St. Patrick’s Day 2007
St. Patrick’s Day
Today is St. Patrick’s Day. Many countries spend this day celebrating St. Patrick without really knowing anything about him. There is nothing wrong with that, but here is a little history and lore about the man. St. Patrick was born in AD 385. He considered himself a pagan and was placed into slavery at the age of 16. During that time he found himself closer to God. He escaped slavery and studied in a monastery for 12 years. During Patrick’s training he came to the realization that it was his duty to convert the pagans of Ireland to Christianity. Patrick went to Ireland and successfully converted many pagans and set up a number of monasteries as he traveled across the land. On March 17 AD 461 St. Patrick died and that day has been celebrated ever since. The lore surrounding St. Patrick, although cannot really be proven, says that Patrick gave a sermon from a hilltop and drove all the snakes from Ireland. It has been said that he could raise people from the dead and that he use a 3 clover shamrock in his sermons to represent the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. So now when you are at the pub or participating in a parade today you can mesmerize some of you fellow drinkers with your worldly knowledge of the man and the myth.
Too bad we dont celebrate that day here in holland..
a extra party is always good
I am so glad you focused your blog on this. I think most of Americans only focus on the green beer on St. Pattie’s day and it’s so much bigger than just a celebration to be used for an excuse to drink beer. It’s not about getting pinched either. Thank you for giving credit where credit is due.
By the way…KLOVE radio, a Christian radio station, is trying to raise funds to install a Christian Radio program in Ireland in honor of St. Patrick.