St. Patrick’s Day

Northern Advocate, 17 March 1944, Page 2

St. Patrick’s Day

St Patrick’s Day was celebrated today, although in this country saint days do not command the attention that they do in many other countries. St. Patrick has been taken as the patron saint of Ireland (now Eire), lie being one of the first to preach Christianity in that, country. lie lived about BfKI-4<lf> A.D. and. according to popular belief he is said to have driven the snakes out ol Ireland, though modern authorities say that snakes have novo- existed in that island. All accounts seem to imply that SI. Patrick was not an Irishman at all, but a man of Roman ancestry, born in Scotland. He is said to have been captured by a marauding expedition of Irish Piets and sold into slavery in Ireland, but later succeeded in escaping. He then, according to popular account, fitted himself for the priesthood in France and in Rome where he obtained permission from Pope Celestine to return to Ireland to convert the natives to Christianity. Little is really known regarding the details of his life although he left two pieces of writing, one a so-called Confession, being a defence of his work in Ireland and is. in a way, autobiographical. j