St. Paddy's

My roommate Becky, Heather and I were chatting and realized that none of us really knew why we celebrate St. Patrick's day. All I knew is that there are clovers, green, and its Irish. So in honor of this mystery holiday, I decided to find out what its all about.

According to trusty ol' wikipedia, St. Patrick was a missionary in Ireland forever ago. No one can really connect him to a specific church or exact locations where he may have worked. No one is sure about the dates of his lifetime either, but according to some liberally-interpreted, ancient letters, it is believed he lived from around AD 378 to 493 and was ministering in Ireland after AD 433. I didn't quite understand what exactly he did to become Ireland's Patron Saint, but he is.

St. Patrick's day is a feast day celebrated by the Roman Catholic church, but did not become so until the mid 17th century under the influence of Luke Wadding, who was a Franciscan scholar. It is celebrated on the 17th of March because this is the traditional death date of the saint. It has since become Ireland's national holiday and is celebrated more and more in other places like North America and Australia. The celebrations have obviously been secularized and the shamrocks, leprechauns and green are used as symbols of Ireland's culture/heritage. My guess is that we celebrate it here in America because of the Catholic church. Got to love Americans. We'll celebrate anyone's holidays for a chance to party.

Well I got that much out of it before I got bored so if you want to know more, I'm afraid you'll have to do some real research. Fun fact about me: I am from an Irish/Scottish descent and my middle name Colleen (also my mother's name) is a term for an Irish lass.