St. Patrick's Day
Created | Updated Jan 28, 2002
St. Patrick's Day, the festival of the Patron Saint of Ireland, is celebrated each year on March 17th. Unlike most other national days, Paddy's Day is celebrated around the world, particularly in the U.S. where people commemorate the day by colouring rivers and beer green. (In Ireland people celebrate Paddy's Day by going green after drinking rivers of beer).
So who was St. Patrick? And why is he so fondly remembered by so many people around the world 1,500 years after his death?
St. Patrick was born Maewyn Succat, to an Anglo-Roman family in Wales, in 415 AD. When he was 16 years of age he was captured by an Irish pagan warlord, Niall of the Nine Hostages, and he spent six miserable years in Ireland until he escaped to France. (What happened to the other 8 hostages is not known :-))
Maewyn went on to become a priest, changing his name to Patricius, or Patrick. Rather than forgetting his wretched experiences in Ireland, he decided to go back to the country that enslaved him, and he spent his later years preaching Christianity to the Irish, banishing snakes and popularising the shamrock. He is believed to have died in 493 AD.
That might have been that, but for the fact that the Irish took to this new religion with a gusto bordering on fanaticism. Huge monastries were built across the island, and missionaries such as St. Gallen, St. Columkille and St. Columbanus left Ireland to re-convert Europe during the Dark Ages. Ultimate pride of place was given to St. Patrick - the man who converted the Irish.
The memory of St. Patrick today possibly lends itself more to the Nationalism of the 18th Century than to his real place in history. As political movements grew advocating separation from Britain, the Irish used ancient symbols of identity to differentiate them from the British. St. Patrick was an obvious choice, not so much by birth, but because of his legacy. As Irish people left their homeland through famine, poverty, deportations and emigration, they clung on to this powerful symbol of national identity. The Great Famine of 1847 swelled the numbers of Irish emigrants around the world, and this lead to the celebration becoming something of a global event. The Patrick's Day Parade is itself an American invention, first hosted in Boston in 1737.
So who was St. Patrick? And why is he so fondly remembered by so many people around the world 1,500 years after his death?
St. Patrick was born Maewyn Succat, to an Anglo-Roman family in Wales, in 415 AD. When he was 16 years of age he was captured by an Irish pagan warlord, Niall of the Nine Hostages, and he spent six miserable years in Ireland until he escaped to France. (What happened to the other 8 hostages is not known :-))
Maewyn went on to become a priest, changing his name to Patricius, or Patrick. Rather than forgetting his wretched experiences in Ireland, he decided to go back to the country that enslaved him, and he spent his later years preaching Christianity to the Irish, banishing snakes and popularising the shamrock. He is believed to have died in 493 AD.
That might have been that, but for the fact that the Irish took to this new religion with a gusto bordering on fanaticism. Huge monastries were built across the island, and missionaries such as St. Gallen, St. Columkille and St. Columbanus left Ireland to re-convert Europe during the Dark Ages. Ultimate pride of place was given to St. Patrick - the man who converted the Irish.
The memory of St. Patrick today possibly lends itself more to the Nationalism of the 18th Century than to his real place in history. As political movements grew advocating separation from Britain, the Irish used ancient symbols of identity to differentiate them from the British. St. Patrick was an obvious choice, not so much by birth, but because of his legacy. As Irish people left their homeland through famine, poverty, deportations and emigration, they clung on to this powerful symbol of national identity. The Great Famine of 1847 swelled the numbers of Irish emigrants around the world, and this lead to the celebration becoming something of a global event. The Patrick's Day Parade is itself an American invention, first hosted in Boston in 1737.
