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Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

March 17, 2026

All my life I wondered what was the big deal about Saint Patrick’s Day. People wearing green and all. One year I was in Philadelphia for a conference on Saint Patrick’s Day. There was a noisy parade and the bar in the hotel seemed to indicate that drinking was an important part of the celebration, Irish style and all.

More recently in my studies I came to realize that Saint Patrick joined a few other Christian monks (Columbanus, Boniface and others) to lead one of the great revival evangelization movements of Christian history. The context for this was the advance of norther barbarian Germanic tribes attacking the Roman Empire (Goths, Visigoths, Lumbards, Vandals, Saxxons, and Angels). Ultimately Rome was sacked several times and the Empire fell to the pagans.

Interesting enough Patrick was not Irish. In a raid into Britain young Patrick was captured and carried north by a tribe. There he worked as a slave in the barbarian north lands. In time he was able to escape to France where he entered a monastery and became a monk. In a dream Patrick saw pagan children crying out to him to come and rescue them and he decided that he must study Christianity and return to the north.

Similar to Columbanus, Boniface, and other missionary monks in the north, Patrick’s ministry was marked by supernatural moments. At times God chose to amaze the pagans with demonstrations of superior power. When this happened it gained the attention of entire clans and often brought warlords to faith, along with all their warriors. 

Patrick was also known for applying the method of Jesus, sending his monks in training out to evangelize the villages. John Wesley also did this in his work in England. In the tradition of monastic life and ministry, Patrick’s followers established schools, fed the poor, and cared for people in need in the villages. History now shows that the pagan barbarian tribes conquered the Roman Empire, but the Christian missionaries brought the pagans to faith and so saved civilization. 

Bruce Shelley wrote:

Europe owes more to the Christian faith than most people realize. When the barbarians destroyed the Roman Empire in the west, it was the Christian church that put together a new order called Europe. The church took the lead in rule by law, the pursuit of knowledge, and the expressions of culture. (Church History in Plain Language, p. 179)

The Celtic Revival is one of the great mission movements of Christian History. When pagan barbarians swept in with their cultic practices, no education, tribal culture, and no structure of law, it was the missionary monks that penetrated the north and brought Christian faith as the basis for building civilization again. 

I am fairly certain the celebrants in Philadelphia that year did not understand all of this. Perhaps it is time for a great surge of Christian mission to once again launch out through our land carrying the transforming and liberating power of the Gospel and the Kingdom in Jesus Christ. 

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

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