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St. Patrick was a Protestant say Loyalist leaders in Northern Ireland

Protestant St.Patrick’s march leads to Catholic protests in Armagh

DARACH MACDONALD,

IrishCentral Contributer

Published Friday, March 16, 2012, 7:04 AM

Updated Friday, March 16, 2012, 10:50 AM

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Was St. Patrick a protestant after all?

Photo by Google Images

He is the iconic patron saint of Ireland, the bringer of faith, the banisher of snakes and for many Ulster Loyalists he was the first Protestant settler on the Paddy’s green shamrock shore.

So on Saturday night in Armagh, the Protestants will parade for Patrick and the ‘Papists’ will protest.

How times have changed.

Today, Protestants in Northern Ireland are more insistent that they have a right to claim Patrick too as the founder of their Christian faith in Ireland. Indeed, some argue that his British origins and the fact that the Celtic Christian church structure he founded in Ireland stayed beyond the control of Rome for centuries, put him down as a staunch Protestant even before the Reformation.

They also point out that since the first New York parade involved Irish-born Redcoats in the colonial British Army, they have a proprietorial stake on its origins too.

St Patrick is believed to have come from Britain, first as a captive slave herding pigs and sheep at Slemish near the north coast, then as a Christian missionary to calm the savage pagan breast of his mortal flock.

He landed near Saul in Co. Down, not far from modern day Belfast, and began to convert the people. He founded his ecclesiastical centre in what is now Armagh City, near the ancient centre of power in Ulster, where the most Protestant cathedral now stands and he is laid to rest in the grounds of the Protestant cathedral in Downpatrick, also in Co. Down.

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The curse of Cromwell upon you - Ireland’s history spelt out in insults

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Indeed, Patrick is believed to have concentrated his entire mission in the northern part of Ireland with only brief forays into the west for the rigours of the ‘Reek’ on Croagh Patrick.

Yet for many decades, particularly during the conflict in Northern Ireland, St Patrick and celebrations in his honour, were regarded as the cultural preserve of Irish Catholics and their diaspora, particularly in America.

The celebratory parades which have become such a huge feature of St Patrick’s Day in modern Ireland really only date from the 1970s and they are modelled on the New York event that started even more modestly away back in 1762. Even 40 years ago, March 17 was observed in Catholic Ireland as a Holy Day of obligation with Mass attendance and celebrations afterwards were more modest and cultural affairs.

Since the change to razzmatazz, Protestant participation in the new St Patrick’s Day was rare, particularly in the North where their big public celebrations were saved for July at the peak of the marching season.

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IrishRyan | Mar 09, 2013, 12:37 PM EST

Its shocking how loyalists are trying to hijack St Patrick. St Patrick certainly wasnt protestant since protestantism didnt exist until another 1000 years or so. St Patrick was of Gaelic/Roman Christian tradition, he was a follower of "King Billy on the Wall" which most of these loyalists from the 6 counties are.

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IrelandNorth | Apr 13, 2012, 07:57 AM EDT

The essential distinction in Christianity is not Protestantism vs. Roman Catholicism after Luther's schism. Or for that matter between eastern and western orthodoxies. But between the Orthodoxy of the institutional churches and esoteric Christianity of heterodoxists. Since the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church converted to Constantianism, and Patricius was an emissary of Constantinian Christianity, he hardly did the native Iriah any favours by coming here. Now ya know why the Irish wear silly hats and betray their temperance commitment in or anround the pagan/Druidic Vernal/Spring Equinox.

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warlocks | Mar 23, 2012, 12:20 AM EDT

Guess what ? St.Patrick was Roman. His Father was a Centorian in A Roman Cohort that was in Scotland at the time Patrick was captured and taken hostage. who knows if this story is true ? so much BS has been written and suppressed by the early church. nothing has changed through the years. the Church still covers things if we Catholics really knew the whole Story thats hidden by the Vatican .We would Tar & Feather the whole Lot of the unholy Fakers

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badolan | Mar 20, 2012, 05:37 PM EDT

Golly, I thought Pat was a Jew from Sweden. Isn't he the fella that baptized the sweet baby Jesus in Dublin? Now, we could use a nice article on the Ester Bunny. You know, the one from Cork.

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citizen69 | Mar 18, 2012, 01:45 PM EDT

Buffalobrave: Yes, the bigotry still exists to a degree on BOTH sides. It's true that young people in a mixed marriage may not feel safe to live in an area that is mostly Protestant or mostly Catholic but there are many neutral areas also.

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solasbeire | Mar 18, 2012, 11:33 AM EDT

Well, I've read that he kept Kosher, so maybe he was really the first Irish Jew? ;-)

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Buffalobrave | Mar 18, 2012, 10:15 AM EDT

citizen69: I am referring to one particular case. Loyalist/Unionism are very paranoid when it comes to the Catholic church and by extension nationalists. They may get 'on well' as you put it, but don't get to cosy. Many young people from that part of the world who have 'mixed' marriages find to safer to emigrate to another country. Bigotry still exists.

