St. Patrick: A Study in Missionary Achievement

Irish Jesuit Province

St. Patrick: A Study in Missionary AchievementAuthor(s): Francis ShawSource: The Irish Monthly, Vol. 58, No. 681 (Mar., 1930), pp. 132-149Published by: Irish Jesuit ProvinceStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/20518705 .

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132

ST. PATRICK: A STUDY IN MISSIONARY ACHIEVEMENT.

CERTAJN aspects of St. Patrick's character and career have been worn threadbare in modern literatuire. In some respects, it may be said that

the work of this Saint is well known. Of the strength of the popular devotion to St. Patrick there can be no dotubt. Professor MacNeill has said: " No one man has ever left so strong and permanent impression of his personality on a people, with the single and eminent exception of Moses." While this is undoubtedly true, is it not also true to say that our conception of St.

Patrick is, to say the least of it, often hazy and vague? Little attempt is ever made to understand the man him self as he truly was. Are we not too ready to accept the conventional portrait of the tall, bearded man, dressed in green vestments, mitred and with crozier in hand, who stands stiffly on the green sward of Eire and ushers into the sea a whole herd of singularly inoffen sive-looking snakes? The fact that our vision of St. Patrick needs to be focussed can bQ shown in many ways. Does it not require a jolt to odr accepted ideas to consider Patrick as a foreign missioner, and to conl sider his life and actions as having a special 'interest for those who study missionary problems? But that St. Patrick was a real foreign missioner, that he encoun tered the very difficuilties which harass modern mis sionaries, that he was supported by the same zeal which suipports them, that, further, his life and mission bear

most striking analogies with certain modern missionary enterprises, I hope to show in the course of this studyb Especially should it be remarked here that the spirit and character of this missioner, as revealed in his own writings, are fit subjects, not only for academic dis cussion, but rather for prayerful consideration by those who wish to learn the true stuff of which great mis sionaries are made.

Before proceeding, however, to estimate the work of



ST. PATRICK: A STUDY 133

St. Patrick, it is essential that we should have a clear

understanding of the nature of the country to which Patrick came. It is quite impossible, of course, to give anything in the nature of a sufficient outline here, and we must satisfy ourselves with touching briefly upon those things which matter most. When St. Patrick came to Ireland the Celts had been

for over seven centuries established there. The Celts formed the aristocracy of the country, although numeri cally less than the pre-Celtic peoples, who were for the

most part slaves. In personal appearance tall and fair, in apparel rich and elaborate-with their special know ledge of dye-stuffs, their fondness for gay colours and ornaments, especially gold ones-" in character de scribed as simple, generous, acute, witty, and hospi table, interested in literature and learning, passionate lovers of justice," but "1 quick-tempered, impulsive, quarrelsome . . . impatient of discipline, dramatic in

manner" these Celts shared the beniefits of their civilisation with the pre-Celtic occupants of the country, who were themselves possessed of many fine qualities. To such a mixed people, then, did Patrick come as apostle.

Of the progress in art, philosophy, and literature of the Irish, our measure is the lore and learning of the

Druidic order. The Druids, organised in Ireland as on the Continent, as an order, were " experts in law, edu cation, poetry, history, medicine, moral and physical science." They taught the doctrines of the immortality and the transmigration of souls. " Their philosophy," says the contemporary witness, Diogenes Laertius, " was to honour the gods, to do no evil, and to exercise

manliness. "

It will be noticed, then, that any analogy which may exist between this mission to Ireland and a modern foreign mission will be with a country such as Japan or China, possessed already in a high degree of a dis tinct native culture anid civilisation. It will be seen also that the Celts of Irelanid had many qualities and conditions which made their country a particularly fer



134 THE IRISH MONTHLY

tile ground for the seed of Faith. But of these points more shall be said later.

