General News
29 March, 2026
In good faith
IN GOOD FAITH: A few days ago, it was Saint Patrick's Day. On this day, a lot of people like to have some fun and flaunt their Irish ancestry by dressing up in green, wearing leprechaun hats or other such fun activities.
But how many of us know the real story of Saint Patrick, and the enormous contribution that he made to Christianity and Western society?
Saint Patrick’s story is a journey from enslavement to the fulfilment of vital Christian mission.
Saint Patrick was not born in Ireland. He was born in Roman Britannia (England), sometime in the late 4th century.
At the age of 16, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken to Ireland where he was sold as a slave to a Druid landowner.
Now the Druids were an elite intellectual and priestly class of Irish Celtic society.
They served as judges, physicians and the like and yielded immense influence. But they were also worshippers of nature and magic and were certainly capable of exercising cruelty when it suited their purposes.
Young Patrick was bought as a slave and worked as a shepherd for the next six years on the slopes of Slemish Mountain in Northern Ireland.
Conditions in that part of Northern Ireland were often very harsh, and he would frequently find himself working in the open in conditions of rain or snow.
It was in these harsh conditions that Patrick would often turn to prayer, deepening his faith in God and calling upon Him for strength to endure the harsh conditions within which he found himself.
He would often pray 100 times every day, and then the same again at night.
After being enslaved there for six years, as he wrote in his autobiography, “The Confessio”, he heard a voice in a dream telling him that a ship was waiting to take him back home to Britannia.
At this stage, he deserted his master and alone made the hazardous trip of over 300km on foot to the coast near Dublin, where some sailors took pity on him and took him back to Britannia.
Once back in Britannia, Patrick records that he had another vision which prompted him to spend the next 15 years studying for the priesthood, possibly in Gaul (France).
After completing his training, he returned to Ireland as a missionary sometime around 432AD.
Once back in Ireland, he spent the rest of his life travelling across the country, training and ordaining clergy, establishing churches and monasteries and leading huge numbers of people out of the darkness of pagan spiritualism and to life in Christ, demonstrating a talent for incorporating Irish culture into his teachings, in particular using the three-leaf clover to explain the concept of the Trinity. He personally baptised thousands.
St. Patrick passed away on March 17, 461.
The legacy that he left behind continued in the advancement of Christian mission and ministry across Ireland over many centuries. This would prove to be critical in the recovery of civilization following the dark ages.
After the collapse of the Roman empire around AD 476, Europe fell into what is sometimes termed ‘the dark ages’, during which, in many respects, chaos ruled and the foundations of the Gospel disappeared.
Ireland, being so distant from Europe, was largely unaffected and so was able to retain the true essence of the Gospel message that had been lost elsewhere.
Hence, Ireland became the preserved ‘seed’ of the gospel message.
It was later, roughly between the years 550 to 1300 AD that Irish missionaries, those who were the legacy of St Patrick, played a pivotal role in the re-evangelisation of Europe, thus eventually enabling the modern, Western society that we have today.
The young Patrick, during his years of slavery, could never have imagined the huge role that he would eventually play in the preservation of the Gospel message and the eventual redemption of the world from darkness.
Sometimes we too can wonder what God has in store for us. God’s plan for individuals is fundamentally rooted in love, designed for good, and aimed at providing hope, a future, and ultimate fulfillment in Christ.
As the prophet Jeremiah wrote (29:11) "For I know the plans I have for you," declares the Lord, "plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future." All we need to do is to trust in Him and say “Yes”. As the prophet Isaiah (6:8) said, "Here I am, send me".
By David Young