St. Patrick of Ireland is one of the world’s most popular saints. Along with St. Nicholas and St. Valentine, the world loves St. Patrick. On March 17 everyone is Irish! And on that day more babies are named Patrick and Patricia than on any other day of the year!

Patrick was born in Scotland around the year 387 and died in Ireland on March 17, 461. As a youth of sixteen or so, Patrick was captured by a raiding party and taken to Ireland as a slave to herd swine. Ireland at the time was a land of Druids and pagans. He learned the language and practices of the people who held him.

Lonely and afraid in this strange country, Patrick turned to God for solace. He wrote, “The love of God and His fear grew in me more and more, and my faith grew, and my spirit was stirred up so that in a single day, I said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night, nearly as many. I prayed in the woods and the mountains, even before dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow or ice or rain, because my spirit was fervent within.”

After more than six years as a prisoner, Patrick escaped. According to his writing, a voice which he believed to be God's, spoke to him in a dream telling him it was time to leave Ireland. To do so, Patrick walked nearly 200 miles from County Mayo, where it is believed he was held, to the Irish coast. There a ship was waiting as the dream showed him.

After escaping to Britain, Patrick reported that he experienced a second revelation. He had another dream in which the people of Ireland were calling out to him: “We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more.”

Soon after, Patrick began religious training, a course of study that lasted more than fifteen years. After his ordination as a priest, and later as a bishop, Patrick was sent to take the Gospel to Ireland.

Familiar with the Irish language and culture, Patrick chose to incorporate traditional ritual into his lessons of Christianity instead of attempting to eradicate native Irish beliefs. For instance, he used bonfires to celebrate Easter since the Irish were used to honoring their gods with fire. He also superimposed a sun, a powerful Irish symbol, onto the Christian cross to create what is now called a Celtic cross, so that veneration of the symbol would seem more natural to the Irish. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Trinity and the symbol has been associated with the Irish ever since then.

Patrick preached the Gospel throughout Ireland. Kings, their families and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity upon hearing Patrick’s message. Patrick preached and converted through out all of Ireland for 40 years. He faced many hardships and opponents, worked tirelessly and wrote of his love and gratitude for God in his book titled Confessions.
 

Shirley (Hilburger) Stratton grew up in Angola, NY and attended Most Precious Blood Church where the priests and nuns first introduced their love of the saints to her.