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St Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland was said to have driven the snakes from the land. He was born in the 4th century of aristocratic Roman stock in Kilpatrick, Scotland and as a teenager was seized by marauders and carried back to Ireland in slavery. He later escaped, left Ireland and entered the priesthood.
He returned to Erin on a mission from the Holy See to bring Christianity to the Irish. As part of his ministry Patrick used the shamrock as a symbol to illustrate the Holy Trinity.
The apocryphal tale of Patrick expelling the snakes from Ireland is probably a reference to the overthrow of the old Druidic pagan religion which was prevalent at the time.
DD
there are big populations of the descendants of Irish immigrants in many parts of the world - a sad fact that historically Ireland's greatest export has always been her people
Odysseus
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