This great Saint resurrected at least 39 people from the dead on his way to evangelising our country. I came across this in a book about 400 resurrection miracles by Saints. The author Fr Albert Herbert SJ said St. Patrick is one of the greatest of the Apostles!
I live in Dublin and we have been to the St. Paddy's Day parade when the kids were little. Now we go for a walk and stay away from city centre. I think if Patrick showed up in Dublin on this day there would a little 'cleansing of the temple' action!
Anyone with a bit of faith at the moment is an edgeland Christian, hanging onto a rock in a storm trying to get ready for eternity with the one who made it all.
Thanks for the link to the previous post, Paul, which I seem to have missed.
I will treasure the Shield Prayer, and try to say it aloud.
On Rome... maybe we shall try to be charitable, seeing how Rome is collapsing right now, underneath our eyes ? Maybe it, too, was a shield, in its particular way ? Who can say ? And is Christ in the city exactly the same as Christ out in the wild places ? Can He be ?
I don't know. I prefer... the wild(er) places right now, that's for sure...
"We are the pagans now" certainly rings true. I liked this video "A Prayer for Spiritual War: St. Patrick's Breastplate" recently posted to YouTube by Jamie Bambrick of Northern Ireland: https://youtu.be/bLb4bR2HHrU?si=nTHaUC2TVPzVostV "This 1500 year old prayer is arguably the greatest in all church history outside of the Bible itself. Exalt the glory of God and trample on all manner of wickedness with this daily confession."
Important stuff, and on an important day today - Thanks. ( Footballers on the march in the cities of Ireland; smile).
I think you could buy that folk art at the local garden centre in England, and a pot of paint, but the crozier got me searching. Plenty of shepherd crooks for real on sale in UK, and as walking sticks,, but St Patrick's is something else. I did not know that Anglicans burnt the 'original' outside Dublin Christ Church Cathedral in 1538 (Bachal Isu / Wikipedia).
Add my thanks to Debra's for the link to your earlier essay on St Patrick. I see interesting and important notions on governance; for example Brits are subjects not citizens, but I think Patrick would have been a citizen, like St Paul those centuries before him whose citizenship conferred a significant legal passport. (I wonder about EU passports: quite a number of UK subjects have taken advantage of eligibility for Irish citizenship in order to retain the privileges of EU citizenship).
PS CoE (Anglican) parishes in England in 20thC benefitted from a flow of Welshmen as priests, but the spring seems to have dried up. (See charity Friends of Friendless Churches for examples of wonderful churches and their relics, many surviving from before the Reformation, now abandoned because of economic and demographic changes). These days CoE seems to have turned to women with a sprinkling from the old Empire. I am giving a nod these days to a Toynbee view of history.
Somehow that word "pagan" made me think of the old Waterboys track 'A Pagan Place'. My favorite honorary Irishman is frontman Mike Scott. The Waterboys' legendary album 'Fisherman's Blues' was recorded in the town of Spiddal, Galway. It's funny, I hear Waterboys songs playing everywhere in pubs and shops in Ireland, but almost never any by the far more commercially successful U2. The Irish have very good taste in music.
Speaking of, for any Waterboys fans who have not heard, the great musician and one-time Waterboy Karl Wallinger died last Sunday. I met him once, outside the Diamond Club in Toronto after a 1985 Waterboys show and he struck me as an incredibly kind guy. Always loved this great track, which sadly becomes only more and more relevant and prescient:
“I hadn’t realised until recently that Nigeria was originally evangelised by Irish Christians. Now it seems the favour is being returned. We are the pagans now, and we need all the help we can get.“
What a delightfully simple story. Presumably it’s your commitment to your faith that compels you to gloss colonialism so brightly, but it’s not actually all that Christian - as so often, clinging to dogma betrays the spirit.
St Patrick’s being a holiday mostly celebrated by Americans many generations removed from Irish immigrant ancestors, let me tell you of an American in Ireland who would make a great companion for replicating your tour of these 50 wells.
This great Saint resurrected at least 39 people from the dead on his way to evangelising our country. I came across this in a book about 400 resurrection miracles by Saints. The author Fr Albert Herbert SJ said St. Patrick is one of the greatest of the Apostles!
https://youtu.be/5U_L16_mQpw?si=w3ChPmYjOtRAQFgi
There is also a very well kept well of St. Patrick in Clonmel.
Really enjoyed this - highlights were the reference to Folk Art and also the influx of priests from overseas due to a dearth of native priests.
