Jerry Summers
On March 17 the world and Americans will eat Irish stew, drink green beer, engage in pub crawls and parades are traditionally held in Boston and New York City.
Because there was a lack of information about the life of this patron saint of Ireland, St. Patrick, the church officials who solemnly gathered to pick a date to honor him could not determine an exact day of his birth. They finally narrowed the choices to either March 8 or 9 but couldn’t agree upon which one was correct. They ultimately decided to add the two together and declared March 17 to be St.
Patrick’s Day.
However, some additional information was developed from the 5th Century that Patrick had transformed Ireland from its pagan roots to Christianity.
According to historical legend the young priest during an outdoor sermon was struggling to explain the Holy Trinity when he spotted a shamrock.
Grasping the plant, he used the three leaves to illustrate how the Father, Son and Holy Ghost grew from a single stem symbolizing one God sustaining the Trinity and ever since the shamrock has been a symbol to remind the faithful of that lesson.
* * *
Jerry Summers
(If you have additional information about one of Mr. Summers' articles or have suggestions or ideas about a future Chattanooga area historical piece, please contact Mr. Summers at jsummers@summersfirm.com)