Great and Glorious St. Patrick

Your Center City Correspondent begs your indulgence as he mounts his soapbox. Your CCC wants you to know that he’s a big fan of St. Patrick. Not St. Patrick’s Day, with the needless drinking and carousing, but with the saint himself. St. Patrick was born in 389 AD in England and was spirited to Ireland when he was 16. There he served as a shepherd for his pagan master’s flock, but he never forgot his Catholic faith. He escaped back to England six years later and was told in a dream to go back to Ireland and teach the faith. He entered the seminary and was ordained a priest in 417. It took until 431 for him to return to Ireland where he assisted the bishop there to expand the church. Upon the death of the bishop, he was elevated to that post. Two popes, Celestine I and Leo the Great both encouraged him to continue his work and he established monasteries all over the Emerald Isle. He died on March 17, 461 at the age of 72, quite old in those days. His legacy continues today as Irish priests and monks travel all over the world preaching the faith to millions.


One priest at the Cathedral is from Nigeria and he told us today that he was taught the faith by Irish priests and that they had a great influence on his country, in fact, many Nigerian babies have Irish names, such as his, Kieran.

The one thing that sustained St. Patrick during his life was the primacy of the Gospels, that they should be the centerpiece of our lives. I’m sure he’d be appalled that his name and feast day are used as excuses for public drunkenness here in the United States and especially in Philadelphia. I wish the revelers would spend one minute thinking about St. Patrick and his good works rather than hours of partying. It demeans him and makes them look stupid.

OK, I’ll put my soapbox away for now. If you want to read more about St. Patrick, follow the link below.

http://saints.sqpn.com/saint-patrick/