{"id":7857,"date":"2024-03-16T00:01:00","date_gmt":"2024-03-16T00:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/?p=7857"},"modified":"2025-09-03T23:49:18","modified_gmt":"2025-09-03T23:49:18","slug":"st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/","title":{"rendered":"St. Patrick&#8217;s Day: Shamrocks, Saints, Leprechauns, and Me"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image is-resized\"><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-prickly-problems-shamrocks-and-saints\/\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20210209ff\/StPaddysDay2012-550-enh20240311-658-.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Brian H. Gill's 'Everybody's Irish on St. Patrick's Day'. (2012)\" style=\"object-fit:contain;width:658px;height:494px\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>St. Patrick&#8217;s Day is a public holiday in Ireland (Republic of <strong>and<\/strong> Northern), Newfoundland, Labrador, and Montserrat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s a day when folks wear something green. I&#8217;ve heard that some even drink green beer. Why anyone would think green beer is a good idea is beyond me, and that&#8217;s another topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chicago celebrates by turning the city&#8217;s river green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3e7c26203547a868b80186efd5ec203e\" style=\"color:#007800\">If today&#8217;s holiday post looks familiar, maybe you&#8217;re remembering the one I wrote three years back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This one was going to be shorter. But aside from eschewing asides about Ptronius Maxiums, a Roman Emperor whose body got tossed in the Tiber, and Suffolk County&#8217;s Evacuation Day<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#1\">1<\/a><\/sup> \u2014 fact is, I ended up <strong>adding<\/strong> a few paragraphs, and polishing the rest:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#pick\"><strong>Pick a Peck of Prickly Problems<\/strong><\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#protest\">Protest, Perspectives, and \u2014 King Lear?!<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#previous\">Previous Prickly Problems<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#sinner\"><strong>&#8220;&#8230;I am a Sinner&#8221; \u2014 St. Patrick, Shamrocks and All That<\/strong><\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#shamrocks\">Shamrocks<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#legends\">Legends and a Forbidden Pit<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#saints\"><strong>Saints<\/strong><\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#due\">Due Process<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#new\"><strong>New and Improved Folklore<\/strong><\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-black-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-black-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-999fd05acb6848571fdc4abde3f2a9ab\" style=\"color:#007800\"><a name=\"pick\"><\/a>Pick a Peck of Prickly Problems<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/shylock-salanio-shakespeare-and-stage-stereotypes\/#shylock\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20210209ff\/20210307-AcmeCasting2013-PatsDayAngst-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Brian H. Gill's 'Angst at Acme Casting'. 'Short, yes. Green, yes. Leprechaun, no.' (2013)\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p> St. Patrick&#8217;s Day is a holiday that a fair number of folks celebrate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I don&#8217;t have a problem with celebration as such. Merriment, however, has its critics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>St. Patrick&#8217;s Day has been denounced as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Causing drunk and disorderly conduct<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Being commercialized<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Involving cultural appropriation<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Promulgating anti-Irish stereotypes by means of leprechaun imagery<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>You can&#8217;t make this stuff up, and I talked about it back in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then there&#8217;s the leprechaun issue. Seems that today&#8217;s leprechaun looks like 19th century anti-Irish stereotypes. Maybe so. Then again, maybe not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Either way, I see no point in being upset when folks enjoy &#8216;being Irish&#8217; for a day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So I won&#8217;t rage against the dying of the light, pillory &#8220;plastic paddyness&#8221;, or express shock and horror over Chicago&#8217;s fleetingly green river.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About that: I don&#8217;t know, haven&#8217;t checked, and don&#8217;t care, whether some hyperventilating eco-warrior has been trying to save the beavers this year by abolishing a Chicago tradition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-prickly-problems-shamrocks-and-saints\/#opposing\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20210209ff\/20210308-450px-Chicago_River_2018-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"TDKR Chicago 101's Chicago River dyed green for the St. Patrick's Day parade, used w\/o permission. (March 17, 2018)\"><\/a>The Chicago River turns green on the Saturday before St. Patrick&#8217;s Day, or on the day itself, when it falls on Saturday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s been a Chicago tradition since 1962.