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History of St. Patrick's Day |
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So who was St. Patrick? Answering this question also answers the question as to why the holiday was named after him. And once this information is brought to light, it makes sense to look at the history of St. Patrick's Day itself. Therefore, I have broken this page down into the following sections:
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St. Patrick
The short story says Patrick was born to a wealthy Christian family outside of Ireland, that he was captured as a teenager and sold as a slave to a chieftan in Ireland, and that he escaped from Ireland after which he was called by God to carry the Good News of the Gospel back to the pagans in Ireland. As true as this may be, it really isn't complete. So what I have done in this section is to take all the different accounts of the life of St. Patrick and have tried to make some sense out of them. St. Patrick's Confession says he was born in a village named Bonaven Taberniae (now known as the town of Kilpatrick, on the mouth of the river Cluyd in Scotland). It is thought that this event took place towards the end of the 4th century, between 385 AD and 390 AD. His given Celtic name was Maewyn Succat. (He wasn't called by his Latin name of Patricius until he was adopted into the priesthood). St. Patrick was born into a wealthy family. It seems his father, Calpernius, was a Roman official of high rank who was a deacon in the village church, following in the footsteps of his father (Patrick's grandfather) who was a priest. His mother, Conchessa, was supposed to have been a near relative (possibly a niece) of the great patron of Gaul, St. Martin of Tours. Patrick was taken prisoner at the age of 16 during a raid by Irish marauders and sold into slavery. It is thought that he was purchased by a cheiftan named Milchu who gave him the job of tending his flocks of sheep on Mount Slemish in County Antrim (although some accounts say it was near Killala in County Mayo). Regardless, he was a shepherd for over 6 years during which time he became a devout Christian as he turned to God in prayer during this lonely and frightful time of his life. Then one night he had a vision. God's voice came to Patrick and said that it was time to leave Ireland and go home, and that a ship was ready for him. So Patrick walked the 200 miles to the coast and found passage on a ship that was ready to set sail. What happened next is uncertain, but he was eventually reunited with his family in Britain. After 6 long years he was home. But this wasn't to be his home for long. Patrick had a second vision. As he recounts in his confession, "I saw a man named Victoricus, coming from Ireland with countless letters. He gave me one of them, and I read the opening words which were: 'The voice of the Irish . . .' I thought at the same moment I heard their voice: 'We beg you, young man, come and walk among us once more.'" Supposedly the dream returned again and again, but the end result was that St. Patrick knew he was being called to return to Ireland as a missionary. Patrick didn't hesitate as he was certain this was a call from God. He began to study for the priesthood with the intention of returning to Ireland as a missionary to his former captors. He studied for approximately 15 to 20 years and was ordained a priest by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxere. Shortly after this he was commissioned by Pope Celestine I to return to Ireland to preach the Gospel to the Irish. The time was somewhere between 430 and 435 AD when he arrived back in Ireland. St. Patrick didn't try to eliminate all the Irish beliefs when he taught. Instead, he tried to incorporate some of them into his teachings. He used to light the bonfires during Easter celebrations, and incorporated the sun symbol into the center of the cross (thereby creating the Celtic cross). It is also thought, although not proven, that he used the shamrock leaves to explain the Holy Trinity showing that there can be three distinct entities making up one whole.
Known for his compassion for suffering persons and for his endless zeal, St. Patrick was appointed Bishop of Ireland on about 455 AD at Ard Macha. Some accounts of St. Patrick put his death around 493 AD, but most have it in 461 AD. Regardless of the year, on March 17th, St. Patrick was called home and died in his beloved Ireland. It is said that he died at Saul, Downpatrick, where he had built the first church. St. Patrick not only bcame the Patron Saint of Ireland (to the country and the people to whom he evangelized) but also became the Patron Saint of the Excluded as he never forgot the cruelties of slavery and spoke fervently against it. And it is on account of the many hardships which he endured for the Faith that, in some of the ancient Martyrologies, he is honored as a martyr. St. Patrick. |
On St. Patrick, very little is known for certain. Almost everything we know about St. Patrick comes from his own writings. He has left us an autobiography (called the
Patrick spent anywhere between 30 to 40 years in Ireland preaching the Gospel, baptising people into the family of God, and establishing churches, schools, and colleges. It is thought that he made his base at Armagh in the north from where he made many extensive missionary journeys. He had many disciples in Ireland, including Beningnus, Auxilius, Iserninus, and Fiaac (who were all later canonized). Among his accomplishments, he founded a monastery at Armagh; another called Domnach-Padraig, or Patrick's Church; also a third, named Sabhal-Padraig, and filled the country with churches (numbering in the hundreds) and schools of piety and learning; the reputation of which drew many foreigners into Ireland for centuries to come. The number of people he brought into the family of Christ is said to number in the thousands, hundreds of whom became bishops and priests.
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St. Patrick's Day
Originally St. Patrick's Day was a Catholic holy day and has traditionally been a religious celebration. The Irish Republic celebrated the day as a national day with a distinctly religious flavor. It has evolved to not only honor St. Patrick, but is a celebration of the Irish culture as well. Today, St. Patrick's Day is celebrated by people of all backgrounds in the United States, Canada, and Australia and has been celebrated in other locations far from Ireland, including Japan, Singapore, and Russia. St. Patrick's Day custom came to America in 1737. It was a simple celebration when the Charitable Irish Society of Boston took to the streets to celebrate their formation. This was actually the first St. Patricks Day parade. The largest St. Patrick's Day parade of today originated in New York City on March 17, 1762 when Irish soldiers serving in the English military had an impromptu march with their regimental band on their way to breakfast. Since then, the annual St. Patrick's Day parades have become a very popular event all over the world. Today, major cities in at least 30 of the 50 states have St. Patrick's Day parades and celebrations. These celebrations include everything from parades, to the 'wearing of the green', to serving green beer (they really add green colouring to it!), to some places going as far as dying rivers green! The biggest observance of all is, of course, in Ireland. Being a religious holiday, many attend mass, where it is the traditional day for offering prayers for missionaries throughout the world, before the celebrating begins in the afternoon. Almost all businesses, with the exception of restaurants and pubs, close on the 17th of March. In 1995, however, the Irish government began a national campaign to use St. Patrick's Day as an opportunity to drive tourism and showcase Ireland to the rest of the world. One result is Ireland's St. Patrick's Festival in Dublin, a multi-day celebration featuring parades, concerts, outdoor theater productions, and fireworks shows. In Ireland, most regard the day as a holy day and see the American counterpart as somewhat ridiculuous if not sacrilegious. Unfortunately, the majority of Americans have forgotten the reason for this holiday and have turned it into a day of revelry and drunken debauchery. As quoted from the Ancient Order of Hibernians' St. Patrick page, "This then is the man - the Saint - that we honor in March, and it is our duty to see that nothing but praise and reverence are attached to his name. We may celebrate his memory with joy, but remember his love for the Irish and the tremendous gift of faith that he bestowed upon us, and celebrate with reverent joy." This is as it should be! |
St. Patrick died on March 17, 461 AD (although there is some question as to the year, there seems to be no question about the day). The Irish people used to set this day aside as a day of mourning. But as St. Patrick became the patron Saint of Ireland, the mourning turned to commemorating and celebrating the life of St. Patrick.
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Links And Resources This is simply a list of links to other pages that relate to the history of St. Patrick and/or the holiday named after him. Many of these are sources of information that I used when putting this page together, while others just have good information or are related to the subject matter presented above.
St. Patrick...The Man...The Myths...The Legends |