St. Patrick is more akin to Martin Luther than a mainstream Catholic saint. Patricus or Patrick was a missionary and reformer who was not beloved by the Roman Catholic Church of Briton. He sought to save souls in Ireland, a place that had been his prison and the place where he found his call to be priest. St. Patrick was humble, kind, loving, and a humorous man; he would never have survived Ireland had he been proud or pompous. He choose to integrate the Irish culture into Christianity and one way he did this was by exploiting the pagan beliefs of the Irish. For the Irish water was sacred and a portal and dimension to the spiritual world of the fairies. St. Patrick utilized this belief of the pagan Irish to led them to water Baptism and subsequently into Christ's flock!; which is call doorway ministry, where a missionary finds what is sacred and important to pagan people and find something similar in the Bible and uses that to lead the people to Jesus Christ with the familiar.
What is most remarkable, is that St. Patrick was Roman who lived in Briton. He was not a man of faith in his youth, in fact he was quite reveler until the day he was captured by Irish raiders and slave traders. For six years, Particus spent his time on isolated part of Ireland where he tended the flocks of his pagan masters. There on the edge of despair, Patricus clinged to his Christian faith and found God calling to him; his voice leading Patrick to escape his captors and return home. Patrick motivated by a vision, traversed the country side as runaway slave, by law to be slain. In a vision from Lord he saw a ship that he was told would bare him home to Briton. Patricus found that very ship, but the crew was too craven to take him to Briton and so the young saint prayed there on shores of salvation and the captain changed his mind. Patricus returned home, but was not satisfied. He felt God call him back to Ireland, He heard the voices of the Irish begging him to return. Patricus enrolled in the clergy and rose from priest to bishop before leaving of his own violation and with the vehemence of the other vicars and venerable clerics. To the Church of Rome in Briton, Ireland was barbarous place beyond civilized Roman society and to be avoided, not to seek for Christ. St. Patrick returned to Ireland and won the favor of the king, and common people through his generosity, preaching in Irish tongue rather than Latin, and integrating the culture and customs of the Celts into Christianity.
What is most astounding about St. Patrick is that he returned to the place where he had been enslaved. It was there green rocky hillside that Patricus was imprisoned as shepherd, and it was there that he head the voice of the Almighty calling him. Hell and Heaven in one place and yet while many would never had returned to the place where they had been held captive, St. Patrick with great fervor returned to the land he once sought to escape. As a result the Irish people came to know Christ! In short, this man of great faith changed a nation because he "loved his enemy." (Matthew 5:44).
While the Legends speak of him driving out serpents, the truth is St. Patrick "drove out the serpentine-pagan beliefs." (Liam Nesson, Patrick 2004). Some may feel caution at Patrick using the Irish culture and traditions in tandem with the Truths of the Gospel; but one must ask what do you think God would prefer? That Patrick had purged all pagan traces and pushed the Irish away from Jesus or that Patrick did as he did and found a way to use the culture and customs of Celtic/Irish people to lead them to Christ and in time they would caste aside their pagan ways. The answer seems clear; for in fact the crosses that stand two men or twelve feet high are not pagan crosses, but in fact testaments to the triumph of Christianity in Ireland and on them all the creatures, symbols, and shapes are the Gospel in pictorial form for the illiterate.
I hope today we can take inspiration and honor the memory of man of faith who made it possible through the Holy Spirit for an entire country to enter the Kingdom of Heaven! Happy St. Patrick's Day! Wear green today not because of the threats of being pinched or because the leprechauns, but rather to remember a godly man who made it his mission to reach the lost souls of Green Island of Ireland!"
Recommendation:
I highly recommend watching this 54min docu/drama of St. Patrick narrated by Liam Nesson:
http://www.amazon.com/Patrick-Liam-Neeson/dp/B000KQF6Z8/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1426501010&sr=8-2&keywords=Patrick+dvd
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