March 17 – St. Patrick – The Pilgrimage

Site 21: Downpatrick, Ireland

Happy feast day guys! We traveled beyond our typical Italian limits for this one. I bring you to the burial site of Saint Patrick in Downpatrick, Ireland.

The first thing I did upon arriving to the cathedral was head inside and look for the tomb, but I was impressed to find Saint Patrick instead, humbly buried in the ground outside.

Saint Patrick’s humility contributed fundamentally to his sainthood. He was born in Britain and as a sixteen-year-old, captured and sold into slavery in Ireland where he humbly notes that “it was among foreigners that it was seen how little I was.”

“It was there that the Lord opened up my awareness of my lack of faith. Even though it came about late, I recognised my failings. So I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God, and he looked down on my lowliness and had mercy on my youthful ignorance. He guarded me before I knew him, and before I came to wisdom and could distinguish between good and evil. He protected me and consoled me as a father does for his son.” (Confessio)

After a few years in slavery, Saint Patrick escaped to France and was ordained to the priesthood before following a call he felt to return to Ireland, and serve Christians there.

Saint Patrick exhibited a great love of God, and having learned the local language during is time in slavery, he was able to reach the hearts of the Irish people with the faith and became a much loved figure among them. Thanks to Saint Patrick’s influence, churches and monasteries sprung up across Ireland and the Catholic faith spread throughout the country.

Though the vast majority of the island maintained Catholicism upon St. Patrick’s influence, the cathedral on the site of his grave has since become Anglican, as the protestant churches have a long history in the country as well.

Dear St. Patrick, patron of excluded people,

To your tomb I carry with me a prayer for consolation to all the outcast and brokenhearted. You, who cared for the excluded Christians of Ireland consoling them with the ministry of the Church, pray to the Lord for all the excluded hearts here on earth to be consoled with Christ’s love.

St. Patrick, patron of excluded people, pray for us.

Dear St. Patrick, Christ-like shepherd,

You were a true imitator of Christ’s love. You walked in His footsteps as a shepherd, you cared for Christ’s people, you brought them the Word of God, the Faith, the Church. The more you loved God, the more His grace flowed from you and covered the island of Ireland.

St. Patrick, Christ-like shepherd, pray for us.

Dear St. Patrick, bishop,

God ordained you a priest and then bishop to fulfill His great plan to further the kingdom through you. Even your name reflects the fatherly love you channel from the Father in heaven, and spread about the earth, especially Ireland, during your life. Dear Saint Patrick, beloved priest in the footsteps of Christ, pray for us.