Of the political and social conditions, we can only sa-y that Ireland of the fifth century was divided] into many small autonomous States ealled " tuatha," wrongly translated as "tribes." The "tuath in size usually corresponded to the modern barony. Each "tuath " had its own king and administrative council. One body of laws, the Senchus MO6r, prevailedl every where. Furthermore, the national character of the Druidic order ensured a common national culture. "AK far as internal affairs went, the "tuath was autono

mous. Politically, the "tuatha" naturally grouped themselves about one "1 tuath," exercising a hegemony, and national unity was personified in the person of the High-King, who had little real power, outside his.own Kingdom. There were no towns or populous centres.

With rega-rd to social conditions,, the country might be said to have been aristocratic and plutocratic at the same time, for not only was blue blood a qualification to nobility, but property in land was no less a qualifica tion. Slavery, as in all pagan countries, was common.

An elaborate caste system-not, however, at all so rigid as the Indian -existed a-mong the Patricians. Oversea raids from Irelaund were common, and in one of these as we all know, probably in the year 401, was brought back to Ireland a youth who was destined to change profoundly the social conditions of our countr by bringing to our shores the Light of the Gospel.

The probable date of St. Patrick's birth is 387 A.D., and the probable place the valley of the Severn. Much that was hitherto obscure concerning Patrick's life has been made clear by more recent research. The Saint was sixteen years old when he was brought- captive to Ireland in A.D. 401. After six years of captivity he escaped on board a ship which brought him, not to Britain, as he desired, but rather to Gaul. After wan dering for some months as the prisoner of the pagan crew, Patrick again escaped. He did not return to Britain, however, but sojourned for some years in the




monastic island of Lerns, in the Mediterranean, where St. Honoratus had founded, a short time before, one of the earliest monastic establishments in the West.

It may be that here, while meditating more closely on the Gospels, there came to him the first promptings of zeal and desire to convert the pagan Irish. That he spent those years in study of, and meditation on, the

Holy Scriptures, we conclude from the extraordinary familiarity with them which his writings show. The

Confession can be printed in a pamphlet of about 22 pages, while the Epistle would occupy about 7 pages, yet there are no fewer than 190 quotations from Holy Scripture embodied in them. In any case, he returned once more to Britain, to his own people, and imme diately the vocation of God came to him. The idea is crystallised in the Confession in the story of the vision of Victoricus and the voice of the Irish calling him to walk once mlore among them. Whether Patrick was favoured with a supernatural vision or not, from this day he never doubted that God had called him, and when, in his old age, he writes his Confession, the clarity and uirgency of this call are as fresh in his mi:nd as ever. " is mercy lifted me up," he cries out, "1 and verily raised me aloft." " Who was it that called uip me, fool thouigh I be, out of the midst of those who seem to be wise and skilled in the law and powerful in word and in everything? And me, moreover, the abhorred of this world, did he inspire beyond others-if such I

were-only that with reverence and Godly fear and unblamedly I should faithfully be of service to the nation to whom the love of Christ conveyed me."

Straightway Patrick left his home and went to Auxerre, another monastic establishment in Gaul. After three years or so of ecclesiastical studies he was or dained deacon by Amator, the Bishop who was suc ceeded by St. Germanus. But Patrick was preparing him self for a great work, one fraught with responsibilities and! trials, and so we find him for sixteen more years

studying under St. Germanus, by whom he was conse crated Bishop in 432 as successor to Palladius.



136 TIE IRISH k MONTHLY

Again, as the remote preparation for his work was thorough, so also was the immediate. It is perfectly just to assume that St. :Patrick came to Ireland well equipped from the maiterial point of view. -The late F. J. Biggar was the first to point out that the coming of St. Patrick was expected; in fact, tha-t he came in

particular at the invitation of the petty King, Dichu. Tradition bears this out in so far as it records that the ship which carried the party came to land first in Wick low, but then journeyed up the coast, touching at -nis

Phfdraig, Skerries (hence the name), and continuing up past the Boy:ne 'to Strangford bough. Entering the narrow fiord, the party jpurneyed right up to Sabhall, where they were 'received by Dichu. Further probability is a-dded to this theory by the fact of St. Patrick's later connection with and burial at Sabhall or Downpatrick. The evidence, then, for thinking that the journey of the ship was not fortuitous is very strong.

