Regional Synod of Canada - Reformed Church in America

Pioneer Christian Monthly

Date - Jan/76

Contributor - R. A. Hartmans

Title - Patrick And The Irish Mission Church

Topic - Church History

When we study the history of our Church, we will notice the importance of mission work. From the very beginning the Christian faith was passed on both by laymen and by missionaries. Organized mission work increased significantly in the fifth century.

One of the great centers of mission work was found in Ireland. This island, which never was conquered by the Romans, sent out many missionaries to Europe, when the continent was ravaged by invasion and war.

Though Ireland was never taken by Roman force, it was conquered by Jesus Christ, mainly because of the labours of the son of a Roman citizen.

Patrick was the son of a Roman notable, who lived somewhere on the Severn river in western Britain. He was a Christian and spoke Latin. When he was a boy of sixteen years, Nial, High King of Ireland, raided England and took Patrick captive to Ireland. There he became the slave of a pagan Irishman, and his daily occupation was the tending of sheep. After six years of captivity his religious attitude had changed entirely. He was much occupied by spiritual thoughts, and one night he had a vision in which he learned that a ship was waiting to take him back to Britain. Patrick escaped his master to find indeed a ship on the coast, ready to sail for his home country. Having arrived home, he continued to feel restless. Then he set out to France.

In France Patrick entered a monastery. Here he received further education and became a priest. Patrick enjoyed his stay in the quiet monastery, but his thoughts kept traveling back to the past. One night he had a vision of Ireland, and he heard voices calling him to minister the Gospel to the Irish people.

Patrick's vision came at a time that the Church was very much interested in the islands across the Channel.

In 431 Pope Celestine sent out Palladius to convert Ireland. However, the missionary died shortly after his arrival. Then the Church of Gaul consecrated Patrick as bishop and sent him to Ireland on a mission which was to last the rest of his life.

At that time Ireland was ruled by the Gaels. These people had invaded the island in earlier centuries. Though they mixed with the original inhabitants through marriage, there was a distinctive line between the free tribes and the tributary tribes.

Ireland was divided into a number of small states. They were ruled by kings. The smaller states were united into larger groups. One of the more powerful kings ruled over the union of small states.

When Patrick arrived in Ireland, the country consisted of seven unions of states. These unions were headed by one king: the "ardri" or high king. Later an Irish hymn would adore Jesus Christ as the "High King of Heaven." 1)

Patrick did not receive much opposition to his missionary work when he arrived in Ireland.

Though he had some difficulties with the aristocracy and the Druids, his reception was generally good. Particularly the subjugated people and the slaves accepted the Gospel gladly.

As time went by Patrick's pleasant character gained him many friends. He began to receive a hearing among the nobility, and a local prince gave him a piece of land in Armagh. There Patrick built the first church on the island, and it was destined to become the centre of Irish Christianity. Soon other churches would be built and monasteries erected. All the time the missionary worked towards one goal, to conquer Ireland for Christ.

The results of Patrick's mission cannot be over-estimated. Before his arrival there were some Christians on the island, but they were like sheep without a shepherd. The Missionary brought the Christians together into one Church.

Along with the Christian Gospel Patrick brought to Ireland the Latin civilization of the dying Roman Empire. Before his arrival no written literature of significance was being used. In a comparatively short time Irish scholars and poets wrote both in Latin and the native Gaelic.

Upon Patrick's arrival Ireland's native religion was dominated by Druidic priests. The Druids were an order of teachers, philosophers and prophets, who claimed to have all knowledge about this life and the life hereafter. The Druids were the medicine masters and lawmakers of that time. They were highly respected and the equals of kings.

After the introduction of Christianity, the Druids disappeared; their place was taken by the Christian scholars of Ireland. The influence of the Druids, however, can be traced in the development of the monastic schools, the laws, poetry and other stages of life.

During his lifetime Patrick began many new churches, and ne appointed three hundred bishops. These bishops had much less influence than their colleagues, in other countries. Indeed, the bishop was often considered less important than the abbot of the local monastery. In later years the abbots would gain so much power that the Pope addressed himself to the abbots as the heads of the Irish Church.

Thus it is understandable that from the beginning not the episcopal see but the monastery became the center of religious life in the Irish Church. Here monks would be trained in the study of the Scriptures. At a time that few scholars in Europe could read Greek or Hebrew, Irish monks would interpret the Bible from the original tongues. Other monks would occupy themselves with copying the Bible and other religious and secular books. With their great love for religion and beauty, the monks illuminated these scriptures with intricate patterns, which dated back many centuries before the coming of Christianity.

As some monks studied the Scriptures and copied them, others prepared themselves for mission work. Missionaries trained in Ireland went out to complete the conversion of Scotland and England. They traveled into Europe, along the Rhine, through Switzerland and even into Italy. In the course of their journeys the missionaries founded many new monasteries.

A well-known missionary was Columbanus. He first went into France where he founded the monasteries of Luxeuil and Fontaines. Later he began work along the Rhine. His assistant Gallus founded the monastery St. Gall in Switzerland after which one of that countries' cantons is named.

Another great missionary was St. Columba. He was a member of the famous race of Nial of the Nine Hostages. As a youth he studied at many Irish schools, and he developed a great passion for the Christian faith. He took on religious orders and became abbot of the monastery in Derby.

Columba founded several other Irish monasteries for which he drew up the rules and regulations. For more than five centuries these rules guided virtually all monasteries in Ireland. At one time Columba became involved in a quarrel about the copy of a Bible. He took up arms against the opposition and was beaten. The battle took the lives of many people which caused Columbia to repent deeply. He decided to seek redemption by going into foreign countries to win as many souls for Christ as, because of his fault, perished in battle.

In 563 Columba sailed to Scotland where the King of Argyle gave him the island Iona as a seat for his mission work. From there missionaries traveled into England and Scotland. A little more than one hundred years before Patrick had come from England to Ireland to proclaim the Gospel. Now in turn Irish monks were sent abroad to proclaim the Gospel and change the world.

1) The Hymnbook, hymn 304: 4

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