From trafficked as a boy slave to celebrated as Ireland’s patron saint, the life of St. Patrick is a story of redemption. Beyond the cultural traditions of shamrocks, leprechauns, and all things green is a remarkable account of a man whose life left a far-reaching impact. It is a “God in the mess” drama worth telling because St. Patrick’s story primes us for Easter—the greatest redemptive event of all time.
The Life of St. Patrick
Born in the late fourth century to wealthy Roman parents, Patrick enjoyed a privileged life in Britain for his first sixteen years. Then tragedy struck.
While celebrating a holiday at the family villa, Irish raiders attacked the group. The family escaped, but the marauders captured Patrick and took him into captivity. He was shipped to Ireland and sold as a slave. For six years, Patrick tended sheep on the rocky slopes of Ireland under the controlling eye of a Druid tribal chieftain. His constant companions were cold and hunger.
Patrick responded to his enslavement, the rugged territory, and the unforgiving weather by seeking God. In doing so, he experienced a spiritual awakening. In his autobiography, Confessio, Patrick shares that the Lord opened his senses to his own rebellion and unbelief.
“More and more the love of God increased, and my sense of awe before God. Faith grew, and my spirit was moved, so that in one day I would pray up to one hundred times, and at night perhaps the same. I even remained in the woods and on the mountain, and I would rise to pray before dawn in snow and ice and rain. I never felt the worse for it, and I never felt lazy—as I realize now, the spirit was burning in me at that time.”
At age 22, Patrick heard a voice in a dream tell him he would soon return to his own country. A second dream instructed him to flee to the Irish coast, where a ship would transport him. With fearless faith, Patrick escaped.
“So I ran away then, and left the man with whom I had been for six years. It was in the strength of God that I went – God who turned the direction of my life to good; I feared nothing while I was on the journey to that ship.“
Patrick traveled two hundred miles to reach the coast of Ireland and obtain passage on a ship.
After three days of sailing, Patrick and the crew abandoned the ship in France. For the next twenty-eight days, they journeyed on foot. Lost and out of food, the captain challenged Patrick to ask God for help. Patrick challenged back.
“Turn trustingly to the Lord who is my God and put your faith in Him with all your heart, because nothing is impossible to Him. On this day, He will send us food sufficient for our journey, because for Him there is abundance everywhere.”
When the men turned around, they discovered a herd of pigs. They gave thanks to God and feasted for days.
Patrick made his way back to his homeland. A joyful reunion with his mother and father followed. But, even with the comforts of home, Patrick was unsettled in his former life.
A Changed Man
Despite multiple years of slavery, humiliation, and abuse, Patrick did not harbor bitterness. He did not desire retaliation. Patrick’s steadfast and fearless faith developed in the midst of his terrible circumstances.
While he was home, a powerful celestial vision compelled Patrick to return to Ireland and bring his Christian faith to the very people who had treated him with brutality.
Six years of captivity had made Patrick fluid with the Celtic language and taught him the ways of Druidism. With this knowledge and understanding, he longed to liberate the land from the sins of slavery and human sacrifice and replace these practices with the love and freedom of the gospel.
Having been denied a formal education, Patrick spent the next fifteen years studying Latin and the priesthood. After his ordination as a bishop, he returned to Ireland and spent his last decades spreading the Christian messages of love and forgiveness. He baptized new believers, ordained priests, and established churches and monasteries throughout the land. In the process, Patrick cleansed Ireland of slavery and ritual killing.
Patrick returned to Ireland as a foreigner and fugitive because he deeply felt God’s love for the Irish people. In sharing God’s love, Patrick became one of them. Until his death on March 17, circa 461, Patrick shared a transcendent message of love, forgiveness, and freedom throughout Ireland. By the seventh century, he was esteemed “St. Patrick”—the patron saint of Ireland.
The Link Between St. Patrick’s Day and Easter
Besides sharing proximity on the calendar, powerful spiritual threads link St. Patrick’s Day and Easter. Let’s consider how St. Patrick’s life inspires us to a more meaningful Easter celebration.
St. Patrick Imaged Jesus in Expressing Radical Forgiveness
Radical Forgiveness filled the heart of Patrick and fueled his ministry—the same radical forgiveness first expressed in the earthly ministry of Jesus.
