Ask Mike: Who was St. Patrick?
Hey Guys,
In case you forgot, March 17 is St. Patrick’s Day. While browsing around Yahoo! Answers, I noticed an uptick in questions having to do with the man behind the holiday. Who was St. Patrick? Did he really banish all the snakes from Ireland?
The History Channel has a slew of information on the Patron Saint of the Emerald Isle. The site explains that much of what we “know” about ol’ St. Paddy is actually false. For example, contrary to popular belief, Patrick didn’t drive out all the snakes from Ireland. Still, what he did do is arguably even more impressive.
According to History.com, Patrick was actually born in Britain. At 16, he was taken prisoner “by a group of Irish raiders” who took him across the sea to Ireland. There, he spent six years in captivity. Apparently, it was then that he turned to religion as a means of fighting off fear and loneliness.
Eventually, Patrick escaped. Guided by a voice he believed to be God’s, Patrick walked 200 miles to the Irish coast. Back in Britain, he trained to be a priest for 15 years. Patrick then returned to Ireland with two goals — “to minister to Christians already living in Ireland and to begin to convert the Irish.”
Patrick was successful in his goals, perhaps largely due to his incorporating traditional Irish symbols into Christianity. For example, many believe he came up with the Celtic cross. According to legend, he wanted to incorporate an Irish symbol (the sun) onto the Cross “so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish.” The site Catholic.org explains that Patrick also used a three-leafed shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity to the Irish (other sites call this another myth).
St. Patrick died on March 17, 461 “after years of living in poverty, traveling, and enduring much suffering.” Like St. Valentine and St. Nicholas, he has become a beloved figure to many. American Catholic offers an in-depth biography of the man and notes that for someone who is so famous, there is surprisingly little research. The St. Patrick Centre hosts a complete version of Patrick’s famed “Confession.”
After researching St. Patrick, I got to wondering: How does one become a saint? What’s the process? I assume it’s rather rigorous. If anybody has the answer, please share it below. Oh, and please include links.
Note: updated on March 16, 2009
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“Canonization, the process the Church uses to name a saint, has only been used since the tenth century. For hundreds of years, starting with the first martyrs of the early Church, saints were chosen by public acclaim. Though this was a more democratic way to recognize saints, some saints’ stories were distorted by legend and some never existed. Gradually, the bishops and finally the Vatican took over authority for approving saints.
In 1983, Pope John Paul II made sweeping changes in the canonization procedure. The process begins after the death of a Catholic whom people regard as holy. Often, the process starts many years after death in order give perspective on the candidate. The local bishop investigates the candidate’s life and writings for heroic virtue (or martyrdom) and orthodoxy of doctrine. Then a panel of theologians at the Vatican evaluates the candidate. After approval by the panel and cardinals of the Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the pope proclaims the candidate “venerable.”
The next step, beatification, requires evidence of one miracle (except in the case of martyrs). Since miracles are considered proof that the person is in heaven and can intercede for us, the miracle must take place after the candidate’s death and as a result of a specific petition to the candidate. When the pope proclaims the candidate beatified or “blessed,” the person can be venerated by a particular region or group of people with whom the person holds special importance.
Only after one more miracle will the pope canonize the saint (this includes martyrs as well). The title of saint tells us that the person lived a holy life, is in heaven, and is to be honored by the universal Church. Canonization does not “make” a person a saint; it recognizes what God has already done.
Though canonization is infallible and irrevocable, it takes a long time and a lot of effort. So while every person who is canonized is a saint, not every holy person has been canonized. You have probably known many “saints” in your life, and you are called by God to be one yourself.”
Source: http://www.catholic.org/saints/faq.php
The pope is the only one who can make someone a saint. You have to be dead something ridiculus like 100 years before you can be declared a saint.
As an Irish man, I have no end of hearing about bloody St Patrick and his blah blah blah. That said, he did have some good moments. Firstly, he was not Irish, however, there are different areas which claim to be his rightful home, Briton, Breton in France, and I think Cardiff Wales. He was abducted, by Vikings, and sold into slavery.
He then took a heap load of shrooms and tripped outa that place (that’s where the phrase “To Trip” comes from) claiming to have heard the voice of God, the Tooth Fairy, Santa Claus, and the Wolfman. The fomred a super group which toured eastern Europe playing the hits of the band Blue Oyster Cult.
The Trinity concept is perhaps what he is best remembered for today in Ireland. It is held in popular belief that he came up with this when questioned at a sermon at Downpatrick (a mountain in Armagh) about the concept of the holy Trinity.
The Snake myth is indeed that. There are snakes in Ireland, and always have been. Breeds typical to the British Isles are present in Ireland no more or less then elsewhere and include The Adder, the Grass snake, and the Anaconda. In fact, out my window right now I see Hydra Lernaean (in joke). My own belief is that the snakes are more a concept, representing evil as it appeared in Genesis, the Idea of the Isle of Scholars also arose at this time. Ireland becoming the centre in the world for religious pursuit of knowledge, producing works such as the Book of Kells, and became the geekiest country in Chrisndom.
Re the becoming a saint, the first step is recognition, then servant of God, then Venerable, then Blessed, then Sainthood, then eh, God? http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2002-10-02-saint-side_x.htm
Patrick was a murderer, and a political and religious extortionist, and the man most responsible for the destruction of rich and beautiful ancient Irish culture.
No true Irish person should celebrate that monster
The point really is that he taught the people about Jesus, the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world.
One difficulty I have with the canonization process is that a person who was married and who raised a family, no matter good a person he was, is very unlikely to be canonized. The process seems a bit stacked in that regard.
