On this Saint Patrick’s Day, I would like you to think of Saint Aiden.

On this Saint Patrick’s Day, I would like you to think of Saint Aiden.

Now before I begin I want to emphasize, Saint Patrick is awesome. His story is truly amazing and the impact he had on Irish history and the spread of Christianity in Ireland cannot be understated. In fact, many people do not realize Patrick did not just convert Ireland to Christianity, he basically started a new branch of Christianity there, one that was more open and tolerant that that of Rome. It was only a few centuries later when the pope was beginning to really assert his power that Ireland was forced to change its doctrine. (The reasoning really boiled down to St. Peter trumps St. Patrick, so there.)

In fact, as a good Catholic of Irish decent, with the name of “McCoy” to boot, I chose “Patrick” as my confirmation name. So to emphasize, St. Patrick was the man!

But there is one thing that people tend to forget about our buddy Patrick…he was not Irish! Patrick was from Britannia (The island that is made up of England and Scotland, today more often known as “Great Britain.”) Patrick (Who lived in the 5th Century A.D.) was captured by Irish pirates, was made a slave, escaped, found God, then went back to Ireland and converted the very people that had enslaved him. It is an amazing story, and one that has some real historical backing (unlike many other hagiographies). But again to emphasize, the patron saint of Ireland is not Irish!

For people looking for an Irish patron saint for Ireland, many hold up St. Aiden (Circa 590 A.D. -651 A.D.).

St. Aiden was Irish, and a follower of Patrick’s branch of Christianity. He became the head of the Lindesfarne monastery, the same monastery that produced the Book of Kells. Aiden may have had a hand in creating part of the book, but more likely he helped oversee parts of its creation, as we know he was the head of the monastery during the period when it was being created.

He became famous for his missionary work spreading Irish Christianity in northern England (in effect doing the opposite of Patrick, bringing Irish Christianity to English pagans). This English missionary work also had a ripple effect that eventually led to the full conversions of the Vikings to Christianity. This is how we get an obviously pagan work like Beowulf written in Old English that has been tinkered with to fit within a Christian world only 100-200 years later.

While St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland, St. Aiden is often considered the other patron saint of the Emerald Isle. (And has even been proposed as the patron saint of the United Kingdom for the impact he had on both peoples.) So on this Saint Patrick’s Day, when the entire world is claiming to be as Irish as St. Patrick…which is not Irish at all, claim to you are being as Irish as St. Aiden!

One other cool note, St. Aiden is the patron saint of Firefighters, which also automatically makes him awesome.

Stephen Lawhead wrote a fantastic, but completely fictional, account of the Life of St Aiden called Byzantium. (In it, Aiden was a Book of Kells scribe, then tasked with helping deliver the book as a gift to the Emperor of Byzantium, he is captured by Vikings, gets to Byzantium, then travels as far as Baghdad and back.)

One reason St. Aiden has been on my mind is the recent surging of the popularity of the name; I keep meeting children named Aiden.  Aiden is currently one of the top 20 most popular names for boys.