The Feast Of St. Patrick

St. Patrick of Ireland – whose feast we celebrate today – is one of the world’s best known saints.

He was born around 385, perhaps in Scotland, near Kilpatrick. His parents were Calpurnius and Conchessa, who were Romans living in Britain.

When he was about fourteen, he was captured during a raiding party and taken to Ireland to live among the Druids and pagans, tending and herding sheep.

During his captivity, he turned to God in prayer. He later wrote:

"The love of God and his fear grew in me more and more, as did the faith, and my soul was roused, so that, in a single day, I said as many as a hundred prayers and in the night nearly the same. I prayed in the woods and on the mountain, even before the dawn. I felt no hurt from the snow, ice or rain."

When Patrick was twenty he had a dream which told him to go to the coast. Sure that God was telling him to leave Ireland he ran away and made his way to the Irish coast. There he found some sailors who were willing to take him back to Britain, where he was reunited with his family.

Once more Patrick was inspired by a dream in which he heard the  people of Ireland were calling out to him:

"We beg you, holy youth, to come and walk among us once more."

Following on from this dream Patrick decided to become a priest. He began his studies and was later ordained by St. Germanus, the Bishop of Auxerre, whom he had studied under for years.

 Patrick was eventually ordained a bishop. He then returned to Ireland to bring the Gospel to the Irish people. The great advantage St.Patrick had was from his earlier captivity. Having spent those formative years living with the pagans and druids he understood them and was able to use this to his advantage when he started to evangelise them.

There are many legends surrounding St.Patrick. One of these tells of his meeting with a chieftain called Dichu who wanted to kill him. When  Dichu  raised his arm to bring down the fatal blow, his arm stiffened and he couldn’t move. It was only when he agreed to befriend Patrick that his arm returned to normal.
Another is that he chased all the snakes out of this beautiful country, I have heard a vicious rumour  that this was impossible, primarily because Ireland has never had snakes, but  hey don't let that get in the way of a good story.

Patrick began preaching the Gospel throughout Ireland, winning many converts. He gathered disciples around him and they went out and preached and won many further conversions.
Kings, their families, and entire kingdoms converted to Christianity on hearing Patrick’s message.

Maybe one of the most famous teachings that Patrick was renowned for was his teaching on the Trinity – using a simple shamrock to explain it.

Patrick spent forty years preaching and converting the Irish. Many witnessed the miracles attributed to him. After years of living in poverty, traveling and enduring much suffering, he died in Saul on March 17th 461.

For those with Irish ancestors, today is a great day of celebration. There will be many people wearing green and proudly sporting shamrocks.

To celebrate the feast of St.Patrick, why not get out a green tablecloth and cook up a Irish Stew.

This year I've made a dough ball snake, in honour of those pesky little critters who may or may not have been chased off the Emerald Isle by this beloved Saint. Serve them with garlic butter alongside your stew or as an opening event to your meal.

500g Spelt flour
1.5tsp salt
1packet easy bake yeast.
1Tbls olive Oil
300ml warm water

Mix flour, salt ,yeast and oil. Add warm water to form a soft sticky dough.
Knead for about 10 minutes on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic.

Divide dough into about 20 small pieces. Shape into rounds. Place on an oiled baking sheet, each ball touching the next. Shape last ball into a more triangular shape and make a tongue and eyes.
 Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes.
Enjoy with some butter and a crushed garlic mixed in!

The Feast Of ST. Joseph March 19th

The feast of St. Joseph is a wonderful day to celebrate the transformation of a humble carpenter into one of the greatest saints the world has ever known.

Everything we know about St. Joseph comes from Scripture; it is from these words that we can begin to build a picture of the kind of man St. Joseph was.

The Gospel writers Matthew and Luke seem to have two differing accounts of Joseph’s genealogy. However, both agree that his descent was from the House of David. This was confirmed when the angel appeared to him and greets him as “son of David,” a title also used for Jesus.

We know from the Gospel of St. Matthew (13:55) that Joseph was a carpenter, or at least the original word used in the Gospels is ‘tekton’ which means “craftsman” or “artisan”; so he may have built houses and done other work as well; we have to assume he was quite clever with his hands.

It appears that Joseph was not a man of  wealth. When Jesus was taken up to the temple to be circumcised, Joseph  only presented the poor man’s offering of two turtle doves to be sacrificed and not the specified lamb. However, when Mary and he were looking for lodgings in Bethlehem he went to the hotels and hostels looking for a place to stay, and we have to assume he had the money to pay for them, so they were not destitute either.

It is often in the times of  extreme pressure we see the depth of someones  character. St. Josephs handling of Mary when he discovers she is with child  elicits a kind, gentle and compassionate
response to her situation. Even though he is very distressed he chooses not to shame her in public, but to put her away quietly so that no harm comes to her. He knows that a woman caught in adultery would most likely face the death penalty.

After discovering what he assumes is Mary’s betrayal, we see St. Joseph responding to a dream. An angel appears to him and tells him not to be afraid to take Mary as his wife.
I find two things interesting about this. The first is, how many of us would respond to a dream? So often we shrug them off. Admittedly they may disturb us – but would we act on them? The second is Joseph’s complete lack of hesitation; straight away he goes and takes Mary as his wife. Now if St. Joseph noticed his wife was pregnant, you can be sure the rest of the village was gossiping about it. In the face of what you feel would be heavy criticism, Joseph acted courageously and brought her into his own home, thereby giving his future son legal recognition .

Even though the gospels reveal very little about this man that God chose to take care of his son, we
can see from his actions that St. Joseph was a God-fearing man. He always acted on what he felt he was being asked to do. He protected his family in times of adversity. When Herod was out to kill his Son he again responded to a dream and moved the family to an area of safety. He created a home and a livelihood to provide for them.

St. Joseph took his role as foster-father to the Christ child seriously. He taught Jesus his own trade; we know this from Mark 6:3 when the Pharisees speak of Jesus as the “carpenter”. Jesus is also well versed in his Scriptures, think of the time when his parents found him in the temple talking and listening to the elders and they were amazed at his knowledge. All these things begin to build up a picture to the type of man Joseph was.

Tradition teaches us that St. Joseph had died before Jesus’ public ministry had started. This is for two
reasons: there is no mention of him at the wedding feast at Cana or in any other gospel story about Jesus’s public ministry, and when Jesus is dying on the cross he entrusts his Mother Mary into his
disciples' John’s care. This would not have happened if she had, had a husband or other children to take care of her.

St. Joseph is a man for our times. If ever there was a need for a good role model for our sons, St. Joseph fill this spot. His example of courage, obedience, love and wisdom illustrates a few of his most admirable attributes. Let us encourage all of our young people to seek to follow his example.

In Italy it is traditional to eat a cream puff called a Zeppole di San Giuseppe on this day. So why not nip to the bakers and take home a lovely treat for tea in honour of this most wonderful man.