St Patrick

If you thought the weirdest think about St Patrick was that he was Welsh, not Irish, was of Roman decent and once put his crozier through the foot of an Irish Chieftain by accident then think again!

1,500 years after he came to Ireland (not on a Ryanair flight) he still has surprises in store for us.  

In what seems to be a belated shock and scandal for the church it seems that there venerable old Welsh saint was in fact...........married!

Yes.  Married.

According to a folklorist at University College Corkt St Patrick was married to woman named Sheelah.

Shane Lehane of the Department of Folklore in UCC says that March 17 celebrations were extended by a day to honour Patrick's "other half".

And he has evidence to prove it!

Mr Lehane references John Carr's 1806 text 'The Stranger in Ireland' where Carr writes about celebrations on the anniversary of St Patrick.

"From a spirit of gallantry, these merry devotees continue drunk the greater part of the next day, viz., the 18th of March, all in honour of Sheelagh, St. Patrick’s wife."

"Pre-Famine, pre-1845, if you go back to the newspapers in Ireland they talk not just about Patrick's Day but also Sheelah's Day," he said.

"So I wondered where this came from?

"You have Paddy's day on the 17th and it continues to Sheelah's day.

"I came across numerous references that Sheelah was thought to be Patrick's wife.

"She was his other half. The folk tradition has no problem with such detail.

You can read more clicking here