 St. Patrick's Breastplate by St. Patrick. I bind unto myself to-day the strong name of the Trinity by invocation of the same, the three in one and one in three. I bind this day to me for ever by power of faith Christ's incarnation, his baptism in the Jordan River, his death on the cross for my salvation, his bursting from the spiced tomb, his writing up the heavenly way, his coming at the day of doom. I bind unto myself to-day. I bind unto myself the power of the great love of the cherubim, the sweet well-done in judgment hour, the service of the seraphim, confessor's faith, apostle's word, the patriarch's prayers, the prophet's scrolls, all good deeds done unto the Lord, and purity of virgin souls. I bind unto myself to-day the virtues of the starlit heaven, the glorious sun's life-giving ray, the whiteness of the moon at even, the flashing of the lightning free, the whirling winds, tempestuous shocks, the stable earth, the deep salt sea, around the old eternal rocks. I bind unto myself to-day the power of God to hold and lead, his eye to watch, his might to stay, his ear to hearken to my need, the wisdom of my God to teach, his hand to guide, his shield to ward, the word of God to give me speech, his heavenly host to be my guard. Against the demon's snares of sin, the vice that gives temptation-force, the natural lusts that war within, the hostile men that mar my course, or few or many, far or nigh, in every place and in all hours, against their fierce hostility. I bind to me these holy powers. Against all Satan's spells and wiles, against false words of heresy, against the knowledge that defiles, against the heart's idolatry, against the wizard's evil craft, against the death wound and the burning, the choking wave and the poisoned shaft. Protect me, Christ, till thy returning. Christ be with me, Christ within me, Christ behind me, Christ before me, Christ beside me, Christ to win me, Christ to comfort and restore me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me, Christ in quiet, Christ in danger, Christ in hearts of all that love me, Christ in mouth of friend and stranger. I bind unto myself the name, the strong name of the trinity, by invocation of the same, the three in one and one in three, of whom all nature hath creation, eternal Father, Spirit, Word, praised the Lord of my salvation, salvation is of Christ, the Lord. End of St. Patrick's Breastplate by St. Patrick. A letter to the soldiers of Carodacus by St. Patrick. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org, narrated by Sean McKinley. I, Patrick, a sinner, unlearned, resident in Ireland, declare myself to be a bishop. Most assuredly, I believe that what I am I have received from God, and so I live among barbarians, a stranger and exile for the love of God. He is witness that this is so. Not that I wished my mouth to utter anything so hard and harsh, but I am forced by the zeal for God, and the truth of Christ has wrung it from me, out of love for my neighbors and sons for whom I gave up my country and parents and my life to the point of death. If I be worthy, I live for my God to teach the heathen even though some may despise me. With my own hand I have written and composed these words to be given delivery and sent to the soldiers of Carodacus. I do not say to my fellow citizens, or to the fellow citizens of the Holy Romans, to fellow citizens of the demons because of their evil works. Like our enemies they live in death, allies of the Scots and the apostate Picts. Dripping with the blood they welter in the blood of innocent Christians, whom I have begotten into the number for God and confirmed in Christ. The day after the newly baptized, anointed with chrysm and white garments, had been slain, the fragrance was still on their foreheads, when they were butchered and slaughtered with the sword by the above-mentioned people. I sent a letter with a holy presbyter whom I had taught from his childhood, clerics accompanying him, asking them to let us have some of the booty, and of the baptized they had made captives. They only jeered at them. Hence I do not know what to lament more. Those who have been slain, or those whom they have taken captive, or those whom the devil has mightily ensnared. Together with him they will be slaves in hell in an internal punishment, for who commit a sin is a slave and will be called a son of the devil. Wherefore let every God-fearing man know that they are enemies of me and of Christ, my God, for whom I am an ambassador. Parasite, fratricide, ravening wolves that eat the people of the Lord as they eat bread. As I said, the wicked, O Lord, have destroyed thy law, which but recently he had excellently and kindly planted in Ireland, and which had established itself by the grace of God. I make no false claim. I share in the work of those whom he called and predestinated, to preach the Gospel amidst grave persecutions unto the end of the earth, even if the enemy shows his jealousy through the tyranny of Carodicus, a man who has no respect for God, nor his priests whom he chose, giving them the highest divine and sublime power, that whom they should bind upon earth should be bound also in heaven. Wherefore, then, I plead with you earnestly, ye holy and humble of heart. It is not permissible to court the favour of such people, nor to take food or drink with them, nor even to accept their alms, until they make reparation to God in hardships, through penance, with shedding of tears, and set free the baptised servants of God and handmaids of Christ, for whom he died and was crucified. The most high disapproving is the gifts of the wicked. He that offereth sacrifice of the goods of the poor is as one that sacrifices the son in the presence of his father. The riches it has written, which he has gathered unjustly, shall be vomited up from his belly. The angel of death drags him away. By the fury of dragons he shall be tormented. The viper's tongue shall kill him. Unquenchable fire devoureth him. And so woe to those who fill themselves with what is not their own, or what doth it profit a man that he gain the whole world and suffer the loss of his own soul. It would be too tedious to discuss and set forth everything in detail, to gather from the whole law testimonies against such greed. Avaris is a deadly sin. Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor's goods. Thou shalt not kill. A murderer cannot be with Christ, whosoever hateeth his brother is accounted a murderer. Or he that loveth not his own brother abideth in death. How much more guilty is he that has stained his hands with the blood of the sons of God, whom he has of late purchased in the utmost part of the earth through the call of our littleness. Did I come to Ireland without God, or according to the flesh, who compelled me? I am bound by the spirit not to see any of my kinsfolk. Is it of my own doing that I have holy mercy on the people who once took me captive and made away with the servants and maids of my father's house? I was free-born according to the flesh. I am the son of a decursion, but I sold my noble rank. I am neither ashamed nor sorry for the good of others. Thus I am a servant in Christ to a foreign nation for the unspeakable glory of life everlasting, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. And if my own people do not know me, a prophet hath no honour in his own country, perhaps we are not of the same fold, and have not one and the same God as Father, as is written, he that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. It is not right that one destroyeth another buildeth up. I seek not the things that are mine. It is not my grace but God who has given this solicitude into my heart to be one of his hunters or fishers whom God once foretold would come in the last days. I am hated. What shall I do, Lord? I am most despised. Look, thy sheep around me are torn to pieces and driven away, and that by those robbers by the orders of the hostile-minded croticus. Far from the love of God is a man who hands over Christians to the Picts and the Scots. Ravening wolves have devoured the flock of the Lord, which in Ireland was indeed growing splendidly, with the greatest care, and the sons and daughters of kings were monks and virgins of Christ. I cannot count their number. Wherefore, be not pleased with the wrong done to the just. Even to hell it shall not please. Who of the saints would not shudder to be merry with such persons or to enjoy a meal with them? They have filled their houses with the spoils of dead Christians. They live on plunder. They do not know, the wretches, that what they offer their friends and sons as food is deadly poison. Just as Eve did not understand that it was death she gave to her husband, so are all that do evil. They work death as their eternal punishment. This is the custom of the Roman Christians of Gaul. They send holy and able men to the Franks and other heathen, with so many thousand Solidae, to ransom baptized captives. You prefer to kill and sell them to a foreign nation that has no knowledge of God. You betray the members of Christ as it were into a brothel. What hope have you in God, or anyone who thinks as you do, or converses with you in words of flattery? God will judge. For scripture says, not only they that do evil are worthy to be condemned, but they also that consent to them. I do not know what I should say or speak further about the departed ones of the sons of God, whom the sword has touched all too harshly. For scripture says, weep with them that weep. And again, if one member be grieved, let all members grieve with it. Hence the church mourns and laments her sons and daughters, whom the sword has not yet slain, but who were removed and carried off to faraway lands, where sin abounds openly, grossly, impudently. There, people who were free-born and have been sold, Christians made slaves, and that, too, in the service of the abominable, wicked, and apostate picks. Therefore I shall raise my voice in sadness and grief. O you fair and beloved brethren, and sons whom I have begotten in Christ, countless of number, what can I do for you? I am not worthy to come to the help of God or men. The wickedness of the wicked hath prevailed over us. We have been made, as it were, strangers. Perhaps they do not believe that we have received one and the same baptism, or have won and the same God as Father. For them it is a disgrace that we are Irish. Have ye not, as is written, one God? Have ye every one of you forsaken his neighbor? Therefore I grieve for you. I grieve, my dearly beloved. But again, I rejoice within myself. I have not labored for nothing, and my journeying abroad has not been in vain. And if this horrible unspeakable crime did happen, thanks be to God, you have left the world and have gone to paradise as baptized faithful. I see you. You have begun to journey where the night shall be no more, nor mourning, nor death. But you shall leap like calves, loosen from their bonds, and you shall tread down the wicked, and they shall be ashes under your feet. You, then, will reign with the apostles and prophets and martyrs. You will take on of eternal kingdoms, as he himself testifies, saying, they shall come from the east and from the west, and shall sit down with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob and the kingdom of heaven. Without our dogs