This is the date St Patrick died. Many would have wished he had chosen a date in the summer as they stand shivering at one of the many parades. This year the Siberian airflow has come back to have a second bite of Ireland. There will be many groups of ‘Cheerleaders’ from the US with their minimalistic clothing returning with more than chilblains to show for their brief encounter with our erratic climate!

There is some mystery surrounding the Saint. That there was more than one seems certain. Perhaps there were a number of little Patricks, as E. O’Brien suggests, and history has lumped them into one great one! Was he perhaps mixed up with Rome’s first Bishop to Ireland – Palladius Patricius who also had a hand in converting the Irish? The popularity of the name Patrick complicates the historian’s job!

Fortunately, Saint Patrick left written accounts of his life and ministry along with a hymn which indicates the central place Christ had in his theology. These writings are to be found in the Book of Armagh (the short version) and in the rest of the manuscripts (the longer version) traceable to an Irish foundation in Eastern England around the year 650 AD.

It is unlikely that Patrick viewed himself as writing for posterity but simply wanted to place an account of his life on record. He was concerned regarding the authenticity of his ordination, which was questioned by some of his contemporaries, and he may have felt the need to demonstrate that indeed he was ordained by nailed pierced hands.

Then there is the difficulty of language. In Dr Bieler’s translation Patrick says, “What I had to say had to be translated into a tongue foreign to me, as can be easily proved by the savour of my writing, which betrays how little instruction and training I have had in the art of words.” Patrick would have been reared in the Celtic language, learned Irish when he was a slave in Ireland for 6 years and picked up conversational Latin during his time in Europe.
It is likely that Patrick dictated his material which would have been taken down on wax tablets by a scribe using a kind of shorthand. This then would have been written in full on papyrus.
For important documents the text would have undergone perhaps several revisions the final version being passed to the copyist for circulation. Normally the earlier texts would have been destroyed but some may have survived adding to the difficulties we have today.
Let us rejoice in what we do know; the Hymn known as St Patrick’s Breastplate. This portion was translated by Mrs C J Alexander.

Christ be with me, Christ within me, I bind unto myself the Name,
Christ behind me, Christ before me, The strong Name of the Trinity;
Christ beside me, Christ to win me, By invocation of the same.
Christ to comfort and restore me, The Three in One and One in Three.
Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Of whom all nature hath creation;
Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
Christ in hearts of all that love me, Praise to the Lord of my salvation,
Christ in mouth of friend and stranger. Salvation is of Christ the Lord.