Saint Patrick

Patrick, born under the name Maewyin Succat, (Roman Britain, 385 – Saul, 17 March 461), was an Irish bishop and missionary of Scottish descent.

He is venerated as a saint by the Catholic and Orthodox Church. Together with Saints Columba and Bridget he is the patron saint of Ireland. He was the son of Calphurnius and Conchessa, belonging to a noble Roman family.

He is celebrated by the entire Irish community of the world on March 17, the date of his death.

Biography

He himself, in his Confessions, writes that his father owned the land near a village that had a name half indigenous, Bannhaven, and half Latin, Taberniae. The most probable place, however, was identified in Kilpatrick and the date of birth is considered between 385 and 392 AD.

Kidnapped when he was 16 by the men of the Irish king Niall, he was sold as a slave to Muirchu, king of Dál Riata, a territory also populated by Irish people. Here he learned the Gaelic language and Celtic mythology. He spent six years in captivity, during which time his conversion to Christianity matured. Having fled the king’s court to return to his family, he took his sacred orders and became a deacon in 407. After going to Gaul, Saint Germano d’Auxerre ordained him bishop in 420. Later he was entrusted by Pope Celestine I with the evangelization of the British Isles and especially of Ireland, resuming the mission abandoned by a previous bishop, Palladius. In 431-432 he began his apostolate in Irish lands, at the time almost entirely pagan. He was responsible for the spread of Christianity in Ireland, albeit inspired by Celtic paganism. St Patrick was often threatened with death, captured and sentenced, but still managed to carry out his mission. The saint travelled all over Ireland, preaching and teaching in the local language, founding abbeys and monasteries, helping the needy and working miracles.

The current of Celtic Christianity was born with him, later imitated by the Church. In fact, to preserve the roots and historical traditions of the Irish people, Patrick favoured the combination of many Christian and pagan elements. For example, he introduced the symbol of the solar cross on the Latin cross, making the Celtic cross the symbol of Celtic Christianity.

At the age of over fifty he undertook a long pilgrimage to Rome. On his return he settled in Northern Ireland until the end of his days. Historical sources ascertain his death in Downpatrick, Ireland, but some scholars assume that his death may have occurred in England or Wales. Most historians mark his death on 17 March 461 in Saul, Co. Down, in a church donated to him by Dichu, the local captain who was converted by him. According to legend, his body was entrusted to a couple of oxen who, without a guide, laid him down in Down, Northern Ireland, which then changed its name to Downpatrick.

He is attributed two letters in Latin: the Confessio (or “Declaration” in which he gives a brief account of his life and mission) and the Epistula, a letter addressed to the soldiers of Coroticus. St Patrick’s writings were appreciated for their frankness and simplicity, among which the “Irish Journey Blessing”.

May the road rise to meet you,

may the wind be always at your back,

may the sun shine warm upon your face,

and the rains fall soft upon your fields and,

until we meet again, may God hold you in the palm of His hand.

“May the road by your side, the wind always behind you, the warm sun shine on your face, and the gentle rain fall in the fields around you and, until we meet again, may God protect you in the palm of his hand.

Legends about St Patrick’s Day

According to Irish tradition, there have been no snakes in Ireland since St Patrick threw them out to sea. This legend is linked to the legend of the Irish sacred mountain, Croagh Patrick, on which the saint spent forty days in 441 AD, eventually throwing a bell from the top of the mountain in the current Bay of Clew to chase away the snakes and impurities, forming the islands that distinguish it. However, the Greek-Roman historian Salinus recorded in one of his writings that Ireland was already free of snakes two centuries before the birth of S. Patrick. For this reason it seems that the story of the snakes was invented by a monk of Italian origin that the wife of the Norman John de Curcy brought to the court of her husband in Downpatrick. Today the mountain is a destination for many pilgrims especially from July 15 to August 15.

Famous is also the legend of the well of St. Patrick, the bottomless well, from which the doors of Purgatory opened. The cave, walled up at the behest of Alexander VI in 1497, was located on a small island in Lough Derg, where a church was then built, now a place of pilgrimage for many believers penitential.

According to a legend, after escaping from slavery in Ireland, Saint Patrick went directly to France. Having decided to visit his uncle in Tours, he had to cross the Loire but was not equipped to do so. He found, however, that his mantle would be an excellent raft. Once he had reached the opposite shore, Patrick hung his coat from a hawthorn bush to dry. Although it was full winter, the plant began to bloom and that is why, since then, the hawthorn blooms in winter. The presence of the figure of St Patrick in the Irish national emblem, the clover (shamrock), is also worth noting. Thanks to a clover, it is said that St Patrick explained to the Irish the Christian concept of the Trinity, taking as an example the three leaves connected to a single stem.

