Appendix 1. Was Patrick Roman Catholic? The average Christian today would no doubt tell a questioner that Patrick was Roman Catholic. However, as we have seen, he wasn't. He belonged to the independent, autonomous Celtic or British Church. To be sure, the British Church of his day had contacts with the Pope, but it was not under the Pope's authority. It was, and had always been, a self-governing church.
More than that, the Celtic Church of Patrick's day bore only faint resemblance to medieval and modern Roman Catholicism. It knew nothing of purgatory, indulgences, the infallibility of the Pope, transubstantiation, and a whole host of other Roman Catholic dogmas. Celtic Christians of Patrick's day didn't use holy water, pray with a rosary, or say Masses to deliver the dead from purgatory. Patrick never taught his converts to pray to saints.
In fact, in his writings, Patrick uses the word "saint" in its original sense to apply to all godly Christians. For example, he writes in his testimony, "How I would have loved to go to my country and my parents, and also to Gaul in order to visit the brethren and to see the faces of the saints of my Lord." Furthermore, in his writings, Patrick makes no references to relics, bones of apostles, and saints. He didn't perform cures through relics, nor did he encourage his converts to venerate relics.
In fact, there is no evidence that he had ever brought any relics of any kind with him to Ireland. Likewise, Patrick didn't use any statues or icons in his churches. That's why the oldest surviving Christian cemeteries, churches, and monastic cells in Ireland contain no statues, painted icons, or carvings of any kind, other than simple crosses. It is common knowledge that Roman Catholic priests must be celibate. However, Patrick knew nothing of such mandatory celibacy.
After all, his own grandfather was a married priest. More precisely, I should say he was a married presbyter. It was after Patrick's time that British Christians used "priest" as a synonym for "presbyter." Patrick himself never used the word "priest" in his writings. Rather, he refers to his grandfather as a presbyteros, a Latin transliteration of the Greek word "presbyteros." It's also noteworthy that he confessed his serious childhood sin to a fellow layman, his traitorous friend, not to a priest.
Current statues and pictures of Patrick have helped to perpetuate the myth that he was Roman Catholic. That's because they invariably portray him as traveling throughout Ireland wearing a bishop's robe and mitre. However, the sculptors and illustrators who produced these items obviously have not done their homework. In Patrick's day, no bishops roamed about in special clerical garb. That didn't come along until the Middle Ages.
Furthermore, bishops in the West did not begin wearing mitres until the 11th century, about 600 years after Patrick was dead. Patrick was not a Roman Catholic bishop. In fact, he didn't even look like one. Perhaps the most striking difference between Patrick's Christianity and Roman Catholicism concerns Mary. Mariology and Mariolatry have dominated Roman Catholicism for the last 1400 years. In contrast, Patrick never refers to Mary at all in his writings.
Throughout all of his hardships and perils, he never once cried out to Mary. Rather, he called out either to the Father or to Jesus. Similarly, Patrick knew nothing of the various Roman Catholic dogmas about Mary, such as the Immaculate Conception, her ascension to heaven, and her reigning as Queen of Heaven. The Last of the Primitive Christians. If Patrick wasn't Roman Catholic, what was he? As I've mentioned, he was a member of the autonomous Celtic or British Church.
But more than that, Patrick can perhaps best be described simply as a primitive or early Christian. He bore most of the distinguishing characteristics of primitive Christianity. The essence of primitive Christianity was not theology, but an obedient love relationship with Christ. This was also the core of Patrick's Christianity. He was no theologian, nor were any of his disciples. Patrick instilled in his disciples a love of Christ, not a love of theology.
In fact, the Irish Church has never produced any great theologians. Yet, it has raised up some of the finest missionaries in the world. Another characteristic of the early Christians is that they strongly believed in separation of church and state. They didn't try to mix the things of this world with the things of the kingdom of God. Similarly, Patrick did not establish a state church in Ireland, nor did he try to blend Christianity with the affairs of this world.
