Confessions
of St. Patrick
I am Patrick, a sinner, most unlearned, the least of all
the faithful, and utterly despised by many. My father was Calpornius, a deacon,
son of Potitus, a priest, of the village Bannavem Taburniæ; he had a country
seat nearby, and there I was taken captive.
I was then about sixteen years of age. I did
not know the true God. I was taken into captivity to Ireland with many
thousands of people and deservedly so, because we turned away from God, and did
not keep His commandments, and did not obey our priests, who used to remind us
of our salvation. And the Lord brought over us the wrath of his anger and
scattered us among many nations, even unto the utmost part of the earth, where
now my littleness is placed among strangers.
And there the Lord opened the sense of my
unbelief that I might at last remember my sins and be converted with all my
heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my abjection, and mercy on my
youth and ignorance, and watched over me before I knew Him, and before I was
able to distinguish between good and evil, and guarded me, and comforted me as
would a father his son.
Hence I cannot be silent, nor, indeed, is it
expedient - about the great benefits and the great grace which the lord has
deigned to bestow upon me in the land of my captivity; for this we can give to
God in return after having been chastened by Him, to exalt and praise His
wonders before every nation that is anywhere under the heaven.
Because there is no other God, nor ever was,
nor will be, than God the Father unbegotten, without beginning, from whom is
all beginning, the Lord of the universe, as we have been taught; and His son
Jesus Christ, whom we declare to have always been with the Father, spiritually
and ineffably begotten by the Father before the beginning of the world, before
all beginning; and by Him are made all things visible and invisible. He was
made man, and, having defeated death, was received into heaven by the Father;
and He hath given Him all power over all names in heaven, on earth, and under
the earth, and every tongue shall confess to Him that Jesus Christ is Lord and
God, in whom we believe, and whose advent we expect soon to be, judge of the
living and of the dead, who will render to every man according to his deeds;
and He has poured forth upon us abundantly the Holy Spirit, the gift and pledge
of immortality, who makes those who believe and obey sons of God and joint
heirs with Christ; and Him do we confess and adore, one God in the Trinity of
the Holy Name.
For He Himself has said through the Prophet:
Call upon me in the day of thy trouble, and I will deliver thee, and thou shalt
glorify me. And again He says: It is honourable to reveal and confess the works
of God.
Although I am imperfect in many things, I
nevertheless wish that my brethren and kinsmen should know what sort of person
I am, so that they may understand my heart's desire.
I know well the testimony of my Lord, who in
the Psalm declares: Thou wilt destroy them that speak a lie. And again He says:
The mouth that belieth killeth the soul. And the same Lord says in the Gospel:
Every idle word that men shall speak, they shall render an account for it on
the day of judgement.
And so I should dread exceedingly, with fear
and trembling, this sentence on that day when no one will be able to escape or
hide, but we all, without exception, shall have to give an account even of our
smallest sins before the judgement of the Lord Christ.
For this reason I had in mind to write, but
hesitated until now; I was afraid of exposing myself to the talk of men,
because I have not studied like the others, who thoroughly imbibed law and
Sacred Scripture, and never had to change from the language of their childhood
days, but were able to make it still more perfect. In our case, what I had to
say had to be translated into a tongue foreign to me, as can be easily proved
from the savour of my writing, which betrays how little instruction and
training I have had in the art of words; for, so says Scripture, by the tongue
will be discovered the wise man, and understanding, and knowledge, and the
teaching of truth.
But of what help is an excuse, however true,
especially if combined with presumption, since now, in my old age, I strive for
something that I did not acquire in youth? It was my sins that prevented me
from fixing in my mind what before I had barely read through. But who believes
me, though I should repeat what I started out with?
As a youth, nay, almost as a boy not able to
speak, I was taken captive, before I knew what to pursue and what to avoid.
Hence to-day I blush and fear exceedingly to reveal my lack of education; for I
am unable to tell my story to those versed in the art of concise writing, in
such a way, I mean, as my spirit and mind long to do, and so that the sense of
my words expresses what I feel.
But if indeed it had been given to me as it
was given to others, then I would not be silent because of my desire of
thanksgiving; and if perhaps some people think me arrogant for doing so in
spite of my lack of knowledge and my slow tongue, it is, after all, written:
The stammering tongues shall quickly learn to speak peace.
How much more should we earnestly strive to
do this, we, who are, so Scripture says, a letter of Christ for salvation unto
the utmost part of the earth, and, though not an eloquent one, yet...written in
your hearts, not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God! And again the
Spirit witnesses that even rusticity was created by the Highest.
Whence I, once rustic, exiled, unlearned, who
does not know how to provide for the future, this at least I know most
certainly that before I was humiliated I was like a stone Lying in the deep
mire; and He that is mighty came and in His mercy lifted me up, and raised me
aloft, and placed me on the top of the wall. And therefore I ought to cry out
aloud and so also render something to the Lord for His great benefits here and
in eternity - benefits which the mind of men is unable to appraise.
Wherefore, then, be astonished, ye great and
little that fear God, and you men of letters on your estates, listen and pore
over this. Who was it that roused up me, the fool that I am, from the midst of
those who in the eyes of men are wise, and expert in law, and powerful in word
and in everything? And He inspired me - me, the outcast of this world - before
others, to be the man (if only I could!) who, with fear and reverence and
without blame, should faithfully serve the people to whom the love of Christ
conveyed and gave me for the duration of my life, if I should be worthy; yes
indeed, to serve them humbly and sincerely.
In the light, therefore, of our faith in the
Trinity I must make this choice, regardless of danger I must make known the
gift of God and everlasting consolation, without fear and frankly I must spread
everywhere the name of God so that after my decease I may leave a bequest to my
brethren and sons whom I have baptised in the Lord, so many thousands of
people.
And I was not worthy, nor was I such that the
Lord should grant this to His servant; that after my misfortunes and so great
difficulties, after my captivity, after the lapse of so many years, He should
give me so great a grace in behalf of that nation, a thing which once, in my
youth, I never expected nor thought of.
But after I came to Ireland, every day I had
to tend sheep, and many times a day I prayed, the love of God and His fear came
to me more and more, and my faith was strengthened. And my spirit was moved so
that in a single day I would say as many as a hundred prayers, and almost as
many in the night, and this even when I was staying in the woods and on the
mountains; and I used to get up for prayer before daylight, through snow,
through frost, through rain, and I felt no harm, and there was no sloth in me,
as I now see, because the spirit within me was then fervent.
And there one night I heard in my sleep a
voice saying to me: `It is well that you fast, soon you will go to your own
country.' And again, after a short while, I heard a voice saying to me: `See,
your ship is ready.' And it was not near, but at a distance of perhaps two
hundred miles, and I had never been there, nor did I know a living soul there;
and then I took to flight, and I left the man with whom I had stayed for six
years. And I went in the strength of God who directed my way to my good, and I
feared nothing until I came to that ship.
And the day that I arrived the ship was set
afloat, and I said that I was able to pay for my passage with them. But the
captain was not pleased, and with indignation he answered harshly: `It is of no
use for you to ask us to go along with us.' And when I heard this, I left them
in order to return to the hut where I was staying. And as I went, I began to
pray; and before I had ended my prayer, I heard one of them shouting behind me,
`Come, hurry, we shall take you on in good faith; make friends with us in
whatever way you like.' And so on that day I refused to suck their breasts for
fear of God, but rather hoped they would come to the faith of Jesus Christ,
because they were pagans. And thus I had my way with them, and we set sail at
once.
And after three days we reached land, and for
twenty-eight days we travelled through deserted country. And they lacked food,
and hunger overcame them; and the next day the captain said to me: `Tell me,
Christian: you say that your God is great and all-powerful; why, then, do you
not pray for us? As you can see, we are suffering from hunger; it is unlikely
indeed that we shall ever see a human being again.'
I said to them full of confidence: `Be truly
converted with all your heart to the Lord my God, because nothing is impossible
for Him, that this day He may send you food on your way until you be satisfied;
for He has abundance everywhere.' And, with the help of God, so it came to
pass: suddenly a herd of pigs appeared on the road before our eyes, and they
killed many of them; and there they stopped for two nights and fully recovered
their strength, and their hounds received their fill for many of them had grown
weak and were half-dead along the way. And from that day they had plenty of
food. They also found wild honey, and offered some of it to me, and one of them
said: `This we offer in sacrifice.' Thanks be to God, I tasted none of it.
That same night, when I was asleep, Satan
assailed me violently, a thing I shall remember as long as I shall be in this
body. And he fell upon me like a huge rock, and I could not stir a limb. But
whence came it into my mind, ignorant as I am, to call upon Helias? And
meanwhile I saw the sun rise in the sky, and while I was shouting `Helias!
