Happy St. Patrick's Day, March 17, which is dedicated to the little bit of Irish in all of us. A time for green beer, green bagels, parades, Irish tenors and green stripes painted down the centre line of streets, and of course corned beef and cabbage, leprechauns, shamrocks, and general rejoicing for everyone.
Amidst all this fun and games, let's spare a thought for the chap that started it all, St. Patrick himself. St. Patrick was one of the earliest Christian saints, together with St. David, patron saint of Wales. They were linked with the Arthurian legend. In fact, in Wales, St. Patrick is claimed as a Welshman.
He was actually born in Southwestern England in the fourth century and, believe it or not, his name was "Succat." The legend goes that he was captured by Irish invaders and taken to Ireland, sold into slavery and ended up in County Connacht where he learned the Irish dialect. He escaped to Gaul (France) where he converted to Christianity and was ordained a priest, it is said, by St. Germans.
St. Patrick was sent to Ireland sometime after 431 to succeed Saint Palladius, who was the first bishop of Ireland. There he proceeded to convert the Irish populace, particularly in the then-wild West and North counties of the Emerald Isle. He was popular not only with his flock, but also his superiors, who he may have visited in Rome and brought back relics to Strengthen the new-founded faith of his parishioners.
The Shamrock was a native plant, which Patrick used as a symbol of the Trinity. This so impressed the Irish that they subsequently adopted the shamrock as their national symbol.
St. Patrick may or may not be connected to King Arthur, but less questionable is the pilgrimage that many saints and scholars of the time, including Patrick as a bishop of Ireland, made to the abbey at Glastonbury in England's West Country. And here is the curious connection: Glastonbury has one of the strongest claims to the site of Camelot, the home of the Knights of the Round Table and their king.
Glastonbury goes so far back in antiquity that there is no record of it having been established as a Christian community. Very likely, the strange surroundings, including a moated offshore island called Avalon, where the home of worshipers of an earlier sect. Glastonbury was just "there," it seems, when the earliest Christians arrived. The stories suggest Joseph of Arimathea (or his followers) fled the Holy Land with the Holy Grail and left it at Glastonbury for safekeeping.
Patrick was the most prominent saint to visit. Most of the stories connected with the visit are wildly exaggerated, but it is claimed that, after his long ministry in Ireland, Patrick came to Glastonbury and organized the hermit monks into a more formal Christian community. He may even have died there and was buried among the brothers.
Before the ninth century, his tomb is shown at the right of the alter of the Old Wattle Church at Glastonbury. So convinced were his grieving Irish parishioners that they made pilgrimages to Glastonbury and prayed at the site. The fact that they accepted the tomb as genuine, despite their natural wish to have Patrick in their own country, suggests that its credentials are strong.
Many legends surround St. Patrick. The most common one is that he drove the snakes out of Ireland. Well, I hate to tell you, but Ireland - being the green pleasant land that it is - never had any snakes. There may have been fairies and leprechauns and pookas and banshees with which Irish legend abounds, but no snakes. Therein hangs many a tale, which we will pursue at another time.
Originally, St. Patricks Day in Ireland was a religious holiday when people went to church services in the morning and spent the rest of the day with their families, but over the years it got mixed with the celebration for the end of Lent and became one big party that spread internationally. The party seems like a jolly good idea to me.
Happy St. Patrick - may the road come up to meet you, and may the wind be always at your back.
TTFN
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