I WAS in the supermarket shopping for cake ingredients and noticed they had run out of green food colouring. St Patrick’s Day must be coming, I thought. The day when, according to ancient tradition, people dye their food (and Guinness) green!

St Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland who, on March 17, is remembered and celebrated across the world. And this month we also celebrated St David on March 1 and St Piran on March 5, with St George celebrated next month on April 23 (and let’s not forget St Andrew on November 30).

Tradition states that St Patrick was not Irish, but actually from either Wales or Cumbria. Born in the 5th century, he was captured by Irish pirates who took him back to Ireland where he was sold as a slave. Several years later, he escaped and travelled to either Cornwall or Wales, eventually returning to his family. The experience profoundly strengthened his faith in God and he became a priest. He eventually believed that God was calling him to return to Ireland, which he did as a missionary bishop, spending the rest of his life converting the ‘pagan Irish’. He was very successful!

So, why do we have patron saints? They are there to inspire people by their lives and unite people of a nation (and there are also patron saints of occupations and themes). But as a ‘cloud of witnesses’ united in heaven, they also remind us that we are one human family, all sisters and brothers.

And maybe this is why it is good that many national patron saints were not born in the countries they are patrons of. Let’s not forget, St Piran was Irish, St George was Turkish and St Patrick… is also the patron saint of Nigeria.

Father Paul Keys, parish priest,

St Augustine of Hippo Catholic Parish, St Austell