Who was St. Patrick?

St. Patrick was born in the early fourth century and become the apostle to Ireland sent by the pope in 431 AD. He is responsible for converting the Druids of Ireland to Christians. Many people don't realize that he authored two books, the "Confessio," a spiritual autobiography, and his "Epistola," which denounced the British mistreatment of Irish Christians. More below>

St. Patrick is probably best known for driving the snakes from Ireland. And it's true there are no snakes on the island. However there most likely never were because Ireland split off from the continent at the end of the ice age. Snakes in religion usually represent evil or pagan practices and since St. Patrick converted so many to Christianity maybe it's a symbolic "driving the snakes out" of Ireland he was credited for. As the Irish spread from the island to the rest of the world they took St. Patrick's day with them and it's now an international holiday. Why March 17th? That may be either the birthday of St. Patrick or the day he died. Now St. Patrick's day means wearing green, finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, celebrating being Irish, and luck.