Sunday is Saint Patrick’s Day, honoring the Fifth Century Bishop of Armagh, who is credited with converting the Irish to Christianity. Paddy’s the patron of Ireland (duh and engineers, and he protects against snake infestations and bites. Kind of an all-round player, he is.
Turns out that our man was never actually canonized by the Roman
Catholic Church. Something to do with him living in an era when there was no
formal process for it. Which doesn’t explain all the thousands of saints from
the early Church who were made saints, but maybe his alleged opposition to
snakes had something to do with it, the Vatican being what it is. He’s there by
popular acclaim and his day is probably the most celebrated worldwide of anyone
except for Jesus’ birth and death.
So, let’s have a little something for Pat.
No, not some drunken pub song about whiskey being the devil, we’re
having “Be Thou My Vision”, to the tune of Slane, an old Irish melody. I couldn't find a good recording out of Ireland, so we've got this one.
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