On 17 March, people around the world will celebrate St Patrick’s Day by parading in green hats, sporting images of shamrocks and leprechauns – tiny, grinning, fairies of Irish folklore – pinned to their lapels. Patrick’s picture will adorn greeting cards: an aged, bearded bishop in flowing robes, grasping a bishop’s staff and glaring at a coil of snakes.
The icon refers to one of Patrick’s legendary miracles in which he is said to have prayed to banish all snakes from Ireland. However, as a historian of medieval Ireland, I can assure you that the real St Patrick, who lived and worked in the fifth century, never saw a snake or wore a shamrock.
Patrick’s own writings and early accounts of the saint’s career reveal many interesting details about the life of this patron saint of Ireland. Here are 10 things you may not know about St Patrick.
1. Patrick was not Irish
Patrick was born around 450AD, just when Roman troops withdrew from Britain. His father was a gentleman and a Christian deacon who owned a small estate in a place called Bannavem Taburniae.
Scholars aren’t sure where this place was – it was probably on the west coast around Bristol, near the southern border of modern Wales and England.
2. Patrick was a slave
Irish slave traders sailed the waters off that same coast, and one day they came ashore to capture the teenage Patrick and his neighbours, to sell back in Ireland. Patrick spent six years tending sheep in the west of Ireland.
3. Patrick heard voices
While chasing sheep on the hills, Patrick prayed a hundred times a day, in all kinds of weather. It apparently paid off: one night a mysterious voice called to him, saying: “Look, your ship is ready!” Patrick knew he wasn’t hearing sheep. The time was right for his escape.
4. Patrick refused to ‘suck a man’s breasts’
Patrick made his way to Ireland’s east coast and sought passage on a ship bound for Britain. The captain, a pagan, didn’t like the look of him and demanded that Patrick “suck his breasts”, a ritual gesture symbolising acceptance of the captain’s authority. Patrick refused – instead he tried to convert the crew.
For some reason, the captain still took him aboard.
In pictures: St. Patrick's Day around the world
24 show all In pictures: St. Patrick's Day around the world
1/24 Participants take part in the St Patrick's Day parade on the streets of Dublin PA wire
2/24 Police officers pretend to arrest a man dressed in a leprechaun outfit as he poses for a photograph along the parade route during the St. Patrick's Day parade in Dublin, Ireland Getty Images
3/24 The service and pilgrimage to celebrate Saint Patrick's Day takes place at Saul Church in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland Getty Images
4/24 Racegoer during the Cheltenham Festival Reuters
5/24 The Coca-Cola London Eye, on London's South Bank is lit green by Tourism Ireland to celebrate St Patrick's Day PA wire
6/24 Prince William, Duke Of Cambridge and Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge take a drink of Guinness as they meet with soldiers of the 1st battalion Irish Guards in their canteen following their St Patricks day parade at Cavalry Barracks in London, England Getty Images
7/24 The Coca-Cola London Eye, on London's South Bank is lit green by Tourism Ireland to celebrate St Patrick's Day PA wire
8/24 Intu Trafford Centre in Manchester is lit green by Tourism Ireland to celebrate St Patrick's Day PA wire
9/24 Intu Trafford Centre in Manchester is lit green by Tourism Ireland to celebrate St Patrick's Day PA wire
10/24 The Kelpies in Falkirk, Scotland, is lit green by Tourism Ireland to celebrate St Patrick's Day PA wire
11/24 Gateshead Millennium Bridge in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear, is lit green by Tourism Ireland to celebrate St Patrick's Day PA wire
12/24 4 Times Square, The Bank of America Tower and the Empire State Building have their spires lit green for St. Patrick's day in Manhattan, New York Reuters
13/24 A spectator shows his Irish pride as he watches the annual St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City Getty Images
14/24 Bagpipers march up Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York AP
15/24 Revellers march up Fifth Avenue during the St. Patrick's Day Parade in New York AP
16/24 The statues of the ducks from the book, 'Make Way For Ducklings,' (R-L) Mrs. Mallard, Jack, Kack, Lack, Mack, Nack, Ouack, Pack, and Quack are decorated for State Patrick's Day in the Boston Public Gardens in Boston, Massachusetts, USA EPA
17/24 Tiernan Irish Dancers put on a show as the Capitol Rotunda is filled with Irish music and a clapping audience during the annual St. Patrick's Day celebration at the State Capitol in Helena, Montana, USA AP
18/24 The Colosseum in Rome, illuminated in green for St. Patrick's Day Getty Images
19/24 The magic fountains of Montjuic have lit up green to celebrate St. Patrick's Day, patron saint of the Irish, in Barcelona, Spain EPA
20/24 The Burgtheater (Imperial Court Teathre) is illuminated with green lights to celebrate St. Patrick's Day in Vienna, Austria Reuters
21/24 The Chain Bridge is illuminated in green in honour of St. Patrick's Day in Budapest, Hungary EPA
22/24 Christ the Redeemer statue is illuminated in green in honor of St. Patrick's Day in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil AP
23/24 Girls perform an Irish dance for customers in the the Mercantile, Australias Longest Running Irish Pub in The Rocks in Sydney on St. Patricks Day Getty Images
24/24 Participants pose for a photo during celebrations of St. Patrick's Day at a hotel in The Rocks in Sydney, Australia EPA
5. Patrick had visions
One night Patrick dreamed that Satan tested his faith by dropping an enormous rock on him. He lay crushed by its weight until dawn broke, when he called out: “Helias! Helias!” – the name of the Greek sun god. The rock disappeared. Patrick took it as a kind of epiphany. He later wrote: “I believe that I was helped by Christ the Lord.”