and sorcerers and murderers, and liars and purgers have their portion in the pool of everlasting fire. Not without reason does the apostle say, Where the just man shall scarcely be saved, where shall the sinner and ungodly transgressor of the law find himself? Where, then, will Carodacus with his criminals rubbles against Christ? Where will they see themselves? They who distribute baptized women as prizes for a miserable temporal kingdom which will pass away in a moment, as a cloud or smoke that is dispersed by the wind. So shall the deceitful wicked perish at the presence of the Lord. But the just shall feast with great constancy with Christ. They shall judge nations and rule over wicked kings for ever and ever. Amen. I testify before God and his angels that it will be so as he indicated to my ignorance. It is not my words that I have set forth in Latin, but those of God and the apostles and prophets who have never lied. He that believeth shall be saved, but he that believeth not shall be condemned. God hath spoken. I ask earnestly that whosoever is a willing servant of God be a carrier of this letter, so that on no account it be suppressed or hidden by anyone, but rather be read before all the people and at the presence of Carodacus himself. May God inspire them some time to recover their senses for God, repenting, however late, their heinous deeds, murderers of the brethren of the Lord, and to set free the baptized women whom they took captive in order that they may deserve to live to God, and be made whole here and in eternity. Be peace to the Father and to the Son and to the Holy Spirit. Amen. End of A Letter to the Soldiers of Carodacus by St. Patrick Confession by St. Patrick This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Narrated by Sean McKinley I, Patrick, a sinner, a most simple countryman, the least of all the faithful and most contemptible to many, had for a father the deacon, Calpurnius, son of the late Ponsitus, a priest of the settlement of Banavim Tabornier. He had a small villa nearby where I was taken captive. I was at that time about sixteen years of age. I did not, indeed, know the true God, and I was taken into captivity in Ireland with many thousands of people, according to our deserts, for quite drawn away from God, we did not keep his precepts, nor were we obedient to our priests who used to remind us of our salvation. And the Lord brought down on us the fury of his being and scattered us among many nations. Even to the ends of the earth where I, in my smallness, am now to be found among foreigners. And there the Lord opened my mind to an awareness of my unbelief in order that, even so late, I might remember my transgressions and turn with all my heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my insignificance and pitied my youth and ignorance. And he watched over me before I knew him, and before I learned since, or even distinguished, between good and evil. And he protected me, and consoled me as a father would his son. Therefore, indeed, I cannot keep silent, nor would it be proper. So many favors and graces has the Lord deigned to bestow on me in the land of my captivity. For after chastisement from God, and recognizing him, our way to repay him is to exalt him and confess his wonders before every nation under heaven. For there is no other God, nor ever was before, nor shall be hereafter, but God the Father unbegotten and without beginning, in whom all things began, whose are all things, as we have been taught. And his son Jesus Christ, who manifestly always existed with the Father, before the beginning of time in the Spirit with the Father, indescribably begotten before all things, and all things visible and invisible were made by him. He was made man, conquered death, and was received into heaven, to the Father who gave him all power over every name in heaven and on earth and in hell. So that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord and God, in whom we believe. And we look to his imminent coming again, the judge of the living and the dead, who will render to each according to his deeds, and he poured out his Holy Spirit on us in abundance, the gift and pledge of immortality, which makes the believers and the obedient into sons of God and co-heirs of Christ who is revealed. And we worship one God in the trinity of holy name. He himself said through the prophet, Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. And again, it is right to reveal and publish abroad the works of God. I am imperfect in many things. Nevertheless, I want my brethren and kinsfolk to know my nature, so that they may be able to perceive my soul's desire. I am not ignorant of what is said of my Lord in the psalm. You destroy those who speak a lie. And again, a lying mouth deals death to the soul. And likewise, the Lord says in the Gospel, On the day of judgment, men shall render account for every idle word that they utter. So it is that I should mightily fear. With terror and trembling this judgment on the day when no one shall be able to steal away or hide. But each and all shall render account for even our smallest sins before the judgment seat of Christ the Lord. And therefore, for some time I have thought of writing, but I have hesitated until now. For truly I fear to expose myself to the criticism of men, because I have not studied like others who have assimilated both law and the holy scriptures equally, and have never changed their idiom since their infancy. But instead, we are always learning it increasingly, to perfection, why my idiom and language have been translated into a foreign tongue. So it is easy to prove from a sample of my writing, my ability