Lent: March 17th

MASS READINGS

March 17, 2016 (Readings on USCCB website)

COLLECT PRAYER

O God, who chose the Bishop Saint Patrick to preach your glory to the peoples of Ireland, grant, through his merits and intercession, that those who glory in the name of Christian may never cease to proclaim your wondrous deeds to all. Through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, who lives and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit, God, for ever and ever.

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Recipes (25)

• Barm Brack
• Barmbrack
• Boxty Bread
• Boxty Dumplings
• Cherries Jubilee II
• Colcannon I
• Colcannon II
• Corned Beef and Cabbage
• Crystallized Primroses and Violets
• Glow Wine
• Irish Porter Cake
• Irish Scones
• Irish Soda Bread I
• Irish Soda Bread II
• Irish Soda Bread IV
• Irish Stew
• Irish Tea Barmbrack
• Jellied Pig's Head
• Jiffy On-Fire Dessert
• Lemon Curd Filling
• Nettles
• Potato Dish
• Potato Pancakes II
• Snowballs on Fire
• St. Patrick's Day Cake

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Activities (6)

• Gaelic Prayers
• History of St. Patrick's Day
• Pain and Suffering
• Religion in the Home for Elementary School: March
• Religion in the Home for Preschool: March
• St. Patrick's Testimony

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Prayers (9)

• "Breast Plate" Prayer (Lorica)
• Prayer for the Second Week of Lent
• Novena to Saint Joseph
• Annunciation Novena
• Litany of Saint Padrig of Eire
• Novena to St. Joseph II
• Novena for the Annunciation
• Thirty Days' Prayer to Saint Joseph
• Traditional Novena Prayer to St. Joseph

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Library (9)

• Commemoration of the Feast of St. Patrick | St. Patrick
• Knock | Zsolt Aradi
• Lessons From Our Lady of Knock | Paul E. Duggan
• Our Lady in Old Irish Folklore and Hymns | James F. Cassidy
• Patrick of Ireland | Steve Skojec
• The Conversion of Ireland | Warren H. Carroll
• The Deer's Cry | St. Patrick
• The Irish Madonna of Hungary | Zsolt Aradi
• The Irish Soldiers of Mexico | Michael Hogan

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Blog & Podcasts (6)

• 51—St. Patrick: Paternal and Patristic
• Feastday Highlights: St. Patrick and the Paschal Feast
• Making Our Lenten Plans
• Preparing for Lent
• The Great Saints of March: Patrick and Joseph
• The Oases of Lent: Celebrations of St. Patrick, St. Joseph, Annunciation and Family Days

» Enjoy our Liturgical Seasons series of e-books!

This day is not all about leprechauns, shamrocks and green beer. This is a day to honor and pray to St. Patrick. He was an influential saint who, 1,500 years ago, brought Christianity to the little country of Ireland. He was born about 385 in the British Isles, was carried off while still very young during a raid on Roman Britain by the Irish and sold as a slave. At the end of six years he contrived to escape to Europe, became a monk and was ordained; he then returned to Ireland to preach the Gospel. During the thirty years that his missionary labors continued he covered the Island with churches and monasteries; in 444 he founded the metropolitan see of Armagh. St. Patrick died in 461. After fifteen centuries he remains for all Irishmen the great bishop whom they venerate as their father in the Faith.

Stational Church

St. Patrick
Not many facts are known about the life of St. Patrick. We know that he was born around 415 AD, and was a Roman Briton. When he was about 16, while he was tending his sheep some Irish raiders captured him and made him a slave. He eventually was able to escape and return to Britain. There he heard the call to return and bring Christianity to Ireland. He was ordained a priest, consecrated a bishop and came back to Ireland around 435 AD. Many legends are associated around St. Patrick: how he drove the snakes out of Ireland, and the use of the shamrock to teach the mystery of the Trinity. Whether or not the legends are true, St. Patrick succeeded in bringing Catholicism to Ireland, and in time, the whole country converted from their pagan gods to the one true God.

Although a small country, Ireland has played a large role in saving and bringing Christianity throughout the world. During the early Dark Ages, the Irish monasteries preserved Western writings while Europe remained in darkness. But as the Catholic country remained solidly Catholic, the Irish spread the faith to all corners of the world. To learn more on this subject, read Thomas Cahill's How the Irish Saved Civilization.

We have a few works attributed to St. Patrick, one being his autobiography called Confessions. It is a short summary of the events in his life, written in true humility. Below is a short excerpt:

I am greatly God's debtor, because he granted me so much grace, that through me many people would be reborn in God, and soon after confirmed, and that clergy would be ordained everywhere for them, the masses lately come to belief, whom the Lord drew from the ends of the earth, just as he once promised through his prophets: "To you shall the nations come from the ends of the earth, and shall say, Our fathers have inherited naught hut lies, worthless things in which there is no profit." And again: "I have set you to be a light for the Gentiles that you may bring salvation to the uttermost ends of the earth."

Patron: Ireland; against snakes; against ophidiophobia; archdiocese of Boston, Massachusetts; diocese of Burlington, Vermont; engineers; excluded people; fear of snakes; diocese of Fort Worth, Texas; diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania; archdiocese of New York; Nigeria; diocese of Norwich, Connecticut; ophidiophobics; diocese of Portland, Maine; diocese of Sacramento, California; snake bites.

Symbols: A bishop trampling on snakes; bishop driving snakes away; shamrock; snakes; cross; harp; demons; baptismal font.

Things to Do:

• This is a good day to honor St. Patrick by trying typical Irish fare: corned beef and cabbage, soda bread, scones, stew, Shepherd's pie, potatoes in various forms and the famous beer and spirits of Ireland. For dessert, try making the Irish Porter Cake.

• Read the Lorica (Breastplate) of St. Patrick. Here is an older translation — pray it with your family after your rosary tonight.

• From the Catholic Culture library: The Conversion of Ireland by Warren Carroll, The Irish Soldiers of Mexico by Michael Hogan, The Irish Madonna of Hungary by Zsolt Aradi and Our Lady in Old Irish Folklore and Hymns by James F. Cassidy.

Thursday of the Second Week of Lent
Station with Santa Maria in Trastevere (St. Mary in Trastevere):
The Station for today is in the celebrated basilica, St. Maria in Trastevere. The basilica was consecrated in the third century, under the pontificate of St. Callixtus, and was the first church built in Rome in honor of our Blessed Lady, particularly for her Assumption. The original church was demolished and the current church was constructed between 1139 to 1181, with additions such as mosaics and chapels added through the centuries.

For further information on the Station Churches, see The Stational Church.