It’s time to recycle my “St. Patrick was Italian” column as March 17th approaches. The first St. Patrick’s Day in the U.S. was held in Boston in 1734. By stretching things a bit, you can correctly state that “St. Patrick was Italian.”
Patrick’s parents were Romans. The Romans ruled England at that time. Calpurnius, Patrick’s father, was a high Roman diplomat living in England, but a Roman citizen. Patrick was born in England (some say Scotland) around the year 385 A.D. Roman cities in England had shops and beautiful houses, so Patrick lived the good life for a while.
Across the sea in Ireland (Eire), things were not so good. Tribal kings were constantly feuding, and in the year 400 A.D., a tribal king (Niall) attacked England. He took thousands of prisoners, including Patrick, for slaves.
Soon the rich little Roman kid was forced to herd pigs and sheep, just a poor little slave boy far from home. Patrick was taken to Northern Ireland and sold to another tribal king named Meliucc. Meliucc and his family were kind to Patrick, and their children were good company. Still, Patrick (Maewyn) was alone in a strange land, only 15 years old. He did not know the language; he didn’t know if his family was still alive. Patrick slept in a mud hut and was a swineherd.
At 21 years old, after six years as a slave, he ran away. Walking many miles to the sea, he found a ship that took him back to England. By now, the Romans had been chased out; they were no longer the rulers, and the country was in ruins. Patrick sailed across the channel and wandered through Europe, and then on to Rome, and found that by the year 410 A.D., the center of all Roman power had been conquered as well.
His past was really dead, so he decided to go back to England to think, pray and live quietly there. While in prayer, he felt certain that God was calling him back to Ireland, to bring all those tribes together and make Ireland a Christian land. But first, Patrick went to France and studied religion there for ten years.
In the year 432 A.D. Pope Celestine made Patrick a bishop and named him “Patricius.” Now, Bishop Patricius sailed for Ireland. The Irish people were not interested in Christianity and tried to stone him to death. The Bishop and his men fled and found shelter for the night in a barn near the shore. The barn belonged to a tribal king named Dichu. He thought the bishop and his men were robbers and wanted to kill them.
Patrick held out his hand and smiled, and a golden aura shone on his face. Dichu put down his weapon, his fierce dog stopped growling (according to legend), and Dichu became the first Christian in Ireland and his barn the first church. Patrick traveled all over Ireland. He always had a drummer with him.
When he arrived at a village, the drummer would drum, and the people would come from their houses to listen to him (as in drumming up business.) Patrick showed them a shamrock, like a three-leafed clover. Patrick explained the idea of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost. (If no shamrocks were handy, he used the water, ice, and steam idea.) Today, the shamrock is Ireland’s national flower, and as more tribal kings and their people became Christians, they came together to worship and be united as a country.
Bishop Patricius drummed the snakes out of Ireland and into the sea (according to legend), and built hundreds of churches. When he died on March 17 (between 461 and 492 A.D.), the Pope declared him a saint and had him buried on church grounds in Downpatrick, Ireland. In the U.S., St. Patrick’s Day means party time. In Ireland, it means Holy Time.
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Irish archaeologists have long uncovered ancient Italian artifacts that kept surfacing in Dublin and beyond but many Irish authorities had been slow to accept the reality that the Emerald Isle was at least in part Italianized. Although Roman ornaments, jewelry and coins repeatedly popped up all over Ireland, the National Museum and a small band of Irish archaeologists stonewalled and ancient Italian artifacts that kept surfacing were attributed to British owners.
In early 1996 Britain’s Sunday Times revealed that Ireland, like England, had been penetrated by the legions of Rome as early as AD 79 and the myth of Irish resistance to Italy’s ancient empire was just that, a fabrication designed to shore up the nation’s Celtic identity. The Irish have long held dear the notion that their land had withstood the civilizing tide of Italianization.
After the 1996 astounding archaeological discoveries, the early “Italianization” of the Emerald Isle was hard to deny. 15 miles north of Dublin, beneath the soil of Drumanagh, Ireland’s hidden past came to light. A Roman fort built to protect Italian merchants and perhaps expand colonization of the interior was discovered in this rugged patch of the Irish east coast.
Roman coins bearing the names of the emperors Titus, Trajan and Hadrian were unearthed, raising the intriguing possibility that the Italic presence in Ireland ran from, at least, AD 79 to AD 138. Italian observers have called this discovery “revolutionary”.
Experts agree that Drumanagh not only expands the perimeters of the Roman Empire but enlarges the cultural sweep of the Latin world. Historically, it underscores the importance that Italy’s ancient pioneers attached to their civilizing mission. And, as some old “paesani” used to say, after a snob encounter with an Anglo neighbor, “their people were living in cases, when the Italians were giving civilization and culture to the world.”
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Nota Bene: If you are in Northern California on St. Pat’s, or any day really, get thee to John Campbell’s Irish Bakery, near 20th Ave., 5625 Geary Blvd., San Francisco, CA 94121. 415-387-1536. Try their enhanced version of a slim panettone, Celtic Almond Bread Strips (sweet cherries, raisins and walnuts packed into a sweet delicious bread that is filled with almond paste and brushed with sweet butter and brandy), their focaccia squares or Pesto sun dried tomatoes rolls.
They also have Irish breads, traditional scones, sweet tarts, cookies, pastries, soups, fresh bread every day and much more, including an “Italian Landlord”, Signor J.C., a longtime Museo ItaloAmericano benefactor.
10631 Vinedale Street, Sun Valley, CA 91352 - Phone (818) 767-3413 - Fax: (818) 767-1410
