Who Was St. Patrick and the History Behind Saint Patrick's Day | Drive Thru History Special

Hello, I'm Dave, it starts from a walk through

history

, happy Saint Patrick's Day, the date of Saint Patrick's death, March 17 is celebrated around the world as Saint Patrick's Day in America, it's a day to wear green in parades, visit pubs, and eat corned beef and cabbage. For Irish Americans it is a day of ethnic pride, but similar to other

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days on the calendar, March 17 has lost much of its original basis, much of its

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meaning. So what is the forgotten story related to St. Patrick in this special episode of a walk through

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? We go to ancient Hibernia, the land of winter, to discover that Patrick was born in Roman-controlled Britain around 390 AD.

When he was a child, the Roman legions guarding much of Britain had to withdraw to defend Rome against invading tribes from Central Asia. After the Roman soldiers left, raiders from across the Irish Sea attacked British coastal regions and took thousands of people to be sold into slavery. Patrick was probably 16 years old when his village was attacked, he was taken captive here to the rugged coasts of northern Ireland and sold as a slave shepherd to a local druid chieftain at the time Ireland was a vicious land known as hibernia the land of the The winter druids controlled the island was a barbaric culture that practiced a variety of atrocities including human sacrifice the historian Thomas Cahill wrote Romans in his The first encounters with these exposed mad warriors shocked and frightened them, they howled and seemed possessed by demons.

So outrageous was its strength that it presented all the terrors of hell itself. Thomas Cahill how the Irish saved civilization to tell Patrick's incredible story. I will be traveling. Almost 800 miles of ancient Irish landscape for this mission. I bought the robust and reliable Range Rover Defender. This is a 2002 Land Rover Defender 110. It is one of a long line of legendary off-road vehicles from the British automaker. This is a single-cab edition of the Defender basically gives you 4x4-style seating here with a truck-style area back here. I can only imagine how this thing is transported over the years.

My first trip from here on the north coast of Ireland is Patrick's first home. slemish mountain this is slemish mountain in county antrim in northern ireland slumish mountain or manga mish has long been considered the place where

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was held captive as a slave shepherd slemish mountain is the plug of an extinct volcano made of mineral-rich dolorite. A very distinctive appearance with a steep, rugged upper section and gently sloping fields surrounding the lower part, the mountain dominates the landscape for miles around, although it is generally beautiful and full of wildlife at this time of year. slemish endures months of wet, cold, unpleasant weather on St.

Patrick's Day One day, large crowds climbed to the top of a mountain of slums as a kind of pilgrimage. I heard you can even see Scotland from the top. I have a feeling that's probably not the case today. Let's do this. The job of a slave shepherd was bitterly isolated and strictly enforced. Druid slave masters were known for their obsession with fear and death. Human heads were impaled on walls and posts as warnings throughout the territory. Local druid priests also demanded human sacrifices to their many gods. Patrick probably observed the wicker man ritual where the villagers were forced into a huge human figure woven from sticks.

At the end of the ceremony, the wicker man was set on fire creating a huge fire that could be seen for miles. This is the horrible world that Patrick experienced while he fought packs of wolves and wild boars. On the slopes of the slums, he later wrote a confession in his autobiography. I did not believe in the living god nor did I since my childhood, but instead lived in death and disbelief until I was severely punished by hunger and nakedness as Patrick faced his first months of loneliness. sickness and despair here in slummish mountain I started looking for god but after I came to Ireland every day I had to tend sheep and many times a day I prayed for the love of God and his fear came to me more and more and my faith grew stronger and My spirit was so moved that in a single day I could say up to a hundred prayers and almost as many in the night and this even when I was in the forest and in the mountains and I used to get up to pray before dawn. through the snow through the frost through the rain there the lord opened the sense of my disbelief so that I could finally remember my sins and convert with all my heart to the lord my god who comforted me as a father would to his son

