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March 2020 Viewpointe, Page 9
Saint Patrick’s Day
Who Was Saint Patrick? century into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father Saint Patrick’s Day is generally
was a deacon and his grandfather was a priest in the characterized by the
By Arlene Rodman Christian church. At the age of 16, he was kidnapped by attendance of church
Irish raiders and taken to the east coast of Ireland but the services, wearing of
Saint Patrick’s Day, or exact location is unknown. green attire, public
Feast of Saint Patrick, is According to his confession, he was told by God in a parades and processions,
a cultural and religious dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would and the lifting of
holiday celebrated on March board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he Lenten restriction on
17th, the anniversary of quickly joined the Church of Auxerre in Gaul and studied eating and drinking
his death. Saint Patrick to become a priest. In 432, he again said that he was called alcohol, which is often
(c.AD 385-461) is the most back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to Christianize the prescribed during the rest of the season.
commonly recognized of Irish from their native polytheism. The day is a holiday in the Republic of Ireland, Northern
the patron saints of Ireland, After nearly thirty years of evangelism, he died on Ireland, Newfoundland, Labrador and Montserrat. It is
associated with the arrival of March 17, 461, and was buried at Downpatrick. Although widely celebrated by the Irish diaspora around the world
Christianity in Ireland. there were other more successful missions to Ireland from such as Britain, Canada, The United States, Argentina,
Little is known of Saint Patrick’s early life. But it Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Australia, and New Zealand.
is known that he was born in Roman-Britain in the 4th Christianity and is held in high esteem in the Irish Church. Originally the color associated with Saint Patrick
was blue. Over the years, for an unknown reason, the
color green became associated with Saint Patrick. Green
ribbons and shamrocks were worn in celebration of Saint
Patrick’s Day as early as the 17th century. Saint Patrick is
said to have used the shamrock, a three-leaved plant, to
explain the Holy Trinity to the pagan Irish. The wearing
and display of Shamrock-inspired designs have become
a ubiquitous feature of the day.
In 1903, Saint Patrick’s Day became an official public
holiday in Ireland. This was due to the Bank Holiday
Act of 1903, by the United Kingdom Parliament. Saint
Patrick’s Day was first held in Dublin in 1931 and was
reviewed by the then Minister of Defense Desmond
Fitzgerald. Although secular celebrations now exist, the
holiday remains a religious observance in Ireland, for
both Roman Catholic Church and the Church of England.
In the mid-1990s the government of the Republic of
Ireland began a campaign to use Saint Patrick’s Day to
showcase their culture and began with a festival to the
world. The first festival was held on March 17, 1996. In
1997, it became a three-day event and by 2009 it was a
5-day event.
Saint Patrick’s Day, although not a legal holiday
in the United States, is nevertheless widely celebrated
throughout the country, as a celebration of Irish American
culture, with parades and floats, mostly in Boston and
New York.
BUYER? Call Joe Young SELLER? Email: writerdidi@aol.com.
Arlene Rodman is a freelance writer in Boca Raton.
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