SAINT PATRICK (373-465) HAD HIS DAMASCUS ROAD EXPERIENCE WHILE IN CAPTIVITY IN HIBERNIA!

Saint Patrick's parents and grandparents would have seen the Mithras worshipping Roman soldiers with the Mithraic cross on their foreheads guarding Hadrian's Wall.

The Druids were fanatical sun and serpent worshippers. Their unholy trinity was called Belenus, Teutates, and ESUS. Human sacrifice and cannibalism was just as common there as in the New World and Africa. It was a miracle that Saint Patrick didn't end up

For the sun we see rises each day for us at [his] command, but it will never reign, neither will its splendor last, but all who worship it will come wretchedly to punishment. We, on the other hand, shall not die, who believe in and worship the true sun, Christ, who will never die, no more shall he die who has done Christ's will, but will abide for ever just as Christ abides for ever, who reigns with God the Father Almighty and with the Holy Spirit before the beginning of time and now and for ever and ever. Amen. (St. Patrick's Confession).

The island of Ireland was called Hibernia or Scotia at the time of Saint Patrick. Saint Patrick said in his Confession:

And there was, besides, a most beautiful, blessed, native-born noble [Scotta] woman of adult age whom I baptized (Confession of St. Patrick).

Saint Patrick followed the Apostolic pattern and baptized adults by immersion 3 times into the Name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. (Matt. 28:19).

Venerable Bede (672-737)–a Latin Church historian—and one of the few authors whose writings survived the ravages of the Vikings and Normans, described Hibernia as the land of the Scots:

The island abounds in milk and honey, nor is there any want of vines, fish, or fowl; and it is remarkable for deer and goats. It is properly the country of the Scots, who, migrating from thence, as has been said, added a third nation in Britain to the Britons and the Picts. (Ecclesiastical History of the English Nation, Book I, ch.I).

St. Patrick arrived in Hibernia with the Vetus Latina (Old Latin) Version of the Holy Bible. He never even saw a copy of Jerome's Latin Vulgate . . . and if he had . . . he would have been HORRIFIED at the perversion of Holy Scripture.

The origin of Celtic Christianity in Hibernia

The great Apostle Paul planted true Christianity in Britannia around 60 AD. For 300 years after St. Paul, true Christianity waged an unrelenting warfare with Druidism. However, no record exist of this titanic struggle as all record were destroyed during the Diocletian persecution.

The Diocletian persecution sent thousands of Christians fleeing eastward into Persia . . . beyond the wrath of the Roman Empire.

Derisively referred to as Nestorians, they later formed vast Congregations in Persia, India, and China. This is what the Bible refers to when it talks about the abomination of desolation or the woman fleeing into the wilderness for protection:

But when ye shall see the abomination of desolation, spoken of by Daniel the prophet, standing where it ought not, (let him that readeth understand,) then let them that be in Judaea flee to the mountains. (Mark 13:14).

The abomination of desolation was the Papal Roman Empire which substituted Zeus or Esus for Joshua:

And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time from the face of the serpent (Rev. 12:14).

When the persecution reached Britannia; many of the Christians fled northward–into the wilderness–beyond the reach of the Roman government. It was in the north of Britannia, by the banks of the River Clyde, that Saint Patrick was born:

Fiacc, one of the earliest and most reliable of his biographers, tells us that Patrick “was born at Nemthur,” and that his first name, among his own tribes, was Succat. Nemthur signifies in Irish the lofty rock; and the reference undoubtedly is to All-Cluid, or Rock of the Clyde, the rock that so grandly guards the entrance of that river, now known as the Rock of Dumbarton, which then formed the capital of the British Kingdom of Strathclyde. Here too are the yet unobliterated vestiges of a Roman encampment, and one of much greater importance than any on the southern shore, for here did the Roman wall which extended betwixt the Firths of Forth and Clyde terminate. This must have led to the creation of a town, with suburban villas, and Roman municipal privileges, such as we know were enjoyed by the community in which the ancestors of Patrick lived. Tradition, moreover, has put its finger on the spot, by planting here “Kilpatrick,” that is Patrick’s Church. Here then, on the northern shore, where the Roman had left his mark in the buildings, in the cultivation, in the manners, and in the language of the people, are we inclined to place the birth of one who has left a yet deeper mark on Scotland, and one infinitely more beneficent, than any left by Roman. (Wylie, History of the Scottish Nation, vol. II, p. 112).

The Romano-Briton Saint Patrick was born in the area that is now called Scotland. Beginning in 142 AD, Emperor Antoninus Pius ordered the construction of a wall because Hadrian's Wall couldn't keep out the freedom-loving Caledonians.

The Antonine Wall.

The Romano-Briton Saint Patrick was born near Dumbarton Rock in present day Scotland. Dumbarton is located at the Antonine Wall which was constructed by Emperor Antoninus Pius. However, he was born again in Hibernia which made him a citizen of the heavenly kingdom.

Birthplace of St. Patrick.

Saint Patrick might have been a firstborn son and dedicated to enter the Christian ministry. Early Christians followed the Old Covenant custom of dedicating every firstborn to the JEHOVAH. Patrick seems to have been a wayward boy, who was sowing his wild oats, and resisting his divine calling until pirates took him captive and reversed his downward course.

Saint Patrick on Tara Hill

Saint Patrick spent many years establishing congregations' of Christians in the north of Hibernia. How many years we do not know, because all that history was destroyed, but the day came when he decided to confront and overthrow Druid paganism at its headquarters on Tara Hill.

From a local and regional ministry, Saint Patrick decided that the time had come to go national.

The high king of Hibernia was named Lóegaire, and he was completed dominated by the Druid priesthood.

Tara Hill was the seat of the high kings of Hibernia.

This is where Saint Patrick had his dramatic confrontation with the pagan Druid priesthood. Patrick could have persuaded King Lóegaire to follow the example of the Roman Empire and make Christianity the state religion. Saint Patrick knew that this kind of "conversion" was phony and would only make the pagan Scots, pagan "Christians."

Ruins of Tara Hill.

Instead of the 12 TRIALS that he talks about in his Confession, Saint Patrick could have easily persuaded King Lóegaire to follow the example of Emperor Constantine and make Christianity the state religion. The Druids would have been supplanted by a Christian priesthood, with Saint Patrick living a life of ease as the chief bishop of the nation.

Such a union of Christianity and the state is completely of the devil, and condemned by Jesus, when he told Pilate that his kingdom was not of this world (John 18:36).