All you guys bashing St. Patrick, the Catholic Church, and the Irish need to get over yourselves and learn some respect for other people, their faiths, and their ethnicity. Also, Daniel, let’s not make up facts, St. Patrick never murdered anyone, you’re just a bigot.
My priest told us that to become a saint someone must basically pray to you and the miracle has to come true. So for example a man has cancer and prays to mother teresa and his cancer goes away. Yer next step is to convince the top dogs of the incident.
There are other definitions of sainthood and being a saint. A non-Catholic view is that anyone who accepts Jesus the Christ as Lord and Savior is a saint. It’s not the only view and brings a whole new meaning to the word.
Snakes was not meant as literal snakes it’s a term used to refer to the pagans (or those following the original non-christian religion of Ireland). He did indeed work at driving out the “snakes” by converting pagans into Christians (ironically by use of traditional Celtic symbols that he incorporated into Christianity such as the cletic cross mentioned in the article). It’s not a myth per sea unless you are thinking that the sankes are real snakes and not the pagans. Snakes were an animal sacred to ancient Goddesses and most frequently associated with them. It’s long been used to refer to pagan peoples from many different cultures.
we need a st. patrick in the u.s.a.
rigorous? St Francis de Sales became a saint late in his life. As one of his friend remarked, when he heard about it: “De Sales was a real gentleman but loved women too much and cheated in cards shamelessly.”
The snakes are an allegorical reference to the ‘pagan’ (Celtic/Wiccan/Druidic/shamanistic/indigenous) religions at the time. When St. Patrick ‘drove’ the snakes out, it is an oblique reference the the Roman legions at his disposal, on loan from Brittany, that slaughtered the Priestesses at Iona, an island off of the western coast.
I see that we gloss over Patrick (Padraig, actually) murder of thousands, possibly millions of Pagans (the real “snakes” that he drove out of Ireland). The man was no more a saint than other murderers on his scale…like Charlemagne and Hitler.
Actually, a saint from the Philadelphia area was canonized not that long after her death. She was beatified 33 years after she died, and has been a saint for a few years now. Pope John Paul II will probably be the fastest person to sainthood.
I woudln’t be so quick to say that St. Patrick destroyed the Irish culture – if anybody did, it was the English. But seeing as how Halloween is an ancient Celtic festival, and he incorporated a lot of the Irish culture at the time into what he taught, quite a bit still survives.
I dont know what that idiot Daniel’s problem claiming that a Saint is a Murderer. He speaks a load of nonsense claiming that no true Irish Person should celebrate that monster. Well heres a News Flash. Most people in Ireland Love St Patrick and do celebrate his greatness. We dont have snakes in Ireland and Britain does so what does that tell you. How come they survive in Britains climate which is the same as Irelands.
Patron saints are typically the Saints that didn’t exist.
St. Patrick is odd in the fact that there is a legitimate story. The fact is that St. Patrick is a character of folklore, unfortunately there are too many stories for this one, I personally had never heard the one about the snakes until I came to America. There are still snakes in Ireland.
I had heard the legent which claimed St. Patrick to be a Welshman who claimed Ireland for the Irish by severing his righ hand and throwing it to shore. Hence the Right hand of Ulster.
The stories about an Englishman who went to Ireland to find religion, seemed a little far-fetched, especially as the presence of the catholic church was far more oppressive at the time.
St. Andrew of Scotland had an actual story too, rather than just Folklore and legend. And Nobody knows the real story of St. David of wales.
St George has many stories but as the Patron saint of England, only one. He was the Dragon Slayer.
uh, i think st.patrick is a lapruchaun
As far as Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland, you have to look at that in less than a literal fashion, friends. Patrick’s conversion of the Celtic people from their previous religion, Druidism, mainly, to Catholicism is most likely the root of this *myth*. The decline of Druidism dates from this era and among the symbols representing the Old Faith was the snake, which was tattooed onto most Druid priests….. Sometimes you need to look beyond the obvious.
St. Patty drove the “snakes” out of Ireland is a symbol dummy, meaning he drove the “Evil” out of Ireland. Before Catholocism the Irish believed in the Celtic beliefs which had many “gods, spirits” equivalent to Wicca and the nature spirits. Like the Yoruba Lukumi (Santeria) religion in which I am a priest of and adore with all my heart and soul. I am far from evil just like the Celtic are far from evil.
We as humans can all be saints, Angels are heavenly bodies who are made to adore God every day (sorta like robots) but we have the choice if we want to adore God and those who do it with more fervent emotion are the ones who later become saints. Those who choose God over all the other pleasures in life, who constantly live for God among everything else. In the Yoruba Lukumi faith one is chosen by his guardian spirit and then crowned with that spirit and one lives for God and soley for him and all who love him as we try to help those who really want to be helped. Same thing different name, you say Paddy, i say Patricio, hey same name.
If Patrick never murdered anyone, as the brainwashed here claim, then why did he take credit for killing all those people in his diaries?
He gave us a good excuse to drink green beer, if you’re Irish, you would appreciate that!
