What did St. Patrick use the shamrock to represent?

Answer 1

He used it to explain the Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Answer

He used it to explain the Trinity. Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

Did you know that Saint Patrick's name at birth was Maewyn Succat? He was born somewhere near the end of the fourth century and took on the name Patrick or Patricus, after he became a priest, much later in his life. At the age of sixteen Maewyn Succat was kidnapped from his native land of Britain, by a band pirates, and sold into slavery in Ireland. Maewyn worked as a shepherd and turned to religion for solace. After six long years of slavery he escaped to the northern coast of Gaul.

Ironically, Patrick was neither Catholic nor the first to preach Christianity in Ireland.

Unfortunately, "midiaeval biographers ... wrote of his studying with St. Germain, and of his attending a monastery near the Mediterrenean, and finally of his going to Rome and receiving ordination from the pope. All these are mere inventions, and were not put forth till more than five hundred years after St. Patrick's death, and all of them are presented without a shadow of proof" (McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. VII, pp.774,775; article: Patrick, St.).

Although "The Roman Catholics have proudly and exclusively claimed St. Patrick, and most Protestants have ignorantly or indifferently allowed their claim... he [Patrick] was no Romanist" (McClintock and Strong, Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological, and Ecclesiastical Literature, Vol. VII, p.776; article: Patrick, St.). In fact, "There is strong evidence that Patrick had no Roman commission in Ireland...As Patrick's churches in Ireland, like their brethren in Britain, repudiated the supremacy of the popes....There is not a written word from one of them [popes] rejoicing over Patrick's additions to their church, showing clearly that he was not a Roman missionary....Prosper does not notice Patrick....He says nothing of the greatest success ever given to a missionary of Christ, apparently because he [Patrick] was not a Romanist....Bede never speaks of St. Patrick in his celebrated 'Ecclesiastical History.'...So completely buried was Patrick and his work by popes and other Roman Catholics, that in their epistles and larger publications, his name does not once occur in one of them until A. D. 634" (William Cathcart, D. D., The Ancient British and Irish Churches, pp.83-85).

Nevertheless, regardless of his religious background, Patrick's work in Ireland made a profound impact. With regard to the shamrock, which resembles a three-leafed clover, it is reported that Patrick used it to help explain the concept of the Trinity (Father, Son, Holy Spirit).

Answer 2

Saint Patrick used the shamrock to illustrate the Blessed Trinity - three parts in one leaf. Patrick came from a Roman family of Catholics who lived in Roman Britain - either Scotland or Wales. His father was a deacon and his grandfather a priest. He was sent by Pope Celestine to work as a missionary in Britain and Ireland.

Answer 3

St. Patrick used the shamrock as a symbol of the Holy Trinity - the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit - to help explain the concept of three persons in one God to the people of Ireland.