Saint Patrick and the Legends of the Snakes and the Shamrock

During Great Lent in the year 441, Patrick retired to a mountain in Connaught to commune alone with God. He fasted forty days and forty nights. He wept until his chasuble was soaked with tears. The mountain Croagh Patrick - or Patrick's Hill - is 2,510 feet above the waters of Clew Bay. It is what the Irish call their Holy Mountain. Once a year in July, a pilgrimage is mad to the little chapel on its crest. Some forty thousand pilgrims have climbed the mountain in one day, many  often removing their shoes and socks before ascending a hard path on their bare feet. Now many believe that during Saint Patrick's sojourn upon this mountain that he banished all snakes from Ireland. The life of Saint Patrick, however, has been long shrouded in legend. In reality, the account of Saint Patrick banishing snakes from Ireland was furnished some seven hundred years after Patrick lived, to explain Ireland's freedom from snakes.

Saint Patrick of Ireland Resource Page

St. Patrick of Ireland (Feast Day - March 17)

Verses

Patrick shined upon Ireland,
The ray of grace of the Gospel.

  

The Confession of Saint Patrick 

 

Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus (St. Patrick of Ireland) 

 

Select Orthodox Hymns from the Greek Service to St. Patrick of Ireland 

 

In the Footsteps of St. Patrick (video) 

 

The History of Saint Patrick - a Short Story (video) 

 

Saint Patrick and Unceasing Prayer of the Heart 

 

Miracles in the Life of Saint Patrick 

   

Saint Patrick and the Flesh-Meat that Changed into Fishes 

  

Saint Patrick's Relics

 

Saint Patrick and the Legends of the Snakes and the Shamrock 

 

Synaxis of All Saints of Scotland 

 

Saint Brigid (Bridget) of Ireland 

 

Celtic Christianity Rooted In Ancient Tradition

The Confession of Saint Patrick

St. Patrick is a patron saint of Ireland. Although many details of his life are shrouded in mystery and legend, it is clear that St. Patrick had a profound impact upon the people of Ireland. The Confession of St. Patrick is the brief story of St. Patrick's life, told through his own eyes. The work provides an intriguing glance into one of history's best-known saints. The Confession of St. Patrick is similar to St. Augustine's Confessions -- they are more theological in nature than autobiographical. Scholars have speculated that St. Patrick penned this work in defense of his good name, after having his character attacked by people in power. Regardless, it provides a stirring account of the miraculous ways that God works, and encourages believers into a life of courage and holiness.

Historians believe that St. Patrick's missionary career in Ireland took place in the 5th century, though they are uncertain of the date of his birth. Born in Britain (c. 373 AD), Patrick was kidnapped into slavery at the age of sixteen to serve as a herdsman in Ireland for six years. During the second half of the 4th century, when Roman power was in decline in Italy and Britain, Irish raiding expeditions were common along the west coast of Britain, and unconverted Patrick was seized by such raiders. In a dream, he heard that the ship in which he was to make his escape was ready, so he fled his master and found his way back to Britain. A dream came to Patrick after he had escaped from Ireland and returned to Britain. One Victoricus appeared to Patrick, delivering him a letter titled, "The Voice of the Hibernians". Hibernia is the Latin name for the island of Ireland. As Patrick read the letter, he seemed to hear a company of Irish beseeching him to return to Ireland. Though Patrick doubted his fitness and educational preparation for such a task, he entered his missionary task to the Irish people (405 AD) with the zeal of an Apostle Paul. He met with great success in Ulster and Tara, though he faced the continual threat of martyrdom at the hands of the pagans and Druids. His success with the Irish was matched by his trouble with his ecclesiastical superiors in Britain; but through it all, he humbly promoted the "Gospel of the Grace of God" (Acts 20:24). He reposed in peace in 461.

 

Select Orthodox Hymns from the Greek Service to St. Patrick of Ireland

The currently used English Service of Saint Patrick is a translation of the Slavonic Service composed in the 1970's by Valeria Hoecke of New York and blessed for use by the Synod of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad.

The Greek Service was composed in 2005 by Panagiotis Somalis, Protopsaltis of the Church of Saint John Chrysostom in Nikaia, Greece. He has composed about 14 Services in all to the Orthodox Saints of the West, including: 1. St. Julius of Rome, 2. St. David of Wales, 3. St. Patrick of Ireland, 4. St. Cuthbert, 5. St. Columban, 6. St. Martin Pope of Rome, 7. St. Vincent of Saragossa, 8. St. Afra of Augsburg, 9. St. Frederick of Utrecht, 10. St. Boniface of Metz, 11. St. Walburga, 12. St. Eulalia of Merida, 13. St. Samson of Dol, 14. St. Ninian, Apostle of the Picts.

Saint Patrick and the Flesh-Meat that Changed into Fishes

By Jocelyn of Furness

But Patrick, having now become a monk, forgetting all things that were past, applied to the future, and, as if little accounting his former conversation, hastened to the height of perfection. For by incredible abstinence, by his lengthened fasts, and by the exercise of his other virtues, he afflicted himself, and continually bore in his heart and on his body the mortification of that cross which his habit displayed. But the most high Pastor, who intended to raise him to the head of the holy Church, that he might learn to think humbly of himself, to walk with the lowly, and to bear with the weak, permitting him to feel his own inferiority; so that the more deeply he was fixed on the foundation of true humility, the more firmly he might stand in the height of perfection. For a desire of eating meat came upon him, until, being ensnared and carried away by his desire, he obtained swine's flesh, and concealed it in a certain vessel, thinking rightly that he might thus satisfy his appetite privily, which should he openly do he would become to his brethren a stone of offence and a stumbling-block of reproach.

Saint Patrick's Relics

Source: Click on each section above to enlarge.