Are you looking for a reason to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, even if you're not of Irish descent? Well, if you can't abide by today's often heard slogan that "On St. Patrick's Day, everyone is Irish," how about this for a little known St. Patty's Day fact: St. Patrick himself was not of Irish descent. "Blasphemy" you say? Not at all…according to one of my favorite books, "How the Irish Saved Civilization, The Untold Story of Ireland's Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe," by Thomas Cahill, "Patrick," was actually named Patricius, and was a "Romanized Briton"; in other words as a young boy, he was a middle-class Roman citizen, living somewhere near the western coast of what we now know as England or Scotland. But then something terrible happened to the young lad that has had according to Cahill, monumental consequences for the Western World…and I don't mean corned beef, cabbage, and green beer.
The young Patricius was kidnapped by a Celt raiding party and taken to the Emerald Isle, and sold into slavery. There he spent several years in servitude tending sheep and doing his best just to survive. In his isolation on the rolling green hills, with little to eat, barely enough to keep warm from the elements, and no one to talk with, he turned to God and developed a deep spirituality and love of Jesus.
According to his book "Confessio" after 6 years in servitude he received a message in a dream that he was to return to his homeland. He set out on foot and traveled some 200 miles to the nearest sea port, where he convinced a crew to take him back to the mainland of Europe, most likely France. He finally arrives home to friends and family. However, his "conversion," has deeply affected him, and he goes on to study for the clergy. At the age of 30 he makes the remarkable decision to return to Ireland to preach the Good News of the Resurrected Christ. Over the next 28 years, up to the year 430, Patricius converts thousands of "Hibernians," to the Faith; no small feat considering the thousands of years of pagan worship that preceded his arrival; and the Irish being of a stubborn nature, as my wife can attest.
Cahill's book "How the Irish Saved Civilization," then takes this story, of Patricius spreading the seeds of faith into Ireland, and shows how those seeds grew into faith communities, churches and most importantly, for Cahill's story, monasteries. In those monasteries the monks in the following 1000 years or so, were transcribing the great-civilized-literature of the Greek and Roman eras, thus preserving it while Rome and most of Western Europe were being sacked and burned by the Barbarians. If it weren't for these monks, in the farthermost remote land in Europe, Ireland, hard at work keeping these treasures alive, we may not have the works of Plato, or Socrates, or any of the first sparks of civilization today. It's a fascinating story when you consider how "civilization, the Irish, and Christianity," are all folded together. As I've heard many times, "God writes straight, with crooked lines."
So there you have it, a nice history lesson, something to ponder upon, and a good reason to celebrate this wonderful Holiday, whether you are of Irish descent or not. And the next time you are reading Cicero, or any of the classics, have a green beer by your side, and thank God for the Irish. Erin Go Braugh!
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