The Prophecies of St. Patrick

The collective burial ground of St. Patrick, St. Colmcille and St. Brigid, in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland

In light of the impending publication of Sr Lucia's biography, A Pathway Under the Gaze of Mary, I thought it would be timely to revisit some earlier material posted on this blog about the prophecies of St. Patrick, which also seems to tie into the events seen by the last visionary of Fatima at Tuy, 1944, when she was instructed by Our Lady to write down the contents of the Third Secret. As is by now widely known by readers of this blog, Sr Lucia witnessed a devastating tsunami type event during this vision, which appears to be a prelude to the final passover of the Church detailed in the Third Secret, which describes the martyrdom of a pope followed by clergy, religious and laity, in what can only be the final persecution of Christians under the Antichrist. It seems that the content of the 1944 Tuy apparition is in some way related to the interpretation of the secret itself, which Our Lady had order Sr. Lucia not to commit to writing at the same time as the Third Secret:

"...be at peace and write what they command you to, but not that which you were given to understand about its meaning,’ intending to allude to the meaning of the vision that the Virgin herself had revealed to her."

If this 1944 Tuy apparition is in some way related to the content of the Third Secret itself, then we are prompted to compare the unifying motifs which are found in both visions - that of the description of the dazzling light of God:

‘I felt my spirit flooded by a light-filled mystery which is God and in Him I saw and heard: the point of the flame-like lance which detaches, touches the axis of the earth and it [the earth] shakes: mountains, cities, towns and villages with their inhabitants are buried. The sea, rivers and clouds leave their bounds, they overflow, flood and drag with them into a whirlpool, houses and people in a number unable to be counted; it is the purification of the world from the sin it is immersed in. Hatred, ambition, cause destructive wars.
(The Tuy apparition of 3rd January, 1944)

And we saw in an immense light that is God: ‘something similar to how people appear in a mirror when they pass in front of it' a Bishop dressed in White ‘we had the impression that it was the Holy Father'. Other Bishops, Priests, men and women Religious going up a steep mountain, at the top of which there was a big Cross of rough-hewn trunks as of a cork-tree with the bark... (The Third Part of the Secret of Fatima, 3rd January, 1944) It seems that the above parallel descriptions of the dazzling light which represents the radiance of God are meant to be viewed side by side here, and is intended to provide the reader with some sort of chronological indicator as to the sequence of end time events contained in the Third Secret. In the Third Secret, we are told that the final persecution of Christians under the Antichrist follows a vision of the light of God, while in the 1944 apparition, the appearance of the radiance of God is followed by a cataclysmic tsunami event.  We are thus prompted to connect both events together, and link the tsunami seen in the 1944 vision as being in some way related to the end time persecution of Christians under the Antichrist. This sequence of events also appears in an ancient prophecy attributed to St. Patrick, which foretells the destruction of Ireland by the sea seven years before the end of the end of the world, in order to spare the Irish from the reign of the Antichrist:

These are the three prayers of Patrick, as they were delivered to us by the Hibernians, entreating that all should be received on the day of judgment, if we should repent even in the last days of our life. 

That he should not be shut up in hell. That barbarian nations should never have the rule over us. That no one shall conquer us, that is the Scots, before seven years previous to the day of judgment, because seven years before the judgment we shall be destroyed in the sea, this is the third.

 

This prophecy can be traced back to original documents dating from the 7th century (Tirechan's untitled memoirs of St. Patrick), which are based on the The Book of Ultan - an earlier now lost source written by a disciple of Patrick himself (the full text of Tierchan's work can be found online here). The prayer that "no barbarian nations" should ever have rule over Ireland, has so far proved true in the fact that it has only ever been conquered by Christian nations. We should also note that the word "Scots" here refers to the Irish people rather than the present sense of the term. The Irish were referred to as Scoti in Latin, and Irish rule over Northern Britain during the Dark Ages gradually saw the term being transferred to that country.

