(Commentary)

St. Patrick’s Day, March 17, honors the patron saint of Ireland on the day of his death, though the precise years of his life — fourth century, A.D. — are not so commonly agreed upon.

Now know affectionately as “Patty” this austere cleric is credited with converting the pagans — polytheistic natives of Ireland — to Christianity, using the shamrock as a symbol to explain the Holy Trinity. One can only presume that a number of those pagans realized their enlightenment through their unwilling deaths.

It is an oddity that this holy remembrance is celebrated most noticeably by carousing and rock and roll music. Even more curious is the enthusiasm of so many descendants of Italian and German and Indian immigrants to claim — facetiously, of course — Irish heritage.

Prior to 1845, most Irish immigrants to America were middle class Protestants, but that year’s potato famine in Ireland forced the massive migration of poor Catholics, and their arrival here was welcomed as warmly as the movement of southern blacks into northern cities; in both cases, stray dogs were given preference.

Wouldn’t it be interesting to have a holiday on which those same son’s of old Europe claimed African heritage? Even if it was just part of the party.