St. Patrick was a saint in the only real sense of that word, made such because he was sanctified by God, by His Spirit, as he submitted himself wholly to the Lordship of Jesus Christ and received Him as Savior and Lord. He accomplished incredible things. Some say he was the greatest missionary since Paul. If any man can be said to have virtually converted a nation, it was St, Patrick—a hero far greater than the myth, and one that challenges every one of us today, almost 1,700 years later, with his text and Paul’s text, and I hope your text: “For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”