成人快手

Good Morning

St Patrick鈥檚 day, celebrated tomorrow, was once a day of great solemnity. The opposite is now true as celebrations begin in Ireland and many other countries this weekend and, not least, I鈥檓 sure if Ireland beat Scotland in the 6 Nations clash this afternoon.

I鈥檝e studied Celtic Christianity for many years. There are a number of great legends attached to Patrick, for which he is venerated and celebrated, including how he banished snakes from Ireland. But I鈥檝e always wondered what he was really like? Uniquely among the early saints Patrick wrote a memoir in which he explains 鈥淚 Patrick, a sinner, am a most uncultivated man, and the least of all the faithful, and I am greatly despised by men.鈥� That surprised me.

It was two centuries after his death that the cult of Patrick really began. Ian Bradley, an expert in all things Celtic, suggests 鈥淧atrick鈥檚 posthumous fame was achieved at the cost of grossly distorting his actual character and achievement in life鈥� concluding that Patrick the man and Patrick the saint are two very different people.

But isn鈥檛 that something we see all too often in our so-called celebrity culture? There鈥檚 the public persona and then there鈥檚 the person behind the fa莽ade. Curating an image on social media is relatively simple- but what about the warts and all reality of the person behind that image? Who we are and who we are seen to be?

The Christianity of Patrick鈥檚 day was a religion of the people. A faith to be lived out honestly and practically in a rough and ready kind of way. According to the early English historian Bede, the period was characterised by a lack of pretentiousness and a disarming kind of honesty.

For me, it鈥檚 easy to see why St Patrick became the focus of devotion and pilgrimage. He is himself portrayed as a dedicated and courageous pilgrim, arriving in Ireland during times that were often brutal. But, inside, he seems vulnerable, frightened, and secure.

St Patrick鈥檚 story certainly inspires me not to airbrush out my own imperfections. They are part of who I am. Acknowledging them gives me a better chance of confronting them and making a difference where I am called to be. 13 million pints of Guinness will be raised across the globe tomorrow alone. I鈥檒l be raising mine to St Patrick the man, rather than the legend.

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