St. Patrick: Patron Saint of Ireland's Spiritual Legacy of Confessions and Breastplate

Many years ago I was drawn to a book by its intriguing title. How the Irish Saved Civilization was written by Thomas Cahill. The establishment of Christianity in Ireland by St. Patrick and the other Irish saints developed a monastic tradition where monasteries became centers of knowledge and learning. The Christian faith was integrated with dissemination of the written word. The accumulated knowledge of ancient and western culture was recorded in illuminated manuscripts and preserved by these institutions. Though much of the record was lost to the pillage and destruction by Vikings and other uncivilized conquerors during the Dark Ages; the Irish were responsible for preserving the records of the past and thus civilization itself.

This book changed my view of the importance of my Irish heritage. Before that time I did not know the meaning of being Irish - American.

My parents emigrated to the United States from Ireland during the postwar period. They came and settled among a community of Roman Catholic Irish Americans who had previously migrated from Ireland. The parish church was the center of the immigrant community as it had been in Ireland. In the Republic of Ireland in those days; life was still rural and parochial in Counties Roscommon and Sligo in the western province of Connaught. Spiritual and Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) activities were organized and centered around the local parish church. Previous generations of Irish emigrants transported this orientation to the United States. From the time of the Irish Famine in 1848 the Irish had been regularly 'coming to America'.   My parents arrived 'on these shores' one hundred years after the first major wave of Irish immigrants. The "Great Hunger" decimated the population of Ireland and reduced it by half from eight million to its current four million. Where have all the Irish gone? There is hardly an English speaking country on the planet that cannot boast a significant Irish population.

Like modern immigrant populations; the Irish arrived hungry and ambitious. Opportunities for financial success in Ireland in 1948 were practically nonexistent. Even landowners were subsistence farmers in an undeveloped third world country. Local migration to England was the first pathway but the devastation of World War II made that path less desirable. My parents' journey began there but went further - to a "more distant shore".

The American dream was still alive and well back then and they dreamed it. Who could have imagined another war? Well war is what they found and my father and uncles were drafted to serve in the American Army during the Korean War.

My Dad and Uncle Ray served honorably and achieved the rank of sergeant before discharge. This was the price of admission to this great land of opportunity. Both are gone now but succeeded. Each worked hard and raised a family of American citizens. They and their brides became naturalized American citizens. Neither forgot their Irish roots and maintained contact with their families and contributed to their support over the years. Irish culture and faith were legacies to be preserved.

What has all this got to do with Saint Patrick's Day?  Plenty. The spiritual foundation was laid down by St. Patrick when he unwillingly migrated to Ireland during the fifth century. Patrick was captured in his homeland and taken to Ireland as a slave. He learned the language and labored until God arranged for his liberation. Patrick escaped Ireland by ship and was transported to the European mainland where he was educated by Christianity. He returned to the pagan land of Ireland as a missionary. He brought Christianity to Ireland where it became deeply rooted in the monastic tradition. Pagan cultural traditions were woven into the modern Christian traditions by St. Patrick and his followers. There was no force imposed as with the later Spanish Inquisition and other Christian wars on the European mainland. Ireland was a sanctuary of faith willingly accepted and adopted by a people and culture which embraced Christianity rather than have it foisted upon them by strength of arms.

Monastaries were built and became centers of knowledge and learning. St. Patrick came upon a civilized people with a rich oral tradition and brought the civilizing gift of the written word. The "word of God" was the power of the written word itself. Primitive record keeping etched in stone preceded Patrick. What followed was one of the most literate and literary peoples on the face of the planet. Who could fail to be grateful annually to the patron Saint who granted the Irish an inordinate role and significance in a global population?

English colonization gets no honorable mention here. Latin was working just fine alongside the native Irish language for a thousand years. The English language was not integrated with the native language but imposed by 'force of arms'. The Irish people are not amenable to force of arms. This is what the next 500 years have taught the world. The Irish continue to demonstrate their loyalty to the Latin language and the institution of the church which lifted the Irish people from the stone age and gave them knowledge and learning. They have taken the English language like 'cod liver oil' and made it their own. 500 years of tears of prohibition of the Gaelic language and practice of the Roman Catholic faith failed to eradicate this unique worldwide Irish obstinacy and resistance.

Patrick integrated new Christian beliefs with a culture and faith rooted in thousands of years of oral tradition. By weaving Christian faith into the traditions of the past; the Irish fabric was fashioned to withstand later assaults upon its integrity.

The Irish have repaid the debt tenfold through their blood and sweat and tears. History has taught that the language and governance of a nation can be anglicized by the rule of law and force of arms. History has also taught that the deeply ingrained faith and culture of a people will not give way unless it is willingly assimilated.

The power of persuasion has always impressed the Irish - not idle banter and jingoism. Saint Patrick was a communicator in the native language of the Irish. God had a plan when He made Patrick a slave and transported him yo the shores of Ireland. Infiltration was the plan. Make Patrick a slave and servant of the Irish people. Liberate the slave and return him to the Christian roots from whence he came. Instruct Patrick through his experiences in the blessing of equality and humility. Make him literate in the language and doctrines of the Christian church. Return Patrick to the heart of the Irish people so that he may generously share his gifts from God.

