I, Patrick, a sinner and poorly learned, as is well known, speak to you as the true and anointed bishop in Ireland. I believe with the certainty that all that I am I have received fromm God; and so I live among barbarians and foreigners, a stranger and an exile for the love of the Father--and He is my witness that this is so. I would never, of my own will, speak so harshly and sternly as I feel I must, but I am compelled to by the zeal of God and the truth of Christ, and for the love for my friends [neighbors] and children [sons], for whom I have given up my homeland and my family, and even risked my very life unto the point of death. Though I am despised by some, I have dedicated my life--if I am worthy--to my God to teach these heathen tribes.

I have written these words myself and sent them to be given, delivered, and handed to the soldiers of Coroticus. I do not call them my own people nor fellow citizens of the holy Romans, but because of their evil deeds [I call them] the cohorts of demons. As enemies of God, they are dead even while they are alive, allies of the Scots [i.e., Irish] and the outlaw Picts, who are apostates. I denounce them as bloodthirsty men who seek to gorge themselves on the blood of innocent Christians, whom I have "given birth to" [begotten] in countless numbers for God and confirmed in Christ.

On the day after the newly baptized, still wearing white garments and freshly anointed, were butchered--the chrism [oil] was still fragrant and shone on their foreheads as they were cruelly slaughtered by the swords of the marauders I have just mentioned--I sent a letter with a holy priest whom I hadinstructed from his childhood, accompanied by other priests, imploring them to return some of the booty and baptized captives to us. They laughed in the faces of my emissaries.

Therefore, I do not know for whom I should more rightly grieve. Should I weep for those who were killed or captured, or for those whom the devil has enslaved? For they will be bound along with him [Satan] to the eternal pains of hell, since one who commits a mortal sin is himself a slave and is called the son of Satan.

So let every God-fearing person know that those who murder their own families, who kill their brothers like ravening wolves, who devour the people of the Lord as they would eat bread--they are forever estranged from me and from my God, whose missionary I am. As is said, "The wicked have destroyed your law, O Lord," the law that He has of late--and at the end of time--graciously sown so successfully in Ireland to become firmly established there with God's grace.

I make no false accusation. [I do not exceed my authority.] I am the one He has called and preordained to preach the Gospel despite so many serious persecutions and even to the very ends of the earth, and though the enemy shows his disdain for me through the actions of the tyrant Coroticus, who fears neither God nor the clergy [priests and bishops], whom He has chosen and whom He has granted the highest spiritual power to bind in heaven those whom they bind on earth.

Therefore I earnestly beseech those of you who are holy and humble of heart that it is not correct to seek favor from such as their kind, or even to eat or drink with them, mor should alms be accepted from them until they have done the most severe penance, pouring out their tears to God's satisfaction, and until they have freed the baptized servants and handmaidens of Christ on whose behalf He died and was crucified.

Scripture tells us, "The Almighty utterly rejects the gifts of the wicked. He that offers as a sacrafice the property taken from the poor is like a man who sacrafices the son in the sight of the father." It is said that, "The wealth that he has accumulated criminally he shall vomit up from his belly. The angel of death will drag him away and he will be tormented by wratful dragons; the snakes tongue shall kill him and an unending fire will consume him." And thus,"Woe be to those who sate themselves with what is not their own," and "What shall it profit a man to gain the world and suffer the loss of his own soul?"

It would be tedious and boring to lay out in detail their crimes and to quote from the texts of hte whole Law that proscribe such greed. Suffice it to declare that avarice is a mortal sin. Remember, "You shall not covet your neighbors goods" and "You shall not kill." We know that a murderer cannot stand with Christ. And he who hates his brother will be called a murderer, and "He who hates his brother lives in death." More offensive is he who stains his hands with the blood of those children of God whom He has recently won over to His ways through my own paltry efforts here at the utmost ends of the earth.

Could I have come here, to Ireland, without the guidance of God, or for reasons that were human and secular? Who compelled me on this mission? It is because of the Holy Spirit that I am bound to remain forever seperated from my family. Does this forgiveness that I have shown to the very people who once enslaved me and pillaged the male and female servants of my father's household come from within me? In the eyes of the secular world, I am a free man, the son of a Roman decurion. But I have traded my noble birthright, without shame or second thought, for the advantage [benefit] of others. In a word, I am Christ's slave; I serve Him by ministering to foreign tribes for the sake of the indescribable glory of eternal life that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And if my own people will not know [appreciate] me, it is because "a prophet is without honor in his own country." Indeed, perhaps we are not of the same fold and do not have the one true God. As he says: "He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me, scatters." It is not enough [not correct] that one destroys and another builds up. I do not seek anything for myself. It was not by my own grace, but God who put within me this sincere care in my heart, that I should be one of His hunters and fishers of souls, whom God had long ago foretold would come in the end of days.