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malachy49 | Mar 18, 2012, 05:49 AM EDT

Regarding being Protestant - I take Irish writer Brendan Behan's comment on this "The Protestant religion was born out of the bollocks of Henry the eighth."

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Scrivner | Mar 17, 2012, 11:51 PM EDT

Of course St Patrick is also for the Protestants, that's why he is often represented with an orange halo.

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PiperMac52 | Mar 17, 2012, 07:58 PM EDT

atrick was born in 385 western Great Britain into a high-ranking Roman Christian family; he died in Ireland in 461, though some accounts put his death later. His grandfather was a priest and his father--Calpurnius--was a deacon, as well as prosperous nobleman and local Roman official. Patrick’s native language was Latin. His birth name was, reportedly, Maewyn, and the Latin name Patercius (Gaelicized to "Patrick" by the Irish) was given to him by Pope Celestine just before his mission to Ireland, as a token of the fruitfulness of his future mission, which would make him the pater civium (father of the people) of the Irish race. He writes that as youths he and his companions "turned away from God, and did not keep his commandments, and did not obey our priests, who used to remind us of our salvation" (Conf. 1). But when he was sixteen he was kidnapped by Irish pirates and sold into slavery, where he served as a shepherd. This revolutionized his life; his faith and zeal for God were ignited, and he spent much time praying and fasting. After six years, he escaped, being led by private revelations along a safe route back to Britain. Afterwards, he was commissioned in another private revelation to serve as a missionary to Ireland. To prepare, he traveled to France and spent around two decades as a monk—studying, praying, and practicing penance. He was ordained to the priesthood, and in 432 was sent to Ireland to serve St. Palladius, who had been consecrated bishop and sent to Ireland by Pope Celestine. When Palladius died on a trip to Britain, Patrick was chosen as his successor and was consecrated bishop by St. Germanus, the papal representative overseeing the Irish mission. Patrick experienced enormous success in converting the Irish, and three assistant bishops from France were sent to help him, among them St. Sechnall (aka Secundinus). Within his generation the Irish had been transformed by God’s grace into a Christian (and Catholic) people.

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PiperMac52 | Mar 17, 2012, 07:50 PM EDT

The two writings from his pen that survive—his Confession and Letter to the Soldiers of Coroticus—are both in Latin, and both attest to his Catholic faith. The Letter—which Patrick wrote in a blazing fury after some of his newly baptized converts had been slaughtered during a raid by a British ruler—records his belief in the episcopacy, the ministerial priesthood, confirmation, the value of monks and nuns, purgatory, priestly absolution, and "doing hard penance" (the last two, he said the murdering soldiers needed). His later Confession has a mild tone (not being a response to a massacre) and mentions many of the same Catholic distinctives, as well as fasting, loss of salvation, and Patrick’s many private revelations. Another important source is a Latin hymn written in praise of him by his assistant bishop Sechnall, who records many of Patrick’s beliefs, among them the sacrifice of the Mass, merits, the fact the Church is built on Peter, and baptismal regeneration...From a history of St. Patrick by James Atkins

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DanOLoingsigh | Mar 17, 2012, 07:15 PM EDT

Council or Synod of Whitby was 7th century...settled the date of Easter to the Roman tradition...

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seanomelb | Mar 17, 2012, 06:11 PM EDT

Differences existed between the "Celtic church and the Catholic church up to the 11th century.Easter was celebrated in the "Celtic Church' using the eastern rites calendar,this and other issues were solved by the "council of Whitby in the 11th century. So it is fair to say that form of "eastern" Christianity was practiced in Ireland and Britain.

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Gearoid4 | Mar 17, 2012, 02:58 PM EDT

@AlunPalmer, The concept of a "Celtic Church" originated after the reformation, as some protestant divines sought to depict their church as the continuation of this mythical, elusive early Irish form of Christianity. The ancient Irish Christians would be bemused at this, as they would not even have considered themselves "Celtic". The latest studies of the ethnic origins of the Irish population, suggests that they mostly descend from a band of people who emigrated to Ireland from Iberia some 5000-6000 years ago. St Patrick was a member of the Church universal and thus can be described as a Catholic missionary, who brought the Good News of the Gospels to Irish shores. There was no deep denominational fissures at this time, unlike what happened across Europe some 1000 years later. Overall St Patrick can be claimed by all Christians in Ireland, who should all celebrate his legacy with pride and gusto.

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OldMariner | Mar 17, 2012, 02:34 PM EDT

You've got to wonder how many of these people actually believe this. There are also some Orthodox/Byzantine Catholics who proclaim that Patrick was an eastern Christian, and, in fact, that the ancient Irish church was more eastern in liturgical and philosophical practice than of the Roman church. The latter point I'm skeptical and the former one I completely dismiss. Actually this point, Pat is a prod, doesn't even rate a discussion.

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