Originally named Succat, the boy who became St. Patrick, was abducted from his home on the western coast of England and enslaved in Ireland. No group was more feared in the early 5th century than the Irish marauders who pillaged England at that time. After his escape and return to his family, he felt called to go to Ireland to convert the pagans who had enslaved him.
The story of his life is drawn from Patrick’s own hand in his Confessio, telling how he brought Christianity to a land of Druids. March 17, the date of his death, is his feast day and has been celebrated in Ireland since 1631. His grave is in Downpatrick, 20 miles south of Belfast, in Northern Ireland, still under British control.
Many St. Paddy’s Day customs are actually American, not Irish. Originally, the color of the day was blue, since the day always falls during Lent. The Irish rebellion of 1797 changed it to green. The Irish were in Colonial America even before the potato famine and fought against the British during the Revolution. Irish Breakfast tea is twice as strong as British breakfast tea, keeping hope alive for a peaceful, unified Ireland.
Prayer for the Day
In the dark of the early morning, we wait for your Presence, O God,
Even as for many the day has already begun;
We drink our coffee or tea and wonder what the day holds,
As we try to create order in a disordered world.
Hold us fast in your heart, O Gracious One, embracing us
So we are able to extend your embrace to others.
In the name of the One who holds all in his heart,
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Being Irish, he had an abiding sense of tragedy, which sustained him through temporary periods of joy.
- William Butler Yeats, Irish poet (1865-1939)
Patrick's gift to the Irish was his Christianity - the first de-Romanized Christianity in human history, a Christianity without the sociopolitical baggage of the Greco-Roman world, a Christianity that completely inculturated itself into the Irish scene.
- Thomas Cahill, How the Irish Saved Civilization
You are my witnesses, says the Lord, and my servant whom I have chosen,
So that you may know and believe me, and understand that I am the Lord.
Before me no god was formed nor shall there be any after me.
Isaiah 43: 10