Saint Patrick: Apostle of Ireland

By Hugh de Blácam The mists of time enshroud Saint Patrick of Ireland, obscuring the details of his life and work, blurring the lines between fable and fact. Yet few saints have attracted such lively interest and steadfast devotion down the centuries than the Apostle of the Emerald Isle. Honoring that interest and devotion, Hugh de Blácam brings the man who shepherded the Irish into the fold of the Church to life—not as mythic hero, but as a man in love with Christ and bound to preach His gospel. Like the Apostle Paul, Patrick’s was a “strong, fiery nature, ready to do all, dare all, and endure all for Christ.” Beginning with Patrick’s boyhood and enslavement, de Blácam then chronicles his commission as bishop to return to Ireland; his answer to the “voice of the Irish”; his casting down of pagan idols and contentions with kings and druids; and his unwavering confession that Christ is Lord and Ireland is Christ’s. “I commend my soul to my most faithful God, whose ambassador I am in my