I live in Dublin and we have been to the St. Paddy's Day parade when the kids were little. Now we go for a walk and stay away from city centre. I think if Patrick showed up in Dublin on this day there would a little 'cleansing of the temple' action!
Anyone with a bit of faith at the moment is an edgeland Christian, hanging onto a rock in a storm trying to get ready for eternity with the one who made it all.
For a while, I thought St. Patrick had moved to the Canary Islands for a well earned retirement; maybe he is still active.
Thanks for the link to the previous post, Paul, which I seem to have missed.
I will treasure the Shield Prayer, and try to say it aloud.
On Rome... maybe we shall try to be charitable, seeing how Rome is collapsing right now, underneath our eyes ? Maybe it, too, was a shield, in its particular way ? Who can say ? And is Christ in the city exactly the same as Christ out in the wild places ? Can He be ?
I don't know. I prefer... the wild(er) places right now, that's for sure...
"We are the pagans now" certainly rings true. I liked this video "A Prayer for Spiritual War: St. Patrick's Breastplate" recently posted to YouTube by Jamie Bambrick of Northern Ireland: https://youtu.be/bLb4bR2HHrU?si=nTHaUC2TVPzVostV "This 1500 year old prayer is arguably the greatest in all church history outside of the Bible itself. Exalt the glory of God and trample on all manner of wickedness with this daily confession."
Important stuff, and on an important day today - Thanks. ( Footballers on the march in the cities of Ireland; smile).
I think you could buy that folk art at the local garden centre in England, and a pot of paint, but the crozier got me searching. Plenty of shepherd crooks for real on sale in UK, and as walking sticks,, but St Patrick's is something else. I did not know that Anglicans burnt the 'original' outside Dublin Christ Church Cathedral in 1538 (Bachal Isu / Wikipedia).
Add my thanks to Debra's for the link to your earlier essay on St Patrick. I see interesting and important notions on governance; for example Brits are subjects not citizens, but I think Patrick would have been a citizen, like St Paul those centuries before him whose citizenship conferred a significant legal passport. (I wonder about EU passports: quite a number of UK subjects have taken advantage of eligibility for Irish citizenship in order to retain the privileges of EU citizenship).
PS CoE (Anglican) parishes in England in 20thC benefitted from a flow of Welshmen as priests, but the spring seems to have dried up. (See charity Friends of Friendless Churches for examples of wonderful churches and their relics, many surviving from before the Reformation, now abandoned because of economic and demographic changes). These days CoE seems to have turned to women with a sprinkling from the old Empire. I am giving a nod these days to a Toynbee view of history.
Somehow that word "pagan" made me think of the old Waterboys track 'A Pagan Place'. My favorite honorary Irishman is frontman Mike Scott. The Waterboys' legendary album 'Fisherman's Blues' was recorded in the town of Spiddal, Galway. It's funny, I hear Waterboys songs playing everywhere in pubs and shops in Ireland, but almost never any by the far more commercially successful U2. The Irish have very good taste in music.
Speaking of, for any Waterboys fans who have not heard, the great musician and one-time Waterboy Karl Wallinger died last Sunday. I met him once, outside the Diamond Club in Toronto after a 1985 Waterboys show and he struck me as an incredibly kind guy. Always loved this great track, which sadly becomes only more and more relevant and prescient:
World Party 'Ship of Fools': https://youtu.be/ZHh0V7UjVXI?feature=shared
The Irish Times - Karl Wallinger, frontman of World Party and Sinead O’Connor collaborator, dies at 66:
https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/2024/03/12/karl-wallinger-frontman-of-world-party-and-sinead-oconnor-collaborator-dies-at-66/
“I hadn’t realised until recently that Nigeria was originally evangelised by Irish Christians. Now it seems the favour is being returned. We are the pagans now, and we need all the help we can get.“
What a delightfully simple story. Presumably it’s your commitment to your faith that compels you to gloss colonialism so brightly, but it’s not actually all that Christian - as so often, clinging to dogma betrays the spirit.
And to you, Paul
Happy Saint Patrick's Day, Paul! Good strength as we begin the Great Fast ☦️
Holy Father Patrick, pray to God for us!
St Patrick’s being a holiday mostly celebrated by Americans many generations removed from Irish immigrant ancestors, let me tell you of an American in Ireland who would make a great companion for replicating your tour of these 50 wells.
https://www.overdriveonline.com/reader-rigs/article/15635946/the-only-known-working-kenworth-in-ireland
The chaos blocked out for a bit while reading and walking down a leafy lane to peer at the water.
Happy St Patrick's Day, Paul! And to all who read here. God bless you and yours.