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It is a well-known fact that on 17 March, the Irish honor their Patron – Saint Patrick, who, according to legend, brought Christianity to the once pagan island and, moreover, incidentally, expelled all snakes from Ireland (although this is a legend, there really are no snakes in Ireland at all).
Saint died exactly on this day, but, nevertheless, it is a holiday – always noisy, bright and with much fun… In honor of Saint Patrick, a parade is organized with songs and dances, people put on extravagant costumes (everything around is so green… In Chicago, people even paint the river green), they wear clovers in their buttonholes – a symbol of Ireland and good luck, and Irish beer flows like a river…
Moreover, this celebration concerns not only the Irish Saint, but also the Irish soul! And, naturally, everything is explained by the peculiarities of the national character of the Irish people. It is not customary for them to grieve at funerals, because it is believed that the soul of the deceased should rejoice with the living, and therefore it is necessary to recall everything funny and good that is associated with the deceased… Patrick is dead, long live Patrick!
Since ancient times it was customary in Ireland to celebrate holidays vigorously, and they mentioned it in their numerous sagas. For example, in the saga “The Intoxication of the Ulaid” it was written that the main character Cú Chulainn invited King Conchobar to a feast and stocked up on beer – “150 barrels of each type”. The preparation of food and drink for the royal feast was also described in the saga The Feast at the Goose Fortress, and in many other works…
The attitude of Saint Patrick to libation is not precisely known, although the medievalist historian Dorothy Bray, in “The study of folk-motifs in early Irish hagiographies“, referring to the “Vita tripartita Sancti Patricii” (“The Three-Part Hagiography of Saint Patrick“), writes that Patrick turned water into wine. Enviable quality! However, the text of the Hagiography describes a slightly different case: young Patrick once scooped up water from the river with a jug and turned it into honey, which miraculously cured all diseases.
Saint Patrick’s Day is also famous for the fact that it is one of those holidays, which have outgrown national boundaries, and it is celebrated cheerfully not only in Ireland, but also in different cities of the world – in New York, Buenos Aires, Melbourne, Boston, Moscow… This is not a complete list! In mid-March, millions of people around the world, regardless of nationality, become Irish a little: green clothes, folk music, delicious porter and shamrock clovers… Saint Patrick – it is much fun!
Although, by the way, initially, until the 18th century, that is, before the rebellion of 1798, when Irish soldiers wore green uniforms to attract attention, the color associated with Saint Patrick was navy blue.
By the way, “Paddy” – an offensive word for an Irish person – comes from the abbreviation of the name of Saint Patrick.
Many legends are associated with the name of Saint Patrick, for example, the one, in which with the help of a three-leaf clover he explained to people the concept of the Holy Trinity, “Just as three leaves can grow from one stem, so God can be one in three persons”.
However, Saint Patrick’s Day also has pagan motives. So, one of his indispensable heroes are leprechauns – fairy-tale creatures who own treasures. If you catch a leprechaun, he can tell you where he hides his pot of gold – although you shouldn’t completely believe him – these little men are mischievous and deceitful.
Shakespeare mentions Saint Patrick in “Hamlet”, Bernard Shaw – in “Pygmalion”… Although it is impossible to list all the references and allusions!
The Vikings brought the name of Saint Patrick, according to “The Tale of Bygone Years” by Nestor the Hagiographer and the works of Nikolay Karamzin, to Russia, so it is not surprising that he was considered the Patron of Rurik and the Rurikids, who continues to favor their descendants even today!
By the way, with the name of Saint Patrick, Celtic “worship” crosses, the blades of which were inscribed in a circle, also came to Rus’ from Ireland. Saint Patrick inscribed the cross in a circle to show the pagans that Jesus Christ was like the Sun. Moreover, the tradition of bell ringing could have come from Ireland to Rus’, which only later became stronger in Constantinople.
Judging by numerous legends, Saint Patrick was an interesting person, and his life was full of adventures and miracles. However, answering the question – who is Saint Patrick? – is rather difficult.
The fact is that there are different legends about a man named Patrick.
One of them tells about a young man from a noble Christian Romano-British family, who was born at the end of the 4th century, and in his youth was captured by Irish pirates and fell into slavery. Six years later he managed to escape from Ireland to Gaul, and then to Rome.
