St. Patrick: Celtic Monasticism ✠Spiritual Formation for the 21st Century
By Dr. Richard Peace
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S ANOTHER ST. PATRICK’S DAY approaches we are reminded again of the saint who was credited with the conversion of Ireland. Not many saints’ feast days make it on to our cultural calendar but St. Patrick is one of the lucky (?) ones. Of course it is the idea of drinking green beer, partying all night, and celebrating one’s Irish roots (real or not) that gets the attention of the nation, not the missionary work of Patrick. But still there is something about Patrick that captures our imagination. We have a vague sense of the stories (not all of which are historical): his taming of the fierce Irish tribes; his ridding Ireland of snakes; his use of a shamrock to teach about the Trinity. I THINK PATRICK INTERESTS US, in part, because his sensibilities seem to connect with our postmodern sensibilities. For one, he saw the created
be no small feat. He wrote: “every day I am ready to be murdered, betrayed, enslaved—whatever may come my way. But I am not afraid of any of these things, because of the promises of heaven; for I have put myself in the hands of God Almighty.” The fact that he died of old age in his late 70s is a vindication of this trust. WHO, THEN, WAS PATRICK AND what can we learn from his life? What can we learn from Celtic Spirituality, which had its origin in Patrick, that will feed our spiritual lives? LET ME BEGIN WITH A QUICK summary of the life of Patrick and then explore Celtic spirituality. PATRICK WAS, BY ALL ACCOUNTS, your average 4th/5th century, middle-class, Romanized Briton from a
There is something about Patrick that captures our imagination.... his sensibilities seem to connect with our postmodern sensibilities. world as a place where God was alive and present. The sun, the moon, and the changing of the seasons were all opportunities for prayer to God. Patrick seems to have an eco-sensibility akin to our own. Then there was his eclecticism. He was not above taking Druid feasts and Christianizing them (rather than condemning them and those who celebrated them). It is said that Halloween and May Day were old Irish festivals that Patrick brought into the Christian calendar. His bravery touches us. He knew that the taming of the Irish would
Christian family. By his own account he was not very religious despite the fact that his grandfather was a Catholic priest (priestly celibacy was a later doctrine). However his life changed radically at age 16 when a fleet of Irish slave traders sweep down the west coast of Britain and captured him and hundreds of other young men. Patrick was taken back to Ireland and sold to a petty king who sent him off into the hills to look after his flocks. The long nights on remote hillsides, hungry and naked, made Patrick into a man of prayer.
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“TENDING FLOCKS WAS MY daily work, and I would pray constantly during the day light hours. The love of God and the fear of him surrounded me more and more—and faith grew and the Spirit was roused, so that in one day I would say as many as a hundred prayers and after dark nearly as many again, even while I remained in the woods or on the mountain.” PATRICK’S LIFE AS A SHEPHERD went on for six years until one night
ing a cargo of Irish hounds to be sold in Europe). At first the captain refused to give him passage even though Patrick showed him that he had money to pay for his passage (where did a slave get money?). But as Patrick walked away, praying, the sailors shouted after him. The captain had had a change of heart. BUT THE STORY OF HIS ESCAPE is not over. Once the ship landed in Europe they found a devastated land, without human beings or food. Chanc-
Patrick is the ideal postmodern saint....With all his eclecticism, incorporating...care for creation into his religious worldview, he resonates with a New Age mindset. So Patrick is a good starting point for conversation with our spiritually curious friends.... who may discover that the church isn’t as bad as they think. when he had a dream in which a voice said to him: “Your hungers are rewarded: you are going home.” He sat up and the voice continued: “Look, your ship is ready.” The irony of this is that the farm on which Patrick lived was inland, nowhere near the sea. So Patrick got up and walked some 200 miles through territory he had never been in before until he arrived at an inlet in the southeast of Ireland (probably near Wexford) and there he saw his ship. That an escaped slave could have traveled undetected for 200 miles was itself miraculous. SO WAS THE FACT THAT HE actually got on the ship (which was tak-
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es are that they arrived in 407 after the Germanic hoards had wreaked havoc on Gaul. SEEING THEIR PLIGHT, THE captain challenges Patrick. “How about it Christian? You say your god is great and all-powerful, so why can’t you pray for us? We’re starving to death.” Patrick takes up the challenge. He declares: “From the bottom of your heart, turn trustingly to the Lord my God for nothing is impossible to him. And today he will send you food for your journey until you are filled, for he has an abundance everywhere.” Just then, they look up and see a herd of pigs. This was not
just food but the best of food, as Thomas Cahill wryly declares. WELL PATRICK FINALLY GETS back home to his family. But he is restless and unsettled. He cannot forget Ireland. One night he has a vision: “We beg you to come and walk among us once more.” It is Ireland calling. To make a long story short, Patrick leaves home again, this time for Gaul where he gets a theological education. He is ordained a priest and then a bishop (the first missionary bishop in history) and he returns to Ireland to begin his fruitful ministry.1 THERE IS MUCH IN THIS STORY that resonates with us: how God uses the extremity of our situation to open our hearts to him; how God intervenes
times and hard choices. It is just the sort of story to share with friends on St. Patrick’s Day because Patrick is the ideal postmodern saint. At first glance he appears to be “safe,” uncorrupted by dogma and religion and not at all “church-y.” What with all his eclecticism, incorporating Druid sensibilities and care for creation into his religious worldview, he resonates with a New Age mindset. So Patrick is a good starting point for conversation with our spiritually curious friends since he is already a person of interest. Although we will have to point out eventually that Celtic spirituality is, in fact, very church-based with its emphasis on penance, the sacrifice of Jesus (think large stone Irish crosses), the Trinity (shamrocks), and the practice of compunction (tears shed
Patrick evangelized Ireland via the churches and monasteries he founded.... It was out of these churches and monasteries that one of the distinctives of Celtic spirituality emerged: prayers of everyday life. in our stories; how God answers prayer; how God calls us; how God uses our history to actualize that call; how God blesses us as we are faithful to his call; and much more. Patrick’s story has the power to enrich our stories by showing us God’s action in his life. AND IT IS A WALLOPING GOOD story, filled with twists and turns, miracles and blessing, not to mention hard
over sin). And then there are all those Irish priests found around the world. Your friends may discover that the church isn’t all that bad as they think. WELL, ENOUGH OF PATRICK. What about the spiritual tradition that emerged from his ministry? Much could be said about the particularities of Celtic spirituality. For one thing, there is this whole idea of peregrinatio (which is re-
1. I have made liberal use of Thomas Cahill’s wonderful retelling of the Patrick story in How the Irish Saved Civilization (1995) p. 101ff. For Patrick’s words, see Celtic Spirituality in The Classics of Western Spirituality (1999), in particular “Patrick’s Declaration of the Great Works of God” pp. 67-83.
