To honor St. Patrick – the zealous and courageous 5th century missionary of Christ – archdiocesan faithful gathered on his feast day at the downtown Washington parish bearing his name to pray and to carry on the legacy of faith and charity he passed down to the Irish people and the whole world.
“Patrick’s feast day in the midst of Lent begins in faith and it invites faith, even before the exuberance of the festivities,” said Washington Cardinal Wilton Gregory, the main celebrant and homilist of a noontime Mass on March 17 at St. Patrick Church. “In other words, it is a holy day before it’s merely a happy day.”
Cardinal Wilton Gregory, wearing a green face mask, processes to the altar to begin the St. Patrick's Day Mass at St. Patrick’s Church in Washington, D.C. on March 17. (CS photo/Andrew Biraj)
Cardinal Gregory was joined in concelebrating the Mass by Washington Auxiliary Bishop Roy E. Campbell Jr.; Father Andrew Wakefield, pastor of St. Patrick Parish; Msgr. Salvatore Criscuolo and Msgr. Charles Antonicelli, former pastors of St. Patrick’s; as well as several archdiocesan priests.
Prior to the Mass, young step dancers dressed in traditional Irish costumes from the O’Neill James School of Irish Dance in Arlington, Virginia, performed Irish reels and jigs on the church steps. Mike Scott, a piper with the Law Enforcement Massed Pipe and Drums, played the bagpipes in front of St. Patrick’s, welcoming several dozen Mass-attendees – all wearing face masks and many wearing green – to the church. St. Patrick’s Church is the oldest Catholic parish in the federal city of Washington, D.C. and was founded in 1794 to meet the spiritual needs of Irish immigrants who built the White House and the U.S. Capitol.
Members of the O’Neill James School of Irish Dance pray during the St. Patrick's Day Mass on March 17 at St. Patrick's Church in downtown Washington. (CS photos/Andrew Biraj)
The cardinal said there is rich folklore and scholarly debate about St. Patrick, who was captured by pirates and taken as a slave to Ireland before he escaped and returned to his family. After becoming a priest, he returned to Ireland and served as a Catholic bishop, preaching the faith and converting the entire nation to Christianity.
“What is certainly factual beyond a doubt is Patrick’s missionary spirit and his intense pastoral care for his flock,” Cardinal Gregory said. “...The Catholic faith was undoubtedly firmly planted on that island nation because of Patrick’s love for Christ and for Christ’s Church.”
Cardinal Gregory gives his homily at the St. Patrick's Day Mass. (CS photo/Andrew Biraj)
In his homily, the cardinal said the real substance of St. Patrick’s life is often overlooked or obscured by the secular activities that surround March 17. He noted that in today’s culture, which sadly focuses on the trivial or superficial, there is no surprise that St. Patrick’s Day is just another commercially-exploited event with little connection to the greatness of the man “who called people to faith and love and Christ.”
“Legends may triumph over substance as is so often the tendency of our current culture. Patrick would certainly disapprove,” Cardinal Gregory said. “(St. Patrick) was first and foremost a priest and a pastor, a missionary and a shepherd, a prophet and a spiritual guide.”
The Ireland of St. Patrick’s time, he said, was a rugged and rough place, filled with dangers, social and political upheaval – not too dissimilar to today’s world.
“It was to such a world Patrick proclaimed Christ crucified and risen from the dead,” said the cardinal. “He didn’t soft-pedal the demands of the Gospel, and neither should we.”
Cardinal Gregory celebrates the St. Patrick's Day Mass, above. In the photo below, a woman wearing green prays during the Mass honoring Ireland's patron saint. (CS photo/Andrew Biraj)
St. Patrick, said Cardinal Gregory, would have “welcomed the immigrant, cared for the disadvantaged, respected each moment of human life, worked for social justice, called the Church to fidelity of faith, reverenced the things of God, and rejoiced in cultural diversity, which eventually resulted in the union of many tribes and clans into the people that we love today as the Irish nation.”
Describing St. Patrick as “a man for all seasons,” the cardinal said the saint is a model the faithful should look to in the present day, especially with its social and cultural challenges.
“We praise God for Patrick, and we ask in faith to carry on that Gospel mission that he accomplished so effectively in Ireland and to all the nations of the world. Erin go Bragh!”
During the St. Patrick's Day Mass at St. Patrick Parish in Washington, Cardinal Gregory in the photo above says a prayer over Father Andrew Wakefield, the pastor there. In the photo below, area priests concelebrate the Mass. (CS photos/Andrew Biraj)
Father Wakefield thanked Cardinal Gregory and the clergy, as well as all those who participated in the Mass – the lectors, musicians, altar servers, the Ancient Order of Hibernians who served as ushers, the dancers from the O’Neill James School of Irish Dance, the Law Enforcement Massed Pipe and Drums and the staff of St. Patrick’s Church. He noted this year’s Mass is celebrated on about the one-year anniversary of the coronavirus pandemic and asked for prayers for all those who have died or suffered in its wake this past year.
“May we help one another to always know Christ is with us always,” the priest said. “In the words of St. Patrick: ‘Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me, Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me.’ ”
Joined by members of the O’Neill James School of Irish Dance, Mike Scott, a piper with the Law Enforcement Massed Pipe and Drums, plays the bagpipes in front of St. Patrick’s Church in Washington before the March 17, 2021 Mass honoring the parish’s patron saint on his feast day. (CS photo/Andrew Biraj)
