Christ and Saint Patrick

Ebony and ivory in perfect harmony
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The Confessio reflects the theological atmosphere of fourth and fifth centuries Anno Domino in the way Saint Patrick emphasizes Trinity and the role of Christ. In the background we can feel the battle between Arianism and Orthodox Christianity that was still raging especially in the Gothic world. Saint Patrick expresses his faith in Jesus Christ with deepest theological sentences of the Church.

It is remarkable how the Confessio is absolutely filled with Biblical references. The Hypertext Stack project giving the English translation uses a smart, non-intrusive quoting technique to provide relevant Bible verses in the text. Nevertheless, the editors still decided to limit the number of these references in order not to to clutter the text with them. Someone has calculated that Saint Patrick used more then five hundred verses from the Bible and Apocrypha in this relatively short text.

Saint Patrick expresses deepest love, humble gratefulness and simple countryman's faith in Jesus Christ, his Lord.  And Jesus has Himself merged in faith with His servant as Christ speaks through him to the Irish people and to the entire world. He as a person is a living letter of Christ.

The merging of Word of God with Saint Patrick's person happens without crushing the identity or personality of Saint Patrick as a human being with his strengths and weaknesses. Christ and Patrick are like the ebony and ivory of the piano keyboard in the song of Michael Jackson and Paul McCartney: they live in perfect harmony!

And what a life it is!