"As to what brought me back to Ireland: you don't think it was just to please myself that I came, regardless of the Lord's will? What then? The fact is that I am bound by the Spirit of God not to return to my kinsfolk.

Do you imagine it's any credit to myself that I have ended up with such tender feelings for this people who once kidnapped me, and caused total havoc among the servants, both male and female, of my father's house?

I was a free-born citizen, not a slave; my father was a city councillor in the Roman administration. But, I traded my free-born status so that others might benefit. I am not ashamed of this and have no regrets about it.

So here I am: a slave in the service of Christ to a remote nation, for the inexpressible glory of everlasting life which is to be found in Christ Jesus Our Lord."

Jim McCormack, St. Patrick: The Real Story as told in his own words, 48.