To the Irish, many blessings on your patronal feast!

And one more thing to celebrate about it: 1830 hours will be the 2nd anniversary of my last cigarette.

Blessings to you likewise.


Am following my annual drill for 17 March - stay in the house and batten down the hatches. They're expecting several hundred thousand people at the parade in the city center.

Thank God for the Julian Calendar; I'll be quite happy to celebrate Saint Patrick on 17/30 March - well, no; I shall move it to Bright Week.

Can never make up my mind who is the most unfortunate Saint in Heaven: Saint Patrick, who has been transformed into a pseudo-leprechaun, or Saint Nicholas, whom the Coca-Cola company transformed into "Santa Claus". But I've considered the possibilities of commercializing Pentecost, with some old man gussied up as "Chronos".

On that disedifying note, I'd better stop!

Serge

Good luck, dear Father Serge!! I hope that you have everything you need for the siege.



Oh my gosh...I didn't expect such humour with my morning coffee, and was quite surprised at what a loud chuckle (uncharacteristic of me) it begat!!! Oh dear...I never thought of it that way, but poor St. Patrick!! LOL

Thank you, thank you, thank you for starting my day off with a smile!

Respectfully,
Alice

Happy Saint Patrick's Day to all!

But I will chastise Neil for greeting both Fathers Serge and Ambrose prematurely since they won't celebrate St. Patrick's Day for 13 more days!

Yes, indeed, a most happy and blessed feast day of St. Patrick the Enlightener to all of Irish descent here! I think that Irish men are the best 'people persons' (ie: they love people and it shows in their great personalities) and have the best humour of all ethnicities.

All the best,
Alice

LOL - I thought of that as my head was hitting the pillow, and almost (almost) got back up to correct the decision

The weather in Central Illinois is great too! There are people walking around my Catholic dorm with t-shirts that say "Pray Until You're Irish Catholic"! My family just found out a few years ago that my grandfather's parents on my mom's side hail from Ireland!

-Katie
Proud to be an Irish/English/Slovak/Slovenian mutt

I plan to break the fast this evening and join my parents for their annual St. Patrick's Day feast. I discussed the matter with my priest a few weeks ago. He gave his blessing, but it was clear he didn't really understand the cultural importance of this particular celebration of Irish heritage (whether you have it or not), being newly arrived from Slovakia. I saw him this morning at a St. Patrick's Day party for his daughter's school. I mentioned that they probably didn't celebrate St. Patrick's Day like this at home. He was a bit amazed and just shook his head and answered, "I had no idea..."

It is kind of like Thanksgiving which falls in the Advent Fast...the Greek monastic SF's don't understand the cultural importance and don't give their blessing to partake of the feast, but the parish priests do.

We had a special Corned Beef and Boiled Lunch today for our staff of some 17+ but Corned Beef BTW is not Irish at all!
The traditional food their is Bacon( rolled fatty pork) spuds onions and carrots and cabbage. I like most a dinner of a boiled ham.
Stephanos I

Beannacht la Fheile Padraig agus Erin go bragh!

No Corned beef for me, but I might have some later. Tomorrow, however... Then again, I don't go far above Van Nuys' minimum, anyway.

On the Coming Home Network Forum, Steven posted this comment. I laughed so hard...

St. Patrick, Cromwell, Snakes and their "handlers"
« on: Today at 03:02:40 PM »

What's a little St. Patrick's Day without a dig or two at the Cromwellites. After all, they gave many an Irishman something to do with a shovel.

Well, no doubt many of ye heard th' old legend about St. Patrick chasin’ the snakes out of Ireland. ‘Tis true, and I have it on Tradition, however unofficial, of course, coming directly from the pen of St. Jameson. Ireland, from the time of St. Patrick had her bumps, bruises and lots of ups n’ downs, no thanks to the Vikings and interference from the larger English archdiocese of Canterbury, which went rogue anyway and that’s when the snakes started coming back into the picture. Yes, a lot of it was due to that very ill-tempered and loutish King Henry VIII. And, of course, let the records shout loudly for all who care, ‘enry’s treatment of the Monks and Nuns throughout realm that was still very please with it’s Church, the Large-C Catholic one. He was serpentine for sure, but what eventually followed him was that she-wolf Elizabeth and eventually Oliver Cromwell. He made rattle snakes look like garden milk snakes. He was a fire-breathing dragon of Puritanism and War, with no love lost for ROMAN Catholics and Anglicans, whom he treated with little respect and derision perhaps for behaving and thinking like semi-papists.

Maybe it's just me. But I can't help wondering if the snakes came back to Ireland with Oliver Cromwell. Worse yet; those Scotch Irish who came over to the new lands and settled in the boonies of Appalachia probably had a case of home sickness that they put a call in for more of their relatives to come over and that's how we wound up with so many snake handlers in West Virginia, Kentucky and outtermost southwesternmost Pennsylvania. They probably figured their kids needed someone to play with during evening church services. Tough lot those Scotch-Presby-Puritans (still are!)
snake handlers

Bless, Father,

Don't forget the turnips - my favorite vegetable of the lot.

Many years,

Neil

Neil, I don't believe I've ever seen an actual turnip. What do they taste like?

Elizabeth

Congratulations! That is no small accomplishment.

We celebrated last night so I guess this is another example of the difference with the "Revised Julian Calendar"...

Turnips resemble rutabagas, but (normally) much smaller and much milder. They really don't have much flavor at all, which is why they are ususally served with generous amounts of butter.

Rutabagas can be whipped: "Scottish "neeps" are rutabagas (B. n. napobrassica). The name comes from the Swedish "rotabagge", which is why this vegetable is also called a "Swede" or "Swedish turnip" in England. Absolutely do not use American turnips as a substitute, as the taste simply will not work as well. To prepare the neeps, peel a fresh rutabaga and cut into 1" cubes. Boil, drain, and whip them into a frenzy with some salt, pepper, and ,of course, butter"--I've tried them that way and found them quite delicious.

For many centuries, the Irish have a "customary" exemption from Great Lent on the feast of Saint Patrick. Many churches are overwhelmed with weddings on this day.

Fr. Serge

Did someone say Sweeeeeeeedish? Who blasphemed? I thought they were good Norwegian Turnips!

Stephanos I