The second is about a man who in 432 began preaching Christianity in Ireland, calling himself a bishop (although it is unclear who had ordained him and where).
In the 7th century, the first Latin Hagiography of Patrick appeared, in which these two stories merged into one.
However, Church of Ireland scholars doubt that this was the same person, and in the 1940s, historian Thomas O’Rahilly hypothesized the existence of two Patricks and proposed calling them Patricius Junior and Patricius Senior. This assumption makes it possible to very conveniently link the spread of dates for the death of the Saint in the Irish annals – from 461 to 492 or even later.
Yet, the main source of biographical information about Patrick was the “Confession”, allegedly written by him. Its early editions have not survived – only a list from 630, the authenticity of which remains in question. In 1905, Irish historian John Bury suggested that Patrick did not exist at all, and that his biography was the product of a compilation by monks. Moreover, there was often a confusion between the image of Saint Patrick and the image of Pope Leo I. However, in 1962, the work of Irish law specialist, philologist and linguist Daniel Binchy was published: from his point of view, Patrick not only existed, but also wrote the “Confession”.
In a word, the problem of restoring the real biography of The Baptist of the Irish is very complex and does not have a clear explanation. However, in some ways this is not even so important: over many centuries, his legendary biography has been built up quite fully, and the Irish believe that the noble young man really led them out of darkness of paganism. That his stick was given to him directly by Jesus Christ…, and that it was Patrick who expelled all the snakes from the island…
The only source of relatively reliable biographical information about Patrick are his own works – the “Confessio” (“Confession”) and “Epistola ad Coroticum” (“A letter to the soldiers of King Coroticus”). As the author of the “Confession”, written in Latin, Saint Patrick, nevertheless, is considered the founder of Irish literature.
In the “Confession”, the Saint tells us about his life. Somehow, suddenly a man appears before us, tormented by various kinds of reproaches, suspicions of theft, vanity, and so on… He constantly has to justify himself. If you believe this work, then his enemies were not only the Druids and pagan kings, but also local learned people, Christians and scholars, for whom Patrick was a stranger.
In the “Confession”, Patrick tells us about how in his youth, while still in Britain, he committed a certain sin and told a close friend about it, who shared it with everyone around him! Therefore, Patrick repents of something that, perhaps, no one would have known. What kind of sin it was is unknown: perhaps participation in pagan rituals, perhaps sex, or perhaps he stole pears, like Saint Augustine. In any case, the mention of the youthful sin is not accidental: this is an obligatory episode in the confession genre.
By the way, the question arises – if Saint Patrick is not Irish, then why and how exactly did he become a symbol of Ireland? – Well, it is clear that he was the man who baptized the Irish pagans into Christianity… Well, it is clear that he fought with the pagan kings and Druid priests…
There are even legends about Patrick’s competitions with local Druids, in whom he rightly saw the main enemies of Christianity.
Here, for example, is one of them… Once on a hot summer day, the Druids covered the fields with snow, and everyone was impressed with their power, but Patrick ordered the snow to be removed, since the crops could die. “The snow will melt itself later”, answered the Druids. Then Patrick crossed the fields, and the snow disappeared.
Well, here is another one… The Druids milked a bucket of milk from a bull, and, naturally, everyone was impressed again. Patrick crossed the bucket, and everyone saw that it was not milk, but mucus and blood, and the bull was lying and dying… Patrick poured the bucket onto his back, and the bull came to life.
In other words, Saint Patrick constantly demonstrated his superiority over local magicians, and his preaching was not philosophically speculative, but clearly empirical.
It is clear that Patrick also courageously fought against the teachings of the British theologian Pelagius, whose teaching (and in fact, heresy) had spread widely throughout the country… Pelagianism was condemned at the council of 418, and in 431 Pope Celestine sent Bishop Palladius to Ireland to bring Irish Christians back into the fold of the Catholic Church. On this basis, the same Thomas O’Rahilly believed that Patrick and Palladium were one person.
