Even big Ian is getting in on the act
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Protestant Ulster's avowed enemy of 'Romanism', the Reverend Ian Paisley, is writing a book on St Patrick and the origins of Christianity.
'Big Ian' has confessed to being a life-long admirer of St Patrick, who he has identified as a fellow Biblical traveller and a man, like himself, grounded in the fundamental virtue of humility.
He describes Patrick as being "a very humble man".
And according to the Gospel of Ian, St Patrick "did not put any sugar on the lollipop" of his deeply-held Christian belief.
"Patrick knew his Bible and he must have come from a family which taught him the Scriptures," according to Dr Paisley. "Patrick has been hijacked by the Roman Catholic Church and made out to be something that he wasn't."
We shall have to wait at least until St Patrick's Day 2010 before the former First Minister and founder of the Democratic Unionist Party publishes his account of who the national saint really was. In the meantime, from the advance blurb for the book, we can anticipate a beardless St Patrick, stripped of his green Episcopal robes, his mitre gone from his head and his crozier replaced by a walking stick.
Resignation
Since his resignation as first minister and his stepping down as Moderator of his Free Presbyterian Church, Dr Paisley has already brought out a new edition of his book, first published 50 years ago, on 'The 1859 Revival' of evangelical Protestantism.
But for this year's St Patrick's Day, Dr Paisley has taken time off from his literary work. He has travelled to the US to show solidarity with the Northern peace process alongside the Taoiseach and Martin McGuinness.
- John Cooney Religion Correspondent
