Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!
Mar 16, 2013 4:24:43 GMT -5
Post by Deleted on Mar 16, 2013 4:24:43 GMT -5
Tomorrow is St Patrick's Day! It is often claimed that the Irish are the biggest ethnic minority in the United Kingdom (UK), Sydney Grew! Irish migration to Britain has a lengthy history due to the close proximity of, and complex relationship between, the islands of Ireland and Great Britain and the various political entities that have ruled them. Today, millions of residents of Great Britain are either from the island of Ireland or have Irish ancestry. Around six million Britons have an Irish grandfather or grandmother (approximately 10% of the UK population).
900,000 ethnic Irish people live in the capital (12% of the city's population); despite this, some sources put the population of people of Irish descent in London at 77% (some five and a half million people), although the White British and White Irish populations combined are less than this, so someone has kissed the Blarney Stone!
Wikipedia - Ethnic groups in London
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, presents the St Patrick's Day Parade and Festival tomorrow, a free day of family fun in London. The day kicks off with a spectacular parade of colourful marching bands, floats, costumed characters and street theatre groups. The parade leaves Piccadilly at high noon (12:00 GMT on Sunday 17 March 2013) and follows a route along Lower Regent Street and Pall Mall before finishing in Trafalgar Square. I commend London's St Patrick's Day Parade to everyone reading The Third this weekend!
London - St Patrick's Day Parade and Festival
Saint Patrick himself (Latin: Patricius; Proto-Irish: Qatrikias; Modern Irish: Pádraig; Welsh: Padrig; c. 387 – 17 March c. 460 or c. 492) was a Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of the island along with Saints Brigid and Columba. Two authentic letters from him survive, from which come the only generally accepted details of his life. When he was about 16, he was captured from his home and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After becoming a cleric, he returned to northern and western Ireland as an ordained bishop, but little is known about the places where he worked. By the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland.
According to Wikipedia, most available details of his life are from subsequent hagiographies, and these are now not accepted without detailed criticism. The Annals of Ulster state that he arrived in Ireland in 432, ministered in Ulster around 443, and died in 457 or 461. The text, however, distinguishes between "Old Patrick" and "Patrick, archapostle of the Scots," who died in 492. The actual dates of Patrick's life cannot be fixed with certainty but, on a widespread interpretation, he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the second half of the 5th century. He is generally credited with being the first bishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland.
St Patrick's Day is observed on March 17, the date of his death. It is celebrated both inside and outside Ireland, as both a liturgical and non-liturgical holiday. In the dioceses of Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation; outside Ireland, it can be a celebration of Ireland itself.
Wikipedia - St Patrick
I would only add that St Patrick was born British, and that we can therefore celebrate him all over the British Isles, including here in London. Join us tomorrow afternoon in Trafalgar Square, Parva Porcus! Happy St Patrick's Day; Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!
900,000 ethnic Irish people live in the capital (12% of the city's population); despite this, some sources put the population of people of Irish descent in London at 77% (some five and a half million people), although the White British and White Irish populations combined are less than this, so someone has kissed the Blarney Stone!
Wikipedia - Ethnic groups in London
Boris Johnson, the Mayor of London, presents the St Patrick's Day Parade and Festival tomorrow, a free day of family fun in London. The day kicks off with a spectacular parade of colourful marching bands, floats, costumed characters and street theatre groups. The parade leaves Piccadilly at high noon (12:00 GMT on Sunday 17 March 2013) and follows a route along Lower Regent Street and Pall Mall before finishing in Trafalgar Square. I commend London's St Patrick's Day Parade to everyone reading The Third this weekend!
London - St Patrick's Day Parade and Festival
Saint Patrick himself (Latin: Patricius; Proto-Irish: Qatrikias; Modern Irish: Pádraig; Welsh: Padrig; c. 387 – 17 March c. 460 or c. 492) was a Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the "Apostle of Ireland", he is the primary patron saint of the island along with Saints Brigid and Columba. Two authentic letters from him survive, from which come the only generally accepted details of his life. When he was about 16, he was captured from his home and taken as a slave to Ireland, where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. After becoming a cleric, he returned to northern and western Ireland as an ordained bishop, but little is known about the places where he worked. By the seventh century, he had already come to be revered as the patron saint of Ireland.
According to Wikipedia, most available details of his life are from subsequent hagiographies, and these are now not accepted without detailed criticism. The Annals of Ulster state that he arrived in Ireland in 432, ministered in Ulster around 443, and died in 457 or 461. The text, however, distinguishes between "Old Patrick" and "Patrick, archapostle of the Scots," who died in 492. The actual dates of Patrick's life cannot be fixed with certainty but, on a widespread interpretation, he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the second half of the 5th century. He is generally credited with being the first bishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland.
St Patrick's Day is observed on March 17, the date of his death. It is celebrated both inside and outside Ireland, as both a liturgical and non-liturgical holiday. In the dioceses of Ireland, it is both a solemnity and a holy day of obligation; outside Ireland, it can be a celebration of Ireland itself.
Wikipedia - St Patrick
I would only add that St Patrick was born British, and that we can therefore celebrate him all over the British Isles, including here in London. Join us tomorrow afternoon in Trafalgar Square, Parva Porcus! Happy St Patrick's Day; Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Daoibh!
