Today is the 5th Sunday of Lent, March 17. Why am I highlighting today’s date? Because if you look at the calendar, you will also see Patrik among the name days celebrated today. Today is also the feast of the patron saint of Ireland, the convert of the Green Island.
Irish people and their friends all over the world, dressed in green clothes, remember – mostly with self-indulgent fun – Saint Patrick, who lived in the 5th century and did fantastic work.
He led the Irish from paganism to Christianity. The fruit of his work bore abundantly over several centuries and Ireland became the Western Christian bastion of Europe, not only on the level of statistics, but also in hearts. High fertility and unshakable faith characterized the Irish nation, and their large number of diasporas provided a strong nucleus of Catholics in the New World and in the big cities of Europe.
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In our small country, St. Patrick’s Day is outstanding, since in 1697 the hearts of the two peoples were connected.
The religious persecution of the English involved a serious blood sacrifice among the Catholics. Many hundreds of thousands fled, laymen and ecclesiastics alike.
Walter Lynch, later bishop of Clonfert, was also forced to flee during Cromwell’s persecution, he brought to Hungary the wonderful image of Mary, which depicts the mother putting the baby Jesus to sleep. In Vienna, the refugee high priest met the then bishop of Győr, János Püsky, who invited him to Győr and appointed him canon and episcopal vicar. After the bishop’s death (1663), the picture was placed on the side wall of the cathedral.
However, the story of the image does not end here. On March 17, 1697, when Cromwell’s Catholic persecution reached its peak in Ireland, the Virgin Mother shed blood. Siratta’s son pursued his children and proved once again how much he loves us. This is where the Irish and Hungarian St. Patrick’s Day meet. Today we celebrate St. Patrick and ask the Blessed Virgin who shed blood for our people, the youth and the awakening of souls.