San Patrizio

Today is the feast of that great Italiano saint, Patrizio. Italiano?, I thought he was Irish! Well I hate to break it to you, but even though he is so closely identified with Ireland, the reality is that he is of Italiano heritage. His parents were Calpurnius and Conchessa. Calpurnius was a member of a Roman family of high rank and held the office of decurio in Gaul or Britain. Patrizio was probably born in Scotland (although there are also some claims that it was actually Wales) in 387 AD. At the time he was named Maewyn Succat. At age 16 he was captured by Irish pirates & sold as a slave to an Irish chieftan named Milchu in Dalriada. He was put to work as a shepherd. During this time, he turned in prayer to God. As Patrizio describes it in his "Confessions": "His fear increased in me more and more, and the faith grew in me, and the spirit was roused, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers, and in the night nearly the same, so that whilst in the woods and on the mountain, even before the dawn, I was roused to prayer and felt no hurt from it, whether there was snow or ice or rain; nor was there any slothfulness in me, such as I see now, because the spirit was then fervent within me."

After 6 years of slavery he escaped. He did so at the urging of an agel who appeared to him in a dream. He studied at St. Martin's monastery in Tours. (St. Martin was a relative on his mother's side of the family.) He was eventually ordained a bishop & sent by Pope St. Celestine I back to Ireland. It was arround this time he was given the name Patrizio, probably at his baptism. There the hand of Providence in his time as a slave was made clear. He was versed in the language as well as the Druidic religion so he could readily preach & battle the pagan religion with the truth of the Gospel of Jesus.

This is how he describes what God did in his life to prepare him for this mission & how God worked through him as he obeyed the call to evangelize in Ireland; "I give unceasing thanks to my God, who kept me faithful in the day of my testing. Today I can offer him sacrifice with confidence, giving myself as a living victim to Christ, my Lord, who kept me safe through all my trials. I can say now: Who am I, Lord, and what is my calling, that you worked through me with such divine power? You did all this so that today among the Gentiles I might constantly rejoice and glorify your name wherever I may be, both in prosperity and in adversity. You did it so that, whatever happened to me, I might accept good and evil equally, always giving thanks to God. God showed me how to have faith in him for ever, as one who is never to be doubted. He answered my prayer in such a way that in the last days, ignorant though I am, I might be bold enough to take up so holy and so wonderful a task, and imitate in some degree those whom the Lord had so long ago foretold as heralds of his Gospel, bearing witness to all nations.How did I get this wisdom, that was not mine before? I did not know the number of my days, or have knowledge of God. How did so great and salutary a gift come to me, the gift of knowing and loving God, though at the cost of homeland and family? I came to the Irish peoples to preach the Gospel and endure the taunts of unbelievers, putting up with reproaches about my earthly pilgrimage, suffering many persecutions, even bondage, and losing my birthright of freedom for the benefit of others.

If I am worthy, I am ready also to give up my life, without hesitation and most willingly, for his name. I want to spend myself in that country, even in death, if the Lord should grant me this favour. I am deeply in his debt, for he gave me the great grace that through me many peoples should be reborn in God, and then made perfect by confirmation and everywhere among them clergy ordained for a people so recently coming to believe, one people gathered by the Lord from the ends of the earth. As God had prophesied of old through the prophets: The nations shall come to you from the ends of the earth, and say: “How false are the idols made by our fathers: they are useless”. In another prophecy he said: I have set you as a light among the nations, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth.It is among that people that I want to wait for the promise made by him, who assuredly never tells a lie. He makes this promise in the Gospel: They shall come from the east and west, and sit down with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. This is our faith: believers are to come from the whole world." (Confessions)

We know the rest of the story. & while it the story of the shamrock is possibly apocryphal, it does relate a truth of the mystery of the Trinity. As for the strory of the snakes, an Irish friend of mine assures me that there never were any snakes in Ireland. (Maybe, but sometimes I jokingly say that the truth is that he did drive the snakes out, they settled in the USA & became lawyers.)

1 of San Patrizio's most famous prayers is known as the Breastplate of St. Patrick. Part of this prayer has been put to music (later used as the music for the song Morning has Broken). It is a beautiful prayer that is well worth regularly praying.

I bind to myself today

The strong virtue of the Invocation of the Trinity:

I believe the Trinity in the Unity

The Creator of the Universe.

I bind to myself today

The virtue of the Incarnation of Christ with His Baptism,

The virtue of His crucifixion with His burial,

The virtue of His Resurrection with His Ascension,

The virtue of His coming on the Judgement Day.

I bind to myself today

The virtue of the love of seraphim,

In the obedience of angels,

In the hope of resurrection unto reward,

In prayers of Patriarchs,

In predictions of Prophets,

In preaching of Apostles,

In faith of Confessors,

In purity of holy Virgins,

In deeds of righteous men.

I bind to myself today

The power of Heaven,

The light of the sun,

The brightness of the moon,

The splendour of fire,

The flashing of lightning,

The swiftness of wind,

The depth of sea,

The stability of earth,

The compactness of rocks.

I bind to myself today

God's Power to guide me,

God's Might to uphold me,

God's Wisdom to teach me,

God's Eye to watch over me,

God's Ear to hear me,

God's Word to give me speech,

God's Hand to guide me,

God's Way to lie before me,

God's Shield to shelter me,

God's Host to secure me,

Against the snares of demons,

Against the seductions of vices,

Against the lusts of nature,

Against everyone who meditates injury to me,

Whether far or near,

Whether few or with many.

I invoke today all these virtues

Against every hostile merciless power

Which may assail my body and my soul,

Against the incantations of false prophets,

Against the black laws of heathenism,

Against the false laws of heresy,

Against the deceits of idolatry,

Against the spells of women, and smiths, and druids,

Against every knowledge that binds the soul of man.

Christ, protect me today

Against every poison, against burning,

Against drowning, against death-wound,

That I may receive abundant reward.

Christ with me, Christ before me,

Christ behind me, Christ within me,

Christ beneath me, Christ above me,

Christ at my right, Christ at my left,

Christ in the fort,

Christ in the chariot seat,

Christ in the poop [deck],

Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,

Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks to me,

Christ in every eye that sees me,

Christ in every ear that hears me.

I bind to myself today

The strong virtue of an invocation of the Trinity,

I believe the Trinity in the Unity

The Creator of the Universe.

(Note: The portion of this prayer in boldface is the part put to music.)

In Ireland there is a place called Lough Derg (St. Patrick's Purgatory), a place of pilgrimage. It is on Station Island, 4 miles North of village of Pettigo in County Donegal. They have 3 day penitential pilgrimages as well as 1 day retreats there.