March 17th is celebrated as St. Patricks Day! Some people wear green, decorate with shamrocks, or tell stories of leprechauns and pots of gold! It can be full of silliness and fun, but who was St. Patrick? (spoiler alert: he wasn’t Irish!)
The bible tell us saints are anyone who has believed on Jesus:
To the church of God which is at Corinth, to those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints, with all who in every place call on the name of Jesus Christ our Lord, both theirs and ours:
1 Corinthians 1:2
Patricius Magonus Sucatus was from a well to do family from Britain who loved Jesus. His village was attacked by Irish raiders when he was 16. He was taken as a prisoner to Northern Ireland and was sold as a slave to a Druid name Milchu. Milchu was a wealthy and powerful Druid involved in magic and mysticism. He had a lavish home with frequent parties, but none of these were experienced by Patrick. He was sent to care for Milchu’s sheep and pigs in the mountains, and slept in caves.
Although he was raised in a Christian home, he had never “had time” for God. During this time of enslavement, he was broken and sought refuge in the Christ he had learned so much about. He became friends with the other slaves and they often prayed together! He learned more about Druids and saw how they went against God’s Word.
He felt the Holy Spirit tell him he would one day return to his own country. After he had a dream of a boat headed for Britain, God led him to the very ship he had envisioned! Without money to pay his fare, he was turned away. As he prayed to God for help, he was called on board by one of the sailors—the Captain had asked to see him!
He easily made friends with the others on board. However, after 3 days, they were grounded on a deserted coast in Britain! They had been there a month (and had run out of food). Patrick encouraged them to pray to God to supply their needs. Soon after, they had a herd of wild pigs that provided all the food they needed! When the sailors saw this, however, they assumed Patrick was a magician! They forced him to stay with them but refused to turn from their idols. After 2 months, Patrick was able to escape and return to his home village and found his parents still alive!
Patrick had yet another dream of his friends from Ireland, calling out to him, “Patrick, come and teach us!” Although his family was upset, he knew he must return to Ireland to reach the people who did not know Christ.
He traveled by boat back to Ireland, and spend the rest of his time traveling on foot and teaching as many people as he could. 2 of those people just happened to be daughters of the king! They had been sent to study with the Druids, but were captivated by the idea of this “one true God." He was able to share the story of salvation with them and how they could one day see the one true God face to face! They received Jesus as their Savior and worshipped the living God.
One day, a group of men including former druids, pirates, robbers, and warriors asked for a copy of God’s word. In a world before printing presses or copy machines, copies were nearly impossible to find. Instead, Patrick began building wooden huts and letting these men copy from his original Bible so that more people could access the Word of God! Patrick had the men build walls around the wooden huts of logs and mud. This came in handy when a group of raiders came to plunder and destroy. The copies of the Bible were saved from fire and destruction by the walls that had been built!
God protected the books, just as he had protected Patrick all those years!
We’ve linked some other info about St Patrick below, as well as our playlist of videos!
Creative Kids—Who is St Patrick, Anyway?
History.com—Who was St Patrick?
View our lessons on St. Patrick below!
