Mar 14, 2010 / 03:16 am
On Wednesday, March 17, the Church, along with the rest of the world, will celebrate the feast of St. Patrick of Ireland.
St Patrick is one of the early Church’s most amazing missionaries. He was born around the year 389 on the Island of Briton and considered himself to be both Roman and British. At the age of 16, he was captured by an Irish raiding party and sold into slavery. After six years of living the life of a sheepherding slave, Patrick escaped home to Britain.
However, he felt God calling him to be a priest, so he set out for France where he studied for the priesthood.
Feeling that he was called to return to Ireland, Patrick was ordained a bishop and returned to the country where he had been a slave. He landed at Slane in 433, where he was met by a hostile chieftain called Dichu. However, Dichu converted when he realized that he had lost the ability to move his arm as long as he was unfriendly to Patrick.