PAT I have always been a firm believer in St. Patrick as the man who - single-handedly, mind you - removed each and every snake from the Emerald Isle and left it a gem of virtual perfection in the eye and heart of every true Irishman wherever he may roam. St. Patrick was packaged for young and old alike, right, along with Adam & Eve,he Garden of Eden, Noah with his big, old ark and world-wide flood waters. St. Patrick was ready and available. You did not have to be a Catholic. He was everyone's sainthood symbol.
We knew very little about him, as well and fear such ignorance carried over into modern times. I worked, for many years with a man who was as Irish as one can be living afar from Shannon's poetic tide. His family name was, fittingly enough was "Green" fitted with an acceptable first name of "John". John Green and I turned out reams of copy for announcers read on AM, FM and TV. Saint Patrick that famous and easy-to-know was with every every year around the ides of March.
We often worked as a team and shared a sense of humor which is a blessing to besieged copywriter facing deadlines. One St. Patrick's years ago, I had an early morning urge to call John at home. I got a sleepy reply after a few rings and I launched into a happy holiday spiel "
"Ah, 'n a gud marnin' to th' likes o' thy cheerful self, Brother John O' Green! Sure, and it's foin die we'll be han today it is indeed and such a wonder of a die to speak well of St. Patrick - that eminent Scotsman who did so much to help the poor , downtrodden, pathetically pagan Irish people!"
'Twas my use of the term "Scotsman", think which triggered a verbal invitation for me to without delay; leave post haste, and straightaway to go to the lowest and hottest levels of Mr. Dante's infernal abode described so well in his more dramatic works.
In truth, however, it fact that Patrick was not an Irishman. He was from Scotland where his father was a "priest" of a pagan society. Patrick was captured by mauraders working the Scottish coast and sold into slavery in Ireland. He served as a sheep herder for six years. He made his way to Rome; trained in he priesthood and went to very same area here had been a slave. He did indeed.
My friend and co-worker John Green, now departed, liked Patrick I think, because his very name means "honesty."
A.L.M. March 14, 2006 [c445wds]
