The History of St. Patrick

   St. Patrick is known as Ireland's patron saint. Although he is given credit for bringing Christianity to Ireland, he was not the first "missionary." He did, however, have an incredible amount of influence on the Irish, possibly because of the way he went about spreading the Gospel.

St. Patrick's story is actually similar to Joseph's in the Bible.

Most think  St. Patrick was Irish, but he actually was Roman/Britain but he was captured by the Celts and sold as a slave in Ireland. He grew up among the Irish herding their livestock. He learned their customs, culture, and language. He knew what they believed and why they believed it.

During his time as a slave, he didn't preach to the Irish -- he learned their ways. He eventually returned to his home, completed his studies, and felt called to go back to Ireland as an old man. He taught the Irish the Good News, which they were incredibly receptive to.

Celtic Christianity has always been founded on relationships because that is the Irish culture.  St. Patrick was successful because he didn't try to force Roman or British culture on the Irish. He spoke to them in their own language and could use what he knew about their history, beliefs, and culture to speak to them in a way they understood. He merely told them the Good News of Christ which they could follow without completely setting aside their culture.

In fact, Ireland is said to be the only country in the world to be "converted" to Christianity without bloodshed.

These new Irish Christians founded monasteries which later basically educated Europe during the early middle ages. Their missionaries went throughout the world and are mostly responsible for bringing the Picts and Anglo-Saxons in Scotland and England to Christianity.

Of course, thousands of legends surround St. Patrick.

He is said to have used a clover or shamrock as an example for the Trinity. That may or may not be true, but if it is, it is an example of how he appealed to their culture and beliefs because the number "3" has always been important to the Irish.

One of the most famous legends, which is a myth, is that St. Patrick, climbed Croagh Patrick (Like I did) and chased the snakes out of Ireland. Although he likely did climb the mountain, -- all legends are founded in some grain of truth -- there were never any snakes in Ireland for him to chase out.

But whether some stories are true or myth, it doesn't really matter.  St. Patrick had an undeniable impact on the Irish culture, and as a result, on the world. But don't take it from me, here is a wonderful video which explains St. Patrick.

Happy St. Patrick's Day!

Green shamrocks, "Kiss me I'm Irish" knick knacks, and leprechauns prance around on St. Patrick's Day. Waves of green wash over both America and Ireland.

I'm sad to inform you, like all our holidays St. Patrick's day is incredibly commercialized, but there is real history there.

There are so many American myths thrown into this Irish holiday. I mean, the sea of green that overtakes the country isn't even appropriate, because Ireland's national color is blue, not green. My only explanation as to why green is used is because it is our attempt to cover our cold, snowy hills with the lush green of the Emerald Isle.  

Leprechaun jokes or references really aren't appreciated in Ireland. It shows the American lack of interest, knowledge, or respect of Ireland.

And unlike what everyone seems to think -- Not all Irish people are red-headed. In fact, I only saw a small handful while I was over there.

As for the luck of the Irish? I don't know why that is even a saying. If you know one ounce of Ireland's history, the first thing you will realize exactly how UNLUCKY the Irish were. They were ruled by the English for hundreds of years, and not for lack of trying. But all their numerous rebellions were repulsed by bad timing, miscommunication, and even the whims of the weather.

Don't get me started on the Great Hunger which so many people inappropriately refer to as a "Famine." The Irish story is a tragic one.

So where your green and your shamrocks, celebrate Ireland! But don't go cracking jokes about misinformed moments in history. Instead of slamming your brain and senses full of green, inappropriate jokes, and ignorant assumptions. Check out and honor the untold history of Ireland. Respect the Irish people, their history, and the impact they've had on America.

The Winter Solstice

Today is the Winter Solstice.

From now on, this day will mark something very special. It is no longer "just" the shortest day of the year, ending with hopes for brighter days in the future.

No. From now on, the Winter Solstice will remind me of the stunning and beautiful Newgrange on a hill above the Boyne River.

Forever emblazoned in my mind is that golden beam of artificial light shining on the floor of Newgrange. I can only imagine how more beautiful it would be to see it in person!

That golden light has spilled across the sand and illuminated the inner chamber of Newgrange for over 5,200 years!

To celebrate this fabulous piece of architecture here are a few videos. And if you haven't read my blog post on Newgrange, it is worth checking out!

Here is one of my favorite songs -- All about Newgrange...

And Brad's video he made for our trip to Glendalough and Newgrange

Michael Collins House

 I think you guys have had it too easy -- looking at the pretty rocks at Blarney Castle, so it is time for a history lesson.