Patrick, having been taken as a slave, ended up in County Down on Slieve Mish or Mount Mish-its on the coast-east-he probably walkede about 12
Patrick, having been taken as a slave, ended up in County Down on Slieve Mish or Mount Mish-its on the coast-east-he probably walked about 12O miles south to get to Gormanstown-north of Dublin-before he convinced a trader to take him back to Wales-the trader was shipping Irish Wolfhounds who didnt want to board the rickety boat-Patrick calmed the dogs down-and the trader carried him home-sorry for previous truncated message-was testing if this thing works before getting involved—–yes am Irish and live near Gormanstown-stay tuned for more real tales of Patrick
Hey! I come from Ireland and the story I learned as a kid about St.Patrick was that he was born in Wales and kidnapped as a boy.He was taken to Ireland and was a sheppard for many years.he escaped when he got older and went back to britain.He came back to Ireland after a couple of years and as well as preaching the word of God,banished all the snakes in Ireland.He is now the patron saint of Ireland
There are no diaries of St. Patrick, and I don’t think you can give any documentation for this accusation of murder.
Patrick’s only genuine surviving works are his Confession:
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/patrick/confession.ii.html
(no mention of murder at all) and his Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus:
http://www.yale.edu/glc/archive/1166.htm
in which he makes a beautiful and impassioned plea for the release of captives.
Nope, all wrong. He was actually the greatest goalie of all time.
4 Stanley Cups
3 Conn Symthes
5 Jennings
3 Vezinas
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick_Roy
Hes the true St. Patrick
Some saints don’t have to lead holy lifes their whole lives, and can still be considered good eg. saul->paul. However it is a valid way of keeping records. The catholic church using the word infaulible is quite interesting and something they take seriously. A good example of that would be the statements found on the trinity. I even thing that a incorpirated one as a loop hole saying man was falible. The process above is true as posted by the first person. After that it’s a matter of checking out stories,scienctific investigation and data gathering. I wonder if all these things had always been inplace how many saint would the catholic church have?
idk i think itz just fun to dress up in all of the green i never thought about who St.Patrice was…wow …good question!!!
How on earth can Doodle say that we dont know the story of St David (Dewi Sant) -the patron saint of Wales? He was an actual living person. We are taught his history in schools here in Wales! Google it before making sweeping comments like that.
And yes, Patrick was Welsh too(from Padraig)
The story of St. Patrick is the one that I hate the most. St. Partick was acclaimed with driving the “snakes” from Ireland, yes. The “snakes” were actually Pagans. The term snake is used because christians think snakes are evil. And yes, he did steal some of the Pagan imagery and secrets into christianity. For example, look at a calendar. Christmas, is the Pagan holiday of Yule, Easter is the Pagan holiday of Ostara and then the most famous “witchy” holiday, halloween or Samhain (pronounced, Sow-en) is actually the day when the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead is thinnest. Giving people the ability to speak with the dead. So remember the next time you put on that green button or drink your green beer that you are pushing the very tyranny and that this country has been fighting for over 200 years, the freedom of religion. Because just like the inquisition, and the witch trials, the christians….just want to destroy anything that they don’t want to understand.
And to answer YOUR question, watch the movie “The Saint” starring Val Kilmer. It tells the requirements for becoming a saint.
okay im not sure but i read that patrick was kidnapped and raped and he killed himself or he was killed so people from ireland whent looking for him and they dident find him so they dedicated thast day to him…like i said im not sure
are there really no snake in Ireland?
st. pat was a british dude brought as a slave to ireland. He was forced by the peagans to work. And he taught the peagans about christianity. And no he did not banish all snakes that blatiny!
NO THATS SPARTA!!!
Snakes can’t life on Irish ground so simple is it even when you would put a snake there on the ground it would die and that’s scientific proven.
Their NO snakes in Ireland.
Source my husband a real Irishman.
Saint Patrick did a lot good for Ireland so show some respect.
I also belive that St Patrick was a lapruchaun
Dont any body belive in the little green men any more
OK, I’m not here to judge a person who lived well over a thousand years ago. As a person with pagan leanings, I laugh at these stories of Christian ‘magic’ (not very christian really) and of spurious saints such as Bridget,which threw a christian gloss over an older figure–there was a shrine at Kildare to the goddess Bridget that may be as old as the Neolithic.
However, several points do need to be made regarding several posts. ‘Wiccan’ is modern, it didn’t exist in Patrick’s time.Patrick didn’t kill priestesses on Iona (a scottish isle)–the Romans wiped out the druids on Mona (Anglesey) several hundred years before Patrick lived.
I also seriously doubt Patrick managed to kill ‘millions’ (for one there wasn’t that many people in ireland!)–where are the mass graves,please? It’s like the ‘burning times’–over exaggerated. the ‘old’ religion wasn’t some peaceful,fluffy matriarchy ala Marion Zimmer Bradley’s Mists of Avalon, either! (have a look at the bog bodies in Dublin Museum–probably ritual sacrifices.An ancient woman was also buried alive at a henge in Kildare. Read the legend of crom cruac regarding what very possibly did go on at some stone circles.)
being a saint requires a total holy life to the end, not sometimes unholy and sometimes holy,st paul and david mentioned earlier after being converted keep their holiness, so are saints really who they are,why then praying to mary to plead on their behalf
He’s a lot like Hitler.
He came to town, killed the Druid Preist. Left someone in their place to teach the new religion.
He converted them by killing them.
whats drinking and geting drunk got to do with st patrick day????
i know its gonna be st patricks day
thats my sisters birthday shes the smalest
Patrick was a Roman Briton, he spoke and wrote Latin and was a citizen of the declining Christian Roman Empire.
He was initially a slave in captivity, but because he could write and do math due to his Roman education, he became a trusted worker to a minor Irish king. He negotiated passage on a trading ship to the European continent, he did not walk 200 miles to freedom.