St. Patrick introduced Greek to Hibernia

From about 465 to 1140, Hibernia was known to the world as the island of Saints and Scholars. Nobody was considered a SCHOLAR in the ancient world unless they could READ AND WRITE THE GREEK language.

As a matter of fact, the universal or CATHOLIC language of the Roman Empire was GREEK....The first Latin translation of the New Testament called the Itala, did not appear until about 150 A.D.

The first 7 ecumenical councils of Christianity were held in the East. In His last message to mankind, Joshua the Messiah sent letters to 7 Congregations, and not ONE letter is addressed to Rome!!

By introducing true Catholic Christianity to Hibernia, Patrick also introduced them to the Greek language. The New Covenant was written in GREEK, Joshua calls himself ALPHA and Omega which are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet:

I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. (Revelation 1:8).

With a knowledge of Greek, the common people could easily check the work of Bible translators, and a pure Word of God was the great panacea or remedy for all the Roman heresies!!

The corrupt Latin Vulgate, which brought on the Dark Ages in Western Europe, would never had gained a foothold if the common people knew the Koine Greek of the New Covenant.

St. Patrick had an endless supply of recruits for the Christian Congregation

It was one thing for Saint Patrick to evangelize Hibernia and liberate that country from pagan darkness; it was quite another thing to keep the blessed movement going after his death.

Even though true Christianity has a heavenly origin, it must function down here on earth, and that requires dedicated and capable leaders to lead the Congregations from generation to generation.

Saint Patrick solved that problem by simply following the Old Covenant law that every firstborn belongs to JEHOVAH:

And JEHOVAH spake unto Moses, saying, Sanctify unto me all the firstborn, whatsoever openeth the womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of beast: it is mine. (Exodus 13:2).

This law was actually codified in the Brehon Code and became the law of the land for generations:

In the meantime, the question naturally occurs and solicits an answer, How came there to be, with such a sparse population and in such a rude and primitive society, such an immense supply of bishops and other clergy as at this time not only swarmed the Irish Church at home, but, as St. Bernard says, sent them "like a flood" over other countries? The answer is at hand. It was due in part to the earnest religious spirit that prevailed and the high regard for the clerical office; but, as a fruit of this, there was a remarkable law in the Brehon Code, unparalleled, so far as we know, in any other Church in Christendom, a law which declared " that every first birth of every human couple, the mother being a lawful wife," belonged to the Church; and that if there were eleven or more children, of whom less than ten are sons, the Church was entitled to a second son.' It was manifestly a re-publication in the Christian Church of the Mosaic law, which declared that the first-born of every creature, including the first-born of man, was to be presented to the Lord, and given to Aaron and his successors (Exod. xiii. 2 ; Numb. xviii. 15). And this law was no dead letter in the Irish Church. From its operation there were no exemptions. It applied to the sons of kings and chiefs, as well as to the humblest in the land. And the young, dedicated to God in pursuance of this law, were put under training in the great monastic schools, which were the colleges of that time. (Heron, The Celtic Church in Ireland, pp. 175-176).

By following this simple rule, couples would guarantee that they had plenty of strong, healthy children, and there was no mandatory celibacy in the Gaelic Congregation.

Persecution of Hibernian Christians began about 800 A.D.

The Vikings began their raids on the British Isles about 800 A.D.

Charlemagne—the phony "holy" Roman Emperor–reigned as king of the Franks. It was at that time that the Filioque controversy began in earnest.

Rome tried to end the so-called East-West schism by marrying Charlemagne to the Eastern Empress Irene.

Old Rome looked upon the Hibernians as schismatics....They were derisively referred to as Culdees or Quartodecimans (14 day people) because they followed the Old Covenant reckoning for the Passover/Resurrection.

Their missionaries on the Continent were winning a multitude of souls from the Latin church . . . and they had to be stopped at all costs:

The first appearance of the Danes in Ireland of which we have any notice is thus recorded in the "Annals of the Four Masters" opposite the year 790: " Rechrain was burnt by the Gentile pirates, and its shrines destroyed." By the "Annals of Ulster" this event is connected with the year 794, which would be 795 of the common era. It is noteworthy that their first appearance in England is chronicled under the year 787, when the crews of three pirate barks from the North slew a king's officer who attempted to seize them. It was the premonitory thunder shower announcing a terrible and protracted tempest which would leave devastation and ruin in its track. The name "Rechrain " was applied to three different islands-to what is now called Rathlin, off the Antrim coast, near Ballycastle; to an island in Lough Neagh, and to an island off the coast of County Dublin, now known as Lambay. Several historians take the place first attacked by the Norsemen to be Lambay, off County Dublin. Dr. Reeves, we think rightly, identifies it with Rathlin, off the Antrim coast. (Heron, The Celtic Church in Ireland, pp. 295-296).

The persecution of the true bride of Christ in the wilderness began about 800 AD.

Charlemagne (742–814). Reigned as king of the Franks from 768 to 814.

Merciless, mercenary Vikings began their raids on the British Isles about 800 AD They were sent by Charlemagne to destroy the religious competition in Hibernia. The killing raids lasted for centuries.

Bloodthirsty Viking raiders in their dragon ships attacking Hibernia.

Naturally, the bloodthirsty Vikings were never excommunicated for their centuries long raids on Hibernia.

The descendents of the Vikings (later called Normans), finally destroyed Gaelic Christianity in the year 1140....Constantinople survived until 1453.

Irish Round Towers came from Constantinople!!

Until the 12th century, the Hibernians (like the Orthodox) were considered schismatics by Old Rome. Hibernia was besieged by Vikings for centuries who plundered and killed the Irish Christians.

Many of the Hibernian maidens were sold as slaves to the Arabs.

As an early warning system, and a safe for their valuables, the Christians erected round towers to protect them from the Vikings. The architecture for these towers came from Constantinople:

The original type of the Round Tower, there is no doubt, came from the East, where it was brought by Justinian to Constantinople in the 6th century. From Constantinople it was carried westwards to Ravenna, and a little later it was found at Pisa, Venice, Strassburg, in Switzerland and Belgium. The Cathedral of Aux-la-Chapelle, built under Charlemagne and Eginhard about A.D. 800 has two round towers. From Ravenna, too, the idea seems to be carried to the north and west coast of France, and thence to Ireland, with which France was at that time in friendly relations. (Heron, The Celtic Church in Ireland, p. 303).

Hibernian maidens were in high demand for the Arab harems!!

The Vikings were SLAVERS . . . just like the Muslims.