Feast of St. Patrick

St Patrick’s Day (Lá ‘le Pádraig in Irish or Lá Fhéile Pádraig in English: St Patrick’s Day, often also called St Paddy’s Day or simply Paddy’s Day), is a feast of Christian origin that is celebrated on 17 March each year in honor of St Patrick, patron saint of Ireland. The feast commemorates the arrival of Christianity in Ireland during the fifth century AD thanks to Patrick, at the time bishop in Ireland.

March 17 is a national holiday in the Republic of Ireland, while it is a bank holiday in Northern Ireland. It is also celebrated in other countries around the world, particularly those affected by significant Irish immigration. March 17 is also a holiday in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador and in the British overseas territory of Montserrat, in the Lesser Antilles. St Patrick’s Day is also one of the most celebrated national holidays in the world and has acquired great fame and interest even from people whose origin is not Irish.

Characteristic of the feast of St Patrick are also the parades through the city streets, especially in Dublin, Montreal, New York, Chicago and Boston.

The liturgical feast

The feast of St Patrick was included in the liturgical calendar of the Catholic Church at the beginning of the seventeenth century under pressure from the historian and Franciscan friar Luke Wadding, born in Waterford (south-east Ireland), but the holy missionary had already been celebrated in some Irish churches a long time before. In Italy it was always celebrated in Bobbio, for the link between the abbey, the Irish abbot Saint Columbanus and the land of Ireland.

The feast of Saint Patrick often falls during the period of Lent. In the past it has also happened sometimes that it fell during Holy Week. It happened for example in 1940 and the celebrations were moved to April 3, precisely to avoid it coinciding with Palm Sunday. In 2008, they were brought forward to March 14 for the same reason. The feast day will no longer fall during Holy Week until 2160, when it coincides with the Monday before Easter. In North America, which has a large number of communities of Italian origin, the celebrations for St Patrick are often combined with those for St Joseph, a holiday that falls two days later: March 19.

Celebrations

Ireland’s St Patrick’s Day traditions date back to the 9th and 10th centuries. Over the centuries the saint has been recognised as the national patron saint. Since 1600 the feast of St. Patrick was made official in the liturgical calendar and as a date of celebration was imposed on March 17, unless, so as not to coincide with other festivities such as Palm Sunday, is postponed. The holiday became a national holiday in Ireland since 1903, when the first parade was held in the town of Waterford. The celebrations became increasingly popular so that in 1916, a group of Irish volunteers offered to organize the holiday. On 17 March 1916 more than 6,000 parades were performed all over the island and banquets and dances were organised for the public. With the festivities that followed 1916, a problem was found: the excessive consumption of alcohol that had occurred in these festivities had caused damage to the cities and landscapes. To remedy this, the Irish state decided to ban the trade in alcohol throughout the republic. The ban on the trade in alcohol every 17 March continued until 1961, while in Northern Ireland this measure was never implemented. From 1931 the Irish state decided to finance the St Patrick’s Day parades which began that same year in Dublin.

On St Patrick’s Day in 1976, a group of Anglican extremists detonated a bomb in front of a north Irish pub in Dungannon that caused some deaths. This act showed a common contempt in Northern Ireland for the patron saint. Only later did the festival become popular and, since 1998, the first parades also took place in the north of the island.

Typical gastronomy

During St Patrick’s Day, it is customary to have lunch with specific typical dishes and specific drinks. The most drunk drinks are alcoholic and a symbol of Irish culture. In particular there are cider and beer. In Ireland the culture of beer developed so much that industries were created at an international level. Among these, the most famous is the Guinness, a dark beer initially produced in the factory in Dublin. Cider is made by fermenting the apple. In some cases, cider can be distilled by fermenting the pear. The distillation of this alcoholic beverage has been the subject of a great tradition from generation to generation since the Middle Ages.

The typical dishes are mainly made with local products. One of the most famous foods is the “Roast Dinner”, consisting of boiled beef, roasted potatoes, peas and boiled carrots. Usually the dish is served with the typical bread called “Soda Bread”. The bread is made from wholemeal flour and the leavening takes place thanks to the baking soda. The Irish also use Soda Bread to prepare many appetizers. Among these, one of the most famous is the “Crisp Sandwich”, a layer of crispy potatoes in two slices of bread. As a dessert, the most popular dish eaten on St Patrick’s Day is the local Apple Tart.