He did not take his religious training in Britain, but rather on the continent in France. After he impressed a cardinal of the Church, he was given Bishopric Orders to return to Ireland and serve the Irish. He started with the King he had once served and converted many of the minor Irish kings and nobles. While he practiced poverty and celibacy himself, he also developed some rich patrons that took care of him.
What is most important about Patrick was his Christian philosophies. He practiced a very “natural” form of Christianity that stressed oneness with the natural world as well as the supernatural. These kinds of positions were suppressed after St. Augustine’s near-Fascist philosophies took over the Church, along with many other forms of early Christianity including Gnostic thought.
1. I bind myself today to a strong virtue, an invocation of the Trinity.
I believe in a Threeness, with confession of an Oneness in the Creator of the Universe.
2.I bind myself today to the virtue of Christ’s birth with His baptism,
to the virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,
to the virtue of His resurrection with His ascension,
to the virtue of His coming to the Judgment of Doom.
3. I bind myself today to the virtue of ranks of Cherubim,
in obedience of Angels,
[in service of Archangels]
in hope of resurrection for reward,
in prayers of Patriarchs,
in preaching of Apostles,
in faiths of Confessors,
in innocence of Holy Virgins,
in deeds of righteous men.
4. I bind myself today to the virtue of Heaven,
In light of Sun,
In brightness of Snow
In splendour of Fire,
In speed of Lightning,
In swiftness of Wind,
In depth of Sea,
In stability of Earth,
In compactness of Rock.
5. I bind myself today to God’s Virtue to pilot me,
God’s might to uphold me,
God’s wisdom to guide me,
God’s eye to look before me,
God’s ear to hear me,
God’s Word to speak to me,
God’s hand to guard me,
God’s way to lie before me,
God’s shield to protect me,
God’s host to secure me,
Against snares of demons,
Against seductions of vices,
Against lusts of nature,
Against every one who wishes ill to me,
Afar and a near,
Alone and in a multitude.
6. So have I invoked all these virtues between me, [and these]
against every cruel, merciless power which may come against my body an my soul
against incantations of false prophets,
against black laws of heathenry,
against false laws of heretics,
against craft of idolatry,
against spells of women and smiths and druids,
against every knowledge that defiles men’s souls.
7. Christ to protect me today,
Against poison,
against burning,
against drowning,
against death-wound,
Until a multitude of rewards come to me!
8. Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me!
Christ below me,
Christ above me.
Christ at my right,
Christ at my left!
Christ in breadth,
Christ in length,
Christ in height!
9. Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me!
10. I bind myself today to a strong virtue, an invocation of the Trinity.
I believe in a Threeness with confession of a Oneness, in the Creator of [the Universe.]
Salvation is the Lord’s, salvation is the Lord’s, salvation is Christ’s
May Thy salvation, O Lord, be always with us.
his name was Maywin Sucket he lived in Britan got kidnapped by Irish maratters and was taken as a sheperd in Irland for 6 years!! Until a vision derected him to excape and he returned back to Britan, then he had another vision to go to Irland to teach the Gospel and he took the name St.Patrick. One popular myth is that he drove the snakes away from the island, but that probably meant he was cleaning the island of pagonisom. He also used the shamrock to teach the trinity (God the father,the Son, and the Holy Spirit). The Holiday falls on March 17 because suposedley that is the day he DIED!
I’m good
Ireland has been through a lot throughout history as have the Irish.
We’ve had our nation more or less occupied by the English. Before you start bashing me and calling me an idiot look up bloody sunday. Look what the English did to us in 1972 and earlier.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody_Sunday_(1972)
Ever since the 430′s things have been going poorly for us. It started with Patrick, I won’t call him a saint, destroying our culture. And he is a murderer, I consider most catholic leaders of that time to be murderers. Here’s why. The administration of “earthly justice” is a crime. Burning, torturing and raping pagans under catholic leaders sermons and leadership makes those leaders criminals.
This is something I feel very strongly about. Ireland is slowly coming out of its oppression by the English but our economy is still in a recession because of it.
We all feel strongly in our own ways about Patrick but that doesn’t mean we have to fight over it. The holiday is barely about him any more. So let us sit down and drink a wee pint of Guinness.
Let us dress in green and celebrate the fact that we’re Irish! Let us drink and sing and celebrate our heritage, stunted as it is, we still have it.
in response to:
“For example, contrary to popular belief, Patrick didn’t drive out all the snakes from Ireland. Still, what he did do is arguably even more impressive.”
what was more impressive was converting people to christianity? i’m definatley arguing…. (couldn’t be escaping from impirsonment and walking 200 miles, people do that all the time, and it’s defiantely far less impressive then driving snakes out of an entire land)
was the main leaders of the inquisition, impressive? what about the people who completely destroyed they mayan culture… were they ‘impressive’?
what WOULD BE impressive is a devout christian to follow ‘god’s word’ and stop judging those who aren’t christian and trying to convert them.
i think its ridiculous that people are talking all this smack about this st. patrick guy. his legend is so old who knows what the truth is anymore? its not like his story was written down and kept in mint condition through all these years.. i mean its just as bad as all these people trying to say president lincoln was not the great man he is in history. i’m so sick of people trying to down everyone else and other people’s beliefs, y not just.. oh say.. get over it? move on? i understand we all have our opinions but do we really have to bring ourselves down to the level of bashing other people, especially people that have been dead for hundreds to thousands of years? may God bless us all and help us all find happiness within ourselves and our lives. good luck to all and by the way.. happy st. pattys day!