It is well that we should not overlook the presence in Ireland before St. Patrick's coming of a certain number of Christians. Tradition is strong in its record of pre Patrician communities. of Christians, especially in the South of Ireland. The importation, moreover, of Chris tian slaves must have played here, as elsewhere, an im

portant part in spreading the Faith. Witness the words of the Confession itself: "1 I went into captivity to Ire land with many thousands of persons." These Ch-ris tians, however, whatever their number may have been, were completely unorganised. No adequate account of the general missionary labours of St. Patrick can be given here. Anything in the nature of maiss

conversion, following the conversion of the King of a tuath, did not take place. There is no record anywhere that he succeeded in converting any King at all. In the Confession he claims to have converted the

sons of Kings. When he came to die, afte r his 29 years of labour, Christianity was well established- in the couintry. Much -remained still to be done, and paganism lingered for many a cen-tury longer. Nevertheless, when

Patrick's work was done the Church had been estab




lished, as we should say now, as the State religion. Its Hierarchy ha'd been determlned and its material orga nisation had been perfected. Monasticism, the perfec tion of the Christian ideal, had been above all securely established. The relation of the Irish Church to Rome and the Papacy, and its inclusion in the general scheme and plan of the universal Church, were secured.

Assuming, then, a knowledge of the general character of the achievement of our missioner, I propose to con sider some of the difficulties which beset his path, to treat of some of the problems which he had to solve, and, conscious of the outstanding success which crowned his efforts, to see what light his methods may throw on similar problems in present-day missionary fields.

The first and probably the greatest problem which confronted St. Patrick was the problem of fusing the Christian with native culture. St. Patrick- was a Roman citizen brought up as such by parents w ho were prominent Roman citizens, in the Roman province of Britain. He had spent some twenty years in Roman Gaul, in an atmosphere of Roman Christian culture. In his letter of denunciation of Coroticus he speaks of the offending Britons thus:-" . . . to the soldiers of Coro ticus-I do not say to my fellow-citizens or to the fellow citizens of the holy Romans. - .," while in the same con text he speaks of himself -" . . . And so I dwell in the

midst of barbarians, a istranger and an exile for the love

of God." We see in this how St. Patrick felt himself to be a stranger among these peoples. He must indeed have come up against the problem of "adaptation." From the evidence which is to hand, we can have no

doubt that he adapted himself and made himself all things to all men.

Most striking is the tradition and written record of his friendship with the druid and chief-poet Dubhthach. In the story of this friendship is enshrined the accept ance by Patrick of what was good in the native litera ture anad in the druidic order. With regard to the ques tion of language, it must be remembered! that during his



138 T-HE IRISH MONTHLY

six years of captivity the saint must have become fairly well acquainted with the archaic Irish of that time-to the extent as he himself says of forgetting whatever

Latin he had learned before. Furthermore, it should be noted that at that period the difference between the Goidelic and Brythonic dialects of the Celtic language was much less than it is now. In fact, the difference then may not have been sufficient to prevent intercom

miunication. St. Patrick then was not faced with any too great difficulty as far 'as language is concerned.

Nevertheless, although so xvell equipped to use the Irish language widely for ecclesiastical purposes, ve know that on the other hand, St. Patrick made general' use of the Latin tongue and diffused a wide knowletdge of it. No vernacular liturgy grew up in the Early Irish Church, and the significance of all this has been clearly pointed out by Bury. From a national point of view, something may thus have been lost, but from a religious and spiritual point of view, the policy of St. Patrick can only be commended. Geographically situated as it is, and separated from the rest of Europe by more than geographical bounds, the Irish church was naturally in danger of developing along eccentric lines, and there can be no doubt that the unifying bond of the Latin lan guage was a strong factor in preserving this country in close ulnion with the Chuirch of Rome. If this bond were absent, ithe Irish Church at a later date might easily have taken its place with the Greek and Russian churches in schism with the Church of Rome.

