St. Patrick is the Patron Saint of Ireland. The feast day of St. Patrick, March 17, is a day to celebrate being Irish, or to be Irish for a day!
St. Patrick is celebrated for bringing Christianity to Ireland. He was born about 373 A.D., in either Scotland or Roman England. His real name was probably Maewyn Succat. He was kidnapped at the age of 16 by pirates and sold into slavery in Ireland where he remained a slave for 6 years, when God started to speak to him in dreams and visions. A voice in one of his visions told him where he could find a getaway ship which enabled him to
escape from Ireland and journey to France, where he became a priest and later a bishop. After becoming a priest he took the name of Patrick, or Patricus. Then St. Patrick had a dream, and he dreamed that the Irish were calling him back to Ireland to tell them about God. When he was about 60 years old, St. Patrick
traveled to Ireland to spread the Christian gospel. Legend has it that Saint Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland -- that they all went into the sea and drowned. We do have some writings of St. Patrick, but legend and fact are intertwined!
Click on the Links at the top of the page to learn more.
