Saint Patrick
"My times are in Your hand" (Psalm 31:15).
St. Patrick’s Confession (autobiography)
My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner. I was about sixteen at the time.
Patrick was born in 385 in Roman Britannia tow of Dumbarton, Scotland. He was captured by barbarian Irish pirates at the age of sixteen. When the pirates landed on the Irish coast, they took Patrick about 200 miles inland where he was a shepherd and farm laborer. Before he was a prisoner, Patrick;s Christian faith meant little to him. That changed during his captivity. His previously ambivalent faith galvanized and served to buoy him through those long, dark days.
Now that he was back in his homeland he committed to his faith in earnest. He became a priest and soon felt a tremendous burden for the people that had kidnapped him. So he returned to Ireland with a mission. Patrick had no less of a goal than seeing pagan Ireland converted.
Image the isolation he endured surrounded by a completely pagan cultures. The king wanted him dead. The people thought him strange. Yet Patrick was faithful to share the gospel and lead the nation to see the glories of salvation through Christ.
Saint Patrick wroter this prayer which would cover the breastplate at his death.
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Trust your life to the hand of God. Let Chrsit be your all in all.
Matt Emerson
St. Patrick’s Confession (autobiography)
My name is Patrick. I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many. My father was Calpornius. He was a deacon; his father was Potitus, a priest, who lived at Bannavem Taburniae. His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner. I was about sixteen at the time.
Patrick was born in 385 in Roman Britannia tow of Dumbarton, Scotland. He was captured by barbarian Irish pirates at the age of sixteen. When the pirates landed on the Irish coast, they took Patrick about 200 miles inland where he was a shepherd and farm laborer. Before he was a prisoner, Patrick;s Christian faith meant little to him. That changed during his captivity. His previously ambivalent faith galvanized and served to buoy him through those long, dark days.
Now that he was back in his homeland he committed to his faith in earnest. He became a priest and soon felt a tremendous burden for the people that had kidnapped him. So he returned to Ireland with a mission. Patrick had no less of a goal than seeing pagan Ireland converted.
Image the isolation he endured surrounded by a completely pagan cultures. The king wanted him dead. The people thought him strange. Yet Patrick was faithful to share the gospel and lead the nation to see the glories of salvation through Christ.
Saint Patrick wroter this prayer which would cover the breastplate at his death.
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Trust your life to the hand of God. Let Chrsit be your all in all.
Matt Emerson