So Just Who Was This St. Patrick?

Ok, we will all be celebrating St. Patrick’s Day this weekend as well as on Monday, the actual St. Patrick’s Day. Some will celebrate St. patrick's weekend in Quincy's parade tomorrow, some in the Historic Quincy Business District's Pub Crawl tomorrow night, and some in the Kelly's Fun  Run for the Quincy YWCA on Sunday in Quincy. But who was this St. Patrick?  Despite being somewhat of a celebrity Saint, St. Patrick really isn’t that well known. 

Most people have heard that St. Patrick drove all the snakes out of Ireland. Well the stories of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland are false. Those stories were products of hundreds of years of exaggerated storytelling.

It is known that St. Patrick was born in Britain to wealthy parents near the end of the fourth century. He is believed to have died on March 17, around 460 A.D.

There is no evidence that Patrick came from a particularly religious family although Patrick was taken prisoner by a group of Irish raiders who were attacking his family’s estate at the age of 16. They transported him to Ireland where he spent six years in captivity becoming a devout Christian.

Patrick finally escaped captivity and fled back to Britain but returned to Ireland as a missionary to introduce Christianity to the Irish people.

Now you know the real St. Patrick.