Michael Collins is probably the most known rebel in Irish History. He was born near Clonakilty in Co. Cork -- the rebel county. When we went to Clonakilty (where we saw Blarney Castle, Mizen Head, etc. ) our main purpose was to see Michael Collins' birthplace and death place. However, that is the one thing we did not do. Because we chose to go to Mizen Head, by the time we passed Michael Collins' birthplace and the place where he was assassinated, it was dark.
However, Our trip was not entirely Michael Collins free. When we were in Clonakilty, we were able to visit the house where he lived for a time. But before I get into that, I'll explain who he was since I'm not sure I've properly done so.

Michael Collins is arguably the greatest man in Irish History -- certainly the more modern history. He won the war on a bicycle. Some call him a terrorist and a murderer, but he fought the only way he knew how to win. He used Guerrilla tactics, and it worked.

Anyhow, history. Michael Collins was born in Co. Cork so when they called for men in the 1916 Rising, he went to answer the call. He only played a very minor part in the 1916 rising, and after their surrender, he and a group of other minor rebels were shipped to Wales to spend the next two years in a Welsh prison.

Above: A press like the one the Irish Republican Proclamation was
printed on while under fire in the GPO.
Below: The bike Michael Collins won the war on.

He returned in 1918 with a renewed flame of passion to free Ireland from the tyranny of British Rule. AND he had an idea of how to successfully accomplish that.

In the house was a poster of the movie they made about Michael Collins. It was signed by Liam Neeson who played Michael Collins. It is a pretty accurate depiction of his life and what happened during the war of Independence and the Irish Civil War.

 When he returned from Wales, Michael Collins gathered a force of rebels sworn to secrecy and started attacking the British using Guerrilla tactics. For hundreds of years, the Irish have been unable to stand up against the might of Britain's army in pitched battle. They were always outnumbered and under-armed -- that is why all their rebellions failed. But the British couldn't fight an enemy they couldn't see. Michael Collins plan was to get in, shoot important British officials, and disappear before any repose could be issued. This series of surprise attacks continued until 1921 when the British were forced to make a truce. Michael Collins was chosen to go to London and arrange the peace treaty. He was unhappy about this because he was no politician he was a military man and wanted nothing to do with the finesse of London politics. The English drove a hard bargain. Michael Collins was between a rock and a hard place.

The Irish Republic wanted to have complete freedom for the WHOLE of Ireland, but the only terms the English would offer was an Irish government under English law and a division in Northern Ireland where the UK would keep control of 6 of the 8 Ulster counties. To make it even worse, part of the terms was to swear allegiance to the English Crown. Unfortunately, the English promised that if these terms were not accepted an immediate and severe war would follow.

Michael Collins' Free State Uniform

With Irish harps on the buttons!

 The Irish were about at the end of what they could handle so Michael Collins and the Irish delegation grudgingly signed the treaty. In doing so, Michael Collins said: "I am signing my death warrant." Michael Collins intended to use this new treaty as a stepping stone to gain complete separation from England in peace, but most of the Irish nationalists did not see it that way. They considered Michael Collins a traitor to their Irish vision and refused to accept the terms.

When put to the public vote, the people voted in favor of the treaty, but it seems likely that it was out of terror of England's wrath than true submission.
As a result, the country split in half with the Pro-treaty side being led by Michael Collins and the Anti-treaty side led by Eamon De Valera.
Now, I cannot speak of Michael Collins without speaking of the other side of the coin -- Eamon De Valera.

Although both men fought in the 1916 Rebellion, it was Eamon De Valera who played the bigger role. As one of the leaders of the rebellion, he was imprisoned in Kilmainham Jail with the other leaders such as Patrick Pearse and James Connolly who would go on to be shot. Eamon De Valera, however, was not executed partly because he was an American citizen and at the time, Britain was trying to get America to join World War I.

If Michael Collins was the mastermind behind the military strategy, Eamon De Valera was the brilliant politician. Eamon De Valera was the president of the Irishmen during their Guerilla War of Independence. He is the one who insisted Michael Collins go to London when he would have been the better card to play. We can only speculate at his reasons for this. Perhaps he wanted Michael Collins to be the one to bring back the bad news of either unacceptable terms or a renewed war with the English, plunging the country back into strife and struggle.

A picture of Michael Collins.

The Civil War raged through the country. Men who were fighting side by side just months earlier were now killing each other. Brother turned against brother. Fathers against sons and friendships were split.

The Civil War lasted from 1921-1923 and the Michael Collins' Party, Fine Gael, won, defeating Eamon De Valera's party, Fianna Fail, but Michael Collins did not live to see it.

On August 22, 1922, Michael Collins was traveling in Co. Cork very near his birthplace. No one is sure exactly what happened next or why exactly Michael Collins was in Co. Cork. One reason may be, that he was on the road to meet with Eamon De Valera to discuss the end of the Civil War, but no one knows for sure. One thing is unquestionable, his advisors warned him against the trip to which he replied: "They won't shoot me in my own county." These fateful words joined with the ones he spoke in London just the previous year when he signed the treaty, "I have signed my death warrant."

