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by Yvette Podber

St. Patrick - The Patron Saint of Ireland. St. Patrick was a Christian missionary credited with the conversion of Ireland from paganism. He lived from the late 4th century A.D. to the mid 5th century A.D., so long ago that it’s difficult to separate fact from legend.

St. Patrick was born in either Scotland or Wales, the son of Roman parents living in Britain. When he was about fifteen or sixteen, he was captured and enslaved by an Irish chieftain during a raiding party across the sea. He spent several years enslaved in Ireland, herding and tending sheep and swine.

It was during his captivity that St. Patrick dedicated his life to God. Legend has it that St. Patrick escaped captivity and Ireland after a dream in which God instructed him to journey to the Irish coast where he found a ship that returned him to his family. After years of religious study, he became a priest.

In a document attributed to him known as “The Confession”, St. Patrick heard the voice of the Irish in his dreams, “crying to thee, come hither and walk with us once more.” Eventually, Pope Clemens commissioned St. Patrick as bishop to preach the gospel to the Celtic people.

Arriving back in Ireland, despite constant threats to his life, he commenced an incredible mission, traveling across the country, preaching and baptizing, ordaining priests and bishops, erecting churches and establishing places of learning and worship. It has been said that he and his disciples were responsible for converting almost all the population of Ireland to Christianity.

Legend of the Serpents – The most famous legend about St. Patrick is that he miraculously drove snakes and all venomous beasts from Ireland by banging a drum. Even to touch Irish soil was purported to be instant death for any such creature. However, this legend is probably a metaphor for his driving the pagans from Ireland, as snakes were often associated with pagan worship.

The Shamrock – Finding that the pagan Irish had great difficulty comprehending the doctrine of the Trinity, St. Patrick held up a shamrock (similar to a three-leaf clover) to show how the three leaves combined to make a single plant, just as the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost combined to make the holy Trinity. The Irish understood at once, and from that time the shamrock has been the symbol of the land. Irishmen wear it in their hats on the saint’s day.

March 17th – It is the death of Saint Patrick, and his recognition as the patron saint of Ireland, that led to the celebration of March 17th as Saint Patrick’s Day.

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