I'm not a big fan of St. Patrick's Day. For one thing, Patricius (345-493 ce) wasn't Irish. He was a Romanized Englishman. When he was about 16, Irish raiders kidnapped him and took him back to Ireland as a slave (not cool, I admit), where he lived for six years before escaping and returning to his family. Gotta hand it to him for that much. After entering the Church, he returned to Ireland as an ordained bishop and missionary. That took some guts, or plain audacity. While he is credited with driving the snakes out of Ireland, the snakes are actually a metaphor for early Celtic Paganism. Once he arrived, he spread the gospel, effectively converting an entire race of people to the new religion. And I doubt it was done in a "what would Jesus do?" manner. That wasn't Rome's M.O. in those days. I happen to like this cartoon more than those legends...Better yet, here is Irish blues artist Rory Gallagher playing a song called "Too Much Alcohol" on a 1932 steel-bodied Resonator guitar. He's the only person I've seen who can make the blues feel so damned joyous, and that seems worthier of sainthood than conquering a country with religion.