I am the target of resentment and jealousy. What shall I do, O Lord? I am openly despised. Look, all around me Your sheep lie torn and spoiled, and by these very soldiers of Coroticus at his evil orders. Far removed from the love of God is anyone who betrays my newly won Christian into the hands of the Scots and Picts. Voracious wolves have eaten the Lord's flock, just when it was increasing in Ireland with tender care. How many sons of Scots kings and daughters of Pictic chiefs have become monks and virgins of Christ--I cannot their number. So do not be pleased by this calamity; it is unacceptable, unjust, and irredeemable all the way to hell.

So who among the holy siants would not shudder to make merry or partake of a feast with men such as these? They have filled their houses wiht the stolen property of dead Christians; they live only to plunder. These wretched men do not know that it is poison that they offer as food to their children and friends, just as Eve did not realize that is was certain death she was offering to her husband. But so it is always with those who commit such evil: their earthly work brings only the eternal punishment of death.

However, the custom of the Christian Romans of Gaul is different: they send holy and capable men to the Franks and other heathen nations with as many thousands of solidi as required to ransom baptized. But you [Coroticus]murder them or sell them to a foreign race who do not know of our true God; you might as well hand over the members of Christ to a brothel. What hope could you then have in the grace of God, or could anyone have who agrees with you, or who speaks with you, or who shows you any measure of respect? God Himself will surely judge. For it is written, "Not only those who do evil, but those who consent to it will be condemned."

I do not know what more I should say or how I can speak of those dead children of God who were ruthlessly struck down by the sword. For it is written: "Weep with those who weep." And again: "If one member grieves, let all be sorrowful." Therefore the entire Church weeps and mourns her sons and daughters whom the sword has not yet touched [slain], but who were made into slaves and taken to distant lands where terrible sin abounds, openly, wickedly, and without shame. Freeborn men are sold there and Christians enslaved--and, worst of all, they are sold to the most despicable and apostate Picts.

For this reason I cry alound in sadness and grief: O most beautiful and beloved brothers and sons whom I confirmed in Christ, and whom I cannot number, what shall I do for you now? I am unworthy to help either God or man. The injustice of wicked men has overcome us. It has made us strangers to one another. Perhaps they do not believe that we have received the same baptism, or that we have the same God and the same Father. They look down at us because we are Irish. But the prophet said: "Have you not the one God? Why have you--each and every one of you--forsaken your neighbor?"

Consequently, I grieve for you. Indeed, I deeply mourn for you, my dearly beloved ones. Yet, I also rejoice within myself. For I see that i have not labored without result, and my journey [exile] to an alien land was not without purpose. And though this was an unspeakably horrible crime, I thank God that you were baptized believers when you left this world for paradise. I can see you in a vision: you have embarked upon your journey to a place where there is no more night, no sorrow, and no death. Freed from your chains, you will romp like young lambs and the wicked will be like ashes beneath your feet.

You will reign with the apostles and the prophets and the martyrs. You will win eternal kingdoms, just as He Himself promised: "They shall come from the east and west, and they shall sit with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven." While "outside [heaven] lie the dogs, the evildoers, and the murderers." And "liars and blasphemers shall be damned to the lake of eternal fire." The apostle rightly says: "When the just man sall barely be saved, where will the sinner and the ungodly lawbreaker expect to find himself?

Where, then, will Coroticus and his criminal band, all of them rebels against Christ--where do they see themselves [in the end]? They have given away baptized young women as booty, all for the miserable earthly gain [of money] that will pass away in a moment like a clould or a wisp of smoke dispersed by the wind. These wicked sinners will evaporate in presence of the Lord, but the just will certainly feast with Christ. They will sit in judgment of the nations and rule over unjust kings for ever and ever. Amen.

I witness before God and His angels that, though I lack learning, all shall be as I have predicted. For these words that I have written in Latin are not mine; they are from God and His apostles and prophets, who have never lied. "Whoever believes will be saved; whoever does not believe will be damned." Thus God has spoken.

My first and sincerest request is that the servants of God who shall come into possession of this letter, do not conceal or withdraw it, but be sure that is is read aloud in public, and even when Coroticus himself is there. I pray that God will inspire the hearers to come to their senses and, even at this late stage, that they should repent of the evil they have commited--the murder of the Lord's brothers--and that they should release the baptized women whom they had taken prisoner and sold. In this way they may yet deserve to live in the grace of God, and they may be restored whole, here and for all eternity. Peace be to the Father, to the Son, and to the Holy Spirit. Amen