The Feasts of St. Patrick and St. Joseph:
March 17th and March 19th
are the respective feast days of two very powerful saints: St. Patrick and St. Joseph. What has always impressed me about the
feast days of those saints is what they show about the tenacity of the people
who celebrate those dates with abandon.
The tale of St. Patrick is widely
known to Irish Christians.
Patrick, a Roman Brit, became a slave at the hands of Irish pirates.
After a daring escape, he became a priest and missionary to the very people who
had enslaved him. He baptized the
King of Munster, and the conversion of the Irish people began. In modern times,
Patrick’s feast—reputedly the day of his death—is a religious and cultural event.
The riotous feasting says much about the people Patrick came to save as it does
about the saint himself. Like the
Irish, Patrick was obviously a hardy soul. He survived slavery and then returned to the people who had
enslaved him, offering them mercy and salvation. Like Patrick, the Irish have overcome much. They survived a devastating famine,
still persevere in the midst of occupation, and fight for their rights even in
the midst of oppression. The
descendents of those older Celts stayed to fight the good fight or else set
sail for other shores. They
survived and prospered. Now, the
modern Celts hold parades in honor of the man who symbolizes the importance of
their heritage and faith.
On St. Patrick’s Day, the now
prosperous descendents of the Celts catch cabbage, carrots, and onions at parades
while wearing green beads and drinking Guinness beer. We women receive kisses and flowers from men wearing green
bowler hats. Now, my father and mother lived during the Depression. If we did attend a St. Patrick’s Day
Parade, we cooked the cabbage. Waste was sinful, according to my mother. Even more so to my father—and they were
right. Cabbage and carrots rotting
in the street is sinful and an insult to those poor Irish souls who died with
lips died the color of grass--so starved because they only had grass to
eat. Of course, many do cook the
cabbage and carrots. Many also
still attend Mass in honor of St. Patrick as well. Why? Well, he stands for the best of us—proud, tenacious,
and faith-filled. Still, we like
fun. Frivolity kept us from
waddling in self-pity and misery.
We showed our oppressors.
We refused defeat even as we ate humble fare like cabbage and
carrots. That food fills the soul
as well as the stomach.
The patron saint of my church is
St. Joseph. My mother loved no
saint more. Like the Irish, the
Italian people turned to St. Joseph in their desperation when famine struck their
land. After interceding to St.
Joseph, they received relief.
Today, in memory and thanksgiving, churches and individuals host altars
in the saint’s name. The food on
the altar is then distributed to the poor. The faithful still write petitions seeking the saint’s
favor, and young women take lemons from the altar, praying for marriage or
pregnancy. St. Joseph, after all, is the patron of the family. Nevertheless,
frivolity exists here as well.
Italians and other celebrants also hold parades in the saint’s memory,
throwing food and beads. Like the
Irish, the Italians suffered through heartache, and phoenix-like, rose from the
ashes.
Maybe such is the human
spirit. We are a bizarre mixture
of frivolity and mystical faith.
Those qualities sustain us through the worst of times, renewing our
spirits.
