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Year 1847 (MDCCCXLVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian Calendar and a common year starting on Wednesday of the 12-day slower Julian calendar.

Events[link]

January–March[link]

• January 4 – Samuel Colt sells his first revolver pistol to the U.S government.
• January 13 – The Treaty of Cahuenga ends the fighting in the Mexican-American War in California.
• January 16 – John C. Fremont is appointed Governor of the new California Territory.
• January 17 – Saint Anthony Hall is founded at Columbia University, New York City, New York.
• January 30 – Yerba Buena, California is renamed San Francisco.
• February 5 – A rescue effort, called the First Relief, leaves Johnson's Ranch to save the ill-fated Donner Party. These California bound emigrants became snowbound in the Sierra Nevada in the winter of 1846–1847, and some had resorted to cannibalism to survive.
• February 22 – Mexican-American War – The Battle of Buena Vista: 5,000 American troops under General Zachary Taylor use their superiority in artillery to drive off 15,000 Mexican troops under Antonio López de Santa Anna, defeating the Mexicans the next day.
• March 1
  • The state of Michigan formally abolishes the death penalty.
  • Faustin Soulouque declares himself Emperor of Haiti.
• March 4 – The 30th United States Congress is sworn into office.
• March 9 – Mexican-American War: United States forces under General Winfield Scott invade Mexico near Veracruz.
• March 14 – Verdi's Macbeth premieres at Teatro della Pergola in Florence, Italy.
• March 29 – Mexican-American War: United States forces led by General Winfield Scott take Veracruz after a siege.

April–June[link]

• April 15 – The Lawrence School, Sanawar is established.
• May 7 – In Philadelphia, the American Medical Association (AMA) is founded.
• June 1 – The first congress of the Communist League is held in London.
• June 1 – Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America is founded at New York University.
• June 27 – The first train journey in Denmark takes place from Copenhagen to Roskilde.

July–September[link]

• July 1 – The United States issues its first postage stamps.
• July 24 – After 17 months of travel, Brigham Young leads 148 Mormon pioneers into Salt Lake Valley, resulting in the establishment of Salt Lake City.
• July 26 – Liberia gains independence.
• July 29 – The Cumberland School of Law is founded at Cumberland University in Lebanon, Tennessee. At the end of 1847 only 15 law schools exist in the United States.
• August 12 – U.S. troops of General Winfield Scott begin to advance along the aqueduct around Chalco and Xochimilco lakes in Mexico
• August 20 – U.S. troops defeat Mexican troops in Valencia, Mexico
• September 14 – U.S. general Winfield Scott enters Mexico City, marking the end of organized Mexican resistance in the US-Mexican War.
• September 30 – The Vegetarian Society was formed in the United Kingdom. It remains the oldest in the world.

October–December[link]

• October – Charlotte Brontë publishes Jane Eyre under the pen name of Currer Bell.
• October 12 – German inventor and industrialist Werner von Siemens founds Siemens AG & Halske.
• October 31 – Theta Delta Chi is founded at Union College.
• November 3–29 – Sonderbund War, a civil war in Switzerland in which General Guillaume-Henri Dufour's federal army defeats the Sonderbund (an alliance of seven Catholic cantons) with a total of only 86 deaths.
• December 21 – Abd al-Kader surrenders and is imprisoned by the French.

Date unknown[link]

• The Ottoman Empire cedes Abadan Island to the Persian Empire.
• The Architectural Association School of Architecture is founded.
• Emily Brontë and Anne Brontë publish Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey, respectively, in one volume under the pen names of Ellis Bell and Acton Bell.
• The North Carolina General Assembly incorporates the railroad town of Goldsborough, and the Wayne county seat is moved to the new town.
• Radley College, a famous English public school, is founded.

Births[link]

January–June[link]

• January 7 – Caspar F. Goodrich, American admiral (d. 1925)
• January 28 – Dorus Rijkers, Dutch naval hero (d. 1928)
• February 8 – Hugh Price Hughes, Methodist social reformer, first Superintendent of the West London Mission (d. 1902)
• February 11 – Thomas Alva Edison, American inventor (d. 1931)
• February 15 – Robert Fuchs, Austrian composer (d. 1927)
• February 16 – Philipp Scharwenka, Polish-German composer (d. 1917)
• March 3 – Alexander Graham Bell, Scottish-born inventor (d. 1922)
• March 4 – Carl Josef Bayer, Austrian chemist (d. 1904)
• March 8 – John Lister, English politician (d. 1933)
• March 14 – Castro Alves, Brazilian poet (d. 1871)
• March 27 – Otto Wallach, German chemist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1931)
• April 10 – Joseph Pulitzer, Hungarian-born journalist and newspaper publisher (d. 1911)
• May 7 – Archibald Primrose, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (d. 1929)
• June 8 – Ida Saxton McKinley, U.S. First Lady (d. 1907)
• June 11 – Millicent Fawcett, British suffragist and feminist (d. 1929)

July–December[link]

• July 9 – Wong Fei Hung, Chinese healer and revolutionary (d. 1924)
• July 25 – Paul Langerhans, German pathologist and biologist (d. 1888)
• August 14 – Robert Comtesse, member of the Swiss Federal Council (d. 1922)
• September 3 – Charles Stillman Sperry, American admiral (d. 1911)
• September 5 – Jesse James, American outlaw (d. 1882)
• October 1 – Annie Besant, English women's rights activist, writer and orator (d. 1933)
• October 2 – Paul von Hindenburg, President of Germany (d. 1934)
• October 14 – Chiquinha Gonzaga, Brazilian composer (d. 1935)
• November 2 – Georges Sorel, French socialist (d. 1922)
• November 8 – Bram Stoker, creator of the Gothic novel Dracula (d. 1912)
• November 26 – Dagmar of Denmark, empress of Tsar Alexander III of Russia (d. 1928)
• November 30 – Afonso Pena, Brazilian president (d. 1909)
• December 7 – George Grossmith, English actor and comic writer (d. 1912)
• December 18 – Augusta Holmès, French composer (d. 1903)
• December 17
  • Michel-Joseph Maunoury, French general during World War I (d. 1923)
  • Émile Faguet, French writer and critic (d. 1916)
• December 28 – Giuseppe Maria Giulietti, Italian explorer (d. 1881)

Date unknown[link]

• Hale Johnson, American temperance movement leader (d. 1902)
• Bandō Kakitsu I, Japanese kabuki actor (d. 1893)
• Great Famine continues in Ireland

Deaths[link]

January–June[link]