In any case, it is Patrick, an alien from outside, who was assigned the role of the savior of the people, the deliverer from darkness and other troubles…
But, probably, the main thing in answering the question “Why?” lies in the understanding that, over the years spent in slavery among the Irish, Patrick studied local customs well, became completely at home with the Irish, and later became a preacher, acting quite skillfully and wisely…
According to legend, Saint Patrick performed many miracles, restoring sight to the blind and hearing to the deaf… He healed lepers, gave strength to the weak, raised the dead…
However, not all legends present Patrick as an exclusively positive character. For example, in the Legend of Ossian, one of the Fenians went to Tir na Nog – “the island of the young” in Celtic mythology, that is, the island of eternal youth – a place where everyone, according to legend, remained young… On this island, there were no diseases, and the climate was neither hot nor cold… People were well-fed and did not know pain… When he returned back, as soon as he touched the ground with his foot, he immediately aged sharply… The Saint picked up the Fenian and assigned people to look after him, but restored his sight and hearing through prayer only to complete individual tasks, after which he decided that it was better to take such power back… – Well, isn’t this wisdom?! Actually, wisdom is mercy and severity at the same time!
A logical question arises – why is Saint Patrick associated with clovers and leprechauns? – Almost all Christian holidays are somehow associated with days revered by pagans. There is an Irish proverb that can be translated roughly as follows, “Like salmon in the middle of a stream, so is Patrick’s Day in the middle of spring”… Indeed, spring for the Irish begins on 1 February, Saint Brigid’s Day, when daylight hours noticeably increase. 17 March, therefore, falls in the middle of spring, that is, it marks a turn towards warmth and light. Clover is an archaic symbol associated with the sun worship. A conventional image of a shamrock can be found in Ireland on the walls of the so-called New Grange – a religious building erected about five thousand years ago. Moreover, in order not to abandon the ancient symbol, the Irish rethought it – the already mentioned legend appeared that with the help of three leaves on one stem, Saint Patrick showed the intricate dogma about the Trinity.
Well, leprochans, or leprechauns, are forest dwellers who come to people on warm days, whose rare and so coveted abilities have already been mentioned above….
The beginning to celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day occurred around the middle of the 18th century, but not in Ireland. It happened in America, where there were many Irish emigrants who began to actively celebrate this day. Before this, the date of Saint Patrick’s death was remembered only in narrow church circles. In 1761–1762, parades were held in several cities, and since then, Irish emigrants not only in the United States, but also in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and even Argentina have celebrated Saint Patrick’s Day. In Ireland itself, then still part of the United Kingdom, Saint Patrick’s Day came only in 1903: March 17 was officially declared a national holiday and a day off. The first Saint Patrick’s Day parade took place in Dublin in 1931, ten years after the country gained independence.
In the 1990s, a real advertising campaign began to promote Saint Patrick. So the tradition of drinking dark, heavy, strong beer on this day also turned out to be imposed from above (previously in Ireland, on this day, on the contrary, pubs were closed so that people would drink less). It is unknown who exactly came up with all this, but he was definitely a talented marketer!
Therefore, we can safely say that Saint Patrick’s Day is associated not only with religion as such, but rather with archaic rituals, which, first of all, have a social background.
The first images of Patrick date back to the 10th-11th centuries, and these are bas-reliefs on the monastery walls. Although by that time, a special canon for the image of Saint Patrick had already developed: in the episcopal tiara and always with a stick, which, according to legend, he received directly from Jesus Christ. Sometimes a defeated snake is depicted at the feet of the Saint.
Later, another canon appeared, which did not supplant the earlier one, but supplemented it: young Patrick with the inevitable stick sits on a stone among the sheep… Often the Saint is depicted with a shamrock in his hand, or may be depicted trampling a snake with his foot. In addition, one of his hands may be raised in blessing…
Later, humorous figurines of various sizes appeared, which are sold by 17 March and which depict Saint Patrick looking like Santa Claus – with a large beard, a kind face and with the same stick.
There are also Orthodox icons depicting the Saint, including icons painted in the Eastern tradition and sometimes kept in Catholic cathedrals.
Information about the year of Saint Patrick’s death varies depending on the source.
According to legend, before his death, the Saint spent forty days and nights on the mountaintop of Cruachán Aigle, and in the last hour, after Bishop T’Assach had confessed him, he threw a bell from the mountain, praying that faith would not dry out in Ireland. The bell was picked up by the angels who also guarded the Saint’s grave on the first night.