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confession well did I reach the top of Slemish Mountain and thought Patrick ended up serving six long years as a slave shepherd in these harsh and isolated hills of Northern Ireland, although beautiful, I cannot imagine the painful isolation alone, no social contact, no community watching. this stunning landscape patrick's story reminds me of another historical figure who served as a shepherd in seclusion during his young life david from the old testament scriptures tells us that david spent his formative years developing his courage and character alone in the judean desert While tending sheep of these men he developed a total dependence on God in Psalm 63 when David was alone in the desert of Judah he wrote you god you are my god I sincerely seek you I thirst for you my whole being longs for you in a dry and parched land where there is no water in my bed I remember you I think of you during the night watches because you are my help I sing in the shadow of your wings I cling to you your right hand supports me after six hard years in this part of northern Ireland Totally trusting in God, Patrick wrote that he had a dream that changed his life in confession.

He remembered that one night I heard while I was sleeping a voice saying to me: It's okay to fast you will soon go to your own country and again a voice saying To me, I see that your ship is ready and it was not close, but at a distance of perhaps 200 miles, then I took flight, I went with the strength of God, who directed my path until I reached that ship, almost immediately, Patrick rejected his fear of punishment. He left his flocks and walked many days to a predicted place on the Irish coast. He was about 22 years old.

Tradition now tells us that Patrick caught a boat somewhere between here in Hothead, near Dublin, and Wicklowhead, about 45 miles south of me. Now geographically this is the easternmost region of the mainland of the republic of ireland patrick the fugitive traveled back to britain across the irish sea there he joined a monastery and dedicated the next 20 years of his life to seeking god and The Gospel of Jesus Christ Much of what we know about Patrick comes from his own confession, it's quite short, around 600 words in the English translation, but it's full of incredible personal insights. Eight Latin manuscripts survive, the oldest from the 9th century.

Another main source is the life of Saint Patrick written by Murchu around the year 680 AD. According to the Murchu and other traditions, Patrick spent the next 20 years of his life in Britain and France studying in places such as the monastery of Saint Martin in Tours and the refuge island of Larenz Abbey. He eventually became a priest, probably ordained in Auxerre, France. After two decades Patrick could not deny his heart for the Irish people and his call to return to them according to his confession. He had a series of dreams and visions that finally forced him to return to Ireland.

It was around the year 4 32 AD. At this point in history Ireland was dominated by large-scale barbarism where murder, rape, slavery and human sacrifice were commonplace, yet Patrick wrote: I am ready to be murdered, betrayed, enslaved, no matter what. Whatever happens, he had to come back for the Irish people he loved, so let's go back to Ireland and see what happened next. According to one tradition, Patrick returned to Ireland through the Straits of Strangford Locke around 432 AD. Strangford Lock is a large sea inlet on the east coast of Northern Ireland, in fact it is the largest inlet in all of the British Isles and covers almost 60 square miles.

Strikeford Lock is almost completely surrounded by the Ards Peninsula and is linked to the Irish Sea by a long, narrow channel. The main inlets are an incredible sight with at least 70 islands and various outcrops, bays and coves. Tradition tells us that Patrick sailed to Strangford Lock Landing. At the mouth of a small river known today as Slainey, this place can be accessed via a path appropriately marked as the St Patrick's Trail. It is said that here Patrick met a local chieftain called Daiku, who became his first convert to Christianity. daiku gave patrick a barn about two miles from the road which became patrick's first church the word for barn in irish was saval from which we get the english word salt today this town is known as saul in honor of patrick's first church here in ireland one of saul's oldest establishments is paddy's barn a family run restaurant, pub and bed and breakfast it's lunchtime so the story will have to wait.

I would say paddy's barn knows how to set the table. This is a meal that my friends are fit for a hungry Irishman. Well so I ordered the roast of the day turkey ham and stuffed potatoes and a side of sausage and mash uh and this is just mash wow fries I mean uh that would be fries how many ways can you serve a potato by my count I have five uh we have roasted we have fries baby new boiled mash and mash with onion gravy in case my kids are looking at my broccoli that was good excuse me sir, do you have something for that hill above Saul's town to be considered the place where Patrick's Barn Church first stood.