Patrick shared these gifts from person to person and from place to place. Patrick was a man with real fears who sought his strength directly from God through prayer. He invoked God's protection. This supplies the origin of St. Patrick's "breastplate" (Latin: Lorica) which was the protective armor of the heart and chest.

The Ancient Book of Armagh is an illuminated text which was written in the ninth century and preserves both the breastplate prayer and his confession. Each had been copied and recopied with artistic ornamentation in illuminated manuscripts for four centuries in Irish Monasteries.  The "Confessions of St. Patrick" are lengthy and set forth completely beneath the comment capsule of this Hub.

During his spiritual preparation for the intended confrontation and conversion of Loegaire the High King of Ireland - Patrick realized his mortality and real possibility of imminent death - and wrote his Confessions and Breastplate to prepare to accept God's will for him.  He was strengthened and protected and served as God's instrument for the King's conversion.

Though biblical history records evidence of God's direct action and intervention in the affairs of the Hebrews - God chooses to use men as His instruments of faith and action since Christ graced this earth with His presence.  He is the path and the way as Patrick knew and revealed to the Irish. Loeghaire accepted Christ for himself and the Irish people followed suit.

What do the Mayan calender and the prophecy have in common? St. Malachy had a vision identifying each pope until the end of time and the destruction of Rome. According to the prophecy Pope Benedict XVI is the final Pope

The prophesy of the ' last pope' relates to olives. The olive is the symbol of the Benedictine order which Pope Benedict XVI honored in choosing his name for his papacy.

Fall back; then spring forward this night at one

Winter's darkness submits to light of day;

Fair weather from arctic ice drifts has begun

Lulls willing sprouts from frosty tundra grave.

oooOOOooo

© 2011 Gerry Gilligan,

pseudonym- sligobay

All photos, poems and articles © 2011 Gerry Gilligan

May God bless you and hold you in the Palm of His Hand.

The Day

Chirping birds at the window of my waking

Linen sheets wrap the rising corpse

Tongue tied thirsty at sun’s breaking

Heart beats couplets of rhyming verse

ooOOoo

Stirring words at sache of dawning day

Fingers grip the pillowed lure

Head lingers on the down of dream

Languishing comfort’s closed door

ooOOoo

Purring kitten steals last breath

Perched upon a rising chest

Poised before the light of day

Body sated by evening’s rest

ooOOoo

Pouring over cascades of order

First must God receive His due

Another day of life is granted

Faith praise and deeds renew

ooOOoo

Snoring stops as sleep arrests

Wafting scents assault the nose

New mown hay and bacon frying

Night’s shade drawn as curtains close

ooOOOo

Soaring prayers loft to the heavens

Seeking guidance for this day

Ears attuned to God’s daily message

Eyes raised along the path and Way

ooOOoo

© 2011 Gerry Gilligan,

pseudonym- sligobay

All photos, poems and articles © 2011 Gerry Gilligan

ooOOoo

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St. Patrick's Prayer

I bind to myself this day the power of God to guide me, the might of God to uphold me, the wisdom of God to teach me, the eye of God to watch over me, the ear of God to hear me, the word of God to give me speech, the hand of God to protect me, the shield of God to shelter me, the host of God to defend me against evil, against the lust of nature, against every person who meditates injury to me, whether far or near, whether alone or with many.

I have invoked all these virtues against every hostile, savage power warring upon my body and soul, against the evil laws of paganism, against the false laws of heresy, against the false promises of idolatry and against all knowledge which blinds the soul of humanity.

Amen

The Irish are lovers of art; fashion and craftmanship since the beginning of their civilization.as old as ancient Babylon. Artifacts recovered by their archeologists are on display in the National Museum in Dublin.and are the subject of a future Hub. Human sacrifice was a pert of that culture as the "Bogmen" on display reveal. These mummified remains from the acidic boglands reveal a need for the arrival of Christianity in the back pack of Patrick. How utterly barbaric you may think or say! Primitive people obeyed their instinct to offer the most perfect and valuable offering to their gods to appease their ire or attract their blessings. Egyptian; Mayan; Incan; Greek; Roman; and Hebrew civilizations record cultural traditions of sacrifice and human sacrifice. Monotheism is founded upon the willing sacrifice by Abraham of Isaac his only son. Only God could spare the sacrificial lamb. Then God delivered His only Son as the sacrificial lamb of salvation. These were not metaphors.

What DNA strand carries the common human custom to believe in gods and offer to them sacrifice.  From one disconnected shore to the next; the human race has found the need to believe in gods and worship them by sacrifice.  Anthropological explanation is deficient.

Faith in God is resilient and obstinate as evidenced by the Irish and now other people of other faiths.  The global elite and powers that be have sought to secularize and disintegrate religion and the power of faith.  An external God has been supplanted by an individual internal god of self-centeredness and narcissus ( self-worship).  Individualism justifies greed and over-consumption (overindulgence).  The gods of wealth have created the perfect creature - a consumer.