Patrick Comerford
Next Wednesday [17 March 2021] is Saint Patrick’s Day. In other years, the celebrations have been a welcome break in Lent, but the pandemic restrictions require more consider planning for appropriate services and online resources this year.
This posting provides appropriate preaching and liturgical resources for Saint Patrick’s Day.
The readings in the Revised Common Lectionary (RCL) are:
The Readings: Tobit 13: 1b-7; Psalm 145: 1-13; II Corinthians 4: 1-12; John 4: 31-38.
There is a direct link to the readings HERE.
Preaching on Saint Patrick’s Day:
Preaching on Saint Patrick’s Day is always a challenge. People think they know the story of Saint Patrick, but they are also anxious to leave and take part in the day’s festivities.
In searching for some ideas for Saint Patrick’s Day, these are links to some recent sermons I have preached on Saint Patrick’s Day in previous years:
1, A sermon prepared for Saint Patrick’s Day 2020 is HERE.
2, A sermon preached in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick, on Saint Patrick’s Day 2019 is HERE.
3, A sermon preached in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick, on Saint Patrick’s Day 2018 is HERE.
4, A sermon preached in Saint Mary’s Church, Askeaton, Co Limerick, on Saint Patrick’s Day 2017 is HERE.
5, A sermon preached in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin, on Saint Patrick’s Day 2013 is HERE.
Thinking about Saint Patrick:
Four papers on Saint Patrick delivered at a Readers’ Retreat Day in the Church of Ireland Theological Institute, Dublin, in March 2016 are available through these links:
1, Who is Saint Patrick?
2, Saint Patrick’s writings and his message
3, Celtic Spirituality, is there something there?
4, The Eucharist, with a short sermon.
Some ideas for an alternative sermon:
The story of Saint Patrick is one of cultural diversity, pluralism and tolerance that is relevant to today’s Ireland.
I am all too conscious that the name Patrick is regarded as quintessentially Irish wherever I go in the English-speaking world.
But, of course, neither the name nor Patrick himself is Irish.
The name Patrick is a given name derived from the Latin name Patricius, meaning a patrician or person of noble birth. According to Livy and Cicero, the first 100 men appointed as senators by Romulus were referred to as ‘fathers’ (patres) of Rome, and their descendants became the patrician class.
In the same way, the word Patriarch is derived from the Greek πατριάρχης (patriarchēs), meaning ‘chief or father of a family,’ a compound of πατριά (patria), meaning ‘family,’ and ἄρχειν (archein), meaning ‘to rule.’
But, even then, Patrick may not have been the original name of the saint. Various early biographies say he was also known as Magonus (famous, or servant), Succetus (god of war or swineheard), Patricius (father of the people), and Cothirthiacus (four places).
He was born not in Ireland but in Roman Britain, perhaps in Cumbria, near Carlisle, close to Hadrian’s Wall, or – in one opinion – in Bannaventa, a Roman town near Norton in Northamptonshire. Other claims have been made for his birth in either present-day Scotland and Wales, or even present-day France. No sources ever suggest that he was born in Ireland, or had Irish family connections: his father Calpurnius was a decurion and deacon, and his grandfather Potitus was a priest from Bonaven Tabernia.
So, Patrick was born a Latin-speaker, of Roman ancestry, and after escaping from slavery in Ireland he was educated for the priesthood in present-day France, perhaps at Auxerre or at Lérins, off the coast of Cannes. During that time, he visited the Marmoutier Abbey, Tours, and received the tonsure at Lérins Abbey. Saint Germanus, Bishop of Auxerre, ordained him priest.
When Patrick returned to Ireland, he was not the first Christian, nor was he even the first bishop here. His mission was to unite the church in Ireland and to convert people in places not yet reached by Christianity.
There was a large number of Christians in Ireland by the early fifth century. They included Romano-British slaves and their descendants and Irish-born converts who had encountered Christianity during trading and cultural visits to Roman Britain and Europe.
The first bishop sent to these early Christians in Ireland was Palladius, from Poitiers in present-day France, who had spent time as a hermit in Sicily. His mission was to unite these Christians in a church. Prosper of Aquitaine records in his Chronicle that in 431 Pope Celestine sent Palladius as bishop to the Irish believing in Christ. Palladius landed at Arklow, Co Wicklow, and his assistants were Auxilius, Secundinus, and Iserninus.
Ireland was a continuing concern for the continental church, and these concerns were well expressed by the pontificate of Pope Leo the Great (440-461).
Saint Patrick made no claim to preach to the whole island or to be its only missionary, but only to have worked where no other missionary had gone before. In his Confessio [51], Patrick shows he is aware of episcopal activity in other parts of Ireland, including baptisms, confirmations and ordinations. His Confession is his defence of his personal integrity and his mission when they are criticised by other bishops in Ireland.
There is a strong tradition for six or more saints who were bishops in Ireland before Saint Patrick: Saint Ailbe of Emly, Co Tipperary; Saint Ciaran of Seir-Kieran in the Diocese of Ossory; Saint Abban of Adamstown, Co Wexford; Saint Declan of Ardmore, Co Waterford; Saint Ibar or Iberius of Wexford; and Saint Meltioc or Multose of Kinsale, Co Cork.
