St. Patrick Was Beloved by Many — But Not by His Bishops

[Michie]

Patrick and his companions arrived in Ireland with a dual mission: to minister to the small number of Christians there and to convert the Irish.
“Everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day,” the saying goes. But technically, about 32 million Americans — 9.7% of the total population — identified as being Irish in the 2020 American Community Survey conducted by the U.S. Census Bureau. A love of St. Patrick followed wherever the Irish immigrated throughout the world, particularly in the United States, Canada, New Zealand and Australia — all places where St. Patrick’s Day is widely celebrated.

In the Detroit area where I grew up attending St. Alphonsus in Dearborn, St. Patrick’s Day gave us a break from wearing our uniforms so that we could all wear green. Never mind that half the kids were Polish.

St. Patrick was my patron saint when the name Patricia (Patti) was given to me. My dad, who was 100% Irish from Irish immigrant parents, had a devotion to him that I inherited. On those dress days, I don’t think I was ever out-greened by anyone. One year, I even painted a pair of old shoes green and managed to find green stockings and green nail polish to match my green dress and hair ribbons.

Continued below.

St. Patrick Was Beloved by Many — But Not by His Bishops

Patrick and his companions arrived in Ireland with a dual mission: to minister to the small number of Christians there and to convert the Irish.

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[Wolseley]

Even though Irish makes up the smallest part of my ethnic mix (the rest is, from most to least, English, German, and Scots, in that order), my patron saint is Patrick, and my son's middle name is Patrick.

My dad used to tell stories about family gatherings when he was just a kid back in the 1920's; my great-grandfather, who was a teamster and came here from Canada, would slam a fist on the table and say, "The sun never sets on the British Empire!"; and my great-uncle Fitzgerald, who came here from County Kildare, would dryly reply, "And it's a bloody good thing, too, since you can't trust the beggars in the dark!"