They raided the coast of Hibernia for centuries, killing the men, burning the Bible manuscripts, and carrying off the women to be sold as slaves to the Arabs.

Only the Triune God knows how many Hibernian maidens ended their earthly lives in Arab harems:

Late in the eighth century, there arose a band of non-Muslim slave hunters, the Vikings, in Europe. Vikings were a North European people, originating in Scandinavia (Sweden, Denmark), who turned brutal raiding brigands between the eight and eleventh centuries. Belonging to the so-called barbarian Germanic race, they engaged in raiding and pirate attacks along the coasts of the British Isles and mainland of Europe as far east as the Volga River in Russia.
At the rise of the berserk Viking raiders, the Scandinavian fur traders reached the Europe-Arab trading center of Bulgar Volga (in Russia), where they met traders from the Muslim world, who had huge demands for white women for Islamic harems. The savage Vikings, thereafter, embarked on capturing young white women for selling to traders from the Muslim world. This first opened the Eastern European route of slave trade with the Muslim world. The supply route of white slaves via Spain also soon opened. (Khan, Islamic Jihad, p. 323).

Saint Patrick and the Holy Trinity

According to the Bible, there are 3 divine and eternal persons in the ONE TRUE GOD. They are called Father, Son and Holy Spirit. The clearest statement of this is found in I John 5:7:

For there are three that bear witness in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit: and these three are one. (I John 5:7).

I John 5:7 is the most maligned verse in the Bible. Only ONE Greek manuscript with the verse exists in the entire world!!

I bind unto myself the name, The strong name of the Trinity; By invocation of the same. The Three in One, and One in Three, Of whom all nature hath creation, Eternal Father, Spirit, Word: Praise to the Lord of my salvation, salvation is of Christ the Lord. (St. Patrick's Breastplate).

I John 5:7 is the most maligned verse in the entire Bible. Only one Greek manuscript, called Codex Montfortianus, exists with the verse, and it is housed in the library at Trinity College, Dublin.

Obviously this verse about the 3 heavenly witnesses does belong in the Bible, because St. Patrick's Breastplate quotes it verbatim.

The verse is found in the Latin Vulgate, but the New Jerusalem Bible–the approved Papal translation–omit the 3 heavenly witnesses.

Saint Patrick used the shamrock, which grew in profusion in Hibernia, to demonstrate the Holy Trinity. Of course the shamrock does not show the monarchy of the Father, the begetting of the Son, and the procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father. Nevertheless, it is a good symbol of the triunity of the universe.

Shamrocks

Saint Patrick used the shamrock to demonstrate the Holy Trinity. The harp became the national symbol of Hibernia because St. Patrick gave the people a lot of reasons to sing and make music . . . without the help of the unholy spirits!!

Irish harp.

Saint Patrick never mentioned this double procession of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son in his Confession:

For there is no other God, nor ever was before, nor shall be hereafter, but God the Father, unbegotten and without beginning, in whom all things began, whose are all things, as we have been taught; and his son Jesus Christ, who manifestly always existed with the Father, before the beginning of time in the spirit with the Father, indescribably begotten before all things, and all things visible and invisible were made by him. He was made man, conquered death and was received into Heaven, to the Father who gave him all power over every name in Heaven and on Earth and in Hell, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe. And we look to his imminent coming again, the judge of the living and the dead, who will render to each according to his deeds. And he poured out his Holy Spirit on us in abundance, the gift and pledge of immortality, which makes the believers and the obedient into sons of God and co-heirs of Christ who is revealed, and we worship one God in the Trinity of holy name. (Confession of Saint Patrick).

Saint Patrick's temporary resting place

St. Patrick's body sleeps in Downpatrick until that great Resurrection morning.

Downpatrick Cathedral in Co. Down.

St. Patick sleeps in Downpatrick until the great Resurrection morning. The year of his birth was 373 and his home going year was 465.

A stone marks the spot where St. Patrick is buried.

Very little of the ministry of Saint Patrick survived the centuries long Viking raids. Even the date of his birth and death have been altered. Patrick must have begun his ministry before the year 410, because that was the year that the last Roman legions withdrew from Britain, and the Picts began raiding south of Hadrian's Wall.

God's timing is PERFECT and Saint Patrick had already left and was preaching the Gospel in Hibernia for 5 years before that fateful year.

Saint Patrick was never canonized by Rome!!

After his death, Saint Patrick was NEVER canonized by Rome, or officially declared a saint by the Vatican. The first Hibernian to be canonized was "Saint" Malachy. Malachy, who lived from 1094 to 1148, visited Rome in the year 1139, to receive official Papal sanction to his work of destroying the Congregation founded by the faithful Saint Patrick.

Malachy was the FIRST Papal nuncio to Hibernia. Before Malachy started erecting stone cathedrals in Hibernia, the people had never seen a Roman monk with the round tonsure. Malachy's biography was written by the monk, Bernard of Clairvaux; his biography describes Malachy as a REFORMER and cautions him to be very circumspect as he introduces this NEW RELIGION of Romanism into Hibernia:

Historic truth, moreover, requires that we should distinguish between these two very different sets of institutions, which are often made to pass under the same name, that is, between the schools of the sixth and seventh centuries, and the Benedictine monasteries, which were obtruded upon and supplanted than in the twelfth and thirteenth. Till times long posterior to Patrick no monk had been seen in Ireland, and no monastery had risen on its soil. On this head the evidence of Malachy O'Morgain is decisive. Malachy, Archbishop of Armagh, was one of the earliest perverts to popery among the Irish clergy, and he was one of the main agents in the enslavement of his native land. His life was written by his contemporary and friend, the well-known St. Bernard of Clairvaux in France. This memoir lifts the veil and shows us the first monks and monasteries stealing into Ireland. "St Malachy, on his return to Ireland from Rome," says St. Bernard, "called again at Clairvaux . . . and left four of his companions in that monastery for the purpose of learning its rules and regulations, and of their being in due time qualified to introduce them into Ireland." In all countries monks have formed the vanguard of the papal army. "He, (Malachy) said on this occasion," continues St. Bernard, "They will serve us for seed, and in this seed nations will be blessed, even those nations which from old time heard of the name of monk, but have never seen a monk." If the words of the Abbot of Clairvaux have any meaning, they imply that up till this time, that is, the year 1140, though Ireland was covered with institutions which the Latin writers call monasteries, the Irish were ignorant of monks and monkery. And this is confirmed by what we find Bernard afterwards writing to Malachy:—"And since," says he, " you have need of great vigilance, as in a new place, and in a new land that has been hitherto unused to, yea, that has never yet had any trial of monastic religion, withhold not your hand, I beseech you, but go on to perfect that which you have so well begun." This evidence is decisive of two things: first, that monasteries, in the modern sense of the term, were unknown in Ireland till the middle of the twelfth century, when Malachy is seen sowing their seeds; and second, that the ancient foundations were not monasteries, but schools. (History of the Scottish Nation vol. II, chapter 18).

