History of St. Patrick's Day Festivities

American Catholic History

Noelle & Tom Crowe

Religion & Spirituality, History, Christianity, Education

4.8 • 969 Ratings

🗓️ 4 March 2026

⏱️ 21 minutes

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Summary

The first St. Patrick's Day Festivities were held, oddly enough, in St. Augustine, Florida in 1600. More than 130 years later the first permanent St. Patrick's Day celebrations as we know them began in Boston, and then 25 years later in New York City, both in the 18th century. The first St. Patrick's Day Parade was held by Irish soldiers in the British army stationed in New York City, who got up on March 17, 1762 and paraded through the streets of Manhattan to a tavern for breakfast. The tradition has stuck. The celebration remained and grew because it was a way for Irish, particularly Irish Catholics, to assert their presence in the New World, and to celebrate their own native culture in this land where they were a minority, not always trusted, but who were intent on staying and being part of this new nation. Since the mid-20th century the American phenomenon of St. Patrick's Day celebrations has both returned to Ireland, where it is a major four-day event, and it has spread throughout the world wherever Irish can be found in large numbers.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to American Catholic history.
0:08.4	If you like our podcast, be sure to rate us and give us a review wherever you get your podcasts.
0:14.4	I'm Noelle Heister Crowe.
0:15.9	And I'm Thomas Vacconcraada.
0:17.9	Get ready, folks, because today's topic is St. Patrick's Day, so Tom's going to get a little
0:24.7	Blarnie happy.
0:25.7	Guilty is charged in anticipation.
0:27.9	I mean, I have kissed the Blarnie Stone on two different occasions, so you tell me.
0:32.6	I don't know how I'm going to make it through this episode.
0:36.8	But, you know, there was no mistaking that he'd kiss the Barneystone when I married an Irishman. Yes. And what can I say? If you're lucky enough to be Irish, you're lucky enough. Yeah. Okay. You're overdoing it now. No. We didn't. What can I? Yes, I am. So what? Okay. Yeah. well, before you overdo it even more, let's get into our topic, which is how
0:58.4	Irish Catholics here in America made St. Patrick's Day with such a huge deal, really,
1:04.1	all around the world.
1:05.2	Yeah, you know, St. Patrick was one of the great missionary saints.
1:08.0	He brought Christianity to Ireland in the 5th century.
1:11.5	He is known primarily through his few extant writings, his confessions and a letter he wrote. The well-known
1:16.9	prayer of St. Patrick or St. Patrick's breastplate comes from his confession. All of these are
1:22.3	a wonderful fodder for meditation. And though he was among the earliest of the great missionary saints, he isn't the only
1:29.2	one who converted an entire nation and took on the dominant pagan culture in that place. St. Augustine
1:35.7	of Canterbury for Britain, St. Boniface for Germany, St. Francis Xavier for the Far East,
1:40.6	and so many more. But none of them gets the same annual celebration that Patrick
1:45.7	gets. Exactly why Patrick gets this observance is an interesting phenomenon, and frankly, it's
1:52.3	due in no small part to Protestant persecution in Ireland and here in America. Yes, and it's also
	...

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