Helias' with all my might, suddenly the splendour of that sun fell on me and
immediately freed me of all misery. And I believe that I was sustained by
Christ my Lord, and that His Spirit was even then crying out in my behalf, and
I hope it will be so on the day of my tribulation, as is written in the Gospel:
On that day, the Lord declares, it is not you that speak, but the Spirit of
your Father that speaketh in you.
And once again, after many years, I fell into
captivity. On that first night I stayed with them, I heard a divine message
saying to me: `Two months will you be with them.' And so it came to pass: on
the sixtieth night thereafter the Lord delivered me out of their hands.
Also on our way God gave us food and fire and
dry weather every day, until, on the tenth day, we met people. As I said above,
we travelled twenty-eight days through deserted country, and the night that we
met people we had no food left.
And again after a few years I was in Britain
with my people. who received me as their son, and sincerely besought me that
now at last, having suffered so many hardships, I should not leave them and go
elsewhere.
And there I saw in the night the vision of a
man, whose name was Victoricus, coming as it were from Ireland, with countless
letters. And he gave me one of them, and I read the opening words of the
letter, which were, `The voice of the Irish'; and as I read the beginning of
the letter I thought that at the same moment I heard their voice, they were
those beside the Wood of Voclut, which is near the Western Sea, and thus did
they cry out as with one mouth: `We ask thee, boy, come and walk among us once
more.'
And I was quite broken in heart, and could
read no further, and so I woke up. Thanks be to God, after many years the Lord
gave to them according to their cry.
And another night, whether within me, or
beside me, I know not, God knoweth, they called me most unmistakably with words
which I heard but could not understand, except that at the end of the prayer He
spoke thus: `He that has laid down His life for thee, it is He that speaketh in
thee'; and so I awoke full of joy.
And again I saw Him praying in me, and I was
as it were within my body, and I heard Him above me, that is, over the inward
man, and there He prayed mightily with groanings. And all the time I was
astonished, and wondered, and thought with myself who it could be that prayed
in me. But at the end of the prayer He spoke, saying that He was the Spirit;
and so I woke up, and remembered the Apostle saying: The Spirit helpeth the
infirmities of our prayer. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought;
but the Spirit Himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings, which cannot
be expressed in words; and again: The Lord our advocate asketh for us.
And when I was attacked by a number of my
seniors who came forth and brought up my sins against my laborious episcopate,
on that day indeed was I struck so that I might have fallen now and for
eternity; but the Lord graciously spared the stranger and sojourner for His
name and came mightily to my help in this affliction Verily, not slight was the
shame and blame that fell upon me! I ask God that it may not be reckoned to
them as sin.
As cause for proceeding against me they
found, after thirty years!, a confession I had made before I was a deacon. In
the anxiety of my troubled mind I confided to my dearest friend what I had done
in my boyhood one day, nay, in one hour, because I was not yet strong. I know
not, God knoweth, whether I was then fifteen years old: and I did not believe
in the living God, nor did I so from my childhood, but lived in death and
unbelief until I was severely chastised and really humiliated, by hunger and
nakedness, and that daily.
On the other hand, I did not go to Ireland of
my own accord. not until I had nearly perished; but this was rather for my
good, for thus was I purged by the Lord; and He made me fit so that I might be
now what was once far from me that I should care and labour for the salvation
of others, whereas then I did not even care about myself.
On that day, then, when I was rejected by
those referred to and mentioned above, in that night I saw a vision of the
night. There was a writing without honour against my face, and at the same time
I heard God's voice saying to me: `We have seen with displeasure the face of
Deisignatus' (thus revealing his name). He did not say, `Thou hast seen.' but
`We have seen.' as if He included Himself, as He sayeth: He who toucheth you
toucheth as it were the apple of my eye.
Therefore I give Him thanks who hath
strengthened me in everything, as He did not frustrate the journey upon which I
had decided, and the work which I had learned from Christ my Lord; but I rather
felt after this no little strength, and my trust was proved right before God
and men.
And so I say boldly, my conscience does not
blame me now or in the future: God is my witness that I have not lied in the
account which I have given you.
But the more am I sorry for my dearest friend
that we had to hear what he said. To him I had confided my very soul! And I was
told by some of the brethren before that defence, at which I was not present,
nor was I in Britain, nor was it suggested by me, that he would stand up for me
in my absence. He had even said to me in person: `Look, you should be raised to
the rank of bishop!', of which I was not worthy. But whence did it come to him
afterwards that he let me down before all, good and evil, and publicly, in a
matter in which he had favoured me before spontaneously and gladly, and not he
alone, but the Lord, who is greater than all?
