And he probably didn't drive the snakes out of Ireland. But he did spread Christianity throughout the Emerald Isle.
BY: Michelle M. Melendez
Religion News Service
Often, the man of honor gets lost. At its core, the holiday is a holy recognition of St. Patrick's commitment to spreading Christianity throughout Ireland. It falls on March 17, the day he is believed to have died more than 1,500 years ago.
Over the centuries, Ireland's patron saint has become a mythical figure, widely pictured with a long beard, standing tall on the lush Irish coast in ceremonial robes, wearing a bishop's miter (or hat), holding a shepherd's staff. Snakes scatter from his feet.
It's an image that feeds into widely held misconceptions. To set the record straight:
"There is a huge contrast between the historical St. Patrick and the legendary St. Patrick," said Dermot Quinn, author of "The Irish in New Jersey: Four Centuries of American Life" and history professor at Seton Hall University in South Orange, N.J.
"All sorts of things get folded into the memory of the saints."
Historians reason that St. Patrick was the son of an aristocratic landowner, captured by marauders when he was about 16, taken to Ireland and made a slave. During six years sheepherding in relative solitude, he found God.
Patrick escaped and returned to Britain, but he longed to one day minister to the Irish. He studied for the priesthood and eventually was ordained a bishop. Sources vary on Patrick's timeline, but in the early 430s, Pope Celestine sent Patrick back to Ireland.
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