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It started back in the early 1960s, when folks used fluorescein dye to trace illegal pollution leaks in Chicago. The stuff turned parts of the river green.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Doing so intentionally for St. Patrick&#8217;s Day seemed like a good idea at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The EPA told Chicago to stop using fluorescein in 1966. The stuff&#8217;s not, apparently, environmentally friendly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>These days, the city&#8217;s plumbers turn the river green with a secret mix of vegetable dyes. The EPA&#8217;s okay with that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At least one advocacy group wasn&#8217;t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I see their point. A bright green river has an artificial look.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#2\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-f0774a9b030a86641787a87e55b23ea4\" style=\"color:#007800\"><a name=\"protest\"><\/a>Protest, Perspectives, and \u2014 King Lear?!<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wacker_Drive\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20240129ff\/20240313-GOYK1191s-658.JPG?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Alex Goykhman's 'Chicago River at Dusk'. (2008?)\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">&#8220;Chicago River at Dusk&#8221;. Photo by Alex Goykhman.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>But, festive green or no festive green, making Chicago&#8217;s river look natural isn&#8217;t going to happen: not while the city&#8217;s still there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Moving along.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>How come I&#8217;m not passionately protesting for or against something holiday-related?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mainly it&#8217;s because I&#8217;m not outraged. Not about green beer and leprechauns, at any rate. And since I like being part-Irish, one of the last things I&#8217;d want is folks being <strong>forced<\/strong> to celebrate Irish heritage. That way lies madness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or, as Shakespeare&#8217;s King Lear said:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;To shut me out! Pour on; I will endure.<br>In such a night as this! O Regan, Goneril!<br>Your old kind father, whose frank heart gave all!<br>O, <strong>that way madness lies<\/strong>; let me shun that!<br>No more of that.&#8221;<br>(&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensourceshakespeare.org\/views\/plays\/play_view.php?WorkID=kinglear\">King Lear<\/a>&#8220;, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.opensourceshakespeare.org\/views\/plays\/play_view.php?WorkID=kinglear&amp;Act=3&amp;Scene=4&amp;Scope=scene\">Act III, Scene IV<\/a>; William Shakespeare (1605? 1606?))<br>[emphasis mine]<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Basically, folks &#8216;being Irish&#8217; for one day a year doesn&#8217;t offend me. Maybe because I&#8217;m nowhere near pure Irish-American. Or pure whatever-American, for that matter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-1def8b97ce9ae98cb0d15ffc1c18384a\" style=\"color:#007800\"><a name=\"previous\"><\/a>Previous Prickly Problems<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/hamas-harvard-ukraine-and-alaska-air-looking-for-a-bright-side\/#imquitesure\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20210209ff\/20210308-750px-KKK_-_St_Patricks_Dau_-darker-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Branford Clarke's cartoon, from page 21 of Alma White's 'Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty;' Zarephath, New Jersey. (1926)\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Alma White&#8217;s &#8220;Guardians of Liberty&#8221; defending their country against people like me. (1926)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Before talking about the &#8220;Saint Patrick&#8221; part of St. Patrick&#8217;s Day, maybe a clarification is in order. Or maybe not. Either way, here it is.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today&#8217;s America isn&#8217;t simple.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a name=\"neither\"><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/choices-change-technology-and-using-our-brains\/#asforme\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20130220ff\/NINA-nyt-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Neither was yesteryear&#8217;s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I could take that 1854 &#8220;No Irish need apply&#8221; want ad and Boston&#8217;s 1876 St. Patrick&#8217;s Day parade, assume a straight-line progression into the 20th century: and express shocked horror that A. White \u2014 I&#8217;m not making that name up \u2014 published &#8220;Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty&#8221; in 1926.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I could, but I won&#8217;t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or I could take the &#8220;Saint Patrick&#8217;s Day in America \u2014 1926&#8221; cartoon as proof that Christianity in general, and American Christians in particular, are a threat to society.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That doesn&#8217;t strike me as reasonable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For one thing, A. White, her Pillar of Fire Church, and the KKK&#8217;s second iteration, were not mainstream in 1926.