Who was St. Patrick?
- St. Patrick is the Apostle of Ireland, born in Scotland in 387; died in Ireland on March 17, 461
- As a boy of fourteen or so, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd and tend sheep. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him. While a slave he would pray:
- "The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was rosed, so that, in a single day, I have said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly the same." "I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain."
- Patrick's captivity lasted until he was twenty, he escaped after having a dream from God in which he was told to leave Ireland by going to the coast. He became a Bishop, worked many miracles and converted the people for 40 years.
- Why a shamrock?
St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity, and has been associated with him and the Irish since that time.
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