Blessings
Beannachtaí na Féile Pádraig ort
Blessings of the Feast of Patrick on you
Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit
Happy Saint Patrick’s day to you
Naomh Pádraig
As a community based near Downpatrick, we live in the heart of “Patrick’s Country”. Every day, we walk the same hills and look upon the same landscapes where the Apostle of Ireland began and ended his extraordinary mission. For us, Saint Patrick is more than a historical figure; he is a spiritual father whose legacy is etched into the very soil of County Down.
Catholic teaching invites us to look at Saint Patrick not through the lens of myth, but through his own words in his Confessio. He was a man who experienced the “transformative power of faith”. Kidnapped as a teenager and enslaved on the slopes of Slemish, it was in the “solitude of the Irish countryside” that Saint Patrick found God. He famously prayed up to a hundred times a day, even in the “woods and mountains before dawn”, as his love for Christ grew.
His return to Ireland was not an act of his own will, but a response to a divine call: the “Glór na nGael” or “Voice of the Irish”, crying out for him to walk among them once more. This is the heart of the Gospel: returning to a place of pain to bring “grace and light”.
Not only did Saint Patrick bring the Christian faith to Ireland, it is also highly likely that he took the “written word”. Before Saint Patrick’s time Ogham was the form of writing used in Ireland. This was carved into stones and trees. However, Saint Patrick and the monks which followed him brought the “written word” to the people of Ireland.
Saint Patrick’s most enduring theological contribution is his insistence on the Holy Trinity. While the shamrock is a beloved symbol used to explain this mystery, Saint Patrick’s true “shield” was his deep dependence on Christ. His Breastplate prayer, famously linked to his travels through these very lands, reminds us that Christ is not a distant figure, but is “with me, before me, behind me, and in the heart of everyone who thinks of me”.
Saint Patrick’s breastplate
Christ with me,
Christ before me,
Christ behind me,
Christ in me,
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ on my right,
Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down,
Christ when I sit down,
Christ when I arise,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in every eye that sees me,
Christ in every ear that hears me.
Lúireach Phádraig
Críost liom,
Críost romham,
Críost i mo dhiaidh,
Críost ionam,
Críost fúm,
Críost os mo chionn,
Críost ar mo dheis,
Críost ar mo chlé,
Críost i leithead,
Críost i bhfad,
Críost in airde,
Críost i gcroí gach duine a smaoiníonn orm,
Críost i mbéal gach duine a labhraíonn liom,
Críost i ngach súil a dhearcann orm,
Críost i ngach cluais a chluineann mé.
Our local relationship with Saint Patrick
We are uniquely blessed to be near the sites where Saint Patrick’s mission bore its first and final fruits:
Just a short distance away is the site of Saint Patrick’s first church in Ireland, founded in 432 AD in a humble barn (Sabhall) gifted by the chieftain Dichu. It is also believed to be the place where he breathed his last in 461 AD.
These ancient wells, long associated with Saint Patrick, remain a place of pilgrimage and “spiritual significance” where the saint is said to have prayed and meditated.
Dominating our local skyline, this is the reputed final resting place of Saint Patrick. Tradition tells us he lies there alongside Saint Brigid and Saint Colmcille, fulfilling the ancient prophecy that these three great saints should share a common grave.
Living the legacy today
Saint Patrick reminds us that “God doesn’t waste a thing in our lives”. He took his suffering as a slave and turned it into a mission of love. As a parish in County Down, we are the current “keepers of the flame” he lit. Like Saint Patrick, we are called to be “prophets of God’s existence” in our modern world, showing through our lives that we are truly the “sons and daughters of the living God”.