On the 17th of this month many Americans, regardless of ethnic or religious heritage, will celebrate the Catholic holiday commemorating the Irish Saint Patrick. Some of their celebratory activities will include going to various bars and drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, some of which has been dyed green. Though it is true that the Irish immigrants to America have been known throughout history for there enjoyment of friendly gatherings where alcohol is liberally served and drunk, is intoxicating oneself with alcohol an appropriate way to honor the Irish saint? For insight into this question let us take a look back on the life of Patricius of Bannavem of Taburnia.
Patricius was born around 385 A.D. in the northwestern most reaches of the Roman Empire, the British Isles. His upbringing was typical for a Romano-British boy. He was educated in the classical language of Latin. This comfortably classical culture of Cicero, Tacitus, Herodotus and Vergil was by all accounts Christian by name due to the influence of Emperor Constantine in the early 300’s, and Patricius enjoyed it. Then, at the tender age of 16, his life was horrifically altered as he was kidnapped and taken outside of Roman Christian territory to the pagan island of Ireland. Patricius lived the next six years of his life in utter isolation as a shepherd-slave on this island just beyond the civilized world. Alone, and often ill-dressed and hungry, young Patricius called out to the Christian God he had heard of as a child. It was also during these years of immersion in the culture of Ireland that he learned the Celtic language and the pagan customs of the Druids. Having these experiences during these six years of slavery changed Patricius into the man of compassions and convictions we now celebrate as Saint Patrick.
At about the age of 22, Patricius escaped the horrors of slavery and fled the Irish isle to make a two year journey back home. Yet going home to the safe and comfortable confines of his beloved Roman Empire was not the warm and glowing experience he had envisioned. Due to his capture and slavery he had missed eight years of formal training in Latin language and culture, and now Patricius had much difficulty adapting back into the society in which he grew up. The God he came to know while praying as a shepherd-slave began to lead him in his interest in joining the clergy. Following his passion for his God's truth, Patricius achieved a theological education and became one of the first missionaries to take the gospel outside the Christian/civilized borders of the Roman Empire to the pagan/uncivilized natives outside Rome’s influence, the natives of Ireland.
It was approximately year 432 when Patrick (changed from the Roman Patricius), at age 47, returned to Ireland, this time as a voluntary slave to the Irish – one who brings them a message of joy, hope and peace. Armed with the knowledge of Celtic language and custom he made his way back to teach them the truth about a God he knew personally, a God of love. Feelings of compassion for, and brotherhood with the Irish compelled him to contend for them against the pagan evils of slavery, prostitution and human sacrifice that were so ingrained in their Druid culture.
These uneducated, uncivilized, brave, warrior pagans of Ireland were intensely spiritual. They believed in many gods, all who threatened calamity unless they were appeased for the wrongs committed against them. More than anything, what these gods demanded was human life as a just payment, and human blood to drink – hence the Druid’s practice of human sacrifice. Most of these god’s were fashioned by the hands of local pagan craftsmen. Because the Celts venerated the number three as having special magical significance, the mystic artisans expressed their beliefs by crafting god’s possessing three heads, three arms or three legs. No longer being a slave of a people he feared and despised, Patrick taught the Irish how to be Christian out of a heart of service and love. Using the bible, he taught them that God was in fact a “tri-faced” spirit. He taught them from scriptures that the just payment for all the wrongs of humanity had already been given and that the “three-headed” God of love no longer demand their deaths but rather their lives. He taught them the Lord’s institution of communion where the followers of the “tri-faced” Spirit (not the “tri-faced” Spirit himself) would drink red wine symbolizing blood in order to remember the one and only acceptable human sacrifice.
For 30 years, until his death in 461, Patrick discipled the people of Ireland by living with them, working with them, eating with them, and most importantly loving them. The cultural transformation of Ireland during these 30 years was one of the quickest, most widespread, and complete in recorded history. Shortly after he died on March 17, Patrick was honored by the church as they named him the patron saint of Ireland.
American Christians find themselves in a society that is rapidly shifting, with the influx of immigrants constantly altering the cultural makeup. Unlike Patrick we do not have to go far to find people who are confused about God, they are all around us. Like the Celts they are deeply spiritual people who value truth. Yet confusion about the nature and character of God has left them in spiritual bondage. Like Patrick we work with them, converse with them, and live near them, and perhaps even go to church with them. I pray that we take the extra steps to care enough about them to teach them of loving God who reveals himself personally to individuals. To answer the question I posed at the top, I find it fitting to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day by recommitting to offering God’s hope, revealed in the person of Jesus Christ, to those around us who are plagued by misunderstanding and confusion about Him.
 

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!
Matt Stage
 

*For more information on the fascinating story of Saint Patrick and the Irish see How the Irish Saved Civilization by Thomas Cahill.