Irish author shares myths about Saint Patrick, reflects on his courage

By Michael Gryboski, Editor Tuesday, March 17, 2026

Saint Patrick’s Day is a major holiday celebrated every March 17 in honor of the patron saint of Ireland, a man credited with bringing Christianity to the Emerald Isle.

In the United States, the observance is often associated with celebrating Irish heritage, parades, wearing green or risk getting pinched and, for some adults, green beer or a pint of Guinness. 

However, for many, the most important aspect of the holiday is the man at its heart: the saint who drove the snakes out of Ireland and used the shamrock to evangelize the Irish.

Actually, these events likely never occurred.

According to Gary McLoughlin, author of the 2025 book Virtues of the Irish Saints: A Journey of Faith, Peace and Love, such myths sprang up after the death of Saint Patrick.

McLoughlin, a native of County Armagh, Ireland, who, along with his wife, moved to the United States in 1996, spoke with The Christian Post about the origins of the popular myths.

Stories of symbolism

“What makes Patrick unusual for someone who lived in the late fourth, early fifth centuries is that two of his writings survived, which is extremely unusual and very valuable,” McLoughlin explained.

“But in neither of his writings [does] he mention anything even remotely like this," he said, referring to the legends surrounding the man, such as banishing snakes from the land. "So, most people think, well, this was an imposition of Christian symbolism onto his character at a later date.”

McLoughlin added that “from a purely geographical perspective, there weren’t really any snakes in Ireland” to begin with, as “its climate is too cold” and, as an island, it was isolated.

He believes the myth, such as snakes, emerged as “a wonderful story of symbolism of Patrick banishing evil,” noting that “serpents are a biblical symbol and it’s the symbol for evil and the devil.”

“If you were writing in the dark ages and Christianity had come to replace paganism, which in some of its forms was pretty dark, that’s probably what you would write about,” he told CP.

A similar situation occurred with the story of Patrick evangelizing the Irish by using a shamrock, with the three leaves and the stem being used to symbolize the Three Persons of the Trinity.

“They were confused about the Trinity,” said McLoughlin. “The shamrock explained why it is not three gods but one God in three. So, he picked up a shamrock and showed it was three leaves but one plant.”

However, McLoughlin told CP, the idea that Patrick himself did this was unlikely, as “there’s no clear evidence in his writings or anything like that.”

“It’s just a really good story and, again, it’s probably rooted in Christian symbolism and rooted in Celtic Christianity, which really [has] a reverence, prominence for the Trinity, which is one of the things that marked the Celtic Church,” he continued.

A life of courage

Patrick was born sometime in the late fourth century as a Roman citizen in Great Britain. As a teenager, he was enslaved and sent to Ireland, eventually escaping at the age of 22, and returned home.

During his captivity, which included working in harsh conditions as a shepherd, he had a spiritual awakening and, after gaining his freedom, became a priest and was eventually consecrated a bishop at age 43.

From there, he returned to Ireland to preach the Gospel. Although there were Christians on the island before he arrived, Patrick is credited with having converted the natives to Christianity.

Reflecting on the confirmed details of Patrick's life, McLoughlin told CP that courage is a major theme of the Irish saint’s biography.

“With Patrick, he did leave two writings and he never mentions any of the myths. But he does mention his life, and he does mention slavery, [and] he does mention his life as a Roman. He does talk about his trials. He talks about his struggles,” McLoughlin said.

“This was an important part of his life. And, you know, in our world today, it just struck me that slavery is still with us, of course. There’s more slaves in the world now than there’s ever been. And there is persecution, there’s Christian persecution.”

McLoughlin believes that it took “a huge amount of courage” for Patrick to return to Ireland after being enslaved, “and all he had was a word from God and a promise that God would go with him.”

“I think of our modern world, if someone was, say, in a North Korea or something like that and you were captured and imprisoned and God called you to go back there as a missionary, it would take an enormous amount of courage to do that,” McLoughlin told CP.

“But even just in our daily lives, it takes courage to forgive someone, it takes courage to reform broken relationships. It takes courage to do things. To me, that was the overarching virtue of his life.”