LEGENDS

Separating fact from fiction in the story of St. Patrick can sometimes be tricky.  But the legends more often than not speak for themselves.

St. Patrick is supposed to have driven the snakes from Ireland. Certainly, there are no snakes in Ireland. But neither are there any in New Zealand and there is no record of St. Patrick ever having visited there!
Moreover the Graeco-Roman writer Solinus recorded the fact that Ireland was snake-free a good two hundred years before St. Patrick was born!

One legend has it that Patrick, when he escaped from his youthful slavery in Ireland, went straight to France. Deciding to visit his uncle in Tours, he had to cross the River Loire. He had no obvious means of doing so, but he found that his cape made an admirable raft. On reaching the other side, he hung his cape out to dry upon a hawthorn bush. Despite it being the middle of winter, the bush immediately burst into bloom.
Fact: to this day, the hawthorn blooms in winter in the Loire Valley and St. Patrick has two feastdays there - one on March 17 and the other on Christmas Day.

Patrick, despite his saintliness, was not averse to bouts of temper it seems. After a greedy man once denied him the use of a field to rest and graze his oxen, Patrick is said to have cursed the field, prophesying that nothing would grow on it from then on. Sure enough, that very day, the field was overrun by the sea and remained sandy and barren for evermore.

On the day that Patrick died, night never fell in Ulster nor did it for a further twelve days.

A blind man once came to Patrick seeking a cure. As he approached, he stumbled several times and fell over and was duly laughed at by one of Patrick’s companions. The blind man wascured. The companion, however, was blinded.

Before he died, an angel told Patrick that he should have two untamed oxen yoked to his funeral cart and that they should be left to decide where he should be buried.
The oxen chose Downpatrick.