I've included this one here to provide the reference for my incipient post. While this post appears first, my real first post for this blog is the one called "As I was saying..."

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Dhuit!

This, I am given to understand, means “Happy Saint Patrick’s Day” in Irish.  St. Patrick, himself , wasn’t Irish by birth. Oddly enough, he seemed to have a similar standing to St. Paul. Both were Roman citizens, living in a Roman province.

St. Patrick was born in Roman Britain about 387 A.D. (I know – we now use “common era”. But, it hardly seems appropriate to be politically correct when it comes to such as St. Patrick.) So, he was, in effect, a Roman Citizen, while being ethnically of British stock.

He was captured as a slave when he was 16. Captured by the Irish, no less. No wonder the Brits had a grudge against the Irish for so long. “Hey! We want St. Patrick back! He’s ours, dammit!”

Here is St. Patrick’s blessing (a shortened version):

Críost liom,
tar éis dom,
a bheith os mo chomhair,
agus a bheith ar mo lámh dheis agus ar chlé.
Bealtaine gach rud is féidir liom a bheith do Chríost.

Which means:

Christ be with me,

be after me,

be before me,

and be at my right and left hand.

May everything I do be for Christ.

Lá Fhéile Pádraig Sona Dhuit!

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!