As my fellow Irish Americans set about to dishonor St. Patrick by doing their best to live up to the most malicious stereotypes of us that the Anglo Saxon nativeists invented, it's good to remember that St. Patrick was an escaped slave. As such it's not surprising that the evil of slavery was of special importance to him, one of the most certain things we know about him. One of the few documents that scholars believe is reliably from him is his letter to the soldiers of King Coroticus effectively excommunicating them along with Coroticus because they abducted and enslaved a number of Irish Christians under Patrick's care. His language in his excommunication is remarkably strong and firey considering the mildness and humility of the other document reliably attributed to him, his Confession.
American St. Patrick's day is as disgusting as American Christmas and American Halloween. There isn't anything honorable about it. St. Patrick, escaped slave returned to convert his enslavers and one of the earliest campaigners against slavery deserves a lot better than being used as an excuse to get drunk and participate in parades that become an annual celebration of bigotry and discrimination. Not to mention that disgusting political roast held in Boston every year. Do something to fight against modern slavery, to refuse to buy products made by slave labor in the third world and here. Refuse to ignore the sexual slavery that is so widespread today. That kind of commerce and sexual slavery during his lifetime were condemned by St. Patrick, after all, mentioned specifically as a sin damning Coroticus and his "gangsters".
Update 2015: I was going to include St. Patrick in my series of abolitionist documents last month but knew I'd be posting it for tomorrow anyway. If he was the first successful abolitionist is something I'd like to know, if there's something I learned from that series last month it is that the history of Christian abolitionism goes back and is far stronger than I'd originally believed. It might be a good idea to note that St. Macrina the younger, according to her brother St. Gregory of Nyssa, had that insight even earlier, as she apparently inspired his abolitionism. Her feast day is July 19. St. Macrina the elder is their grandmother. That family generated an impressive number of saints.
If Patrick was the first abolitionist, we can't claim him for the Christians, ya know.....
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