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It鈥檚 St Patrick鈥檚 Day and Shamrocks are everywhere. But why? Claire McCollum went to find out how this little clover became so significant.

St Matthew鈥檚 on the Shankill Road looks inconspicuous from the ground but take a bird鈥檚 eye view and you see it is built in the shape of a shamrock.

鈥淎s far as we know it鈥檚 unique in the British Isles鈥� Rector Tracey McRoberts explains. 鈥淭he tour buses will always point it out because of course it links back well into our history with St Patrick and all of our Christian heritage here.鈥�

St Patrick lived in the 5th century and is credited with bringing Christianity to Ireland, but he had a challenge when it came to explaining the Christian doctrine of the Trinity. This is the belief that there is only one God but that he consists of three persons; the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. The story goes that, like Jesus before him, Patrick used everyday things around him to illustrate his message. As Rev. Tracey of the Shamrock Church explains:

鈥淪t Patrick, when he came to Ireland, discovered this clover that grows very widely anywhere and you can see that it has the three leaves and he would say to the people 鈥榠s this one leaf or three?鈥� And they would reply, 鈥榠t is both one and three鈥� 鈥� and the good man himself replied and thus it is with God.鈥�

Songs of Praise from Belfast, Sunday 17th March 2019 at 1.05pm.

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