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lated to the English word peripatetic): a journey which God calls us to take even though we know it will be filled with hardship; a journey without a specific goal or destination; a journey on which Jesus accompanies us and out of which we get to know him and ourselves on a far deeper level. It was peregrinatio that motivated the Irish monks to return to Europe after the devastation of the barbarian hordes in order to re-Christianize the land. Is God calling us to such a journey? AND THEN, AS A COUNTERPOINT to this idea of journey, there are all the Irish monasteries with their settled life. Patrick evangelized Ireland via the churches and monasteries he founded. When he returned to Ireland as a Bishop
village where they set up a new church and so the cycle continued. IT WAS OUT OF THESE CHURCHES and monasteries that one of the distinctives of Celtic spirituality emerged: prayers of everyday life. Here is an aspect of Celtic spirituality that has real potential for us today. Our problem, often, is staying alert to the spiritual side of life, bombarded as we are with the constant stream of input that makes up our digital life. Meant by God to live in two worlds, we settle for the one world, the created world, with all its allures. But when we learn to baptize the acts of everyday life in prayer, we stay connected to that other world as well. HOW ABOUT THIS FOR A PRAYER before you go to sleep?2
Meant by God to live in two worlds, we settle for the one world, the created world, with all its allures. But when we learn to baptize the acts of everyday life in prayer, we stay connected to that other world as well. he did not return alone. He came with a great company of others, both priests and laypeople. Together they would go into a village and ask permission to set up a church. Here they sang the Hours, celebrated the Eucharist, worshipped God, remembered the feast days and gradually the whole village aligned itself to their timetable, their calendar, and their way of life. In turn, people from the newly Christianized village went with one of Patrick’s priests to another
May your Holy Angels, O Christ, son of the living God, tend our sleep, our rest, our bright bed. Let them reveal true vision to us in our sleep, O High Prince of the universe, O great and mysterious King. May no demons, no evil, no injury or terrifying dreams disturb our rest, our prompt and swift repose. May our waking, our work, and our living
2. This first prayer is from Celtic Spirituality, p. 289. The rest are from The Celtic Way of Prayer by Esther DeWaal (1997) with pages noted above.
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be holy; our sleep, our rest, without hindrance or harm. WHAT ABOUT A PRAYER WHEN washing your child’s face: The palmful of the God of Life, The palmful of the Christ of Love, The palmful of the Spirit of Peace, Triune of grace. (p. 77) HERE IS A PRAYER TO BE SAID AT the dawning of the day with thanks for great gift of the sun: The eye of the great God, The eye of the God of glory, The eye of the King of hosts, The eye of the King of the living, Pouring upon us At each time and season, Pouring upon us Gently and generously. Glory to thee, Thou glorious sun. Glory to thee, thou sun Face of the God of life. (pp. 58-59)
THIS FINAL PRAYER REMINDS US that this tradition of writing prayers of everyday life is still alive. What about our lives? What daily activities might be bathed in prayer? In seminars and classes when I have asked students to write such prayers I have been amazed at the topics they address: a prayer before entering a book store; a prayer while kissing my wife goodbye, a prayer upon waking in the wee hours of the night, a prayer before showering, a prayer when driving in Los Angeles (a protection prayer!) and so on. Celtic prayers bless the seasons, ask for protection, praise the saints, confront the dark forces, and baptize the most mundane of daily tasks. TRY PRAYER IN THE CELTIC STYLE: make it Trinitarian, make it earthly, make it real. Use it to stay alert to the world of Spirit in which you live. Let Celtic spirituality live in your life.
HERE IS ONE OF MY FAVORITES, A prayer by “an old woman in the southwest of Ireland today” who wants to invite “the whole company of heaven into her cottage”: I would like to have the men of Heaven In my own house; With vats of good cheer Laid out for them . . . I would like a great lake of beer For the King of Kings, I would like to be watching Heaven’s family Drinking it through all eternity.” (pp. 184-5)
Dr. Richard Peace (PhD., University of Natal) is the Robert Boyd Munger Professor of Evangelism and Spiritual Formation at Fuller Theological Seminary. He ministered for eight years in South Africa as director of special projects for African Enterprise, Inc., an evangelism group he helped found. He has written, edited, or co-authored over 80 books, worked as a filmmaker, and currently serves as a media production consultant.
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