Irish Place Names: St. Patrick, MO
In the northeast corner of Missouri, 150 miles north of St. Louis and three miles west of the intersection of Highway 61 and State Route Z, an oak grove marks the turnoff to St. Patrick, a small unincorporated community with a rich Hibernian back-story. There, a stonework Irish round tower interrupts an otherwise verdant horizon. It belongs … [Read more...] about Irish in the Heartland:
St. Patrick, Missouri
St. Patrick's Day
Irish in the Heartland:
After Sandy, Rockaways St. Patrick’s Day Parade Signals Neighborhood’s Resiliency
March 4, 2013
There was a brief moment back in November, in the immediate aftermath of Hurricane Sandy, when John Brennan questioned whether he should still hold the 38th annual Queens County St. Patrick’s Day Parade at Rockaway Beach. But Brennan, a Limerick-born 30-year Rockaway resident and Vice-President of the parade committee, told Irish Central it didn’t take long before the committee … [Read more...] about After Sandy, Rockaways St. Patrick’s Day Parade Signals Neighborhood’s Resiliency
President Obama Proclaims March Irish-American Heritage Month
March 1, 2013
St. Patrick’s Day gets all the love and notoriety, but since 1991 all 31 days of March have been proclaimed Irish-American Heritage Month. In 1991, President George H.W. Bush issued the first Presidential Proclamation and the tradition has continued. The proclamation is issued each February 28th, honoring Irish Americans and their ancestors for their contributions to American … [Read more...] about President Obama Proclaims March Irish-American Heritage Month
St. Patrick’s Day Traditions in the U.S.
On the morning of March 17, 1853, Archbishop of New York John Hughes addressed a crowd of worshippers at St. Patrick’s Cathedral about the special significance that St. Patrick’s Day had taken on in recent years. He declared: “... the very misfortunes of a temporal kind that have fallen on Ireland have sent forth the children of that unhappy land to every clime and to every … [Read more...] about St. Patrick’s Day Traditions in the U.S.
Sláinte!
The Fast & The Feast
How Ireland perfected the journey from abstinent Lent to the celebratory feast of Easter.
Throughout the history of Western civilization, spring’s arrival was always a time for feasting and gaiety. After months of cold stormy weather, long nights and gloomy days, shoots of new grass would herald the onset of another year’s planting cycle. In pre-Christian Ireland, the spring … [Read more...] about Sláinte!
The Fast & The Feast





