Who was Saint Patrick, what did he do, and why do we celebrate him on March 17?

But who was he and what did he do?

For a start, he was neither named Patrick nor was he from Ireland.

Born in Britain around 386 AD, Saint Patrick's real name was Maewyn Succat.

When he was 16 years old, Irish raiders attacked his family and kidnapped him. They brought him to Ireland and six years later he escaped back to England.

IN OTHER NEWS:

After completing his religious training, Maewyn Succat returned to Ireland. But this time he had a new name and a new occupation.

Dubbing himself 'Patrick' because the name derives from the word for 'father figure' in Latin, he returned to Ireland as a missionary.

He would later become a bishop in Ireland, and would posthumously become known as the father of Irish Christianity.

There are many stories and myths surrounding the life of Saint Patrick. One more notable story is about how he drove out snakes in Ireland.

As the story goes, Patrick drove the reptiles into the sea after they began to attack him during his 40-day hilltop fast.

Ever since their bad publicity in the Genesis story of Adam and Eve, serpents have been seen as symbolic of the devil.

So ridding the land of snakes was something that would have been well applauded by the early Christian followers of the fifth century.

But did this really happen? Probably not. But the snake story may have been allegorical. As the father of Christianity in Ireland, Patrick had a lot to do with driving out the pagan worshipers and Druids.

And that's what the snakes may have come to represent in stories told about his life.

Why the 17^th day of March? The day doesn't so much commemorate Saint Patrick's life as it does his death.

Patrick died at Saul, Downpatrick in Ireland on March 17, 461 AD. As far as historians can tell, there was nothing particularly special about his death, except that it was in the town where he had established the first Christian church.

He was about 120 years old and had spent a life in service to Ireland. The land that had once ripped him from his family had become his home.

Did Saint Patrick love the colour green? Not especially. In fact there are even some scholars who have made a case for blue being more generally associated with Saint Patrick's storied life.

So why green? Because it's an important colour for the Irish people. Its flag, for example, has three colours: Green, white, and orange.

The orange represents the northern countrymen, the green represents the Irish nationals and the white represents unification between the two.

Green has therefore typically come to invoke national pride in the minds of the Irish across the world.

It's also sometimes said that wearing green will make you invisible to mischievous leprechauns. Though this tradition seems to have developed out of America, not Ireland.

No matter where you find yourself this March 17, may the luck of the Irish be with you!