The Celtic Festival is upon our town for another year. When I read that it was the year of Ireland and the Isle of Man, I was reminded of the story of a fascinating man. The patron Saint of the Isle of Man: St Maughold.
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Christianity had come to the Isle with the arrival of St Patrick near the middle of the 5th century. Maughold was an Irishman and, by all accounts, not a particularly pleasant one. He was a known murderer, thief and all-around troublemaker.
One day, St Patrick was passing through Maughold's hometown. Maughold and his band of delinquents heard that this reputed miracle worker was not far off. They decided to play a prank on him, hoping to expose him as nothing but a pious fraud. One of the men lay under a shroud and pretended to be dead. The rest then ran over to Patrick to beg him to raise their friend to life.
Patrick agreed to help them. He came with the group to their friend, touched the "corpse", and left. You can imagine the group's laughter, having caught the foolish old man out. But their laughter turned to fear when they opened the shroud only to discover that their mate had actually died!
The group chased Patrick, begging him to come and raise their friend for real this time. Again, Patrick agreed to their request and prayed for the dead man, who returned to life.
As you might imagine, this experience was life-changing for young Maughold. He became so sorry for his past life that, as a sign of his contrition, he was put into a boat off the Irish coast with his hands bound and pushed adrift. In time, the boat drifted to the Isle of Man, where Maughold lived in a cave as a hermit. There, he so endeared himself to the locals by his new way of life that they made him the 3rd bishop of Man.
His whole would be transformed. The murderer and thief became utterly devoted to the service of Jesus Christ and his people. Even today, you can visit Kirk Maughold, the parish Church he established around 450 AD.
Now, ripping yarn, though it may be, I don't know which details are fact and which are fiction, but his story has continued to be told. Even if some of the details have likely been embellished, there is no reason to doubt that a man named Maughold had a remarkable conversion experience and went on to become a bishop in the Isle of Man.
St. Maughold's is a beautiful example of a story that has been played countless times-the story of a life changed by God. In fact, God had used St Patrick to introduce himself to Maughold. No doubt, then, in the moment of fear and confusion at what Maughold had witnessed, Patrick would have comforted him with words similar to that Patrick would apply to his own conversion when, in his "Confession", Patrick wrote,
"My name is Patrick. I am a sinner... the Lord opened up my awareness of my lack of faith. Even though it came about late, I recognised my failings. So I turned with all my heart to the Lord my God and he looked down on my lowliness and had mercy on my youthful ignorance. He guarded me before I knew him, and before I came to wisdom and could distinguish between good and evil. He protected me and consoled me as a father does for his son."
