St Patrick, Ireland, 493

Feastday 17th March

Born 387

Died 493

Kidnapped from the British mainland around age 16, and shipped to Ireland as a slave. Sent to the mountains as a shepherd, he spent his time in prayer. After six years of this life, he received had a dream in which he a command to return to Britain; seeing it as a sign, he escaped. Studied in continental monasteries. Priest. Bishop. Sent by Pope Saint Celestine to evangelize England, then Ireland, during which his chariot driver was Saint Odran, and Saint Jarlath was one of his spiritual students. In 33 years he effectively converted the Ireland. In the Middle Ages Ireland became known as the Land of Saints, and during the Dark Ages its monasteries were the great repositories of learning in Europe, all a consequence of Patrick's ministry. ¹

1. Taken from The Patron Saints Index at http://www.catholic-forum.com/saints/saintp01.htm

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“Ireland will undergo English oppression for a week of centuries but will preserve her fidelity to God and His Church. At the end of this time Ireland will be delivered and the English in turn must suffer severe chastisements. Ireland, however will be instrumental in bringing back the English to the unity of the Faith….” ¹

“The ocean shall inundate Ireland seven years before the End so that the devil may not rule over that people….” ²

“And there truly [in Ireland] one night I heard in my sleep a voice saying to me, ‘You fast well; soon you will go to your fatherland.’ And again, after I very short time, I heard the heavenly voice saying to me, ‘Lo, your ship is ready.’ And it was not near at hand, but was distant, perhaps two hundred miles. And I had never been there, nor did I know any person living there. And thereupon I shortly took flight and left the man with whom I had been for six years. And I came in the strength of God, who prospered my way for good; and I met with nothing to alarm me until I reached that ship…” ³

“And once more, after a few years, I was in Britain with my family…And there indeed I saw in a vision of the night a man whose name was Victoricus coming as it were from Ireland with countless letters. He gave me one of them, and I read the beginning of the letter, which was entitled ‘The Voice of the Irish.’ And while I was reading aloud the beginning of the letter, I thought that at that very moment I heard the voices of those who dwelt beside the Wood of Foclut [in Ireland], which is nigh unto the Western Sea. And thus they cried, as with one mouth, ‘We beseech you, holy youth, to come and walk once more among us!…’ “ ⁴

“Let those who will, laugh and mock. I shall not be silent nor conceal the signs and wonders which were shown to me by the Lord many years before they came to pass, since he knows all things even before the world’s beginnings…” ⁵

References

1. Yves Dupont Antichrist World Trends Magazine, September, 1975

2. ibid

3. Confession of St. Patrick, 17 (A.D. 452)

4. ibid 23

5. ibid 45