The first Hibernian to be made a "saint" by the Latin church was Malachy O'Morgain, later called "Saint" Malachy.

Ruins of Mellifont Abbey founded by "Saint" Malachy.

The first Hibernian to be made a "saint" by the Latin church was Malachy O'Morgain, later called "Saint" Malachy. According to "Saint" Malachy there is one more Pope to go until Judgment Day!!

"Saint" Malachy book cover.

.Before Malachy started erecting cathedrals in Hibernia, the people had never seen a Roman monk with the round tonsure . . . or a stone church:

It seemed good to Malachy that a stone oratory should be erected at Bangor like those which he had seen constructed in other regions. And when he began to lay the foundations the natives wondered, because in that land no such buildings were yet to be found. But that worthless fellow, presumptuous and arrogant as he was, not only wondered but was indignant. And from that indignation he conceived grief and brought forth iniquity. And he became a talebearer among the peoples, now disparaging secretly, now speaking evil openly; drawing attention to Malachy's frivolity, shuddering at the novelty, exaggerating the expense. With such poisonous words as these he was urging and inducing many to put a stop to it: "Follow me, and what ought not to be done by any but ourselves let us not permit to be done against our will." Then with many whom he was able to persuade–himself the first leader in speech as well as the origin of the evi–he went down to the place, and finding the man of God accosted him: "Good sir, why have you thought good to introduce this novelty into our regions? We are Scots, not Gauls. What is this frivolity? What need was there for a work so superfluous, so proud? Where will you, a poor and needy man, find the means to finish it? (Life of Malachy, pp. 109-110).

Malachy's biography was written by the monk, Bernard of Clairvaux, his biography describes Malachy as a REFORMER and cautions him to be very circumspect as he introduces this NEW RELIGION of Romanism into Hibernia.

Malachy wrote a list of all the Popes from his day until the end of time and that list is called The Prophecies of "Saint" Malachy. That list has 112 Popes, and the present Pope Benedict is number 111.....The Jesuits have always denigrated it and called it a forgery, but the list is still taken very seriously by the Vatican. Here is a quote from the authoritative Catholic Encyclopedia:

The most famous and best known prophecies about the popes are those attributed to St. Malachy. In 1139 he went to Rome to give an account of the affairs of his diocese to the pope, Innocent II, who promised him two palliums for the metropolitan Sees of Armagh and Cashel. While at Rome, he received (according to the Abbé Cucherat) the strange vision of the future wherein was unfolded before his mind the long list of illustrious pontiffs who were to rule the Church until the end of time. The same author tells us that St. Malachy gave his manuscript to Innocent II to console him in the midst of his tribulations, and that the document remained unknown in the Roman Archives until its discovery in 1590 (Cucherat, "Proph. de la succession des papes", ch. xv). They were first published by Arnold de Wyon, and ever since there has been much discussion as to whether they are genuine predictions of St. Malachy or forgeries. The silence of 400 years on the part of so many learned authors who had written about the popes, and the silence of St. Bernard especially, who wrote the "Life of St. Malachy", is a strong argument against their authenticity, but it is not conclusive if we adopt Cucherat's theory that they were hidden in the Archives during those 400 years. (Catholic Encyclopedia article: Prophecies).

The thought that there is only one more Pope to go should cause all true Catholic Protestant Othodox Christians to jump for joy!!

The Latin Church Saint Patrick is a MYTH

The Latin Church St. Patrick is a MYTH....Papal Rome came to Britain with the Norman Conquest of 1066. A century later, the same Viking-Normans brought their cathedrals and crosses to Hibernia.

Saint Patrick's autobiographical confession was written in Latin, toward the end of his life. It is over 1500 years old and it is a real miracle that any of it has survived. It is missing a major section—at least 30 years of his life. It jumps from his dreams at home to an incident in Hibernia 30 years later. His greatest triumph on Tara Hill is not even mentioned. The Papal censors were very busy with this one!!

St. Patrick mentions 3 periods of his life:
His boyhood: pueritia
His youth: adolescens
His young manhood: iuventus

Official Chronology of St. Patrick, Apostle of Ireland

Year	Event
373	Patrick is born along the banks of the River Clyde in Roman Britain, now a part of Scotland. Even though he had Christian parents and was baptized, that didn't make him (or anybody else) a Christian!!
389	He is taken captive by pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland.
395	He is converted to Christ; escapes from slavery, and returns home.
405	St. Patrick arrives in Ireland with the Vetus Latina (Old Latin) Version of the Holy Bible and he begins to preach the Resurrection of Christ from the dead!
431	Despite tremendous opposition from the Druids and their false gods Belenus, Teutates, and Esus, St. Patrick has great success in Ireland. By faith alone thousands are converted to Christ. He puts an end to Druid human sacrifices. Slavery is ended. Congregations of Christians and schools are established throughout the country.
465	St. Patrick dies and goes to his eternal reward in Heaven. After preaching the Gospel of Christ for 60 years, the Apostle of Ireland is buried near the place where he began his great missionary work.

The news of St. Patrick's great success with the Gospel soon reached Rome. Pope Celestine (422–432) ordained a priest named Palladius as bishop and sent him to Ireland.

Upon arriving in Ireland, Palladius demanded that those new Christians accept him as their bishop. Palladius was repulsed as a spy and fled for his life. He never returned to Rome and died later in Scotland on March 17.

In order to confuse the world, and hide his failure, Palladius was substituted for St. Patrick and his chronology was revised!

Year	Event
431	Palladius arrives from Rome. He is rejected by the Irish Christians and has to leave Ireland in a hurry. If he had come 25 years earlier he would have ended up a Druid human sacrifice. The first thing the noble converts of Patrick did was to reject the Bishop of Rome. "They know not the voice of strangers" (St. John 10:5).
432	This is the revised date of the beginning of St. Patrick's great missionary work when he would be almost 60 years old….It was revised to honor Palladius . . . cover-up his failure . . . and link Celtic Christian Ireland to Rome!

