[SERay]

Thanks Annie! I am personally acquantied with the three-leafed shamrock (trefoil) being revered in legend as an Irish Christian symbol of the Holy Trinity. How Saint Patrick in Laoghaire around 450AD(?), first used it to illustrate the Trinity. Although, due to the delayed timing of this account (the story surfaced some 1200 years after his death), and the lack of supporting evidence found in St. Patrick's writings, many scholars question the authenticity of this claim and attribute it more to Irish tradition. However, rather he said it or not, it is a great illustration!

I think I can recount the story properly. "When angered pagan listeners demanded of Saint Patrick to prove that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are three persons, yet one in essence, the sturdy missionary was perplexed at first. His gaze fell upon a shamrock growing nearby. He picked a stem, demanding of his opponents whether or not he held up one leaf or three leaves. If one leaf, then why three lobes of equal size? If three leaves, then why only one stem? His accusers were silenced, for they could not explain. "And if you cannot explain so simple a mystery as the shamrock, how can you hope to understand one so profound as the Holy Trinity?" he asked."

I also found through further studies, Theophilus, Bishop of Antioch, is thought to have been the first to use the term "Trinity", although most scholars usually credit the first use of the word to Tertullian, who lived at the beginning of the third century. I always had attributed it to Tertullian, but who knows really. I enjoy early church history, my weakness or strength, however one might wish to look at it.