In Honor of St. Patrick!

Good morning my fellow Rotarians!  Yesterday was St Patrick’s Day and I wonder how many people really know the significance of this special day…  Had it not been for a band of Irish marauders in the fifth century, March 17 might've been plain old Maewyn's Day — because Maewyn wouldn't have changed his name to Patrick, and he likely wouldn't have become a saint. In fact, it wouldn't have been a Day at all. 

But as it happened, a certain 16-year-old Welsh lad was kidnapped by those Irish marauders, and young Maewyn was a slave sent to the mountains as a shepherd where he learned how to pray.  Six years into his bondage he had a dream, some calling it his religious awakening.   

He escaped to Europe to spend years studying in monasteries and he changed his name to Patrick.  Eventually the Pope sent him to evangelize England and then Ireland.  Amazingly, within 33 years he converted the entire country of Ireland to Christianity; Ireland became known as the Land of Saints.   

He was also successful in founding schools and churches and was a great teacher.  The shamrock, a trifoliate clover, became his cleverest teaching tool.  He used it to explain the Trinity — each leaf representing the father, son and Holy Spirit while forming one union.  It was simple, powerful and very effective.

There is some blarney in the stories about St. Patrick; the most notable example being where he was delivering a sermon on a hilltop and banished the country's snakes.  This may have been symbolic to pagan practices, but it cannot be true because the island of Ireland never had any native snakes.

Saint Patrick died on March 17^th, 461 AD, and this date was declared a religious feast day where they waived traditional Lenten prohibitions including dancing, drinking, and eating meat.  Today in Ireland, most businesses, excluding restaurants and pubs, are closed on March 17^th.   A St. Patrick's 6-day festival is celebrated in Dublin from March 13-19 and features music, theater, dance, comedy, fireworks and more - they draw more than a million spectators from around the world each year.

The first St. Patrick's Day parade did not take place in Ireland; it was in New York city in 1872 to serve as an occasion for downtrodden Irish immigrants to declare their pride in their Irish heritage.  Today St. Patrick’s Day parades take place across Europe, the Americas and in Asia.  It is the world’s largest celebration of a single nationality.  Over 34 million people in the US claim Irish heritage and yet Ireland is a country of just under 6 million people. 

So, for a moment, let's put aside the beer, corned beef and cabbage and the candy from thousands of kids we say yesterday in our parade, but rather let's lift a glass to honor that patron saint, Patrick… a man on a mission from God to save a country and who's work preserved the Irish heritage for centuries.  And that is our Bottom of the News on this Friday, March 18, 2011.  ###