It’s not every day that you get to celebrate two holidays in one week—three days apart, in fact! —but that’s the case this week. We’re trading in Pi Day for the much more widespread holiday, St. Patrick’s Day (whoa—they both start with P, too! Wild!). St. Patrick’s Day is nestled within the confines of Great Lent, but that doesn’t stop people from parading through their city streets with shamrocks, green clothing, and pints of Guinness (if they’re old enough).
In St. Louis, we normally celebrate St. Patrick’s Day with a parade of floats, balloons, and vendors around downtown St. Louis. You usually get pinched if you’re not wearing green, so don’t forget!
Of course, in Ireland, it’s an entirely different story. There are parades in every city—one in Dublin once had 500,000 people in attendance—and traditional dancing in every rural town. Sports like hurling, gaelic football, and camogie are brought to a head at the All Ireland Club Championships. People toast to their Irish roots and to their patron saint, for whom the holiday is named.
St. Patrick, by the way, is one of those saints that everyone seems to know about. Not only did he cement the shamrock as Ireland’s image of the Trinity, but he converted the entire Irish population to Christianity. He banished the snakes from Ireland’s green fields and drove them into the ocean, where they drowned. Only one stayed behind, and St. Patrick threw it into Scotland’s Loch Ness, where it grew to a monstrous size. You can imagine what people are calling it now.
But what really happened when he walked the earth? What is fact and what is fiction? Was St. Patrick really the bane of all snakes, or is it only a legend?
Well, let’s break down the facts. St. Patrick was born along the West Coast of Great Britain and was captured by Irish raiders at the age of 16. For six years he slaved away under Slemish Mountain, tending to farm animals and dealing with the harsh conditions of servitude. It is around this time that the Lord’s light shone upon him, and he turned towards a religious life in Christ.
Though he did eventually escape his captors and travel back to his family, he heard the voices of the Irish people calling him “holy youth” and begging him to walk among them once again. Once he was ordained as a bishop in England, he did just that, and proceeded to convert pagan Ireland to Christianity, using pagan symbols like the shamrock to explain the nature of God’s trinity.
Many, many legends are associated with St. Patrick, from the banishment of the snakes to the magic fire to a breastplate that disguised he and his companion as deer to escape Christian persecutors. It is unknown if these are real, or stories made up to translate his works into timeless epic tales.
Not only is he the patron saint of Ireland—a predominantly Catholic country—but he is recognized by the Eastern Orthodox Church as well! Imagine this writer’s surprise when, a few years ago, an Orthodox priest examined an icon of St. Patrick during his sermon that Sunday. Since St. Patrick died and was canonized before the Great Schism, he is still celebrated by both denominations, as well as the Anglican Communion and Lutheran Churches (or else you might not be hearing about this).
St. Patrick is a saint whose story stretches farther than just Ireland’s borders; he is recognized around the world by those who follow God (he is also considered a patron saint in Australia, Nigeria, and Montserrat). Though this celebration is as crazy as it gets, it’s all too easy to recognize its center: a holy bishop who gave his life to change Ireland for the better, his all-encompassing love speaking even today for those lost and wandering.
If you want to know more about St. Patrick’s life, be sure to stop by the lobby. We’ve set up a little exhibit with books surrounding his life! Look for the shamrock and the abundance of green books!