Naya Jeevan

St. Patrick’s Day

Saint Patrick's Day is March 17th of each year. It is a day to remember and honor the church leader of Ireland, Saint Patrick. March 17th is the day the Roman Catholic Church chose for the festival because it is the day tradition says he died. A brief history of him follows.

Patricius was born in 389 AD to a Christian family in southwestern Britain. This area was controlled by the Roman Empire. His parents taught him in the Christian faith, but he did not believe Christian teaching. When he was 16 years old, Irish slave hunters caught him and took him back to Ireland. They made him take care of pigs. While he was there he saw many Irish people who were not Christians. They followed another religion and were unkind to each other. This helped him understand that he needed God's forgiveness for his own sins. He decided to believe the Christian teaching his parents told him years before. He also knew that the Irish needed Christianity.

Then one night after being a slave for six years, while he was praying, he thought of an idea how he could get free from the Irish. Patricius believed God gave him the plan. He followed the plan and gained his freedom. Then he took a ship to Gaul (modern day France) and later returned to his family in Britain. For the next 20 years (412-43l AD) Patricius wanted to bring Christianity to Ireland. Therefore, he first returned to Gaul to study the Bible in the town of Auxerre with Saint Germanus. Germanus was a church leader in Auxerre and a missionary to Britain. When his studies were over, he went back to his family in Britain. They wanted Patricius to stop traveling, but were willing to help him serve God. Patricius believed God told him to go back to Ireland. Then he returned to Auxerre where Germanus blessed him and sent him as Patrick, the Christian leader of the Irish, in 432 AD.

Patrick began his work in northern and western Ireland. Most of the Irish were not happy to see him. He wanted to visit his old owner, Miliucc, and share the Christian message with him. However, Miliucc heard that Patrick was coming to see him. He thought Patrick was angry at him, so Miliucc killed himself before Patrick arrived!

The poor of Ireland quickly believed Patrick's teaching. He knew that the rulers would need to believe his message before the whole country would change. However, the priests of the non-Christian religion called Druidism [see Halloween] controlled Irish society. Therefore, Patrick publicly debated them at Tara, the capital city of Ireland. Slowly he was able to help many leaders believe Christianity, including King Loegaire (pronounced LEER ee).

After many years of ministry, Patrick had trained 450 church leaders. They started over 300 new churches. Over 120,000 people became Christians. The country changed its laws to be more like biblical teachings. He also started religious communities and study centers called monasteries. Over the next several hundred years missionaries from these centers went all over Europe and were important in establishing Western culture. In spite of all these changes, the new Irish Christians disagreed with some ways of the Catholic Church. This did not make Catholic Church leaders in Europe happy. Some of them said Patrick should return to his home in England. He died in 461 AD.

Tradition says that Patrick would use a small 3-leaf plant, called a "clover" or a "shamrock," to represent the Trinity in his teaching. Thus finding a 4-leaf clover was very special and was a sign of God's blessing. Over the years this idea came to mean "good luck," and being "lucky." A common saying is "the luck of the Irish," and some people today still believe the Irish are lucky.

Tradition also says that St. Patrick drove out the snakes from Ireland. This is more a legend than a real event. Some non-Christian religions often use the symbol of a snake. This was true of Druidism. When Ireland accepted Christianity, the snake symbol disappeared. This is probably where the idea came from.

Saint Patrick's Day is a festive event for people, but mainly for Catholics. On March 17th many people will drink green beer or wear green and gold colored clothing, the colors for the holiday. The green comes from green clovers. Later, a childish trick was added: If you didn't wear something green on that day, others would pinch you! Modern celebrations include parades, church services, picnics and parties. As with many holiday celebrations in America, it seems that most Americans know little about Saint Patrick's real life or the events that led to this holiday.

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