St. Patrick’s Day: Seven things you didn't know about the patron saint of Ireland

For more than 1000 years, St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated in Ireland every year on 17 March. 

Over the years, the religious holiday commemorating the death of Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, has metamorphosed into a day of celebrating Irish culture through parades, music, special foods, dances and a lot of green - the colour commonly associated with the saint.

Many symbols and legends associated with Ireland such as leprechauns and shamrocks come from Saint Patrick. Credited for bringing Christianity to the then-pagan Ireland, Saint Patrick used Celtic symbols such as leprechauns, believed to be meddlesome fairies, to connect the country to Christianity. Legend has it that he chose Shamrocks (three-leaved clovers) as a symbol of the Church and used its three leaves to explain the concept of the Holy Trinity to his followers.

Today, Saint Patrick’s Day is celebrated worldwide in more than 200 countries. It is a national holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern Ireland, the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador, and the British overseas territory, Montserrat - both of which have inhabitants with Irish descent. 

In the US, the Chicago river is dyed green annually on Saint Patrick’s Day using 40 pounds of dye (down from the original 100 to minimize environmental damage) and the river stays green for a few hours - down from the original duration of a week. 

St. Patrick’s Day is also celebrated by the likes of Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, Argentina, especially by the Irish diaspora.

But who was Saint Patrick and why is he so famous?

Here are seven facts about St. Patrick you may not know:

St. Patrick was born in Britain - not Ireland - in the late 4th century. 

At age 16, he was