and rhetoric, and the extent of my preparation and knowledge. For as it is said, wisdom shall be recognized in speech, and in understanding, and in knowledge, and in the learning of truth. But why make excuses close to the truth? Especially when now I am presuming to try to grasp in my old age what I did not gain in my youth, because my sins prevented me from making what I had read my own. But who will believe me, even though I should say it again? A young man, almost a beardless boy, I was taken captive before I knew what I should desire and what I should shun. So consequently, today I feel ashamed, and I am mightily afraid to expose my ignorance, because, not eloquent, with a small vocabulary, I am unable to explain as a spirit is eager to do, and as a soul and mine indicate. But had it been given to me as to others, in gratitude I should not have kept silent, and if it should appear that I put my self before others, with my ignorance and my slower speech, in truth, it is written, the tongue of the stammerers shall speak rapidly and distinctly. How much harder must we try to attain it, we of whom it has said, you are an epistle of Christ in greeting to the ends of the earth, written on your hearts, not with ink, but with the spirit of the living God. And again the spirit witnessed that the rustic life was created by the Most High. I am then, first of all, country-fied, and exile, evidently unlearned, one who is not able to see into the future. But I know for certain that before I was humbled I was like a stone lying in deep mire, and he that is mighty came and in his mercy raised me up, and indeed lifted me high up and placed me on top of the wall. And from here I ought to shout out in gratitude to the Lord for his great favors in this world are forever, that the mind of man cannot measure. Therefore, be amazed, you great and small who fear God, and you men of God, eloquent speakers, listen and contemplate. Who was it summoned me, a fool, from the midst of those who appear wise and learned in the law, and powerful and rhetoric, and in all things? Me, truly wretched in this world, he inspired before others that I could be, if I would. Such a one who, with fear and reverence, and faithfully, without complaint, would come to the people to whom the love of Christ brought me and gave me in my lifetime, if I should be worthy to serve them truly and with humility. According therefore to the measure of one's faith in the trinity, one should proceed, without holding back from danger, to make known the gift of God and everlasting consolation, to spread God's name everywhere with confidence and without fear, in order to leave behind, after my death, foundations for my brethren and sons whom I baptized in the Lord in so many thousands. And I was not worthy, nor was I such that the Lord grant his humble servant this, that after hardships and such great trials, after captivity, after many years, he should give me so much favor in these people, a thing which in the time of my youth I neither hoped for, nor imagined. But after I reached Ireland, I used to pasture the flock each day, and I used to pray many times a day. More and more did the love of God and my fear of Him and faith increase, and my spirit was moved so that in a day I said from up to a hundred prayers, and in the night a like number. Besides, I used to stay out in the forests and on the mountain, and I would wake up before daylight to pray in the snow, in icy coldness, in rain, and I used to feel neither ill nor any slothfulness because, as I now see, the spirit was burning in me at that time. And it was there, of course, that one night in my sleep I heard a voice saying to me, you do well to fast, soon you will depart for your home country. And again, a very short time later, there was a voice prophesying, behold, your ship is ready. And it was not close by, but as it happened two hundred miles away, where I had never been nor knew any person. And shortly thereafter I turned about and fled from the man with whom I had been for six years, and I came by the power of God who directed my route to advantage, and I was not afraid of nothing until I reached that ship. And on the same day that I arrived, the ship was setting out from the place, and I said that I had the wherewithal to sail with them, and the steerman was displeased and replied in anger sharply, by no means attempt to go with us. Hearing this I left them to go to the hut where I was staying, and on the way I began to pray. And before the prayer was finished I heard one of them shouting loudly after me, come quickly because the men are calling you. And immediately I went back to them, and they started to say to me, come, because we are admitting you out of good faith. Make friendship with us in any way you wish. And so on that day I refused to suck the breasts of these men from fear of God. But nevertheless I had hopes that they would come to faith in Jesus Christ because they were barbarians. And for this I continued with them, and forthwith we put to sea. And after three days we reached land, and for twenty-eight days journeyed through uninhabited country, and the food ran out and hunger overtook them. And one day the steerman began saying, Why is it Christian, you say your God is great and all powerful? Then why can you not pray for us? For we may perish of hunger. It is unlikely indeed that we shall ever see another human being. In fact I said to them confidently, Be converted by faith with all your heart to my Lord God, because nothing is impossible for him, so that today he will send food for you on your road until you be sated, because everywhere he abounds. And with God's help this