History of Saint Patrick in Ireland
Saint Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland. He helped bring Christianity to Ireland. Every 17th March Ireland celebrates with a national holiday and holds festivals and special events to commemerate the man who reportedly banished snakes from the Emerald Isle.
Patrick was born in Kilpatrick in Scotland in the year of 387 A.D. Between the ages of fourteen and sixteen Patrick was kidnapped from Britain and brought to Ireland were he was sold as a slave to work as a Shepard on an Irish mountain range. Ireland was full of Celts that were Druids and pagans during this era and as a slave he learned the Celtic Language which was spoken in Ireland at that time. Although he wasn't a religious boy he did spend his time in captivity finding his faith in Christianity.
At 22 years of age, six years after being captured, he managed to escape from Ireland after having a dream from God telling him to leave. From Ireland he went into hiding in a monastery to harden his faith and it was during this time he took on the name Patricius, Pádraig in Irish (Patrick). In another dream he heard the people of Ireland calling "We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more."
Patrick returned to Slane in County Meath, Ireland on March 23rd, 433 A.D. When he was in his 30's he became one of the first Christian missionaries in Ireland. One legend says Patrick had met a Chieftain in Meath called Dichu who had tried to kill him but Patrick managed to convert Dichu to Christianity.
Although he was not the first Christian he did however have the biggest impact in the country by converting thousands of people by preaching the gospel and it was Dichu (now known as Saint Dichu) that gave Patrick a gift of a large barn that was converted into his first Church, located in Sabhall, County Down in Ulster.
Patrick with his disciples, Beningnus, Auxilius, Iserninus, and Fiaac, travelled all over Ireland teaching his faith, converting clan chiefs, building churches, opening schools and monasteries and convincing many Irish to become monks and nuns. Patrick preached all over Ireland for 40 years mostly in poverty and died on March 17, 461A.D in his Church in Sabhall, County Down.
Saint Patrick used Shamrocks, a three-leaved Clover, to teach the people of Ireland the concept of the Holy Trinity. The Shamrock has been associated with him and the Irish ever since. Did St Patrick drive snakes from Ireland? During this time or any time Ireland never had any snakes but it is believed the snakes were a symbol of the druids or Paganism which is symbolized as serpents.
Irish Traditions on St Patricks Day
March 17th is a public holiday in Ireland with the majority of Irish people attending mass to celebrate Saint Patrick and on this day people usually wear Shamrocks as a sign of the teachings of the Holy Trinity by Saint Patrick, a spiritual day on which pubs would stay closed until the 1970’s when Irish law changed. Today, a Shamrock worn on your lapel is better known as wearing of the green.
St Patrick’s Day is also celebrated by parades across the world such as United States, Canada, Australia, Japan, Singapore, and Russia. Although it is more common that on this day people can claim Irish heritage by ‘wearing of the green’ and drinking green beer it has become more of an event to celebrate the Irish culture. The United States boasts the largest parades such as the New York City St Patrick’s day parade and Chicago, where the river is dyed green.
