This icon I made for to shine over the Tønsberg Irish Trad sessions being held every last friday at Cafe Barkåker, where I used to frequent.
Saint Patrick, the Enlightener of Ireland, is very revered saint both in Orthodox and Catholic churches..He arrived on the Emerald isle, chased out the snakes and had the Christianity with him there.
Irish folk love their patron saint dearly, and every year, on 17 March, he is being celebrated with a parade, songs and toasts at the pubs there..
Saint Patrick d. 493, was a V c. Romano-British Christian missionary and bishop in Ireland. Known as the “Apostle of Ireland”, he is the primary patron saint of Ireland, the other patron saints being Brigid of Kildare and Columba.
He is also the patron saint of Nigeria. Patrick is venerated as a saint in the Catholic Church, the Church of Ireland (part of the Anglican Communion), Lutheranism, and in the Eastern Orthodox Church, where he is regarded as Equal-to-the-Apostles and Enlightener of Ireland.☘️
The dates of Patrick’s life cannot be fixed with certainty, but there is general agreement that he was active as a missionary in Ireland during the fifth century. Two Latin writings by Patrick survive: the Confessio and the Letter to the soldiers of Coroticus. Patrick writes that when he was sixteen, he was captured by Irish pirates from his home in Britain and taken as a slave to Ireland. He writes that he lived there for six years as a herder before escaping and returning to his family. After studying for many years, probably in Gaul, he returned to spread Christianity in Ireland. As a bishop, Patrick converted “thousands” and ordained many priests. Years later, he was summoned to Britain by church leaders to answer various accusations. Patrick issued a lengthy and personal statement denying the accusations and defending himself, which became the Confessio… More about him and his life here at Wikipedia.
I was on a trip to Ireland, Dublin and Belfast. You can take a train or a bus for a trip to Belfast, takes 2,5 hours one way pleasant ride, and visit the Titanic museum ( she was built there) and the Harbour bar and pubs there. Also Game of Thrones trail…
But the most pleasurable stay was in Dublin. The town was established by Norwegian Vikings as a slave trade post, and developed over the centuries as the capital city of Ireland. Sites, parks, museums, pubs.. never sleeps there.. and whiskey and stout porter… Took a pub crawl I.. even in Catholic procession on St Mary’s Accention day, 17 of August. Pubs usually have a live music and entertainment, at least 20 beer brands and good food.
I like it there, and I’ll go back to Murray’s…. for they also entertained us with a tap and river dance besides Dubh Linn, that play there Irish songs.. But there are pubs playing rock and other styles of music that will fit your taste.
I got accomodation at St. George hotel, right in the center of the town, fine hotel and helpfull personal. Beside Irish bosses most of them were Romanians and Brazilians.. We had a good late night conversations with Rob, a SP guy. He gave me exhaustive info about life in Ireland and Brazil. I liked him so much at I decided to give him my custom made whiskey bottle as a gift. It has St. Patrick on the one of the sides and St. Columba at the other. But I first emptied it from the rest of Irish Rover whiskey… I had left them to keep safe.😉
Godspeed and let St. Patrick and St. George guard them!
I would also thank dr. Paula and the nurses of the Wound treatment emergency at Misericordia’s Hospital for bandage my knee twice.
We, Bulgarians, Irish and Norwegians are very like.. We like fun, drinks and working hard. All had been a colony of some other lands, and got our independence after rebellion at the beginning of the 20 c.
And we have beautiful music
SIT PERDUCAT NOS DEUS!