↑ Monaghan, Patricia (1 January 2009). The Encyclopedia of Celtic Mythology and Folklore. Infobase Publishing. ISBN978-1-438-11037-0. There is no evidence that the clover or wood sorrel (both of which are called shamrocks) were sacred to the Celts in any way. However, the Celts had a philosophical and cosmological vision of triplicity, with many of their divinities appearing in three. Thus when St. Patrick, attempting to convert the Druids on Beltane, held up a shamrock and discoursed on the Christian Trinity, the three-in-one god, he was doing more than finding a homely symbol for a complex religious concept. He was indicating knowledge of the significance of three in the Celtic realm, a knowledge that probably made his mission far easier and more successful than if he had been unaware of that number's meaning.
↑ Hegarty, Neil (24 April 2012). Story of Ireland. Ebury Publishing. ISBN978-1-448-14039-8. In some ways, though, the Christian mission resonated: pre-Christian devotion was characterized by, for example, the worship of gods in groups of three, by sayings collected in threes (triads), and so on – from all of which the concept of the Holy Trinity was not so very far removed. Against this backdrop the myth of Patrick and his three-leafed shamrock fits quite neatly.
↑ Homan, Roger (2006). The Art of the Sublime: Principles of Christian Art and Architecture. Ashgate Publishing. m/s. 37.
↑ The Wearing of the Green: A History of St. Patrick's Day. Routledge. 2002. ISBN9780415180047. Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (bantuan)
