1. The real
St. Patrick wasn’t named Patrick. His birth name was Maewyn Succat, but
Ireland’s patron saint changed his name to Patricius after becoming a priest.
2. St. Patrick
wasn’t Irish. He may be known as the Apostle of Ireland, but St. Patrick
was actually born in Britain around A.D. 385 and his parents were
Roman citizens. It wasn’t until about 16 years later that he went to Ireland,
but not by choice.
3. St. Patrick
was a slave. At age 16, St. Patrick was kidnapped and sold into slavery in
Ireland, where he tended sheep for 10 years. He fled to England at age 22 and
took refuge in a monastery in Gaul for 12 years, where he studied for the
priesthood and was ordained a bishop. St. Patrick later took his teachings back
to Ireland, where, for 30 years, he strove to convert the country to
Christianity.
4. St.
Patrick’s color is not green. We should really drink blue beer rather than green
on March 17, because blue was the color originally associated with St. Patrick. Artwork often
depicts Ireland’s patron saint wearing blue garments. Blue was used to
represent Ireland on flags, coats of arms and sports jerseys. That all changed
in the 17th century. Green is one of the colors in Ireland’s tricolor flag
and Ireland was dubbed the Emerald Isle for its lush green landscape.
5. The first
St. Patrick’s Day parade took place in New York City in 1762. Irish soldiers serving in the
English military marched through the city. Parades celebrating the Irish
holiday weren’t common until the mid-19th century.
Today, more than 100 St. Patrick’s Day parades take place in cities across the
United States. New York City and Boston host some of the largest celebrations.
6. Beer was
banned on St. Patrick’s Day. You read that correctly. St. Patrick’s Day was traditionally a dry observance.
Irish law between 1903 and 1970 made St. Patrick’s Day a religious holiday for
the entire country, which meant pubs were closed for the day. Today, St. Patrick’s
Day is arguably one of the largest drinking holidays, with an estimated $245
million spent on beer for March 17 and more than 13 million pints of Guinness consumed.
7. There are
34.7 million Irish-Americans living in the United States. That’s more than seven
times the population of Ireland. There are more than 80 million people
worldwide who claim ancestral connection to the “ould sod.”
8. March 17 is
the day of St. Patrick’s death. The Catholic Church designates the day a saint
dies as a holy day, because it’s believed he or she then enters heaven.
Although St. Patrick was never formally canonized as a saint, he is on the list
of saints, was declared a Saint in Heaven by many Catholic churches and was
also venerated in the Orthodox Catholic Church, according to Bio. Thus, March
17 was hailed as St. Patrick’s Day.
9. The shamrock
was a symbol of the Holy Trinity. St. Patrick used the three-leafed shamrock to
illustrate his teachings about how the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit
could be separate entities yet one and the same. Today, the shamrock is often
viewed as a symbol of good luck.
10. Good luck
finding a four-leaf clover. You’ll need it, because the odds of finding a four-leafer on your first
try are 1 in 10,000.
