How the Irish race was won

Bunbury’s Cathedral is especially entrusted to the patronage of one of the most well-known saints in the world – St Patrick. Perth priest Monsignor Sean O’Shea gave this homily recently on the great saint of Ireland.

Most of us are familiar with the basic facts concerning St Patrick’s life, namely that he was not in fact born in Ireland, rather in England in the valley of the River Severn in the year 385 AD.
His family were well to do, so to speak. In his Confession, which is a short biography of his life written by Patrick himself, he says, “I am Patrick, a sinner, most unlearned, the least of all faithful, and utterly despised by many”. Patrick was aware even much later in life that he had his critics. He continues: “My father was Calpornius, a deacon, son of Potitus, a priest”. It appears Patrick’s grandmother died young and his grandfather, in middle age, went on to be ordained a priest. Patrick’s mother was named Concessa.
That their interest in Church affairs was not intense is gathered from Patrick’s next statement in his Confession, “When taken captive, I was about 16 years of age. I did not know the true God, I was taken into captivity to Ireland with many thousands of people – and deservedly so, because we turned away from God, and did not keep His commandments, and did not obey our priests, who used to remind us of our salvation”.
The year is 401 AD and Roman power in Britain is definitely on the wane though there were many Christians in Britain which had been under Roman colonisation for 400 years. The Irish pirates took advantage of the sudden chaos and Patrick and his companions were captured to be sold as slaves to chieftains in Ireland. Ancient tradition puts Patrick in the service of a druid named Milchu at Slemish in Co Antrim.
He tended sheep daily, often in the woods and on the mountain (Slemish). And in later years he regrets that, having begun life in the civilised atmosphere of a ‘Roman’ household, he now was turned into a rustic and a slave. Patrick does not mention whether he had other Christian companions but since Milchu was a druid, which meant he was a sort of pagan priest and teacher, Patrick soon witnessed a pagan ceremony of this idol worshipper. Patrick was absolutely appalled.
It suddenly dawned on Patrick that he had turned his back on the one true God and, through the grace of God, Patrick’s life took a turn for the better. He does not deny that he had fallen away from the practice of the faith, a circumstance that befalls so many in our own day.
He began to say his prayers in earnest and Patrick’s faith was strengthened. Patrick was no longer sorry for himself or the unfortunate state he had come to. It would appear that Patrick quickly mastered the local language, no doubt with the help of the local children, who would visit him in his shepherd’s hut carrying him his meals or at least food. Patrick was a firm believer in God’s Providence as he states later in his Confession. It would seem Patrick availed himself of the opportunity to tell the local children of Jesus Christ and the story of our salvation through His life and death. One feels that Our Lord had come very close to Patrick and he was willing to share this blessing even with the pagan children. Through his life, Patrick experienced very vivid dreams and it is these circumstances that explained the dream he had much later in life when, as he relates in the Confession, “An angel appeared to him holding a bundle of letters one of which Patrick opened and read, ‘We ask thee boy, come and walk once more among us”. This gave rise to the expression, “The voice of the Irish”, an expression which fascinated even Pope John Paul II for he quoted it frequently during his visit to Ireland in 1979. “And there one night (relates Patrick, Conf No 17), I heard in my sleep a voice saying to me, ‘It is well that you fast, soon you will go to your own country.’ And again after a short while, I heard a voice saying to me. “See, your ship is ready’. And it was not near, but at a distance of perhaps 200 miles, and I had never been there, nor did I know a living soul there, and then I took to flight, and I left the man with whom I had stayed six years. And I went in the strength of God who directed my way to my good, and I feared nothing until I came to that ship”.
It would seem that the ship on which Patrick was to escape was about to sail with a cargo load of Irish wolfhounds bound for France. The captain refused to take Patrick, but had second thoughts when a crew member noticed that Patrick’s clothes smelt of sheep, Patrick would be just the one to look after the wolfhounds. In the meantime Patrick had been offering up a fervent prayer when he heard them calling him to come. After some time in France, Patrick was able to visit his family in England but he returned to Auxerre in France where he endeavoured to catch up on his interrupted education, finding the going difficult. He felt called to the priesthood and, under the guidance of St Germanus the local Bishop, he was ordained.