came to pass, and behold a herd of swine appeared on the road before our eyes, and they slew many of them and remained there for two nights, and they were full of their meat and well restored. For many of them had fainted and would otherwise have been left half-dead by the wayside. And after this they gave the utmost thanks to God, and I was esteemed in their eyes, and from that day they had food abundantly. They discovered wild honey besides, and they offered a share to me, and one of them said, It is a sacrifice, thanks be to God, I tasted none of it. The very same night while I was sleeping Satan attacked me violently, as I will remember as long as I shall be in this body. And there fell on top of me, as it were, a huge rock, and not one of my members had any force. But from whence did it come to me, ignorant in the spirit, to call upon Helios? And meanwhile I saw the sun rising in the sky, and while I was crying out, Helios, Helios, with all my might, lo, the brilliance of that sun, fell upon me, and immediately shook me free of all the weight. And I believe that I was aided by Christ my Lord, and that his spirit then was crying out for me, and I hope that it will be so in the day of my affliction, just as it says in the Gospel. In that hour, the Lord declares, It is not you who speaks, but the spirit of your father speaking in you. And a second time, after many years, I was taken captive. On the first night I accordingly remained with my captors, but I heard a divine prophecy saying to me, You shall be with them for two months. So it happened. On the sixtieth night the Lord delivered me from their hands. On the journey he provided us with food and fire and dry weather, every day, until on the tenth day we came upon people. As I mentioned above, we had journeyed through an unpopulated country for twenty-eight days, and in fact the night that we came upon people we had no food. And after a few years I was again in Britain with my kinsfolk, and they welcomed me as a son, and asked me in faith that after the great tribulations I had endured I should not go anywhere else away from them. And of course there in a vision of the night I saw a man whose name was Victoricus, coming as if from Ireland with innumerable letters, and he gave me one of them, and I read the beginning of the letter, the voice of the Irish. And as I was reading the beginning of the letter I seemed at that moment to hear the voice of those who were beside the forest of Folklute, which is near the western sea, and they were crying as if with one voice, we beg you holy youth, that you shall calm and shall walk again among us, and I was stong intensely in my heart so that I could read no more, and thus I awoke, thanks be to God, because after so many years the Lord bestowed on them according to their cry. And another night, God knows, I do not, whether within me or beside me, most words which I heard and could not understand, except at the end of the speech, it was represented thus, he who gave his life for you, he it is who speaks within you, and thus I awoke, joyful. And on a second occasion I saw him praying within me, and I was, as it were, inside my own body, and I heard him above me, that is, above my inner self. He was praying powerfully with sighs, and in the course of this I was astonished and wondering, and I pondered who it could be who was praying within me, but at the end of the prayer it was revealed to me that it was the Spirit, and so I awoke and remembered the Apostles' words. Likewise the Spirit helps us in our weakness, for we know not how to pray as we ought, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with sighs too deep for utterance, and again the Lord our Advocate intercedes for us. And then I was attacked by a goodly number of my elders who brought up my sins against my arduous episcopate. That day in particular I was mightily upset, and might have fallen here and for ever, but the Lord generously spared me a convert and an alien for his name's sake, and he came powerfully to my assistance in that state of being trampled down. I pray God that it shall not be held against them as a sin that I fell truly into disgrace and scandal. They brought up against me after thirty years in occurrence I had confessed before becoming a deacon. On account of the anxiety in my sorrowful mind I laid before my close friend what I had perpetuated on a day, nay, rather in one hour, in my boyhood because I was not yet proof against sin. God knows, I do not, whether I was fifteen years old at the time and I did not then believe in the living God, nor had I believed since my infancy. But I remained in death and unbelief until I was severely rebuked, and in truth I was humbled every day by hunger and nakedness. On the other hand I did not proceed to Ireland of my own accord, until I was almost giving up, but through this I was corrected by the Lord, and he prepared me so that to-day I should be what was once far from me, in order that I should have the care of, or rather I should be concerned for, the salvation of others, when at that time still I was only concerned for myself. Therefore, on that day, when I was rebuked, as I have just mentioned, I saw in a vision of the night a document before my face, without honour, and meanwhile I heard a divine prophecy saying to me, We have seen with displeasure the face of the chosen one divested of his good name, and he did not say, You have seen with displeasure, but we have seen with displeasure, as if he included himself. He said then, He who touches You touches the apple of my eye. For that reason I give thanks to him who strengthened me in all things, so that I should not be hindered