St. Patrick’s Day is a favorite holiday for me not only because of the Irish heritage in my family, but more so because the story of the historical Saint Patrick is a case study of the intersection of truth and myth.
While you likely are familiar with the imagery of the holiday—wearin’ o’ the green, shamrocks, rainbows and pots of gold—you may not know about the real guy for whom the holiday is named.
Patrick was not Irish (nor was his birth name Patrick). He lived around 400 AD and was born a Roman citizen in Britain to an aristocratic family. While the exact year of his birth is debated, we know that he died on March 17, 461; hence, the date of the annual feast day to celebrate him which has evolved into what we know as St. Patrick’s Day. Patrick is celebrated as a patron saint of Ireland because of his extraordinary life story and service to the people of Ireland.
Patrick described his younger self as having “no real knowledge of God.” Then, at the age of fifteen, he was kidnapped by Irish pirates, transported by ship to Ireland, and sold into slavery. Patrick began to pray regularly and during the next six years of brutal and grueling slavery he grew in faith:
“But it was here in Ireland that God first opened my heart…I became aware of my failings and began to turn with my whole heart to the Lord my God.”
Then, after six years, he heard God’s voice tell him he would be going home. He fled his slavemaster, made an arduous 200-mile trek, and came to a port where he found a ship to take him back across the sea to eventually reunite with his family.
If the story ended there, it would still be an amazing story. But, that was just the beginning.
Once home, Patrick had a series of visions and a calling—to return to the people of Ireland and teach them about God’s love. He did just that and, in doing so, he also cared for them, defended them, and advocated for them.
So, how do we know all of this given that Patrick lived so long ago? As a bishop of Ireland, Patrick wrote two letters which remarkably were preserved through the ages. One of those letters was an appeal to a slave-raiding king and his mercenaries; the other, a defense of his work against accusations by fellow clergy (church politics, anyone?). That two letters, written by anyone about anything, have survived for 1600 years is a marvel in its own right. That those documents tell us about the real Saint Patrick is extraordinary. In its entirety, the whole thing seems miraculous.
So, this St. Patrick’s Day, let’s lift a glass and celebrate the real Saint Patrick. Cheers to the guy who lived a life of forgiveness, redemption, humility, service, and love—and claimed “that it was all the gift of God”!
Some good resources for St. Patrick’s Day:
This VeggieTales short is a fun-for-kids telling of the real Saint Patrick: VeggieTales: The Story of St. Patrick
This is a quick read on the history of St. Patrick’s Day: National Geographic’s “Who was Saint Patrick and why does he have a day?”
The historical references for this post are drawn from St. Patrick of Ireland: A Biography by Philip Freeman. This is an accessible, scholarly book written by a Harvard-trained authority on classic and Celtic history.
