Happy St. Patrick's Day!

My children, in addition to being mostly German, have a generous portion of Irish blood. We honor this heritage by dressing them in green today. They were really bummed that St. Patrick's Day is not a school holiday. "Isn't it a half-day today?" and "Do you have to go to work today?" were just two of the questions I got this morning.

St. Patrick holds a special place in Ireland's heart and an argument can be made that he saved Western culture by spreading Christianity to the Irish people. While England and the rest of Europe descended back into Paganism after the fall of the (Christianized) Roman Empire, Christianity was safe in Ireland. Later it was Irish monks that brought Christianity back to England and other European areas. It's no wonder that St. Patrick is such a hero.

By the way, don't tell the Irish that St. Patrick was actually an Englishman.