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>To her credit, A. White struggled long and hard in her efforts to defend America against folks like my father&#8217;s father. And me. I&#8217;ll assume that she sincerely saw Catholicism, Pentecostalism, the Irish, Jews, and foreigners in general, as threats to her native land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;ll also assume that A. White wasn&#8217;t your typical 1920s American. Or typical Protestant American, which isn&#8217;t quite the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of us were making speakeasies profitable and fueling her &#8220;anti-prohibition&#8221; concerns. Quite a few, judging from what I know of Minnesota 13.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#3\">3<\/a><\/sup> And that&#8217;s yet another topic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I see people as anything but simple. America&#8217;s growing crazy quilt of people, backgrounds and beliefs? That&#8217;s even less so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-black-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-black-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-82079de323610cd8c3893c9d384e236e\" style=\"color:#007800\"><a name=\"sinner\"><\/a>&#8220;&#8230;I am a Sinner&#8221; \u2014 St. Patrick, Shamrocks and All That<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-prickly-problems-shamrocks-and-saints\/#sinner\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20210209ff\/20210310-StPatrickConfessioBritishLibrary-658.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Copy of St. Patrick's Confessio, in Cotton MS Nero E I\/1, British Library.\"\/><\/a><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">First lines of St. Patrick&#8217;s Confessio, in a Medieval collection. (ca. 1100)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;My name is Patrick&#8230;<br>&#8220;I am a sinner, a simple country person, and the least of all believers. I am looked down upon by many&#8230;.&#8221;<br>(St. Patrick&#8217;s Confessio, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.confessio.ie\/#\">English translation<\/a> at confessio.ie)<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>Many scholars agree that St. Patrick wrote his Confessio and Epistola, Declaration and the Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He calls himself as P\u0101tricius in those documents. Which figures, since that&#8217;s a Latin version of P\u00e1traic (Old Irish), P\u00e0draig (Scottish Gaelic), Padrig (Welsh) and Petroc (Cornish).<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or, in my language, Patrick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Evidence in what P\u0101tricius wrote says he lived in the 400s. Give or take a bit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>P\u0101tricius may have been, by today&#8217;s ethnic standards, Roman, Welsh, Cornish, or Celtic. Or some combination thereof.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What&#8217;s more certain is that he was born somewhere in Britannia: an imperial borderland abandoned \u2014 or liberated \u2014 when Roman generals pulled out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Documentation for that era is sketchy. Hardly surprising, given that folks were adjusting to life without Rome&#8217;s laws and commerce. But adjust they did. And by the seventh century, P\u0101tricius was venerated as the patron Saint of Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s considerable debate over St. Patrick&#8217;s chronology.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But not, apparently, over whether or not someone named P\u0101tricius was kidnapped, sold as a slave and then became a missionary. One scholar even said there were two Patricks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another debatable, and debated, point is whether P\u0101tricius was the first Christian missionary in Ireland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s a story about Saint Ciar\u00e1n of Saigir that makes him the first. By a few years. Maybe that&#8217;s so, maybe not. What&#8217;s more certain is that St. Ciar\u00e1n of Saigir was born in Ireland, which makes him the first Saint born in \u00c9ire.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#4\">4<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-aad4b35b0b2952ec5144cab8ea21533e\" style=\"color:#007800\"><a name=\"shamrocks\"><\/a>Shamrocks<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-prickly-problems-shamrocks-and-saints\/#shamrocks\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20210209ff\/20210309-Shamrock_plant_in_bloom-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"A flowering Shamrock. Photo by Accruss. (2015)\" align=\"right\"><\/a>St. Patrick and the shamrock are very closely linked. Even folks who aren&#8217;t Catholic know how he used the plant as a visual aid when explaining the Trinity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It&#8217;s a good story, and may be true. But verifying it would be tricky, since its first written version pops up in 1727.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That&#8217;s when Caleb Threlkeld, a botanist and dissenting cleric, said that the shamrock is a particular sort of clover.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-quote is-layout-flow wp-block-quote-is-layout-flow\">\n<p>&#8220;&#8230;This plant is worn by the people in their hats upon the 17. Day of March yearly, (which is called St. Patrick&#8217;s Day.) It being a current tradition, that by this Three Leafed Grass, he emblematically set forth to them the Mystery of the Holy Trinity. However that be, when they wet their Seamar-oge, they often commit excess in liquor, which is not a right keeping of a day to the Lord; error generally leading to debauchery&#8230;.