This prediction of the end-time flood of Ireland is often associated with another prophecy attributed to St. Colmcille (who is also known by his Latin name St. Columba).

 

I concede a favour to them without exception, 
and St Patrick also did concede the same; 
that seven years before the last day, 
the sea shall submerge Eirin by one inundation

The above prophecy is believed to be taken from a 9th century document titled Colum Cille cecinit, but so far the earliest source it can be traced back to is O'Kearney, N. The Prophecies of Ss. Columbkille, Maeltamlacht, Ultan, Seadhna, Coireall, Bearcan, Malachy, &tc (Dublin: John O’Daly, 1856) – a book which is known to contain many spurious prophecies formulated as rhetoric for the 1798 Irish rebellion. It is possible that this quatrain is based on an earlier source or tradition, such as the Leabhar Breac, but currently its origins remains untraceable. It is unlikely that the original prophecy was made by St. Colmcille, but instead may have developed from the earlier, almost certainly authentic literature concerning the life of St. Patrick.

The prophecy of Ireland being destroyed by end-time floods is intimately related to the other material in Public and private revelation which tells of an eschatological inundation, and seems to be inextricably linked to the threat posed by the collapse of the volcano Cumbre Vieja into the Atlantic ocean (see the earlier post Mega-tsunami, where I show how this event is connected with the "great mounatin, burning with fire" being thrown into the sea in Rev 8:8, as well as several other biblical passages).

As we can see from the diagram below, Ireland is one of the countries that would be most affected be a mega-tsunami generated by the collapse of the volcano Cumbre Vieja in the Canary Islands.

According to a long standing Christian prophetic tradition, the tribulation period at the end-time which sees the rise to power of the Antichrist, will last for a total of seven years. The fact that the prophecy of St. Patrick foretells that Ireland would be destroyed by the sea seven years before the last day in order to spare the Irish from the reign of the Antichrist, suggests that the Beast ascends to world domination as a direct consequence of the catastrophic flooding caused by the lateral collapse of the volcano Cumbre Vieja into the Atlantic Ocean. The Beast therefore literally emerges from the chaos of the sea:

And I saw a beast rising out of the sea, with ten horns and seven heads, with ten diadems on its horns and blasphemous names on its heads. (Rev 13:1)

 

Another even more obscure prophecy attributed to St. Patrick appears to foretell the previously unthinkable - a time when Ireland would lose its faith in Christ. Sadly, this prophecy pretty much describes the current state of our beautiful island, which to a large extent, is now shunning the Roman Catholic faith.  What was once before a inextricable part of Irish national identity, is now subject to the calumny of the growing anti-clericalism in the Irish media, which has now filtered out into wider society. The prophecy appears in chapter CLXXV of the vita by the Cistercian hagiographer Jocelyn of Furness (fl. 1175-1214):

The different States of Hibernia are in a Heavenly Vision
shown unto the Saint.

 

 

