There is much surrounding the life of Patrick that is difficult to prove historically. Many stories which some would describe as myth and legends have grown up around the saint. Some of these originate from the Lives that were produced centuries after the saint’s death written in the hagiographical genre. Even so, it is worth bearing in mind and taking to heart some words of the saint, ‘And let those who will, laugh and scorn---I shall not be silent; nor shall I hide the signs and wonders which the Lord has shown me many years before they came to pass, as He knows everything even before the times of the world. Patrick was very open to and familiar with supernatural experiences and unusual ways of walking with God. It is all too easy to allow our own 21st century view of the world and our own experience of God to negate more unusual spiritual experiences.

Three images that usually spring to mind when thinking of Patrick are shamrocks, snakes and songs.

The shamrock has become a well known and loved symbol of Ireland and Patrick. It is thought that Patrick used it to explain to his hearers the Trinitarian nature of God, God being One and yet Father, Son and Holy Spirit at the same time. The appreciation of using something of the created order to try and explain a profound mystery of God which has been debated by theologians for centuries is a very Celtic way of expressing spirituality. Whether Patrick used this picture or not, the three distinct leaves of a shamrock yet knit together does express something of the Trinity.

Patrick is alleged to have driven all the snakes out of Ireland! We can be 99.99% sure that this was not the case. It looks like Ireland has never had any snakes!

The song or hymn, known as St. Patrick’s Breastplate, was probably not penned by the saint. It is a later writing dating from the seventh or eighth century. Legend says that it was composed by Saint Patrick in the year 433. He was aware that there was an ambush to try to kill him and his group en route to the King's court. It was during the march that they chanted what became known as St. Patrick's Breastplate. As the druids lay in hiding, ready to kill, they saw not Patrick and his men, but a gentle doe followed by twenty fawns. St. Patrick and his men were saved.

Thomas Cahill in How the Irish Saved Civilisation says, ‘St. Patrick's great prayer in Irish--sometimes called "Saint Patrick's Breastplate" cannot definitively be ascribed to him. Characteristics of its language would assign it to the seventh, or even to the eighth, century. On the other hand, it is Patrician to its core, the first ringing assertion that the universe itself is the Great Sacrament, magically designed by its loving Creator to bless and succor human beings. The earliest expression of European vernacular poetry, it is, in attitude, the work of a Christian druid, a man of faith and magic. If Patrick did not write it (at least in its current form), it surely takes its inspiration from him. For in its cosmic incantation, the inarticulate outcast who wept for slaves, aided common men in difficulty, and loved sunrise and sea at last finds his voice in this prayer.