&#8221;<br>(&#8220;Synopsis Stirpium Hibernicarum&#8230;,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=TShVAAAAcAAJ&amp;pg=PA186&amp;lpg=PA186#v=onepage&amp;q&amp;f=false\">p. 168<\/a>, Caleb Threlkeld (1727))<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m not sure what Threlkeld was dissenting from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m also not sure how long Threlkeld&#8217;s &#8220;current tradition&#8221; about St. Patrick&#8217;s shamrock had been around. For all I know, it&#8217;s an oral tradition that goes back to folks who saw St. Patrick pick a three-leafed plant while talking about the Trinity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Over the last several centuries, the shamrock&#8217;s been positively identified<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#5\">5<\/a><\/sup> as:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Black medick<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Lesser clover<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Purple field clover<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Red clover<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Suckling clover<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>White clover<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Wood sorrel<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>I figure it&#8217;s one of those. Or some other plant with three-lobed leaves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Or maybe the legend of St. Patrick and the shamrock is one of those tales that could have been true, but isn&#8217;t. Not literally, at any rate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-acc5428752d0230fccb374ab669aab74\" style=\"color:#007800\"><a name=\"legends\"><\/a>Legends and a Forbidden Pit<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-prickly-problems-shamrocks-and-saints\/#legends\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20210209ff\/20210311-438px-Thomas_Carve_Lyra_sive_Anacephalaeosis_Hibernica_1666_Insulae_Purgatory-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Thomas Carve's 'Map of Station Island,' including Caverna Purgatory. (1666)\" align=\"right\"><\/a>St. Patrick&#8217;s driving snakes out of Ireland has a ring of truth to it, since Ireland has no native snakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The legend is more than a bit dubious, though, since we&#8217;ve been learning that there never were snakes in Ireland. Not since the most recent glaciers melted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Another story has St. Patrick comparing Christianity and Ireland&#8217;s pre-Christian beliefs with Ca\u00edlte mac R\u00f3n\u00e1in and Ois\u00edn, a couple of Irishmen from Fionn mac Cumhaill&#8217;s outfit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cool story, but I gather that it&#8217;d be a bit like Billy Graham having a chat with Thomas Paine and Ethan Allen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The ancient Irish heroes had been long dead when P\u0101tricius was born. Besides; the Pat, Ca\u00edlte, and Ois\u00edn, story doesn&#8217;t show up until the 12th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Still another story says that St. Patrick had the habit of pushing his walking stick into the ground wherever he stopped to talk to folks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The locals in one place didn&#8217;t catch on to what St. Patrick was saying for a long time, but kept listening. By the time they got the message, his ash walking stick had taken root and become a tree.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Literally true, or hyperbole? I&#8217;m guessing the latter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then there&#8217;s Lough Derg&#8217;s Station Island, in County Donegal. It&#8217;s been a pilgrimage destination since the 5th century. Folks go to be near a cave, pit, well, or maybe sweat lodge, where St. Patrick stayed for what we&#8217;d call a retreat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The earliest record we have of a legend connected with &#8220;St. Patrick&#8217;s Purgatory&#8221; dates to the 12th century. Again, we&#8217;re quite sure that folks started making pilgrimages to the place in the 5th century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The cave&#8217;s been closed since 1632, by order of the English government. But we know where &#8220;St. Patrick&#8217;s Purgatory&#8221; is, and pilgrims still go there.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#6\">6<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-black-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-black-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-3d63a8ed766382775812e1fd6c9b364f\" style=\"color:#007800\"><a name=\"saints\"><\/a>Saints<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-jude-judas-thaddaeus-patron-saint-of-desperate-cases\/#patron\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170306ff\/20170401-St._Edmund_Arrowsmith-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Saint Edmund Arrowsmith; from The Arrowsmith House, via Wikimedia Commons, used w\/o permission. (1628)\" align=\"right\"><\/a>Some Saints, like Sts. Patrick of Ireland and Francis of Assisi, are so famous that folks who aren&#8217;t Catholic know about them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Others, like St. Edmund Arrowsmith, are off the radar for almost everyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And some, like St. Christopher, are famous but not well-documented.