St. Paddy Lessons to Learn and Share

Mar 17

Mar 17 St. Paddy Lessons to Learn and Share

Lá Fhéile Phádraig – part two of three

Today is St. Patrick’s Day on March 17th of 2021 – a year since COVID 19 sent the world into self-quarantine, for all the best reasons. Here in Columbus, Ohio it is shaping up to be bright sunny day though in true imitation of Eire, rain is forecast for tonight. After a year of keeping our distance, the temptation to go out and about gathering with family and friends is strong. I wonder what sort of revelry will take place today, both here at home and also on the shores of Ireland. To honor the man, might I suggest two things:

1) The beloved Patron Saint of Ireland himself would be all for preserving the care and keeping of humanity.

2) If we must address him informally, it is St. Paddy, if you please.

Yep, it is true. We Americans are a bit off on a fair bit of information about St. Patrick. For a quick history lesson please refer to part one of this trilogy tribute “A Bit About Saint Patrick and his Feast Day aka Lá Fhéile Phádraig” For those not interested in the finer details, do note this friendly reminder to all the Americans who look forward to this special day each year, it is way past time to get this detail right. To quote Marcus Campbell of the website paddynotpatty.com, "There isn’t a sinner in Ireland that would refer to a Patrick as ‘Patty’. It’s as simple as that.”

What isn’t as simple, is the life and legend of the man himself. This mortal man has truly been immortalized and credited for things he did (or didn’t?) do. Statues in his honor can be found EVERYWHERE on the Emerald Isle. My first encounter with a stony version of the man was on top of the hill at Dun Briste, a magnificent sea stack in County Mayo. The “hill” is more accurately referred to as Downpatrick Head. Legend has it that St. Patrick split the rock to both isolate an offensive local chief reticent to conversion whilst simultaneously driving all the vipers from Ireland onto the stack before splitting said rock, leaving the mainland snake-free. A great spot for founding his church here too, which is why there remains a statue on the ruins of a church built on top of the ruins of the original church.

The insinuation I’m making is that it was VERY IMPORTANT to commemorate this “miracle” of St. Paddy’s abilities to split limestone and sandstone from a cliff edge and herd serpents to the sea with a wave of his staff. It is his most famous act after all. And yet there are some who might say it hints of Slytherin skillsets. Perhaps he also spoke in parceltongue? NOT the adoration he was going for I am sure. But it is also VERY IMPORTANT to remember that the Irish are fond of metaphors — and since there were never any snakes in Ireland, it must be a euphemism for some other demon to be cast out. Folklore identifies this enemy as the local chief with the same name as bestowed upon a shape shifting serpentine monster Crom Dubh — ironically translating to “Dark Lord.” Though etymologists tracing the lineage of ancient languages have discovered that this monster is also known to be the "Dar Crom," the Sky god, the god in Heaven, the Thundering Sun Giant. So who was casting out whom? Is the persecuted a man or a monster? And on which side of this equation is the dark and the light?

For every statue and religious site of St. Paddy I stumbled upon - after further digging - I discovered it to be a pagan site of worship as well. Since we all have light and dark within us, I’m suggesting that the lines between monster and savior are gray to say the least. Especially when it comes to the power grab, religious or otherwise. Certainly the people of Ireland have suffered from the many struggles for domination. Turns out that well after St. Paddy’s time, local Irish rebels near the revered Downpatrick Head hid from their enemies in the caverns of Dun Briste at low tide. Talk about cancel culture, their oppressors found them and then left them trapped to drown in the Pul Na Sean Tinne (Hole of the Old Fire.) There’s way more to that story, but I mention the gruesomeness to drive home my larger point in this missive.

As we lift glasses of cheer to St. Patrick — and drown the shamrock in sips of green beer — THIS YEAR of all years I think it important to remember that not everything nor everyone is as bad — nor as good — as first impressions or weaving of tales suggests. Do your homework — dig for the facts — use discernment in arriving at your conclusions for whatever it is you are wondering about. Perspective is always in the eyes of the beholder. So gather several of them to broaden your own vision. Most importantly, make certain you are well informed and can distinguish facts from hyperbole. Limestone and sandstone erode easily as rock foundations go. Islands like Hawaii and New Zealand don’t have snakes. Mind the cautionary tale from our dear Saint Patrick — for all he either did or didn’t do — he’s been cursed with immortality celebrated around the planet where people get his name wrong and forget his favorite color was blue. Snakes or no snakes, you’d think we’d all be able to get that right. Now that you know — be sure to correct yourself and pass the lesson along.

With an imaginary drink in hand to toast to our collective good health and continued Covid recovery, I leave you with this Irish blessing:

May there always be work for your hands to do.

May your purse always hold a coin or two.

May the sun always shine warm on your windowpane.

May a rainbow be certain to follow each rain.

May the hand of a friend always be near you.

And may *God fill your heart with gladness to cheer you.