in my setting out, and also in my work which I was taught by Christ my Lord. But more from that state of affairs I felt within me, no little courage, and vindicated my faith before God and man. Hence therefore I say boldly that my conscience is clear now and hereafter. God is my witness, and I have not lied in these words to You. But rather I am grieved for my very close friend, that because of him we deserved to hear such a prophecy, the one to whom I entrusted my soul, and I found out from a goodly number of brethren before the case was made in my defense, in which I did not take part, nor was I in Britain, nor was it pleaded by me, that in my absence he would fight in my behalf. Besides, he told me himself, See, the rank of bishop goes to You, of which I was not worthy. But how did it come to him, shortly afterwards, to disgrace me publicly in the presence of all good and bad? Because previously, gladly, and of his own free will, he pardoned me, as did the Lord, who was greater than all. I have said enough, but all the same I ought not to conceal God's gift which he lavished on us in the land of my captivity. For then I sought him resolutely, and I found him there, and he preserved me from all evils, as I believe, through the indwelling of his spirit, which works in me to this day. Again, boldly, but God knows, if this had been made known to me by man, I might perhaps have kept silent for the love of Christ. Thus I give untiring thanks to God, who kept me faithful in the days of my temptation, so that today I may confidently offer my soul as a living sacrifice for Christ my Lord. Who am I, Lord? Or rather, what is my calling, that You appear to me in so great a divine quality, so that today among the barbarians I might constantly exalt and magnify Your name in whatever place I should be, and not only in good fortune, but even in affliction, so that whatever befalls me, be it good or bad, I should accept it equally, and give thanks always to God, who revealed to me that I might trust in him implicitly and forever, and who will encourage me so that, ignorant, and in the last days, I may dare to undertake so devout and so wonderful a work, so that I might imitate one of those whom, once long ago, the Lord already preordained to be heralds of His gospel, to witness to all peoples to the ends of the earth. So we are seeing, and so it is fulfilled. Behold, we are witnesses, because the gospel has been preached as far as the places beyond which no man lives. But it is tedious to describe in detail all my labors one by one. I will tell briefly how most holy God frequently delivered me from slavery and from the twelve trials with which my soul was threatened, from many traps as well, and from things I am not able to put into words. I would not cause offense to readers, but I have God as witness who knew all things even before they happened, that, though I was a poor ignorant wave, still He gave me abundant warnings through divine prophecy. Wintz came to me this wisdom which was not my own. I, who neither knew the number of days nor had knowledge of God, Wintz came the so great and so healthful gift of knowing, or rather loving God, though I should lose my homeland and family. And many gifts were offered to me with weeping and tears, and I offended them, the donors, and also went against the wishes of a good number of my elders. But guided by God, I neither agreed with them nor deferred to them, not by my own grace, but by God, who is victorious in me and withstands them all, so that I might come to the Irish people to preach the gospel and endure insults from unbelievers, that I might hear scandal of my travels and endure many persecutions to the extent of prison, and so that I might give up my free birthright for the advantage of others, and if I should be worthy, I am ready to give even my life without hesitation, and most willingly for His name, and I choose to devote it to Him even unto death, if God granted me. I am greatly God's debtor, because He granted me so much grace that through me many people would be reborn in God, and soon after confirmed, and that clergy would be ordained everywhere for them, the masses lately come to belief, whom the Lord drew from the ends of the earth just as He once promised through His prophets. To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, our fathers have inherited not but lies, worthless things in which there is no profit, and again I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the uttermost ends of the earth, and I wish to wait for His promise which is never unfulfilled, just as it is promised in the gospel. Many shall come from east and west, and shall sit at table with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, just as we believe that believers will come from all the world. So for that reason one should in fact fish well and diligently, just as the Lord foretells and teaches, saying, follow me and I will make you fishers of men, and again through the prophets, behold I am sending forth many fishers and hunters, says the Lord, etc. So it behooved us to spread our nets that a vast multitude and throng might be caught for God, and so there might be clergy everywhere who baptized and exhorted a needy and desirous people. Just as the Lord says in the gospel, admonishing and instructing, go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you and lo, I am with you always to the end of time. And again he says, go forth into the world and preach the gospel to all creation. He who believes and is baptized shall be saved, but he who does not believe shall be condemned. And again, this gospel of the kingdom shall be preached throughout the