An Irish friend sent me an e-mail today commiserating with me that St Joseph has been overshadowed by St Patrick. As if!
The funny thing is, St Patrick passed altogether unnoticed here in Rome last Saturday. On that day our community celebrated the feast of St Zbigniew. St Patrick got not even an honorable mention! I guess this is what happens after nearly three decades of having a Polish pope. Yet, I saved the day because I did wear green that day. I think I was the only one in the whole university to do so.
Instead, for the feast of St Joseph, we started the day with a sung liturgy, and at mid-day we were treated to a five course dinner. I had to be careful, since I teach three classes in the afternoon, so I kept it very light. A group of Slovak students came in to serenade while we ate, singing Slovak, Bohemian and Moravian folks songs, accompanied by students playing traditional instruments including a young woman who worked wonders on a violin. Incredible! And at dessert there were St Joseph Cakes, a specialty of southern Italy where it is called le zeppole (I'm told that in Rome the cake is called bigné di san Giuseppe). In the evening, a very festive Vespertine prayer service, again with a lot of singing and supper with stories and new wine. Not bad for a working day, and not bad for a day when the heavens broke open and we've endured heavy rain all day. But it has been a fun day.
So, what can I say except that nothing overshadowed the feast, and had the Romans celebrated St Patrick instead of St Zbigniew, I'm sure he would have only added to feast, since he too was ceratinly a devotee of St Joseph.
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