by Davis Horner

Created on: September 20, 2008

In the years following the evacuation of Roman troops and administrators from the island of Britain, the land descended into chaos. Warring tribes and kingdoms fought with each other, and raiders from Ireland resumed their age-old practice of terrorizing the west coast of Britain. A young, upper middle class boy was captured during this time whose name was Patricus. His capture was the beginning of a journey which would lead him to being a slave, a shepherd, a deepening spiritual life, escape from captivity, and ultimately the study for the priesthood in Europe. He returned to his beloved Ireland years later as another type of shepherd - a Bishop - and with his mission from the Church in Rome began to evangelize the country. He undertook this mission because, even as a slave, he had grown to love the land, its people and their culture. During his time in Ireland he converted thousands to Christianity but always took care not to disrupt the nature-based rituals, traditions and folkways of the people any more than he thought necessary. He was, of course, St. Patrick Ireland's patron saint.

For over 1000 years St. Patrick's Day was exclusively Ireland's patronal feast day, and was observed in churches throughout the land as a holy day of obligation. There was doubtless a sense of national or ethnic pride that became a part of the observance, especially as the English gradually took control of the island, its wealth, and its people beginning in the 12th century. The St. Patrick's Day of earlier times, however, bore little resemblance to what we associate with it today.

Through the centuries of rule by the English, to varying degrees, the identity of the people as being Irish began to have more and more importance. When England split with the Church of Rome, Ireland remained staunchly Catholic. When the last of the Stuart monarchs was removed from the throne of England, his armies defeated at the Battle of the Boyne, the people of Ireland were once again marginalized, their cause lost. The tribulations at home made many thousands decide to emigrate to the New World, to the American colonies. Remembering their peculiarly Irish feast day, St. Patrick's Day celebrations began to spring up in areas where there were concentrations of Irish people. The first St. Patrick's Parade was in New York City in 1762, which consisted mostly of Irish soldiers who had fought in the French and Indian War.

By the middle of the 19th century, the steady flow of Irish to America's shores

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