A blessing upon the soul of Ireland,
island of the faltering steps;
methinks Brian´s home of the soft voices
is full with sorrow.

When laws against dissenters were established 1695, the Irish Catholic were forbidden to own land, school their children, vote, own a horse worth more than $5, be a public official, serve on a jury and be a lawyer or solider. At this time many old Irish traditions also fell out of favor, including the wearing of the traditional Irish kilt.

During the time of the American revolution, Henry Grattan (a leader of the Protestant class) became a leader of a group known as "The Irish Volunteers." This group became powerful and began to lobby for the restrictions to be lifted against the Irish Catholics and Irish trade. Grattan said, "The Irish Protestant cannot be free until the Irish Catholic ceases to be a slave."

When the Irish Volunteers began to take up the wearing of the shamrock, it was seen as an act of rebellion. Laws were passed that anyone wearing the Shamrock would be hung. The United Irishmen were unsuccessful in the rebellion of 1798.

Wearin' of the Green

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OH, Paddy dear! and did ye hear the news that’s goin’ round?
The shamrock is forbid by law to grow on Irish ground!
No more St. Patrick’s day we’ll keep; his colour can’t be seen,
For there’s a cruel law against the Wearin’ o’ the Green!

I met with Napper Tandy, and he took me by the hand,
And he said, “How’s poor old Ireland, and how does she stand?”
“She’s the most distressful country that ever yet was seen,
For they’re hanging men and women there for the Wearin’ o’ the Green.

An’ if the colour we must wear is England’s cruel red,
Let it remind us of the blood that Ireland has shed;
Then pull the shamrock from your hat, and throw it on the sod,
An’ never fear, ’twill take root there, though under foot ’tis trod.

When law can stop the blades of grass from growin’ as they grow,
An’ when the leaves in summer time their colour dare not show,
Then I will change the colour, too, I wear in my caubeen;
But till that day, please God, I’ll stick to the Wearin’ o’ the Green.

But if at last our color should be torn from Ireland's heart.
Her Sons with shame and sorrow from the dear old soil will part;
I've heard whisper of a country, that lies far beyond the sea.
Where, rich and poor stand equal in the light of Freedom's day.
Oh! Erin, must we leave you driven by the tyrant's hand.
Must we ask a mother's welcome from a strange, but happier land.
Where the cruel Cross of England's thralldom never shall be seen;
And where, thank God, we'll live and die still wearin' the green.

In March 1900, after hearing the news of the Irish regiments victory in the Boer War, Queen Victoria sent this message to her Irish troops.

"I have heard with deepest concern of the heavy losses sustained by my brave Irish soldiers."

"Her Majesty, the Queen, is pleased to order that in future, upon St Patrick's Day, all ranks of her Irish regiments shall wear, as a distinction, a sprig of shamrock in their head dress to commemorate the gallantry of her Irish soldiers during the recent battles in South Africa."

And to this day, on St. Patrick's Day, a member of the British Royal Family presents a Shamrock to the Irish Guards regiment of the British Army.

Caubeen - In Irish Gaelic it means “shabby old hat.” Worn by Owen Roe O'Neill, who in 1646 lead the Irish against the English at the Battle of Benburb in County Tyrone.

Napper Tandy - James Napper Tandy was a leader of the United Irishmen in County Louth, Ireland. In 1793 he was betrayed by informers and fled Ireland with a bounty on his head.