Patrick had a secret ambition to return to Ireland and Providence ordained that this would eventually happen. It is now 429 AD and the reigning Pope Celestine was anxious that a missionary would be sent to the small number of Christians known to be in pagan Ireland. The clergy in Britain were in favour of this and, though Bishop Germanus proposed Patrick, Palladius, an Archdeacon, was ordained Bishop and sent instead. His mission, however, was not a success due to a lack of communication with the locals and poor health for he died back in Britain within a year.
In the year 431or 432, Patrick’s ambition to return to Ireland as a missionary was realised. With the approval of Pope Celestine, he was ordained Bishop and, with a substantial group of helpers, set out for Ireland. Patrick, now aged 47, landed first in the area of Malahide but was not well received so the ship continued north until it reached Strangford Lough in Co Down. The local chieftain named Dichu was nervous and suspicious of these strange white-robed men in sandals who spoke a strange language – the language of Imperial Rome – he was at first minded to have them slain as robbers and pirates. But curiosity prevailed. He came with his hound to the strangers. He set his dog at them but Patrick silenced him using words of the neighbouring dialect of Co Antrim, the chieftain’s own tongue. Slemish is not that far away. A conversation developed. Dichu and his household were converted, Patrick’s first success, and the pilgrim religious group secured a land footing in Ireland, Dichu having allowed them to settle in Saul where a small church was improvised from a barn. It is narrated in old traditional sources that Patrick was so encouraged by his first success that he quickly set out to revisit Slemish and confront Milchu, his former pagan master. The legends relate that Milchu panicked at the apostle’s approach and threw himself and his idols into a funeral pyre of his own making. Nevertheless, many of Milchu’s people, including his sons and daughters, embraced the Christian creed.
Historians of St Patrick are united in stating that two of the guiding principles of his apostolate were: (1) to try to unsettle the Druid’s hold on the people and their leaders, and (2) to convert, if possible, the kings and the chieftains. Should those two aims have success, then the conversion of thousands of people from idolatry might well follow. In fact, to make any progress, Patrick had to depend on the grant of safe-passage from the kings and chieftains.
St Patrick knew the Irish social system both from study and from the experience of captivity. He knew the great influence of the druids and he was aware of the interwoven relationships of Kings, nobles and chieftains. With this background, Patrick set out for Tara, the seat of the High King Laoghaire in the Easter of 432. He knew full well that this encounter would be crucial for the future of his mission to the Irish. It is no exaggeration to say that it was to prove to be one of the greatest religious moments of our Christian story. We can well believe Bishop Patrick was taking his life in his hands as he approached Tara. Both the King and his Druids had some knowledge of Christianity. Britain was not so far away and there were many Christians who had been brought as slaves from Britain like Patrick himself. Patrick made his way up the river Boyne and camped on the hill of Slane, nine miles from Tara, the seat of the High King and the pagan gods. Patrick was aware that a major pagan festival was to be celebrated on the day we Christians call Easter. It involved all subordinate kings and nobles. All fires were to be extinguished on the eve of these festivities so that the central fire of Tara could be dramatically rekindled and from it could spring all the other fires of the land.
The Christian story is that Patrick, knowing of the custom, determined to light the Easter Fire of the Christians on Slane Hill before that of Tara. And to do this as a gesture of the true renewal that he brought, and as a challenge to the old order in Ireland. The story proceeds to tell of the rage of the Druids whose leader exclaims, “Unless that fire on Slane Hill be quenched tonight, it will never be extinguished in Ireland”.