Banishing snakes? . . . . Well, I suppose that’s OK, but if he wanted to perform a really hard but needed miracle, St Patrick should’ve banished all the Republicans from modern-day America. I mean there’s not that much diff between REPublicans and REPtiles.
Well, I think you have to do like 3 miracles or one or something like that, i would look it up on Google, or Yahoo! if you must.
and BTW,
He didn’t ask for your opinion so all of you shut up!
he wanted a simple answer to his question “How do you become a saint”!! So stop complaining and answer!
chao ban
Of course, everyone forgets how he did it. He summoned every snake to the mountains of Sligo, and spake unto them:
“All snakes who wish to remain in Ireland… kindly raise your right hand. Arright, off ye go then.”
Happy St Patricks Day Everyone!!!
from Ireland:P!!!!!!!!
”top of the mornin’ to ya”
With all due respect, why does sainthood matter? There’s no place in the bible that talks about how to become a saint. As a matter of fact it calls all believers “saints” and there’s no process described for becoming one. Why add all the human trimming and trappings to the concept of saint?
st. patrick didnt really banish all the snake from ireland, it is told there that he ridded the towns he passed of non-believers, thus ridding the towns of “snakes” the atheists
Happy St Patricks Day this is a good inovation to the caatholic faith i am proud of you.KIndly SEND information to my mail box on St Anthony of Padual
LOL at Steve go Av’s!
And St. Pats is the best yay corned beef and cabbage mmm yumm.
Dear Mike,
The Catholic church has several answers to your question, but I find the one in the Bible to be the one I believe. St. Paul when writing his letters to the seven churches refers to all believers in Christ as saints. This designation is used many times in the Book of Revelation also. Forget what the uninformed are telling you. Go to the source. It will answer your question perfectly. God bless, C
Mike, I enjoyed your article in re St. Patrick. As to his driving out the snakes…Ireland had none to drive out..it was spared that nuisance because it is an island and for a thousand years it was not exposed to foreign invasion. When it was invaded, snakes were not among the passengers. Most of what you have writen about St. Patrick I agree with, with one exception. Patrick “found” religion when he escaped from Ireland and returned home, although there is a story that he had a vision while still a slave, as to what his life would be. Whether or not this is true, we can only wonder. The religion of Ireland during his captivity was still pagan, and the Druid priests ruled. However, they were not priests in the connotation we attach now to the priesthood. They presided over the various holidays, and the changing of seasons (Vernal equinox, etc.) They also performed sacrifices to obtain the favor of the “Gods”, including human when the occasion demanded. Their Gods were not godly, but related to spirits that inhabited the earth. Ireland became a Catholic nation on Patricks return, when he began converting the old Irish Kings first. In that era, what the Kings proclaimed was what was practiced. It was a lengthy process for Patrick (Padraig) and his life was one of constant travel and yes, poverty. As to his sainthood: it is bestowed by God alone, as St. Paul instructs in the New Testament. C
Many people really don’t think about the true reason for the holidays (think Santa and the Easter Bunny). I would be willing to guess that most people don’t give St. Patrick a second though on St. Patrick’s Day.
I found this on a website:
The Story of St. Patrick
St. Patrick is known as the patron saint of Ireland. True, he was not a born Irishman. But he has become an integral part of the Irish heritage, mostly through his service across Ireland in the 5th century.
Some accounts place his birth in Wales, some in Scotland. But whatever it was, Patrick, born Patricius, considered himself a Pagan until the age of 16. At that age, he was sold into slavery by a group of Irish marauders that raided his village. During his captivity, he became closer to God.
He escaped from slavery after 6 years and went to Gaul where he studied in the monastery under St. Germain, Bishop of Auxerre, for a period of 12 years. During his training he became aware that his calling was to convert the pagans to Christianity.
His wishes were to return to Ireland, to convert the native pagans to Christianity. But his superiors instead appointed St. Palladius. But two year later, Palladius transferred to Scotland. Patrick was then appointed as second bishop to Ireland.
Patrick was quite successful at winning converts. And this fact upset the Celtic Druids. Patrick was arrested several times, but escaped each time. He traveled throughout Ireland, establishing monasteries across the country. He also set up schools and churches which would aid him in his conversion of the Irish country to Christianity.
His mission in Ireland lasted for 30 years. After that time, Patrick retired to County Down. He died on March 17, AD 461. That day has been commemorated as St. Patrick’s Day ever since.
regardless, organize religion is the greatest evil known to man kind, it’s the second oldest profession and has a lot in common with the oldest profession. You give a little bit of money for a little bit of happiness, and your still not satisfied in the end. Religion is the biggest killer around, since people always seem to kill in the name of god/goddess.
Just enjoy the day an have a beer
St. Patrick is my very old neighbor!
I guess to be a saint its not that difficult. You just have to let the light in & know you are nothing without Him.
Love should be the motto. All the rituals, traditions, religions have their place & good to a certain degree, but like Jesus said & like apostole Paul said, don’t forget the most important things:
LOVE, MERCY & FORGIVENESS.
It’s relatively easy, but it’s yet so hard to live in simplicity. Because most of the time human nature wants to get the credit instead of giving the credit to whom credit is due. God.
Actually it is very easy to become a Saint. Referencing the oldest book around, we find in the Bible many references of saints and how to become one. In the book of Romans (Ro. 1:7) Paul addresses the saints in Rome giving the indication that all Christians or believers in Jesus Christ are Saints. Of the sixty-two (62) times in the Bible that saints are mentioned, it rarely speaks of any great or special thing they did. To be a saint is very simple, believe on Jesus Christ as Savior and Lord and He will wash away your sins and make you clean. So the saint does very little but Jesus did it all by dying on the cross to pay the debt (judgment) required for sin and we are made holy by His sacrifice.