Patrick had other peculiar visions, too. Back home at Bannavem Taburniae, he was visited by an angel with a message from the Irish: “We beg you, holy boy, to come and walk again among us.” He trained as a bishop and went back to Ireland.
6. Patrick did something unmentionable
Years into his mission, someone, it seems, told a dirty secret about Patrick to his fellow bishops. “They brought up against me after thirty years something I had already confessed ... some things I had done one day – rather, in one hour, when I was young,” he wrote.
Patrick did not tell us what he did – worship idols? Engage in a forbidden sexual practice? Take gifts from converts?
Whatever it was, Patrick retrospectively understood his zealous Irish mission to be penance for his youthful sins. While he spread Christianity around Ireland, he was often beaten, put in chains or extorted. “Every day there is the chance that I will be killed, or surrounded, or taken into slavery,” he complained.
7. Patrick duelled with druids
Two centuries after his death, Irish believers wanted more exciting stories of Patrick’s life than the saint’s own account.
One legend (written 700AD) described Patrick’s contest with native religious leaders, the druids. The druids insulted Patrick, tried to poison him and engaged him in magical duels – much like students of Harry Potter’s Hogwarts – in which they competed to manipulate the weather, destroy each other’s sacred books and survive raging fires.
When one druid dared to blaspheme the Christian God, however, Patrick sent the druid flying into the air – the man dropped to the ground and broke his skull.
8. Patrick made God promise
Another legend from around the same time tells how Patrick fasted for 40 days atop a mountain, weeping, throwing things and refusing to descend until an angel came on God’s behalf to grant the saint’s outrageous demands. These included the following: Patrick would redeem more souls from hell than any other saint; Patrick, rather than God, would judge Irish sinners at the end of time and the English would never rule Ireland.
We know how that last one worked out. Perhaps God will keep the other two promises.
9. Patrick never mentioned a shamrock
None of the early Patrician stories featured the shamrock – or Irish seamrog – which is a word for common clover, a small plant with three leaves. Yet children in Catholic schools still learn that Patrick used a shamrock as a symbol of the Christian Trinity when he preached to the heathen Irish.
The shamrock connection was first mentioned in print by an English visitor to Ireland in 1684, who wrote that on Saint Patrick’s feast day: “The vulgar superstitiously wear shamroges, three-leav’d grass, which they likewise eat (they say) to cause a sweet breath.” The Englishman also noted that “very few of the zealous are found sober at night”.
10. Patrick did not drive the snakes out of Ireland
As for the miraculous snake-charming attributed to Patrick, it could not have happened because there were no snakes in pre-modern Ireland. Reptiles never made it across the land bridge that prehistorically linked the island to the European continent.
Most likely, the miracle was plagiarised from some other saint’s life and eventually added to Patrick’s repertoire.
Partygoers on 17 March need not worry about ancient historical details, though. Whatever the truth of Patrick’s mission, he became one of the three patrons of Ireland, along with Saints Brigid and Columba – the latter two were born in Ireland.
Wishing you “Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona daoibh” – Happy Saint Patrick’s Day.
Lisa Bitel is professor of history and religion at the University of Southern California. This article originally appeared in The Conversation (theconversation.com)
It’s St Patrick’s Day, so why are you sitting at your computer? Surely, you should be down the local having a Guinness by now?
Hosting a party, perhaps? Or stuck at your computer, counting down the hours until you can get your hands a that well deserved pint? It doesn’t matter, you need to get in the spirit, and there’s only one way to do that; with some classic Irish tunes.
We’ve brought together some classics for you to listen to, all with the aim of getting your Irish bones jiggling. And not a Galway Girl in sight.
So get on your feet and have a dance on us.
Of course, the entire playlist could be made up of Dropkick Murphys, or The Pogues, or Flogging Molly, or The Dubliners.
We’ve also got a few of Ireland’s best alternative bands in there, including The Cranberries, Ash and Two Door Cinema Club. And House of Pain, because they actually made a St. Patrick’s Day song. Enjoy!
The combination of the nation’s stout and creme de cassis makes for a fancier Guinness and black, taken up a notch further with whiskey
Serves 1
An ode to the craftsmanship of the Emerald Isle, and a play on that old pub favourite, Guinness and black. The weight of the whiskey is alleviated by the fruity cassis; throw the velvety mouthfeel of Guinness into the mix, and this makes a perfect St Patrick’s Day aperitif.
20ml Irish whiskey (I use Slane)
10ml crème de cassis
10ml lemon juice
75ml Guinness
Pour everything into a cocktail shaker, load it up with ice and shake hard. Double-strain into a martini coupe and serve.
• Kieran Monteiro, Boma Restaurants, London
