St. Patrick

Yesterday we celebrated St. Patrick's Day with the usual Irish beer, corned beef and cabbage (which was excellent, by the by) and the wearing o'the green.  And I asked myself "Self, what does any of this have to with St. Patrick???"

And I had no answer to that question.

But!  I do have a book on the Lives of the Saints.  So, I proceeded to look up the Irish Saint and read about him and his life.  Let me share with you what I gleaned from it.

He was born in either Ireland, Scotland or Wales.  There is dispute about that. His father, the deacon Calpurnius, (you will notice the father has a Roman name. He was some sort of muckity-muck from Rome sent to oversee these heathen Irish)  had a farm beside the sea. About 404 a.d. it was pillaged by pirates (aarrrggh) who carried off Patrick, aged sixteen. They sold him to an islander who employed him for six years in tending his flocks, after which Patrick fled and returned to his parents.

In a dream he had a vision that caused him to devote himself to the evangelization of Ireland, still in idolatry.  So he crossed the sea, stayed with the monks of Le`rins, then went to Auxerre where, from 415 to 432 he was at the school of the bishops St. Amator and St. Germain.

**(So he left being a pagan Irish farmer to follow his dream of being a French-trained Roman Catholic bishop). Then it goes on to explain how after being freed from Roman domination, the Irish were ruled by a host of minor kings.  And it was towards these kings that Patrick directed his "zeal" on arriving back in the country. Wielding absolute power, the kings' religion was their subjects' religion. And since they owned all the land, they alone controlled the building of churches. And the story of the evangelization of Ireland is almost entirely written in terms of the conversions made by St. Patrick among the heads of the clans and families.

There are many legends about St. Patrick but the main idea expressed by all of them is the extreme veneration of the Irish people for the apostle who made them Christians.  One of the stories is how he used the Irish shamrock to show the trinity as the three parts in one whole.

** There is no mention of the pagans who were perfectly happy in their paganism being forced to convert.  And typically that conversion meant "convert or die".   Sorry, I meant to just relate the information and not put my own sensibilities in there, but I just can't abide the whole "oh, my particular brand of religion is the true faith, and unless you convert, you are totally less-than and just not getting in to the Really Good Heaven with us".

And then I googled images of St. Patrick to get a look at who people are venerating.  Here's what I found.

Thus endeth today's lesson.

Go in peace.

Superstitious

It's Friday the 13th for the 2nd month in a row. That happens when Feb. lines up just right. And when I was a kid this was a BIG deal. We were all over those superstitious signs and things! No stepping on cracks for fear of breaking mothers' backs, no walking under ladders, if you said the same thing at the exact same time as a friend you had to yell JINX!, you know, the usual lame kid stuff. People didn't tempt fate on Friday the 13th.

Does any of this still hold true for you? Do you now walk under ladders? Do you pay attention when a black cat crosses your path? How about sidewalk cracks? Mom's back not your concern anymore?

And . . . how many new superstitions have you picked up along the road of life? For example, in Mexico it's really bad to comment on how pretty something is and then to not touch it, that opens that pretty thing up to the mal de ojo (evil eye) and is just asking for something horrible to happen to it. When you see a cute baby, don't say "Oh, what a precious baby!" and then not touch or hold the baby. That would be the equivalent of leaving the baby underneath a ladder with a black cat on Friday the 13th, for heaven's sake!

I always throw a bit of salt over my left shoulder when I spill some. I pick my feet up when driving over a railroad track. I scratch the roof of my car when I run a yellow light. I can't imagine any scenario when I would ever need to walk underneath a ladder instead of around it, but I don't think I would do it. Am I the only one singing Stevie Wonder right now? I bet I am not!! I have been really careful to not break mirrors. Another thing I picked up in Mexico is that it is bad luck to put your purse on the floor. Keeping up with these things could occupy a lot of your time if you thought about them rather than doing them on auto-pilot.

Do superstitions bother you? Do you think they are contrary to your religious or spiritual teachings? Are they acknowledging other forces in the universe? Sometimes I think it is good to look at things we "always do because we have always done them" and think about why. Why do we do them? What purpose does following it serve? Be mindful of your actions and what they mean to you and what they say about you.

I will continue to walk around ladders, I will continue to throw salt over my shoulder, and I will do my best to not break any mirrors. And to my mama, you're welcome and I hope my kids are as careful with my back. :)