world as a witness to all nations, and then the end of the world shall come. And likewise the Lord foretells through the prophet, and it shall come to pass in the last days, sayeth the Lord, that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh, and your sons and daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams, yea and on my men servants, and my maid servants, and those days I will pour out my spirit, and they shall prophesy. And in Hosea he says, those who are not my people, I will call my people, and those not beloved, I will call my beloved. And in the very place where it was said to them, you are not my people, they will be called sons of the living God. So how is it that in Ireland, where they never had any knowledge of God, but always until now cherished idols and unclean things, they are lately become a people of the Lord, and are called children of God, the sons of the Irish, and the daughters of the chieftains are to be seen as monks and virgins of Christ. And there was, besides, a most beautiful, blessed, native-born, noble Irish woman of adult age whom I baptized, and a few days later she had reason to come to us to intimate that she had received a prophecy from a divine messenger who advised her that she should become a virgin of Christ, and she would draw nearer to God. Thanks be to God, six days from then, opportunity, and most eagerly, she took the course that all virgins of God take, not with their father's consent, but enduring the persecutions and deceitful hindrances of their parents. Notwithstanding that, their number increases. We do not know the number of them that are so reborn, besides the widows, and those who practice self-denial. Those who are kept in slavery suffer the most. They endure terrors and constant threats, but the Lord has given grace to many of his handmaidens, for even though they are forbidden to do so, still they resolutely follow his example. So it is that even I should wish to separate from them in order to go to Britain, and most willingly was I prepared to go to my homeland and kinsfolk. And not only there, but as far as Gaul, to visit the brethren there, so that I might see the faces of the holy ones of my Lord. God knows how strongly I desire this. I am bound by the Spirit, who witness to me that if I did so he would mark me out as guilty, and I fear to waste the labor that I began. And not I, but Christ the Lord, who commanded me to come to be with them for the rest of my life, if the Lord shall will it and shield me from every evil, so that I may not sin before him. So I hope that I did as I ought, but I do not trust myself as long as I am in this mortal body, for he is strong, who strives daily to turn me away from the faith and true holiness to which I aspire until the end of my life for Christ my Lord. But the hostile flesh is always dragging one down to death, that is, to unlawful attractions. And I know in part why I did not lead a perfect life like other believers, but I confess to my Lord and do not blush in his sight, because I am not lying. From the time when I came to know him in my youth, the love of God and fear of him increased in me, and right up until now, by God's favour, I have kept the faith. What is more, let any one laugh and taunt if he so wishes. I am not keeping silent, nor am I hiding the signs and wonders that were shown to me by the Lord many years before they happened, he who knew everything, even before the beginning of time. Thus I should give thanks unceasingly to God, who frequently forgave my folly and my negligence, in more than one instance, so as not to be violently angry with me, who emplaced as his helper, and I did not easily assent to what had been revealed to me, as the spirit was urging, and the Lord took pity on me thousands upon thousands of times, because he saw within me that I was prepared, but that I was ignorant of what to do in view of my situation, because many were trying to prevent this mission. They were talking among themselves behind my back, and saying, why is this fellow throwing himself into danger among enemies who know not God? Not from Malice, but having no liking for it. Likewise, as I myself can testify, they perceived my rusticity, and I was not quick to recognize the grace that was then in me. I now know that I should have done so earlier. Now I have put it frankly to my brethren and co-workers, who have believed me because of what I have foretold, and still foretell, to strengthen and reinforce your faith. I wish only that you, too, would make greater and better efforts. This will be my pride, for a wise son makes a proud father. You know, as God does, how I went about among you from my youth in the faith of truth and in sincerity of heart. As well as to the heathen among whom I live, I have shown them trust, and always show them trust. God knows I did not cheat any one of them, nor consider it for the sake of God in his church, lest I arouse them and bring about persecution for them and for all of us, and lest the Lord's name be blasphemed because of me, for it is written, Woe to the men through whom the name of the Lord is blasphemed. For even though I am ignorant in all things, nevertheless I attempted to safeguard some and myself also. And I gave back again to my Christian brethren and the virgins of Christ, and the holy women the small unasked-for gifts that they used to give me, or some of their ornaments which they used to throw on the altar, and they would be offended with me because I did this, but in the hope of eternity I safeguarded myself carefully in all things, so that they might not cheat me of my office of service on any pretext of dishonesty, and so