Everybody in America gets to be Irish today.
Watch the booze!
From National Post.com:
Born in 387 to Roman parents living in Scotland, we know St. Patrick as the bishop who taught Christianity to the Irish.
But he made his first trip to the island when Irish raiders attacked his family’s estate and took the 16-year-old prisoner. After he escaped six years later, he reported experiencing dreams telling him to return to Ireland as a missionary.
He began training for the priesthood and after 15 years, he finally returned. Preaching all over Ireland for 40 years, he died March 17, 461.
Why do we associate shamrocks with St. Patrick and Ireland?
Unless you're very lucky, most shamrocks you find have three leaves. St. Patrick used the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity: Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Or, according to Classics professor Philip Freeman, monks made this up centuries later and attributed it to him.
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Via National Post.com
The Last Tradition