I don’t want to take away from the fact that men and women should be esteemed and honored for their many acts of kindness, benevolence and martyrdom. We do need heroes that can be an example for us to follow but the Bible is very clear it is not what we do to be or become holy but what Jesus did.
there is no fossilized snakes found in ireland in written history so it is probaly not true
In honor of St. Patrick, I will tell me favorite Irish joke.
Three British soldiers enter the Belfast bar and see a lone customer wearing the green. They agree to have some fun with him.
The first soldier walks up the the Irishman and says “I’ve heard that St. Patrick was a sissy.” The Irishman merely resonds “I’ve never heard that.”
The second soldier sneers at the first and walks up to the Irishman and says “I’ve heard St. Patrick was a coward.” The Irishman merely resonds “I’ve never heard that.”
The third soldier tells the others “I know what will get him,” and walks up to the Irishman and says “St. Patrick was an Englishman.”
The Irishman merely responds ” That’s what your friends were telling me.”
It is very disappointing to see so much drivel by people who have no idea about life in Patrick’s day. There are others with many worthwhile expressions re Patrick, but it is entirely too easy to just come out with the story you prefer and that fits your ideas of today. No Christian missionaries went around killing people. Not Ansgar, Columba, Benedict (of Nursia), Augustine (not quite a fascist, taking on in North Africa 30,000 refugees after Alaric had sacked Rome. The Christian ethos gradually overcame all its foes not with brutality – that’s what they had put up with – with more prayer for their enemies than the haters here could ever imagine. Live with those saints, follow Ignatius of Antioch walk all the way to Rome to be crucified – simply for the privilege of telling a different village every evening of the joy and peace of soul that his Savior Jesus of Nazareth had given him and for all.
I am a medical doctor, a missionary in the far east and a surgeon – can give you a cleft lip repair so that no one will ever know you had one-either cleft lip or repair. It is the Lord Christ that still fuels the church in Nepal, now numbering 1,300,000 – up from about 500 when I first came to Nepal 40 years ago. And the Chinese church up from 40,000 believers when I was back in college to about 160,000,000 souls today. I am Lutheran, a Lutheran Catholic if you will, who loves the Catholic church and its heroes of old (they were not Roman Catholic – they called themselves simply Catholic) who conquered by the sheer greatness of their souls – and are still doing it today as once the Holy Spirit gets to you. Learn from these people, soften your built in prejudices and find out what Patrick had, and you are missing because you are unable to place yourself in his world – and mind – and discover has everlasting worth.
In response to Munkis comment posted on 11th March- please get your facts straight.
Downpatrick is not in Armagh, nor nowhere near it. It is a small, market town in County Down. Armagh is not a mountain either, it is a county (and a city) in Northern Ireland.
Also, Ireland does not have snakes, and of course has never had any.
Ireland is an island, and has therefore never has it’s own habitat, different to other islands and different to the island of Great Britain beside us. Ireland also does not have moles, and a number of different species which thrive in nearby England, Scotland and Wales. These are the species which could not swim across the Irish Sea. This is the reason for the no snakes, not St Patrick
Sorry i don’t have anything further to add about St Patrick. I just hate it when people post made-up facts
i want to know everything about st. francis
whether he’s a murderer, saint, pagan, evil or angel.. who the hell cares? he was canonized as a saint and for that we all should respect that. what’s important is that it works for some people, he is an inspirations maybe not to all but at least to some. this argument will never stop, just like religion, politics and what so ever.
for me as long as i have green beer, naked irish chicks and more green beer, im good. i just wish if really is that important, then celebrate it with a bigger bang, like declaring st patrick’s day as a national holiday?! what do yall think mate? CHEERS!!
I am no Irish, nor a historian.
BUT: If the celebration is on the day he supposedly died, I would guess that St Patrick was not exactly well liked in Ireland… I would take that as an indication that Irish were so relieved when he finally passed away that they felt the need to celebrate. That would explain the drinking and feasting associated with St Patrick’s day. Logical, isn’t it?
The Catholic church has one way of making saints, through the canonization process, and God has another as described in the Bible long before the institution of the Catholic church was created. There are multiple references to saints in both the Old and New Testaments. These Biblical saints were simply those people who had put their trust in Christ and his death and resurrection. “For the preaching of the cross is to them that perish foolishness; but unto us which are saved it is the power of God.” I Cor. 1:18. So, if you want to be ‘Saint Mike’ just confess your sins and ask Jesus to forgive you and you will be saved and a fellow saint.
I wonder if he will turn in his grave if, for all his holiness, people celebrate his day by drinking themselves silly and colour themselves green just for fun.
Or was he a drinker himself?
I hate it when people call him a murderer. Burning priests isn’t murder if they’re pagan. Get real. And what? Like he’s the only saint to preach genocide? Grow up.
Ok so the only way to become a saint is as it is said in the Bible. All religions have come up with certain aspects to what they read to stand out from the rest….just think of all the pastors or is it priests or is it bishops….its all the same they teach the Bible but have many different names…as said before, believe in the Lord and you will be a saint….everyone has an opinion and always will. No one will ever fully agree one hundred percent on anything….that’s what God wanted…..difference! Enjoy it like everything else and quit complaining about if there is a God or not…the holiday is about St. Patrick….what you take from it will always be different from what someone else takes from it. 1 story….hundreds of versions.
