Maewyn Succat

That’s Celtic-British for Magonus Succetus, which is the Latin name for the man who would be known to modern-day Irish Christians as Naomh Pádraig, that is to say…

Saint Patrick

Son of a Romano-British Christian deacon named Calpurnius, it is uncertain exactly when and where Maewyn Succat was born, but it is believed to have been between 385-390 A.D., in the village of Bannavem Taburniae, somewhere along the north-west coast of the Roman province of Britannia. The actual location of "Bannavem Taburniae" has never been securely identified.

Patrick is important to Anglicans because he is, without really stretching, an Anglican. Born in The North (probably not far from Chester), and schooled in early British churchmanship.

Patrick’s mission work in Britain and Northern Ireland, along with that of St. Alba, helps to form the Anglican claim that, not only doth Rome have no authority in Ye Realm of England, Rome hath NEVER primary authority in England, because the early Church in England developed parallel to early Church of Rome, and not under her auspices.

Fifth-century Rome was in no way the juggernaught she would become during the medieval era, and Rome during the 5th century was in no position to enforce her will on any of the near provinces, let alone distant Britain, because of the barbarian Goths.

According to the Annals of Ulster, Patrick was probably teaching by the year 428 AD. Rome was still recovering from the barbarian Sack of 410. Patrick probably ministered to about the year 460 AD, and Rome finally fell in 476 AD.

Fast-forward just over a millennium – 1533 AD. Emperor Charles V of Austria holds Pope Clement VII prisoner in Ravenna. When cardinal Wolsey seeks to arrange a divorce for Henry VIII, it is Charles V, seeking to leverage the Habsburg dynasty into the English Royal Succession, who pulls Clement’s strings and denies the divorce. (If you don’t think the Habsburgs had designs on the English throne, just wikipedia Mary Tudor…)

English Clergy rejected the authority of Rome, and asserted that the Church of England had always been a distinct church, and they cite Patrick as one of the planters. Certainly the Church of England was well-enough established to send Restitutus, the Archbishop of London, to the Council of Arles in 314 AD, while the Church of Rome wouldn’t get her ducks in a row until the Council of Nicea, eleven years LATER.

Second Patrick…
There is an earlier Patrick, who was from Gaul (France) who dies around 361. He is often confused with the British Patrick.

When and where was the first St. Patrick’s Day parade? New York City – 1756. The British Army held a parade in honour of St. Patrick’s Day to show their appreciation to the loyal Irish soldiers (Catholic and Protestant)for defeating the French in the Seven Years War (French and Indian War).

Thank you, St. Patrick.