In preparation for our St. Patrick’s Day feast Catering Officer Tom has provided some helpful background.
Saint Paidric (aka Saint Patrick) was a 5th century missionary whose birthday is celebrated in every Catholic country but especially Ireland on 17th March each year. He was most likely English or possibly Welsh but he certainly wasn’t Irish. As a young man he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and spent 10 years as a slave in Ireland. He escaped, made his way home and went back to Ireland, having converted to Christianity and trained as a missionary. Because he could speak Gaelic he was highly effective and in a short period of time Ireland became a Christian country. As it mostly is today. Paidric didn’t drive any snakes out of Ireland because there weren’t any there in the first place!
