CAESAR: Who is it in the press that calls me?
I hear a tongue shriller than all the music
Cry “Caesar!” Speak. Caesar is turned to hear.
SOOTHSAYER: Beware the Ides of March. (Julius Caesar 1.2)
Though so warned he did not listen nor heed. Many years ago we were ‘beware’ of the ides of March since on that day our Income Tax was due. The warning by the IRS was enough for us to heed. We made sure we met the deadline. It also should have reminded me to be aware of “ides plus two”, March 17th, St. Patrick’s Day! Usually, before 1992, I spent a good deal of time drinking too much. In that year with the help of my loving and caring wife and AA I gave up drinking. But for many years before that, I like Caesar, did not listen nor heed the warnings I received. It wasn’t till after I sobered up that I learned anything about St. Patrick. In 1995 I received from my daughter Mary, copy of Thomas Cahill’s “How the Irish Saved Civilization: The Untold Story of Ireland’s Heroic Role from the Fall of Rome to the Rise of Medieval Europe”. His opening sentence was so true. “The word Irish is seldom coupled with the word civilization.” But then he goes onto explain how Rome and its empire fell and European barbarians descended on the Roman cities, looting artifacts and burning books. The Irish, who were just learning to read and write, took up the great labor of copying all of Western literature. These scribes served as means through which the Greco-Roman and Judeo-Christian cultures were transmitted to the tribes of Europe. Without the scribes what happened in history next would have been unthinkable. By these acts the Irish could be said to have saved the old and begun a new civilization called “Medieval”. They alone by their actions inspired and led by Patrick preserved the best of the ages of the Roman Empire. There was cause to celebrate such acts but there is not a word in the book reporting that drinking as much as you can was the way that was done. One of the thoughts in the book, which stayed with me was this: “Patrick’s gift to the Irish was his Christianity- the first de-Romanized Christianity in human history, a Christianity without the sociopolitical baggage of the Greco-Roman world, a Christianity that completely incultrated itself into the Irish scene. Through the Edict of Milan, which had legalized the new religion in 313 and made it the new emperor’s pet, Christianity had been received into Rome, not Rome into Christianity! Roman culture was little altered by the exchange, and it is arguable the Christianity lost much of its distinctiveness.” This is one of Cahill’s main points in the book; namely that Patrick brought a new type of Christianity into being. One that he argues is the ‘real’ Christianity. It seems that a ‘new type’ of Christianity is not accurate. It is more like going back to the Christianity of the years prior to 300 AD.
One of the writing referred to in Cahill’s book is Patrick’s “Confession”. In 2004, thanks to another daughter, Mary Lou, I received a book entitled “The Wisdom of St. Patrick” by Greg Tobin. In it St. Patrick’s written record the “Confession” is expounded upon to show us how we might think and feel. The author expresses his “intention is to glean some relevant spiritual principles from the saint’s writings and to comment there upon, to identify how Patrick’s own life and times were reflected in his writing, to find application in our daily life -”. He does this by taking different virtues and conditions alluded to by Patrick in the confession and ask us to think of how Patrick explains them. It is the type of book that at anytime you can pick it up turn to anywhere in it and it starts you thinking of how you are applying the virtues or the gospel in your life.
The day before the ‘ides’in1972 my Dad died. He died in my home and I last saw him when I took him home that morning after attending Mass, his daily habit. I talked about a marathon I was going to run in New York. He expressed very little interest in the event since for him such running was beyond necessity. He was a walker most of his life and keep in shape in that manner. Now at 85 he did very little. He was laid out on St. Patrick’s Day. In those day they had the casket open and it sat between where the pews ended and the altar rail was. He caused my sister Winnie a bit of a problem in that he had worn only a black tie from the time my Mother died, in 1952. Professionals then wore a coat and tie daily. Being buried on St. Patrick’s Day she wanted him to be wearing a green tie. She was fortunate to find that her husband Paul had one and it was used in place of his usual black one. So also was continued the tradition of St. Patrick’s Day, even in his coffin, for the ‘wearin’ of the green’. There was a song using those words that I recall and a tradition in those days that the first McSorley to play it on the piano that day got a buck! I never made any money that way.
The marathon referred to was the one held in New York. It was either the original New York Marathon or maybe its second. It was held in Central Park in those days not run through all of the boroughs of New York. It started at “Tavern on the Green” and you did three laps around the park each for me taking about an hour. It was the one where I had the company of two of my older brothers, Patrick and Jim, both priests. They had been with us for my Dad’s funeral. I reported on it before that my brother Pat thought ‘marathons were great’ since he and Jim sat in the Tavern and came out each hour as I passed the starting line!
We now have a new memory of the month of March. This month we were the objects of an unsuccessful scam. I answered the phone and the voice told me it was my grandson David. His voice was a bit strange but he explained it by saying he had a cold. As my good wife pointed out later that certainly shouldn’t have given him a somewhat British accent! He told me he was at a pay phone in St. Jerome, Quebec. He was being allowed to call though he was in jail and 20 people were waiting to use the phone. He said he was up there with a few friends (whose names we got later) skiing and had a car accident. Here was another point that should have clued me in since I never heard my grandson even talk about skiing. But I failed again. He said since he had been drinking (only one beer, of course) he was charged with a DUI. Our grandson is an alcoholic and had had a couple of DUI’s. The caller went on and said he had a lawyer named Cohen, and asked if I knew him. Indicating whomever it was calling knew I was a retired attorney. The bottom line was that his lawyer had made a deal that if they paid all the damages he would be released! The damages he said came to $5200! At that point I turned the phone over to June who in short order told them no way without more evidence would she send any money. He, the caller, then said his lawyer would call back in an hour. As soon as he hung up June called David our grandson. He was at work in Aberdeen, MD. Thus confirming it was a scam. When the caller called back he said he was the lawyer and kept trying to get June to send money by wire. He wouldn’t give us an address. Then he started to lower the amount. He wouldn’t acknowledge whether he had identified the David as David Hopkins. Eventually June wore him down and he hung up. We had hoped we could get an address or something but didn’t succeed. The scary part is the things that they knew, e.g., our house phone number, knew June’s first name, knew David had had one DUI, knew he would say he didn’t want his parents to know, etc. We learned later that most of what they knew could be found on the Internet! But once again thanks to the knowledge and stamina of June we were saved!
As we approach the middle of the month of March, I noted we have another Friday the Thirteenth. I don’t suffer “from a fear of calendrical calamity on that day” People who do so are know as ‘friggetriskaidekaphobes.’ (phew!)
Not the kind of name you would usually call or yell at a person ! I learned all this from an article in the newspaper that was noting 2009 was a year of three Friday’s the Thirteenths: One in February, One in March and One in November. The last time this occurred was in 1998 and the next time will be in 2012. All this important (?) information about the calendar I was sure you would want to know!
Until next time, Pax Tecum!