And the man of God anxiously desired and earnestly prayed that he might be certified of the present and the future state of Hibernia, to the end that he might be assured of the faith, or of the value that his labors bore in the sight of God. Then the Lord heard the desire of his heart, and manifested the same unto him by an evident revelation; for while he was engaged in prayer, and the heart of his mind was opened, he beheld the whole island as it were a flaming fire ascending unto heaven; and he heard the angel of God saying unto him: "Such at this time is Hibernia in the sight of the Lord." And after a little space he beheld in all parts of the island even as mountains of fire stretching unto the skies. And again after a little space he beheld as it were candles burning, and after a while darkness intervened; and then he beheld fainter lights, and at length he beheld coals lying hidden here and there, as reduced unto ashes, yet still burning. And the angel added: "What thou seest here shown, such shall be the people of Hibernia." Then the saint, exceedingly weeping, often repeated the words of the Psalmist, saying: "Whether will God turn himself away for ever, and will he be no more entreated? Shall his mercy come to an end from generation to generation? Shall God forget to be merciful, and shut up his mercy in his displeasure?" And the angel said, "Look toward the northern side, and on the right hand of a height shalt thou behold the darkness dispersed from the face of the light which thenceforth will arise." Then the saint raised his eyes, and behold, he at first saw a small light arising in Ulydia, the which a long time contended with the darkness, and at length dispersed it, and illumined with its rays the whole island. Nor ceased the light to increase and to prevail, even until it had restored to its former fiery state all Hibernia. Then was the heart of the saint filled with joy, and his heart with exultation, giving thanks for all these things which had been shown unto him: and he understood in the greatness of this fiery ardor of the Christian faith the devotion and the zeal of religion, wherewith those islanders burned. By the fiery mountains he understood the men who would be holy in their miracles and their virtues, eminent in their preachings and their examples; by the lessening of the light, the decrease of holiness; by the darkness that covered the land, the infidelity which would prevail therein; by the intervals of delay, the distances of the succeeding times. But the people think the period of darkness was that in which Gurmundus and Turgesius, heathen princes of Norwegia, conquered and ruled in Hibernia; and in those days, the saints, like coals covered with ashes, lay hidden in caves and dens from the face of the wicked, who pursued them like sheep unto the slaughter. Whence it happened that differing rites and new sacraments, which were contrary to the ecclesiastical institutes, were introduced into the church by many prelates who were ignorant of the divine law. But the light first arising from the north, and after long conflict exterminating the darkness, those people assert to be Saint Malachy, who presided first in Dunum, afterward in Ardmachia, and reduced the island unto the Christian law. On the other hand, the people of Britain ascribe this light to their coming, for that then the church seemed under their rule to be advanced unto a better state; and that then religion seemed to be planted and propagated, and the sacraments of the church and the institutes of the Christian law to be observed with more regular observance. But I propose not the end of this contention, neither do I prevent it, thinking that the discussion and the decision thereof should be left unto the divine judgment. 
(See here for the full vita of St. Patrick by Jocelyn of Furness)


It is uncertain whether this prophecy was actually made by St. Patrick himself, since it does not appear in the earlier works on the saint's life. The other more well-known prophecy of St. Patrick (which foretold that Ireland would suffer from a terrible deluge seven years before the end of the world to spare the Irish from the reign of the Antichrist) is of far greater provenance. But it certainly interesting, given the current state of affairs in Ireland.
Jocelyn attempts to make sense out of the prophecy by linking it to the appearance of the Viking invaders, who ravaged the coasts of Ireland in the early Middle Ages. The light in "Ulydia" (an archaic name for Ulster) which brings about the reversal of the apostasy is rightly connected by Jocelyn to St. Malachy, who was the abbot of Bangor Abbey in the north of Ireland, just outside of Belfast (unfortunately, nothing of the original building remains of Bangor Abbey today, other than a stump of a wall in the grounds of the modern Anglican abbey). St. Malachy had ensured unity of the Church in Ireland with the Roman Catholic Church by travelling to Rome to obtain pallia for the sees of Armagh and Cashel. And in his famous account of the saint's life, St. Bernard of Clairvaux tells how St. Malachy had helped to restore the Church in Ireland, which had fallen into a terrible state of decay.

The above prophecy is based on the story of St. Patrick lighting the Paschal Fire on the Hill of Slane circa 433AD, in opposition to the pagan festival of Beltane practised by Laoghaire, the High King of Tara. This defiant action was an instrumental moment in the conversion of Ireland. 
This prophecy attributed to St. Patrick also appears to be associated with the Great Apostasy foretold in Scripture, which speaks of a general falling away of Christians from the faith towards the end of the world. 
To see the work of St. Patrick being reversed in such a terrible fashion is something cruel to behold for any true Irish person. But through the intercession of St. Patrick, the once fiery zeal of the Irish faithful will one day return to the shores of our beloved land, and the religion which our ancestors strived and died to protect will once again reflourish on the verdant pastures of the Emerald Isle.