St. Patrick: Here are a few things you might not know

Celebrating saints

Sunday, March 17, is St. Patrick’s Day so we have a look at saints and Catholicism, a religion with about 1.4 billion followers.

St. Patrick is one of more than 10,000 saints the Catholic Church venerates. He is the patron saint of Ireland for spreading Christianity there in the fifth century. He was not Irish; he was born in Great Britain and is believed to have died on March 17 around 460 A.D.

Never canonized

During the first millennium, there was no formal canonization process in the Catholic Church. After becoming a priest and helping to spread Christianity throughout Ireland, Patrick was likely proclaimed a saint by popular acclaim.

St. Patrick’s Day was boring in Ireland

Long before shamrock shakes and green beer, the celebration in Ireland remained solemn. The Connaught Telegraph reported of Ireland’s commemorations March 17, 1952: “St. Patrick’s Day was very much like any other day, only duller.” For decades, Irish laws prohibited pubs from opening on holy days such as March 17. Until 1961, the only legal place to get a drink in the Irish capital on St. Patrick’s Day was the Royal Dublin Dog Show, which naturally attracted those with only a passing canine interest.

Green day?

St. Patrick’s Day has a tradition of wearing green, but blue was the traditional color associated with Ireland’s patron saint prior to the 1798 Irish Rebellion.

Starting the parade

A band of British redcoats started the tradition of America’s largest and longest St. Patrick’s Day parade in 1762 when Irish-born soldiers marched through lower Manhattan to a St. Patrick’s Day breakfast at a local tavern.

How to become a saint

The word “sanctus” was originally a technical one in ancient Roman religion, but due to its globalized use in Christianity the modern word “saint” is now also used as a translation of comparable terms for persons “worthy of veneration for their holiness or sanctity” in other religions. The Catholic Church has a process to become a saint.

Formal canonization is a lengthy process, often of many years or even centuries. There are four major stages to becoming a saint.

Stage 1: An investigation of the candidate’s life by an expert. After this, an official report on the candidate is submitted to the bishop of the pertinent diocese and more study is undertaken.

Stage 2: If the application is approved the candidate may be granted the title Venerable.

Stage 3: Further investigation may lead to the candidate’s beatification, with the title Blessed. Next, proof of two important miracles obtained from God through the intercession of the candidate are required for formal canonization as a saint.

Stage 4: The last stage is being canonized by a pope.

Patrons

Almost every nation has patron saints. Ireland has three. The U.S. has four, including the Virgin Mary.

Shamrock

St. Patrick is said to have used clover as a metaphor for the Christian holy Trinity.

Wave of immigrants from Ireland to the U.S.

Between 1820 and 1860, the Irish constituted more than one-third of all immigrants to the U.S.

After Irish Catholics flooded into the country in the decade following the failure of Ireland’s potato crop in 1845, they clung to their Irish identities and took to the streets in St. Patrick’s Day parades to show strength in numbers.

Irish immigration to US

10 countries with the most Catholics

Brazil 123,360,000

Mexico 100,000,000

Philippines 85,470,000

United States 69,300,000

Italy 50,474,000

France 39,000,000

Colombia 35,000,000

Poland 33,037,017

Spain 30,720,000

Argentina 28,770,000

10 countries with the greatest proportion of Catholics

Vatican City 100%

Timor-Leste 96.9%

San Marino 90.5%

Paraguay 89%

Malta 88.7%

Andorra 88.2%

Croatia 86.3%

Poland 85.8%

Portugal 84.5%

Italy 83%

Also:

Ireland (No. 15) 78.3%

U.S. (No. 82) 21%

Sources: CIA Factbook, Pew Research Center, Worldpopulationreview.com, World Christian Database, uscatholic.org, History.com, franciscanmedia.org

Source: Orange County Register