St Patrick's 'Autobiography' (Confessio). Listen to his own words direct from the year AD460.

About this sermon

A number of subscribers asked if I could make a recording of St Patrick’s autobiography his ‘Confessio’ - or Confession. It lasts about 40 minutes. And you have both the recording of his words -and the text here. I chose a translation that felt accessible to us - a contemporary voice. A few words of introduction to the text: What is exciting about this extraordinary text is that we are being written to , or spoken to directly by Patrick. We usually have to learn about people from a biographer, or friend - or even a critic. But here we have a voice coming straight out to us from the 5th Century. It has an astonishing freshness. It was written somewhere near 460 AD. It is a defence, an explanation of his life as a bishop and a missionary to the people of Ireland. It describes his experience of God in a vivid and most remarkable way. He is a Catholic bishop, formed in the late Roman world, saturated in Scripture, and compelled, against his own expectations, to carry the Gospel into Ireland. What you are about to hear is not a legend, a reconstruction, but the voice of a man. It is not as a piece of theology for the schools, but a defence of his life and experience, of a mission carried out under pressure, opposition, and misunderstanding. In our age, when alternative spiritualities and the re-emergence of neo-paganism once again compete for attention, Patrick’s words come to us with a particular clarity. He does not dissolve God into nature, nor reduce faith to feeling. Instead, he speaks of a living Christ—active, sovereign, and present—who acts, calls, judges, protects, and sends. What follows, then, is not merely a historical document. It is a testimony: personal, faithful, Catholic and urgent. Please consider subscribing to my Substack. https://drgavinashenden.substack.com/

Topics

• Self-Control