• January – Abbasgulu Bakikhanov, Azerbaijani writer (b. 1794)
• January 19 – Charles Bent, first Governor of New Mexico Territory (assassinated)
• March 9 – Mary Anning, British paleontologist (b. 1799)
• April 21 – Barbara Ann Spooner Wilberforce, Wife of British Abolitionist William Wilberfoce (b. 1777)
• April 30 – Archduke Charles of Austria, Austrian general (b. 1771)
• May 14 – Fanny Mendelssohn, German composer and pianist (b. 1805)
• May 29 – Emmanuel, marquis de Grouchy, French marshal (b. 1766)

July–December[link]

• July 3 – Matěj Kopecký, puppeteer (b. 1775)
• September 4 – František Vladislav Hek, Czech patriot (b. 1769)
• September 13 – Nicolas Oudinot, French marshal (b. 1767)
• October 3 – Charles Hatchett, English chemist (b. 1765)
• October 22 – Negus Sahle Selassie of Shewa
• November 4 – Felix Mendelssohn, German composer (b. 1809)
• December 14 – Manuel José Arce, Central American politician (b. 1787)

References[link]

• Historic Letters of 1847

Saint Patrick's Battalion
Reconstruction of the battalion's flag as described by Jon Riley.
Active	1846 - 1848
Country	Mexico
Branch	Mexican Army
Type	Artillery/Infantry
Size	est. 700+ maximum strength
Nickname	Los San Patricios, Los Colorados Valientes
Patron	Saint Patrick
Motto	Erin go bragh (An anglicisation of the Irish for "Ireland forever")
Colors	Turkish Blue      Sky Blue      Crimson      Yellow[a]
Engagements	Mexican-American war *Siege of Fort Texas *Battle of Monterrey *Battle of Buena Vista *Battle of Cerro Gordo *Battle of Churubusco *Battle of Mexico City
Commanders
Colonel of the Regiment	Francisco R. Moreno
Notable commanders	Brevet Major Jon Riley[b] Captain Santiago O'Leary Sargent Prisciliano Almitrano

The Saint Patrick's Battalion (Spanish: Batallón de San Patricio), formed and led by Jon Riley, was a unit of 175 to several hundred immigrants (accounts vary) and expatriates of European descent who fought as part of the Mexican Army against the United States in the Mexican-American War of 1846 to 1848. Most of the battalion's members had deserted or defected from the U.S. Army. Made up primarily of ethnic Irish and German Catholic immigrants, the battalion included Canadians, English, French, Italians, Poles, Scots, Spaniards, Swiss, and native Mexicans, most of whom were Roman Catholics.^[1] Disenfranchised Americans were in the ranks, including escaped slaves from the American South.^[2] The Mexican government offered incentives to foreigners who would enlist in its army: granting them citizenship, paying higher wages than the U.S. Army and the offer of generous land grants. Only a few members of the Saint Patrick's Battalion were actual U.S. citizens.

Members of the Battalion are known to have deserted from U.S. Army regiments including: the 1st Artillery, the 2nd Artillery, the 3rd Artillery, the 4th Artillery, the 2nd Dragoons, the 2nd Infantry, the 3rd Infantry, the 4th Infantry, the 5th Infantry, the 6th Infantry, the 7th Infantry and the 8th Infantry.^[3]

The Battalion served as an artillery unit for much of the war. Despite later being formally designated as infantry, it still retained artillery pieces throughout the conflict. In many ways, the battalion acted as the sole Mexican counter-balance to U.S. horse artillery.

Historical perspective[link]

For Americans of the generation that fought the Mexican-American War, the San Patricios were considered traitors.^[4] For Mexicans of that generation, and generations to come, the San Patricios were heroes who came to the aid of fellow Catholics in need.^[5][6]

The great majority of these men were recent immigrants who had arrived at northeastern U.S. ports, part of the Irish diaspora then escaping the Great Irish Famine and extremely poor economic conditions in Ireland, part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland at the time. The U.S. Army often recruited Irishmen and other immigrants into military service shortly or sometimes immediately on arrival. ,^[7] with promises of salaries and land after the war.

Numerous theories have been proposed as to their motives for desertion, including cultural alienation,^[8] mistreatment of immigrant soldiers by nativist soldiers and senior officers,^[9] their not being allowed to attend Sunday Mass or to practice their religion freely, the incentive of higher wages and land grants starting at 320 acres (1.3 km²) offered by Mexico,^[10] and their witnessing poor conduct of U.S. troops following battle victories.

Some historians believed a primary motivation was shared religion with the Mexicans and sympathy for the Mexican cause, likely based on similarities between the situations in Mexico and Ireland. This hypothesis is based on evidence of the number of Irish Catholics in the Battalion, the letters of Jon Riley, and the field entries of senior officers.^[11][12] Another hypothesis is that the members of the Saint Patrick's Battalion had been unhappy with their treatment in the U.S. Army. Another theory some historians hold is that the soldiers were attracted by the valuable incentives offered by the Mexican government: higher wages and generous land grants. For poor people coming from famine conditions, economics was often an important incentive.^[13]

Mexican author José Raúl Conseco noted that many Irish lived in northern Texas, and were forced to move south due to regional insecurity. Early in the war they helped Gen. Taylor attack the fort and supply depot in St. Isabel, now the city of Port Isabel, Texas.^{[citation needed]}

Irish expatriates had a long tradition of serving in military forces of Catholic countries, for instance, serving with Spain and later France in groups of young men who had left Ireland during what would become known as the Flight of the Wild Geese in the 17th century. In addition, many Irish fought as soldiers in South American wars of independence.^[c]

Flag[link]

There are conflicting accounts of the design of the flag of the Saint Patrick's Battalion. No flags or depictions of them are known to have survived to the present day. The only version of the flag known to have survived the war was subsequently lost or stolen from the chapel at West Point.^[14]

Jon Riley, who left an account of the battalion, noted the flag in a letter:

The green harp flag in its 18th to 19th century design, showing the "Maid of Erin" as the harp's pillar, her wing forming the harp's neck, and the inscription Erin go Bragh ("Ireland forever").

According to an American journalist covering the war with Mexico:

Two other eye-witness accounts of the flag exist, both from American soldiers. The first describes it as:

The second notes only:

A radically different version of the flag was described in this Mexican source:

Whatever the case, in 1997 a reproduction military flag was created by the Clifden and Connemara Heritage Group. Another was created the following year for the MGM film One Man's Hero. The film was a romanticised version of the San Patricios' history. A third version embodying the description of the San Luis Potosí flag was made for the Irish Society of Chicago, which hung it in Chicago's Union League Club.

