Timothy Birdnow

Top O` the mourning to you (and the rest of the day for myself)! It`s St. Patrick`s Day, and I, being perhaps half-Irish (me middle name is Kennedy, so named after me sainted mother`s family who are, alas, distantly related to a certain scoundrel family with bad driving habits in Massachusetts) would dearly love to celebrate the wearin' O the Green, but alas me lovely bride has been looking a bit greenish these days and I fear I'll be talkin' blarney to meself pretty much today. Ah, well...

Of course, most people haven`t but the foggiest idea of who St. Patrick is, and what we celebrate on this day. Most think the ``wearin` O` the green`` is cause enough to party, which is what this day has become, but St. Patrick was a real saint, and a hero to boot! As a boy he was enslaved by the Irish, escaped back to Britain, but returned to Ireland and the Divine calling to attempt to Christianize a then-barbaric people. His amazing results had enormous consequences in his time and ever since, and he is a man who should be revered as one of the truly great men of history! Go here to read his story.

Patrick was a fifth century Briton who had a very accidental life.

After being kidnapped from his family by the heathen Irish he spent six years as a shepherd and slave in Ireland. One night he dreamed of a ship and went and found it whereupon he escaped his captors and returned home after a second brief captivity and near starvation.

In Britain he read a letter about the Irish and heard voices calling him to return. He heeded the call and, facing martyrdom at any moment, set about  Christianizing the pagan Irish.

There are many legends surrounding Patrick. The most famous perhaps is that he drove all the snakes from the Emerald Isles. Another says he raised men from the dead - as many as 33! It is also said he once prayed for food for some hungry people and a pig popped up immediately.

While it is hard to separate fact from fiction with the saint, it is clear he was a very brave and dedicated man who faced his fears, his enemies, and won a nation for Christ. One of the great legends of St. Patrick was the story of the shamrock; Patrick, having trouble explaining the Trinity to the Irish, supposedly plucked a shamrock from the ground and pointed out it had three leaves although it was one plant. That seemed to do the trick, and the Irish accepted the doctrine of the Trinity and the Faith.

At any rate, there is more to St. Patrick's Day then green beer, green clothes, and drunken revelry. There was a real St. Patrick, and he did real things, and he is responsible for the salvation of all the Irish. Not bad.

Posted by: Timothy Birdnow at 08:31 AM | Comments (4) | Add Comment
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