Many consider this site to be the cradle of Christianity in Ireland. After Patrick's death, there was a Christian monastery there for over 300 years until it was sacked and burned by the Vikings. A medieval abbey replaced the monastery, but it was also later looted. and burned to the ground the Church of Ireland built a new church there in 1932 to commemorate the 1500th anniversary of Patrick's return to Ireland. It is known as St. Patrick's Memorial Church, let's take a look. This is St. Patrick's Memorial Church or simply Saul's Church. the design of the church matches its ancient heritage its interior is similar to a barn with rough granite walls and a dark wooden roof the cemetery contains this small church-like building called a mortuary house this was for revered burials and probably dates back to the 11th or 12th century The founders of Ireland's early churches were often proclaimed

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s and their bones were exhumed and placed in these mortuary houses.

Some archaeologists believe that this mortuary house was originally created for the bones of Saint Patrick, but we are not sure about this spire-like structure. It is a replica of an ancient tower design found throughout Ireland. The Irish Round Tower, as it is known, is a stone silo structure unique to Ireland. They were originally built as bell towers but were also used as storage facilities and viewing points usually found near a church or monastery, the tower door usually faced the west entrance of the church therefore archaeologists have used round towers to locate the underground remains of lost churches throughout Ireland.

I think they were expecting me, so I thought we had called ahead to the surviving towers. The height ranged from 60 to 130 feet, the lower part had a single door elevated six to nine feet off the ground, which could only be accessed by a ladder, this was more for structural integrity than defense, as the towers They were generally built with very few foundations, many had two. up to three wooden doors on the interior with ladders between the slits near the top acted as defensible windows. Scholars estimate that around 120 round towers were built in Ireland between the 9th and 12th centuries, many of them still exist in various states of ruin, but between 18 and 20 are almost completely intact.

Near St. Patrick's Memorial Church in Saul is Sleeve Patrick or Patrick Mountain. It's a great little walk to the top where there is an incredible view of Strangford Lock in the surrounding countryside. At the top of Sleeve Patrick there is also this huge statue of St. Patrick with these. bronze panels showing scenes from his life in 1932 on the 1500th anniversary of Patrick's landing in this area the owner of this property donated it to the Catholic church as part of the 1500th anniversary celebration construction began on this impressive commemorative statue and here's that amazing view of strikeford lock i was talking about earlier almostIt seems real, doesn't it?

No wonder Patrick used the three-leaf clover that covers this entire hillside as a way to teach the concept of the holy trinity, father, son, and holy spirit. a truly talented master this is slain hill in county mead this site has been connected to patrick for centuries now the tradition of this place dates back to 433 AD. when patrick lit a paschal fire here in defiance of the local pagan king where pascal comes from the hebrew word pasic means easter now the paschal fire celebrates the mystery of salvation through jesus christ and is lit in many churches just before easter according to the encyclopedia britannica Patrick defied royal authority by lighting the Paschal fire on Dead Hill on the night of Easter Eve turned out to be the occasion of a pagan festival on Terra during which no fire could be lit until the royal fire was lit.

Terra Hill is there about 10 miles away. It was an important pagan place of worship dating back millennia. It contains a number of ancient monuments and, according to tradition, was the seat of the high king of Ireland. Throughout Ireland we see evidence of ancient pagan cultures. The evidence usually comes in the form of a pile of man-made stones called a cairn. Cairns have been used. Throughout the ancient world for all kinds of purposes, from funerary monuments, defensive structures, religious ceremonies or to mark hunting grounds or even to map the planets into stars. Remains of different types of pagan cairns can be seen on the Hill of Terra from this monolithic marker at the top to this more elaborate and mysterious hostage mound containing a series of burial and storage chambers, a large fire here in the hill of the slain or on the hill of Terra that can be seen on the horizon behind me would be visible to the other, especially in the dead of night.