Enough of this. I must not, however, hide
God's gift which He bestowed upon me in the land of my captivity; because then
I earnestly sought Him, and there I found Him, and He saved me from all evil
because, so I believe, of His Spirit that dwelleth in me. Again, boldly said.
But God knows it, had this been said to me by a man, I had perhaps remained
silent for the love of Christ.
Hence, then, I give unwearied thanks to God,
who kept me faithful in the day of my temptation, so that today I can
confidently offer Him my soul as a living sacrifice, to Christ my Lord, who
saved me out of all my troubles. Thus I can say: `Who am I, 0 Lord, and to what
hast Thou called me, Thou who didst assist me with such divine power that
to-day I constantly exalt and magnify Thy name among the heathens wherever I
may be, and not only in good days but also in tribulations?' So indeed I must
accept with equanimity whatever befalls me, be it good or evil, and always give
thanks to God, who taught me to trust in Him always without hesitation, and who
must have heard my prayer so that I, however ignorant I was, in the last days
dared to undertake such a holy and wonderful work, thus imitating somehow those
who, as the Lord once foretold, would preach His Gospel for a testimony to all
nations before the end of the world. So we have seen it, and so it has been
fulfilled: indeed, we are witnesses that the Gospel has been preached unto
those parts beyond which there lives nobody.
Now, it would be tedious to give a detailed
account of all my labours or even a part of them. Let me tell you briefly how
the merciful God often freed me from slavery and from twelve dangers in which
my life was at stake, not to mention numerous plots, which I cannot express in
words; for I do not want to bore my readers. But God is my witness, who knows
all things even before they come to pass, as He used to forewarn even me, poor
wretch that I am, of many things by a divine message.
How came I by this wisdom, which was not in
me, who neither knew the number of my days nor knew what God was? Whence was
given to me afterwards the gift so great, so salutary, to know God and to love
Him, although at the price of leaving my country and my parents?
And many gifts were offered to me in sorrow
and tears, and I offended the donors, much against the wishes of some of my
seniors; but, guided by God, in no way did I agree with them or acquiesce. It
was not grace of my own, but God, who is strong in me and resists them all, as
He had done when I came to the people of Ireland to preach the Gospel, and to
suffer insult from the unbelievers, hearing the reproach of my going abroad,
and many persecutions even unto bonds, and to give my free birth for the
benefit of others; and, should I be worthy, I am prepared to give even my life
without hesitation and most gladly for His name, and it is there that I wish to
spend it until I die, if the Lord would grant it to me.
For I am very much God's debtor, who gave me
such grace that many people were reborn in God through me and afterwards
confirmed, and that clerics were ordained for them everywhere, for a people
just coming to the faith, whom the Lord took from the utmost parts of the
earth, as He once had promised through His prophets: To Thee the gentiles shall
come from the ends of the earth and shall say: `How false are the idols that
our fathers got for themselves, and there is no profit in them'; and again: `I have
set Thee as a light among the gentiles, that Thou mayest be for salvation unto
the utmost part of the earth.'
And there I wish to wait for His promise who
surely never deceives, as He promises in the Gospel: They shall come from the
east and the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, as we
believe the faithful will come from all the world.
For that reason, therefore, we ought to fish
well and diligently, as the Lord exhorts in advance and teaches, saying: Come
ye after me, and I will make you to be fishers of men. And again He says
through the prophets: Behold, I send many fishers and hunters, saith God, and
so on.
Hence it was most necessary to spread our nets so that a great multitude
and throng might be caught for God, and that there be clerics everywhere to
baptize and exhort a people in need and want, as the Lord in the Gospel states,
exhorts and teaches, saying: Going therefore now, teach ye all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit,
teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and behold
I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world. And again He
says: Go ye therefore into the whole world, and preach the Gospel to every
creature. He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that
believeth not shall be condemned. And again: This Gospel of the kingdom shall
be preached in the whole world for a testimony to all nations, and then shall
come the end.
And so too the Lord announces through the
prophet, and says: And it shall come to pass, in the last days, saith the Lord,
I will pour out of my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons and your daughters
shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall
dream dreams. And upon my servants indeed, and upon my handmaids will I pour
out in those days of my Spirit, and they shall prophesy. And in Osee, He saith:
`I will call that which was not my people, my people; ...and her that had not
obtained mercy, one that hath obtained mercy. And it shall be in the place
where it was said: ``You are not my people,'' there they shall be called the
sons of the living God.'
