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Traditional Catholic Faith => The Sacred: Catholic Liturgy, Chant, Prayers => Topic started by: poche on March 17, 2018, 01:55:34 AM

Title: St Patrick
Post by: poche on March 17, 2018, 01:55:34 AM
Not many facts are known about the life of St. Patrick. We know that he was born around 415 AD, and was a Roman Briton. When he was about 16, while he was tending his sheep some Irish raiders captured him and made him a slave. He eventually was able to escape and return to Britain. There he heard the call to return and bring Christianity to Ireland. He was ordained a priest, consecrated a bishop and came back to Ireland around 435 AD. Many legends are associated around St. Patrick: how he drove the snakes out of Ireland, and the use of the shamrock to teach the mystery of the Trinity. Whether or not the legends are true, St. Patrick succeeded in bringing Catholicism to Ireland, and in time, the whole country converted from their pagan gods to the one true God.

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2018-03-17
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on March 27, 2018, 02:18:48 AM
Although a small country, Ireland has played a large role in saving and bringing Christianity throughout the world. During the early Dark Ages, the Irish monasteries preserved Western writings while Europe remained in darkness. But as the Catholic country remained solidly Catholic, the Irish spread the faith to all corners of the world. To learn more on this subject, read Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization.

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2018-03-17
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on April 06, 2018, 03:50:15 AM
We have a few works attributed to St. Patrick, one being his autobiography called Confessions. It is a short summary of the events in his life, written in true humility. Below is a short excerpt:
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 hut 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."

https://www.catholicculture.org/culture/liturgicalyear/calendar/day.cfm?date=2018-03-17
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on April 14, 2018, 03:45:02 AM
1
 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[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#). His home was near there, and that is where I was taken prisoner. I was about sixteen at the time. At that time, I did not know the true God. I was taken into captivity in Ireland, along with thousands of others. We deserved this, because we had gone away from God, and did not keep his commandments. We would not listen to our priests, who advised us about how we could be saved[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#). The Lord brought his strong anger upon us, and scattered us among many nations even to the ends of the earth. It was among foreigners that it was seen how little I was.


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on April 22, 2018, 04:37:07 AM
2
 It was there that the Lord opened up my awareness of my lack of faith. Even though it came about late, I recognised my failings. So I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#), and he looked down on my lowliness[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#) and had mercy on my youthful ignorance. He guarded me before I knew him, and before I came to wisdom and could distinguish between good and evil. He protected me and consoled me as a father does for his son.



https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on April 30, 2018, 02:03:00 AM
3
 That is why I cannot be silent – nor would it be good to do so – about such great blessings and such a gift that the Lord so kindly bestowed in the land of my captivity. This is how we can repay such blessings, when our lives change and we come to know God, to praise and bear witness to his great wonders before every nation under heaven.


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on May 10, 2018, 01:42:53 AM
4
 This is because there is no other God, nor will there ever be, nor was there ever, except God the Father. He is the one who was not begotten, the one without a beginning, the one from whom all beginnings come, the one who holds all things in being – this is our teaching. And his son, Jesus Christ, whom we testify has always been, since before the beginning of this age, with the father in a spiritual way. He was begotten in an indescribable way before every beginning. Everything we can see, and everything beyond our sight, was made through him. He became a human being; and, having overcome death, was welcomed to the heavens to the Father. The Father gave him all power over every being, both heavenly and earthly and beneath the earth. Let every tongue confess that Jesus Christ, in whom we believe and whom we await to come back to us in the near future, is Lord and God[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#). He is judge of the living and of the dead[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#); he rewards every person according to their deeds[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#). He has generously poured on us the Holy Spirit[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#), the gift and promise of immortality, who makes believers and those who listen to be children of God and co-heirs with Christ[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#). This is the one we acknowledge and adore – one God in a trinity of the sacred name.


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on May 16, 2018, 03:46:28 AM

5
 He said through the prophet: ‘Call on me in the day of your distress, and I will set you free, and you will glorify me[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#).’ Again he said: ‘It is a matter of honour to reveal and tell forth the works of God[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#).’


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on May 26, 2018, 04:51:37 AM
6

Although I am imperfect in many ways, I want my brothers and relations to know what I’m really like, so that they can see what it is that inspires my life.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on June 01, 2018, 05:33:47 AM
7
 I am not ignoring the evidence of my Lord, who testifies in the psalm: ‘You destroy those who speak lies[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#).’ And again he says: ‘A mouth which lies kills the soul.’ And the same Lord says in the gospel: ‘The idle words which people speak, they will account for on the day of judgment[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#).’