This is how Muirchu, a writer from the late 600s, described Patrick's challenge to the druids on Terra that night. The custom was that whoever lit a fire before the king on that night of the year in which Easter Eve would be executed, Patrick lit the Easter fire before the king on the hill of the dead, people saw Patrick's fire everywhere the plan and the king ordered several chariots to go and capture Patrick, the king exclaimed if we don't do it. extinguish this flame that will sweep all of Ireland seeing that the pagans were about to attack him Patrick stood up and said clearly and loudly that God rise to disperse his enemies and that those who hate him flee from his face because of Patrick's curse on presence of the king seven times seven men fell and the king,

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n by fear, came and bowed his knees before the holy man who many have called the patrician Elijah-type encounter with the pagan leaders here in this region, a patrician who had stoked his fire in honor of the resurrection of christ so impressed the local population that the great king ordered the protection of patrician and his new religion in this area the hill of the dead has been marked as a christian site since over the centuries It has even been considered a center of Christian learning these are the ruins of a Church convent at the university which was last restored in 1512.

The convent was finally abandoned in 1723 and has since fallen into disrepair. The ruins include this 62-foot Gothic-style tower. What an incredible archaeological site, Patrick had an early victory for the gospel here. On Slain Hill, with the support of the local king, this event gave Patrick momentum in this region of Ireland; However, as Patrick expanded his preaching, there are accounts of Druid kings in other regions who attempted to ambush and kill Patrick nearly a dozen times in confession. I write daily I expect murder fraud or captivity but I do not fear any of these things because of the promises of heaven the merciful god many times freed me from slavery and from 12 dangers in which my life was at stake not to mention numerous conspiracies god is my witness who He knows all things even before they happen, as he used to warn even me of many things through a divine message.

He came to the people of Ireland to preach the gospel and suffer insults from unbelievers. I am willing to give even my life without hesitation and with great pleasure for his name and that is where I wish to spend it until he dies. Tradition says that it was on the Hill of the Dead that Patrick first used a three-leaf clover to explain the Holy Trinity to the Druid. culture in pagan ireland three was a mystical number the druids also had a series of triple deities where three different gods were worshiped together in a triad. Patrick is said to have tapped into widespread cultural myths to teach the triune nature of the Christian god father son and Holy Spirit, eventually pagan culture began to refer to the god of the Bible as the three-faced god in church arts.

Patrick is often depicted holding a shamrock in one hand. The shamrock has also been considered a symbol of St. Patrick's Day in the church. However, for centuries, in American culture the shamrock has lost its connection to Patrick's teachings about the triune nature of God; In fact, the shamrock is now more of a good luck charm associated with the luck of the Irish, especially the rare four-leaf version. While Patrick maintains his position as patron saint of Ireland, the shamrock also maintains its status as an emblem. national of ireland even to this day, so let's return to ireland for the next stop on our journey through the life of st patrick, this is westport in county mayo in At the western end of Ireland, I am in a stunning U-shaped valley created by an ancient glacier flowing into Clue Bay, now in 441 AD.

Tradition holds that Patrick spent 40 days on the top of that mountain up there praying, fasting and seeking God.

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a few miles for a closer look this is crow patrick meaning patrick's pile known locally as the stink the mountain is one of the highest peaks in the west of ireland at two thousand five hundred and seven feet overlooking the Tracks Bay and County Mayo Countryside, many consider this the holiest mountain in all of Ireland with a tradition of pilgrimage dating back around 5,000 years before Patrick, it was a site for pagan rituals, including a grand celebration at the start of the harvest season, since Patrick it has been a place for pilgrims to honor their 40-day fast and their total dedication to Jesus Christ.

This is Maris Gabby at the base of the mountain was founded in 1457 as a convent to help instructing local Catholics in their faith is built on a site traditionally connected to a simple church which St Patrick built due to suppression during the Reformation period, the friars were expelled in 1577. All that remains today of the abbey de marisk is the ruins of a church with a central island in the east wing of the convent buildings behind the main altar space which The east window is the most beautiful feature of the ruins to this day, it still has an incredible view of the reek every year.

