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Special Report

The Solitude of St. Patrick

In silence with God.

(Page 2 of 2)

This had to be confusing to the pagan Irish who only took to fasting to shame a person whom they believed had done them wrong, claims Freeman.

An earlier student of St. Patrick, Dr. Ludwig Bieler, a professor of palaeography and classics at the University of Dublin described the end of this stage of the saint’s remarkable life:

At the end of six years he heard a voice in his dreams, announcing God’s forgiveness and bidding him to go to his country and his people; a ship the voice indicated, was waiting to take him home. He had to walk two hundred [Roman] miles before he found the ship which the voice of his dream had promised him; it was a boat carrying Irish hounds to the continent [citations omitted].

Patrick, now 21 years of age, was able to join a ship’s crew and sail for Gaul.

The rest of St. Patrick’s life is full of suffering and grace, emblematic of a profound spirituality which he discerned in the isolation and loneliness of a slave in the west of Ireland.

I rise today
with the power of God to guide me,
with the strength of God to raise me,
with the wisdom of God to lead me,
with the vision of God to see me,
with the ears of God to hear for me,
with the words of God to speak for me,
with the hand of God to protect me,
with the path of God before me,
with the shield of God to guard me,
with the friendship of God to keep me safe from
the contriving of demons,
the temptations of sin,
the inclinations of my nature,
and everyone who wishes me harm,
far and near,
alone and in the crowd.

Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

Page:   12

About the Author

G. Tracy Mehan, III served at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in the administrations of both Presidents Bush. He is a consultant in Arlington, Virginia, and an adjunct professor at George Mason University School of Law.

Letter to the Editor View all comments (17) |

Bill| 3.17.09 @ 10:51AM

Good article and a reminder for all of us that God plus one makes a majority. God took 12 common everyday people and turned the world upside down and he can and will do it again and again.

Raymond Barry| 3.17.09 @ 11:45AM

Re: the snake story. Herodotus wrote about the hyperboreans who kept snakes as cult objects. Hibernia is a corruption of Hyperboria is it not? Just a wild conjecture. Might have kept the plague away.

Carl G.P.| 3.17.09 @ 6:20PM

Thank you, Mr. Mehan, for your informative and inspiring article...especially for St. Patrick's morning prayer. I have copied it and will print it for regular use, incerted among the pages of my Book of Common Prayer

Brian H| 3.17.09 @ 7:45PM

Fine history and article. But ... sheep get sheared, not sheered. ;)

Alan Brooks| 3.17.09 @ 11:33PM

there is nothing left but communion with God. listen to today's bedlam, it never ends. and in the background there are celebrity-deities to take the place of God..

More Articles by G. Tracy Mehan, III

More Articles From Special Report

http://spectator.org/archives/2009/03/17/the2-solitude-of-st-patrick

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