King Laoghaire quickly made his way in his chariot to the Hill of Slane. Halting outside the circle of the intruder’s fire, to avoid his magic, he ordered the offender to come to him. Patrick came forward at the King’s command. “Why had he lighted his house before the royal palace was lighted?” Patrick explained in reply the symbolism of the Sacred Fire, and dwelt on the Trinity, the Incarnation and the Resurrection. The druids answered back in rough and incredulous words. Laoghaire commanded, “Seize him who by his enchantments will destroy us all.” But as they rushed, Patrick cried out loudly, “Let God arise and his enemies be scattered, and immediately they were confused in a cloud and fought one another and the horses plunged and went wild and the warriors were in disarray. The king, his wife and two attendants alone remained. And the Queen prayed, ‘O just and mighty man do not kill us, the King will bend his knee and adore thy God’. And the King remained silent except to summon Patrick to come to him at Tara the following day, Easter Sunday”.
There are many legends describing the encounter between St Patrick and the Druids on that Easter Day. Suffice to say that though Laoghaire himself did not embrace Christianity, his Queen and family did, including even some of the Druids. Of considerable comfort to Patrick was the granting by the High King of safe-passage to Patrick and his retinue throughout the kingdom. Throughout Patrick’s own biographical Confession he describes the progress of his mission to the Irish and its undoubted success. He travelled widely and many places throughout the length and breadth of Ireland are traditionally associated with his presence, in particular, Armagh, Downpatrick, Croagh Patrick and Lough Dergh which is referred to as St Patrick’s Purgatory. Strangely enough, he does not appear to have set foot on my native county, Co Clare, though he is said to have blessed it from Patrick’s Well, across the Shannon, promising a native son would rise up to evangelise the area. That is thought to have been St Senan, patron saint of West Clare.
In conclusion, I would like to mention one significant incident that affected St Patrick greatly during his missionary work in Ireland. A prominent Christian in the Severn Valley in Britain where Patrick grew up named Coroticus had a fleet of ships manned by soldiers who frequently raided the shores of Ireland to pick up slaves to be sold to the pagan Picts in Scotland. It so happened that among those captured were some newly made Christians of Patrick. When Patrick got to hear of it he was incensed and wrote an ‘open letter’ to “The soldiers of Coroticus”. The letter became widely known, somewhat like putting it on the internet or on facebook in our own day.
Coroticus being a prominent Christian, the Bishops in Britain came to learn of the letter and expressed their embarrassment, implying that the criticism also reflected on them.
Patrick did not in the least resile, saying he had personal experience of what it was to be a slave and his condemnation was so strong that he is credited with being the only Christian leader to condemn slavery unequivocally until the agitation of the Anglican divine, Wilberforce, goaded the House of Commons to outlaw slavery in the mid-1800s.
According to 7th century tradition, St Patrick came to the end of his days at Saul on 17 March 461 at 76 years of age. It was here that he had his first missionary success. It is also said that 12 days were given in lamentation by his devoted followers, a great Irish wake. A writer eulogises Patrick with these words, “To the slaves he brought a soul, to their Kings a conscience, adding, when Rome was disintegrating he prepared a people that would keep the light burning amidst the general darkness. Christian Ireland was destined to play an immense part in the re-christianising of Britain and the continent following the collapse of the Roman Empire and the incursions of the barbarians.”
By birth, Patrick was a Briton, not an Irishman. Irish culture or lack of it was forced upon him. It is clear from Patrick’s writings that his pride of allegiance was to the Roman culture – “As Christians, so must we be Romans” he wrote. In the letter to Coroticus, he had written the famous words, “Perhaps they do not believe we have received one and the same Baptism, or have one and the same Father, for them it is a disgrace that we are Irish.”
I conclude with a most significant observation made by Professor Eoin MacNeill, the leading historian of the last century in Ireland, who wrote, “No one besides Patrick has ever left so strong and permanent impression of his personality on a people, with the single  and eminent exception of Moses”.
Monsignor O’Shea’s homily was given in St Mary’s Cathedral, Perth, during a Mass
celebrating the Feast of St Patrick on
17 March, the same day St Patrick’s Cathedral in Bunbury was consecrated.