It's that time of year when we look to a little man in a green suit, a shamrock, and a pot of gold.....but is that what St. Patrick's day is really about?????
St. Patrick was a great missionary bishop who converted a whole land from paganism, overturning the religion of the druids. He consecrated 350 bishops, erected 700 churches, and ordained 5,000 priests. In less than 30 years the greater part of Ireland was Catholic; St. Patrick so consolidated it in the Christian faith that during the Protestant Revolt Ireland was almost unique in its preservation of the Faith. Even today, people speak of "the faith of the Irish."
When St. Patrick tried to explain the Trinity to pagan peoples (who had no clue!), he used their native plant, the shamrock, to explain that God is "three in one", as three leaves make up one plant.
It is hard, indeed impossible, to comprehend such a vast and enduring transformation without the visible support of God through great works and wonders. But that is what Christ promised to His Apostles, and it has been historically demonstrated in the well-attested lives of His great missionary saints.
St. Patrick himself has personally attested to some of these signs and wonders: "And let those who will, laugh and scorn--I shall not be silent; nor shall I hide the signs and wonders which the Lord has shown me many years before they came to pass, as He knows everything even before the times of the world." This seems to apply in particular to his prophetic dream-visions.
In his Letters (as in his Confessions and his Letter to Coroticus), Patrick wrote such things as: "I was not worthy... that He should bestow on me so great grace toward that nation." And: "I baptized in the Lord so many thousands of persons." And: "that many people through me should be regenerated to God." Patrick also wrote: "that I might imitate, in some degree, those whom the Lord long ago foretold would herald His Gospel, for a witness to all nations before the end of the world." St. Patrick indicated that the Holy Spirit was within him, and he compared himself with St. Paul in a reference to the "unspeakable groanings" of the Holy Spirit.
This website also has a good story of St. Patrick's life, including the years he was a slave in Ireland. What a wonderful story of a slave forgiving his captors, going back to their land, and winning them for the Gospel!
http://www.theholidayspot.com/patrick/historyofpatrick.htm
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