Chronological History of St. Patrick from his "Confession"

The age of St. Patrick when he became a deacon and left for Hibernia may be off by 1 or 2 years; Patrick simply says that he ministered among the Scots from the time that he was a "iuventus" a young man. Most of the great Biblical heroes began their ministry around 30. The revised chronology sends him to Hibernia when he would be almost 60 years old. A youth of 60!!

---

I, Patrick, a sinner, a most simple countryman, the least of all the faithful and most contemptible to many, had for father the deacon Calpurnius, son of the late Potitus, a presbyter, of the settlement of Bannaven Taburniae; he had a small villa nearby where I was taken captive. I was at that time about sixteen years of age. I did not, indeed, know the true God; and I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people, according to our deserts, for quite drawn away from God, we did not keep his precepts, nor were we obedient to our presbyters who used to remind us of our salvation. And the Lord brought down on us the fury of his being and scattered us among many nations, even to the ends of the earth, where I, in my smallness, am now to be found among foreigners.

And there the Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief, in order that, even so late, I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my insignificance and pitied my youth and ignorance. And he watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned sense or even distinguished between good and evil, and he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son.

Therefore, indeed, I cannot keep silent, nor would it be proper, so many favours and graces has the Lord deigned to bestow on me in the land of my captivity. For after chastisement from God, and recognizing him, our way to repay him is to exalt him and confess his wonders before every nation under heaven:

Patrick's Confession of Faith

For there is no other God, nor ever was before, nor shall be hereafter, but God the Father, unbegotten and without beginning, in whom all things began, whose are all things, as we have been taught; and his son Jesus Christ, who manifestly always existed with the Father, before the beginning of time in the spirit with the Father, indescribably begotten before all things, and all things visible and invisible were made by him. He was made man, conquered death and was received into Heaven, to the Father who gave him all power over every name in Heaven and on Earth and in Hell, so that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe. And we look to his imminent coming again, the judge of the living and the dead, who will render to each according to his deeds. And he poured out his Holy Spirit on us in abundance, the gift and pledge of immortality, which makes the believers and the obedient into sons of God and co-heirs of Christ who is revealed, and we worship one God in the Trinity of holy name.

He himself said through the prophet: 'Call upon me in the day of' trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.' And again: 'It is right to reveal and publish abroad the works of God.'

I am imperfect in many things, nevertheless I want my brethren and kinsfolk to know my nature so that they may be able to perceive my soul's desire.

I am not ignorant of what is said of my Lord in the Psalm: 'You destroy those who speak a lie.' And again: 'A lying mouth deals death to the soul.' And likewise the Lord says in the Gospel: 'On the day of judgment men shall render account for every idle word they utter.'

So it is that I should mightily fear, with terror and trembling, this judgment on the day when no one shall be able to steal away or hide, but each and all shall render account for even our smallest sins before the judgment seat of Christ the Lord.

And therefore for some time I have thought of writing, but I have hesitated until now, for truly, I feared to expose myself to the criticism of men, because I have not studied like others, who have assimilated both Law and the Holy Scriptures equally and have never changed their idiom since their infancy, but instead were always learning it increasingly, to perfection, while my idiom and language have been translated into a foreign tongue. So it is easy to prove from a sample of my writing, my ability in rhetoric and the extent of my preparation and knowledge, for as it is said, 'wisdom shall be recognized in speech, and in understanding, and in knowledge and in the learning of truth.'

But why make excuses close to the truth, especially when now I am presuming to try to grasp in my old age what I did not gain in my youth because my sins prevented me from making what I had read my own? But who will believe me, even though I should say it again? A young man, almost a beardless boy, I was taken captive before I knew what I should desire and what I should shun. So, consequently, today I feel ashamed and I am mightily afraid to expose my ignorance, because, [not] eloquent, with a small vocabulary, I am unable to explain as the spirit is eager to do and as the soul and the mind indicate.

But had it been given to me as to others, in gratitude I should not have kept silent, and if it should appear that I put myself before others, with my ignorance and my slower speech, in truth, it is written: 'The tongue of the stammerers shall speak rapidly and distinctly.' How much harder must we try to attain it, we of whom it is said: 'You are an epistle of Christ in greeting to the ends of the earth ... written on your hearts, not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God.' And again, the Spirit witnessed that the rustic life was created by the Most High.

I am, then, first of all, countrified, an exile, evidently unlearned, one who is not able to see into the future, but I know for certain, that before I was humbled I was like a stone lying in deep mire, and he that is mighty came and in his mercy raised me up and, indeed, lifted me high up and placed me on top of the wall. And from there I ought to shout out in gratitude to the Lord for his great favours in this world and for ever, that the mind of man cannot measure.

Therefore be amazed, you great and small who fear God, and you men of God, eloquent speakers, listen and contemplate. Who was it summoned me, a fool, from the midst of those who appear wise and learned in the law and powerful in rhetoric and in all things? Me, truly wretched in this world, he inspired before others that I could be if I would–such a one who, with fear and reverence, and faithfully, without complaint, would come to the people to whom the love of Christ brought me and gave me in my lifetime, if I should be worthy, to serve them truly and with humility.

According, therefore, to the measure of one's faith in the Trinity, one should proceed without holding back from danger to make known the gift of God and everlasting consolation, to spread God's name everywhere with confidence and without fear, in order to leave behind, after my death, foundations for my brethren and sons whom I baptized in the Lord in so many thousands.

And I was not worthy, nor was I such that the Lord should grant his humble servant this, that after hardships and such great trials, after captivity, after many years, he should give me so much favour with these people, a thing which in the time of my youth I neither hoped for nor imagined.

But after I reached Hibernia I used to pasture the flock each day and I used to pray many times a day. More and more did the love of God, and my fear of him and faith increase, and my spirit was moved so that in a day [I said] from one up to a hundred prayers, and in the night a like number; besides I used to stay out in the forests and on the mountain and I would wake up before daylight to pray in the snow, in icy coldness, in rain, and I used to feel neither ill nor any slothfulness, because, as I now see, the Spirit was burning in me at that time.

And it was there of course that one night in my sleep I heard a voice saying to me: 'You do well to fast: soon you will depart for your home country.' And again, a very short time later, there was a voice prophesying: 'Behold, your ship is ready.' And it was not close by, but, as it happened, two hundred miles away, where I had never been nor knew any person. And shortly thereafter I turned about and fled from the man with whom I had been for six years, and I came, by the power of God who directed my route to advantage (and I was afraid of nothing), until I reached that ship.

