The Brief Story of Saint Patrick

Looking at society, it is easy to think that St. Patrick’s day is all about Irish drunks. If that wasn’t strange enough, the day also seems to have a day-long virtue of trying to emulate them. Thankfully, the reality of St. Patrick’s Day is far more honorable than that; and it honors the great works of a man that was ironically neither Irish, nor a drunkard.

The man that has become widely known as Saint Patrick was originally named Maewyn Succat. He was born into a Romanized family in Great Britain, living there until he was kidnapped by Irish pirates around the age of 16. The pirates sold him into slavery, where he worked in brutal conditions as a shepherd. In his early 20s, guided by a dream, he escaped to a ship that took him back to his homeland. After another brief time in captivity, he was reunited with his family in Britain.

After working with the church in Britain, he returned to Ireland. He then spent the rest of his years converting much of the island to Christianity. As he traveled, he also built churches, preached, baptized, and taught, all under a near-constant threat of martyrdom. Many legends have arose about his travels, with the most popular being his use of a shamrock, a three-leaf clover with one stem, to explain the Holy Trinity. During his later years, St. Patrick settled in Saul, eventually passing away near the site of his first church.

That is what we are really celebrating for St. Patrick’s Day. If you wish to pick up a glass, don’t forget to raise a toast to the determined man that successfully brought so many lost souls, and their many descendants, to Christ.

Article photo is of St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York, New York, as taken by Drew Beamer, and provided by Unsplash.