Some theories suggest that the Saint Patrick's Battalion might have used different banners (as an artillery unit, an infantry company and as a reconstructed unit).^[16]

Service as a military unit[link]

Formation and early engagements[link]

Present in the Mexican Army for the battles of Palo Alto and Resaca de la Palma were the Legión de Extranjeros (Legion of Foreigners); the men who would later make up the core of the Saint Patrick's battalion. Meanwhile, Riley and "a company of 48 Irishmen"^[17] manned Mexican artillery at the Siege of Fort Texas, which took place concurrently to the two other battles.

The Saint Patrick's Battalion first fought as a recognised Mexican unit in the Battle of Monterrey on 21 September 1846, as an artillery battery. Popularly they were called Los Colorados by the Mexicans because of their ruddy, sun-burnt complexions and red hair color.^[18][19] They were commanded by Jon Riley,^[b] an Irish artilleryman and veteran Non-commissioned officer of the British Army, who possibly arrived in Canada in 1843 whilst serving in the British Army (the assertion that he served as a Sergeant in the 66th (Berkshire) Regiment of Foot,^[18] is known to be a fabrication^[20]) going on to join the U.S. Army in Michigan in September 1845. He deserted in Matamoros in April 1846.^[21] Upon meeting Mexican forces he was initially given the Officers rank of Lieutenant by General Pedro de Ampudia.^[22]

At the battle of Monterrey the San Patricios proved their artillery skills by causing many many American soldiers, and they are credited with defeating two^[23] to three^[2] separate assaults into the heart of the city. Among their targets were companies led by such officers as Braxton Bragg, many of whose soldiers would end up in their own ranks later in the war.^[24] Their tenacity, however, did not affect the Mexican commanders' decision to capitulate and abandon the position.

Following the engagement at Monterrey, the San Patricios grew in number, by some estimates reaching an enlistment of over 700 men.^[22][25] Forces re-assembled at San Luis Potosí and they had their distinct green silk flag embroidered there.

Buena Vista[link]

They then marched northward after joining a larger force commanded by Antonio López de Santa Anna sent from Mexico City, the "liberating army of the North". At the Battle of Buena Vista (known as the battle of Angostura in Mexico) in Coahuila on 23 February, the Patricios became engaged with U.S. forces. They were assigned the three heaviest — 18 and 24 pound — cannons the Mexican army possessed, which were positioned on high ground over-looking the battlefield. They were later described as "a strong Mexican battery...moved....by dint of extraordinary exertions...[that] commanded the entire plateau".^[26]
They started the battle supporting Mexican infantry by firing on U.S. lines as the Mexicans advanced on them, then later decimating an artillery battery directly opposite them on the battlefield (Washington’s 4th Artillery, D Battery). A small number of San Patricios were dispatched with a division commanded by Manuel Lombardini with the express purpose of capturing the 4th's cannons once the crews had been dealt with. As the division got close enough they charged the artillery battery, bayoneting whoever remained and routing the rest, leaving the attached San Patricios free to haul away two six-pound cannons.^[27] These cannons would later be used by Mexican forces at the Battle of Contreras.^[10]

In frustration U.S. Commander Zachary Taylor, referring to the Saint Patrick's Battalion, ordered a squadron of the 1st Dragoons to "take that damned battery".^[28] In this task they failed, and, badly bloodied, were forced to retreat.^[10] At about 1 p.m. the San Patricios covered a Mexican retreat as a disordered mass of infantry sought refuge during a lull in the fighting.^[29] The San Patricios rode out the day in a costly artillery duel with several American batteries,^[30] which killed and injured roughly one third of them.^[31] Several Irishmen were awarded the War Cross by the Mexican government for their conduct in that battle, and many received field promotions.^[31][32]

Re-organization and final battles[link]

Despite their excellent performance in a number of engagements as artillery, the much-reduced San Patricios were ordered to muster a larger infantry battalion in mid-1847 by personal order of Santa Anna. It was re-named the The Foreign Legion of Patricios and consisted of volunteers from many European countries, commanded by Col. Francisco R. Moreno, with Riley in charge of 1st company and Santiago O'Leary heading up the second.^[31]

As an infantry unit, the San Patricios continued to serve with distinction. Knowing that they were likely to face the death penalty if captured, the San Patricios are known to have threatened wavering Mexican troops with death by "friendly fire" at the Battle of Cerro Gordo if they retreated. When the San Patricios were too-heavily engaged to carry out their threat, the Mexican troops broke and ran, leaving the San Patricios as they fought U.S. troops in hand-to-hand combat.^{[citation needed]}

The Battle of Churubusco (20 August 1847) took place two days after the defeat at Cerro Gordo. Gen. Santa Anna gave a verbal order to "preserve the point at all risk".^[33] The San Patricio Companies initially met the attackers outside the walls of the convent at a tête-de-pont, which was about 500 yards (457 m) from a fortified convent.^[34] A battery of three^[35] to five^[34] heavy cannons were used from this position to hold off the American advance along with support from Los Independencia Batallón and Los Bravos Batallón.^[35] Several U.S. charges towards the bridgehead were thrown off,^[36] with the San Patricio companies serving as an example to the supporting battalions.^[37] Unlike the San Patricios, most of whom were veterans (many having served in the armies of the United Kingdom and assorted German states), the supporting Mexican battalions were simply militia (the term 'National Guard' is also used^[33]) who had been untested by battle.^[35]

A lack of ammunition led the Mexican soldiers in the trenches between the bridgehead and the convent to disband; without ammunition, they had no way to fight back.^[38] Santa Anna had ordered half of these soldiers to a different part of the battlefield.^[39] When the requested ammunition wagon finally arrived, the 9 ½ drachm cartridges were compatible with none but the San Patricio Companies "Brown Bess" muskets, and they made up only a fraction of the defending forces.^[40] Further hampering Mexican efforts, a stray spark from an artillery piece firing grape shot at the on-coming U.S. troops caused the just-arrived ammunition to explode and set fire to several men, including Captain O'Leary and Gen.l Anaya.^[41] A withdrawal behind the walls of the convento de Churubusco was called when the threat of being outflanked proved too great.^[10]

The San Patricios used this battle as a chance to settle old scores with U.S. troops. "The large number of officers killed in the affair was ... ascribed to them, as for the gratification of their revenge they aimed at no other objects during the engagement".^[42] Though hopelessly outnumbered and underequipped, the defenders repelled the attacking U.S. forces with heavy losses until their ammunition ran out and a Mexican officer raised the white flag of surrender. Officer Patrick Dalton of the San Patricios tore the white flag down, prompting Gen. Pedro Anaya to order his men to fight on, with their bare hands if necessary.^[31] American Private Ballentine reported that when the Mexicans attempted to raise the white flag two more times, members of the San Patricios shot and killed them.^[42][43] After brutal close-quarters fighting with bayonets and sabers through the halls and rooms inside the convent, U.S. Army Captain James M. Smith suggested a surrender after raising his white handkerchief.^[44] Following the U.S. victory, the Americans "ventilat[ed] their vocabulary of Saxon expletives, not very "courteously," on Riley and his beautiful disciples of St. Patrick."^[45]