While ladopting this policy of using Latin, St. Patrick, nevertheless, was most sympathetic towards native art, architecture and literature. Thus we find that the earliest church buildings in Ireland were fashioned according to native Irish models. Wood as was natural in so richly-wooded a country, was the chief jbuilding

material. Patrick then, in building his churches, did not antagonise by introducing a new and foreign method of building. The ornamentation and decoration of the churches and shrines too was Irish, execuited by Irish men'. - This the scant archeological evidence shows, and



ST. PATRICKI: A STUDY 139

if we can judge fr-om after-events, harmony between the new Christian culture and the existing pagan literature was early effected. In fact, the Christian Irish soon proceeded to break down the monopoly in native litera ture of the Irish pagan schools. Gradually indeed, better equipped as they were to write down this litera ture, the Christian sohools became pre-eminuent as centres of secular learnirng. " This," says Professor

Macalister, "was a staggering blow at the prerogatives of the literaiti of paganism. There is evidence too -of the conflict with the pagan schools, but at the same time the fusion of the two cultures was effected with

wonderful smoothness. Of course the Christians found it necessary to excise much that was objectionable; nevertheless, the great mass of pagan Irish literature has been preserved to us by the work of monastic scribes. There was a mutual give and take between the two cultures, and the result was the brilliant religious and outstanding cultural activity of the centuries of the G olden Age.

Here we have a perfect example of good missionary method, with great achievement for recommendation. The manner in which the Irish and Latin cultures were thus made to fuse, offers a, good model to modern mis s;ionaries to foreign countries which are possessed of a high native cuilture. This union in Ireland was brought about without any cramping of the native geniuas and without any compromise on the part of the Church. WVere it not well done if such could be accomplished by ouir modern, missionaries to China and Japan, to India, and even to Africa, to give what is good and fitting, or rather to let that be taken and assimilated to aim, not at changing the native civilisation or imposing a doubt fully better one, but ra-ther to aim at spiritualising the native culture; in other words, to do what Patrick did so efficiently just fifteen hundred years ago?

We Catholics,"' says Fr. Gavan Duffy, "tend to feel porofonndly sad when we see a bliack or brown or yellow

race gradually throwing off its individuality and put ting on the trappings of white standardisation: for it,



140 THE IRISH 'MONTHLY

cannot do this witholut selling its inmost soul upon which alone we believe it possible to graft Christ and His Kingdom."

Of the mainner in which St. P-atrick built up this

vigorouls native church, nothing perhaps is more illus trative than the establishment by him of a native clergy.

For this we have the definite evidence of the Saint's own words in the Confession, supplemented also by- the tradi tional and literary record. Of his method of electing candidates for the priesthood, we know little except we generalise from the few examples which are known to us, where the Saint chose out young boys such as Benignus and Sacellus, and kept them constantly in his company, traiinog them in holiness. It is most likely that St. Patrick trained up many such youths as did also his three assistant bishops, Secundinus, Auxilius and Iserninus, who came to assist him in 439. There is the possibility also that St. Patrick found fit subjects for the priesthood among those Christians wlho had been settled in Ireland before his own coming.

In connection with this matter, Bury remarks that " a similar policy was contemplated by Pope Gregory the Great for England. We have a letter which he

wrote to a presbyter bidding him purchase in Gaul Eng lish boy slaves of seventeen or eig,hteen years for the purpose of educating them in monasteries." However, not only did Patrick find fit material for the priesthood among his converts, but in some few cases certainly he -raised Irish conver-ts to the dignity of the episcopate.