And on the same day that I arrived, the ship was setting out from the place, and I said that I had not the wherewithal to sail with them; and the steersman was displeased and replied in anger, sharply: 'By no means attempt to go with us.' Hearing this I left them to go to the hut where I was staying, and on the way I began to pray, and before the prayer was finished I heard one of them shouting loudly after me: 'Come quickly because the men are calling you.' And immediately I went back to them and they started to say to me: 'Come, because we are admitting you out of good faith; make friendship with us in any way you wish.' (And so, on that day, I refused to suck the breasts of these men from fear of God, but nevertheless I had hopes that they would come to faith in Jesus Christ, because they were barbarians.) And for this I continued with them, and forthwith we put to sea.

And after three days we reached land, and for twenty-eight days journeyed through uninhabited country, and the food ran out and hunger overtook them; and one day the steersman began saying: 'Why is it, Christian? You say your God is great and all-powerful; then why can you not pray for us? For we may perish of hunger; it is unlikely indeed that we shall ever see another human being.' In fact, I said to them, confidently: 'Be converted by faith with all your heart to my Lord God, because nothing is impossible for him, so that today he will send food for you on your road, until you be sated, because everywhere he abounds.' And with God's help this came to pass; and behold, a herd of swine appeared on the road before our eyes, and they slew many of them, and remained there for two nights, and the were full of their meat and well restored, for many of them had fainted and would otherwise have been left half dead by the wayside. And after this they gave the utmost thanks to God, and I was esteemed in their eyes, and from that day they had food abundantly. They discovered wild honey, besides, and they offered a share to me, and one of them said: 'It is a sacrifice.' Thanks be to God, I tasted none of it.

The very same night while I was sleeping Satan attacked me violently, as I will remember as long as I shall be in this body; and there fell on top of me as it were, a huge rock, and not one of my members had any force. But from whence did it come to me, ignorant in the spirit, to call upon 'Elijah'? And meanwhile I saw the sun rising in the sky, and while I was crying out 'Elijah, Elijah' with all my might, lo, the brilliance of that sun fell upon me and immediately shook me free of all the weight; and I believe that I was aided by Christ my Lord, and that his Spirit then was crying out for me, and I hope that it will be so in the day of my affliction, just as it says in the Gospel: 'In that hour', the Lord declares, 'it is not you who speaks but the Spirit of your Father speaking in you.'

And a second time, after many years, I was taken captive. On the first night I accordingly remained with my captors, but I heard a divine prophecy, saying to me: 'You shall be with them for two months. So it happened. On the sixtieth night the Lord delivered me from their hands.

On the journey he provided us with food and fire and dry weather every day, until on the tenth day we came upon people. As I mentioned above, we had journeyed through an unpopulated country for twenty-eight days, and in fact the night that we came upon people we had no food.

And after a few years I was again in Britain with my parents [kinsfolk], and they welcomed me as a son, and asked me, in faith, that after the great tribulations I had endured I should not go any where else away from them. And, of course, there, in a vision of the night, I saw a man whose name was Victoricus coming as if from Hibernia with innumerable letters, and he gave me one of them, and I read the beginning of the letter: 'The Voice of the Hibernians', and as I was reading the beginning of the letter I seemed at that moment to hear the voice of those who were beside the forest of Foclut which is near the western sea, and the were crying as if with one voice: 'We beg you, holy youth, that you shall come and shall walk again among us.' And I was stung intensely in my heart so that I could read no more, and thus I awoke. Thanks be to God, because after so many years the Lord bestowed on them according to their cry.

And another night-- God knows, I do not, whether within me or beside me-- ... most words + ... + which I heard and could not understand, except at the end of the speech it was represented thus: 'He who gave his life for you, he it is who speaks within you.' And thus I awoke, joyful.

And on a second occasion I saw Him praying within me, and I was as it were, inside my own body , and I heard Him above me-- that is, above my inner self. He was praying powerfully with sighs. And in the course of this I was astonished and wondering, and I pondered who it could be who was praying within me. But at the end of the prayer it was revealed to me that it was the Spirit. And so I awoke and remembered the Apostle's words: 'Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness; for we know not how to pray as we ought. But the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for utterance.' And again: 'The Lord our advocate intercedes for us.'

This part of the Confession is missing about 30 years!!

And then I was attacked by a goodly number of my elders, who [brought up] my sins against my arduous episcopate. That day in particular I was mightily upset, and might have fallen here and for ever; but the Lord generously spared me, a convert, and an alien, for his name's sake, and he came powerfully to my assistance in that state of being trampled down. I pray God that it shall not be held against them as a sin that I fell truly into disgrace and scandal.

They brought up against me after thirty years an occurrence I had confessed before becoming a deacon. On account of the anxiety in my sorrowful mind, I laid before my close friend what I had perpetrated on a day-- nay, rather in one hour-- in my boyhood because I was not yet proof against sin. God knows-- I do not-- whether I was fifteen years old at the time, and I did not then believe in the living God, nor had I believed, since my infancy; but I remained in death and unbelief until I was severely rebuked, and in truth I was humbled every day by hunger and nakedness.

On the other hand, I did not proceed to Hibernia of my own accord until I was almost giving up, but through this I was corrected by the Lord, and he prepared me so that today I should be what was once far from me, in order that I should have the care of-- or rather, I should be concerned for-- the salvation of others, when at that time, still, I was only concerned for myself.

Therefore, on that day when I was rebuked, as I have just mentioned, I saw in a vision of the night a document before my face, without honour, and meanwhile I heard a divine prophecy, saying to me: 'We have seen with displeasure the face of the chosen one divested of [his good] name.' And he did not say 'You have seen with displeasure', but 'We have seen with displeasure' (as if He included Himself) . He said then: 'He who touches you, touches the apple of my eye.'

For that reason, I give thanks to him who strengthened me in all things, so that I should not be hindered in my setting out and also in my work which I was taught by Christ my Lord; but more, from that state of affairs I felt, within me, no little courage, and vindicated my faith before God and man.

Hence, therefore, I say boldly that my conscience is clear now and hereafter. God is my witness that I have not lied in these words to you.

But rather, I am grieved for my very close friend, that because of him we deserved to hear such a prophecy. The one to whom I entrusted my soul! And I found out from a goodly number of brethren, before the case was made in my defense (in which I did not take part, nor was I in Britain, nor was it pleaded by me), that in my absence he would fight in my behalf. Besides, he told me himself: 'See, the rank of bishop goes to you'-- of which I was not worthy. But how did it come to him, shortly afterwards, to disgrace me publicly, in the presence of all, good and bad, because previously, gladly and of his own free will, he pardoned me, as did the Lord, who is greater than all?

