Ricochet is the best place on the internet to discuss the issues of the day, either through commenting on posts or writing your own for our active and dynamic community in a fully moderated environment. In addition, the Ricochet Audio Network offers over 50 original podcasts with new episodes released every day.
St. Patrick and the Decline of Christendom for Drink and Money
I love Saint Patrick. I’m disgusted by what nominal Catholics have done to his reputation.
If you’re going to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, this year it falls on a Sunday, start w/ Mass, read about him, go ahead wear green & have Guinness, but don’t get drunk & act dumb. 😇
— Fr. Leo Patalinghug (@FatherLeoFeeds) March 17, 2019
St. Patrick is the patron saint of Ireland and Sunday was his day. The traditional date of arrival to my country’s shores of the man who brought Christianity to the Irish and in doing changed the course of Ireland’s destiny and Europe’s too. Within a hundred years a barren pagan wasteland trapped in darkness was to become a place where many great European saints went to endow themselves with knowledge and the Christian heritage.
We know that he definitely existed outside of secondary sources as we have two of his own written works which testify to this – one an autobiography called the Confessions, the second a letter to the soldiers of Coroticus. So ignore the naysayers today in online posts or the traditional media outposts who question his being. He may not have converted the whole island or been the first Christian here, but he was the most important. That is the truth.
Did people go to a church, Catholic or Protestant? Did they forego churchgoing but say a prayer, or have a meal, in his honor? Did they embrace Ireland and God with thanks for our liberation from the darkness of evil and ignorance?
I kid, of course. We all know what St. Patrick’s Day has become. (And God help anyone who says “St. Patty’s Day” to me — I will beat them with a Hurley.) Rather than celebrating a religious holiday that enlightened Ireland and Europe, the majority of celebrants around the world, be they Irish or not, marked this feast with an orgy of unedifying drinking, thus living up to an unfortunate national stereotype and explaining why so many Irish people die from liver disease.
On a historical note: St. Patrick’s Day celebrations began in America, where Irish Protestants wanted to celebrate the coming of Christianity to Ireland. (George Washington himself hosted one such celebration.) From there, it exported the tradition back to the mother country. It only became a holiday in the opening years of the 1900s. In fact, it was also a day, in Ireland, at least, when the pubs weren’t open.
Now, I’m not a teetotaller. I like a drink now and again (in moderation, depends on the company). But in Ireland, the worst of the worst come out for this day. Many Irish people, of all religious views, and many who’d have no idea what I’m talking about, along with many true Irish-Americans who witness what I’m sure is standard practice both here and in America.
I’m talking about people who use the man’s feast day to begin drinking as soon as breakfast is over, if they haven’t started the night before. I’m talking of young people who can’t handle their drink turning up at the parades utterly besotted after one or two drinks. I’m talking about young people having sex or using drugs, in public streets, before and after the parade, even in front of children. I’m talking about the vomit on the streets by midday – to the point that you have to walk in a zig-zag. I’m talking about going into any pub during the middle of the day and finding people so smashed off their heads that you can’t even chat with them without feeling sick inside.
I’m talking about the people who wouldn’t dream of going into a pub during the rest of the year coming in and ruining it for the rest of us. I’m talking about the awful clothes that turn people into walking stereotypes. I’m talking about drunks who abuse people in a way they’d never dare anywhere else and then wind up at hospital emergency wards, creating a nightmare for hospital staff. Finally, I’m talking about the abuse to the ears of the Paddy-whackery music.
Some will think I’m a killjoy by nature. But I know people who are so sick of this day they abstain from it altogether. Proud Irish people who hate seeing their nation reduced to a drunkard’s paradise and a capsule-summary of the nastier traits of modern Ireland. Many avoid the pubs and won’t send their kids into town to the parade because of this. Moreover, imagine what St. Patrick thinks of all this – his day, which used to be a holy day when the sale of alcohol was banned – has become a pagan temple to the vice of alcohol, which has destroyed so many thousands of Irish lives, and will at this rate destroy even more in the future.
I’ve spoken before of the consequences of Ireland becoming more secular. The degradation of St Patrick’s Day is one of them: a deeply disappointing and somewhat despairing happening. Temperance, sadly, is dead in modern Ireland. The Christianity that liberated Ireland is declining, whether slowly or rapidly depends on the point of view. What’s left is the worst of all worlds: the freedom of the individual to indulge in vice with no restraint, and people with no faith that urges them to resist such temptations.
But this island has seen tragedy and despair before. Today at mass, the priest called for St. Patrick to endow this country with faith again. I hope his prayer is heard. There was and is always a cyclical pattern to religious devotion. In the end, God only knows when Ireland will recover. I pray it is in my lifetime. For my relatives’ and descendants’ sake. too.
