Say
It Like You Mean It
St. Patrick And Henry County, VA
Without
St. Patrick there would be no Henry County. How can
that be? Patricius, whom we now revere as St. Patrick,
lived somewhere in Wales. At age 16 he was kidnapped
by Irish raiders and sold as a slave. For the next 6
years he tended Chief Milchu's pigs at the base of Mt.
Slemish in County Antrim, Ireland. During those years
of intense deprivation, starving and naked, he formed
his faith. When he eventually escaped he went to France
and entered the monastery of St. Lehrins. After a time
he felt compelled to return to Ireland and did just
that around 400 A.D., establishing centers of religious
study for men, women and children throughout that country.
Tribal Ireland had no cities so these centers grew rapidly
and became hubs of art, learning and prosperity. In
time people came from all over Europe to learn from
the monks. In these last years of the Roman Empire the
Irish monks brought books of all kinds and authors into
their centers.
Irish
scholars were very open to all forms of knowledge from
the gospels to old Greek and Latin pagan literature.
Irish scribes copied the writings, preserving them for
generations to come. When Germanic barbarians overran
the continent in the fifth century Roman libraries were
sacked and destroyed; Ireland literally became THE publisher
for Europe. By their efforts at the end of the 6th century
the Irish had reconnected barbarian Europe to Christian
literacy. Project yourself forward another 11 centuries
or so and imagine English explorers colonizing the New
World. Christian concepts and principles, now Protestant
and not Catholic, formed the backbone of the English
system of government. States were made up of counties.
So the mere existence of Henry County goes back to the
founding of the English and Christian colony of Virginia.
But there is another
interesting Irish connection between Henry County and
St. Patrick. When Great Britain settled the Virginia
colony church and state were both included. As each
new county was organized a church parish accompanied
it. Early on Henry County was part of a larger Halifax
County, formed in 1752. Halifax extended westward to
the Blue Ridge Mountains embracing the present counties
of Pittsylvania, Henry, Patrick and the southern half
of Franklin. The church parish covering the same area
was named Antrim. The English,
of course, were Protestant Episcopalians and Ireland's
County Antrim is part of Protestant Ulster. The rest
of Ireland was and is Roman Catholic. How Virginia's
parish came to be named Antrim is not really known.
And of course an old road running from east to west
through the full length of Halifax was known as the
Irish Road. It paralleled Hickey's Road, crossing Route
58 west today at Grassy Creek, and ended at the Blue
Ridge Mountains.
On March 17th say
Happy St. Patrick's
Day ... like you mean it. As you should.
References:
History of Pittsylvania County, Maude Carter
Clement, Bell, 1929
How the Irish Saved Civilization, Thomas Cahill,
Nan A. Talese/Doubleday, 1995
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