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on June 06, 2018, 01:42:48 AM
8
 So I should greatly dread, with fear and trembling, this sentence on that day, where nobody can avoid or escape, but all shall give complete account of the least of sins before the tribunal of the Lord Christ.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on June 12, 2018, 12:17:48 AM

9

This is why I have long thought to write, but up to now I have hesitated, because I feared what people would say. This is because I did not learn as others did, who drank in equally well both the law and the sacred writings, and never had to change their way of speaking since childhood, but always grew better and better at it. For me, however, my speech and words have been translated into a foreign language, as it can be easily seen from my writings the standard of the instruction and learning I have had. As it is said: ‘The wise person is known through speech, and also understanding and knowledge and the teaching of truth[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#).’

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on June 18, 2018, 04:31:25 AM
10

However, even though there’s truth in my excuse, it gets me nowhere. Now, in my old age, I want to do what I was unable to do in my youth. My sins then prevented me from really taking in what I read. But who believes me, even were I to repeat what I said previously? I was taken prisoner as a youth, particularly young in the matter of being able to speak, and before I knew what I should seek and what I should avoid. That is why, today, I blush and am afraid to expose my lack of experience, because I can’t express myself with the brief words I would like in my heart and soul.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on June 23, 2018, 02:12:53 AM
11

If I had been given the same chance as other people, I would not be silent, whatever the reward. If I seem to some to be too forward, with my lack of knowledge and my even slower tongue, still it is written: ‘Stammering tongues will quickly learn to speak peace[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#).’ How much more should we want to do this, who are, as it is said, a saving letter of Christ even to the ends of the earth. Although it is not well expressed, still this letter is genuinely and strongly written in your hearts, not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#). The Spirit is a witness that what is of the countryside is also created by the Most High!


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on July 02, 2018, 01:53:39 AM
12

So I am first of all a simple country person, a refugee, and unlearned. I do not know how to provide for the future. But this I know for certain, that before I was brought low, I was like a stone lying deep in the mud. Then he who is powerful came and in his mercy pulled me out, and lifted me up and placed me on the very top of the wall[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#). That is why I must shout aloud in return to the Lord for such great good deeds of his, here and now and forever, which the human mind cannot measure.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on July 08, 2018, 01:32:07 AM
13

So be amazed, all you people great and small who fear God! You well-educated people in authority, listen and examine this carefully. Who was it who called one as foolish as I am[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#) from the middle of those who are seen to be wise and experienced in law and powerful in speech and in everything? If I am most looked down upon, yet he inspired me, before others, so that I would faithfully serve the nations with awe and reverence and without blame: the nations to whom the love of Christ brought me[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#). His gift was that I would spend my life, if I were worthy of it, to serving them in truth and with humility to the end.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on July 12, 2018, 04:36:51 AM
14
 In the knowledge of this faith in the Trinity, and without letting the dangers prevent it, it is right to make known the gift of God and his eternal consolation. It is right to spread abroad the name of God faithfully and without fear, so that even after my death I may leave something of value to the many thousands of my brothers and sisters – the children whom I baptised in the Lord.


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on July 19, 2018, 02:18:24 AM
15

I didn’t deserve at all that the Lord would grant such great grace, after hardships and troubles, after captivity, and after so many years among that people. It was something which, when I was young, I never hoped for or even thought of.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on July 24, 2018, 05:20:08 AM
16
 After I arrived in Ireland, I tended sheep every day, and I prayed frequently during the day. More and more the love of God increased, and my sense of awe before God. Faith grew, and my spirit was moved, so that in one day I would pray up to one hundred times, and at night perhaps the same. I even remained in the woods and on the mountain, and I would rise to pray before dawn in snow and ice and rain. I never felt the worse for it, and I never felt lazy – as I realise now, the spirit was burning in me at that time.


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on July 30, 2018, 03:24:19 AM
17
 It was there one night in my sleep that I heard a voice saying to me: “You have fasted well. Very soon you will return to your native country.” Again after a short while, I heard a someone saying to me: “Look – your ship is ready.” It was not nearby, but a good two hundred miles away. I had never been to the place, nor did I know anyone there. So I ran away then, and left the man with whom I had been for six years. It was in the strength of God that I went – God who turned the direction of my life to good; I feared nothing while I was on the journey to that ship.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on August 06, 2018, 02:13:46 AM
18
 The day I arrived, the ship was about to leave the place. I said I needed to set sail with them, but the captain was not at all pleased. He replied unpleasantly and angrily: “Don’t you dare try to come with us.” When I heard that, I left them and went back to the hut where I had lodgings. I began to pray while I was going; and before I even finished the prayer, I heard one of them shout aloud at me: “Come quickly – those men are calling you!” I turned back right away, and they began to say to me: “Come – we’ll trust you. Prove you’re our friend in any way you wish.” That day, I refused to suck their breasts, because of my reverence for God[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#). They were pagans, and I hoped they might come to faith in Jesus Christ. This is how I got to go with them, and we set sail right away.