Published in General
I celebrate St Gertrude’s Day.
Sounds like the snakes have returned to Ireland.
I can’t disagree with any of that, Paddy … but for all the terribleness of the modern “St. Patty’s Day” celebrations, I do see in it one thing that gives me hope: how universal it is in the States. It’s not just a day for Irish descendants to celebrate, but everyone. I have joked that we will know when Americans have defeated its anti-black bigotry the way that we’ve defeated our historic anti-Irish bigotry when Martin Luther King Day becomes a day when everyone gets drunk on Colt 45 and feasts on fried chicken and collard greens while wearing “Kiss Me I’m Black” buttons the way that today, millions of Americans without a drop of Irish blood will get drunk on Guinness, feast on corned beef and cabbage, and wearing “Kiss Me I’m Irish” buttons.
I saw a shirt that said “Kiss Me I’m Irishish.”
@paddysiochain – Your post is timely and I urge you to sign up for Father Rutler’s Weekly Column – his message this weekend on St. Patrick and the state of Ireland was incredible.
He’s in Hell’s Kitchen (no pun intended here!) NY, that’s right – in the thick of it – here is the link. I see today’s message is not yet updated, but I’ll quote:
https://stmichaelnyc.org/fr-rutlers-column-1
“The largest number of people who claim Patrick for their patron are Nigerians, converted by heroic Irish missionaries. The number of baptized Catholics in Nigeria has soared from 19 million in 2005 to 53 million today. There are two thousand priests and nearly 4,000 Religious, along with a boom in vocations.
“By contrast, despite many worthy witnesses, the majority of Irish people failed to heed the warnings of Saint John Paul II when he became the first pontiff to set foot on the soil of Eire in 1979. He preached to 1.25 million faithful at a Mass in Phoenix Park, Dublin. Last year, Pope Francis offered Holy Mass in the same place, and fewer than 130,000 showed up. An Irish commentator and playwright recently called Ireland “The Most Anti-Catholic Country on Planet Earth.”
“This is a warning to Catholics in the United States, because such is what happens when religion is only a political and ethnic sentiment. The Saint Patrick’s Day parade in New York City has become a bibulous charade of Saint Patrick. While contingents advertise their contempt for his Gospel, Nigerians honor Saint Patrick in a different way. A few weeks ago, Nigerian soldiers under attack by the Islamic terrorists of Boko Haram did not masquerade as leprechauns drinking green beer. In a Zambiza forest, they knelt and chanted as their chaplain raised aloft for adoration the same Blessed Sacrament with which Patrick had faced the Druids.”
Wow!!
Four months later, the Druids returned and defiantly danced in the streets when abortion was legalized. The Taoiseach (Prime Minister), was elected while publicly living in perverse contempt of the sacrament of Holy Matrimony. The chief seminary of Maynooth has the lowest numbers of students since its foundation in 1795. Its rector of fifteen years abandoned the Faith and now conducts an esoteric cult in Arizona.
I’m Catholic, but also attend a Methodist church with my wife. Today the minister had a nice St. Patrick’s day sermon based on Mark 1, verses 16-18:
Then he linked it to St Patrick’s return to Ireland:
Later on I also had a beer or two to celebrate.
Our Pastor today wished us all a happy St. Patrick’s day. Church was full. I am sure that after church, much of the congregation did some 12 oz curls while watching the Michigan State – University of Michigan basketball game, but not enough that they couldn’t follow the game closely.
God Bless you Paddy S. God always leaves a remnant, and I am glad you are there for Ireland.
What’s a hurley, and what is it used for? I remember that Dr. Maturin made one for a cricket match, but there was no description.
I’m a Catholic and since I’m conservative I really do get where you’re coming from. I don’t tend to get too worked up over the commercialization of any holiday but I agree it’s important to always remember “the reason for the season.”
I’ll say though my most memorable St. Patrick’s Day was in Dublin and I admit it wasn’t due to the Mass. One observation I remember having was that it was nowhere near as big as some places I had celebrated it in the US nor with as many sloppy drunks as in my hometown in Louisiana.
Anyway, it was 2007. Some was spent walking around but most was spent in an Irish pub watching rugby. France ended up winning the Six Nations in what seemed like could have easily have gone to Ireland but it was pretty intense and memorable. My buddy and I then met up with our wives and headed over to the Guinness Museum. We were waiting in a huge line. It was rather warm and nice. Warm enough that some even had on short sleeve shirts and a few people in shorts. No one had on more than a very light windbreaker. Out of absolutely nowhere, a little blizzard came. There wasn’t enough room to bring in everyone from the line so they started to let elderly people, children and many women go inside because no one was really dressed for that. Us guys were left outside until there was more room inside but many of us were all huddled up close with people we didn’t know and chatting. It was all actually pretty nice.
