Analysis Of St. Patrick
St. Patrick was a fifth century British Christian missionary and is accredited with introducing Christianity to Ireland in 431-2 AD. However this is compromised by the fact that Palladius was the first recorded missionary to be sent to Ireland by pope Celestine to be bishop to the Irish Christian people. Patrick stated that Palladius failed his mission to spread the word to the people because he was hindered by God, however other external documents indicate that Palladius mission was very successful. If we are to take it from the point of view that St. Patrick was the first to introduce Christianity to Ireland then one might say that he succeeded in his mission to spread the word of God and convert Ireland to Christianity. From his Confessio
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They did not believe in one distinct anthropomorphic God. St. Patrick used this to his advantage when telling the people about Christianity, he used their pagan symbols to compare Christian realities. Patrick’s theology became deeply embedded in the landscape, as we can see in Confessio 60, he is comparing the Celtic worship of the sun with the Christian worship of the son. Patrick writes, “The sun which we see rising for us each day at his command, that sun will never reign nor will its splendour continue forever; and all those who adore that sun will come to a bad, miserable penalty. We, however, believe in and adore the true sun, that is, Christ, who will never perish.” Another famous example of Patrick using the landscape to explain the Christian message was his use of the shamrock. He used the shamrock to explain the holy trinity in the simplest form to people who were pagans and knew nothing about the Christian faith. He showed people the shamrock and pointed out how it had three distinct leaves that were all part of the same plant and used this analogy to illustrate how similarly, the three distinct persons of the holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all part of the one God. The description of the holy trinity made sense to these pagans because they were used to worshiping gods in threes. Ireland at the time was rural and tribal, Patrick travelled around Ireland mostly by foot, crossing paths with different people and tribes along the way. In his encounter with these pagan tribes he would use their pantheistic views of the word to explain the Christian message, although he was met with resistance from some he succeeded in converting hundreds of thousands of people. Patrick had lived in Ireland for six years, and was familiar with the Celtic culture before he returned on his
They did not believe in one distinct anthropomorphic God. St. Patrick used this to his advantage when telling the people about Christianity, he used their pagan symbols to compare Christian realities. Patrick’s theology became deeply embedded in the landscape, as we can see in Confessio 60, he is comparing the Celtic worship of the sun with the Christian worship of the son. Patrick writes, “The sun which we see rising for us each day at his command, that sun will never reign nor will its splendour continue forever; and all those who adore that sun will come to a bad, miserable penalty. We, however, believe in and adore the true sun, that is, Christ, who will never perish.” Another famous example of Patrick using the landscape to explain the Christian message was his use of the shamrock. He used the shamrock to explain the holy trinity in the simplest form to people who were pagans and knew nothing about the Christian faith. He showed people the shamrock and pointed out how it had three distinct leaves that were all part of the same plant and used this analogy to illustrate how similarly, the three distinct persons of the holy trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit are all part of the one God. The description of the holy trinity made sense to these pagans because they were used to worshiping gods in threes. Ireland at the time was rural and tribal, Patrick travelled around Ireland mostly by foot, crossing paths with different people and tribes along the way. In his encounter with these pagan tribes he would use their pantheistic views of the word to explain the Christian message, although he was met with resistance from some he succeeded in converting hundreds of thousands of people. Patrick had lived in Ireland for six years, and was familiar with the Celtic culture before he returned on his