I have said enough. But all the same, I ought not to conceal God's gift which he lavished on us in the land of my captivity, for then I sought him resolutely, and I found him there, and he preserved me from all evils (as I believe) through the in-dwelling of his Spirit, which works in me to this day. Again, boldly, but God knows, if this had been made known to me by man, I might, perhaps, have kept silent for the love of Christ.

Thus I give untiring thanks to God who kept me faithful in the day of my temptation, so that today I may confidently offer my soul as a living sacrifice for Christ my Lord; who am I, Lord? or, rather, what is my calling? that you appeared to me in so great a divine quality, so that today among the barbarians I might constantly exalt and magnify your name in whatever place I should be, and not only in good fortune, but even in affliction? So that whatever befalls me, be it good or bad, I should accept it equally, and give thanks always to God who revealed to me that I might trust in him, implicitly and forever, and who will encourage me so that, ignorant, and in the last days, I may dare to undertake so devout and so wonderful a work; so that I might imitate one of those whom, once, long ago, the Lord already pre-ordained to be heralds of his Gospel to witness to all peoples to the ends of the earth. So are we seeing, and so it is fulfilled; behold, we are witnesses because the Gospel has been preached as far as the places beyond which no man lives.

But it is tedious to describe in detail all my labours one by one. I will tell briefly how our most holy God frequently delivered me, from slavery, and from the twelve trials with which my soul was threatened, from man traps as well, and from things I am not able to put into words. I would not cause offense to readers, but I have God as witness who knew all things even before they happened, that, though I was a poor ignorant waif, still he gave me abundant warnings through divine prophecy.

Whence came to me this wisdom which was not my own, I who neither knew the number of days nor had knowledge of God? Whence came the so great and so healthful gift of knowing or rather loving God, though I should lose homeland and family.

And many gifts were offered to me with weeping and tears, and I offended them [the donors], and also went against the wishes of a good number of my elders; but guided by God, I neither agreed with them nor deferred to them, not by my own grace but by God who is victorious in me and withstands them all, so that I might come to the Irish people to preach the Gospel and endure insults from unbelievers; that I might hear scandal of my travels, and endure many persecutions to the extent of prison; and so that I might give up my free birthright for the advantage of others, and if I should be worthy, I am ready [to give] even my life without hesitation; and most willingly for His name. And I choose to devote it to him even unto death, if God grant it to me.

I am greatly God's debtor, because he granted me so much grace, that through me many people would be reborn in God, and soon after confirmed, and that clergy would be ordained everywhere for them, the masses lately come to belief, whom the Lord drew from the ends of the earth, just as he once promised through his prophets: 'To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited naught but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit.' And again: 'I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the uttermost ends of' the earth.'

And I wish to wait then for his promise which is never unfulfilled, just as it is promised in the Gospel: 'Many shall come from east and west and shall sit at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob.' Just as we believe that believers will come from all the world.

So for that reason one should, in fact, fish well and diligently, just as the Lord foretells and teaches, saying, 'Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men,' and again through the prophets: 'Behold, I am sending forth many fishers and hunters, says the Lord,' et cetera. So it behooved us to spread our nets, that a vast multitude and throng might be caught for God, and so there might be clergy everywhere who baptized and exhorted a needy and desirous people. Just as the Lord says in the Gospel, admonishing and instructing: 'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always to the end of time.' And again he says: 'Go forth into the world and preach the Gospel to all creation. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved; but he who does not believe shall be condemned.' And again: 'This Gospel of the Kingdom shall be preached throughout the whole world as a witness to all nations; and then the end of the world shall come.' And likewise the Lord foretells through the prophet: 'And it shall come to pass in the last days (saith the Lord) that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions and your old men shall dream dreams; yea, and on my menservants and my maidservants in those days I will pour out my Spirit and they shall prophesy.' And in Hosea he says: 'Those who are not my people I will call my people, and those not beloved I will call my beloved, and in the very place where it was said to them, You are not my people, they will be called 'Sons of the living God'.

So, how is it that in Hibernia, where they never had any knowledge of God but, always, until now, cherished idols and unclean things, they are lately become a people of the Lord, and are called children of God; the sons of the Irish [Scotti] and the daughters of the chieftains are to be seen as monks and virgins of Christ.

And there was, besides, a most beautiful, blessed, native-born noble Irish [Scotta] woman of adult age whom I baptized; and a few days later she had reason to come to us to intimate that she had received a prophecy from a divine messenger [who] advised her that she should become a virgin of Christ and she would draw nearer to God. Thanks be to God, six days from then, opportunely and most eagerly, she took the course that all virgins of God take, not with their fathers' consent but enduring the persecutions and deceitful hindrances of their parents. Notwithstanding that, their number increases, (we do not know the number of them that are so reborn) besides the widows, and those who practice self-denial. Those who are kept in slavery suffer the most. They endure terrors and constant threats, but the Lord has given grace to many of his handmaidens, for even though they are forbidden to do so, still they resolutely follow his example.

So it is that even if I should wish to separate from them in order to go to Britain, and most willingly was I prepared to go to my homeland and kinsfolk-- and not only there, but as far as Gaul to visit the brethren there, so that I might see the faces of the holy ones of my Lord, God knows how strongly I desired this-- I am bound by the Spirit, who witnessed to me that if I did so he would mark me out as guilty, and I fear to waste the labour that I began, and not I, but Christ the Lord, who commanded me to come to be with them for the rest of my life, if the Lord shall will it and shield me from every evil, so that I may not sin before him.

So I hope that I did as I ought, but I do not trust myself as long as I am in this mortal body, for he is strong who strives daily to turn me away from the faith and true holiness to which I aspire until the end of my life for Christ my Lord, but the hostile flesh is always dragging one down to death, that is, to unlawful attractions. And I know in part why I did not lead a perfect life like other believers, but I confess to my Lord and do not blush in his sight, because I am not lying; from the time when I came to know him in my youth, the love of God and fear of him increased in me, and right up until now, by God's favour, I have kept the faith.

What is more, let anyone laugh and taunt if he so wishes. I am not keeping silent, nor am I hiding the signs and wonders that were shown to me by the Lord many years before they happened, [he] who knew everything, even before the beginning of time.