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on August 13, 2018, 04:05:20 AM
19
 After three days we made it to land, and then for twenty eight days we travelled through a wilderness. Food ran out, and great hunger came over them. The captain turned to me and said: “What about this, Christian? You tell us that your God is great and all-powerful – why can’t you pray for us, since we’re in a bad state with hunger? There’s no sign of us finding a human being anywhere!” Then I said to them with some confidence: “Turn in faith with all your hearts to the Lord my God[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#), because nothing is impossible for him[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#), so that he may put food in your way – even enough to make you fully satisfied! He has an abundance everywhere.” With the help of God, this is actually what happened! A herd of pigs appeared in the way before our eyes! They killed many of them and there they remained for two nights, and were fully restored, and the dogs too were filled. Many of them had grown weak and left half-alive by the way. After this, they gave the greatest of thanks to God, and I was honoured in their eyes. From this day on, they had plenty of food. They also found some wild honey, and offered some of it to me. However, one of them said: “This honey must have been offered in sacrifice to a god.” Thanks be to God, from then on I tasted none of it.


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on August 20, 2018, 02:29:51 AM
20

That same night while I was sleeping, Satan strongly put me to the test – I will remember it as long as I live! It was as if an enormous rock fell on me, and I lost all power in my limbs. Although I knew little about the life of the spirit at the time, how was it that I knew to call upon Helias[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#)? While these things were happening, I saw the sun rise in the sky, and while I was calling “Helias! Helias!” with all my strength, the splendour of the sun fell on me; and immediately, all that weight was lifted from me. I believe that I was helped by Christ the Lord, and that his spirit cried out for me. I trust that it will be like this whenever I am under stress, as the gospel says: “In that day, the Lord testifies, it will not be you will speak, but the Spirit of your Father who speaks in you[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#).”

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on September 05, 2018, 03:33:34 AM
21

It happened again after many years that I was taken a prisoner. On the first night I was with them, I heard a divine answer saying to me: “You will be with them for two months.” This is how it was: on the sixtieth night, the Lord freed me from their hands.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on September 12, 2018, 03:20:53 AM
22

While we were still on the journey, the Lord provided food and fire and shelter every day until we met some people on the tenth day. As I mentioned above, we travelled for twenty eight days through the wilderness. On the very night we met people, we ran out of food.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on September 19, 2018, 03:49:19 AM
22

While we were still on the journey, the Lord provided food and fire and shelter every day until we met some people on the tenth day. As I mentioned above, we travelled for twenty eight days through the wilderness. On the very night we met people, we ran out of food.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on September 24, 2018, 11:21:57 PM
23
 A few years later I was again with my parents in Britain. They welcomed me as a son, and they pleaded with me that, after all the many tribulations I had undergone, I should never leave them again. It was while I was there that I saw, in a vision in the night, a man[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#) whose name was Victoricus coming as it were from Ireland with so many letters they could not be counted. He gave me one of these, and I read the beginning of the letter, the voice of the Irish people. While I was reading out the beginning of the letter, I thought I heard at that moment the voice of those who were beside the wood of Voclut, near the western sea[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#). They called out as it were with one voice: “We beg you, holy boy, to come and walk again among us.” This touched my heart deeply, and I could not read any further; I woke up then. Thanks be to God, after many years the Lord granted them what they were calling for.


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on October 06, 2018, 11:27:27 PM
24
 Another night – I do not know, God knows, whether it was within me or beside me[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#) – I heard authoritative words which I could hear but not understand, until at the end of the speech it became clear: “The one who gave his life for you, he it is who speaks in you”; and I awoke full of joy.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on October 18, 2018, 12:53:38 AM
25

Another time, I saw in me one who was praying. It was as if I were inside my body, and I heard above me, that is, above my inner self. He prayed strongly, with sighs. I was amazed and astonished, and pondered who it was who prayed in me; but at the end of the prayer, it was clear that it was the Spirit. At this I awoke, and I remembered the apostle saying: “The Spirit helps the weaknesses of our prayer; for we do know what it is we should pray, but the very Spirit pleads for us with unspeakable sighs, which cannot be expressed in words[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#).” And again: “The Lord is our advocate, and pleads for us[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#).”


