Saint Patrick Medal Necklace – Patron Saint of Ireland & Engineers

Saint Patrick, Patron Saint of Ireland and Engineers

Patrick was born in Roman Britain in the late fourth century, the son of a deacon named Calpurnius. As a teenager he was seized by Irish raiders and put to work as a herdsman, and by his own account he prayed through those years in the cold and rain until a dream told him a ship was waiting. He escaped, made his way home, and trained for the priesthood. Years later, in another dream, he heard the people of Ireland calling him to walk among them again, and he returned as a bishop. He spent decades traveling the island, ordaining clergy and founding churches, and tradition credits him with teaching Irish builders to raise arches with lime mortar instead of dry stone, the origin of his patronage of engineers. His Confessio, one of only two writings known to be his, opens with him calling himself a sinner and the plainest of country people. The shamrock comes from the tradition that he used its three leaves on a single stem to explain the Trinity. He is also patron of Nigeria, where Irish missionaries arrived in the 1920s, and of New York, Boston and Montserrat. This medal is worn by men and women alike.

A Gift For...

• Irish families and anyone with Irish roots, from Dublin to Boston to Sydney
• Engineers, engineering students, and new engineering graduates
• Anyone named Patrick, Patricia, Pat or Paddy
• Nigerian Catholics and families with ties to the Irish missions there
• Parishioners of a Saint Patrick's church or cathedral
• Someone starting over far from home, or returning to a place that once hurt them

A Confirmation Gift for Patrick

Engrave "Christ with me" on the first line and the confirmation date on the second, a line drawn from the prayer known as Saint Patrick's Breastplate. Patrick suits a confirmand who wants a saint whose faith was tested young and held firm on his own, long before anyone called him a bishop.

The Saint Patrick Medal

Saint Patrick stands in full bishop's vestments with mitre and crozier, holding a three-leaf shamrock, framed by a ring of shamrocks and Celtic scrollwork. The natural gold or silver of the metal forms the illustration itself. Black ink is applied to the pendant surface and the metal shows through as the image. A shatterproof liquid glass coating seals the surface. The result has a depth and precision that printed medals don't achieve.

Personalization and Engraving

The reverse can be engraved in Tangerine cursive, up to 2 lines of 20 characters each. Some ideas:

• "Christ before me" / "Christ beside me"

• "Erin go Bragh" / a family surname

• "Class of 2027" / "Engineering"

• A county of origin / the year the family emigrated

Saint Patrick's feast day is March 17, traditionally the date of his death. Tradition holds that he is buried at Downpatrick in County Down, in the same grave as Saint Brigid and Saint Columba, Ireland's other two patrons.

Related Devotions for Irish Heritage and the Builders of Faith

• Saint Brendan Medal: the monk-navigator who carried the faith from Ireland out onto the Atlantic.
• Saint Columbanus Medal: a later Irish missionary who took the monastic tradition Patrick planted across Europe.
• Saint Gobnait Necklace: an early Irish abbess, still honored at her holy well in Ballyvourney.
• Saint Barbara Medal: patron of architects, engineers and mathematicians, for the builder in your life.