Did You Know?
St. Patrick wasn’t actually Irish
Despite being the patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick was born in Britain in either Scotland or Wales (accounts tend to vary on this point). His parents, Calpurnius and Conchessa, were both Roman citizens and his mother gave birth to him in 385 AD.
Slavery was what brought St. Patrick to Ireland
As a teenager, St Patrick was kidnapped by a pirate raiding party and sold into slavery in Ireland. As a slave, he looked after and herded sheep for many years before fleeing to a monastery in England. While there, he became a devout follower of Christianity and ordained a Bishop, after which he returned to Ireland as a missionary.
The shamrock as an Irish symbol is said to have been popularized by St. Patrick
As stories go, St. Patrick supposedly used the iconic shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity while preaching. With each leaf representing Christianity’s Holy Father, Son and Holy Spirit, it was a symbol that showed how they could be three different spiritual entities and yet all part of the whole.
St. Patrick actually wore blue, not green
Although everyone is expected to wear green on St. Patrick’s Day, all surviving artworks of St. Patrick show him wearing blue robes. It’s the reason why through the years, flags, sports uniforms and coat-of-arms featured the color. As time progressed, green as a national color grew in favor particularly in the 17th century.
St. Patrick probably didn’t drive all the snakes out of Ireland
One of the most popular myths about the Irish saint is that he rid the country of snakes, however modern science has since ruined that belief for everyone. As Ireland has always been an incredibly cold country, scientists have said that it’s highly unlikely that there were any snakes to begin with and there are no fossils to disprove this theory.
Patrick was not St. Patrick’s given name
St. Patrick’s given name was Maewyn Succat. It wasn’t until he became a priest that he adopted a new name – Patrick, after Patricius (which relates to the Latin root meaning father).