St Patrick's Day: From Ireland to AustraliaPart 1: 1788-1914Mike Cronin and Daryl AdairIntriguingly, Maewyn Succat (later known as Patrick) was not Irish but a Roman Briton who first set foot on Irish soil after being captured by local marauders and used as a slave. He laboured for six years as a shepherd on the slopes of Slemish until he had a dream in which an angel of God spoke to him; this prompted Succat to escape his Celtic captors and inspired him to undertake formal training as a Christian cleric. While studying in a French abbey he again received a celestial visitation, this time calling him to return to the land where he had been enslaved, though now with a quest to convert. Upon ordination he was given the Latin title Patricius (since Anglicised as Patrick), and travelled to Ireland as one of the earliest Christian missionaries. With previous experience of local customs and language, Patrick was in a position to spread the word of God. Indeed, according to Irish legend, he won over the natives by using a shamrock to explain the Trinity. Subsequently, in Irish mythology, he was credited with supernatural feats, such as turning his enemies into animals and 'ridding' Ireland of snakes. Hagiographers, writers who specialise in chronicling saints' lives, invented Patrick the ancient super hero – replete with Christ's staff and the ability to perform miracles.
 The central caption in this cartoon, published in 1880, was St Patrick performing miracles in Australia. Just as he 'drove the snakes out of Ireland', St Patrick might rid the new world of bigotry, sectarianism, intemperance, corruption, and selfishness. Source: P. O'Farrell, Through Irish Eyes, Aurora, Melbourne, 1994, p. 46. Patrick is thought to have died sometime between 463AD and 493AD, with 17th of March the most likely day. There is dispute about his place of burial, though the site with the strongest claim seems to be Down Cathedral, where the 'grave' of St Patrick is protected by a large slab of rock on which the word Patric is inscribed. Veneration of Patrick assumed the status of a local cult, and, as Christianity spread around Ireland, so too did Patrick's fame. In 688AD, the Catholic Church federation in Armagh engaged a biographer in what now seems a propaganda role: to reposition the See of Armagh as the centre of the cult of St Patrick. Muirch, a skilful scribe, achieved this objective, but also elevated Patrick to the status of 'national apostle' – a saint who interceded in heaven on behalf of all the Irish people. Henceforth his memory was observed widely on 17 March each year. The Book of Armagh directed all monasteries and churches in Ireland to honour the memory of the saint by the celebration, during three days and three nights in mid-spring, of the festival of his 'falling asleep'. This involved food (other than flesh), robust celebrations, lengthy sermons about the deeds of St Patrick, and even pilgrimage to a sacred site. By 1607 the Irish legal calendar recognised the commemoration officially; it was now St Patrick's Day. An English visitor to Ireland observed in 1680 that “the 17th day of March yeerly is St Patrick's, an immovable feast when ye Irish of all stations and condicions were crosses in their hats, some of pins, some of green ribbon, and the vulgar superstitiously wear shamroges, 3-leaved grass, which they likewise eat (they say) to cause a sweet breath.” Despite an upsurge of religious and political differences in Ireland arising from both the Reformation and the Act of Union, St Patrick's Day largely avoided sectarian tensions during the 19th century. It was accepted by Dublin Castle as an official event, and Patrick was remembered more so as a missionary and convertor than as a representative of Catholicism. Indeed, when Irish authorities banned 'sectional demonstrations' (such as 12th of July parades) for much of the 19th century, St Patrick's Day was usually unaffected as it was deemed a cross-community celebration. However, the 1921 partition of Ireland reinforced Catholic–Protestant divides in Ulster, with both groups claiming St Patrick as 'their own'. In the Irish Republic, curiously, the 17th of March anniversary languished. Indeed, from the early 1920s to the late 1950s, the Irish government effectively straight-jacketed local observance of St Patrick's Day into a static, even staid, occasion. It was a public holiday but relied extensively on church services, its centrepiece was a formal military procession, and to the annoyance of many a drink could not be taken easily as pubs were required to be closed on the 17th of March! For Irish emigrants St Patrick's Day was much more fun. Parades began modestly enough in New York in 1766, with Irish soldiers in the British Army marching proudly along the streets. The highlight of early celebrations was St Patrick's Day dinners, which were first organised by members of Irish charitable organisations in both New York and Boston. These events were the preserve of well-to-do Irish, most of whom were Protestant. However, the mass exodus of the Famine brought far greater numbers of Irish people to North America; these migrants tended to be poor and, overwhelmingly, Catholic. Henceforth St Patrick's Day assumed much greater significance: a mass of Irish Americans and Irish Canadians embraced 17th March as a time to gather together, reflect on memories of the homeland, and to ponder their future in a new place. Alongside church services, parades were made a feature of St Patrick's Day celebrations in cities as diverse as Chicago, Savannah, Toronto, and Montreal. New York, however, remained the spiritual home of the parade, and nowhere in the world was St Patrick's Day celebrated with more colour, sound, and fanfare.  
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