St Patrick gets a lot of publicity. He had an excellent theatrical agent in the old days and his slick promotional material, backed up by Roman gold, was of the very best quality. Repeat something often enough and half of the population will believe it (just look at politicians, ancient or modern.)

Forget that the stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, like the account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland, are false, for who has the heart to let truth spoil the result of hundreds of years of good storytelling?

History has been kind to Patrick, thanks mostly to the grim determination of the Irish to hold fast to what they see as their own, and to the full weight of the Church of Rome. His book helped too, an autobiographical confession written around the year 450, and what a wonderful record of 5th century life in the British Isles it is to be sure.

British he was not, nor was he Irish. A child of the wealthy patrician class, he was born Maewyn Succat about 387 near Dumbarton in Scotland, where his father, Calphurnius, a Roman Decurion, was stationed. Through his noble mother, Conchessa, he was related to the Gallic family of St. Martin of Tours.

So how did he get to be the Patron Saint of Ireland?

Maewyn was kidnapped by Irish marauders when he was sixteen and sold to the Chieftan Milchu who set him to work as a shepherd. In one manner or another, he escaped after six years of tending flocks on the lonely slopes of Slemish and walked nearly 200 miles to the coast to finally return to Britain.

Once back home, his experiences brought about a revelation, and he told everyone who would listen that an angel had commanded him to return to Ireland as a missionary.

In time he became ordained as Patricius and packed himself into a boat back to the land where he had spent his youthful enslaved years. It’s no surprise that he chose a name befitting a man of his rank, for Patrick was certainly not over endowed with humility.

The Christian religion was imposed lightly on the Irish. Patrick knew the language and culture and he wove his lessons over the existing fabric of traditional ritual belief, clearly seen in his placement of the powerful Sun symbol onto the Saviour symbol to form the beautiful Celtic Cross. Popular stories tell how he used the shamrock as a symbol of the Trinity, drove the snakes from Ireland, ousted the High King at Tara and spoke with his God on top of Crough Patrick.

We see in these legends the systematic attempt to eradicate the old religion from Ireland. When Patrick “drove the snakes out of Ireland”, he was banishing the goddess whose symbol was a serpent, but no one had the need to explain the concept of the Trinity to the Irish whether with a shamrock or anything else. The triple aspects of the goddess were well understood and indeed, the shamrock was sacred to her. With the coming of the church of Rome, a lot of the essence of the goddess evolved into St. Brigid, a Christianised version of Brighid.