Shake your Shamrock!

After speaking with a friend last night it prompted me to do a little Wikipedia seaching on the origin of the 'green wearing' day of St. Patty's Day.  I have some knowledge of the holiday since I was raised Catholic, however I found myself not being able to give a good description of the day when speaking with my friend, well aside from it's an excuse to party and drink lots of green beer.  So here is what I found on Wiki:

Saint Patrick:

Little is known of Patrick's early life, though it is known that he was born in Roman Britain in the 4th century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father and grandfather were deacons in the Church. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave.^[9] It is believed he was held somewhere on the west coast of Ireland, possibly Mayo, but the exact location is unknown. According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest.^{[citation needed]}

In 432, he again said that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to Christianise the Irish from their native polytheism. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Christian doctrine of the Trinity to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of evangelism, he died on 17 March 461, and according to tradition, was buried at Downpatrick. Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish Church.

Wearing of the green:

Originally, the colour associated with Saint Patrick was blue. Over the years the colour green and its association with Saint Patrick's day grew.^[10] Green ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of St Patrick's Day as early as the 17th century.^[11] He is said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish, and the wearing and display of shamrocks and shamrock-inspired designs have become a ubiquitous feature of the day.^[12 In the 1798 rebellion, in hopes of making a political statement, Irish soldiers wore full green uniforms on 17 March in hopes of catching public attention.^[10] The phrase "the wearing of the green", meaning to wear a shamrock on one's clothing, derives from a song of the same.

And at last the shamrock: 

According to legend St. Patrick used the 3-leafed plant to explain the  Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish people. (With this being said I'm not sure why or how 4-leaf clovers came to play in St. Patrick's Day.  All I could find is that the 4-leaf version of the plant is not found commonly - so when it is found it's considered to be lucky!)

Thanks for tuning in for a little 'History of St. Patrick's Day" blog!!  And you know I couldn't go without posting a picture of my "little clover" all ready for her St. Patty's Day party at school.  She was so proud of her t-shirt, pointing it out first thing to Miss Debbie when we arrived!