ST PATRICK’S DAY 2016 TRUCK DECALS

Who is St Patrick?

St Patric’s day was a lot of fun this year.

St Patrick was a real man who was born around 385 AD. He may have been named Maewyn Succat and changed to Patrick when he later became a bishop.

He may be thought of as Irish now, but his exact birthplace is unknown. It was most likely in England, Wales or Scotland. In his teens, pirates were captured and taken to Ireland, where he was put to work as a herdsman. After six years, he managed to escape and possibly fled back to his home. He became a Christian priest before returning to Ireland as a missionary in the mid-fifth century.

He spent the next 30 years establishing schools, churches, and monasteries across the country. Patrick was later appointed as successor to St Palladius, the first bishop of Ireland. He is said to have died on March 17, in the year 461.

The flag of St Patrick is a red saltire on a white background. The association with Ireland’s patron saint dates back to the 1780s when the Order of St Patrick adopted it as an emblem. When the 1800 Act of Union (which came into effect from 1 January 1801) joined Great Britain and Ireland, the saltire was added to the British flag to create the Union flag, which the United Kingdom still uses.

The Union flag combines the St George’s Cross, St Andrew’s Saltire and St Patrick’s Saltire.