The reek attracts around 1 million visitors on the last Sunday in July, known as Reek Sunday. More than 25,000 pilgrims climb the mountain on that single daytime alone, prayer meetings are held on the way up and masses are celebrated in the small chapel at the top. Some even climb the mountain barefoot as an act of penance. This is the official starting point for the pilgrimage walk. Saint Patrick himself, a local priest, erected this. Impressive statue from 1928 with money he raised in the United States. Now on this summit is the chapel of Saint Patrick. There is archaeological evidence that there has been a chapel on that summit since the late 5th century.

The current version was built in 1905. He knew he wouldn't have time to do it. I reached the top, but I couldn't help but walk halfway just to try the experience that brings so many pilgrims to this mountain. I also couldn't help but think about Patrick's legacy, an ordinary man with a life of hardship. He lived here for a millennium and a half inspiring the faith and devotion of millions, all because he was willing to suffer for God, so many followers of Christ including myself can be tempted to spend our lives chasing our own dreams and yet life from patrick is a call to something greater, what God can do with a simple person with extraordinary faith is immeasurable, so many places in Ireland would be just another hill or mountain, but would have enormous historical significance due to the legacy Patrick's loyalty.

The next place was about half an hour. I drove to an 800 year old abbey as I drove away from Crow Patrick, I visited Bowling Tubber Abbey, an incredible monastery with a long history in County Mayo. Now among the ruins is this ancient well which is the traditional place for Patrick's baptisms in this region of Ireland now this stone next to the baptismal pool is said to bear the imprint of St. Patrick's knee because he performed many baptisms here. This is the historic town of Arma in Northern Ireland since the time of Patricio Arma has been considered an educational center known as the town. of saints and scholars after centuries of Christian monasteries the educational tradition continued with the founding of the royal school in 1608 the Arma observatory in 1790 and the college of Saint Patrick in 1834 around the year 455 Patrick built a stone church here and declared to our ma the central church of Ireland Saint Patrick is considered the first bishop of Arma and the church of Ireland has been on this site ever since.

Since Patrick, the church itself has been destroyed and rebuilt more than a dozen times. The last significant restoration of the current structure was between 1834 and 1840 in In addition to the cathedral, these steep streets leading into the city are rich in history, this is the Arma Robinson Library founded in 1771 and this is the old city infirmary dating back to 1774. Even many of these houses near the cathedral still survive from the 18th century and on the neighboring hill, you can see another impressive cathedral. Let's go to see her. Patrick established Arma as his central church in Ireland. Now this incredible Roman Catholic cathedral on the next hill was built in several phases between 1840 and 1904.

It serves. As the seat of the Catholic Archbishop of Armagh Primate of All Ireland, although there is a tumultuous history between Catholics and Protestants here in Northern Ireland, the two cathedrals dedicated to St Patrick here in Armagh are currently very cordial with each other, many consider these two churches are the neighboring hillsides as a powerful symbol of Christian reconciliation and unity. There are dozens of churches here in Ireland that are named after St. Patrick and probably have some kind of connection to an event in his life, we simply cannot visit them all, without However, we would be abandoned. on our tour of history, if we don't take you to the most famous one here in Iowa, the next stop will be the capital city of Dublin, so this is the famous St.

Patrick's Cathedral of Dublin since 1869, it has been considered the national cathedral of the church of ireland, while history tells us that some form of church has been on this site since 890 AD. Construction of the current building began in 1220 with its 141 foot spire St Patrick's Cathedral is the largest and tallest church in Ireland and the huge interior of St Patrick's Cathedral is simply stunning according to tradition Patrick performed many of his baptisms At a well near here in the early 20th century archaeologists discovered several stone tombstones from the 10th century in a park next door. One of the stone slabs covered the entrance to an ancient well and some scholars believe this was the well of St.

