Not Just Shamrocks and Leprechauns

There's more to Saint Patrick's Day than drinking green beer!

Saint Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was born towards the end of the fourth century. In about A.D. 432, Saint Patrick left his home in England and traveled to Ireland, after having a religious vision in which God instructed him to become a missionary. Once in Ireland, Saint Patrick started converting people to Christianity throughout the country. He is believed to have died on March 17, around A.D. 460.

This holiday is a both a religious one in the Roman Catholic Church as well as a national one in all of Ireland.

Folk artist Frank Brito carved this wood sculpture of Saint Patrick.

Pictured: Frank Brito, born 1922, Saint Patrick Missionary of Ireland, about 1960s, carved and painted cottonwood, 13 x 5 x 4 3/4 in., Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Chuck and Jan Rosenak and museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment.