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St. Patrick's Blue refers to a blue, often but not always dark blue, associated with St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland. Although often depicted in green bishop's robes and mitre today, before the 20th century the saint was more often shown wearing blue garments. This same blue can be seen on ancient Irish flags and on the uniforms the Irish special forces wear to this day

Green, the colour most widely associated with Ireland, with Irish people, and with St. Patrick's Day in modern times, may have gained its prominence through the phrase "the wearing of the green" meaning to wear a shamrock on one's clothing.

At many times in Irish history, to do so was seen as a sign of Irish nationalism or loyalty to the Roman Catholic faith. St. Patrick used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to explain the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish. The change to Ireland's association with green rather than blue probably began around the 1750s.

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