On the beautiful banks of the Clyde, in the village of Kilpatrick, lived a little boy; his name was Succat, afterward known as St. Patrick. He was born in the year 372 A.D. His father and mother were both British, and were very pious people. They sought continually to instill into the mind and heart of their little boy the knowledge of Christ, but little Succat paid small attention to their loving instructions.
Some years passed and his parents left Scotland and settled in Bretagne. Here a terrible calamity befell them. One day Succat, with his two sisters, was playing near the seashore, when some Irish pirates, led by a robber named O'Neal, carried them all off to their boats, and sold them into slavery in Ireland. Succat was sent into the fields to feed swine by his pagan master. It was here—alone, with no one to speak to him about Jesus and His salvation—that the sweet lessons of his dear mother, Conchessa, came to mind. The Holy Spirit worked upon the young slave. He felt his sin, mourned over it; he looked to and believed on the Savior of the lost. Succat, just sixteen years of age, was born to God in pagan Ireland.
Rescued from his captivity, Succat was taken prisoner, and then again rescued. However, he could not be happy, even with his godly parents; he felt he must go to Ireland and preach the gospel there. His parents and others did all they could to turn him from his purpose, but in vain. During the silence of the night he fancied he heard voices calling to him from the dark forests of Erin: "Come, holy child, and walk once more among us." He went to Ireland and summoned the savage tribes by beat of drum, and then told out simply, in their own tongue, the good news made real to him when a captive amongst them the story of the Son of God. Many of the wild Irish were turned from idols to serve the living God, and to wait for His Son from heaven. St. Patrick. the Irish preacher, thus wonderfully raised up of God, introduced Christ and Christianity to many in the beautiful Emerald Isle.
Oh, the ways of God, how wonderful and gracious! Just think of God using a little boy as His instrument in making known Christ and His great salvation to the Irish people!