Everyone knows the name
And everyone knows the theme
But how many of us truly know
Why we celebrate the wearing of the green?
Yes, we all know that the 17th of March is celebrated around the world. We all know that it is called “St. Patrick’s Day” after a patron saint associated with Ireland.
But do we REALLY know what St. Patrick’s Day actually represents? Who, exactly, was this Saint Patrick guy and what did he do that was so special as to have a holiday named for him?
Further, do you REALLY know the facts behind the legend, or do you just THINK that you do?
Well, here’s your chance to compare that which you have heard all of your life to the REAL facts (or at least ten of the most pertinent ones) about Saint Patrick.
Fact 1: St. Patrick’s name was NOT “Patrick”
The primary spelling of the name that “Patrick” used for self-reference was “Patricius” (of Roman etymology, meaning “father of the citizens”). Patrick is an Anglicized version of his given Roman name. However, in accordance with the need for some degree of secrecy in regard to his “outlaw” anti-paganistic preachings in different areas of Ireland, he was also known by no less than four other monikers and/or various spellings of such: Maun (“servant lad”); Succetus (“swineherder”); Cothirthiacus (“of the house of druids”); and Magonus (“famous”).
Fact 2: St. Patrick was NOT Irish
Although St. Patrick is considered to be the patron saint of Ireland, he was actually English (or possibly Scottish), and, arguably, more Roman than anything else. Either way, he was definitely NOT Irish. He was actually born in Britain around 385 A.D. His parents, Calpurnius and Conchessa, were Roman citizens living in either Scotland or Wales, according to different versions of his story.
Fact 3: St. Patrick was NOT religious until his 30’s (and didn’t even believe in God until his late teens).
As a boy of 14 – 16, depending upon which account one accepts, he was captured in England and taken to Ireland where he spent six years in virtual slavery herding sheep. After escaping back to his native country, he allegedly had a vision from God to take up the mission of spreading the word of Christianity. Believing this need to be greater in Ireland than in his native Britain, Patrick subsequently returned to Ireland in his 30s as a missionary among the Celtic pagans.
Fact 4: St. Patrick was NOT the first to preach Christianity nor to use a clover leaf (i.e., a shamrock) for such purposes.
While the popular legend holds that Patrick somehow originated the use of a clover leaf to demonstrate the simultaneous existence of the three entities of the Holy Trinity (i.e., the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost), this practice actually predates Patrick by at least a century.
Fact 5: St. Patrick did NOT rid Ireland of snakes
St. Patrick may have performed some semblance of miracles at some point in his life, but ridding the Irish Island of snakes was NOT one of them. Evidence suggests that, at least for post-glacial Ireland, there were never any snakes there to begin with.
Fact 6: St. Patrick did NOT wear green
The “wearing of the green,” dying rivers that color, eating green food, and even drinking green beer is generally attributed to commemorate St Patrick’s use of the shamrock in his teachings, but …. blue was the original color of his vestments and other related religious paraphernalia.
Fact 7: St. Patrick’s initial presence in Ireland was a result of absconding from civic duty
As the son of a priest, Patrick was obligated to assume a role as a town councilman when he came of age (i.e., 16). There is evidence to indicate that it was his aversion to this responsibility that led him to desert town, whereupon he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold into a life of servitude.
Fact 8: St. Patrick’s Day was NOT first celebrated in Ireland
St. Patrick’s Day was first celebrated in America in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1737, by occupying British soldiers who were of Irish ancestry. Many of these Irish men decided to remain in the “colonies” upon the end of their enlistment. Consequently, there are around 34 million (approximately 10 percent of the population) modern Americans who can legitimately claim direct Irish ancestry.
Fact 9: St. Patrick’s Day is a national holiday in the Caribbean
We “commemorate” (not “celebrate”) March 17th in recognition of the death of St. Patrick in 461 A.D. Given the significance of his Christian teachings in Ireland, it is no wonder that his day is denoted as a national holiday. However, it is of similar significance on the island of Montserrat in the Caribbean; this sect of peoples was originally founded by Irish Christian refugees. It is also recognized on a more limited basis as a bank holiday in Northern Ireland and as a provincial holiday in the Canadian province of Newfoundland.
Fact 10: The largest St. Patrick’s Day celebration is NOT in Ireland
Dublin has a parade that attracts hundreds of thousands of people, and Chicago uses 25 pounds of vegetable dye (which is actually orange) to color the river green for a few hours, but the biggest parade is normally held in New York. Sydney, Australia is the scene of the largest celebration of St. Patrick’s Day in the southern hemisphere.
He also seemingly had some semblance of a sense of humor; a popular Irish toast that is attributed to St. Patrick is: “May the roof above us never fall in, and may we friends beneath it never fall out.”
It is also noteworthy that we do not really know the year in which he died; it is thought to be as early as 457 A.D. or as late as 493 A.D. (which would have made him approximately 120 years old). Thus, 461 A.D. is the generally accepted year of St. Patrick’s death.
But we DO know that St. Patrick favored the imbibing of libations. After supposedly witnessing a shopkeeper serve a “short measure” (i.e., insufficient amount) of whiskey to a fellow patron, Patrick was said to have publicly chastised the bartender and then proclaimed that everyone should have a drop of the “hard stuff” on any feast day! Indeed, according to the custom known as “drowning the shamrock,” the clover piece that has been worn on a lapel or hat is put in one’s last drink of the evening.
So now you have some St. Patrick trivia fodder for the evening conversation on March 17th.