He was ambushed on the road near Beal na Blath. Michael Collins was shot by a sniper on the hill, and his body was brought back to Dublin where he is buried in Glasnevin Cemetery.

To this day, even though their policies are basically the same, the Fine Gael and Fianna Fail parties are at odds with each-other in the modern government. Although the Fine Gael side might have won the war, Eamon De Valera went on to become the most influential politician in Irish politics and turned his Fianna Fail party to become the most powerful party in Irish politics to this day.
Now that you have the story, there are parts of it I did not tell for the sake of clarity.

Both Eamon De Valera and Michael Collins have strong ties in Greystones, the very town I spent my past 3 months!

Eamon DeValera lived in a house on the road that I walked by nearly everyday going to the cove.

Michael Collins and his betrothed Kitty Keirnan were looking to buy a house just down the road from the "Y."

The engagement watch Michael Collins gave to Kitty.

Kitty was devastated at the death of "her Mic" and wore black for years following. Although she did eventually marry another man, she never stopped loving Michael Collins. Her husband was incredibly understanding and did not complain about her pining for Michael Collins or the fact that she kept a portrait of Michael Collins above her fireplace and named their son Michael Collins. In fact, when she died, he went out of his way to bury her as close to Michael Collins as possible.

Michael Collins and Kitty

Michael Collins spent the night in the La Touche Hotel which Dominates the landscape of Greystones, and I could see out my bedroom window and walked past every day.

He also stopped at the Holy Rosary, which is the church where I went to Mass, where he had his last Holy Communion before traveling to Co. Cork.

It is fascinating to know all this and to live so near all these connections to this famous man. It was amazing to walk the streets of Clonakilty and look around the house there where he once lived. I wish we also could have seen his birthplace and the site of his assassination, but maybe, one day, I will.

The Abbey Theatre

I'm throwing this in on an off day because there are so few pictures and they aren't particularly interesting to anyone but me. (And Kenzi who is super into Theater)

But the Abbey Theatre has great meaning for me because it was founded by my favorite poet, W. B. Yeats. I've spent a lot of time this semester reading his work and learning about his life. I got to drive through "his" countryside in Co. Sligo and passed "his" mountain Ben Bulben. We even passed by the place where he is buried.

Portrait of W. B. Yeats

The Abbey Theatre was a part of the Irish Culture Revival. After 700 years the Irish seemed to be slowly giving into the English. They were forgetting their language and heritage -- they were giving up. But in the early 1900's countless Irish men and women lead a revival to renew Irish culture. Yeats was at the head of the literary side. I love that he brought back the old Irish stories and wrote poems about Faeries along with all the plays and modern poems he wrote. Including my favorite modern one "The Rose Tree." (Pearse and Connolly were the two main leaders during the 1916 Rising both of whom were shot in Kilmainham Jail)

'O words are lightly spoken,'

Said Pearse to Connolly,

'Maybe a breath of politic words

Has withered our Rose Tree;

Or maybe but a wind that blows

Across the bitter sea.'

'It needs to be but watered,'

James Connolly replied,

'To make the green come out again

And spread on every side,

And shake the blossom from the bud

To be the garden's pride.'

'But where can we draw water,'

Said Pearse to Connolly,

'When all the wells are parched away?

O plain as plain can be

There's nothing but our own red blood

Can make a right Rose Tree.'
I could go on and on, but I'll get back to the Abbey Theatre. Yeats and a few of his friends founded it in 1904. As a result, it wasn't nearly as old as some of other theaters I've been in this semester. (That would be Smock Alley Theatre est. 1662. The difference with the Abbey Theatre, however, is that it was, and still is, devoted to investing in and promoting new Irish writers and artists.

 To this day, every production which is held is steeped in Irish Culture. The one which we went to see that night was Donegal.

It was an amazing story about a young musician coming back to his home in Donegal with his American girlfriend after a successful tour in the States.  After a fight with his dysfunctional family, his girlfriend tries to convince him to go back to the states with her, but he realizes that his family in Donegal are more important. Out of this comes my favorite line of the show. He says to the girl, "You don't speak the same language." Of course, he wasn't talking about an actual language. He was basically saying that she didn't understand Irish culture, but she didn't get it and left for the States.

The first scene

All in all, the play wasn't the easiest to understand, especially for us who weren't Irish. There are all kinds of things you can only get if you're finely tuned to Irish culture. I only understood a fraction of the iceberg, but it was a wonderful production, and I'm glad I got what I could out of it.

Turning back to W. B. Yeats, I'll leave you with one of my favorite "wild" poems that he wrote: "The Stolen Child."