Thus, I should give thanks unceasingly to God, who frequently forgave my folly and my negligence, in more than one instance so as not to be violently angry with me, who am placed as his helper, and I did not easily assent to what had been revealed to me, as the Spirit was urging; and the Lord took pity on me thousands upon thousands of times, because he saw within me that I was prepared, but that I was ignorant of what to do in view of my situation; because many were trying to prevent this mission. They were talking among themselves behind my back, and saying: 'Why is this fellow throwing himself into danger among enemies who know not God?' Not from malice, but having no liking for it; likewise, as I myself can testify, they perceived my rusticity. And I was not quick to recognize the grace that was then in me; I now know that I should have done so earlier.

Now I have put it frankly to my brethren and co-workers, who have believed me because of what I have foretold and still foretell to strengthen and reinforce your faith. I wish only that you, too, would make greater and better efforts. This will be my pride, for 'a wise son makes a proud father'.

You know, as God does, how I went about among you from my youth in the faith of truth and in sincerity of heart. As well as to the heathen among whom I live, I have shown them trust and always show them trust. God knows I did not cheat any one of them, nor consider it, for the sake of God and his Church, lest I arouse them and [bring about] persecution for them and for all of us, and lest the Lord's name be blasphemed because of me, for it is written: 'Woe to the men through whom the name of the Lord is blasphemed.'

For even though I am ignorant in all things, nevertheless I attempted to safeguard some and myself also. And I gave back again to my Christian brethren and the virgins of Christ and the holy women the small unasked for gifts that they used to give me or some of their ornaments which they used to throw on the altar. And they would be offended with me because I did this. But in the hope of eternity, I safeguarded myself carefully in all things, so that they might not cheat me of my office of service on any pretext of dishonesty, and so that I should not in the smallest way provide any occasion for defamation or disparagement on the part of unbelievers.

What is more, when I baptized so many thousands of people, did I hope for even half a jot from any of them? [If so] Tell me, and I will give it back to you. And when the Lord ordained clergy everywhere by my humble means, and I freely conferred office on them, if I asked any of them anywhere even for the price of one shoe, say so to my face and I will give it back.

More, I spent for you so that they would receive me. And I went about among you, and everywhere for your sake, in danger, and as far as the outermost regions beyond which no one lived, and where no one had ever penetrated before, to baptize or to ordain clergy or to confirm people. Conscientiously and gladly I did all this work by God's gift for your salvation.

From time to time I gave rewards to the kings, as well as making payments to their sons who travel with me; notwithstanding which, they seized me with my companions, and that day most avidly desired to kill me. But my time had not yet come. They plundered everything they found on us anyway, and fettered me in irons; and on the fourteenth day the Lord freed me from their power, and whatever they had of ours was given back to us for the sake of God on account of the indispensable friends whom we had made before.

Also you know from experience how much I was paying to those who were administering justice in all the regions, which I visited often. I estimate truly that I distributed to them not less than the price of fifteen men, in order that you should enjoy my company and I enjoy yours, always, in God. I do not regret this nor do I regard it as enough. I am paying out still and I shall pay out more. The Lord has the power to grant me that I may soon spend my own self, for your souls.

Behold, I call on God as my witness upon my soul that I am not lying; nor would I write to you for it to be an occasion for flattery or selfishness, nor hoping for honour from any one of you. Sufficient is the honour which is not yet seen, but in which the heart has confidence. He who made the promise is faithful; he never lies.

But I see that even here and now, I have been exalted beyond measure by the Lord, and I was not worthy that he should grant me this, while I know most certainly that poverty and failure suit me better than wealth and delight (but Christ the Lord was poor for our sakes; I certainly am wretched and unfortunate; even if I wanted wealth I have no resources, nor is it my own estimation of myself, for daily I expect to be murdered or betrayed or reduced to slavery if the occasion arises. But I fear nothing, because of the promises of Heaven; for I have cast myself into the hands of Almighty God, who reigns everywhere. As the prophet says: 'Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you.'

Behold now I commend my soul to God who is most faithful and for whom I perform my mission in obscurity, but he is no respecter of persons and he chose me for this service that I might be one of the least of his ministers.

For which reason I should make return for all that he returns me. But what should I say, or what should I promise to my Lord, for I, alone, can do nothing unless he himself vouchsafe it to me. But let him search my heart and [my] nature, for I crave enough for it, even too much, and I am ready for him to grant me that I drink of his chalice, as he has granted to others who love him.

Therefore may it never befall me to be separated by my God from his people whom he has won in this most remote land. I pray God that he gives me perseverance, and that he will deign that I should be a faithful witness for his sake right up to the time of my passing.

And if at any time I managed anything of good for the sake of my God whom I love, I beg of him that he grant it to me to shed my blood for his name with proselytes and captives, even should I be left unburied, or even were my wretched body to be torn limb from limb by dogs or savage beasts, or were it to be devoured by the birds of the air, I think, most surely, were this to have happened to me, I had saved both my soul and my body. For beyond any doubt on that day we shall rise again in the brightness of the sun, that is, in the glory of Christ Jesus our Redeemer, as children of the living God and co-heirs of Christ, made in his image; for we shall reign through him and for him and in him.

For the sun we see rises each day for us at [his] command, but it will never reign, neither will its splendor last, but all who worship it will come wretchedly to punishment. We, on the other hand, shall not die, who believe in and worship the true sun, Christ, who will never die, no more shall he die who has done Christ's will, but will abide for ever just as Christ abides for ever, who reigns with God the Father Almighty and with the Holy Spirit before the beginning of time and now and for ever and ever. Amen.

Behold over and over again I would briefly set out the words of my confession. I testify in truthfulness and gladness of heart before God and his holy angels that I never had any reason, except the Gospel and his promises, ever to have returned to that nation from which I had previously escaped with difficulty. But I entreat those who believe in and fear God, whoever deigns to examine or receive this document composed by the obviously unlearned sinner Patrick in Hibernia, that nobody shall ever ascribe to my ignorance any trivial thing that I achieved or may have expounded that was pleasing to God, but accept and truly believe that it would have been the gift of God. And this is my confession before I die.

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Vital Links

St. Patrick's Breastplate

Read the exciting biography of St. Patrick by Dr. J. A. Wylie on

History of the Scottish Nation Vol. II.

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References

Ancient Laws of Ireland: Sanchus Mor. Dublin, 1873.

Bander, Peter. The Prophecies of St. Malachy. Tan Books and Publishers, Inc., Rockford, Illinois, 1969.

Heron, James. D.D. The Celtic Church in Ireland. Service & Paton, London, 1898.

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Copyright © 2013 by Patrick Scrivener

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