History of Saint Patrick's Day

March 17th is Saint Patrick's Day, a holiday both religious and secular. But what are the beginnings of this saint's day?

Saint Patrick was born Maewyn Succat (or so it is thought) around 375 A.D. give or take a day a year or two. He was a missionary believed to have taken Christianity to the pagan Irish in the 400s teaching them of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit using the three leafed clover to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity. It is believed that he took the name which we now know as Patrick after he became a priest.

Saint Patrick's Day is March 17th, the date of the saints death in A.D. 461 and has become a holiday of traditions based on a little fact and much fiction. Saint Patrick's Day was originally an Irish holiday but today is celebrated by Irish and those who are not, Catholics and Protestants alike, it has become a commercial holiday as well as one religious. Far from being a time to wear green and eat corned beef and cabbage as it has become in the U.S., Saint Patrick's Day is celebrated by faithful Catholics as a holy day honoring a venerable saint credited with raising the dead and converting pagan Irishmen to Christianity. Since the mid 1700s when Saint Patrick's Day was first celebrated in the U.S. the holiday has become increasingly less religious in nature; Today, in the U.S., the holiday is essentially a "party day".

While much lore surrounds Saint Patrick such as being credited with driving all the snakes out of Ireland and raising the dead, not much of it has been substantiated. What does appear to be accurate is that Saint Patrick served some time in captivity to marauders who eventially sold him into slavery. And that his faith developed during his captivity.