Who was Maewyn?

I suppose the better question would be: Who was St. Patrick?

There are many different ideas and symbols associated with St. Patrick's Day. But, as with most religious holidays, the true meaning has been lost to many.

A pagan by the name of Maewyn was born in Wales, AD385. Sold into slavery at the age of 16, Maewyn took this time to become closer to God. Finally escaping some six years later, Maewyn devoted his life to the Catholic faith, even taking the Christian name Patrick.
Studying at a monastery in Gaul for twelve years, Patrick dreamed of becoming bishop of Ireland and converting pagans to the Christian religion. Eventually becoming the second Bishop of Ireland, Patrick led his crusade of converting pagans by building schools and churches for the next 30 years.
The well known symbol of Ireland, the shamrock, was actually made a traditional symbol of St. Patrick's Day since Patrick had used the shamrock to help teach the Holy Trinity-showing the separate elements of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit existing as one entity. Irish Catholics would then declare to "wear your green" or pin on your shamrock in accordance of his teachings.
Dying March 17, AD461, Patrick's legacy lived on. Though never officially canonized as a saint, the Catholic holiday of St. Patrick's Day still commenced.
Celebrated mainly in Ireland as a national holiday: pubs, banks and post offices would close down in remembrance of the Catholic bishop, though the Americans knew little about the celebration.
Then, in the late 1700's, as the Irish immigrants flooded the east coast of America, they brought with them their traditions. In a new world, far from home and American's looking down on them because they were poor and spoke broken English in a harsh accent, many Irishmen were even more homesick.
March 17, 1762, Irish soldiers in the English army marched through the streets of New York City playing their country's music, allowing them to reconnect with their Irish roots and locate other Irishmen who immigrated to America. This first 'parade' on St. Patrick's Day started the tradition that continues to this day. Many well-known cities throughout the US have giant parades in celebration. Bagpipes playing, shamrocks waving in a sea of green. But why green? Another common Irish color is orange, though this color tends to be against the Catholic traditions (the separation of the country between Catholics and Protestants). But green never was St. Patrick's color, it actually was blue. The Irish flag, the King's coat of arms and the Irish guards all sported the color blue-which later was called "St. Patrick's Blue". Over time, the symbolism of the shamrock St. Patrick used related to the term of "wear your green". Some people starting taking this quite literally and actually wore green on St. Patricks Day-becoming Irish for a day.
Others associate the ritualistic wearing of green to the beginning of spring.
No matter why the change, it is a known fact that thousands of people-Irish and non-Irish alike, sport their green finery, parade in the streets, take refuge in the nearest pub, bask in Guinness and corned beef until the sun goes down every St. Patrick's Day.
So lift up your glasses in celebration as yet another holiday formed from Catholic beliefs has turned into a drink fest.

Don't worry, I'm not even going there with the evil little leprechauns and their pots of gold!