When you get past the snakes and shamrocks, you will find a St. Patrick who was deeply devoted to his prayer life. It is one aspect of his life that he recorded in his Confession.
This life of unceasing prayer is expanded even more in legendary accounts of his life that were printed after his death, such as the one included in Dom Prosper Gueranger's Liturgical Year.
These later accounts appear to exaggerate his prayer life to an excessive degree, since when you add together all of his activities and his personal prayer life, he would literally not be able to fit it all during the day.
Lessons on prayer from St. Patrick
However, even though these descriptions of St. Patrick's prayer life seem unattainable to the average person, the whole point of it all is to show how St. Patrick adapted St. Paul's challenge to "Pray without ceasing" (1 Thessalonians 5:17).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church explains this type of prayer as a prayer of love.
We don't have to recite memorized prayers all day long to be close to God, but we can and should thank God throughout the day for all of our gifts and send him little darts of love.
St. Patrick teaches us to unite our lives to our prayer, never abandoning prayer in the midst of our activities and always lifting our minds and hearts to God.
