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Everybody’s Irish on Saint Patrick’s Day—that’s how the old song goes.

Modern celebrations of this early spring holiday focus on parades, parties, and green beer, but the original
Feast of Saint Patrick was a religious holiday. Saint Patrick is credited with bringing Christianity to pagan Ireland
in the second half of the fifth century and is that country’s patron saint. Celebrated in Ireland in the ninth and
tenth centuries, and an official Catholic feast day since the early 1600s, Saint Patrick’s Day is now religiously
observed by the Catholic Church, the Anglican Communion, the Episcopal Church in the United States, the
Eastern Orthodox Church, and the Evangelical Lutheran Church. Secular celebrations are held in major cities all
over the world. Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated on March 17, the most widely accepted date for the death of
the saint.
Saint Patrick the Roman
Saint Patrick was born in Roman Britain, probably Scotland or Wales, to parents who were Roman citizens.
When he was about 16 years old, he was captured by raiders and taken to Ireland as a slave. He lived in Ireland
as a shepherd for six years. It was during this time, according to what he wrote in The Confession, that he had a
spiritual awakening that eventually led to his conversion to Christianity. A voice told him to return home, so he
ran away from his master, boarded a ship, and sailed back to Britain. He continued to study Christianity and later returned to Ireland as a missionary. Saint Patrick lived out his days in Ireland and is considered the founding
bishop of the Irish church. In modern times, he’s associated exclusively with Catholic Ireland and Irish national
identity.
Symbols of Saint Patrick’s Day
The Shamrock – One of the most common symbols of Saint Patrick’s Day is the shamrock. This deep green,
three-leafed clover plant is native to Ireland, and according to historical accounts, Saint Patrick used the
shamrock to illustrate the concept of the Holy Trinity when he was converting Druids to Christianity. It has been
linked to him and Ireland ever since.
The Color Green – Remember the old school-yard tradition of getting pinched if you didn’t wear green on Saint
Patrick’s Day? While Ireland is often referred to as “the Emerald Isle” because it has so much green
pastureland and trees, the color green seems to be associated with Saint Patrick’s Day for other, more political,
reasons. Since at least the 1640s, the green harp flag was used by the Irish Catholic Confederation. And in
1750, green was the symbolic color taken by the Friendly Brothers of St. Patrick, an Irish fraternity. A bit later, in
1790, green became associated with Irish nationalism when the United Irishmen chose it as their color. The
United Irishmen rebelled against the British in 1798, and the color has since become a symbol of an Ireland
free of British rule. In fact, the phrase commonly associated with Saint Patrick’s Day, “wearing of the green,”
comes from a song of the same name popularized during the time of the rebellion. The song talks about the
United Irishmen being persecuted for wearing green. The color green became even more closely associated with
Saint Patrick’s Day in the 19th and 20th centuries.
Leprechauns – These “wee fairy folk” from Ireland always seem to appear on Saint Patrick’s Day. Legend holds
that these magical creatures hide their gold in big iron pots at the end of the rainbow. If you catch a leprechaun,
he’ll trade gold for his freedom.