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which is why his feast day is still celebrated, but hasn&#8217;t been on the official calendar since 1970. That, plus our having accumulated a great many saints over the last couple millennia <strong>and<\/strong> our mandate to keep liturgy focused on Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some Saints, like Edmund Arrowsmith, had messy deaths. He was convicted of being a Roman Catholic priest in 1628; then promptly hung, drawn and quartered.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Others, like P\u0101tricius and Francesco, kept living until accident, disease or old age caught up with them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What makes Saints special is their &#8220;heroic virtue,&#8221; and how they &#8220;lived in fidelity to God&#8217;s grace&#8230;.&#8221; (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 828)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like I said, martyrdom is Sainthood&#8217;s fast track. But folks who lived exceptional lives and died of natural causes were venerated as Saints at least by the fourth century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our process for recognizing Saints \u2014 canonization \u2014 has changed considerably. By the fifth century, public veneration of a Saint needed approval from a diocese&#8217;s bishop. That worked pretty well for a half-millennium.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But by the 12th century at least a few bishops and archbishops were getting sloppy, approving veneration in at least one case for someone who died in an accident caused by the Medieval equivalent of DUI.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Authority for signing off on veneration shifted to the Pope.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#7\">7<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Which reminds me of St. Patrick&#8217;s Day, beer, and celebrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Drinking, in moderation, isn&#8217;t evil. Getting drunk is a bad idea and I shouldn&#8217;t do it. (Catechism, 2290)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-6b820807cceeff75a502118b585197e2\" style=\"color:#007800\"><a name=\"due\"><\/a>Due Process<\/h4>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-prickly-problems-shamrocks-and-saints\/#due\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" align=\"right\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20170721ff\/20170811-DogbertBogusMiracles-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Dogbert's 'miracle of the peanut butter.' (1992)\"><\/a>Today&#8217;s canonization process includes two miracles: verifiable miracles. Not oddities like the ones spoofed in a 1992 comic strip.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The process begins with someone asking an archbishop to start looking into a possible Saint&#8217;s eligibility.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>All three major steps \u2014 &#8220;Venerable,&#8221; &#8220;Blessed&#8221; and &#8220;Saint&#8221; \u2014 involve extensive background checks.<sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#8\">8<\/a><\/sup> It&#8217;s complicated, and can be frustrating.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But I think due process is a good idea in general. And a really good idea for canonization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-black-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-black-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading has-text-color has-link-color wp-elements-e0eb7541e5be908f60b33d4c82f7cc81\" style=\"color:#007800\"><a name=\"new\"><\/a>New and Improved Folklore<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-prickly-problems-shamrocks-and-saints\/#new\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/brendans-island.com\/blogsource\/20210209ff\/20210311-643px-Triple-Spiral-Symbol-329.jpg?w=640&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Triple spiral, based on prehistoric motifs found at Newgrange, Ireland.\" align=\"right\"><\/a>I very strongly suspect that St. Patrick&#8217;s folklore is still growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to informal posts I&#8217;ve found on academic websites, his name isn&#8217;t P\u0101tricius, it&#8217;s Maewyn Succat. It&#8217;s apparently one of those &#8216;well-known facts&#8217;: so well-known that its source isn&#8217;t worth citing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When, where, and how, someone dug up Patrick&#8217;s &#8216;true name&#8217; \u2014 that, I don&#8217;t know.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Maybe P\u0101tricius was Maewyn Succat in his home town, taking a more widely-acceptable \u2014 or pronounceable \u2014 name for his career. Sort of like someone I knew whose name was Bogdan: but since he was in sales, his business name was &#8220;Bob.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A less likely, but far more juicy, story popped up in 2011. Maybe earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Apparently P\u0101tricius couldn&#8217;t, according to a scholar or two, have been enslaved: because he couldn&#8217;t have escaped. That almost makes sense, since going over the fence in a foreign country would be tricky, at best.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One version of the &#8216;no escape&#8217; scenario casts P\u0101tricius as a <strong>Roman slave trader!<\/strong><sup><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/#9\">9<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>But nobody, as far as I can tell, has said that P\u0101tricius wrote plays, hiding the scripts in London, where they were discovered by Christopher Marlowe. Who translated and published them as William Shakespeare.