St. Patrick of Scotland is credited with evangelising the Celts in Ireland, ledgend has it that Patrick was a Romano-British Christian, not a Catholic. Patrick had no belief in God.
When did Patrick go to Ireland?
“About 405, when Patrick was in his teens (14-16), he was captured by Irish raiders and became a slave in Ireland. There in Ballymena (or Slemish) in Antrim (or Mayo), Patrick first learned to pray intensely while tending his master’s sheep in contrast with his early years in Britain when he knew not the true God and did not heed clerical admonitions for our salvation….https://www.celticsaints.org/2023/0317a.html
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The above extract appears on our Facebook Group – here is more.
St. Patrick, Enlightener of Ireland
Born in Scotland (?), c. 385-390; died at Saul, Strangford Lough, Ireland, c. 461.
I was like a stone lying in the deep mire; and He that is mighty came, and in His mercy lifted me up, and verily raised me aloft and placed me on the top of the wall. --Saint Patrick
The historical Patrick is much more attractive than the Patrick of legend. It is unclear exactly where Patricius Magonus Sucatus (Patrick) was born–somewhere in the west between the mouth of the Severn and the Clyde–but this most popular Irish saint was probably born in Scotland of British origin, perhaps in a village called “Bannavem Taberniae.” (Other possibilities are in Gaul or at Kilpatrick near Dumbarton, Scotland.) His father, Calpurnius, was a deacon and a civil official, a town councillor, and his grandfather was a Christian priest.
Ambrose Mooney
Unfortunately, Wikipedia is vague because it tries to retrieve facts regarding the Saint’s life and the water is very muddy and yields few fish. Compared with the various hagiographies history proper has little to tell about the real St. Patrick. A reading from Encyclopaedia Britannica yields a cohesive story but nothing can truly be known due to the cloak of lore.
Long before Sucat was given the noble title of Patricius, just before he left for Ireland in 431, the cult of Patrick already had begun in France. The Loire riverside village of Saint-Patrice, which carries his name, is where the centre of this cult is located, a few miles to the west of Tours. Strong, persistent lore claims that Patrick made that spot his home for the twenty years following his escape from slavery. The locals are adamant that Patrick was Saint Martin of Tours’ nephew and that he became a monk in his uncle’s great Marmoutier Abbey.
Uncover the truth about the real St. Patrick of Ireland videos
FIACC: Hymn on the Life of St. Patrick
[O’Curry MS, Catholic University].
Anonymous translation from The Ecclesiastical Record, March 1868.
Original language: Old Irish.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The Hymn of Fiacc is one of the few accepted primary sources for the life of St. Patrick other than his own writings. Although its exact date of composition is disputed, there is no question that it is extremely ancient, a document of the Celtic Church before the Viking invasions. Tradition ascribes it to the fifth-century bard Fiacc, who also figures as a character in some of the legends told about Patrick; modern scholars generally think it was composed later, in the seventh or possibly even the eighth century. — N. Redington.
1. Patrick was born at Emptur:
This it is that history relates to us.
A child of sixteen years (was he)
When he was taken into bondage.
2. Succat was his name, it is said;
Who was his father is thus told:
He was son of Calpurn, son of Otidus,
Grandson of Deochain Odissus.
3. He was six years in slavery;
Human food he ate it not.
Cothraige he was called,
For as slave he served four families.
4. Victor said to Milcho's slave:
"Go thou over the sea:"
He placed his foot upon the *leac* (stone):
Its trace remains, it wears not away.
5. He sent him across all the Alps;
Over the sea marvellous was his course,
Until he stayed with Germanus in the south,
In southern Letha.
6. In the islands of the Tyrrhene Sea he stayed;
Therein he meditated:
He read the canon with Germanus:
It is this that history relates.
7. To Ireland he was brought back
In visions by the angels of God:
Often was he in vision
Solicited to return thither again.
8. Salvation to Ireland
Was the coming of Patrick to Fochlaidh;
Afar was heard the sound
Of the call of the youths of Caill-Fochladh.
9. They prayed that the saint would come,
That he would return from Letha,
To convert the people of Erin
From error to life.
10. The Tuatha of Erin were prophesying
That a new kingdom of faith would come,
That it would last for evermore:
The land of Tara would be waste and silent.
11. The druids of Loegaire concealed not from him
The coming of Patrick;
Their prophecy was verified
As to the kingdom of which they spoke. (More)
web.archive.org. (2001). FIACC: Hymn on the Life of St. Patrick. [online] Available at: https://web.archive.org/web/20010524161003/http://www.ocf.org/OrthodoxPage/reading/St.Pachomius/Western/fiacc.html [Accessed 20 Feb. 2023].
www.celticsaints.org. (n.d.). Celtic and Old English Saints – 17 March. [online] Available at: https://www.celticsaints.org/2023/0317a.html [Accessed 20 Feb. 2023].