Who was St. Patrick and Why Do We Celebrate Him?

March 17 is St. Patrick's day, with its parades and green beer and wearing of the green, but how much do you know about St. Patrick's history and the reasons for the holiday celebrating his life and works? Of course, St. Patrick is revered as the patron saint of Ireland, and his feast day is a celebration of Ireland and all things Irish in places as far-flung as Singapore, Japan and Russia. In popular culture he's associated with shamrocks and leprechauns, and among Catholics his story also has some fanciful elements. The holiday named for him is a good time to recall that there was a real human being behind the stories, and his significance to our culture remains enormous.

St. Patrick Myths

The popular story of St. Patrick driving the snakes from Ireland is a myth, as the fossil record indicates there never were any snakes in Ireland to chase. The image of a man chasing a herd of snakes into the sea is a terrific one, particularly for the ophidiophobes among us, though, and the Irish were always known for their storytelling. So, what is the real history behind veneration of St. Patrick, if not anti-reptile super powers why should the non-Irish, non-Catholic care? (Aside from the green beer, the appeal of which is obvious to anyone who appreciates an excuse to drink beer.)

Irish in America

For one thing, St. Patrick's day is much more than just an Irish holiday. Although the Irish have been celebrating St. Patrick's Day as a religious holiday for over a thousand years, the first St. Patrick's Day Parade was actually held in New York in 1762. That St. Patrick's Day parade continues to this day and is the oldest civilian parade in the world and the largest parade of any kind in the United States. St. Patrick's day in the United States has long been a symbol of Irish pride, since the huge influx of poor, uneducated Irish Catholic immigrants pored into this country to escape the potato famine of 1846. The Irish were derided and despised-- characterized in popular culture as uncooth drunks. Irish-Americans seized on St. Patrick's Day as to unite and celebrate their culture.

The real St. Patrick

St. Patrick's feast day is March 17, the same as the holiday of St. Patrick's Day. It's the anniversary of his death sometime in the fifth century A.D. Historians place his death around 460 AD, though there is some disagreement as to the year. St. Patrick was born in England, son of a deacon and grandson of a priest. He traveled to Ireland when he was kidnapped into slavery at the age of 16. During St. Patrick's six years in Ireland his faith grew and eventually he heard the voice of God telling him it was time to return to his homeland, so he left his sheep herding and walked to the shore, where he was able to board a ship and return to England. Upon his return home St. Patrick experienced a visitation from an angel who told him that he was to return to Ireland as a missionary for the Catholic religion. It took him fifteen years of study before he was ordained and could take up the cause of converting the Irish from their Druidic ways to Catholicism.

St. Patrick, savior of Western Civilization

St. Patrick's establishment of a Catholic monastic tradition in Ireland was his most important contribution to history. The monasteries became centers for book copying and scholarship. During the Dark Ages, when Europe was in chaos, the Irish monasteries preserved the accumulated knowledge of civilization. When Europe eventually stabilized again, it was from those Irish monasteries, that the culture was reborn. Those books that were carried to Ireland to be copied and preserved, were carried back to the rest of Europe, where they had been lost. Thus, St. Patrick with his missionary zeal was a major force in Western culture, for Ireland and the entire world. So, on March 17^th, whether you're of Hibernian stock or not, don your finest green garb, grab a beer and toast St. Patrick.