Where dips the rocky highland
Of Sleuth Wood in the lake,
There lies a leafy island
Where flapping herons wake
The drowsy water rats;
There we’ve hid our faery vats,
Full of berrys
And of reddest stolen cherries.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wave of moonlight glosses
The dim gray sands with light,
Far off by furthest Rosses
We foot it all the night,
Weaving olden dances
Mingling hands and mingling glances
Till the moon has taken flight;
To and fro we leap
And chase the frothy bubbles,
While the world is full of troubles
And anxious in its sleep.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Where the wandering water gushes
From the hills above Glen-Car,
In pools among the rushes
That scarce could bathe a star,
We seek for slumbering trout
And whispering in their ears
Give them unquiet dreams;
Leaning softly out
From ferns that drop their tears
Over the young streams.
Come away, O human child!
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than you can understand.

Away with us he’s going,
The solemn-eyed:
He’ll hear no more the lowing
Of the calves on the warm hillside
Or the kettle on the hob
Sing peace into his breast,
Or see the brown mice bob
Round and round the oatmeal chest.
For he comes, the human child,
To the waters and the wild
With a faery, hand in hand,
For the world’s more full of weeping than he can understand.

Glasnevin Cemetary

This is a post which Elizabeth and Meghann wrote for our academic blog about our trip in the footprints of the 1916 Easter Rising Rebels. This blog contains the adventures of Brad, Meghann, Elizabeth, and Eva.

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Glasnevin was founded in 1850 by Oliver Cromwell. The cemetery is 124 acres, and over 1.5 million people are buried here. Many important historical figures are buried here including Daniel O’Connell, Michael Collins, and Thomas Addis Emmet MD.

 It was strange to see such a modern building in the cemetery.

Museum

Beautiful graves!

Daniel O’Connell is called the Liberator and Emancipator because his peaceful political movements are what won the Catholics in Ireland their freedom. After Oliver Cromwell practically destroyed the people in the 1600's the Penal laws were introduced, which restricted the rights of the Irish Catholics. They could not own land, vote, or hold any power whatsoever. When they died, their land had to be split among all their children, which resulted in them having even less power. They had to pay rent on the same piece of property for generations, for a piece of property they could never own, and the landlord could evict them whenever he chose with little to no warning. Daniel is the one who freed them

 Daniel O’Connell's grave is one of the easiest to find among the cemetery. Mostly because it is a 51 meter high round tower. He was originally buried in O’Connell Square, but his body was moved when the tower was finished in 1865.

Inside his tomb.

 The artwork in his tomb is copied off the styles used in the Book of Kells. Unfortunately, there was a fire, and the tomb sat neglected for a time. The picture above is of the now restored wall, but the picture below is what the wall looked like after the fire, before it was restored.

 The strange thing is, O'Connell lays under an elaborate tomb but his family are stacked in plain wooden coffins haphazardly in a little room off the side if O'Connell's tomb. They aren't even stacked straight!

 There is a ring of 42 tombs around O'Connell's grave which were meant for his family and friends, but the reality is, whoever had enough money could be buried in one of these tombs. As a result, one of O'Connell's archenemies is buried alongside one of O'Connell's best friends.

The sheer closeness and the amount of graves was astonishing.

There are several mass graves among the traditional burials. Buried with Nicolas Parnell are 11,538 citizens of Ireland some of who fought and died for the Republic, but many were also Cholera victims. We were unable to explore the entire Grave site, but we were able to see some very significant tombs. It was truly awe-inspiring.

The carvings on the crosses are stunning.

There are Yew trees lining the paths through the cemetery to deter livestock from coming onto the property.

It wasn’t only important figures who were buried here, others who joined in the rebellion are as well. Like a woman named Margaret Skinidder, a primary school teacher by day and a sniper for the rebels during her free time. The people of Ireland are also buried here and are still being buried here.

1916 Rising Museum

Arbour Hill was on the top of a hill. The 1916 Rising Museum is at its base.

We walked past this beautiful building. I don't even know what it is, but i took pictures anyhow.

 Another angle, without the fence.

 The buildings the 1916 Rising Museum was in were pretty too.

 They were actually the old barracks for the army.

 The 1916 Rising Museum was in this building behind the Riding School, which unfortunately is now a parking lot.

 The 1916 Rising Museum  held all kinds of artifacts that came from the time surrounding the 1916 Rising, including this book which was used to carry contraband.

Neat axe head

A few of the flags which the Irish republic have used in the past were also on display.

There were items on display which were owned by each of the 1916 Rising Rebels.

This shirt was James Connolly and the stain was from his wound in the Rising.

This was Joseph Plunkett's Rosary

It was a great exhibit. I loved the detail given to each individual rebel.

After the 1916 Rising Museum we went to Glasnevin Cemetery were over 1.5 Million people are buried. Check back for that blog post on the 17th.