Gen. Anaya stated in his written battle report that 35 San Patricios were killed, 85 taken prisoner (including a wounded Jon Riley, Captain O'Leary and Anaya). About 85 escaped with retreating Mexican forces.^[31] The survivors were reformed before the Battle of Mexico City some two weeks later and were stationed at Querétaro. New units were made up of the free survivors of the battle of Churubusco and a roughly equal number of fresh deserters from the U.S. Army.^[44][46] Following the war, the battalion never regained its former numbers; it was officially mustered out of Mexican military service in 1848. Some members were alleged to have been involved in an abortive military coup;^[47] historians have said the group was disbanded because of Mexican budget cuts.^[48]

Aftermath[link]

Trials[link]

The San Patricios captured by the U.S. Army were treated and punished as traitors for desertion in time of war. In addition, they had been responsible for some of the toughest fighting (and the heaviest casualties) that the U.S. Army had faced. Seventy-two men were immediately charged with desertion by the Army.^[23]

Two separate courts-martial were held, one at Tacubaya on 23 August, and another at San Ángel on 26 August. At neither of these trials were the men represented by lawyers nor were transcripts made of the proceedings. This lack of formal legal advice could account for the fact that several of the men claimed that drunkenness had led them to desert (a common defense in military trials at the time that sometimes led to lighter sentences), and others described how they were forced to join the Mexican Army in some form or another. The majority of the San Patricios either offered no defense or their defenses were not recorded. In any case, military law required death as the punishment for the crime of desertion during a time of war.^[49]

Sentences[link]

One soldier who claimed he was forced to fight by the Mexicans after he was captured by them, and who subsequently refused to do so, was sentenced to death by firing squad instead of hanging, along with another who was found not to have officially joined the Mexican Army.^[23]

Most of the convicted San Patricios were sentenced to death by hanging: 30 from the Tacubaya trial and 18 from San Ángel. The rationale was that they had entered Mexican military service following the declaration of war. Execution by hanging was in violation of the contemporary Articles of War, which stipulated that the penalty for desertion and/or defecting to the enemy during a time of war was death by firing squad, regardless of the circumstances.

Hanging was reserved only for spies (without uniform) and for “atrocities against civilians”, neither of which activities were among the charges brought against any members of the Saint Patricio's Battalion.^[32] Although more than 9,000 U.S. soldiers deserted the army during the Mexican-American War, only the San Patricios were punished by hanging.^[50]

Those soldiers who had left military service before the official declaration of war on Mexico (Riley among them) were sentenced to:

Executions[link]

En masse hangings for treason took place on 10 September 1847, at San Ángel (where 16 were hanged) and the village of Mixcoac (where 4 were hanged), and 13 September at Chapultepec. At the San Ángel hangings all prisoners were executed without incident except for Patrick Dalton, who, as an American captain described, was "literally choked to death".^[52] Dalton had previously voiced concerns regarding his treatment.^[53] By order of Gen. Winfield Scott, 30 San Patricios were to be executed at Chapultepec in full view of the two armies who had fought there, at the precise moment that the flag of the U.S. replaced the flag of Mexico atop the citadel. This order was carried out by Col. William Harney.^[32] While overseeing the hangings, Harney ordered Francis O'Connor hanged even though he had had both legs amputated the previous day. When the army surgeon informed the colonel that the absent soldier had lost both his legs in battle, Harney replied:

The mass hanging of San Patricios, as portrayed by Samuel Chamberlain, c. 1867

The U.S. flag appeared on the flagpole at 9.30 a.m. The Mexican flag had been taken by cadet Juan Escutia to his death after leaping with it from Chapultepec Castle to deny the Americans the honor of capturing it. In a final act of defiance, the men about to be hanged cheered the Mexican flag, as one onlooker remarked; "Hands tied, feet tied, their voices still free".^[55] At Harney's signal, the carts holding the tied and noosed men pulled away.^[56] Harney was subsequently promoted to brigadier general, a post which he held while the U.S. Army occupied Mexico City. The Mexican government described the hangings as “a cruel death or horrible torments, improper in a civilized age, and [ironic] for a people who aspire to the title of illustrious and humane”,^[10] and by a writer covering the war as "a refinement of cruelty and...fiendish".^[57]

Legacy[link]

Those who survived the war generally disappeared from history. A handful are on record as having made use of the land claims promised them by the Mexican government.

The men have continued to be honored and revered as heroes in Mexico.^[58] The Batallón de San Patricio is memorialised on two separate days; 12 September, the generally-accepted anniversary of the executions of those convicted by the U.S. Army of desertion at time of war, and 17 March, Saint Patrick's Day.

Numerous schools, churches and other landmarks in Mexico take their name from the battalion, including:

• Monterrey — The street in front of the Irish School is named Batallón de San Patricio ("Battalion of Saint Patrick").
• Mexico City — The street in front of the Santa María de Churubusco convent was named Mártires Irlandeses ("the Irish martyrs").
• The coastal town of San Patricio, Jalisco.
• The battalion's name is written in gold letters in the chamber of Mexico's House of Representatives.^[59]

In the U.S. the memory of the battalion has been different. The U.S. Army denied the existence of the Saint Patrick's battalion as a cover-up and attempt to discourage other deserters. In 1915 an inquiry was initiated by U.S. congressmen William Henry Coleman and Frank L. Greene. This resulted in the U.S. Army's admitting its denial of the matter. The U.S. Congress ordered the army to turn over its records on the battalion to the National Archives.^[60]

In the past most Irish Americans distanced themselves from the battalion, as they did not want to be associated with deserters or thought to be disloyal.

In 1997, President Ernesto Zedillo commemorated the 150th anniversary of the execution of the San Patricios at a ceremony in Mexico City's San Jacinto Plaza. This is where the U.S. Army conducted the first 16 hangings after the men were convicted of desertion at court martial. Ireland and Mexico jointly issued commemorative postage stamps to mark the anniversary.

In 2004, at an official ceremony attended by numerous international dignitaries including directors Lance and Jason Hool, as well as several actors from the film One Man's Hero (1999), the Mexican government gave a commemorative statue to the Irish government in perpetual thanks for the bravery, honor and sacrifice of the Saint Patrick's Battalion. The statue was erected in Clifden, Connemara, Ireland, where leader Jon Riley was born.

