St Patric Fact Sheet

St. Patrick - the patron saint of Ireland

St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, also known as the man who drove the snakes away from Ireland and often associated with shamrocks and anything green and gold.

Patrick was born in Scotland 387 A.D, presumably in a place called Kilpatrick. He was son to a deacon, and his grandfather was a priest. At the age of sixteen Patrick was captured and taken to Ireland as a slave.

During his time as a captive, he worked as a herdsman for six years. Some say that his faith grew when he started to turn to god in despair for his captivity.

One day while he was working, he heard a voice which told him to flee and go back home to Scotland, which he also did. He fled from his masters in Count Mayo, and went almost two hundred miles by feet to the Irish coast. He found a ship which took him back to Scotland again. By this time, Patrick was in his early twenties. Soon after his return to Britain, Patrick experienced a new religious revelation.

This is where the story divides. One part says that an angel came to Patrick in a dream and told him to go back to Ireland as a missionary, the other part claims that the people of Ireland talked to him in a dream and said "We beg you, Holy youth, to come and walk among us once more".

The next big thing that happened in Patrick's life was when he began his studies for the priesthood, which took him over ten years to accomplish. After his ordination as a priest, Patrick was sent back to Ireland with one task - to convert the Irish to Christianity. He arrived to Ireland for the second time in his life, this time as a free man, on March 25, 433 A.D.

Since Patrick was familiar with the Irish language and culture, he knew how to catch the interest of the people. He wanted to integrate the Christianity with the traditional Celtic belief so that would be easier for the Irish to worship a new religion. For instance, he superimposed a sun onto a Christian cross, since the sun is a very powerful Irish symbol. This symbol is today known as the Celtic cross. He did the same thing with the now so usual bonfires around Easter, because of the simple fact that the Celts use bonfires to honor their gods. He also tried to explain the Holy Trinity by showing the Irish a shamrock, and told them that one leaf stood for one part in the Holy Trinity, the union of the Father and Son and Holy Ghost in one Godhead. The shamrock is today a very well-known Irish symbol.

Patrick spent 40 years on Ireland as a missionary, he preached and tried to convert the whole country, and he thrived to turn more than half of the Irish inhabitants into Christians. The date of his death was the 17th of March, today known as St. Patrick's day. He has got two different years which are believed to be the

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