The early Christians obeyed Caesar so long as his laws didn't conflict with God's commandments. But when his laws violated those of God, the early Christians obeyed God rather than man. Likewise, Patrick showed deference to secular rulers so long as their demands didn't conflict with God's. For example, he paid them tribute when they demanded it. However, he showed no partiality to them when it came to spiritual matters.
He didn't hesitate to excommunicate them, and he would not accept gifts from unbaptized or excommunicated kings. Another distinction of the primitive Christians is that they never used the sword or compulsion from earthly kings to spread the gospel. They offered no earthly enticements or social advantages to their converts. Yet, the early church grew rapidly, converting a large percentage of the Roman Empire.
Like the primitive Christians before him, Patrick didn't use the sword or secular power to convert his hearers. The only social advantage he could offer a convert was access to reading and writing. In fact, much of what he taught went contrary to Irish culture. Patrick depended on the power of the Holy Spirit to change lives, not on the power of this world. His hearers became Christians because of their personal faith in Jesus Christ.
The Christianity that Patrick planted in Ireland was a vibrant Christianity that emphasized prayer, fasting, holy living, and evangelism. How Ireland Became Roman Catholic. If Patrick's converts were not Roman Catholic, why is Ireland so staunchly Roman Catholic today? The answer is that Roman Catholicism came to Ireland by the sword. The Popes had always resented the independent church in Ireland, but they were unable to bring it under Roman domination.
In fact, the Popes were also displeased with the Anglo-Saxon church in England. Even though the English church eventually became Roman Catholic, it resisted many of Rome's practices, such as forced celibacy. For that reason, the Pope had encouraged the invasion of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror. The Pope wanted William to bring the English church in line with the rest of Roman Catholicism.
William and his heavily armed Norman knights defeated Harold the Saxon at the Battle of Hastings, and William was crowned King of England. As king, William worked swiftly to overhaul Anglo-Saxon laws and government and to bring the English church into conformity with Rome. Once William and his successors had accomplished this, the Pope turned his attention to Ireland. In 1169, Pope Adrian issued a papal bull granting the entire nation of Ireland to Henry II, the Norman King of England.
At the Pope's behest, several of Henry's warlords invaded Ireland. These "Christian" invaders slaughtered men, women, and children, and butchered presbyters and monks. They tore down many of the huts of the Irish monks and built Roman Catholic monasteries in their places. The independent church of Ireland was snuffed out. Why the Irish Rejected the Reformation.
Given the fact that Roman Catholicism had been forced on the Irish, a person might logically expect the Irish to have been among the first people to embrace the Reformation. And perhaps they would have, if it had not been for the irony of several subsequent historical events. After the Norman warlords completed their conquest of Ireland in the 12th century, they intermarried with the Irish and soon adopted the Irish language and customs.
As a result, their loyalty to England weakened, and Ireland practically became independent once again. So in the 16th century, Henry VIII of England found it necessary to use strong-arm tactics to bring Ireland back under English rule. Not surprisingly, his brutal tactics alienated the Irish people. So when Henry broke from Rome, the Irish were not about to follow his lead. The Irish decided to remain Roman Catholic rather than to follow anything initiated by Henry VIII.
When the Irish didn't voluntarily accept Henry's ecclesiastical reforms, he tried to force his changes upon the Irish. But his harsh tactics only made the Irish even more devoted to Rome. Later, Queen Elizabeth I went so far as to outlaw Roman Catholic services in Ireland and to execute a number of Irish Roman Catholic bishops and priests. In response, the Irish rebelled numerous times against English rule and English Protestantism.
However, up until the 20th century, the English army swiftly and decisively put down all of the Irish revolts. Each time, the English government imposed new punishments on Ireland. In fact, the English rulers eventually took most of the land in Ireland away from the Roman Catholic Irish and gave it to English Protestant settlers. As a result of these things, the cause of Irish liberty and Roman Catholicism became intertwined and have remained so to this day. That's why Ireland is still staunchly Roman Catholic.
And that is why there is still so much tension in Northern Ireland between the Irish Roman Catholics and the British Protestants.