It’s one day at time. If you notices alot of Saints were sinners before they became Saints!!!
Why isn’t Mother Teresa a Saint yet???
Hey, from what i have learned/heard is that saints are created by doing a certain amount of deeds and having certain amounts of offerings towards the church. I am not Catholic so, i could be wrong.
Hmmmm….
The snakes St. Patric drove from Ireland were the 120,000 Druids that he supposedly “converted” to Christianity. But just like the Native Americans, The Hebrew people, many Muslims and Christians alike their worship and traditions carried on underground in secret.
Fear has oppressed many a people but true faith can not be gently extinguished. Any ways… just the fact that he referred to the Druids/ Pagans as snakes..and gloats about driving them out…does not leave me with warm fuzzy felling about how he went about things. It sounds more like pest extermination then the loving embrace from a man of God.
I can not imagine that the druids/ pagans all gave up thousands of years of tradition and practice willingly to follow this man. Let’s be real…historically speaking… the only thing that has “converted” a people of such mass proportions is violence. Any one who wants to be in denial as to how the church worked to “convert” the peoples of the world really needs to educate them selves a little better.
The church weather it was in South America, Mexico, Ireland, or here in the United States has had no quams about beating, killing, raping, and torturing the love of God in to people. I know this might be offensive to hear ..and it is sad..but it is TRUE. I personally have a great relationship with God but I wont pretend to support the methods the Church used for centuries to cleans and purify and convert.
Just do your home work people it is a s simple as that. The Christian/Catholic battle to save humanity has been far more savage then supposed “savages” they were trying to save. The blood spilled in the name of God even today is far more then you can imaging…
Quit being brainwashed and just do some real research . It is nothing to be defensive about…hell I love green beer, I am Irish-red hair and all, but I am not going to bull shit my self about how much blood St. Patric had on his hands from “driving ” out the “snakes”.
Drink your beer and have fun but just like you should be conscious of the history.
Hey folks – please get your story straight on St. Patrick!! Please not from the watered down history channe!! Try this link: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/11554a.htm
so whoever is bashing the Irish culture needs to shut up. not only is it offensive to me since i’m Irish but its also offensive to anyone who is Irish. you sound stupid and need to read up on the facts before you go bashing someone’s culture and beliefs. St. Patrick drove out the “snakes” or the pagans and brought Christianity to Ireland.
He is a saint, and before you go and talk badly about something make sure you know what you’re talking about. The Irish people have endured a lot, when they first came to America, and dealt with many hardships and looked badly upon when they first came to America. They are good, nice, & welcoming people. So be nice, and give the respect you would want people to give to you’re beliefs and heritage.
What about St. Guinness ?
Saint Patrick must remain as a torch of global peace,tolerance,and must be vandicated as a great saint who sacrificed his time banish evil from Ireland.
This is what I found on canonization… For Catholics its a pretty big deal.
quit your yelping about religion, faith is what’s in your heart, your soul not what someone wrote on a piece of paper then had it re written by someone else, and then someone else.
have some beer to wash down that corn beef
There is only one true regilion and that is Jesus Christ. Who came to this earth to die for our sins by dieing on the cross. By accepting Jesus as your Savior, then you are saved from hell and have a home in heaven one day. If St. Patrick taught that, then he did what we all should be doing and that is sharing the gospel about Jesus. I hope and pray that who ever reads this will come to know and have a personal relationship with Jesus.
Why pagans don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day
Patrick was a Christian priest whose job it was to convert the population of Ireland to Christianity. The Druids, however, stood in his way. The Druids were very important people in Ireland at that time, and their symbol was the Snake of Wisdom. Druids could be priests of the old religion of Ireland, but there were also much more.
One part of the Druid class were the “Bards”, whose job it was to remember all of the history of the people, as well as to record current events. Because the Irish Celts did not rely on a written language, everything had to be memorized. Bards were poets and musicians, and used music and poetry to help them remember their history exactly. Because of this, Bards were highly respected members of the Irish society. The Irish believed that history was very important, for if you didn’t remember what had happened in the past, you couldn’t safely plan for the future. Bards, therefore, held the future of the people in safekeeping.
Another important part of the Druidic class were the “Brehons”. Brehons were the Judges and the Keepers of the Laws. The Celtic people had a highly complicated society, and with it, a highly developed set of laws. Brehons trained for many years to learn the laws of the people, so that whenever there was a dispute, the Brehon could
fairly decide the matter and make peace. The laws were there to make sure that everyone; man, woman, and child, were treated fairly and with respect. Because of the wisdom that the Brehons held, and the knowledge of the laws of the society, they too, like the Bards, were held with much respect.
And, of course, there were the Druid Priests. This branch of the Druid set were the keepers of the knowledge of Earth and Spirits. It was their responsibility to learn the Spirit World, in order to keep people and Earth in harmony. Priests performed marriages and “baptisms”, they were healers, and psychiatrists. The Priests were
the wise grandparents to whom you could go with a problem. They were there to help you solve them, with the help of the Earth and the Spirit World.
Into this world of the Irish Celts entered a highly energetic and devoted Christian Priest named Patrick. Because he believed so strongly in the tenets of Christianity, he thought that anyone who was not Christian had to become one in order to be “saved”. He came to Ireland to convert the Irish people to Christianity.
The Irish people at that time were happy and doing quite well without Patrick and his ideas, but he was persistent. He noticed that the Druids were really the important people of the society. He thought that if he could convert the Druids to Christianity, the rest of the people would follow. Patrick’s main problem was that the Druids were very
comfortable with what they had already learned, and were not willing to change. Druids had spent their entire lives learning the ways of the people, and were the last people who were willing to change.