Patrick where he performed baptisms The stone marker is now here in St Patrick's Cathedral Patrick's Cathedral in Dublin is a fitting tribute to the enormous impact and incredible legacy of St Patrick here in Ireland Patrick died on March 17, 461 AD. Now we don't know the circumstances surrounding his death, but it seems like it was just old age before his death. Saint Patrick wrote this. Patrick the sinner, an uneducated man to be sure, no one should ever say it was my ignorance. that accomplished anything small it was a gift from god we have one more stop in the life of saint patrick the place where he rests despite some claims that saint patrick is buried in saul the long tradition places his tomb here next to the cathedral alone A few miles away, in the period after Saint Patrick's death, Down Hill came to be regarded as his burial place.

There are references to early monasteries on this site from the 6th century onwards, in 1183 Benedictine monks established a monastery here, parts of which are built in The current structure they left in 1538 in the monastery gradually fell into ruins towards the end of the century XVIII. Several notable County Down families raised funds to restore the building seen here today. Down Cathedral is known as the churchHoly Trinity Cathedral is an Anglican church that opens its doors to all visitors honoring Patrick's legacy Regarding his legacy, historian Thomas Cahill wrote only this former slave had the right instincts to impart to the Irish a new history that made sense to all their old stories and brought them a piece they had never known before thanks to patrick a barbarian land laid down the swords of battle threw down the knives of sacrifice and threw away the chains of slavery in 1900 this granite rock was placed here with an inscription on the cross in the name patrick many scholars agree that this simple slab is the likely location for patrick's burial site returning to our comparison of st patrick with king david psalm 78 says that he chose david his servant and took him out of the sheep pens to tend the sheep he brought to him to be the shepherd of his people Jacob of Israel his inheritance and David shepherded them with integrity of heart with skillful hands he guided them Psalms 78 70-72 what image Just as powerful of St.

Patrick's similar legacy here in Ireland in his 30 years of ministry is St. Patrick. He is credited with baptizing 120,000 people and founding 300 churches in Ireland in the following century. Irish missionaries like Columba returned to Britain and Europe, where they evangelized the pagan hordes that had invaded the Roman Empire. Irish missionaries also circulated the so-called Patrick Code. in britain, where he laid the foundations of english common law and, perhaps most importantly, monks such as columba established a network of monasteries dedicated to christian learning and the preservation of handwritten biblical manuscripts. There is an ancient monastery that has been on my bucket list for quite some time. time and since I was in Ireland I decided to do it here is the story of skellig michael skellig michael or great skellig is the larger of the two islands that climb about eight miles off the irish coast of county cary the name skellig comes from a gaelic word i.e. rock in the sea within 100 years of Saint Patrick's death, a Christian monastery was established here as a place of Christian isolation, learning and protection.

The monastery remained in continuous use until it was abandoned at the end of the 12th century, most of the island and the ruins of the monastery became a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1996. The Skelet Islands are also considered important areas of nesting for rare species of birds in spoiler alert since 2015 skellig michael has become a hideout for a certain jedi hermit you know it's not easy to get to skellig michael only a few boat operators have permits and there is only a window of a few months during the summer when the weather cooperates even then trips to the islands are canceled the seas are too rough The monastery can only be accessed by three sets of steps leading directly out of the sea.

The monks created three routes known as East, South and North Steps to gain access during different weather conditions, as you can imagine, this place becomes very unpleasant, even inaccessible. During the dark winter months today, only these southern steps are open to visitors. The southern and northern steps meet here at Christ's chair and continue as one to the monastery. Skellig Michael has two distinct peaks connected by a flat central part behind me known as Christ's Seat, each The peak is associated with an impressive archaeological site, both of which are a testament to the amazing engineering skills of the monks.

