A few Saintly Statistics - courtesy of Malcolm Rogers of the Irish Post.

St Patrick's official title is Archbishop Cardinal of Armargh, Apostle of Ireland. Just remember that when you sinking your 10th pint of Guinness on saturday. St Patrick was in all likelihood a Roman brought up in Scotland - a Roman Gloamin in fact. Other suggestions for his birthplace have included Wales (Abergavenny), England (possibly Somerset) and France - there is a school of thought that he was born at Boulogne-sur-Mer, but of course under FIFA residential rules he would have qualified to play football for Ireland. St Patrick, being a Roman, was therefore a prototype Italian, and thus should probably be celebrated not with Guinness and whiskey but pizza, spaghetti and Italian ice cream. People who have Patrick as their middle name: Eric Clapton, Kevin Kennedy, Elvis Costello and (Corronation Street's Curly Watts). St Patrick first came to Ireland at the age of 16 - captured by Irish pirates. At the time of his death it is said that Patrick, a no-nonsense Christian, obtained four requests from God, one of them being that on the day of judgement all the Irish would be judged by Patrick himself. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED. There are only two surviving authentic writings of St Patrick - his confession and a letter to a Roman, Coroticus. Largely because of St Patrick, Ireland was the only country in Europe to embrace Christianity without bloodshed or martyrdom - so fighting down the pub on March 17th is NOT allowed. (From the department of wet blankets No.1) Botanically speaking, there is actually no such thing as a shamrock, SHOCK HORROR! Any of about half a dozen species of clover, sorrel or mendick trade under the name shamrock. But it doesn't matter much - the legend of St Patrick teaching the concept of the Trinity is probably a 17th Century invention. The shamrock has no official status in Ireland - the national emblem of the State is the Brian Boru harp. The top speed of snakes is 8mph - so Patrick would have had quite a job driving them out of the country. (From the department of wet blankets No.2) Chances are that there haven't been snakes in Ireland since the time the island was separated from the rest of the continent at the end of the Ice Age. St Patrick's day cannot coincide with Easter Day - but it can occur on the same day as Palm Sunday which last occurred in 1940, and prior to that in 1799. St Patrick shares his feast day with St Joseph of Arimathea, the patron saint of tin workers. - So, not a lot of competition there.