St Patrick

By: Marta Goncalves

Why is St Patrick is the Patron Saint of Nigeria?

He's been the Patron Saint of Nigeria since 1961.

St Patrick is indeed the patron saint of Nigeria alongside the Blessed Virgin Mary.One major reason is that the St. Patrick's

Missionary Society started working in Nigeria long before independence and is quite popular in terms of it's achievements.

What Nigerian's do to celebrate St Patrick's day?Technically, Saint Patrick is the

secondary patron saint of Nigeria, next to the Virgin Mary, but the church there does celebrate his feast day this week.  There are 20 million Roman Catholics in Nigeria which accounts for 14% of the

population. Nigerian Catholics credit the spread of

the faith there largely to Irish missionaries who began arriving in the early 1900s.  In fact many Nigerians

received their education from the Irish priests and religious.  So in schools Saint Patrick's Day is a "free day" in

Nigeria.

What people in Britain do to remind people that St Patrick is not just the Irish Patron saint?

On the day of St Patrick almost all of the nigerian churches in Britain remind

everyone that St Patrick is nigerian by celebrate the day.

Why people need to be ware that St Patricks is not just the Patron Saint of

Ireland?

People need and should be ware that St Patricks is not just the Patron Saint of Ireland but

Nigeria as well.