When you think of St. Patrick’s Day, what comes to mind? You might think about shamrocks, pots of gold, wearing green clothing to avoid being pinched. It might bring to mind cities dumping green dye into the river, and adults doing the same with their beverages. You might recall that St. Patrick is, as his name suggests, a saint in the Catholic church. Perhaps you think about the (rather dubious) legend that credits him with driving all the snakes from Ireland.

Yet the truth about Saint Patrick is actually more interesting than most of us would guess.

St. Patrick was born in the late 4th century in the far north reaches of the Roman empire, in a small town that served as a fort on Hadrian’s Wall in Britannia. His parents were Roman citizens, and his name at birth, Patricius, was suitably noble for a young man of that status. His father, Calpornius, was a Decurion (cavalry officer)—believed by some to have worked on construction of the wall—who commanded soldiers in defense of the empire.

His own writings give little information about his childhood, but in his mid-teens, Patricius was captured by Irish pirates during a raid and taken back to Ireland as a slave. When he arrived there, his abductors moved him about 200 miles inland, to northeastern Ireland near modern-day Belfast. There, the local chieftain, a man named Milchu, put Patricius to work as a shepherd and farm laborer. He remained a captive for six years.

During this time, the inhabitants of Ireland were ruled by various Celtic chieftains, who in turn were greatly influenced by the advice and counsel of Druids. While Patricius learned about the beliefs and way of life of the Celts during those years as a slave, he turned more and more to his faith in God. In his Confession, he wrote,

“I prayed frequently during the day. More and more the love of God increased, and my sense of awe before God. Faith grew, and my spirit was moved, so that in one day I would pray up to one hundred times, and at night perhaps the same.”

St. Patrick wrote in his Confession that during his sleep one night, he heard a voice tell him he would soon be returning home. A bit later, the voice told him that his ship was almost ready—but of course, he was almost 200 miles inland! Believing that the messages came from God, he ran away from his captors and made his way to the coast, where he convinced a ship’s captain to give him passage to Britannia. After the ship landed, he traveled with the crew for weeks. At one point, when food had run out and many of the men were weak with hunger, the captain challenged Patricius, “What about this, Christian? You tell us that your God is great and all-powerful – why can’t you pray for us, since we’re in a bad state with hunger? There’s no sign of us finding a human being anywhere!” Patricius told the men to turn their hearts to God … and shortly thereafter, a herd of pigs appeared nearby, enough that they were able to supply plenty of food for everyone in the group (as well as their dogs) to regain their strength and continue the journey.

Back home, Patricius committed wholeheartedly to his faith. He studied and was ordained as a priest, later a bishop. He also became greatly convicted that God wanted him to return to Ireland to minister to his former captors, and in his mid-20s, he left the comfort and safety of home and did just that. During his years as a slave, he had become fluent in the language and familiar with local customs, which gave him a distinct advantage over Christians who had previously come to the area.

While he was not the first to bring Christianity to Ireland, God used Patricius as a missionary to many thousands of men and women in previously unreached areas. Over decades of tireless work in the country, he traveled and shared the Gospel in Ireland, and the great majority of the inhabitants rejected their ancient, polytheistic pagan beliefs to fully embrace Christianity. Everywhere he went, Patricius baptised new converts and ordained priests to lead the new Christian communities that formed in the areas he visited.

As is often true of missionaries, Patricius encountered danger and resistance to the message of the Gospel, but he consistently gave God credit for allowing him to endure hardships:

“It was not by my own grace, but God who overcame it in me, and resisted them all so that I could come to the peoples of Ireland to preach the gospel. I bore insults from unbelievers, so that I would hear the hatred directed at me for travelling here. I bore many persecutions, even chains, so that I could give up my freeborn state for the sake of others. If I be worthy, I am ready even to give up my life most willingly here and now for his name. It is there that I wish to spend my life until I die, if the Lord should grant it to me.”

Legend says that while teaching, Patricius often used a shamrock to illustrate the Christian doctrine of the Trinity, which is why they appear on many depictions of St. Patrick—and why you see so many of them on St. Patrick’s Day decorations.

We celebrate St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th because that is that is the accepted date of his death, but the year is unknown (various scholars place it as early as 460 and as late as 493 A.D.). Although St. Patrick is today recognized as the patron saint of Ireland, he was not canonized by the Pope at the time of his death, simply because the custom in the church’s first thousand years was to recognize saints at a more local level. In St. Patrick’s case, shortly after his death, the regional church declared him a saint.

Although some sources say he was never officially canonized by the Roman Catholic church, this is not actually true. Many years after his death, on June 9, 1186, St. Patrick’s remains (along with those of St. Brigid and St. Columcille) were relocated from their original burial sites in an elaborate ceremony that, according to the established ritual of the time, served as formal canonization.

Still later, around the start of the 17th century, the church established a feast day for St. Patrick. The often over-the-top celebration we now associate with St. Patrick’s Day gradually grew out of that traditional feast, which is celebrated on March 17th.

St. Patrick was inarguably one of the great missionaries of the church. His sainthood is recognized by the Roman Catholic church as well as other denominations (including Anglican, Oriental Orthodox, Eastern Orthodox, Episcopal, and Lutheran).

And what about the snakes? Well, it’s true that there are no snakes indigenous to Ireland … but that pre-dates Patrick’s time there. It’s more likely that the longstanding legend of Patricius driving all serpents from the island is metaphorical, growing from the historical fact of the disappearance of the Druids (who, according to popular mythology, often had large snake tattoos on their arms) within relatively few years after St. Patrick began his mission work there.

With or without the serpents and shamrocks, St. Patrick—a man who contributed much to the advancement of Christianity, yet began his Confession with the words, “I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers”—should be celebrated for his humility, his faith in God, and his unwavering dedication to sharing Christ with the people of Ireland.

Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of every man who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of every man who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me,
Christ in the ear that hears me.

from St. Patrick’s Lorica

Feature photo: Stained glass window portraying St. Patrick, located in Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Port Clinton, OH.
(Credit: Nheyob, [CC BY-SA 4.0] from Wikimedia Commons)