St. Patrick’s Feast Day – Craft

St. Patrick is such a popular saint. His feast is celebrated on March 17th. Originally born in Scotland as Maewyn Succat, he was kidnapped and brought to Ireland as a slave when he was just 16. Though he escaped and returned back to the British Isles to begin his education in the seminaries of Europe, Ireland had captured his spirit. As Bishop, he was sent back to Ireland, this time as a free man, and he set in motion the conversion of Ireland and the formation of many monasteries that would become bastions of the Catholic faith during the Middle Ages.

Though the above we know about Patrick, his life seems to have been so full that it is brimming with legends and stories about his converting of the isle of Ireland, and the many methods he used to teach the pagan people. Perhaps two of the most widely known legends are the driving of the snakes from all of Ireland (did you know that to this day there are no snakes on all of Ireland? Gives you pause!) and the way in which St. Patrick used the humble clover to teach the simple people the great mystery of the Holy Trinity – three persons, one God.

How many persons are there in God?

In God there are three Divine Persons –the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.

I’m sharing this craft along with a few book ideas for the Feast of St. Patrick.  Since stories of St. Patrick can sometimes be wrapped up in a lot of legend, I tend to be pretty cautious in our reading here…so my recommendations reflect those sources that clearly point to Patrick as a Saint of God that worked hard to establish the Church in Ireland.

• Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland by Tomie de Paola – PRESCHOOL/ELEM
• Patrick, Saint of Ireland by Diana Mayo – PRESCHOOL/ELEM
• Saints for the Small by Frank Morriss – PRESCHOOL/ELEM – (Unfortunately, this little gem is long out of print, but it has a delightful chapter on St. Patrick – it’s a short, easy read for little ones)
• Celtic Heritage Saints by Marian Keaney – MIDDLE SCHOOL – (again, an oop book – sorry!  This publication is not Catholic {Veritas publication}, however, the chapter on St. Patrick is well done, and certainly written with my guideline in mind: that the Saint’s contributions to build the kingdom of God are underscored.)
• Little Lives of the Great Saints by Rev. John O’Kane Murray – MIDDLE/HIGH SCHOOL – (I love this book for its chapters on some of the greatest saints!  This would make a wonderful read aloud, or excellent reading for an older child!)

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I wanted to post this **before** St. Patrick’s day so you would have time to gather supplies in case you want to do this. It’s not terribly inventive! Most of it I already had in craft bins – I did purchase the wooden trefoil because I thought it was so neat and would make a good sturdy base. But, I really wanted to emphasize how good St. Patrick was inventive and used the simple gifts of God’s abundant Creation to teach the people the great mysteries of the Church. That is an example I want to imitate!

So, if you’re interested, here you go…

Items needed for this craft: (adapt to fit what you have in the craft bins already!)

1. Wooden trefoil shape – I bought mine here. You could easily hand sketch a clover shape onto cardboard for this craft.
2. 3 heart shaped cut-outs. I used a heart punch, but again, you could cut your shapes. They don’t need to be perfect, but they do need to be GREEN.
3. Glue
4. GREEN yarn – about 8 inches long (you’ll trim the excess) – 3 pieces of equal length. Quick instructions for how to make the yarn stem used in step 6…Take the three pieces and secure one end with embroidery thread or with a small piece of green yarn. Braid the section for about 2-3 inches. Stop and secure with another small piece of embroidery thread. This will be the stem of the clover. The individual sections will each emphasize one of the three persons, while the braided stem will emphasize the one-ness of God. What mystery!

Instructions:

1. Fold each of the heart shapes in half so that they look like leaves when they are unfolded and glued. We wrote “Father,” “Son,” “Holy Spirit” on our leaves as well (but you don’t have to – you can see from our finished shamrock that the “Holy Spirit” is written upside down…ugh…consider the placement of your shamrock leaves if you choose to write the names of the Trinity.)

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2. Place leaves on trefoil (you’re just eye-balling placement here) – the Father goes at the top center, the Son to the Father’s right (that would be our left – remember from the Apostles Creed the Son sits at the Father’s right hand), and the Holy Spirit to the Father’s left…and if you’ve taken care and learned from us, His name won’t be upside down 🙁 .

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3. Run a small bead of glue down the middle back side of the heart. Glue in place on the trefoil. Try not to let any of the wooden trefoil show.

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4. As you glue, use one finger to hold the heart in place, and use two other fingers to gently fold the leaves of the heart upward. This gives the appearance of a leaf when it is complete.

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5. Here’s how it should look at this point.

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6. Now, run a bead of glue along one side of the braid only to complete the stem.

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7. Line up the top of the braid with the place that each of the hearts meet in the middle of the trefoil. Glue the rest of the braid down as the stem. Tuck any excess around the backside and glue in place.

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8. This is how it should look with the braided part of the stem glued in place and the three individual stems still free.

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9.  Glue the final stems in place. Run a bead of glue down the center of each heart-shaped leaf. Trim the excess yarn and glue the remaining piece around the backside of the trefoil. Place in a sunny window to dry.

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St. Patrick’s breastplate

I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
I bind this day to me for ever,
by power of faith, Christ’s Incarnation;
his baptism in Jordan river;
his death on cross for my salvation;
his bursting from the spicèd tomb;
his riding up the heavenly way;
his coming at the day of doom:
I bind unto myself today.
I bind unto myself the power
of the great love of cherubim;
the sweet “Well done” in judgment hour;
the service of the seraphim;
confessors’ faith, apostles’ word,
the patriarchs’ prayers, the prophets’ scrolls;
all good deeds done unto the Lord,
and purity of virgin souls.

I bind unto myself today
the virtues of the starlit heaven
the glorious sun’s life-giving ray,
the whiteness of the moon at even,
the flashing of the lightning free,
the whirling wind’s tempestuous shocks,
the stable earth, the deep salt sea,
around the old eternal rocks.

I bind unto myself today
the power of God to hold and lead,
his eye to watch, his might to stay,
his ear to hearken, to my need;
the wisdom of my God to teach,
his hand to guide, his shield to ward;
the word of God to give me speech,
his heavenly host to be my guard.

Christ be with me,
Christ within me,
Christ behind me,
Christ before me,
Christ beside me,
Christ to win me,
Christ to comfort
and restore me.
Christ beneath me,
Christ above me,
Christ in quiet,
Christ in danger,
Christ in hearts of
all that love me,
Christ in mouth of
friend and stranger.

I bind unto myself today
the strong Name of the Trinity,
by invocation of the same,
the Three in One, and One in Three.
Of whom all nature hath creation,
eternal Father, Spirit, Word:
praise to the Lord of my salvation,
salvation is of Christ the Lord.

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p style=”text-align:center;”>St. Patrick, pray for us.