Hence, how did it come to pass in Ireland
that those who never had a knowledge of God, but until now always worshipped
idols and things impure, have now been made a people of the Lord, and are
called sons of God, that the sons and daughters of the kings of the Irish are
seen to be monks and virgins of Christ?
Among others, a blessed Irishwoman of noble
birth, beautiful, full-grown, whom I had baptized, came to us after some days
for a particular reason: she told us that she had received a message from a
messenger of God, and he admonished her to be a virgin of Christ and draw near
to God. Thanks be to God, on the sixth day after this she most laudably and
eagerly chose what all virgins of Christ do. Not that their fathers agree with
them: no, they often ever suffer persecution and undeserved reproaches from
their parents; and yet their number is ever increasing. How many have been
reborn there so as to be of our kind, I do not know, not to mention widows and
those who practice continence.
But greatest is the suffering of those women
who live in slavery. All the time they have to endure terror and threats. But
the Lord gave His grace to many of His maidens; for, though they are forbidden
to do so, they follow Him bravely.
Wherefore, then, even if I wished to leave
them and go to Britain, and how I would have loved to go to my country and my
parents, and also to Gaul in order to visit the brethren and to see the face of
the saints of my Lord! God knows it! that I much desired it; but I am bound by
the Spirit, who gives evidence against me if I do this, telling me that I shall
be guilty; and I am afraid of losing the labour which I have begun, nay, not I,
but Christ the Lord who bade me come here and stay with them for the rest of my
life, if the Lord will, and will guard me from every evil way that I may not
sin before Him.
This, I presume, I ought to do, but I do not
trust myself as long as I am in this body of death, for strong is he who daily
strives to turn me away from the faith and the purity of true religion to which
I have devoted myself to the end of my I life to Christ my Lord. But the
hostile flesh is ever dragging us unto death, that I is, towards the forbidden
satisfaction of one's desires; and I know that in part I did not lead a perfect
life as did the other faithful; but I acknowledge it to my! Lord, and do not
blush before Him, because I lie not: from the time I came to know Him in my
youth, the love of God and the fear of Him have grown in me, and up to now,
thanks to the grace of God, I have kept the faith.
And let those who will, laugh and scorn, I
shall not be silent; nor shall I hide the signs and wonders which the Lord has
shown me many years before they came to pass, as He knows everything even
before the times of the world.
Hence I ought unceasingly to give thanks to
God who often pardoned my folly and my carelessness, and on more than one
occasion spared His great wrath on me, who was chosen to be His helper and who
was slow to do as was shown me and as the Spirit suggested. And the Lord had
mercy on me thousands and thousands of times because He saw that I was ready,
but that I did not know what to do in the circumstances. For many tried to
prevent this my mission; they would even talk to each other behind my back and
say: `Why does this fellow throw himself into danger among enemies who have no
knowledge of God?' It was not malice, but it did not appeal to them because,
and to this I own myself, of my rusticity. And I did not realize at once the
grace that was then in me; now I understand that I should have done so before.
Now I have given a simple account to my
brethren and fellow servants who have believed me because of what I said and
still say in order to strengthen and confirm your faith. Would that you, too,
would strive for greater things and do better! This will be my glory, for a
wise son is the glory of his father.
You know, and so does God, how I have lived
among you from my youth in the true faith and in sincerity of heart. Likewise,
as regards the heathen among whom I live, I have been faithful to them, and so
I shall be. God knows it, I have overreached none of them, nor would I think of
doing so, for the sake of God and His Church, for fear of raising persecution
against them and all of us, and for fear that through me the name of the Lord
be blasphemed; for it is written: Woe to the man through whom the name of the
Lord is blasphemed.
For although I be rude in all things,
nevertheless I have tried somehow to keep myself safe, and that, too, for my
Christian brethren, and the virgins of Christ, and the pious women who of their
own accord made me gifts and laid on the altar some of their ornaments and I
gave them back to them, and they were offended that I did so. But I did it for
the hope of lasting success, in order to preserve myself cautiously in
everything so that they might not seize upon me or the ministry of my service,
under the pretext of dishonesty, and that I would not even in the smallest
matter give the infidels an opportunity to defame or defile.
