By Msgr. Francis A. Carbine
“My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I was about sixteen at the time, and I did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity in Ireland.
“After I arrived in Ireland, I tended sheep every day for six years. I remained in the woods and on the mountain, and I would rise to pray before dawn in the snow and ice and rain. As I realize now, the Spirit was burning in me at that time.
“It was one night in my sleep that I heard a voice, ‘Very soon you will return to your native country. Look, your ship is ready.’ After three days we made it to land.
“A few years later, I heard the voice, ‘We beg you, holy boy, to come and walk again among us.’
“How has this happened in Ireland? Never before did they know of God. But now, they have become the people of the Lord.
“This is my ‘Confession’ before I die.”
Patrick wrote his “Confessions” [extracts provided] — his story of discovering faith and mission. He worked in the 5th century when civilization was in collapse.
Patrick also wrote his “Letter to Coroticus” protesting the killing and enslavement of Irish Christians by an English warlord, Coroticus. Patrick is thus the first person known to forthrightly condemn slavery.
In his “Letter to Coroticus” our Saint writes: “I do not know whether to weep more for those killed or those who are captives.”
He calls the predators “wolves and gangsters,” and laments : “My voice is raised in sorrow and mourning.”
ST. PATRICK IS FREEDOM’S CHAMPION AND GOD’S HERO!
CELEBRATE WE MUST!
