Walking in the Valley A weekly column for those who live and walk in Silicon Valley by Barbara Dahlgren

The Wearin’ of the Green Column for the week of March 16-22, 2003

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Top of the mornin’ to you! (Or afternoon, or evening, or night or whatever) Let’s get into that St. Patrick’s Day spirit. It’s not really one of the more prominent holidays in our area, probably because we don’t have that many Irish out here or we don’t get a day off from work but hey, who wouldn’t like to find a leprechaun and snag that pot of gold? And many will wear a shamrock or at least a little something green on March 17.

All right, maybe St. Patty didn’t literally drive all the snakes out of Ireland because snakes aren’t really native to Ireland anyway. This legend must have some metaphoric meaning. And whether he did or didn’t use a shamrock to explain the Trinity is debatable. He’s still a pretty fascinating fellow.

These histories of saints tend to be a little fuzzy but St. Patrick’s story goes something like this. Patrick, now considered the patron saint of Ireland, was actually born in Roman Britain around 380 AD. As a teen he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and sold into slavery. This experience brought him close to God. After 6 years he escaped and studied for the priesthood with the thought of one day returning as a missionary to Ireland. Which he did, although accounts of when he actually returned are hazy. However no one denies the tremendous influence St. Patrick played in converting the Irish to Christianity.

Thomas Cahill, author of How the Irish Saved Civilization, makes the point that during the Dark Ages a candle of Christianity was lit by Patrick and burned in Ireland. It seems that Patrick brought a new kind of Christianity to the pagan Irish. Ireland was not bound by the Greco-Roman sociopolitical climates that surrounded Christianity at that time. Therefore, Cahill states, “"The early Irish Christianity planted in Ireland by Patrick is much more joyful and celebratory [than its Roman predecessor] in the way it approaches the natural world. It is really not a theology of sin but of the goodness of creation.” No wonder those Irish always have such a good time.

Can one person make a difference? Evidently Patrick did. His experiences in slavery made him the first to speak out against it in the 5th century. It would not be until the 19th century for the Church to take a stand on that issue. He, following the lead of Christ, respected women as individuals, an attitude not shared by religious hierarchy at the time or some today I might add. In fact Patrick seemed to respect all mankind, even the disadvantaged, the poor, the sinner.

To want to go back to a country that had enslaved you and preach Christ boggles my mind. Even after 30 years of missionary work in Ireland Patrick still considered it a scary place to live. Yet by the time Patrick died through his influence the Irish had stopped slave trading and human sacrifice altogether. It also appears that he achieved part of the commission given to the apostles by Christ, to bring the gospel to the ends of the earth.

It sounds pretty impressive to me. Who knows? I might wear a little green myself this year, even though I’m not Irish. And as Patrick might say if he were here:

©March 2003

Be sure to visit this page every week to read the next edition of Walking in the Valley. You can write to the author at bdahlgren@wcgsouthbay.org.