The battalion has inspired numerous responses: it is the name of a soccer team club Deportivo Chivas USA's supporters association, was evoked in a Saint Patrick's Day message from Subcomandante Marcos of the Zapatista Army of National Liberation,^[62] and has been remembered as a symbol of international solidarity with Mexico.^[63][64] In honor of Jon Riley, on 12 September the town of Clifden flies the Mexican flag.

External images
	An image displaying both the Irish and Mexican versions of the joint issue stamp

Music[link]

• "St Patrick's Battalion" — by David Rovics
• "San Patricio Brigade" — by Black 47
• "The San Patricios" — by The Fenians
• "San Patricios" — by Street Dogs (State of Grace)
• "San Patricios" — by Ollin (song and EP)
• "Pa Los Del San Patricio" — by Charlie O'Brien
• "The Men That God Made Mad" — by Niamh Parsons with Graham Dunne
• "San Patricios" — by The Plankrunners
• "St Patrick's Battalion" — by The Wakes
• "San Patricio" — by The Chieftains
• "John Riley" — by Tim O'Brien

Films and fiction[link]

• 1962 — Saint Patrick's Battalion by Carl Krueger
• 1996 — The San Patricios, Directed by Mark R. Day
• 1997 — In the Rogue Blood, Winner of Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Fiction, by James Carlos Blake
• 1999 — One Man's Hero (1999), film directed by Lance Hool, written by Milton S. Gelman
• 1999 — St. Patrick's Battalion, Directed by Jason Hool
• 1999 — The Rogue's March: John Riley and the St. Patrick's Battalion 1846-1848 by Peter F. Stevens
• 2001 — Gone for Soldiers, novel by Jeff Shaara
• 2006 — Saint Patrick's Battalion, novel by James Alexander Thom published by Blue River Press of Indianapolis
• 2012 — Country of the Bad Wolfes, novel by James Carlos Blake published by Cinco Puntos Press, El Paso

See also[link]

• Battles of the Mexican-American War
• Irish Brigade (Spanish Civil War)
• Irish Brigade (French)
• Irish Brigade (US)
• Irish Migration Studies in Latin America
• Niños Héroes
• John Murphy (Saint Patrick's Battalion)

Notes[link]

Footnotes[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• "1847 . La guerra de Texas. En memoria del heroico batallón de San Patricio, Menendez y Menendez Opus blog, 14 September 2007 (in Spanish)
• Martin Paredes, "Batallón de San Patricio: the Irish Heroes of Mexico", March 2008, Mexican Studies
• Dr. Michael Hogan, Author Website
• The San Patricios: Mexico's Fighting Irish
• Roy Cook, "St. Patrick's Battalion, Battallón San Patricio: Mexican War Heroes", American Indian Source
• Musical tribute by folk singer David Rovics

Saint Patrick
Honored in	Roman Catholic Church Eastern Orthodoxy Anglican Communion Lutheran Church
Major shrine	Glastonbury Abbey; Armagh
Feast	17 March (Saint Patrick's Day)
Patronage	Ireland, Nigeria, Montserrat, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York, Boston, Loíza, Murcia (Spain), engineers, paralegals, Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Melbourne; invoked against snakes, sins, witchcraft[1]

Saint Patrick (Latin: Patricius; Primitive Irish: *Qatrikias;^[2][3] Old Irish: Cothraige or Coithrige;^[4] Middle Irish: Pátraic; Irish: Pádraig; Old Welsh: Patric; Middle Welsh: Padric; Welsh: Padrig; Old English: Patric; ca. 387 – 17 March, 493^[5] or ca. 460^[6]) was a Romano-British and Christian missionary, who is the most generally recognized patron saint of Ireland or the Apostle of Ireland, although Brigid of Kildare and Colmcille are also formally patron saints.

Two authentic letters from him survive, from which come the only generally-accepted details of his life.^[7] When he was about 16, he was captured from Wales by Irish raiders and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After entering the Church, he returned to Ireland as an ordained bishop in the north and west of the island, but little is known about the places where he worked. By the seventh century, he had come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland.

Most available details of his life are from later hagiographies from the seventh century onwards, and these are now not accepted without detailed criticism. Uncritical acceptance of the Annals of Ulster would imply that he lived from 340 to 440, and ministered in what is modern-day Northern Ireland from AD 428 onwards. The dates of Patrick's life cannot be fixed with certainty but, on a widespread interpretation, he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the second half of the fifth century.^[8]

Saint Patrick's Day is observed on March 17, the date of his death.^[9] It is celebrated both inside and outside Ireland, as both a liturgical and non-liturgical holiday. In the dioceses of Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation; outside Ireland, it can be a celebration of Ireland itself.

Background[link]

Most modern scholars of Saint Patrick follow a variant of T. F. O'Rahilly's "Two Patricks" theory.^[10] That is to say, many of the traditions later attached to Saint Patrick originally concerned Palladius, who Prosper of Aquitaine's Chronicle says was sent by Pope Celestine I as the first bishop to Irish Christians in 431.^[11] Palladius was not the only early cleric in Ireland at this time. The Irish-born Saint Ciaran Saighir the Elder lived in the later fourth century (352–402 AD) and was the first bishop of Ossory. Ciaran the Elder along with Saints Auxilius, Secundinus and Iserninus are also associated with early churches in Munster and Leinster. By this reading, Palladius was active in Ireland until the 460s.^[12]

Prosper associates Palladius' appointment with the visits of Germanus of Auxerre to Britain to suppress the Pelagian heresy and it has been suggested that Palladius and his colleagues were sent to Ireland to ensure that exiled Pelagians did not establish themselves among the Irish Christians. The appointment of Palladius and his fellow-bishops was not obviously a mission to convert the Irish, but more probably intended to minister to existing Christian communities in Ireland.^[13] The sites of churches associated with Palladius and his colleagues are close to royal centres of the period: Secundus is remembered by Dunshaughlin, County Meath, close to the Hill of Tara which is associated with the High King of Ireland; Killashee, County Kildare, close to Naas with links with the Kings of Leinster, is probably named for Auxilius. This activity was limited to the southern half of Ireland, and there is no evidence for them in Ulster or Connacht.^[14]

Although the evidence for contacts with Gaul is clear, the borrowings from Latin into the Old Irish language show that links with former Britain were many.^[15] Saint Iserninus, who appears to be of the generation of Palladius, is thought to have been a Briton, and is associated with the lands of the Uí Cheinnselaig in Leinster. The Palladian mission should not be contrasted with later "British" missions, but forms a part of them.^[16]

In his own words[link]

Slemish, County Antrim, where Saint Patrick is said to have worked as a shepherd while a slave.