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on November 09, 2018, 11:17:01 PM
26

One time I was put to the test by some superiors of mine. They came and put my sins against my hard work as a bishop. This hit me very hard, so much so that it seemed I was about to fall, both here and in eternity. But the Lord in his kindness spared the converts and the strangers for the sake of his name, and strongly supported me when I was so badly treated. I did not slip into sin and disgrace. I pray that God not hold this sin against them[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#).

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on November 13, 2018, 11:31:52 PM
27

They brought up against me after thirty years something I had already confessed before I was a deacon. What happened was that, one day when I was feeling anxious and low, with a very dear friend of mine I referred to some things I had done one day – rather, in one hour – when I was young, before I overcame my weakness. I don’t know – God knows – whether I was then fifteen years old at the time, and I did not then believe in the living God, not even when I was a child. In fact, I remained in death and unbelief until I was reproved strongly, and actually brought low by hunger and nakedness daily.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on November 25, 2018, 11:32:40 PM
28
 My defence was that I remained on in Ireland, and that not of my own choosing, until I almost perished. However, it was very good for me, since God straightened me out, and he prepared me for what I would be today. I was far different then from what I am now, and I have care for others, and I have enough to do to save them. In those days I did not even have concern for my own welfare.


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on December 10, 2018, 12:04:42 AM
29

So on the day I was accused by those I mentioned above, that same night I saw in a vision of the night some writing before my dishonoured face. In the middle of this, I heard an answer from God saying to me: “We have seen with displeasure the face of the one who was chosen deprived of his good name.” He did not say: “You have seen with displeasure”, but “We have seen with displeasure”, as if he were identifying himself with me; as he said “He who touches you as it were touches the pupil of my eye[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#).”

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on December 20, 2018, 01:17:07 AM

30
 For that reason, I give thanks to the one who strengthened me in all things[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#), so that he would not impede me in the course I had undertaken and from the works also which I had learned from Christ my Lord. Rather, I sensed in myself no little strength from him, and my faith passed the test before God and people.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on December 30, 2018, 11:41:58 PM

31
 I make bold to say that my conscience does not blame me, now and in the future[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#). I have God for witness that I have not told lies in the account I have given you.

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on January 11, 2019, 11:45:21 PM
32

But I grieve more for my very dear friend, that we had to hear such an account – the one to whom I entrusted my very soul. I did learn from some brothers before the case was heard that he came to my defence in my absence. I was not there at the time, not even in Britain, and it was not I who brought up the matter. In fact it was he himself who told me from his own mouth: “Look, you are being given the rank of bishop.” That is something I did not deserve. How could he then afterwards come to disgrace me in public before all, both good and bad, about a matter for which he had already freely and joyfully forgiven me, as indeed had God, who is greater than all?

https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on January 27, 2019, 11:32:43 PM
33
 I have said enough about that. I must take care not to hide the gift of God which he has generously given us in the land of my captivity. It was then that I looked for him with all my strength, and there I found him, and he protected me from all evils – this is what I believe – on account of his Spirit living and working in me to this very day. I’m proud to tell again of this. God knows, if it were some other person who had said this to me, perhaps I would have said nothing, because of the love of Christ.


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#
Title: Re: St Patrick
Post by: poche on February 06, 2019, 12:23:23 AM
4
 So I’ll never stop giving thanks to my God, who kept me faithful in the time of my temptation. I can today with confidence offer my soul to Christ my Lord as a living victim[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#). He is the one who defended me in all my difficulties. I can say: Who am I, Lord, or what is my calling, that you have worked with me with such divine presence[Nota] (https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#)? This is how I come to praise and magnify your name among the nations all the time, wherever I am, not only in good times but in the difficult times too. Whatever comes about for me, good or bad, I ought to accept them equally and give thanks to God. He has shown me that I can put my faith in him without wavering and without end. However ignorant I am, he has heard me, so that in these late days I can dare to undertake such a holy and wonderful work. In this way I can imitate somewhat those whom the Lord foretold would announce his gospel in witness to all nations before the end of the world. This is what we see has been fulfilled. Look at us: we are witnesses that the gospel has been preached right out to where there is nobody else there!


https://www.confessio.ie/etexts/confessio_english#