The Story of Saint Patrick

7/28/2019 The Story of Saint Patrick

1/40


2/40


3/40

The Story

of the Life of

Saint Patrick

English as a Foreign LanguageCountry Unit - Ireland

2012-2013

Illustrations and info:http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/saintpatrick/

Author: Delia ugui
http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/saintpatrick/http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/saintpatrick/http://www.bbc.co.uk/northernireland/saintpatrick/


4/40

This is the story

of the life

of Saint Patrick,

the patron saint

of Ireland.

He was a devoted Christian

who lived a very long time ago.

We do not know with certainty

the date of his birth,

but it is said that he died

on the 17th of March, 461.

This is why Irish people,

wherever they are,

celebrate Saint Patricks Day

on the 17th of March of every year.


5/40

Nevertheless, Saint Patrick

was not actually Irish.

He was born somewhere

in Roman Britain,

although we do not know

exactly where.

Moreover, his real name

was not Patrick, either.

He changed his name to Patrick

much later,

as an adult,

once he became a priest.

This is what we do know

about Saint Patricks life:


6/40

More than1600 years ago,

when he was born,

Roman Britain was not

a bad place

to live in.

The Romans had built

many towns called villas

and good roads to travel

from one villa to another.


7/40

Young Saint Patrick lived

with his family and their servants

in one of these lovely villas

by the seashore.

He went to

a Roman school

and studied

Latin and

Arithmetics.

He also

helped his family

by working

in the fields.


8/40

One terrible morning,

when he was about 16 years old,

a group of Irish raiders

anchored their ship

on the nearby shore.

They attacked the villagers

while they were still sleeping

and made them prisoners.


9/40

The boy was kidnapped,

separated from his family

and taken away by ship.

He didnt know where he was going.

He didnt know if he would ever

see his parents again.


10/40

He was a strong, healthy boy,

so the pirates thought

they could sell himas a slave

and make good money.

They took him to Ireland.


11/40

The boy

had never been

away

from home

before.

Ireland was

very different

from Roman Britain

at that time.

The Romans

never managed

to conquer Ireland

or Scotland,

for that matter.


12/40

Therefore, in Ireland

there were no roads or towns.

It was all wild, all hills

and seemingly endless forests.

Irish houses were different.

They were small wooden houses,

with roofs made of straw.

The people wore strange clothes

and spoke a different language.


13/40

The Irish religion was also different.

When the Romans

had conquered Britain,

they had brought

the Christian religion with them.

But the Irish

had heard

little about it.

They were still pagans.

They believed in Nature,

they built shrines

and worshipped trees,

such as the oak.

The Irish spiritual leaders

were wise, important men

called druids.


14/40

His Irish master,

the man who had bought him

as a slave,

needed someone

to guard his sheep

by day and night.


15/40

The boy was ordered

to keep the sheep safe

from raiders and wild animals,

to make sure

that none of them wandered off

and to move them

to fresh pastures

where they could graze.


16/40

And so,

he became a shepherd

in Ireland.

It was a hard life

and he was away

from his home and his family.

But he remembered his faith

and he prayed to God

all the time.


17/40

He also learnt to speak Irish,which was going to be

very useful to him in the future.


18/40

Six years

had passed

since

he had been

a slave

in Ireland.

One

night,

he had

a dream

An angel told him

he would soon be free.


19/40

A ship is ready

to take you back,

the angel said.

He abandoned

the sheep

and made

his escape.

He felt a bit guilty,

but he had to try to go back

to his home country.


20/40

He walked and walked

until he got to the coast.

There was a ship ready to sail,

just like the angel

had said in his dream.


21/40

And so,

his dream came true.

He left his days

of slavery behind.

He didnt know

what lay ahead of him,

but he knew that God

was looking out for him.


22/40

When he finally

set foot

on dry land

again,

he journeyed on

and came to

a religious

centre.

He felt that God

wanted him

to become

a priest or a monk.

So, he studied hard!

It was then

that he changed

his name to Patrick.


23/40

When he finished his studies,

he went home

and visited his family.

He told them all

about his adventures.

They couldnt believe

he was home at last!


24/40

The years passed

and Patrick became a bishop.

He now lived a comfortable life

as a Christian bishop.

But then, one night,

the angel visited him again

in a dream.


25/40

The angel told him

that the people of Ireland

were calling him.

I must leave at once!

God wants me to go back to Ireland.


26/40

He said goodbye to his family

and sailed west.

Now I serve God and I must do

what he has asked.

You will be in my prayers.

And so, Patrick

went back to the land

where he once was a slave.


27/40

Back in Ireland,

Patricks mission

was to tell people

about God.

The first thing to do

was to build a church.


28/40

One of the first Irish people

that Saint Patrick

converted to Christianity

was the master of a swineherd

called Dichu.


29/40

Dichu gave him

a barn on a nearby hill

so that he could hold

his first service there.

In the present

there are no traces

of this first church,

but in 1932

a church and a round tower

were built in the area to mark

the 1500th anniversary

of his arrival in Ireland.


30/40

For the building of his chief church,

Patrick chose a special site:

the hill of Armagh.

The hill of Armagh

was originally known as

the ridge of the willow tree

and belonged to a great chief

called Daire.

It was the site of a shrine

where the druids already

worshipped.

From there,

you could almost see

Emain Macha,

the ancient fortress

of the kings of Ulster.


31/40

The legend says that Patrick

asked Daire to let him build his

church there, but he refused.

Shortly afterwards, Daire

and his horse dropped dead.

Patrick brought them

back to life

and Daire gave him

the land he wanted

as a reward.


32/40

The Book of Armagh

tells the sotry of a lost fawn

that Patrick carried here

looking for its mother.

The church

that Patrick built

has been destroyed

and rebuilt 17 times!

On the 17 March, 1840,

an Irish archbishop

began building a cathedral here

in Saint Patricks honour.

A few years later,

Ireland was devastated

by the Great Famine

and building works stopped,

but they started again soon.


33/40

To raise funds,

the people of Armagh

organized a great fair

and received

many donated items.

The cathedral

opened for worship in 1873.

Armagh is now known as the

City of Saints and Scholars.

It has become one of the

greatest centres

of religion and learning.


34/40

l

Using the knowledge

of Irish language and culture

he had gained

during his captivity,


35/40

Patrick brought

Christianity to Ireland

in the form of more than

300 churches

and over 100,000 Irish baptised.


36/40

At the end of his life,

Patrick decided

to write the story

of his life and work.


37/40

Et haec est Confessio mea

antequam morior.

And this is my confession

before I die.

The Book of Armagh,

written in Latin and old Irish

contains important texts relating

to Saint Patrick.


38/40

There is a legend that says

that after Saint Patrick died,

his body was placed on a cart.

Two young oxen

were set free to drag the cart

wherever they wanted.


39/40

Saint Patricks Grave, Downpatrick

The legend says that the oxen

eventually stopped at this place.

Two other saints are burried here.

There is a little English rhyme about it:

In Down three saints one grave do fill

Patrick, Brigid and Columcille.


40/40

Date post:	03-Apr-2018
Category:	Documents
Upload:	delia-ugui
View:	229 times
Download:	2 times

The Story of Saint Patrick

Documents