St. Benignus of Armagh (d. 467 A.D.) was the son of a pagan Irish chieftain in what is now County Meath in Ireland. He was baptized by St. Patrick and became his loyal follower in the saint’s ministry across Ireland. In 450 A.D. Benignus became coadjutor with St. Patrick in the Diocese of Armagh, and also became the first rector of the Catholic school there. St. Benignus was a talented singer and worked to form choral groups wherever they traveled for their missionary work; for this he was called “Patrick’s Psalmist.” He also assisted with the compilation of the Senchus Mor, the Irish Code of Law, and sat on a number of commissions, councils, and synods that helped further establish the Catholic faith across Ireland. His feast day is November 9th.
There are no snakes in Ireland – did St. Patrick actually drive them out?
It is true that there are no snakes in Ireland. Legend tells us that St. Patrick drove them away during his missionary journey around the fifth century. For this reason, many images depict St. Patrick crushing a snake with his foot.
But did St. Patrick really drive the snakes out of Ireland? While we know about his impact on the spread of Catholicism in Ireland, we don’t know many of the details of his life. St. Patrick is also a major symbol of Irish culture, so there are a lot of legends about his life.
St. Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland is almost certainly one of those legends. Yes, Ireland is snake-free, but most experts believe they never made it to Ireland in the first place. But St. Patrick did drive the metaphorical snakes of evil and paganism out of Ireland, converting an entire people to Catholicism. That is why the legend persists and why, while probably not literally accurate, it is spiritually true.
Before St. Patrick, pagan practices were rampant in Ireland. St. Patrick helped incorporate the Christian message into Irish culture to help the Irish people understand the Christian God and abandon their pagan practices.
So while St. Patrick likely did not physically drive snakes out of Ireland, we can say with certainty that he did have a major role in driving the Devil out of Ireland by converting the Irish to Christianity.
This Saint Patrick’s Day, in the midst of all the festivities, we should honor St. Patrick’s legacy by helping spread the Word of God to those who are unreached.
Legends about Patrick abound; but truth is best served by our seeing two solid qualities in him: He was humble and he was courageous. The determination to accept suffering and success with equal indifference guided the life of God’s instrument for winning most of Ireland for Christ.
Details of his life are uncertain. Current research places his dates of birth and death a little later than earlier accounts. Patrick may have been born in Dunbarton, Scotland, Cumberland, England, or in northern Wales. He called himself both a Roman and a Briton. At 16, he and a large number of his father’s slaves and vassals were captured by Irish raiders and sold as slaves in Ireland. Forced to work as a shepherd, he suffered greatly from hunger and cold.
After six years Patrick escaped, probably to France, and later returned to Britain at the age of 22. His captivity had meant spiritual conversion. He may have studied at Lerins, off the French coast; he spent years at Auxerre, France, and was consecrated bishop at the age of 43. His great desire was to proclaim the good news to the Irish.
In a dream vision it seemed “all the children of Ireland from their mothers’ wombs were stretching out their hands” to him. He understood the vision to be a call to do mission work in pagan Ireland. Despite opposition from those who felt his education had been defective, he was sent to carry out the task. He went to the west and north–where the faith had never been preached–obtained the protection of local kings, and made numerous converts.
Because of the island’s pagan background, Patrick was emphatic in encouraging widows to remain chaste and young women to consecrate their virginity to Christ. He ordained many priests, divided the country into dioceses, held Church councils, founded several monasteries and continually urged his people to greater holiness in Christ.
He suffered much opposition from pagan druids and was criticized in both England and Ireland for the way he conducted his mission. In a relatively short time, the island had experienced deeply the Christian spirit, and was prepared to send out missionaries whose efforts were greatly responsible for Christianizing Europe.
Patrick was a man of action, with little inclination toward learning. He had a rock-like belief in his vocation, in the cause he had espoused. One of the few certainly authentic writings is his Confessio, above all an act of homage to God for having called Patrick, unworthy sinner, to the apostolate.
There is hope rather than irony in the fact that his burial place is said to be in County Down in Northern Ireland, long the scene of strife and violence.
Reflection
What distinguishes Patrick is the durability of his efforts. When one considers the state of Ireland when he began his mission work, the vast extent of his labors, and how the seeds he planted continued to grow and flourish, one can only admire the kind of man Patrick must have been. The holiness of a person is known only by the fruits of his or her work.
