Saint Patrick of Ireland (389 – 461) 1st Bishop of Ireland, Patron Saint of Ireland

During one of his raiding expeditions in Wales, Irish High King Niall Mor Noigiallach (380 – 454) captured a young lad who would later in life radically change Irish culture. St. Patrick’s parents were killed right in front of him before being taken into captivity. His father was a Japhethite priest who was born in Armorica, France (ca. 300). The Irish saint was the brother-in-law of the second wife of Conan Meriadoc ap Gereint (305 – 367) King of Dumnonia, 1st Duke of Brittany. Dareca verch Calpurnius, St Patrick‘s sister, gave birth to twenty-one of his children, most of whom were either Catholic saints or bishops.

At that time, his Japhethite cousins residing in Wales and Cornwall had already suffered religious persecution, mainly at the behest of Celtic druid priests, by Munster rulers of the land for more than two centuries. Previously, Conan Meriadoc ap Gereint (305 – 367) King of Dumnonia, 1st Duke of Brittany, led the migration of his people to resettle in Brittany, France, to escape the onslaught after Roman Emperor Magnus Maximus (c. 340 – c. 388), grandson of Constantine the Great I (279 – 337), granted him the Dukedom of Britanny as a reward for his military service in Gaul.

In the tradition of his father, Niall had the habit of enslaving common folk and his relatives alike. Patrick was brought to County Donegal, most likely selling the teenager to a druid priest who put him to work as a shepherd. After six years of enslavement, he fled to Britain following the urging of an angel who came to him one night in his sleep.

The snakes he expelled from Ireland were in the figurative vipers of Celtic druid symbology. His conversion of druid chieftains and their tribes to Christianity served to end the pagan religious practice of idolizing the snake throughout many regions of Ireland. This effort represents a clear attempt to change the pagan understanding of the universe and his or her place therein – i.e., training the human mind to focus on causes rather than worshiping the dreadful effects of their plight in life. After the acolyte embraces the message of salvation the internal path of personal enlightenment is possible.

After quite a successful tenure in converting pagans to Christianity, his Irish flock began referring to him as patricius, the Roman word we know as “patrician” in English. As time went on Maewyn was known to the Irish as Patrick (Irish: Pádraig).

As a poignant example of his devotion to the spirit of Christ’s teachings, he baptized all of Niall’s children. According to legend, when asked for their primary motivation to convert to Christianity, the first two children about to receive the sacrament told him they desired to see Christ. Immediately after he performed the ritual, both daughters suffered spontaneous combustion and perished instantly. Their ashes were buried on the spot right afterward. His other children avoided a similar response to his pre-baptismal inquiry.

Niall’s son Conall Gulban (died ca. 464) was the first Irish nobleman to receive the sacrament. Conall was the primogenitor of the Dunkeld dynasty of Scotland. Columba Cilla of Iona, Apostle-Saint (521 – 597) founder of Iona Abbey, his great-grandson, spent most of his adult life in Scotland proselytizing pagan Picts.

Legend has it that Patrick’s sorcery put the fear of God in the hearts of the heathen, including Niall’s and his druid priests’, after several examples of the power of his sorcery. As an illustration, in the act of banishing him from a cave at Devil’s Bit, some twenty miles away, Patrick dodged the Rock of Cashel that Satan spat at him after taking a bite out of the mountain wherein he was ensconced at the time.

In 1101, the King of Munster, Muirchertach O’Brien (1050 – 1119), agnatic great-grandson of Irish High King Brian Boru (941 – 1014) Founder of the O’Brien Dynasty, donated the Rock of Cashel to the Catholic Church. Formerly the site of a fortress for hundreds of years, the Cathedral, which was constructed between 1235 and 1270, is listed on the Monuments of Ireland.

Saint Patrick was an agnatic descendant of Solomon ben David, King of Israel & Israel (1033 – 975 BCE). and James “the Just” (died 69 AD), brother of Yehoshua (Jesus Christ) ben Yosef (6? BC – 33).

20 Religious Icons

Patrick (Patron Saint) of Ireland
aka Padraig (Maewyn Succat) MacCalprinn, Bishop & Apostle of Ireland
Birth 387 in Donegal, Ireland
Death 17 MAR 461 in Ireland

Ancestry.com citation/Lineages

50th grand-uncle … ROHAN-CYR-BRULE 

56th grand-uncle … HOWARD-WOOD-COLLINS 

Fab Pedigree

WikiTree

Wiki

SOURCES

The Confession of Saint Patrick

Patrick: Patron Saint Of Ireland

Saint Patrick

Saint Patrick: Pioneer Missionary
to Ireland

The Patricians, A Genealogical Study – Ebook Editions US$5.95

Author at Harrod’s Deli – London

Steven Wood Collins (1952 – ) Antiquarian, Genealogist, Novelist