The Fierce Courage of St. Patrick | FORWARD BOLDLY
In 433 A.D., Ireland was overrun by the snakes of paganism.
The Druids practiced their dark sorcery on the high hills, sacrificing humans — often through burning them alive — to their demon-gods in the hopes of obtaining favors. They were protected by the war lords and rulers of each clan, and feared by the people.
Then arrived a giant of the Faith on March 25th of that year (the Feast of the Annunciation), whose heroic courage, whose toughness and tenacity, whose willingness to do battle with demons, whose love of God and love of the Irish brought the Christian faith to the Emerald Isle, driving out the snakes and christianizing the entire country.
For more than a thousand years she remained — but today a new paganism threatens to engulf Ireland, as more and more of her people turn away from the Faith back to the darkness of the nation's former ways.
May God raise up new apostles of faith, with the love, endurance and fierce courage of St. Patrick, to bring back the light of the Gospel to Ireland.