But the greatest triumph of our Saint's apo'stolate, and a triumph in a sense peculiar to him, was the rise

of monatsticism among the newly converted. This is spoken of in the Confession as the crowning glory of the triumph of the faith. " Wherefore then in Irela'nd they

who never had the knowledge of God, but until now

only worshipped idols and abominations-how has there been lately prepared a people of the Lord, and they are

called the children of God? Sons and daughters of Irish chieftains are seen to b-ecome monks and virgins of Chrilst." So does the Saint record this triumph of




the doctrine which he preached, and he goes on to illus trate by this a particular example: " In especial there

was one holy lady of Irish birth, of noble rank, most beautiful, grown up, whom I baptised; and after a few days she came to us for a certain cause. She disclosed to us that she had been warned by an angel of God, and that he counselled her to become a virgin of Christ and live closer to God. Thanks be to God, six days after,

most admirably and eagerly, she seized on that which all virgins of God do in like manner: not with the con sent of their fathers: but they endure persecution and lying reproaches from their kindred; and, nevertheless, their number increases more and more . . and the

Saint ends this eulogy with a special word of praise for the slave-girls who excel in Chriistian perfection.

To what are we to attribute this marvellous devotion among a newly-converted people? When we reciall that St. Patrick himself it is who thus testifies to an other wise incredible fact, and whe-n we remember that he worked for only 29 years among this people, we readily admit that more than human causes are at work here, and our minds conjure up recollections of similar phenomena in the history of missionary activity. We find ourselves thinking of the heroism of the early Chris tians of Rome, and of the white-robed company of

martyrs who died to testify to their love for Christ, of Whom they had first heard but a few years before. We

think of the young martyrs of Uganda, and our wonder at this phenomenon of the Early Irish Chturch is changed from the amazement of stupor to a prmiseful

wonder at the greatness and power of Him Who has said: "I am with you all days."

The present Holy Father has stressed the importance of a sympathetic attitude on the part of the missioner towards native culture and civilization, and has several times insisted upon the importance of providing an indigenous clergy in missionary countries so that all suspicion may be removed from pagan minds. Not only by word has he inculcated this doctrine, but by action also, for in October, 1926, the Holy Father himself con




secrated in St. Peter's six native Chinese Bishops. And from our study of the method and achievement of Pat rick the missioner, we conclude that the wisdom of the

Holy Father's action has not only spiritual and philo sophical reasons to support it, but in the case of Ireland has also the strongest support of historical evidence in its favour.

If it is true to say that St. Patrick achieved the pe;ace ful fusion of the new and old cultures, it is not less true to sav that his prudence and spiritual diplomacy secured also harmonious relations between Church and State. This he accomplished by following out here also the policy of sympathy and consideration for the native institutions. Except where these ran counter to, eccle siastical requirement, Patrick was ca reful to. retain them and to work them into the system and organisa tion of the Church. Thus the hierarchical and diocesan organisation was based on the existing political condi tions. The extent of the diocese was determined not

arbitrarily to suit ecclesiastical convenience, but it was

determined by the existing political boundaries. The important Sees were set up where the political, power

was centralised and generally it may be said that the external organisation of the Church was built about the native social and political organism. Even pagan feast days were tolerated; and, gradually strlpped of their pagan associations, they took their place later as Chris tian feast-days.

The story of the Paschal fire of Slane is well known but, of co-urse, it is the invention- of a poetic mind. "The framers of this legend," says Bury, "had an instinct for scenic effect." The probable truth -of the

matter, however is, that Patrick did not pay an official visit to Tara until he had been some six years-in the

coiuntry. Then when he felt himself sufficiently strong to do so he pressed his claim successfully to preach throughout the island; and as his mission had already succeeded so widely, he was in a position to demand that the law of the land, the Senchus M6r, should be revised according to Christian principles. The tradi




tion is very strong that Patrick, with two other Bishops, conferred with representatives of the civil power, and of the judiciary, that an agreement was reached and that the revised Law was promulgated throughout the land. Here aga-in let us notice that it is recorded that Patrick interfered only where the native Law ran definitely counter to Christian require

ments..

