The roads to Rome were crumbling when Patrick was born around 387 A.D. Less than 90 years before his birth, Constantine had his conversion experience which reshaped the world. Constantine’s father was leading a Roman army in Britain and died in York. Constantine then went to Rome to battle for control of the empire and saw a vision of the Cross.
He placed the cross he saw on the shields of his soldiers, won the battle, and eventually became emperor. Then he issued the Edict of Milan, ending the persecution of Christians. But by the time, Saint Patrick was born in England, the Roman Empire was crumbling and its outposts in England were collapsing. The Empire had conquered more lands than it could defend with its army. Rome depended upon its slave class to do the work, while millions were spent to provide bread for the unemployed poor. Races and fights in the Coliseum and Circus Maximus were provided to distract the people from problems with their government. The more the people relied upon vapid entertainment the less they cared about important issues.
Initially, under Augustus, free enterprise was encouraged. But the state had to pay for its increased expenses and did so with ever-increasing taxes. The results? The government owned more of the businesses, but the motivation to explore and create new economic opportunities died. The state created guilds to better control workers. Taxes grew so high people sought ways, legal and illegal, to avoid paying them. So tax rates rose still higher while revenues spiraled downward and those once gainfully employed fell into poverty and ruin.
Roman chaos had to be felt in British outposts like the one where Patrick was born. His parents, Calpurnius and Conchessa, were Romans living in England. His father owned land, collected taxes, and served as a deacon in the Church. Patrick had advantages — money, prestige, and a godly home.
But Patrick was a lazy prodigal. He didn’t want to study and was later embarrassed by his lack of education. He also didn’t believe in the one, true God his family worshipped; he later described himself as a young “heathen.” He was a product of the problems of his age, just as many young people today are products of theirs.
God humbled Patrick. Pirates kidnapped him, took him to Ireland, and sold him as a slave. For the next six years, Patrick was a lonely slave, working as a sheepherder for the pagans. He lived outdoors, alone with the sheep in both good weather and bad. While alone on a mountain, Patrick recalled the God of his fathers and opened his heart to Jesus. Patrick described this in his Confession:
His fear increased in me more and more, and the faith grew in me, and the spirit was roused, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers, and in the night nearly the same, so that whilst in the woods and on the mountain, even before the dawn, I was roused to prayer and felt no hurt from it, whether there was snow or ice or rain; nor was there any slothfulness in me, such as I see now, because the spirit was then fervent within me.
Patrick discovered God in a land of pagans where Druids practiced magic and divination. The Druids believed their magicians could control the outcome of battles and the weather through the incantation of spells. They believed certain stones, including coral, quartz, and amber, possessed supernatural powers.
By the grace of God, Patrick survived 6 years before God called him, in a dream, to escape. Patrick made a hike of faith — 200 miles — to where the owner of a boat miraculously agreed to allow him to leave Ireland.
The prodigal son was thrust among pagans to find Jesus. The cultures of his story could mirror our own today.
We would think Patrick’s escape would be the end of the story. But in God’s plan, it was the preparation for a much greater mission. I pray that God is raising up Patricks in our own land and our own time to again proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ not only to the ends of the earth, but to the edges of American cities.
“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you; before you were born I sanctified you; I ordained you a prophet to the nations” (Jer 1:5).
Mary Biever is a homeschooling mother of two who publishes encouragement articles and runs Encouragement Workshops For Today's Families.
This article was adapted from one of her columns.
