02Knights Templar - Julian Emperor

SAINTS
known, it is said to have been somewhere named Bannavem
Taburniae in the west of Britain in the region between the
river Clyde and the river Severn. His father was a town councillor
who served as a deacon and who was himself the son of
a priest. Famously, St Patrick was captured by members of an
Irish raiding party who forced him to live as a slave in Ireland
for six years. During his time in captivity Patrick became
deeply religious and spent much time in prayer. According to
legend it was revealed to him in a dream that he would escape
his slavery and return home. It is uncertain whether he was
set free or managed to run away from his captors but, after
many difficulties, he did find his way back to his family. After
his ordeal St Patrick trained as a priest.
Efforts had previously been made to convert the Irish by a
bishop named Palladius but his mission had been generally unsuccessful.
In around 435 AD, St Patrick was sent by the
Church to Ireland where he set up his see in Armagh. One of
St Patrick’s primary aims in Ireland was to put an end to the
pagan practice of worshipping the sun. Many of the prehistoric
monuments of Ireland seem likely to have been linked to
the concept of the sun as a form of deity, suggesting that this
was a form of religious belief with extremely ancient roots.
Newgrange burial chamber in the Boyne valley close to
Dublin, for example, was designed with the specific intention
that its inner burial chamber should be illuminated by the
sun’s rays at important times in the ritual year. Similarly, the
megalithic stone circle of Beltany in County Donegal is orientated
towards the May Day sunrise and the circle takes its
name from the pre-Christian feast of Beltane celebrated at
that time.
It has been suggested by some that the ancient Celtic
Christian wheel cross takes its form from the meeting of
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