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As I&#8217;ve said before, some things may be too weird even for today&#8217;s academia:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/christopher-marlowe-and-his-world\/\">Christopher Marlowe and His World<\/a>&#8221; (March 6, 2021)\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/christopher-marlowe-and-his-world\/#perceptions\">Perceptions and Politics<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/rereading-christopher-marlowes-doctor-faustus\/\">Rereading Christopher Marlowe&#8217;s &#8216;Doctor Faustus&#8217;<\/a>&#8221; (January 6, 2021)\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/rereading-christopher-marlowes-doctor-faustus\/#will\">Will The Real Christopher Shakespeare Tudor Please Stand Up?<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>There&#8217;s more to say about Saints, veneration and the &#8216;treasury of the Church&#8217;, which isn&#8217;t cash or other material assents. But that&#8217;ll wait for another day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Saint-related posts:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-jude-judas-thaddaeus-patron-saint-of-desperate-cases\/\">St. Jude, Judas Thaddaeus: Patron Saint of Desperate Cases<\/a>&#8220;<br>(August 13, 2022)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-prickly-problems-shamrocks-and-saints\/\">St. Patrick&#8217;s Day: Prickly Problems, Shamrocks and Saints<\/a>&#8220;<br>(March 13, 2021)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/remembering-the-good-shepherd\/\">Remembering the Good Shepherd<\/a>&#8220;<br>Guest post by Deacon Lawrence N. Kaas (May 14, 2019)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/saints-romans-emperors\/\">Saints, Romans, Emperors<\/a>&#8220;<br>(May 14, 2019)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/mother-teresa-the-moment-passed\/\">Mother Teresa: &#8216;The Moment Passed&#8217;<\/a>&#8220;<br>(September 4, 2016)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-text-color has-black-color has-alpha-channel-opacity has-black-background-color has-background is-style-wide\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p><sup><a name=\"1\"><\/a>1<\/sup> Celbrating March 17:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Evacuation_Day_(Massachusetts)\">Evacuation Day (Massachusetts)<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Montserrat\">Montserrat<\/a> (part of the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Petronius_Maximus\">Petronius Maximus<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day\">Saint Patrick&#8217;s Day<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Siege_of_Boston\">Siege of Boston<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><sup><a name=\"2\"><\/a>2<\/sup> Global merriment&#8217;s (alleged) dark lining:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chicago_River\">Chicago River<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Chicago_River#St._Patrick's_Day\">St. Patrick&#8217;s Day<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Do_not_go_gentle_into_that_good_night\">Do not go gentle into that good night<\/a> (poem by Dylan Thomas (1947))<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fluorescein\">Fluorescein<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Leprechaun\">Leprechaun<\/a> (a fairly recent development)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Plastic_Paddy\">Plastic Paddy<\/a> (eek! cultural appropriation)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day\">St. Patrick&#8217;s Day<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Saint_Patrick%27s_Day#Criticism\">Criticism<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Stereotypes_of_Irish_people\">Stereotypes of Irish people<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Chrometophobia: no kidding\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/chrometophobia\">chrometophobia<\/a><br>Wiktionary.org<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/nnpbeta.wustl.edu\/Library\/Periodical\/514209\">Notes From E-Sylum Readers<\/a>&#8220;<br>E-Sylum (June 25,2017)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.chicagoline.com\/blog\/the-history-of-chicagos-green-river\/\">The History of Chicago and the Green River<\/a>&#8220;<br>Blog, Chicago Line Cruises (February 16, 2018)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><sup><a name=\"3\"><\/a>3<\/sup> The Irish menace, a perceived peril:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Alma_Bridwell_White\">Alma Birdwell White<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Anti-Irish_sentiment\">Anti-Irish sentiment<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Irish_Americans\">Irish Americans<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Klansmen:_Guardians_of_Liberty\">Klansmen: Guardians of Liberty<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Pillar_of_Fire_International\">Pillar of Fire International<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Speakeasy\">Speakeasy<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/web.archive.org\/web\/20080516193440\/http:\/\/crop.scijournals.org\/cgi\/content\/abstract\/47\/3\/905\">Background and Importance of &#8216;Minnesota 13&#8217; Corn<\/a>&#8220;<br>A. Forrest Troyera, Lois G. Hendrickson; Crop Science Society of America (2007) via the Internet Archive<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><sup><a name=\"4\"><\/a>4<\/sup> Saint Patrick and his era:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ciar%C3%A1n_of_Saigir\">Ciar\u00e1n of Saigir<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/End_of_Roman_rule_in_Britain\">End of Roman rule in Britain<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Romano-British_culture\">Romano-British culture<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Saint_Patrick\">Saint