Commentary: The truth about St. Patrick’s Day

In 1997, my students and I traveled to Croagh Patrick, a mountain in County Mayo, as part of a study abroad program course on Irish literature I was teaching for the University of Dayton. I wanted my students to visit the place where, each July, thousands of pilgrims pay homage to St. Patrick, who, according to lore, fasted and prayed on the summit for 40 days.While there, our tour guide relayed the story of how St. Patrick, as he lay on his deathbed on March 17 in A.D. 461, supposedly asked tho