These claims may originate as anti-Patrician propaganda written to counter the claims of the church in Armagh to primacy over the whole of Ireland in the seventh and eighth centuries. But they point to persistent claims of a strong presence of an organised church in pre-Patrician Ireland.
So, Saint Patrick comes to Ireland as outsider, a Latin-speaker, and comes to a church that is already dispersed and diverse. His writings show a particular interest in the rights of slaves, women and the oppressed. That background and those concerns make Patrick a saint who addressed many of the agendas in Ireland today.
John 4: 31-38 (NRSVA):
31 Meanwhile the disciples were urging him [Jesus], ‘Rabbi, eat something.’ 32 But he said to them, ‘I have food to eat that you do not know about.’ 33 So the disciples said to one another, ‘Surely no one has brought him something to eat?’ 34 Jesus said to them, ‘My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to complete his work. 35 Do you not say, “Four months more, then comes the harvest”? But I tell you, look around you, and see how the fields are ripe for harvesting. 36 The reaper is already receiving wages and is gathering fruit for eternal life, so that sower and reaper may rejoice together. 37 For here the saying holds true, “One sows and another reaps.” 38 I sent you to reap that for which you did not labour. Others have laboured, and you have entered into their labour.’
Liturgical Resources:
Liturgical Colour: White (please note that Green is not the Liturgical Colour for Saint Patrick’s Day).
Penitential Kyries:
O taste and see that the Lord is good;
happy are those who trust in him.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
The Lord ransoms the live of his servants
and none who trust in him will be destroyed.
Christ, have mercy.
Christ, have mercy.
Come my children, listen to me:
I will teach you the fear of the Lord.
Lord, have mercy.
Lord, have mercy.
The Collect of the Day:
Almighty God,
in your providence you chose your servant Patrick
to be the apostle of the Irish people,
to bring those who were wandering in darkness and error
to the true light and knowledge of your Word:
Grant that walking in that light
we may come at last to the light of everlasting life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Collect of the Word:
No Collect of the Word is provided for Saint Patrick’s Day.
Introduction to the Peace:
Peace be to you, and peace to your house, and peace to all who are yours (I Samuel 25: 6).
Preface:
To this land you sent the glorious gospel
through the preaching of Patrick.
You caused it to grow and flourish in the life of your servant Patrick and in
the lives of men and women, filled with your Holy Spirit,
building up your Church to send forth the good news to other places:
Post Communion Prayer:
Hear us, most merciful God,
for that part of the Church
which through your servant Patrick you planted in our land;
that it may hold fast the faith entrusted to the saints
and in the end bear much fruit to eternal life:
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Blessing:
God, who in days of old gave to this land the benediction of his holy Church,
fill you with his grace to walk faithfully in the steps of the saints
and to bring forth fruit to his glory:
Suggested Hymns:
Tobit 13: 1b-7:
No suggested hymns.
Alternative, Deuteronomy 32: 1-9:
668, God is our fortress and our rock
539, Rejoice, O land, in God thy might
540, To thee, our God, we fly (verses 1-3, 7)
Psalm 145: 1-13
24, All creatures of our God and King
125, Hail to the Lord’s anointed
321, Holy, holy, holy! Lord God almighty
358, King of glory, King of peace
360, Let all the world in every corner sing
104, O for a thousand tongues to sing
365, Praise to the Lord, the almighty, the King of creation
368, Sing of the Lord’s goodness
73, The day thou gavest, Lord, is ended 374, When all thy mercies, O my God
492, Ye servants of God, your master proclaim
II Corinthians 4: 1-12:
52, Christ, whose glory fills the skies
613, Eternal light, shine in my heart
481, God is working his purpose out as year succeeds to year
324, God, whose almighty word
569, Hark, my soul, it is the Lord
96, Jesus is Lord! Creation’s voice proclaims it
195, Lord, the light of your love is shining
228, Meekness and majesty
341, Spirit divine, attend our prayers
John 4: 31-38:
305, O Breath of life, come sweeping through us
46, Tá an fómhar seo go haerach, céad buíochas le hÍosa
(The harvest is bright, all thanks be to Jesus)
141, These are the days of Elijah
Also suitable:
611, Christ be beside me
459, For all the saints who from their labours rest
461, For all thy saints, O Lord
460, For all your saints in glory, for all your saints at rest (verses 1, 2c and 3)
464, God, whose city’s sure foundation
322, I bind unto myself today
322, I bind unto myself today (vv. 1, 2, 8 & 9)
536, Lord, while for all the world we pray
471, Rejoice in God’s saints, today and all days
473, Síormholadh is glóir duit, a Athair shíorai
(All glory and praise to you, Father above)
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
Material from the Book of Common Prayer is copyright © 2004, Representative Body of the Church of Ireland.
The hymn suggestions are provided in Sing to the Word (2000), edited by Bishop Edward Darling. The hymn numbers refer to the Church of Ireland’s Church Hymnal (5th edition, Oxford: OUP, 2000).
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