The Gospel of Christ came to Ireland over 1500 years ago. Despite many attempts by Satan and his agents God has been pleased to maintain His truth in this land. Following its first planting the Gospel was carried by men whose hearts the Lord had touched into many neighbouring countries: Scotland, England, Wales, France, Germany, Switzerland and further.
God has been pleased, in some measure, to do again in these latter days what He did in those distant days. May the land, now associated with terror and strife, become known again by the title it was then given, “The land of Saints and Scholars.”
The history of the Gospel in Ireland begins, to a very real degree, with the story of Patrick.
There is much written about Patrick that is entirely fictitious. We can, however, be reasonably sure concerning his faith in Christ and the doctrines that he preached.
There exist today two of his writings accepted by all scholars. One is his Confession. From his Confession we learn that his father was a deacon, the son of Potitus, a gospel minister. Where Patrick was actually born is something of a mystery. England, Scotland, Wales and even France all claim to be the place of his birth. In his Confession he tells us that he came from a village called Bonavem Taberniae. Where that village was is difficult now to say. It would appear that the most likely place was somewhere in Roman Britain. Very possibly he came from a place now called Kilpatrick, that is, the ‘Church of Patrick’, near Dumbarten in the Firth of Clyde, in Scotland.
Read more … The Footsteps of Patrick
See also:
Patrick the Apostle of Ireland
Ireland before the seventeenth century plantation