According to legend, one of the angels promised the Saint to fulfill four of his requests:
- a throne in Armagh;
- the opportunity to judge those who appeal to the Saint on the day of their death;
- the opportunity to judge all the Irish;
- mercy for the descendants of Dihu (one of the first people who met Patrick during his missions in Ireland)…
However, there was probably a fifth wish that also concerned the descendants of the Rurikids…
According to the same legends, after the death of the Saint, a war broke out between the Britons and the Irish for his relics, but it did not end in anything due to divine intervention.
To choose Patrick’s eternal resting place, two untamed bulls were harnessed to the cart with his body… and the burial had to happen exactly where they would stop…
However, the Saint’s burial place is not reliably known, but it is believed that he was buried in the Cathedral of the Holy Trinity in Downpatrick, although according to other traditional legends – in Soule or Armagh.
More than 2 thousand cathedrals and churches around the world are dedicated to Saint Patrick, the most famous of which is the Saint Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, built in 1191, whose rector in the 18th century was the writer Jonathan Swift.
Saint Patrick is especially revered as the second most important patron after The Virgin Mary in Nigeria, where Irish missionaries (The Saint Patrick Fathers) actively participated in the Christianization of the country. According to reports, from the beginning of the 20th century (from June 1914 to June 1930) they baptized there 4858 people.
In Ireland, there are also places to venerate Saint Patrick. First, this is Armagh – a monastery in Northern Ireland, according to legend, founded by Patrick in 444. Of course, this could not have happened without the legends and traditions that arose later. Having received land from the local ruler to found a monastery, Patrick allegedly began to wait for a sign that would show him a specific place. Sure, the sign was sent! Patrick saw a mortally wounded fawn that suddenly came to life and stood up. So it became clear that it was a special place.
Another place of veneration is the city of Downpatrick, where, according to one version, as already mentioned, the grave of Saint Patrick is located. There is also a tradition of climbing Croagh Patrick, where the Saint tended sheep (however, there is no exact information that this happened exactly there).
Actually, folklore tradition easily attaches the label “Patrick was here” to any place of some interest. Let’s name two more places, although in reality there are considerably more of them.
One of them is located in Northern Ireland and is called Struell Wells, where there were sacred springs back in pagan times. Patrick realized that he could not prevent people from honoring these waters, and so he decided to consecrate them: for three nights in a row, naked Patrick lay in the icy water and sang psalms, then crawled out for a while, sat on a stone chair, dozed off and again plunged into the icy water. For a long time this place was a cult place, because it was believed that visiting the source and sitting on the Saint Patrick’s chair, that is, on a piece of strangely shaped rock, healed the sick. It is interesting that the peak of pilgrimage does not occur on 17 March, but on 21 June, the pagan day of the summer solstice. It has been the custom since ancient times – to come to the sacred spring on this day.
Another place is the monastery and castle of Cashel in the province of Munster. There is a stone slab on which, again according to legend, Patrick baptized King Aengus. The Saint accidentally pierced the King’s foot with the end of his stick, and the stone was sprinkled with blood, traces of which are still visible. During the ceremony, Patrick looked the king in the eyes and did not notice that he had been wounded. Patrick later asked Aengus, “Why didn’t you say you were bleeding?” “I thought it was part of the ritual”, – answered the King. It turns out that even Saints sometimes notice not everything… Moreover, how great was the faith in Patrick! – Let all the blood flow out… if it is needed!
Indeed, for the Irish, Saint Patrick is a unique something! Instead of praying to the Almighty, Jesus Christ, The Virgin Mary and various Saints, they pray exclusively to Saint Patrick! For them he is The Baptist, and The Apostle, and all the Saints combined! For them, he is a collective image of all the Saints! People apply to him in moments of extreme indignation and despair, “Are you? Or are you not a disciple of Saint Patrick?”
In 2017, The Russian Orthodox Church included Saint Patrick in the list of revered Saints from Central and Western Europe. However, according to the Orthodox calendar, his day is 30 March. Well, who can stop us from celebrating this day twice?
What an interesting time we live in – we can see and understand not only what separated and divided countries and peoples – seas, oceans, mountains, mountain ranges, wars, discords, hostility, hatred, envy, vanity… – but we can also see what unites people – the history of the Vikings, Rurik, the Rurikids, their descendants… and the love for Saint Patrick throughout centuries…
Like all Saints, Saint Patrick cures any illness and helps to get rid of any vice, and you can also ask him for things that you can only ask your family and your closest friends; – he definitely will not betray you, will not share your secret with everyone around you…