When I baptized so many thousands of people,
did I perhaps expect from any of them as much as half a scruple? Tell me, and I
will restore it to you. Or when the Lord ordained clerics everywhere through my
unworthy person and I conferred the ministry upon them free, if I asked any of
them as much as the price of my shoes, speak against me and I will return it to
you.
On the contrary, I spent money for you that
they might receive me; and I went to you and everywhere for your sake in many
dangers, even to the farthest districts, beyond which there lived nobody and
where nobody had ever come to baptize, or to ordain clergy, or to confirm the
people. With the grace of the Lord, I did everything lovingly and gladly for
your salvation.
All the while I used to give presents to the
kings, besides the fees I paid to their sons who travel with me. Even so they
laid hands on me and my companions, and on that day they eagerly wished to kill
me; but my time had not yet come. And everything they found with us they took
away, and me they put in irons; and on the fourteenth day the Lord delivered me
from their power, and our belongings were returned to us because of God and our
dear friends whom we had seen before.
You know how much I paid to those who
administered justice in all those districts to which I came frequently. I think
I distributed among them not less than the price of fifteen men, so that you
might enjoy me, and I might always enjoy you in God. I am not sorry for it,
indeed it is not enough for me; I still spend and shall spend more. God has
power to grant me afterwards that I myself may be spent for your souls.
Indeed, I call God to witness upon my soul
that I lie not; neither, I hope, am I writing to you in order to make this an
occasion of flattery or covetousness, nor because I look for honour from any of
you. Sufficient is the honour that is not yet seen but is anticipated in the
heart. Faithful is He that promised; He never lieth.
But I see myself exalted even in the present
world beyond measure by the Lord, and I was not worthy nor such that He should
grant me this. I know perfectly well, though not by my own judgement, that
poverty and misfortune becomes me better than riches and pleasures. For Christ
the Lord, too, was poor for our sakes; and I, unhappy wretch that I am, have no
wealth even if I wished for it. Daily I expect murder, fraud, or captivity, or
whatever it may be; but I fear none of these things because of the promises of
heaven. I have cast myself into the hands of God Almighty, who rules
everywhere, as the prophet says: Cast thy thought upon God, and He shall
sustain thee.
So, now I commend my soul to my faithful God,
for whom I am an ambassador in all my wretchedness; but God accepteth no
person, and chose me for this office, to be, although among His least, one of
His ministers.
Hence let me render unto Him for all He has
done to me. But what can I say or what can I promise to my Lord, as I can do
nothing that He has not given me? May He search the hearts and deepest
feelings; for greatly and exceedingly do I wish, and ready I was, that He
should give me His chalice to drink, as He gave it also to the others who loved
Him.
Wherefore may God never permit it to happen
to me that I should lose His people which He purchased in the utmost parts of
the world. I pray to God to give me perseverance and to deign that I be a
faithful witness to Him to the end of my life for my God.
And if ever I have done any good for my God
whom I love, I beg Him to grant me that I may shed my blood with those exiles
and captives for His name, even though I should be denied a grave, or my body
be woefully torn to pieces limb by limb by hounds or wild beasts, or the fowls
of the air devour it. I am firmly convinced that if this should happen to me, I
would have gained my soul together with my body, because on that day without
doubt we shall rise in the brightness of the sun, that is, in the glory of
Christ Jesus our Redeemer, as sons of the living God and joint heirs with
Christ, to be made conformable to His image; for of Him, and by Him, and in Him
we shall reign.
For this sun which we see rises daily for us
because He commands so, but it will never reign, nor will its splendour last;
what is more, those wretches who adore it will be miserably punished. Not so
we, who believe in, and worship, the true sun, Christ, who will never perish,
nor will he who doeth His will; but he will abide for ever as Christ abideth for
ever, who reigns with God the Father Almighty and the Holy Spirit before time,
and now, and in all eternity. Amen.
Behold, again and again would I set forth the
words of my confession. I testify in truth and in joy of heart before God and
His holy angels that I never had any reason except the Gospel and its promises
why I should ever return to the people from whom once before I barely escaped.
I pray those who believe and fear God,
whosoever deigns to look at or receive this writing which Patrick, a sinner,
unlearned, has composed in Ireland, that no one should ever say that it was my
ignorance if I did or showed forth anything however small according to God's
good pleasure; but let this be your conclusion and let it so be thought, that,
as is the perfect truth, it was the gift of God. This is my confession before I
die.
★★ (Blessings) ★★
taken from the Confessions of Saint Patrick
Photo taken from Wikimedia Commons
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