Two Latin letters survive which are generally accepted to have been written by St. Patrick. These are the Declaration (Latin: Confessio) and the Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus (Latin: Epistola).^[17] The Declaration is the more important of the two. In it Patrick gives a short account of his life and his mission.

St. Patrick was born in Roman Britain at Banna Venta Berniae, a location otherwise unknown,^[18][19][20] though identified in one tradition as Glannoventa, modern Ravenglass in Cumbria.^[21] Calpornius, his father, was a deacon, his grandfather Potitus, a priest. When he was about sixteen, he was captured and carried off as a slave to Ireland.^[22] Patrick worked as a herdsman, remaining a captive for six years. He writes that his faith grew in captivity, and that he prayed daily.^[23] After six years he heard a voice telling him that he would soon go home, and then that his ship was ready. Fleeing his master, he travelled to a port, two hundred miles away he says,^[24] where he found a ship and, after various adventures, returned home to his family, now in his early twenties.^[25]

Patrick recounts that he had a vision a few years after returning home:

I saw a man coming, as it were from Ireland. His name was Victoricus, and he carried many letters, and he gave me one of them. I read the heading: "The Voice of the Irish". As I began the letter, I imagined in that moment that I heard the voice of those very people who were near the wood of Foclut, which is beside the western sea—and they cried out, as with one voice: "We appeal to you, holy servant boy, to come and walk among us." ^[26]

A. B. E. Hood suggests that the Victoricus of St. Patrick's vision may be identified with Saint Victricius, bishop of Rouen in the late fourth century, who was the only European churchman of the time to advocate or practice conversion of pagans, and who visited Britain in an official capacity in 396.^[27]

Much of the Declaration concerns charges made against St. Patrick by his fellow Christians at a trial. What these charges were, he does not say explicitly, but he writes that he returned the gifts which wealthy women gave him, did not accept payment for baptisms, nor for ordaining priests, and indeed paid for many gifts to kings and judges, and paid for the sons of chiefs to accompany him. It is concluded, therefore, that he was accused of some sort of financial impropriety, and perhaps of having obtained his bishopric in Ireland with personal gain in mind.^[28]

From this same evidence, something can be seen of St. Patrick's mission. He writes that he "baptised thousands of people".^[29] He ordained priests to lead the new Christian communities. He converted wealthy women, some of whom became nuns in the face of family opposition. He also dealt with the sons of kings, converting them too.^[30]

St. Patrick's position as a foreigner in Ireland was not an easy one. His refusal to accept gifts from kings placed him outside the normal ties of kinship, fosterage and affinity. Legally he was without protection, and he says that he was on one occasion beaten, robbed of all he had, and put in chains, perhaps awaiting execution.^[31]

Murchiú's life of Saint Patrick contains a supposed prophecy by the druids which gives an impression of how Patrick and other Christian missionaries were seen by those hostile to them:

Across the sea will come Adze-head,^[32] crazed in the head,
his cloak with hole for the head, his stick bent in the head.
He will chant impieties from a table in the front of his house;
all his people will answer: "so be it, so be it."^[33]

The second piece of evidence that comes from Patrick's life is the Letter to Coroticus or Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus, written after a first remonstrance was received with ridicule and insult. In this, St. Patrick writes^[34] an open letter announcing that he has excommunicated Coroticus because he had taken some of St. Patrick's converts into slavery while raiding in Ireland. The letter describes the followers of Coroticus as "fellow citizens of the devils" and "associates of the Scots [of Dalriada and later Argyll] and Apostate Picts".^[35] Based largely on an eighth century gloss, Coroticus is taken to be King Ceretic of Alt Clut.^[36] It has been suggested that it was the sending of this letter which provoked the trial which Patrick mentions in the Confession.^[37]

Death[link]

According to the latest reconstruction of the old Irish annals, Patrick died in AD 461 on March 17, a date accepted by some modern historians.^[38] Prior to the 1940s it was believed without doubt that he died in 420 and thus had lived in the first half of the fifth century.^[39] A lecture entitled "The Two Patricks", published in 1942 by T. F. O'Rahilly, caused enormous controversy by proposing that there had been two "Patricks", Palladius and Patrick, and that what we now know of St. Patrick was in fact in part a conscious effort to blend the two into one hagiographic personality. Decades of contention eventually ended with most historians^[who?] now asserting that Patrick was indeed most likely to have been active in the latter half of the fifth century.^[40]

While Patrick's own writings contain no dates, they do contain information which can be used to date them. Patrick's quotations from the Acts of the Apostles follow the Vulgate, strongly suggesting that his ecclesiastical conversion did not take place before the early fifth century. Patrick also refers to the Franks as being pagans. Their conversion is dated to the period 496–508.^[41]

There is plentiful evidence for a medieval tradition that Patrick had died in 493. An addition to the Annals of Ulster states that in the year 553 (approximately two hundred and fifty years before the addition was made):

I have found this in the Book of Cuanu: The relics of Patrick were placed sixty years after his death in a shrine by Colum Cille. Three splendid halidoms were found in the burial-place: his goblet, the Angel's Gospel, and the Bell of the Testament. This is how the angel distributed the halidoms: the goblet to Dún, the Bell of the Testament to Ard Macha, and the Angel's Gospel to Colum Cille himself. The reason it is called the Angel's Gospel is that Colum Cille received it from the hand of the angel.^[42]

The reputed burial place of St. Patrick in Downpatrick

The placing of this event in the year 553 indicate a tradition that Patrick's death was 493, or at least in the early years of that decade, and the Annals of Ulster report under 493:

Patrick, arch-apostle, or archbishop and apostle of the Irish, rested on the 16th of the Kalends of April in the 120th year of his age, in the 60th year after he had come to Ireland to baptise the Irish.

This tradition is also seen in an annalistic reference to the death of a saint termed Patrick's disciple, Mochta, who is said to have died in 535.^[43]

St. Patrick is said to be buried at Down Cathedral in Downpatrick, County Down, alongside St. Brigid and St. Columba, although this has never been proven. The Battle for the Body of St. Patrick demonstrates the importance of both him as a spiritual leader, and of his body as an object of veneration, in early Christian Ireland. Saint Patrick Visitor Centre is a modern exhibition complex located in Downpatrick and is a permanent interpretative exhibition centre featuring interactive displays on the life and story of Saint Patrick. It provides the only permanent exhibition centre in the world devoted to Saint Patrick.^[44]

Seventh-century writings[link]

An early document which is silent concerning Patrick is the letter of Columbanus to Pope Boniface IV of about 613. Columbanus writes that Ireland's Christianity "was first handed to us by you, the successors of the holy apostles", apparently referring to Palladius only, and ignoring Patrick.^[45] Writing on the Easter controversy in 632 or 633, Cummian—it is uncertain whether this is the Cummian associated with Clonfert or Cumméne of Iona—does refer to Patrick, calling him our papa, that is pope or primate.^[46]

Two works by late seventh-century hagiographers of Patrick have survived. These are the writings of Tírechán, and Vita sancti Patricii of Muirchu moccu Machtheni.^[47] Both writers relied upon an earlier work, now lost, the Book of Ultán.^[48] This Ultán, probably the same person as Ultan of Ardbraccan, was Tírechán's foster-father. His obituary is given in the Annals of Ulster under the year 657.^[49] These works thus date from a century and a half after Patrick's death.

