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 St. Patrick's Day
St. Patrick's Day Celebrates
A Man Of Mystery.
By Joe Swatek
As popular as the celebration of St. Patrick's Day is in America, you would imagine there is a wealth of information about the man behind the holiday. Think again. Most of his story is either confused or unconfirmed legends.
 For example, Patrick was born in 373, or was it 385, in either Scotland, Britain, Wales or France Ñ but definitely not in Ireland. And his birth name was Maewyn, or maybe it was Succat.
What everyone seems to agree is that St. Patrick was kidnapped by pirates at age 16, and served as a slave in what is now Ireland. He hadn't been a very good boy before that time, but he turned to God during his six years of captivity, escaped to France, and studied to become a priest.
St. Patrick was about 60 years old before he was allowed to return to Ireland to spread the Christian faith. There was another missionary named Patrick sent to Ireland to convert the pagans before him, and obviously because of the same names their deeds are confused.
Two legends are attached to St. Patrick: Driving the snakes from Ireland and the story of the shamrock as a symbol of the Trinity of God. Any truth to either? Well, the snake is a symbol of paganism, so by spreading Christianity through the land maybe that's true. But real slithering snakes? Not likely. The shamrock story can't be authenticated either, although some historians believe it's true.
March 17 is the day for Òwearin' o' the greenÓ because that's the day on the Catholic Church ecclesiastical calendar designated to honor St. Patrick.
The first St. Patrick's Day celebration in America took place in 1737, and was sponsored by the Charitable Irish Society of Boston (oddly, a Protestant organization).
The famous Fifth Avenue Parade in New York was first held 1762. It was staged by Irish veterans of our Revolutionary War as a protest against the people who didn't like the Irish. They wanted to show how many Irish there were in the America.
Now millions of non-Irish become Irish for a day to celebrate, whether that means wearing something green, eating corned beef and cabbage, or drinking green beer.
But personally, I look forward to March 19 Ñ St. Joseph's Day!
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