A bit about Saint Patrick…
* He was a pagan until he was 16 years old
* He became a Christian during his enslavement to the Irish marauders who kidnapped him from his family’s wealthy estate on the British mainland
* He escaped after 6 years and was so convicted of the need to spread the Gospel that he went to study at the monastery for 12 years
* In saving many souls for Christ, he was despised by the Celtic Druids who were pagans… he was captured and imprisoned by them on numerous occasions, but miraculously escaped each time
* Saint Patrick originated the symbol of the shamrock as he used it to teach the concept of the Trinity: three leaves connected by one stem (and isn’t it cool that each leaf is in the shape of a heart?)
* He died on March 17 AD 461, which is why we celebrate his life on this day
* Although he is celebrated as a Saint, Patrick and the early Celtic Church of Ireland rejected any foreign control of the church, recognizing only Jesus Christ as head of the Church. Roman Catholicism was not embraced until many years later
From The Confession, written by Saint Patrick as he neared the end of his life:
“And there the Lord opened the sense of my unbelief that I might at last remember my sins and then turn with all my heart to the Lord my God, who had regard for my low estate, and took pity on my youth and ignorance, and watched over me before I knew Him, and before I was able to distinguish between good and evil, and guarded me, and comforted me as would a father his son. Hence I cannot be silent – and indeed, I ought not to be – about the many blessings and the great grace which the Lord has deigned to bestow upon me in the land of my captivity… for this we can give to God in return after having been chastened by Him, to exalt and praise His wonders before every nation that is anywhere under the heaven.”
So I challenge you, today as your kids dress in green, pinch each other and wear shirts that say, “Kiss me, I’m Irish”, to take a moment to teach your children the truth about Saint Patrick. And the real reason we celebrate his life. He devoted himself to following Christ and teaching others about the Good News. Even though it meant returning to the place of his initial enslavement, he followed God’s plan for his life, “to exalt and praise His wonders before every nation that is anywhere under heaven.” How inspirational is that!? He was a man with a passion and a purpose. And he changed the face of Christianity forever and in doing so he saved countless people for Christ.
Now THAT’S something to celebrate!
I posted this last year on St. Patrick’s Day, but thought it was worth a repost 🙂
Stefanie,
This is a great post and I certainly learned a thing or two about St. Patrick that I did not know.
I think this evening during dinner would be a great time to ask the kids why they think we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and key them in on some facts about him.
Thanks for posting this,
Mandi
Gasp… you mean it’s not about green beer??!!!!?! I’m shocked.
Learned a few new things, despite having an Irish Husband. Thanks for the reminder… it’s a great one.
Thank you for posting this, I had missed it last year, and was not aware of the background to St. Patrick’s Day.
I will never look at St. Patrick’s day in the same light as before, thank you for educating me…
Wow. I’ll be sharing this with the kids too.
DEFINITELY worth the repost!!
LOVE it!! Speaking as an Irish Catholic, I always despised what St. Patrick’s Day came to be known for (especially here in nYC!)…you are so right…the REAL meaning is something to celebrate!
Wonderful post…I always loved the story of St. Patrick…so thanks for reminding us!
i found your site through bakerella/pw and think what you’re doing is phenomenal… i do have a question though, and don’t mean this as a controversial question – but what are you doing/will you do to help your kids learn about their ethnic heritage?
Happy SPD 🙂
Awesome thank you for the reminder and the challenge. I’d love to link to this, if that’s ok?
AWESOME post!!! Thanks for that…I learned a lot!
My kids are in their green today and we will be serving Shepherd’s Pie for dinner…will NOW share just why St. Pat is such cool dude!!!
Thank you for reminding me of the details! I was trying to remember this morning as I explained the reason we celebrate St. Patrick’s Day and will use your post tonight with my 5 year old!
Heather (FL)
Hey Lisa!
You sure may link it, if you’d like 🙂
i remember that post! so glad you posted it again. i love patrick’s words…full of humility and awe about the grace of God in his life.
love ya!
Great post!!! I will have to pass this along to my son who’s middle name is Patrick…after St. Patrick.
I remember reading your post lst year and I also think it’s very interesting!
Thanks for sharing this info!
We studied about St. Patrick today too and how his given name wasn’t even Patrick!
How amazing that God took a teenaged boy who was KIDNAPPED and used him to make such an impact for His glory!
We had some fun green foods today.
Did you know that the color originally associated with St. Patrick was BLUE- yep! Green came along later as St. Patrick was assosiated with Ireland which is associated with the color green and then the Irish-Americans put shamrocks in their lapels to honor their birth countries and thus the wearing of the green began and morphed into literally wearing green clothes!
Love the history!
We had ROOT beer for lunch and dinner but I couldn’t figure out a way to make it green! 😉
Very interesting. I knew nothing about St. Patrick.
Being an Irish Lass, I knew most of the post. St. Patrick was also Italian I believe.
I celebrated by working and saying my Irish prayers. My real St. Pat’s day will be March 28 when my family volunteers for a benefit at church for a family with 14 kids. Stef, you would love Mary Therese. She is a hoot and a half. With 14 kids all in Catholic schools…aged 24-4. The family is the first volunteer for anything. The dad was in a car accident on Jan 25 and has been in a coma since then. They aren’t sure f he will survive. But as Mary Therese says…Tom is in God’s hands and on His time! WOW, I didn’t mean for ths to get melancholy…Happy St. Patrick’s Day…I am going to go watch American Idol!
Thanks for sharing the information. My pastor also did a sermon on the “real” St. Patrick. I linked your post on my blog! I just starting following your blog a few months ago..truely inspiring! We are currenly in the process of our 2nd China adoption…waiting for our TA…so we are sooo close!!
Blessings,
Barb
Love it! Thanks for posting – it’s always a great reminder. Especially with as hard as it is think around here, what with all the smells of corned beef, cabbage and whole wheat soda bread we had going on all day 🙂
I remember this from last year.
Very Cool.
Hey email me.
I am sending you invites to the P-blog and they are bouncing and I have new LL w-children for the NHBO site.
xoxo,
A
Wow, I did not know this. I was very enlightened by your post.
Thank you! I did not know that, but was curious to look into it. I’m glad to know his story, what with St. Patrick’s day sort of having become a day about partying and drinking, it’s great to know the REAL reason for it.
Hi Stef,
Where have I been??? (On cloud nine-that’s where;-). When you posted about Green Olive tees, I didn’t realize it was YOU!!!!
Wow! They are REALLY great!
Hugs,
Tami
Thank you! I did not know all of this. I know what we’ll be learning about next year on St. Patrick’s day at our school! 😉 In fact, I’ll just circle them around the computer and introduce them to my friend Ms. Stefanie and point them right to this post!
You are such a blessing to me!!!
Thanks so much what a great Post