Tírechán writes

"I found four names for Patrick written in the book of Ultán, bishop of the tribe of Conchobar: holy Magonus (that is, "famous"); Succetus (that is, the god of war); Patricius (that is, father of the citizens); Cothirtiacus (because he served four houses of druids)."^[50]

Muirchu records much the same information, adding that "[h]is mother was named Concessa."^[51] The name Cothirtiacus, however, is simply the Latinized form of Old Irish Cothraige, which is the Q-Celtic form of Latin Patricius.^[52]

The Patrick portrayed by Tírechán and Muirchu is a martial figure, who contests with druids, overthrows pagan idols, and curses kings and kingdoms.^[53] On occasion, their accounts contradict Patrick's own writings: Tírechán states that Patrick accepted gifts from female converts although Patrick himself flatly denies this. However, the emphasis Tírechán and Muirchu placed on female converts, and in particular royal and noble women who became nuns, is thought to be a genuine insight into Patrick's work of conversion. Patrick also worked with the unfree and the poor, encouraging them to vows of monastic chastity. Tírechán's account suggests that many early Patrician churches were combined with nunneries founded by Patrick's noble female converts.^[54]

The martial Patrick found in Tírechán and Muirchu, and in later accounts, echoes similar figures found during the conversion of the Roman Empire to Christianity. It may be doubted whether such accounts are an accurate representation of Patrick's time, although such violent events may well have occurred as Christians gained in strength and numbers.^[55]

Much of the detail supplied by Tírechán and Muirchu, in particular the churches established by Patrick, and the monasteries founded by his converts, may relate to the situation in the seventh century, when the churches which claimed ties to Patrick, and in particular Armagh, were expanding their influence throughout Ireland in competition with the church of Kildare. In the same period, Wilfred, Archbishop of York, claimed to speak, as metropolitan archbishop, "for all the northern part of Britain and of Ireland" at a council held in Rome in the time of Pope Agatho, thus claiming jurisdiction over the Irish church.^[56]

Other presumed early materials include the Irish annals, which contain records from the Chronicle of Ireland. These sources have conflated Palladius and Patrick.^[57] Another early document is the so-called First Synod of Saint Patrick. This is a seventh-century document, once, but no longer, taken as to contain a 5th century original text. It apparently collects the results of several early synods, and represents an era when pagans were still a major force in Ireland. The introduction attributes it to Patrick, Auxilius, and Iserninus, a claim which "cannot be taken at face value."^[58]

In legend[link]

St. Patrick banishes all snakes from Ireland[link]

Pious legend credits St. Patrick with banishing snakes from the island,^[59] chasing them into the sea after they attacked him during a 40-day fast he was undertaking on top of a hill.^[60] This hagiographic theme draws on the mythography of the staff of Moses, messenger of Yahweh to gentile Egyptians. In Exodus 7:8–7:13 , Moses and Aaron use their staffs in their struggle with Pharaoh's sorcerers, the staffs of each side morphing into snakes. Aaron's snake-staff prevails.^[61]

However, all evidence suggests that post-glacial Ireland never had snakes, as on insular "Ireland, New Zealand, Iceland, Greenland and Antarctica...So far, no serpent has successfully migrated across the open ocean to a new terrestrial home" such as from Scotland at one point only eight miles from Ireland, where a few native species have lived, "the venomous adder, the grass snake, and the smooth snake", as National Geographic notes,^[62] and although sea snake species separately exist.^[60][63] "At no time has there ever been any suggestion of snakes in Ireland, so [there was] nothing for St. Patrick to banish", says naturalist Nigel Monaghan, keeper of natural history at the National Museum of Ireland in Dublin, who has searched extensively through Irish fossil collections and records.^[60] The List of reptiles of Ireland has only one land reptile species native to Ireland; the viviparous or common lizard.

The only biological candidate species for appearing like a native snake in Ireland is the slow worm, actually a legless lizard, a non-native species more recently found in The Burren region of County Clare as recorded since the early 1970s, as noted by the National Parks and Wildlife Service of Ireland, which suspects it was deliberately introduced in the 1960s. So far, the slow worm's territory in the wild has not spread beyond the Burren's limestone region which is rich in wildlife.^[62]

One suggestion, by fiction author Betty Rhodes, is that "snakes" referred to the serpent symbolism of the Druids^[64] during that time and place, as evinced on coins minted in Gaul. Chris Weigant connects "big tattoos of snakes" on Druids' arms as "Irish schoolchildren are taught" with the way in which, in the legend of St. Patrick banishing snakes; the "story goes to the core of Patrick's sainthood and his core mission in Ireland."^[65]

St. Patrick uses shamrock in an illustrative parable[link]

The Shamrock

Legend (dating to 1726, according to the OED) also credits St. Patrick with teaching the Irish about the doctrine of the Holy Trinity by showing people the shamrock, a three-leafed plant, using it to illustrate the Christian teaching of three persons in one God.^[66] For this reason, shamrocks are a central symbol for St Patrick’s Day.

The shamrock had been seen as sacred in the pre-Christian days in Ireland. Due to its green color and overall shape, many viewed it as representing rebirth and eternal life. Three was a sacred number in the pagan religion and there were a number of "Triple Goddesses" in ancient Ireland, including Brigid, Ériu, and the Morrigan.

St. Patrick's dead ash wood walking stick grows into a living tree[link]

Some Irish legends involve the Oilliphéist, the Caoránach, and the Copóg Phádraig. During his evangelising journey back to Ireland from his parent's home at Birdoswald, he is understood to have carried with him an ash wood walking stick or staff. He thrust this stick into the ground wherever he was evangelising and at the place now known as Aspatria (ash of Patrick) the message of the dogma took so long to get through to the people there that the stick had taken root by the time he was ready to move on.