Celebration outside Ireland

The largest and most characteristic festivals outside Ireland are celebrated in cities and nations that host a strong Irish component, such as the United States (St. Patrick is also the patron saint of the city of Boston) and Canada (in the flag of the city of Montreal is also depicted a clover, to testify to the strong Irish presence in the city).

St Patrick’s Day is now celebrated in almost all the world and no longer only in the Irish communities. The celebrations are generally focused on everything that has to do with Ireland and green (color symbol of the island). On this day they usually eat food of that color and dress in the same shade. In particular, on clothes, for example, you can not miss the clover. This practice was already widespread at the beginning of the celebrations in honor of the saint, because the tradition says that he explained the mystery of the Holy Trinity to the pre-Christian Irish through this plant with three leaves. As a result, both the green dress on 17 March and the clover itself became a symbol of that day.

Every year the waters of the Chicago River (which flows through the city of the same name) are also tinged with green.

Every year in Tokyo, along the avenue Omotesandō, there is a parade dedicated to the Irish saint.

La diffusione delle usanze Irlandesi all’estero

Le festività irlandesi si sono diffuse in tutto il mondo dalla metà dell’Ottocento. In quel periodo una grande carestia colpì l’isola; milioni di irlandesi dovettero emigrare in altre nazioni. In pochi decisero di tentare la fortuna in luoghi geograficamente vicini all’isola madre, come l’Inghilterra o la Francia. La maggioranza, invece, espatriò nel continente americano. Le nazioni che risentirono maggiormente dell’influenza delle tradizioni irlandesi diventarono, oltre all’Irlanda, Stati Uniti, Argentina e Canada. Specialmente negli Stati Uniti, molte persone di origine irlandese diventarono personalità di primo piano, anche in ambito politico. Tra questi vanno citati due presidenti degli Stati Uniti: John Fitzgerald Kennedy e Ronald Reagan, entrambi di origini irlandesi.

Le festività irlandesi cominciarono a coinvolgere una buona parte della popolazione di queste nazioni grazie anche a un interesse collettivo riguardante una comunità che voleva mantenere le proprie tradizioni nei Paesi che l’avevano accolta. Questo fenomeno avvenne specialmente nelle città nella costa dell’est del continente, come New York, Boston, Buenos Aires e Toronto. In molti ambiti lavorativi dove gli irlandesi trovarono lavoro nell’800, la festa di San Patrizio ha molta rilevanza. Di questi i più rappresentativi sono nei reparti delle forze dell’ordine: con tanta povertà, i mestieri più pericolosi come i vigili del fuoco e polizia, furono quelli maggiormente ricoperti dagli Irlandesi emigrati in America.

Nel 1960 lo stato americano riconobbe che il quarantadue per cento dei posti di lavoro all’interno delle forze dell’ordine nella città di New York erano di origine irlandese. Per questo motivo ogni anno parate e altri tipi di festeggiamenti sono organizzati dalle forze dell’ordine locali. Una delle parate più note si tiene ogni anno a Chicago, dove il fiume stesso che l’attraversa è tinto di verde; inoltre nel primo pomeriggio si tiene una parata in barca con imbarcazioni in tinta con il fiume e con immagini simboliche della cultura irlandese come il trifoglio.

St Patrick’s Well

The well of San Patrizio Storico is a structure built by Antonio da Sangallo il Giovane in Orvieto, between 1527 and 1537, at the behest of Pope Clement VII, returning from the Sack of Rome and eager to protect himself in the event of a siege of the city to which he had withdrawn. The works of the well – designed to provide water in case of calamity or siege – were completed during the papacy of Paul III Farnese (1534-1549).

Access to the well, a masterpiece of engineering, is guaranteed by two one-way helical ramps, completely autonomous and served by two different doors, which allowed you to transport the extracted water with mules, without hindrance and without having to resort to the only road that climbed to the country from the valley floor.

The well, 54 meters deep, was built by digging in the tuff of the plateau on which stands Orvieto, a stone hard enough, but that is suffering, after several centuries, from sewerage.
It has a cylindrical shape with a circular base and a diameter of 13 m.
The steps are 248, and the windows that give light are 70.
Perhaps because of the aura of sacred and magic that accompanies the deep cavities, or for pure imitation of film models, modern tourists throw coins there with the hope of returning.

The well was named after St Patrick, probably because it was used as a place of atonement for sins in the same way as an existing cave in Ireland called “St Patrick’s Purgatory”.

Curiosities

Pozzo di San Patrizio is also an expression used to refer to a mysterious and boundless reserve of wealth. According to others, the expression “it’s like St Patrick’s Well” means something that you throw resources and energy into, but needlessly, because it never fills up.