<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div dir="ltr"><base href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Patricks-Day"><style id="print"></style><title>Saint Patrick’s Day | History, Traditions, & Facts | Britannica</title><div class="original-url"><br><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Patricks-Day">https://www.britannica.com/topic/Saint-Patricks-Day</a><br><br></div><div id="article" role="article" style="-webkit-locale: "en"; text-rendering: optimizelegibility; font-family: -apple-system-font; font-size: 1.2em; line-height: 1.5em; margin: 0px; padding: 0px;" class="system exported">
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<div class="page" style="text-align: start; overflow-wrap: break-word; max-width: 100%;"><h1 class="title" style="font-weight: bold; font-size: 1.95552em; line-height: 1.2141em; margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0.5em; text-align: start; hyphens: manual; display: block; max-width: 100%;">Who was St. Patrick?</h1><div class="metadata singleline" style="text-align: start; hyphens: manual; display: block; margin-bottom: 1.45em; margin-top: -0.75em; max-width: 100%;"><time datetime="2024-02-16T00:00:00CST" class="date" style="margin: 0px; max-width: 100%; font-size: 1em !important; font-weight: normal !important; font-style: normal !important; display: inline !important;">Feb 16, 2024</time></div><p style="max-width: 100%;"><strong style="max-width: 100%;"><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span>St. Patrick’s Day</strong>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/feast-religion" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">feast</a> day (March 17) of <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Saint-Patrick" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">St. Patrick</a>, patron <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/saint/Saints-in-Western-religions#ref34119" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">saint</a> of <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Ireland" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Ireland</a>. Born in <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Roman-Britain" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Roman Britain</a> in the late 4th century, he was kidnapped at the age of 16 and taken to Ireland as a slave. He escaped but returned about 432 <span style="max-width: 100%;">ce</span> to convert the Irish to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Christianity" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Christianity</a>. By the time of his death on March 17, 461, he had established <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/monastery" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">monasteries</a>, <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/church-Christianity" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">churches</a>, and schools. Many <a data-term="legends" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/legends" data-type="MW" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">legends</a> grew up around him—for example, that he drove the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/snake" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">snakes</a> out of Ireland and used the <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/plant/shamrock" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">shamrock</a> to explain the <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Trinity-Christianity" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Trinity</a>. Ireland came to celebrate his day with religious services and feasts.</p><!--[P1]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[AM1]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[MOD1]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><div data-type="other" style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><div style="max-width: 100%;"><figure data-assembly-id="262727" data-asm-type="image" style="max-width: 100%; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: -apple-system-font; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); margin: 0px;"><div data-type="image" style="max-width: 100%;"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/71/231371-050-2B0DAB25/Color-guard-twirls-flags-St-Patricks-Day-New-York-City-March-17-2017.jpg" data-href="/media/1/858491/262727" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/71/231371-050-2B0DAB25/Color-guard-twirls-flags-St-Patricks-Day-New-York-City-March-17-2017.jpg?w=300" alt="St. Patrick's Day" data-width="1600" data-height="1067" loading="eager" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0.5em auto; display: block; height: auto;" data-unique-identifier=""></a></div><figcaption style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.8em; width: 100%; font-size: 0.75rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);"><a href="https://cdn.britannica.com/71/231371-050-2B0DAB25/Color-guard-twirls-flags-St-Patricks-Day-New-York-City-March-17-2017.jpg" data-href="/media/1/858491/262727" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; text-decoration: underline;">St. Patrick's Day</a><p style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.4em;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">A St. Patrick's Day parade in New York City, 2017.</span></p></figcaption></figure></div><div style="max-width: 100%;"><figure data-assembly-id="247678" data-asm-type="video" style="max-width: 100%; font-size: 0.75em; line-height: 1.5em; font-family: -apple-system-font; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.65); margin: 0px;"><div data-type="video" style="max-width: 100%;"><a data-id="213462" href="/video/213462/Ireland-origins-who-are-the-Irish-people-history-culture" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;"><img src="https://cdn.britannica.com/62/213462-138-8A3FB111/Ireland-origins-who-are-the-Irish-people-history-culture.jpg?w=800&h=450&c=crop" alt="How many Americans have Irish ancestry?" loading="lazy" class="" style="max-width: 100%; margin: 0.5em auto; display: block; height: auto;" data-unique-identifier=""><p style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.4em;"><em data-icon="play_arrow" style="max-width: 100%;"></em></p></a></div><figcaption style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.8em; width: 100%; font-size: 0.75rem; color: rgba(0, 0, 0, 0.8);"><p style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.4em;">How many Americans have Irish ancestry?</p><p style="max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.4em; margin-bottom: 0.4em;"><span style="max-width: 100%;">Overview of the people of Ireland, with a focus on the impact of the mass emigration to the United States during the 19th century.</span></p><a href="/topic/Saint-Patricks-Day/images-videos" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; margin-top: 0.25em; margin-bottom: 0.25em; text-decoration: underline;">See all videos for this article</a></figcaption></figure></div></div></div></div><p style="max-width: 100%;">It was emigrants, particularly to the <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/United-States" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">United States</a>, who transformed St. Patrick’s Day into a largely <a data-term="secular" href="https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/secular" data-type="MW" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">secular</a> <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/holiday" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">holiday</a> of revelry and celebration of things <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Irish-people" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Irish</a>. Cities with large numbers of Irish immigrants, who often wielded political power, staged the most extensive celebrations, which included elaborate parades. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Boston" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Boston</a> held its first St. Patrick’s Day parade in 1737, followed by <a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/New-York-City" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">New York City</a> in 1762. Since 1962 <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Chicago" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Chicago</a> has coloured its <span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="https://www.britannica.com/place/Chicago-River" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">river</a> green to mark the holiday. (Although blue was the colour traditionally associated with St. Patrick, green is now commonly connected with the day.) Irish and non-Irish alike commonly participate in the “wearing of the green”—sporting an item of green clothing or a shamrock, the Irish national plant, in the lapel. <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/corned-beef" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">Corned beef</a> and <a href="https://www.britannica.com/plant/Brassica-oleracea" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">cabbage</a> are associated with the holiday, and even <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/beer" data-show-preview="true" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">beer</a> is sometimes dyed green to celebrate the day. Although some of these practices eventually were adopted by the Irish themselves, they did so largely for the benefit of tourists.</p><!--[P2]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><!--[AM2]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span><a href="/quiz/the-irish-quiz" style="color: rgb(65, 110, 210); max-width: 100%; text-decoration: underline;">
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</a><!--[MOD2]--><span style="max-width: 100%;"></span></div></div></div><br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr">Reverent Dr. Carolyn Peters, National Federation Of The Blind, Ohio, affiliate, vice president, 937-657-5134,<div>Dr.Carolyn.peters@gmail.com </div><div></div><div></div></div></body></html>