that I should not in the smallest way provide any occasion for defamation or disparagement on the part of unbelievers. What is more, when I baptized so many thousands of people, did I hope for even half a jot from any of them? If so, tell me, and I will give it back to you. And when the Lord ordained clergy, everywhere, by my humble means, and I freely conferred office on them, if I asked any of them, anywhere, even for the price of one shoe, say so to my face, and I will give it back. More, I spent for you, so that they would receive me, and I went about among you, and everywhere for your sake, in danger, and as far as the outermost regions beyond which no one lived, and where no one had ever penetrated before, to baptize or to ordain clergy or to confirm people. Conscientiously, and gladly, I did all this work by God's gift for your salvation. From time to time I gave rewards to the kings, as well as making payments to their sons who travel with me, not withstanding which they seized me with my companions, and that day most avidly desired to kill me, but my time had not yet come. They plundered everything they found on us anyway, and fettered me in irons, and on the fourteenth day the Lord freed me from their power, and whatever they had of ours was given back to us for the sake of God on account of the indispensable friends whom we had made before. Also you know from experience how much I was paying to those who were administering justice in all the regions which I visited often. I estimate truly that I distributed to them not less than the price of fifteen men in order that you should enjoy my company, and I enjoy yours always in God. I do not regret this, nor do I regard it as enough. I am paying out still, and I shall pay out more. The Lord has the power to grant me that I may soon spend my own self for your souls. Behold, I call on God as my witness upon my soul, that I am not lying, nor would I write to you for it to be an occasion for flattery or selfishness, nor hoping for honor from any one of you. Sufficient is the honor, is not yet seen, but in which the heart has confidence. He who made the promise is faithful, he never lies. But I see that even here and now I have been exalted beyond measure by the Lord, and I was not worthy that he should grant me this, while I know most certainly that poverty and failure suit me better than wealth and delight. But Christ the Lord was poor for our sakes. I certainly am wretched and unfortunate. Even if I wanted wealth I have no resources, nor is it my own estimation of myself. For daily I expect to be murdered or betrayed or reduced to slavery if the occasion arises. But I fear nothing because of the promises of heaven, for I have cast myself into the hands of Almighty God who reigns everywhere. As the Prophet says, Cast your burden on the Lord and he will sustain you. Behold now I commend my soul to God, who is most faithful, and for whom I perform my mission in obscurity. But he is no respecter of persons, and he chose for me this service that I might be one of the least of his ministers. For which reason I should make return for all that he returns me? But what should I say? Or what should I promise to my Lord? For I alone can do nothing unless he himself vouchsafe it to me. But let him search my heart and my nature, for I crave enough for it, given too much, and I am ready for him to grant me that I drink of his chalice, as he has granted to others who love him. Therefore may it never befall me to be separated by my God from his people, whom he has won in this most remote land. I pray God that he gives me perseverance, and that he will deign that I should be a faithful witness for his sake right up to the time of my passing. And if at any time I manage anything of good for the sake of my God whom I love, I beg of him that he grant it to me to shed my blood for his name, with proselytes and captives, even should I be left unburied, or even were my wretched body to be torn limb from limb by dogs or savage beasts. Or were it to be devoured by the birds of the air. I think most surely, for this to have happened to me, I have saved both my soul and my body. For beyond any doubt on that day we shall rise again in the brightness of the sun, that is, in the glory of Christ Jesus our Redeemer, as children of the living God and co-heirs of Christ, made in his image. For we shall reign through him and for him and in him. For the sun we see rises each day for us at his command, but it will never reign, neither will it splendor last, but all who worship it will come wretchedly to punishment. We, on the other hand, shall not die, who believe in and worship the true Son, Christ, who will never die, no more shall he die who has done Christ's will, but will abide for ever just as Christ abides for ever, who reigns with God the Father almighty and with the Holy Spirit before the beginning of time and now and for ever and ever. Amen. Behold over and over again I would briefly set out the words of my confession. I testify in truthfulness and gladness of heart before God and his holy angels that I never had any reason except the gospel and his promises ever to have returned to that nation from which I had previously escaped with difficulty. But I entreat those who believe in and fear God, whoever deigns to examine or receive this document composed by the obviously unlearned sinner, Patrick, in Ireland, that nobody shall ever ascribe to my ignorance any trivial thing that I achieved or may have expounded that was pleasing to God, but accept and truly believe that it would have been the gift of God, and this is my confession before I die. End of Confession by St. Patrick.