St Patrick's Day celebration 2021 one of quiet contemplation

March 17th is both a religious holiday and a day of celebration for Irish people and those with an Irish connection around the world. Saint Patrick's Day festivities in 2021 are more retrained than normal in many places due to the coronavirus pandemic. For many this year it will be a day of quiet contemplation about the Saint himself and his works. Saint Patrick is the primary patron saint of Ireland and Saint Patrick's Day is oberved today 17 March, which is said to be the date of his death. Patrick was a 5th Century missionary, who came from Roman Britain and first arrived in Ireland as a slave. Patrick tells us he came from an area called Bannevam Taburniae. The people of the village of Banwen in the south of Wales, point to the name of their village being derived from Bannevam Taburniae and which was originally a Roman settlement.

There are two Latin works that survive and are believed as having been written by St. Patrick and give the only generally accepted details of his life. They are the  Declaration (Latin: Confessio) and the Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus (Latin: Epistola). It is the Confessio which is the more biographical and in which Patrick gives a short account of his life and his mission. Other details of his life come from later writings and annals. He is widely regarded as the founder of Christianity in Ireland, although there is evidence of some earlier Christian presence in Ireland. St Patrick's Day is a day to acknowledge the religious work of Patrick, but also by the people of Ireland and those of Irish descent around the world as a celebration of Ireland. Not forgetting, of course, those in the little Welsh village of Banwen, the place of his birth. The Manx people also acknowledge his importance as he was also said to have visited and preached in the Isle of Man (Manx: Mannin).