St. Patrick (3)
At the end of six years of slavery Patrick escaped and made his way through many hardships and dangers to his native home and family.
During his residence in Ireland he had become familiar with the language of the people; and the memory of the pagan darkness in which they lived haunted him night and day, so that he formed the resolution to devote his life to their conversion.
His steadfast will was shown even at this early period by the manner in which he set about preparing himself for his noble work.
He first studied with great diligence for about four years in the great monastic school of St. Martin of Tours; and subsequently under St. Germain of Auxerre for about the same length of time; after which he continued his preparation in an island near the Italian coast on the west side, and elsewhere, till he was ready to begin his mission.
During all this time his thoughts were ever turned lovingly to Ireland; and he had dreams and visions about it.
Once he dreamed, as he tells us, that a man from Ireland, named Victor, came to him and gave him a letter which began with the words “The Voice of the Irish.”
“While I was reading the letter”—he goes on to say—“I imagined at the moment that I heard the voices of many who were near the wood of Fochluth, which is [in Ireland] beside the Western Ocean: crying out as if with one voice ‘we entreat thee O holy youth to come and still walk amongst us.’ And I was exceedingly afflicted in my heart and could read no more, but quickly awoke.” (See p. 17 above.)
Having received authority and benediction from Pope Celestine,[5] he set out for Ireland.
On his way through Gaul news came of the death of Palladius; and as this left Ireland without a bishop, Patrick was consecrated bishop in Gaul by a certain holy prelate named Amator.
Embarking for Ireland, he landed in the year 432 on the Wicklow coast at the mouth of the Vartry river, the spot where the town of Wicklow now stands.
He was then in the full vigour of manhood—about forty-five years of age.
The good Pope Celestine did not live to see the glorious result of the mission: he was dead before the arrival of his missionary in Ireland.
Soon after landing, Patrick, like his predecessor, was expelled from Wicklow; and coasting northwards, and resting for a little time at the island of Holmpatrick on the Dublin coast near Skerries, he finally disembarked with his companions at Lecale in the present county Down.
Dicho, the chief of the district, thinking, from what one of his shepherds told him, that they were pirates, hastily armed his followers and sallied forth to expel them; but when they appeared in view, he was so struck by their calm and dignified demeanour, that instead of attacking, he saluted them respectfully and invited them to his house.
Here Patrick announced his mission and explained his doctrine; and Dicho and his whole family became Christians and were baptised: the first of the Irish converted by St. Patrick.
As there was no church the chief presented him with a sabhall [saul] or barn for divine service, in which he celebrated Mass, and on the site of which a monastery was subsequently erected in honour of the saint, which for many ages was held in great veneration.
And the memory of the happy event is preserved to this day in the name of the little village of Saul near Downpatrick.
He remained in this neighbourhood for some time; and the people, following the example of their chief, listened to his preaching and were baptised in great numbers.
While here he set out to visit the district where he had spent so many solitary years of his youth, for he was anxious to convert his old master Milcho; but that chief—now an old man—refused to see him and died as he lived, a pagan.
Notes
[5] So we find it stated by several ancient authorities, one of whom is an Irish saint who lived a century and a half after the time of St. Patrick. Celestine was the same pope who had commissioned Palladius about a year before Patrick’s arrival. But although, there is unquestionable contemporary evidence (page 138 above) that this pope sent Palladius to Ireland, some writers dispute the statement that Patrick received his commission from him.