This church is built on the site of where St. Patrick’s first church stood.

     There are an estimated 80 million people around the world who claim Irish ancestry. St. Patrick’s Day is a way to celebrate the Irish saint St. Patrick and the Irish heritage. The Irish have observed this day as a religious holiday for over 1,000 years. People around the world dawn their best green attire to celebrate. May 17th is not only celebrated with the color green, but with parades, dances, and it is also celebrated in Dublin, Ireland’s capital,  and all over the world. Many people share the Irish heritage and celebrate St. Patrick’s on March 17th.

The main focus of St. Patrick’s Day is St. Patrick. St. Patrick wasn’t even Irish. He was born in a village called Bannavem Taberniae. He was born a aristocrat into a British family and they owned a large estate. At the age of 16 St. Patrick was kidnapped by Irish raiders and he was forced to be a sheep herder for 6 years. When he was lonely and scared, he turned to his family religion and became a devout Christian. One day St. Patrick heard the voice of God telling him it was time to leave Ireland. He then walked 200 miles to Ireland’s east coast and found passage on a ship bound for Britain. After many years of study, Patrick was ordained a priest. St. Patrick had a dream to go back to Ireland as a missionary. He took 40 years to spread Christianity among the Celtic pagan population. He did this by building schools and churches around Ireland. On March 17, 461 A.D. St. Patrick died. He is one of Christianities widest known figures.  The main cause for St. Patrick Day was to observe the death of St. Patrick.

St. Patrick’s Day is celebrated in many ways. Such ways are by having parades, celebrating with traditional food, and wearing the color green.  The tradition of celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with parades actually started in America. The first one recorded happened in 1762 in New York. It is now the biggest and the longest parade for celebrating St. Patrick’s Day. When the great potato famine hit Ireland, thousands of Irish immigrants came to America. They brought with them their traditions and food. Wearing green came from the shamrocks’ that the Irish would wear, which turned into wearing the color green. St. Patrick Day is celebrated in many ways.

St. Patrick is best known for converting the pagan Celtic civilization to Christianity. Over 40 years he worked to converting the Celtic to Christian. A famous legend about St. Patrick is that he used the three leaves of the clover to explain the Holy Trinity. These are the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Another legend is that St. Patrick rid Ireland of all snakes. The snakes were to represent paganism and St. Patrick driving it off. The main point of celebrating St. Patrick Day is in observance of St. Patrick’s death.