Although Patrick was not willing to abandon his vision of a Christian Ireland, he was getting desperate. He knew that because the strength of the people rested with the Druids, he had to get rid of them in order to get the people to listen to him.
Patrick was not alone in his efforts. He had brought many people with him from Britain to establish the new religion. Patrick began to destroy the influence of the Druids by destroying the sacred sites of the people and building churches and monasteries where the Druids used to live and teach. Gradually, the might of the Druidic class was broken by a bitter campaign of attrition. Instead of hearing the teachings and advice of the Druids, the people began to hear the teachings of Rome. Because the Druids were the only ones who were taught to remember the history, with the Druids dead and their influence broken, the history was forgotten.
Patrick won. By killing off the teachers and the wise ones, his own religion could be taught. For this mass conversion of a culture to Christianity, and for the killing of thousands of innocent people, Patrick was made a Saint by his church.
So while I love my part Irish heritage and the culture I do not celebrate the murder of my ancestors or the man that murdered them.
the only snakes in Ireland are pets or in zoo they can’t live outdoors do to climate look it up…. I never see any lizard running around Philly unless it in a sewer…. lol but really no snakes in Ireland my husband is a reptile nut…
Thank you for the information, at my age (?) I am still excited to learn something new. You made my day!
The true story of Saint Patrick.
Saint Patrick was born and raised in Toronto Canada. His name was really Chevy Chase. One saturday evening while he was with his father slapping around the old hockey puck he fell into a magical well that was put their by a tricky little leprechaun.
This well was a time portal that sent Chevy Chase back in time and onto a viking cruise ship. At first the vikings thought they should each Chevy Chase, but after he showed them he was a true hockey fan by pulling their skin fur rugs over their shoulders and kicking the $%^! out of the captain they decided selling him to the slave trade market of Ireland was the only reasonable thing to do.
After being sold and showing the local villagers how to best score a hat trick, they were so thankful that they sent him to England. That did this thinking that when he said he wanted to go home, (and since he spoke English) that he was originally from England.
This made Chevy Chase upset to no ends. So he took up Christianity whose basis at the time was shoot first, ask questions later, because god didn’t go out like a punk.
After scattering the pagen religions and desecrating the sacred rituals of an ancient civilization Chevy chase accidently stumbled across the cross little leprechaun who sent him into the past. Chevy chase was going to kill the leprechaun until the leprechaun told him that bush was going to be in office for 8 years, and that if he went back he was going to be put in the military while all his stock options turned to cottage cheese.
Upon hearing this sad tale of woe Chevy Chase decided to move to France and become a cheese conisueer who discovered a fantastic way to turn beer green, (that didn’t include radioactive waste).
At some point someone thought it would be a great joke to name a holiday after a man who wasn’t irish and never wanted to go there in the first place.
Any individual person who loves Christ and believe Jesus is the Christ and believe that He is God , this person is a saint. In the eyes of some religion,saints means a symbol of acomplishment, credits ,and turned a person into an Idol and worship.
“One difficulty I have with the canonization process is that a person who was married and who raised a family, no matter good a person he was, is very unlikely to be canonized. The process seems a bit stacked in that regard.”
Actually, there have been lots of couples who have been canonized. Most couples didn’t go around touring the world preaching the message of Christ, however, because they raised families, which is good in it’s own merit. However, those people aren’t very noteworthy most of the time, and thus are not canonized.
Patrick’s approach never had anything to do with murder. He never killed anyone, actually, if you go back and read the true accounts about him. Yes, he was from Britain, and he was kept as a slave by the Irish, whose religion included child sacrifices and brutal rituals. Patrick escaped and made it back to Britain, but felt called by God to return and minister to the people who had abused him as a teen. He followed that call, and returned to Ireland, ministering with love, kindness, and gentleness. He never killed anyone as far as I know, but he saved the lives of thousands who would have been killed during the rituals of the Druids. He wasn’t a murderer, and a blanket sweep of all religious people as murderers is ludicrous. Put back the Irish ale and become sober before you continue posting this nonsense, please!
Patrick was the Spanish inquisition reborn in Ireland. A few bad people exist in every religion. The only problem is with Christianity these people often became leaders in the old world. So might made right, and after Ireland was torched of its bountiful heritage (much like the indians of north america) history books were written and shame covered up so boldly that those who choose to cower behind belief, will never be able to open their eyes to the truth.
America used to celebrate Christopher Columbus day until the truth was revealed that he slaughtered Indians while seeking gold. Saint Patricks dirt was just covered up better.
his name is Yeshua Ben Yoseph, and he was called Jesus caused the Romans couldn’t translate his name, gosh. Can’t say much for Christianity when they can’t even get the name right, geeze.
Tosses down another beer and eyes another plate of corn beef
How does one become a Saint?Well in Roman Catholism it is a long & rediculous proceedure & not what the bible teaches.According to scripture all who are saved trully by Christ are called saints it is only a word to descibe those who are His.
Well, it seems like a good place to ask another question: What does God want from us?
Religions have tried to provide many answers, and all have offered similar answers: to have some divine enlightenment from above and enjoy.
There is however difference between the attitudes toward the terms “obedience” and “disobedience”, or should I say “commandments” and their violations?
I think, however, that there’s something deeper than just do X,Y,Z by God’s command..
Find out something interesting about it.. an article that may shed some light about the Creators relationship toward creation:
http://www.kabbalah.info/engkab/einsof.htm