It may not be out of place to recall here that the

three Bishops from Gaul, Anxilius, Iserninus and Secundinus, came to assist Patrick in the year 439. Presuima-bly, Patrick sent for them when the success of his own labours in converting the heathens made neces sary the assistance from these Bishops to consolidate and continue it. One of the three, Iserninaus, was an Irishman.

As the Saint secured the position of the Church within the State by conference with the High King and his court, so also did he secure the position of-the Irish Church within the universal Roman Church by meeting and discussing its affairs with the Sovereign Pontiff himself. So in the year 441, a year after the new Pope, Leo the Great, had aseended the Papal throne, Patrick made the difficuilt journey to Rome, where he laid at the feet of the Holy Pather his work and mission and begged approval from him. Strengthened then by the sym pathy and blessing of the Vicar of Christ, and bearing with him relics iof the lholy martyrs, the Apoistles Peter and Paul, St. Patrick retturned to Irelanrd, and in the following.yealr, doubtless after consulting with the Holy Father concerning the matter, he founded the Church of Armagh and established there his Primatial See.

Probably the most pressing need of the missionary of to-day is the nieed of money. What economic difficulty then had St. Patrick to face and where did he get the

necessary money or wealth to meet these requirements? It is probably true to say that his requirements were nlot either different from or less than the requirements of a modern foreign missionary. When Pope Gregory .ent Augustine to England it is recorded by Bede that




he sent besides fellow-workers, "everything which was; necessary for Church purposes "; and Bede goes on to enumerate the usual articles of church furniture. That St. Patrick's equipment was not less varied is borne out by the Tripartite Life, wherein we find casual referenaces to all the usual articles of ecclesiastical requirement.

The Hymn of Secundinus, a contemporary tribute from his fellow-Bishop, praises Patrick for his efficient provision of all these material needs. Besides these, it was necessary frequently to pay tribute and to give costly gifts to the kings of the "' tuatha." " More over, ye know by proof," says the Saint himself, " how

much I paid to those who were judges throughout all the districts which I more frequently visited."I And again: " I used to give presents to the kings." We know that he got many grants of land and property from his con verts, as sites and material for the construction of churches, but we have the Saint's own assurance that otherwise he refused all presents and rewards from his own converts, not even "1 the smallest sum." "i I imparted my service to them for nothing," and again of the gifts bestowed on him, he says: "' I returned these gifts again to them."

It is most likely then that the Irish mission was financed by Patrick's friends in Gaul. Patrick had sojourned in the monastery of St. Honoratus at Lerins, and St. Hilary relates of St. Honoratus " that the alms entrusted to the Saint were so enormous that he had to appoint trusty representatives in various places to dis pose of them. Honoratus received not only goods, but gold, and that in generous quantity. Perhaps Lerins itself then was the source of Patrick's affluence; but a great church like Auxerre would likewise be able to aid his enterprise from its abundance. "' Here again it is tinnecessary to point out the analogy with modern

methods. Encyclicals of the present Holy Father and of his

* For this information, as for much else in this paper, I am indebted to the work, published and unpublished, of Fr. John

Ryan, S.J.




immnediate predecessors could be quoted to illustrate the Church's teaching that the home countries must finance the foreign missioners. Even St. Francis Xavier, gifted though he was with the power of miracles, was no exception. His letters to his friends in Europe con tain frequent appeals for pecuniary support, declaring that the good work could not go on without their finan cial assistance.

