On Saint Patrick's Day everyone is a little bit Irish! Every year on Saint Patrick's Day, school children in the United States will be pinching those that forgot to wear green! Adults will be headed to a nice pub to have some green colored beer and wear a little top hat. But what is Saint Patrick's Day about and who is Saint Patrick? Saint Patrick's Day, sometimes called St. Paddy's Day or St. Patty's Day is named after Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. It is a holiday or a celebration that takes place on the seventeenth of March each year and marks the day or date that Saint Patrick died. Saint Patrick is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland, and after thirty years on that mission he died on the seventeenth of March in the year 461 AD and as legend has it, was buried at Downpatrick, in Ireland.
They are not exactly sure of the date of 461 AD, but whatever the case may be, that is an incredibly long time ago. It is amazing that Saint Patrick was bringing Christianity to Ireland that early in history, if you think about it. Saint Patrick was originally born in Britain and not Ireland. Saint Patrick's father was the deacon of a church and his grandfather was a priest. When Saint Patrick was about sixteen years of age, he was taken as a captive from Britain and made to be a slave in Ireland. Saint Patrick was forced to herd animals or be a herdsman and remained a slave in Ireland for a total of six years.
While a captive in Ireland, it is said that he prayed a lot and his faith grew. After six years he heard the voice of an Angel that he would call "Victoricus" telling him that he would soon go back home to Britain and that his ship was ready to go. Escaping his master, he traveled to a port some two hundred miles away, where he found a ship and got aboard and eventually returned to Britain, his home and family. Later, Saint Patrick entered the Church and became a Bishop and then returned to Ireland to spread the gospel, for thirty years. Legend has it that Saint Patrick taught the Irish about the Holy Trinity in Christianity by showing the Irish people the shamrock, a small plant that has three leaves and using it to illustrate the Christian teaching of the Trinity which are three: God The Father, The Son and The Holy Spirit. Legends also say that Saint Patrick "cast out" all the snakes from Ireland because snakes had attacked him during a fast. To this day you will not find a snake in Ireland.
