Saint Patrick’s Day is a big celebration, well not this year, in my city. Yet I knew nothing of Saint Patrick beyond being Catholic and Irish. So when I spotted this Irish stamp, what a great excuse to learn more. So slip on your smoking jacket, fill your pipe, take your first sip of your green beer and sit back in your most comfortable chair. Welcome to todays offering from The Philatelist.
This stamp processes poor period printing. The design is properly reverent, but I wonder why the stamp has blue tinting instead of green.
Todays stamp is issue A42 a 3 pence stamp issued by Ireland on September 25th, 1961. It was a three stamp issue in various denominations honoring the 1500th anniversary of the death of Saint Patrick. His dates aren’t quite firm but were guessed later based on his use of the Vulgate Latin translation of the Bible. According to the Scott catalog, the stamp is worth 25 cents used.
Saint Patrick was born in Roman era England. As a child he was captured by Irish pirates, taken to Ireland and pressed into slavery. His labors were looking after animals. He escaped his bondage and managed to return to England and his family. In adulthood he became a priest and felt it was his mission to convert Ireland to Christianity re-arriving in 432 AD. There are those that say he returned to Ireland after facing a trial in Britain for accepting gifts from wealthy women and payment for Baptisms. He was not convicted and his Confessions contain his denial of financial impropriety. In Ireland he succeeded in Baptizing thousands, finding and ordaining priests to serve local communities and well off spinster ladies to become nuns.
The year before Patrick returned to Ireland another Bishop by the name of Palladius arrived. He was French and tasked by Pope Celestine I with converting Ireland to Christianity indeed becoming the first Bishop of Ireland. There is some scholarly debate that some of the legends of Saint Patrick, like ridding Ireland of snakes was actually the work of Palladius. To modern Irish ears, this also has the advantage of removing credit from England regarding the Christian conversion.
Saint Patrick was universally recognized as a Saint before the later Catholic Church formalized the process of recognizing them. This was also before the big break with the Orthadox Christianity of the East. In the Orthadox tradition, Patrick is the holder of a higher title than Saint called Equal to Apostles. This title is limited to Saints that had Devine success in the job of Christian conversion in the tradition of the 12 Apostilles of Jesus Christ.
Well my drink is empty and this was one of those stories getting bogged down where the modern historians with their new takes on the old texts. It gets them mentioned with the old texts, yes I know I chose not to site them, but reduces the majesty of what was accomplished. One or two good men came from far away and offered a better way. What were the chances that they would be listened to? Come again tomorrow for another story that can be learned from stamp collecting.