Patrick<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>British Library\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/codecs.vanhamel.nl\/London,_British_Library,_MS_Cotton_Nero_E_i\">&#8216;Cotton-Corpus legendary&#8217;, volume 1, part 1<\/a> (CODECS)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/blogs.bl.uk\/digitisedmanuscripts\/2017\/03\/st-patricks-confessio-a-medieval-autobiography.html\">St Patrick&#8217;s Confessio: A Medieval Autobiography<\/a>&#8220;<br>Alison Ray, Medieval manuscripts blog (March 17, 2017)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>confessio.ie\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.confessio.ie\/etexts\/confessio_latin#01\">St. Patrick&#8217;s Confessio<\/a> [Latin]<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.confessio.ie\/etexts\/confessio_english#\">St. Patrick&#8217;s Confessio<\/a> [English translation]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><sup><a name=\"5\"><\/a>5<\/sup> Regarding shamrocks:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Caleb_Threlkeld\">Caleb Threlkeld<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Shamrock\">Shamrock<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Trifolium_dubium\">Trifolium dubium<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/books.google.com\/books?id=TShVAAAAcAAJ\">Synopsis Stirpium Hibernicarum Alphabetice Dispositarum. &#8230;<\/a>&#8220;<br>Caleb Threlkeld, MD (1727) via Google Books<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><sup><a name=\"6\"><\/a>6<\/sup> Legends:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Acallam_na_Sen%C3%B3rach\">Acallam na Sen\u00f3rach<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Billy_Graham\">Billy Graham<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Ethan_Allen\">Ethan Allen<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Fionn_mac_Cumhaill\">Fionn mac Cumhaill<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Saint_Patrick\">Saint Patrick<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Saint_Patrick#Legends\">Legends<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/St_Patrick%27s_Purgatory\">St Patrick&#8217;s Purgatory<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Thomas_Paine\">Thomas Paine<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/cathen\/12580a.htm\">St. Patrick&#8217;s Purgatory<\/a><br>Catholic Encyclopedia (1911) via New Advent<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><sup><a name=\"7\"><\/a>7<\/sup> Recognizing heroic virtue:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Beatification_and_canonization_process_prior_to_1983\">Beatification and canonization process prior to 1983<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Canonization\">Canonization<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Edmund_Arrowsmith\">Edmund Arrowsmith<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Francis_of_Assisi\">Francis of Assisi<\/a><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Saint_Christopher\">Saint Christopher<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><sup><a name=\"8\"><\/a>8<\/sup> Verifying Saints:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.usccb.org\/offices\/public-affairs\/saints\">Saints<\/a> [Introduction]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><sup><a name=\"9\"><\/a>9<\/sup> Folklore and\/or tall tales:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Wikipedia\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Saint_Patrick\">Saint Patrick<\/a>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Saint_Patrick#Abduction_reinterpreted\">Abduction reinterpreted<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>&#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.cam.ac.uk\/research\/news\/\">Was St Patrick a slave-trading Roman official who fled to Ireland?<\/a>&#8220;<br>Cambridge Research News (2012)<br>[no longer available, article apparently originally published in Tome: Studies in Medieval History and Law in Honour of Thomas Charles-Edwards (2011)]<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>St. Patrick&#8217;s Day is a public holiday in Ireland (Republic of and Northern), Newfoundland, Labrador, and Montserrat. It&#8217;s a day when folks wear something green. I&#8217;ve heard that some even drink green beer. Why anyone would think green beer is &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/st-patricks-day-shamrocks-saints-leprechauns-and-me\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"A Catholic feast day and a festive holiday. How I see green beer and a green river. An Irish Saint, attitudes, and assumptions. And, briefly, canonization.","jetpack_seo_html_title":"St. Patrick's Day: Shamrocks, Saints, Leprechauns, and Me","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[215,154],"tags":[16,124,27,90,219,62],"class_list":["post-7857","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-being-catholic","category-discursive-detours","tag-america","tag-folklore-and-myth","tag-history","tag-holidays","tag-saint-patricks-day","tag-saints"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p7Dwtw-22J","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7857","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7857"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7857\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7868,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7857\/revisions\/7868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7857"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7857"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brendans-island.com\/catholic-citizen\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7857"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}