St Patrick's Day History

PATRICK (5th century). The enduring legends of St. Patrick are that he used a shamrock to explain the Trinity and that he banished all snakes from Ireland. The true story of Patrick, however, survives not in his myths but in his work. Patrick was responsible for converting the people of Ireland to Christianity.

Patrick was born to a Romanized family in Britain probably in the first half of the 5th century. At the age of 16 he was taken to Ireland by pirates and sold into slavery. The young boy was sustained by his faith during his six years working as a herdsman. When Patrick escaped and returned to Britain, he had a vision of the Irish beseeching him to return to Ireland to spread his faith. Patrick recorded this call to his vocation in the 'Confessio', his spiritual autobiography and one of his two short writings that have survived.

After studying in continental monasteries, Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary. Despite a constant threat to his life, Patrick traveled widely, baptizing, confirming, and preaching and building churches, schools, and monasteries. Patrick succeeded in converting almost the entire population of the island. His 'Epistola' pleads the case of the Christian Irish at the hands of their British conquerors. Patrick's writings have come to be appreciated for their simplicity and humility. St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland. His feast day is celebrated on March 17.

SHAMROCK. "You tell us that there are three gods and yet one," the puzzled Irish said when St. Patrick was preaching the gospel to them in the 5th century AD. "How can that be?" The saint bent down and plucked a shamrock. "Do you not see," he said, "how in this wildflower three leaves are united on one stalk, and will you not then believe that there are indeed three persons and yet one God?"

Thus, according to Irish legend, Ireland's patron saint chose the shamrock as a symbol of the Trinity of the Christian church. To this day the shamrock remains the national emblem of Ireland and is worn proudly by Irish people the world over on St. Patrick's Day (March 17).

No one can agree on which plant is the shamrock picked by St. Patrick. Many claim it is the small hop clover (Trifolium procumbens), a plant with yellow flowers and blue-green leaflets. Others believe it is a variety of white clover (T. repens) or the black medic (Medicago lupulina). These plants are native to Europe and naturalized in North America. The European wood sorrel (Oxalis acetosella), which grows in Europe and Asia, is also often considered to be the true shamrock.

   

   

   

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