfather, Potitus, was a priest and his father, Calpornius, was a deacon. He came from a Christian family, though they did not seem to be terribly fervent. They were well-off; according to his Letter to Coroticus, chapter 10, they had servants on their estate. Patrick, a Roman citizen from a noble family, was given a particular mission by the Church.

The central sentence of the whole Confession has to do with his mission to the Irish: “You ought to be raised to the order of bishop”.

To bring the Irish people to know the true God was his vocation. He did not convert the whole of Ireland but he had huge success with those he reached. He was amazed that the kings’ sons and daughters were becoming virgins of Christ, because this was the crowning glory of the Church and proved that the Church had been firmly established.

Whenever there is faith among the people you have consecrated virgins, priests and monks. You see that in Africa and Asia today. But in a world choked with materialism, such as in our Western world, this value is laughed at because it is the sign of the kingdom to come, and is largely forgotten in a materialistic age.

Patrick’s mission was unusual in that his mission was to the barbarians. Anyone living outside the Roman Empire, no matter how cultured, was considered a barbarian. Hence, Patrick’s mission brought some notoriety and envy. There were those who were envious of his rank and who also envied his enormous achievement as a missionary.

Patrick not only defended his converts but he had a deep love and respect for them. Yet, he was British to the core. He loved his own country and longed to return to his own people. He also desired to go to Gaul (France), to visit his brethren, which may suggest that he was in Gaul at some stage. But he says,

“I am bound by the Spirit never to leave Ireland because I am afraid of losing what I have achieved” (C 43).

While he was undoubtedly afraid for those consecrated virgins, his main concern was for the whole Church. The question for Patrick was: “What is the Spirit asking me now?” The Spirit was asking him to remain in Ireland and he did.

I see Patrick living constantly in the presence of God, always sensitive to His presence, not just seeing Him in things but conscious of the Blessed Trinity dwelling within him and in every person with whom he came in contact. Patrick had to confront a heresy called Pelagianism which thought that you could save your soul by making a great effort. Patrick’s life, however, shows that everything comes from God. The desire to do anything, even the desire to pray, is God’s gift. This is Patrick’s spirit.

In the conclusion he tells us he has succeeded in his mission because he believes in the power of His Spirit who dwells in him and is working in him. (C33). This is the heart of the Confession. Here is a man totally and utterly open to the Holy Spirit.

If this is Patrick’s spirituality then it is also the heart, the tap root of Gaelic Christianity. To be open to the Spirit and seek Him in the land of my captivity: in the captivity of my own sinfulness, of my own weakness and of the circumstances in which I find myself, whether religious, married, single, a missionary or wherever God places me; I seek him there and do not try to escape but stay as long as God wants me in that situation.

Máire Bríd de Paor pbvm is the author of "Patrick the Pilgrim Apostle of Ireland",
(Veritas, 1998)