St. Patrick speaks with ancient Irish ancestors who were born long before his time[link]

The 12th century work Acallam na Senórach tells of Patrick being met by two ancient warriors, Caílte mac Rónáin and Oisín, during his evangelical travels. The two were once members of Fionn mac Cumhaill's warrior band the Fianna, and somehow survived to Patrick's time.

Saint Patrick's Bell[link]

The Shrine of St. Patrick's Bell

The National Museum of Ireland in Dublin possesses a bell first mentioned, according to the Annals of Ulster, in the Book of Cuanu in the year 552. The bell was part of a collection of "relics of Patrick" removed from his tomb sixty years after his death by Colum Cille to be used as relics. The bell is described as "The Bell of the Testament", one of three relics of "precious minna" (extremely valuable items), of which the other two are described as Patrick's goblet and "The Angels Gospel". Cille is described to have been under the direction of an "Angel" for whom he sent the goblet to Down, the bell to Armagh, and kept possession of the Angel's Gospel for himself. The name Angels Gospel is given to the book because it was supposed that Cille received it from the angel's hand. A stir was caused in 1044 when two kings, in some dispute over the bell, went on spates of prisoner taking and cattle theft. The annals make one more apparent reference to the bell when chronicling a death, of 1356, "Solomon Ua Mellain, The Keeper of The Bell of the Testament, protector, rested in Christ."

The bell was encased in a "bell shrine", a distinctive Irish type of reliquary made for it, as an inscription records, by King Domnall Ua Lochlainn sometime between 1091 and 1105. The shrine is an important example of the final, Viking-influenced, style of Irish Celtic art, with intricate Urnes style decoration in gold and silver. The Gaelic inscription on the shrine also records the name of the maker "U INMAINEN" (which translates to "Noonan"), "who with his sons enriched/decorated it"; metalwork was often inscribed for remembrance.

The bell itself is simple in design, hammered into shape with a small handle fixed to the top with rivets. Originally forged from iron, it has since been coated in bronze. The shrine is inscribed with three names, including King Domnall Ua Lochlainn's. The rear of the shrine, not intended to be seen, is decorated with crosses while the handle is decorated with, among other work, Celtic designs of birds. The bell is accredited with working a miracle in 1044 and having been coated in bronze to shield it from human eyes, for which it would be too holy. It measures 12.5 × 10 cm at the base, 12.8 × 4 cm at the shoulder, 16.5 cm from base to shoulder, 3.3 cm from shoulder to top of handle and weighs 1.7 kg.^[67]

Sainthood and modern remembrance[link]

The neo-gothic St Patrick's Cathedral in New York City, as seen from Rockefeller Center.

March 17, popularly known as St. Patrick's Day, is believed to be his death date and is the date celebrated as his feast day.^[68] The day became a feast day in the universal church due to the influence of the Waterford-born Franciscan scholar Luke Wadding, as a member of the commission for the reform of the Breviary^[69] in the early part of the 17th century.

For most of Christianity's first thousand years, canonisations were done on the diocesan or regional level. Relatively soon after the death of people considered to be very holy people, the local Church affirmed that they could be liturgically celebrated as saints. As a result, St. Patrick has never been formally canonised by a Pope; nevertheless, various Christian churches declare that he is a Saint in Heaven (he is in the List of Saints). He is still widely venerated in Ireland and elsewhere today.^[70]

St. Patrick is honored with a feast day on the liturgical calendar of the Episcopal Church (USA) on March 17. St. Patrick is also venerated in the Orthodox Church, especially among English-speaking Orthodox Christians living in the United Kingdom and the Republic of Ireland and in North America.^[71] There are Orthodox icons dedicated to him.^[72]

Places associated with Saint Patrick[link]

Slemish, County Antrim

St Patrick's statue at Saul, County Down

St Patrick's Oratory at the top of Croaghpatrick, County Mayo

• Slemish, County Antrim and Killala Bay, County Mayo

When captured by raiders, there are two theories as to where Patrick was enslaved. One theory is that he herded sheep in the countryside around Slemish. Another theory is that Patrick herded sheep near Killala Bay, at a place called Fochill.

• Saul, County Down (from Irish: Sabhall Phádraig, meaning "Patrick's barn")^[73]

It is claimed that Patrick founded his first church in a barn at Saul, which was donated to him by a local chieftain called Dichu. It is also claimed that Patrick died at Saul or was brought there between his death and burial. Nearby, on the crest of Slieve Patrick, is a huge statue of Saint Patrick with bronze panels showing scenes from his life.

• Hill of Slane, County Meath

Muirchu moccu Machtheni, in his highly mythologized 7th century Life of Patrick, says that Patrick lit a Paschal fire on this hilltop in 433 CE in defiance of High King Laoire. The story says that the fire could not be doused by anyone but Patrick, and it was here that he explained the holy trinity using the shamrock.

• Croagh Patrick, County Mayo (from Irish: Cruach Phádraig, meaning "Patrick's stack")^[74]

It is claimed that Patrick climbed this mountain and fasted on its summit for the forty days of Lent. Croagh Patrick draws thousands of pilgrims who make the trek to the top on the last Sunday in July.

• Lough Derg, County Donegal (from Irish: Loch Dearg, meaning "red lake")^[75]

It is claimed that Patrick killed a large serpent on this lake and that its blood turned the water red (hence the name). Each August, pilgrims spend three days fasting and praying there on Station Island.

• Armagh, County Armagh

It is claimed that Patrick founded a church here and proclaimed it to be the most holy church in Ireland. Armagh is today the primary seat of both the Catholic and Protestant Churches in Ireland and both cathedrals in the town are named after Patrick.

• Downpatrick, County Down (from Irish: Dún Pádraig, meaning "Patrick's stronghold")^[76]

It is claimed that Patrick was brought here after his death and buried in the grounds of Down Cathedral.

Other places named after Saint Patrick include:

• Ardpatrick, County Limerick (from Irish: Ard Pádraig, meaning "high place of Patrick")^[77]
• Patrickswell or Toberpatrick, County Limerick (from Irish: Tobar Phádraig, meaning "Patrick's well")^[78]
• St Patrick's Chapel, Heysham
• St Patrick's Island, County Dublin
• St Patrick's Isle, off the Isle of Man
• Llanbadrig (church), Ynys Badrig (island), Porth Padrig (cove), Llyn Padrig (lake), and Rhosbadrig (heath) on the island of Anglesey in Wales
• Templepatrick, County Antrim (from Irish: Teampall Phádraig, meaning "Patrick's church")^[79]

In literature[link]

• Robert Southey wrote a ballad called Saint Patrick's Purgatory, based on popular legends surrounding the saint's name.

• Stephen R. Lawhead wrote the fictional Patrick: Son of Ireland based on the life of the celebrated Saint.^[80]