ON ST PATRICK’S DAY, I received a bunch of video clips. There was a satirical Irish weatherman whose jokes were all to do with excessive drinking. Next was one of Vladimir Putin talking like a foul-mouthed gombeen holding a pint of Guinness. Then came a clip of Ronald Reagan, from 1998, noting that, though the blessed saint died in the Year of Our Lord 461, the Irish were still carrying on the wake 1500 years later. You might be forgiven for assuming that Patrick was the patron saint of alcoholics.
Another clip showed a leprechaun’s hat with shamrocks pouring out of it — only they weren’t shamrocks, but four-leaf clovers. Some peddler of paddywackery couldn’t even tell the difference between a symbol of good luck and a symbol of the Holy Trinity — the shamrock being Patrick’s famous illustration of how there can be three Persons in one God.
Apart from his explanation of the triune God, I knew little about the teaching of the saint. So, I turned to his Confessio, which turns out not to be a confession so much as a credal autobiography. It tells the story of how the 16-year-old Patrick was working on his father’s farm, in the Roman imperial province of Britannia, when he was enslaved by Irish raiders. He escaped, but returned to Ireland 20 years later as a missionary.
St Patrick’s theology grew out of his experience of life. His journey of faith emphasises the presence of Christ in every aspect of life and the importance of turning away from sin and evil. But it embodies a sense of unity and reconciliation in its inculturation of aspects of pagan belief and tradition, such as its creation of the Celtic cross, combining the symbol of Christianity with the symbol of the sun.
But, if his message for us today is one of unity in diversity, it is also fuelled by a strong sense of injustice and a desire to protect the vulnerable. His call for the excommunication of slave traders, in his Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus, has about it a vehemence that suggests that Patrick would not be one for quietest acquiescence in the injustices of our time. “The holy and humble of heart should not fawn on such people [as King Coroticus] nor even share food or drink with them. . .”
St Patrick spread Christianity through persuasion, patience, dialogue, and respect for the culture of others. It is hard to see how to apply that in Israel-Palestine, where there has been a devastating upturn in violence this week. There is something of Coroticus in President Trump and his threat that “all hell will break loose,” unleashing the Israel Defense Forces to kill more than 400 people, many of them children. It was a “spiral of escalation” which even the Kremlin condemned.
Yet, in the highly labile situation of President Trump’s “peace negotiations” between Russia and Ukraine, there might just be scope for the application of St Patrick’s teachings on reconciliation, forgiveness, and diplomacy in prioritising shared futures over historical grievances.
That, too, may feel a long way off, especially since President Trump is such an unstable and self-serving interlocutor. Yet St Patrick had an unwavering trust in divine providence. We need that now more than ever.