Homily for St. Patrick's Day
Patrick is possibly the best know and at the same time the least know of all the Saints on the Church calendar. He is the best know in that no other saint is so widely (and wildly too!) celebrated. Today the man we claim as our national saint will he honoured on all five continents. Yet, on another level, Patrick's identity has been lost. We have two documents that a Briton called Patricius wrote in Ireland about his experience of God and the Irish. He may have come to Ireland in 432 and died in 461. He may have come to Ireland in 461 and died in 493. Or he may have come to Ireland in 432, preached the gospel for 60 years and died in 493, having converted the Irish to Christianity single-handedly in a single generation. In truth, we don't really know. But we do know that he came to Ireland, that he wrote two documents, and we can be fairly sure that he is dead by now!
Almost 1600 years have elapsed since he wrote his documents. I suppose every generation did their best to fill up the gaps in our knowledge of the man himself. There is another constant in life: the findings of each generation will be rejected by its immediate successor. So, at the end of the day, we are totally dependant for our knowledge upon the writings of the saint himself. The character who wrote that letter the 'Confessio' and the 'Letter against the Soldiers of Coroticus' was a tough, courageous, passionate man, who called a spade a spade.
Among the notable features of Patrick are his realism and humility. He begins his Confession with a rather stark, sharp bit of self-assessment: "I Patrick, a sinner, am the most uncultivated and the least of all the faithful, and held in contempt by many." Despite the contempt in which he was held by many, there is complete absence of bitterness or hatred towards those who treated him so badly. Not even a second term in exiled slavery would embitter him. Instead he retained warm memories of his captors and those whom he met during the days of his slavery. He dreamt particularly of the Celtic tribe that inhabited the woods outside Killala in Mayo. After one such dream he resolved to return to them and preach the Christian gospel. That decision of his radically altered the course of our history.
The choice of the prophet Jeremiah as a first reading for the feast is entirely appropriate. The particular extract has uncanny echoes in the experience of St. Patrick. Patrick makes his own the divine assurance to the ancient prophet: "Do not say, 'I am a child.' Go now to those to whom I send you and say whatever I command you. Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you to protect you. . .I am putting my words into your mouth."
The young Patrick must have felt like Jeremiah, unsure, apprehensive at the task which lay before him. Yet he came back here, determined, courageous, fearless in his mission of introducing the Christian gospel to a hostile people. The task which confronted him was enormous.
The lesser known work of Patrick is his Letter to Coroticus. Coroticus was a British prince who was responsible for murdering an entire community that Patrick had just converted and baptised into the Christian faith. Under the pressure of that atrocity, a more passionate Patrick emerges. "I do not know for whom I am to grieve more bitterly" Patrick writes; "whether for those who were killed, or those whom they captured, or those whom the Devil has deeply ensnared. Let every God-fearing person know that murderers are strangers from me and from Christ my God, whose ambassador I am. They are murderers indeed, fierce wolves devouring the people of the Lord as they would devour bread. He who does not love his brother remains in death. How much more guilty is he who has stained his hands with the blood of Christians?"
But Patrick has probably passed into general folklore for the beauty of his prayers more than anything else. One of them goes as follows:
May the Strength of God guide us.
May the Power of God preserve us.
May the Wisdom of God instruct us.
May the Hand of God protect us.
May the Way of God direct us.
May the Shield of God defend us.
May the Angels of God guard us.
- Against the snares of the evil one.
May Christ be with us!
May Christ be before us!
May Christ be in us,
Christ be over all!
May Thy Grace, Lord,
Always be ours,
This day, O Lord, and forevermore. Amen.