Much of the life of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, has been lost or confused in history. His birthplace, birthdate, and death date are components of much conjecture. Suffice to say, he was not born in Ireland and he lived from any number of different dates between as early as 373 and as late as 492. From these dates he could have lived only a little more than 60 years to more than 120 years. His day of observance is likely neither his birth date nor death date, but rather a date selected for convenience.
At the age of 16, he was sold into slavery. He worked as a shepherd for six years before receiving a dream of his escape. From this spiritual awakening, he began a life long journey of divination, leadership, and ecclesiastic responsibility as a Deacon, Priest, and Bishop of Ireland.
Not admitting to any miracles in his own writings, many miracles have been attributed to him. In particular a miraculous exploit at Tara against the Druids, numerous healings of the sick, raising people from the dead, and the driving out of snakes from the land are believed to have been performed by him. Other miracles were likened unto the Mosiac miracles against the wicked priests. St. Patrick also received many visions to help his missionary cause.
The shamrock
is a representation that St. Patrick employed to try to teach the trinity to converts. Each of the leaves represented a member of the Trinity, either the Father, the Son, or the Holy Ghost while the stem represented the Godhead from which they proceeded. Likewise, the color green is the color of a shamrock hence the popular practice of wearing green today.