Hitherto I have treated impersonally of the work of St. Patrick, but what of the man himself? What kind of man was he who accomplished these great things? Few saints have fared so badly at the hands of their

biographers as has Patrick. The mediawal hagio graphers wrote for a diseased public taste, and their

lives " abound in extravagances and sometimes in

vulgarities. Patrick's mediceval biographers are no exception. The Saint, distorted out of all recognition, is more prodigal of maledictions against those who oppose him thian he is of benedictions for those who assist him. The elaboration beyond all reason of the

miraculous element vitiates much of this medheval biography and makes of the Saint an impossible and even sometimes a ludicrous figure. In later times, the personality of the Saint has been lost sight of in the heat of pseudo-scientific disputation even regarding his very existence; and the same medieval extravagances are often slavishly copied and repeated in modern lives of the Saint. Popular tradition alone has been un wavering in devotion to him, but even the popular con ception of him has been vague and cloudedt.

Of the Saint's greatness, there is no need to speak. History and tradition testify to that. His missionarv achievement itself places him amongst the greatest of those who have laboured to spread the Word. We have quoted frequently from the Confession, and it is in this document that we must find the real Patrick. There is no question as to the genuine character of either the Confession or the Epistle to the subjects of Coroticus.

When Patrick was old and when he felt that but a short time remained to him, he found himself compelled to



L46 THE IRISH MONTHLY

write: " Wherefore then I cannot keep silence-nor would it be fitting, he says, " concerning such great benefits and such great gace ias the Lord hath vouch safed to bestow on, me." "Because," he says late'r, "I wish my brethren and kinsfolk to know what man n.er of man I am, and that they may be able to under

stand the desire of my soul." The Confession is nlot then an a-utobiography of the Saint. It is rather a revelation of the workings of God's grace in the heart of Patrick the missionary, and as such it has an interest for us far greater than a mer-e record of events woiuld

have. In stuidving the work and achievement of the Saint,

we halv-e seen evidence of "a strong personality, ener getic in action, steadfast, resolute, indomitably perse vering," of a practical capacity for organisation and of a natunal talent for government. The secret of these qua-lities is revealed in the Confession. Here we find evidence of a profound spirituality and of an intensely Christlike nature."' Here ve find the motive force for all this energy. On every line of this passioniate revela tion of souil. the Saint's strong personal love for Christ is shown forth. He has left his home and people to be an exile for the love of Christ. He has endured :suffer ing and tribuilation for the love of Christ. He is poor and needy, but he recks it not, and here we recognise an, Ignatian trait of spirituality-he reeks it not "; because

Christ the LTor( too. was poor for our sakes." He ha-s laboured lardl and suffered m-uch, but in the

ardour of his love he covets the crown of martyrdom. "And' if I should be worthyi. I am ready to give even

ny life for His name's saake unhesitatingly and very

gladly," and later again, he says: " . . I pray Him to grant to -me that I may shed myv blood` with those

strangers and captives for His namels sake, even tho I should lack burial itself, or that in most wretched fashion my corpse be divided limb by limb to dogs and

wrild beasts, or that the fowls of the air eat it." Of his ardent zeal and of his love for his converts

there is no need to speak. From t-he time of hi-s visit




to Britain the voices of the Irish were ringing con stantly in his ears, calling him to walk again amongst them. He asserts over and over again that he is an exile aimong heathens for the love of God and because of " that Godly compassion which I exercise towards that nation who once took me captive." The poignant sorrow of that passage in the Epistle where he addresses those converts who have been dragged away to captivity, reveals the ardour of his love for them. " Therefore in sadness and grief shall I cry aloud: 0

most lovely and' beloved brethren, and sons whom I begot in Christ, what shall I do for you?" and of those who were slain he cries out: " Thanks be to God, it

was as baptized believers that ye departed from the world to Paradise."v His charity, too, extended to those who criticised his work. " Moreover, they used to talk amongst themselves behind my back and say, ' Why does this fellow thrust himself into danger among hos tile people who know not God?' "' He pleads his own ignorance and unworthiness as an excuse for them, and says further: " They did not say this out of malice."

