About 1,500 years ago, pirates forced a teenage boy from his home in Britain and enslaved him in pagan Ireland. He lived there six years, toiling at the whim of his masters. His name was Patrick.

Patrick’s masters believed they had the right to demand his labor and services whether he agreed or not. He was their slave. But Patrick rebelled against the injustice of bondage, escaping and completing a perilous journey back to his home.

Years later, he answered a call to the clergy and nobly returned to the land of his enslavement—on a mission to spread Christianity. His preaching and life example were so powerful that, by popular approval, he came to be regarded as the patron saint of Ireland. That regard and tradition continue to this day. [Read more…]