OCPAC FOUNDATION PRESIDENT
BOB LINN
AN IRISH SLAVE
WHO SAVED THE WEST
The greatest gift ever bestowed by England to the cultures of the world was made possible by Patrick in the 5th century when providence endowed this remarkable man with not only a fortuitous conversion to Christ, but an additional calling to engage in one of the most illustrious and storied ecclesiastical endeavors of cultural transformation the world has known.
The 1957 World Book Encyclopediastates of Saint Patrick:
He found Ireland all heathen and left it all Christian.
See Page 6142
England’s Maewyn Succat, better known to the world as Saint Patrick, gave his life to the Irish, a people who had once had abducted and enslaved him.
Through Patrick, Ireland was transformed from a godless society of murderous, heathenized, and barbarous Druids to a society devoted to the establishment of Christendom.
It was a transformation with an impact similar to that of King Solomon (I Kings 3-5) who impacted not just one but many nations.
Not only was a vibrant church established (300 local churches in Ireland alone), but these churches represented a full-orbed Christianity that transformed the government of Ireland as well as many other nations.
When Thomas Cahill wrote his 1995 book titled How the Irish Saved Civilization, he employed a title that did not over-state the impact of this English youth transformed from teenage slave of harsh Irish Druids to devoted servant of the King of Kings sent to recast Irish culture. His life of service transformed the whole of Ireland and peoples beyond.
Among the tens of thousands of converts was Ireland’s King Loigaire (King Leary).
This conversion of the Irish people and Irish leadership to Christianity brought with it a replacement of their pagan Druid laws with Bible-based Latin-Irish laws.
Biblical law was introduced into the civil realm when, in 432, Patrick penned the Liber Ex Lege Moisi(Book of the Law of Moses). It emphasized the rule of law and local self-government and transformed localities throughout Ireland.
Leslie Hardinge’s 1995 book, The Celtic Church in Britain, tells us that:
Wherever Patrick went and established a church, he left an old Celtic law book, Liber ex Lege Moisi (Book of the Law of Moses) along with the books of the Gospel.
This became known as the Senchus Moror Code of Patrick.
Bill Federer writesthat:
The Code of Patrick was taken by missionaries to Britain where it laid the foundation for English Common Law, later codified by Alfred the Great (847-899).
Alfred’s legal code was derived from Mosaic Law and Jesus’ golden rule.
King Alfred’s civil laws became the root of all English and American common law, trial by jury, and habeas corpus.
As American law is based on English Common Law, one is struck with the thought that Saint Patrick may have even influenced the legal system in the United States.