Jesus invited all—the undesirable, detested, unrighteous—to turn away from sin, receive forgiveness, and become beloved children of God. Jesus deemed every soul valuable and sought them out. He dined with tax collectors, talked to prostitutes, healed the downtrodden. For this, he was mocked and tortured. Yet, while hanging on the cross, he cried out, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.”
Instead of harboring bitterness for years of bondage, Patrick yearned to free the Irish from the oppression of Druidism and its practices of human slavery and sacrifice. As he traveled throughout the land, Patrick stirred fierce opposition from Druid chieftains who felt threatened. Yet, he didn’t retreat. Patrick even sought the chieftain who had enslaved him, hoping to share the gospel of freedom with him.
St. Patrick Imaged Jesus in Expressing Redeeming Love
Only a supernatural, God-infused love can enable radical forgiveness. It is agape love—a pure, sacrificial, intentional love that desires another’s greatest good.
God set the standard for agape love when Jesus voluntarily suffered and died for us while we were still sinners. Jesus set aside his glory to become fully human; he surrendered his power to become weak.
In the ultimate expression of redeeming love, Jesus bore the full weight of human depravity on the cross. He alone experienced total darkness when God looked away. But Jesus’ death broke sin’s stronghold through his victorious resurrection. Darkness, sin, and death defeated. Nothing ever to separate us from God’s love.
Not even slavery.
Patrick never forgot that God had found him while he was lost spiritually and enslaved physically.
“I cannot be silent about the great benefits and the great grace which the lord has deigned to bestow upon me in the land of my captivity.”
God’s love not only redeemed Patrick but also rooted in him a redeeming love for the Irish people. Fearless faith—honed through adversity—enabled him to meet darkness with God-given boldness and power.
In a pivotal and dramatic standoff with the Druids–complete with demonic incantations and divine miracles—Patrick convinced the “Ard-Righ,” a high king of Ireland, to grant him permission to preach the gospel throughout Ireland. This day marked a decisive blow to paganism.
It was Easter Sunday.
Final Thoughts and Takeaways
On Good Friday, radical forgiveness and redeeming love merged on the cross. We rejoice because an empty tomb signaled God’s gift of new life and hope to mankind. Our hope is now anchored in a person—Jesus Christ—more than in an outcome. He is our Living Hope in all seasons of life, even and especially in the hard ones. Because of Jesus’ victory over sin and death, the story isn’t over until the ending is good.
From St. Patrick, we learn that suffering can move us toward God. The source of St. Patrick’s overcoming faith was the intimacy he developed with God during his times of turmoil.
When we encounter tough seasons of life, we can lean into God with confidence in his presence and character. God wants us to surrender our messes to him. We offer our turmoil; God gives us himself. He comes alongside us to bear the weight of our pain, shepherd us through it, and miraculously transform it into greater faith and passion for him.
For that is the way of Jesus.
That is the testimony of St. Patrick.
And that can be your story.
My Scriptural Prayer for You
Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! In his great mercy, he has given you new birth into a Living Hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead. God has rescued you from the power of darkness and brought you into the kingdom of his Son to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading. May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.
(See 1 Peter 1:3-4, Colossians 1:13, Romans 15:13)
Your Turn
Do you believe God can transform a hardship into something of immeasurable worth?
Are there relationships in your life in which radical forgiveness would bring healing?
With whom can you share the joy and light of God’s redeeming love?
If you don’t yet know God’s redeeming love, please respond to his desire to know you by clicking on this LINK.
Resources
The complete Breastplate Prayer of St. Patrick – This powerful prayer was St. Patrick’s armor as he prepared to engage in spiritual warfare. It can also be prayed by us in times of difficulty or conflict.
Available in March newsletter (Join my email list below!) – Printable copy of the Breastplate Prayer (select stanzas).
Also available in this month’s newsletter – Printable chart of the 7 Sundays of Easter. Did you know Easter is a season—Eastertide? This chart highlights the seven Sundays of Easter from Resurrection Sunday to Pentacost and describes the spiritual relevance of each . Why limit the most significant Christian event to one day?
Celebrate Easter’s 50 Days from the Word Among Us
Where is God? by Cheryl Liberatore
