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St. Patrick
March 17, 2006
St Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland.
He receives much more media attention than the other British
Patron saints, St George of England, St Andrew of Scotland
and St David of Wales.
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This could be due to the fact that in the eighteenth
century a large number of Irish emigrated to the US
and settled in the areas of Boston and New York. They
were romantic Celts and must have suffered much nostalgia.
This promoted a great national identity for them and
it followed that they would venerate their Patrons
saint. This they effected in a very American way and
it was first celebrated in the US in 1737.
While there are several versions as to where the saint
was born the accepted version is that it was in Wales
where he was captured by Irish pirates. Other sites
claiming his birth place are in South West Scotland
and North West England. As this was taking place in
the Fourth Century no definitive record is available
although the date seems to have been established as
385 AD.
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After some years as a slave in Ireland he
escaped to France where he was accepted into a monastery
and began studies which converted him to Christianity. He
aspired to return to Ireland and to covert the people from
their Celtic Gods. And eventually the Church sent him there
as the Second Bishop of Ireland.
For the next thirty years he traveled throughout the country
establishing churches and monasteries. All this time he
was chased and persecuted by the Celtic Druids of the Old
Faith, the power at the time.
He died on March 17th 1461 and that date hereafter was revered
as St Patrick’s Day. Originally it was a Holy Day
in the Roman Catholic Calendar but later reverted to a purely
secular holiday and much commercialized. The Florists make
it a big event to sell their shamrocks, the Breweries market
Green Beer with much flourish, and the Greeting Card industry
display a wide variety of cards for Irish people and anyone
else who cares.
While one of the Great Miracles attributed to St Patrick
is his ridding the island of snakes. This pure myth as Ireland
never had any snakes
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