Later in the evening after seeing some really interesting advertising throughout the years, we headed up to the top floor bar. We had a few pints and to my surprise danced to some music that would have made me think I was right back in Louisiana if not for it all overlooking the city.
As usual my St Patrick’s Day -the entire weekend actually- was spent criss-crossing the country to watch my daughters play their sport. Can’t think of anything better. It kept me away from the city centres and any of the ugly stuff. I did get to a hotel bar last night and it was quite placid. Lots of Americans in leprechaun hats etc but all good-natured.
On the broader point I recall as a child (‘60s and ‘70s) that the religious and nationalist elements predominated but not in any negative way. Now it’s largely a pagan festival- in Dublin in particular.
You can add one more to the “decline of Christendom for drink and money.” I would add irresponsible, uncommitted sex. That’s why the legalization of abortion.
It’s a type of club, or heavy walking stick that can double as a club. Evolved out of the use of war clubs, as well as out of the English prohibitions on the carrying of weapons.
Sarah Hoyt has some similar thoughts in today’s blog post:
https://accordingtohoyt.com/2019/03/18/st-patrick-all-american-saint/
Don’t forget the new musical of St. Patrick!
Yesterday was the first Sunday of Lent for the Orthodox Church, which is known as The Sunday of Orthodoxy. This is often observed in pan-Orthodox services in areas where many area churches will hold a joint service together at one or another of the largest Orthodox churches in an area, and as this day commemorates the restoration of icons (following the 7th Ecumenical Council, and then the 841 final restoration by empress Theodora), the services include a procession of icons where people bring in beloved icons of saints or biblical scenes and process around the church. Saw a few of St. Patrick in the mix as he’s recognized by the Orthodox Church as well. As St. Patrick’s day always falls in Lent for us, and the Orthodox Lent is particularly strict and solemn, overindulgence is really not encouraged. But as it fell on a Sunday this year, and my father’s family really did come from Ireland, we did have a family gathering where I raised a glass.
A stick used in playing the Irish sport of hurling.
The way to counter irresponsible irreligious celebrations on saints’ feast days is to offer responsible and faithful celebrations, rather than a call to solemnity. How would you celebrate St Patrick’s Day and actually look like you are rejoicing?
St. Patrick is the patron saint of engineering. Where I went to college for my engineering degree there were green shamrocks embedded in the sidewalk in front of the engineering building and the engineering college would have a big picnic on St. Patrick’s Day. A fun tradition was that a group of engineering students would scale the administration building the night of the 16th and place shamrocks on the faces of the clock to greet students the next morning. One year I was in a group decorating the business building, our rivals (One year we arrived to class on 15 April to a building covered in 1040s), and a security cop caught us. We took off running, foolishly back to our staging base in the engineering building. The cop showed up a few minutes later and asked the three panting guys to come with him. Our punishment was to clean up our decorating. He told us, ‘You do this every year. We knew where you were going. If a cop tells you to stop, don’t run.’
At the engineering university @mramy and I attended, one of the traditions were “snake pits” — sections of grass fenced in and filled with rubber snakes. One of the hazing rituals for the freshman fraternity brothers was to make a sheleighliegh (sp?), carry it around to class, and at some point every day, perform the following ritual:
Climb into a snake pit.
Lead the traditional cheer:
“Who do we love?” “St. Pat!”
“What do we hate?” “Snakes!”
“What makes the grass grow green?” “Blood blood blood!”
And then use the sheleighliegh to club the snakes, one stroke for every year St. Patrick’s Day has been celebrated at the university. Which outs now over 100.
That sounds wonderful and fun.
I never heard that St. Patrick is patron saint of engineering. I’m an engineer too. I also heard it was St Joseph.
St. Joseph was a carpenter, and could be seen as patron of engineers due to that. St. Patrick was involved with a lot of church construction (clay buildings started appearing in Ireland around that time. In addition, arches made with lime mortar rather than dry masonry also began to show up in Ireland around the same time. This technique was already known on the Continent but didn’t appear in Ireland until around the time Patrick returned as a missionary.
Interesting. I’m finding that now as I search it. Don’t forget St. Barbara as patron saint of military engineers and St Albert the Great as patron saint of scientists. I’m a mechanical engineer, so I’ll go with St Joseph.
Electrical engineers and computer scientists don’t get a saint ’cause we’re damned.
Look up St. Vidicon of Cathode. :)