Chosen as he had been for a great work, the Saint

pliaced all his trust in God. " Daily I expect either slaughter, or to be defrauded or reduced to slavery, or an unfair attack of some kind. But none of these things moves me, on account of the promises of Heaven, and because I have cast myself into the hands of God

Almighty." That the six years of captivity were fruit ful years of prayer by day and night we know from the Saint's own words, but the spirit of prayer which he possessed is perhaps better shown in his account of his rejection by the sea-captain with whom he wished to sail. The shipmaster was annoyed and replied, roughly and angrily, ' On no account seek to go with u;S.' When I heard this, I parted from them to go to the hut where I was lodging, and on the way I began to pray." But such quotations could be multiplied in definitely; it is only true to say that his writings are instinct with a nearness to and an entire reliance on the goodness of God. Deep humility, too, is revealed in




nearly every passage, so much so that those who over look the all-important place which the virtue of humility holdis in the Christian scheme refer constantly to the pessimism of the Confession, and at least one German scholar advanced the fantastic theory, based on this

misreading of the document, that Patrick as a missioner had been a miserable failure. This l humility, coupled with an honest ama-zement at his own

mysterious greatness, is the dominant note of the Confession. The old missioner, reviewing his extraordinary life, is filled with childlike wonder ment at what God has accomplished in him. Over and over again he cries out the same words, "Me out of the world of men." He marvels at the miracle of God, Who has raised him up to be a. light to the Gen

tiles. He recalls how unfitted he was, how careless, un learned. despised, and obscure, "how he had come as a foreignler to Ireland, how he had not flattered popular vanity. how he had opposed popular prejudices," and as he sees the splendour of the young Irish Church, with its thousands of neophytes, its priests, its bishops, even its own monks and virgins, his heart raises itself in a canticle of praise andi thanksgiving to God, Who has accomplished all this. " Who am 1, 0 Lord, or what is my calling, that Thou hast worked together with me with such Divine power?" . . And therefore I ought to crv aloud that I may also render somewhat to the Lord for H'is benefits . . . the value of which the

mind of man cannot estimate." Though he was raised to such heights of sanetity,

Patrick remained ever intenselv human. He felt severely the)solitude of exile and of separation from his friends.

He was rightfully indignant when the more learned ones urged his want of cuilture as a disqualification for his

life-work. Although recording an event which had occurred probably some 25 years before, the sorrow thlat his dearest friend should have betrayed him is still keen in his heart. Above all is he possessed of a, natural longing to go back to visit his own home and to be again amongst the brethren- in their monastery in Gaul,




"Wherefore, then, even if I should wish to part with the Irish, and thus proceeding to Britain-and glad and ready I was to do so-as to my fatherland and kindred, and not that only, but to go as far as Gaul in order to

visit the brethren and to behold the face of the Saints of my Lord-God knoweth that I used to desire it ex ceedingly-yet I am bound in the spirit who witnesseth to me that if I should do this he would note me as

guilty. " Here, then, in his own writings, do we find the real

Patrick, not a strange being who deals in vulgar male dictions, nor yet one who makes mass-converions by tie performance of extravagant miracles, but an in tensely lovable character, a man human like ourselves, grieved bv the treachery of a friend, longing for the companionship ofthome and brethren, hurt by the sneers of critics, yet a man truly Christlike in spirit, meek and humble, simple and straightforward, practising Evan gelical poverty, a man filled with an ardent personal love for Christ and burning with zeal for the salvation of souls, trusting in God for all things, desiring with great desire to die for Christ, in natural character a man energetic, resolute, indomitable, and possessed of an exceptional talent for organisation and for govern

ment. Such a one was Patrick, the missioner whom God elected in those days out of all the world to bring "tid ings of great joy ' to those " men of good-will "who dwelt by the Western sea."

FRANCIS SHAW, $4,



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St. Patrick: A Study in Missionary Achievement

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