The Confession of Saint Patrick by Patrick of Ireland

Bring Salvation to the Whole WorldĪs God had prophesied of old through the prophets: The nations shall come to you from the ends of the earth, and say: “How false are the idols made by our fathers: they are useless.” In another prophecy he said: I have set you as a light among the nations, to bring salvation to the ends of the earth. I am deeply in his debt, for he gave me the great grace that through me many peoples should be reborn in God, and then made perfect by confirmation and everywhere among them clergy ordained for a people so recently coming to believe, one people gathered by the Lord from the ends of the earth.

I want to spend myself in that country, even in death, if the Lord should grant me this favor. If I am worthy, I am ready also to give up my life, without hesitation and most willingly, for his name. How did so great and salutary a gift come to me, the gift of knowing and loving God, though at the cost of homeland and family? I came to the Irish peoples to preach the Gospel and endure the taunts of unbelievers, putting up with reproaches about my earthly pilgrimage, suffering many persecutions, even bondage, and losing my birthright of freedom for the benefit of others. How did I get this wisdom, that was not mine before? I did not know the number of my days, or have knowledge of God. He answered my prayer in such a way that in the last days, ignorant though I am, I might be bold enough to take up so holy and so wonderful a task, and imitate in some degree those whom the Lord had so long ago foretold as heralds of his Gospel, bearing witness to all nations. You did it so that, whatever happened to me, I might accept good and evil equally, always giving thanks to God. I can say now: Who am I, Lord, and what is my calling, that you worked through me with such divine power? You did all this so that today among the Gentiles I might constantly rejoice and glorify your name wherever I may be, both in prosperity and in adversity. Today I can offer him sacrifice with confidence, giving myself as a living victim to Christ, my Lord, who kept me safe through all my trials. Igive unceasing thanks to my God, who kept me faithful in the day of my testing. This excerpt from his autobiographical work called the Confession makes clear that eternity was what he lived for and what he sought to bring to the pagan Irish - the Kingdom of God as ushered in by Jesus Christ. It is the day that Patrick, the missionary bishop who evangelized Ireland, passed from this world to eternity.

Patrick’s Day has been celebrated on March 17 for fifteen hundred years.

The Confession of Saint Patrick by Patrick of Ireland