He lived in a non-Christian pagan culture and learned how to survive in it:  When captured by raiders, shipped to Ireland, and enslaved, Saint Patrick witnessed and was subject to the harsh reality of a pre-Christian, illiterate, pagan culture.  Sent off by himself to herd sheep on a mountain “in snow and ice and rain,” he “turned with all my heart to the Lord, my God,” praying during the day “up to one hundred times, and at night perhaps the same.”. 

He followed God’s will:  When he heard and obeyed the voice of God to escape, he returned to his parents, only to find Rome had been sacked and that British Roman civilians had to fend for themselves.  Receiving God’s call to return to the land of his captivity to teach the Faith, and keenly aware that he was “a simple country person” and “unlearned,” he spent the next 12 to 20 years travelling from monastery to monastery of continental Europe, each an oasis at a time of civilizational collapse, to attain the formation he needed to become first a priest and then a bishop.

He understood his place in Salvation History:  Ordained and consecrated, Bishop Patrick once again crossed the Irish Sea (A.D. 432), returning to the land of his captivity and knowing full well the dangers he would face, but this time bearing the light of the Gospel.  How much he risked to  spread the Faith!  The anger of druids, the power of high kings, the hardships of envy, calumny, troubles, kidnapping, and captivity – he experienced them all.  He protected himself by calling upon Christ and the spiritual power of every good thing throughout God’s Creation and history with his “breastplate” of the Lorica prayer.  

He Christianized Ireland:  Travelling the length and breadth of the uncultured wilds of Ireland, preaching out “even to the furthest parts where nobody lived beyond,” Saint Patrick baptized more than 120,000 and set up 300 churches over almost thirty years.  “I just can’t count the number of sons of Scots and daughters of kings who are now monks and virgins of Christ.”  

"I have vowed to my God to teach . . ." In addition to teaching the Faith, Saint Patrick also brought Catholic classical education to Ireland, introducing literacy and a love of learning.  He schooled students, especially the sons of kings, who travelled with him over the years.   The monasteries he set up all around the isle soon became centers of learning.  Following his lead, teachers provided instruction in a curriculum comprised of the Trivium skill of Grammar, including the Latin language, reading, handwriting, and biblical study, and of the church calendar (the competus, involving astronomy).  

He created the “Island of Saints and Scholars”:  The monasteries also became centers of written records.  Whereas druids had relied on oral tradition, Christian monks began writing down the folklore and history of Ireland’s pre-Christian past as well as their own times.  As these Irish monasteries flourished, they also became repositories of manuscripts and books brought from the beleaguered mainland, which monks copied and illuminated, thus helping to preserve and guard the European intellectual heritage through the early medieval period.  By the time of Saint Bede (c. A.D. 700), scholars from Europe were flocking to Ireland and travelling around the countryside to visit the cells of monks.  Saint Bede writes, “The Irish welcomed them all gladly, gave them their daily food, and also provided them with books to read and with instruction, without asking for any payment.”  

The fruits of his efforts continue and inspire us today!  When he first returned to Ireland, Saint Patrick lit an Easter fire in defiance of the druid custom that only the king could break the darkness of the vernal equinox.  With that paschal light, Patrick the Enlightener ignited a flame of Christianity in Ireland that has never gone out.  In later generations, Irish monks, following his missionary example, spread the light of Christ and a love for learning back into Europe, re-evangelizing Scotland, Wales, England, France, and Italy.  Today, like Saint Patrick, we are living through an era of civilizational stress.  We are also witnessing a reawakening of the Faith and a revival of Catholic classical education.   Saint Patrick, pray for us!