1. The story of
St. Patrick
Many, years ago in the day of old,

2. even older than Teresa, in a land
far, far away from Spain the
story begins which tells of the boy who
becomes St Patrick.
He was not born in Ireland,
which many people believe, including
many Irish people. No, he was born in a
country across the sea from Ireland
called Wales. Wales is not far
from Ireland which turned out to be

3. rather unfortunate for young Maewyn
Succat. Who is that? I hear you ask. You
see that was his name before he became
Patrick, I am glad he changed it as St
Maewyn Succat’s day is much harder to
pronounce. I am sure that young
Maewyn had a normal childhood;
perhaps he played football
with his friends who also
had silly names. Perhaps he used the
Internet. Could he have had
a Facebook page? Or, how about a

4. mobile phone to text his
friends? I wonder which TV programmes
he preferred? Well you see,
electricity had not been invented in
Maewyn’s time so he would not have
had any of the things that young people
today could not imagine living
without. What kind of games do you
think young Maewyn and his friends
played so long ago? Anyway, back to the
story. When Maewyn was sixteen years
old a group of mad Irishmen raided his
little Welsh village and captured
him. Without even asking for

5. permission, they bundled him on a boat
back to Ireland to
sell as a slave. He always wanted to go
on a boat journey but not like this. No
more normal childhood for young
Maewyn. He was sold to a Druid chief
who had a large herd of pigs. Guess
what his new job was to be? Yes, you
guessed correctly; a pig
farmer . Now life as a pig

6. farmer was no picnic for the young man
from wales. It was a very difficult and
smelly job to do, perhaps at that time
his name was changed to
Smelly , we just don’t know.
He ate, slept with and generally lived
among the pigs and each night he
would tell them the story of “The three
little pigs”, how they loved that story.
It was during his time in Ireland that
Smelly, sorry, Maewyn became a

7. Christian . One night he
heard a voice in his dreams telling him
to get an airplane back to his own
country, but as airplanes were not yet
invented he had to go by
ship . He fled the
coast of Ireland and found his way back
home. After having the world’s longest
shower he joined a

8. monastery where he stayed for the next
twelve years . It
became his goal in life to convert the
pagans of Ireland to Christianity.
Perhaps he thought that this would put
a stop to their pastime of kidnapping
and selling young boys into slavery. It
was at this time that he took the name
Patrick . He became a bishop
and went back to Ireland to pursue his

9. destiny . He was very good at
his job as he helped many people to
find God and leave their old pagan
ways behind. He even went to visit his
old slave master to show that he had no
bad feelings towards him. Perhaps he
also wanted to visit his old roommates
the pigs, but alas, they had all been
eaten. This upset Patrick because he was
looking forward to a nice piece of ham.
The story goes that his old master took
all his valuables to his house and
burned it down with himself still
inside. Apparently, he did not want to
face his former slave who had become
famous.

10. Many stories have been written
about Patrick. He was not yet called St.
Patrick, which would come much later.
It is said that he drove all the snakes
out of Ireland, not in a
car mind you because cars had not been
invented yet either. This is not exactly
true, at that time there were no snakes
in Ireland. As the devil is often referred
to as a snake, it is said that it was the
devil he banished from Ireland. It is

11. said also that he used the
shamrock as a symbol of the Holy
Trinity. That is why the shamrock is
very famous in Ireland and people
around the world associate it with
Ireland. But we do know that he built
many churches and schools all
over Ireland. He spent almost thirty
years in Ireland teaching the pagans of
that green land about the wonders of
the Catholic religion. The Irish people
never forgot about the boy who, in the

12. twelfth century became a saint,
taking the name St Patrick.
St Patrick day was originally a
religious holiday but these days it is a
secular holiday. It is celebrated each
year on March 17th, which is
the date on which he died. Ireland is
not the only country to celebrate. Over
the centuries many Irish people went to
distant lands to find fame and fortune.
With them they brought their culture
and traditions. Today St. Patrick’s day
is also enjoyed by both Catholics and

13. non-Catholics. In my own little town,
on the south coast of Ireland, we have a
beautiful parade through our city
streets. Lots of children dress up as
leprechauns and
mini St Patricks. It is a day to remember
all the good things about being Irish, a
time to be proud of our history.