The state of this island: what would Patrick think?

‘…a man of Macedonia standing and begging him ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’’. (Acts 16:9)

Acts 16:6-10 (St Patrick 17 March)

Most nations and countries in the ‘Christian world’ have a patron saint. Sometimes, a commemoration of the saint takes place on a particular day. For complex reasons of history and tradition the name of Patrick has special resonance not only on the island of Ireland but across the world among the ‘Irish diaspora’. In latter times, the tradition has assumed strong ethnic, linguistic and even trading significance as persons of standing travel the world to (literally) ‘sell Ireland’. Images of green from Dublin to Sydney remind us that the Irish are everywhere. However, it would be easy to forget, in this clamour of celebration that the memory and the tradition is rooted not in a race memory so much as a memory of a foreigner (probably from the neighbouring island) who was captured by the pagan Irish raiders and held hostage for a long period on a wet, damp mountain in the north east of Ireland before his escape.  The story goes that Patrick – many years later after leaving Ireland –  had a dream in which an Irish man called on him to come back. In the ‘Confessions of St Patrick’ it is written:

A few years later I was again with my parents in Britain. They welcomed me as a son, and they pleaded with me that, after all the many tribulations I had undergone, I should never leave them again. It was while I was there that I saw, in a vision in the night, a man whose name was Victoricus coming as it were from Ireland with so many letters they could not be counted. He gave me one of these, and I read the beginning of the letter, the voice of the Irish people. While I was reading out the beginning of the letter, I thought I heard at that moment the voice of those who were beside the wood of Voclut, near the western sea. They called out as it were with one voice: “We beg you, holy boy, to come and walk again among us.” This touched my heart deeply, and I could not read any further; I woke up then. Thanks be to God, after many years the Lord granted them what they were calling for.

Or, in the Irish language, it reads as follows:

Agus arís i gcionn beagán blianta bhí mé sa mBreatain in éineacht le mo mhuintir. Do ghlacadar mar mhac mé agus d'impíodar orm go díograiseach gan imeacht uathu arís feasta tar éis a raibh de chruóga fulaingthe agam. Agus ansin chonaic mé i bhfís oíche fear agus é mar bheadh sé ag teacht ó Éirinn, arbh ainm dó Victoricus, agus litreacha gan choimse leis. Agus thug sé ceann acu dom agus léigh mé tosach na litre mar a raibh 'Glór na nÉireannach,' agus nuair a bhíos ag léamh tosach na litre b'fhacthas dom an nóiméad sin gur chuala mé a nglór, agus is le hais Coill Acla atá in aice na farraige thiar a bhíodar. Is mar seo a ghlaodar, mar bheadh d'aon ghuth : 'Iarraimid ort, a bhuachaill (naofa), teacht i leith agus bheith ag siúl athuair inár measc.'Agus tháinig an-bhriseadh croí orm agus níor fhéadas a thuilleadh a léamh agus ansin dhúisíos. Buíochas do Dhia gur thug an Tiarna dóibh i ndiaidh fad de bhlianta de réir a nglao.

Chuala mé a nglór – I heard their voice. Glór na nÉireannach – the voice of the Irish – calling. Just as Paul had a vision at night of a ‘man of Macedonia standing and begging him’ – Patrick heard the call of a people on the other side of a sea.

And the rest is history.

A Briton (probably) brought a ‘foreign’ religion (Christianity) to an island where the Romans (or latter day European invaders including Napoleon and Hitler) didn’t bother going. Strongbow did bother in 1167 but Mac Murchada did the inviting (and it is alleged an English Pope encouraged Strongbow).  The Romans referred to this island as Hibernia or ‘winter land’.  Some might say ‘eternal winter land’. Tales of St Patrick banishing the snakes are unnecessary. No decent snake would survive the wet, cool and windy climate.  All of this might explain why story-telling by the fire and the warmth of the Irish keeps communities together. Into this world Patrick with many other helpers stepped – not to displace the native culture but to plant seeds of a new faith and story of liberation. The Irish took it on board with great zeal and those features specific to celtic spirituality – personal austerity tempered by good humour, closeness to nature and living in harmony took root. Christianity in this island was always peripheral – enjoying an uneasy relationship with Rome and other centres.

But were the Irish that warm to Patrick and his friends? By all accounts Patrick had a rough time and met much opposition when his mission began around the year 432. It took centuries for the Christian faith to fully take root (some suggest it never did) and a few little ‘adaptations’ were made along the way to Christianise various pagan customs and rituals.

The irony is that Ireland which became a celebrated island of saints and scholars and a bastion of strict religious observance until very recent times owes its Christian origins to a man who was – well ‘British’ – and who brought about the importation of a ‘foreign religion’.

The reality, today, in Ireland as in every corner of the world is that tribal purity is an illusion. There is mixing and grafting. People are forever on the move bringing with them new ideas, customs, skills – and religion.  It is also true that movements of people were accompanied by much brutality, genocide and oppression (the history of the Jewish people starts with a tribe wandering in the desert and escaping slavery in Egypt).

It has been said that, in Ireland, we have had just enough religion to hate each other but not to love. There is some truth in this. Centuries of conflict mixed with tribal, political and other factors has marred the island. Some groupings tried to impose a particular form of Christianity, language and law on everyone – all backed by brutal violence. Others inflicted violence and force without any regard for those of a different persuasion or belonging which resulted from history. The conflict still plays out in places. Political bigotry meets religious bigotry and the political bigots are in a dialogue of the deaf with the religious bigots. Still, the vast majority of people living on this island are not bigots and want to live in peace and harmony.

At least two positive developments in recent times include: (i) the precarious truce in Northern Ireland (but the fractures are as deep as ever there) and (ii) the arrival of a new wave of immigrants to Ireland who bring fresh perspectives and challenges. Among the new arrivals are many devout Christians, devout Muslims and devout Atheists. We need to welcome and love everyone no matter what the cost to our comfort zones.  We may even be entertaining angels without realising it. That man in Paul’s dream could be our ticket to a renewed faith or – in the case of Patrick’s dream someone who desperately needs to hear again the good news – an dea-scéal.

A troubling development in recent years is the phenomenon of ‘direct provision’ used here. It involves confining refugees to a life of endless waiting, no right to work and living conditions that are an insult to human dignity. What a strange way to behave when a court in one part of the island ruled that a South Sudan refugee family, living in the North, should not be returned to the southern part of the island as the welfare of the children in the family concerned were at risk. What would Patrick make of this? There are many things that Irish people can be justly proud of. This is not one of them. And tribunals of inquiry and official apologies will follow in 30 years’ time if not sooner.  The irony is accentuated by the fact that, over the centuries, millions of Irish people had to emigrate for reasons of economic hardship to places and regions where they were not always welcomed (even today there is an unknown number of illegal Irish migrants living in the USA). The saying ‘And you are to love those who are foreigners, for you yourselves were foreigners in Egypt.’ (Deuteronomy 10:19) has fallen on deaf ears.

Patrick belongs to everyone here and not just one tribe, faith or party.

May we be found worthy of Patrick’s dream and the dream of my ancestor who called on Patrick many centuries ago.

May you have a happy Saint Patrick’s day !