The first site is this main monastery built on the steep slope on the east side of the island. The monastery complex includes a smaller main church. chapels cemetery garden water cisterns and these famous beehive huts as homes it was an incredible trip to a truly epic place on our planet not only are the natural features impressive but the historical importance of the place is transcendental skellig michael represents an amazing era when the monks in out-of-the-way places helped preserve Christianity and its biblical manuscripts, historian Kenneth Clark writes that it's hard to believe that for a long time, almost a hundred years, Western Christianity survived by clinging to places like Skellig Michael, a pinnacle of rock miles away. the Irish coast rising 700 feet out of the sea now, the hundred years he speaks of stretched from the late 5th century, after Patrick's death, to the late 6th century, when Irish monks had reconnected barbaric Europe with the texts and traditions of Christianity.

Skellig Michael represents an astonishing era in which monks in out-of-the-way places helped preserve Christianity and its biblical manuscripts. After the Roman Empire collapsed and the European continent fell into chaos, the pagan island once known as Hibernia stepped in to preserve almost without help the foundations of western civilization and talk about biblical texts of this era let's return to dublin for the last time and explore one of ireland's great national treasures i'm back in dublin at historic trinity college to read one of the most biblical texts world famous the book of kells trinity college was founded in 1592 by Queen Elizabeth I it was modeled after the universities of Oxford and Cambridge in Britain, but unlike those other ancient universities, only one university was established here, so The designations Trinity College and University of Dublin are interchangeable.

Trinity College is widely considered the most prestigious. University of Ireland and one of the most respected in all of Europe. The Book of Kells takes its name from Kells Abbey, which was its home for centuries, but today it is here in the former library of Trinity College. The old library was built in the 18th century. century to house Trinity's huge collection, upstairs is the famous Long Room displaying 200,000 of the library's oldest books in these incredible oak display cases. On the ground floor is the exhibition of the Book of Kell, which turns darkness into light. The highlight is the room known as the treasury, where the real Book of Kells is located and related manuscripts are displayed to preserve the Book of Kells.

The library usually displays two of the four volumes at a time. The curators also rotate one page of illustration and one page of text so that no page is exposed to the environment. As long as it's a sensitive national treasure of Ireland, we can't film it, but I'm going down and have a look without the cameras. The Book of Kells is an illuminated manuscript containing the four gospels. Matthew Mark, Luke and John. An illuminated manuscript is a handwritten copy of the text decorated with colorful borders of initials and illustrations. The Book of Kells was created in Ireland or England around 800 AD. by monks belonging to the columba movement which was directly influenced by patrick was written in latin with drawings from the vulgate and other earlier texts and is considered a masterpiece of western calligraphy and biblical enlightenment the book of kells is widely regarded as the greatest treasure national of ireland in the 12th century the historian gerald of wales called it citing the work of an angel, not a man, one of the most revered pages of illustrations illuminate the gospel of matthew, chapter 1, verse 18.

In latin, The verse begins this is how Christ was born. The page of illustrations is crafted almost entirely around the name of Christ or, more specifically, the traditional abbreviation using the chi rho symbol. chi and row are two letters of the greek alphabet the first two letters of christ chi is written as an x ​​rho is approximately a p remember this was hand drawn around 800 AD. The greek letters almost seem to float on the page where the book of kells is one of the most famous examples of a biblical manuscript produced from the late 6th to the early 9th centuries in monasteries planted as a direct result of patrician.

It also turns out that these monasteries were the key to preserving Christian texts after the fall of the Roman Empire and during the darkest periods of European history that followed, in fact, when we look back in history, it was the outlying island of Ireland. which was fundamental to preserve Western civilization. It was the monasteries that protected Christian traditions. Hand-copied biblical manuscripts preserved other key texts of Western thought and generally re-evangelized Europe after the fall of Rome and it all began with the faith, courage and resilience of a man named Patrick. Let's end this special episode with a powerful prayer attributed to Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland.

Happy St. Patrick's Day. May the strength of God guide us May the power of God preserve us May the wisdom of God instruct us May the hand of God protect us May the path of God direct us May the shield of God defend us May the angels of God guard us traps of the evil one against the temptations of the world may Christ be with us may Christ be before us may Christ be in us may Christ be above all may your grace Lord be always ours on this day or Lord and forever amen