Saint Patrick was a Decent man, He came from Decent People....

 

...He built a Church in Dublin Town, and on it put a Steeple..... 

 

Or so the old song goes that we used to sing as children.   Mentioning children, every Irish child when I was young knew the story of Saint Patrick and we all knew that ‘he came to Ireland in the year 432’.

The strange thing is that he is held equally in great esteem by both the Catholic Church and the Protestants (Church of Ireland). 

I will relate the story of his coming to Ireland the way I learned it as a child and not according to the latest claims and information...............

He was born in either Wales or on the coast of France and as was common in those days, he ended up being kidnapped by ‘Neil of the Nine Hostages’.  (As children we had no idea what hostages were so the bold Neil was always known to us children as ‘Neil of the nine sausages’.   He used to take his hostages back to Ireland and demand ransom from the victim’s families.   If it was not forthcoming, the victims would be sold into slavery.............

And so it was with young Patrick.   He ended up being sold to a pig farmer and Patrick’s job was to look after and feed the pigs.   We were told that he was often so hungry that he ate the pigs’ food..............

After several years, he managed to escape, made his way to one of the sea-ports on the coast and somehow got back to his homeland by boat.

Ireland was a Pagan country at the time whilst Patrick was Christian.   Over the coming years he kept having a recurring dream.   He was told by God in the dream that he should become a priest and return to Ireland and convert the population there to Christianity.

He became a priest in Rome and was directed by the then Pope to follow his dream.............

When he tried to land his boat in County Wicklow on the East coast (my own home county), the inhabitants would not allow him to land and threw stones until Patrick moved away.

He continued along the coast heading northwards and eventually landed north of Dublin.   The date was a couple of days before the spring equinox and when he and his friends lit a fire, it was seen from the High King’s fortress on the Hill of Howth.   No-one, other than the High King himself was allowed to light the first fire of the new season.............

A troop was sent to investigate and Patrick and friends ended up arrested......... 

It seems that although the High King was impressed with Patrick he was not interested too much in Christianity.   However, the King’s daughters were.   When Patrick tried to explain the Trinity to them, they were confused until he picked up a Shamrock and explained about the three leaves on one stem.   They converted and Patrick’s mission began in earnest.   He built churches all over Ireland and set up monasteries to train other priests.

 
So there you have it...........a child’s view of Saint Patrick...............

Have a great day on St. Patrick’s Day on 17^th March and have a pint of Guinness for me......

St. Patrick Was A Gentleman…….

Saint Patrick was a gentleman, he came from decent people,

In Dublin town he built a church and on it put a steeple

His father was a Callahan, his mother was a Grady,
His aunt was O'Shaughnessy and uncle he was Brady

Chorus :     Success to bold Saint Patrick's fist, He was a Saint so clever,
                   He gave the snakes an awful twist And banished them forever

There's not a smile in Ireland's isle where the dirty vermin musters
Where'er he put his dear forefoot he murder'd them in clusters
The toads went hop, the frogs went plop, slap dash into the water
And the beasts committed suicide to save themselves from slaughter

Nine hundred thousand vipers blue he charm'd with sweet discourses
And dined on them at Killaloo an' in the second courses
When blind worms crawling on the grass disgusted all the nation
He gave them a rise and open'd their eyes to a sense of their situation

The Wicklow hills are very high and so's the hill of Howth, sir
But there's a hill much higher still, Ay, higher then them both, sir
And it was on the top of his hill, Saint Patrick preach'd the "Sarmint"
That drove the frogs into the bogs and banished all the "varmint"

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