St. Patrick's day

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So St Patrick’s day is upon us. There are a lot of people who celebrate it in certain ways that many would describe not holy. So being a convert myself what is a good way to celebrate St. Patrick’s day in a good Catholic way? (Other than go to Mass of course) Do you have anything you all like to do?
 
had corned beef and cabbage yesterday…so it’s Irish stew tomorrow.

With green sugar cookies.
 
Zekariya said:
Drink Guinness beer. :cool: If you’re old enough. 😉
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Guinness is one of the lesser beers on my list. Though my Brother went to Ireland for a vacation a few years ago and said it tastes a lot better if you get it within a couple days of it being brewed rather than the couple weeks we are generally forced to wait in America.

And if you are looking for something to do you could see if there are any local Irish Parishes hosting some sort of celebration.
 
I am mystified by all the hoopla surrounding St. Patrick’s Day. Why celebrate him more than any other saint? If you’re Irish or have an Irish background it makes sence. But for the rest of us???:confused:

I pay a lot more attention to the The Feast of St. Joseph – March 19. (I’ve taken him on as one of my patrons.)
 
The best way to celebrate St. Patrick’s Day is to spend the day doing what St. Patrick or any other saint would want you to do…go visit our Lord by going to Mass and if you can’t do that go to Eucharistic Adoration. While you are there, you can say “hello” to St. Patrick as he is surely a part of the communion of saints who participate in Mass with us. 👍👍
 
Redbaron998 said:
So St Patrick’s day is upon us. There are a lot of people who celebrate it in certain ways that many would describe not holy. So being a convert myself what is a good way to celebrate St. Patrick’s day in a good Catholic way? (Other than go to Mass of course) Do you have anything you all like to do?
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Not to drink green beer, wear green, wear shamrocks, or have anything whatever to do with all the kitchy pseudo-Irishness.
 
Redbaron998 said:
So St Patrick’s day is upon us. There are a lot of people who celebrate it in certain ways that many would describe not holy. So being a convert myself what is a good way to celebrate St. Patrick’s day in a good Catholic way? (Other than go to Mass of course) Do you have anything you all like to do?
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If you want to honor Saint Patrick today then you can make sure not to participate in all the nonsense that typically goes on. For instance, where I live as I type there are people drunkenly stumbling from one bar to another already (and it’s only 3 PM where I am right now). It’s a beautiful day today, the snow here has all melted, the birds are singing and it’s sunny with blue skies and yet none of them likely noticed this as they can barely walk from bar to bar even though they’re less than 100 yards away from each other (I live in a college town). I know that this is happening because I just got back from a walk around town that I had foolishly hoped would be pleasant forgetting that my alcoholics-in-training peers don’t even bother waiting till the evening to start getting hammered.

(Sorry for the side rant by the way, I just get so disgusted with the amount of drunkenness I see every week. I feel bad for these people but there’s no way of getting through to them that their lifestyle is less than healthy for them. If I tried to convince them otherwise I’d probably get myself beat up.)

Saint Patrick was a devout man who suffered much in his life but continued to follow God. He was taken from his family as a slave by northern Irish bandits and worked as a slave for several years before escaping. This experience made him realize how much he needed to rely on God in all things. After several years away from Ireland he was sent back by the British bishops (Saint Patrick was British by the way, something most American-Irish people don’t seem to be aware of). He spent the rest of his life spreading the faith in Ireland and died a natural death. He strongly encouraged chastity and celibacy, which is ironic when you look at the way most college students celebrate the day. He was so defensive of the celibacy of some of his converts who had taken the vow that when they were kidnapped he excommunicated (without the authority to do so) those who kidnapped them.

There are two works that were written by Saint Patrick still in existence, one is his Confessions and the other I can’t recall the name of. If you want you could try finding his Confessions and reading through it to gain a better understanding of Saint Patrick and deepen your own spirituality.
 
I’m not Irish so I don’t celebrate St. Patrick’s Day. It is only a memorial, not a feast. Now St Joseph’s day is one to celebrate, and it is a solemnity (and we sing the Gloria at Mass). I am Italian and we celebrate with pastries that are to die for, and since it is a solemnity, even though I gave up sweets for Lent, we don’t fast on a solemnity (which includes next Friday March 25).
 
There are a few saints our family has adopted as patrons and we usually celebrate their feasts by having an extra special meal, sometimes inviting guests, by going to mass, and giving gifts. Usually our patrons are our children’s namesakes, St. Francis and Holy Mary, Mystical Rose, but since we’re mostly Irish and DH is very enthusiastic about his heritage we also celebrate St. Patrick. Hopefully we’ll have a little baby Patrick or Patricia one day and that will make the celebration even more special for us.

When I was younger and single my girlfriends and I used to go out to a bar/restaurant for St. Patrick’s day to eat and listen to a band and dance. Other than some public drunkeness, I didn’t see a whole lot of “unholy” things going on in the name of St. Patrick.
 
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