Good morning,
Whitewater’s forecast calls for a sunny day, and a high of sixty-one degrees.
It’s St. Patrick’s Day. Here’s an excerpt from a description of St. Patrick Day:
Little is known of Patrick’s early life, though we know he was born in Roman Britain in the fifth century, into a wealthy Romano-British family. His father was a deacon in the Church, like his father before him. At the age of sixteen, he was kidnapped by Irish raiders and taken captive to Ireland as a slave.[1] It is believed he was held somewhere on the west coast of Ireland, possibly Mayo, but the exact location is unknown. According to his Confession, he was told by God in a dream to flee from captivity to the coast, where he would board a ship and return to Britain. Upon returning, he quickly joined the Church in Auxerre in Gaul and studied to be a priest.
In 432, he again says that he was called back to Ireland, though as a bishop, to save the Irish, and indeed he was successful at this, focusing on converting royalty and aristocracy as well as the poor. Irish folklore tells that one of his teaching methods included using the shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity (the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) to the Irish people. After nearly thirty years of teaching and spreading “God’s word” he died on 17 March, 461 AD, and was buried at Downpatrick, so tradition says. Although there were other more successful missions to Ireland from Rome, Patrick endured as the principal champion of Irish Christianity and is held in esteem in the Irish Church.
The Chicago River having been dyed green to mark the day:
On this day in Wisconsin history, the Wisconsin Historical Society recalls a different Patrick:
1849 – Patrick Cudahy Born
On this date Patrick Cudahy was born. A philanthropist and meat packer, Cudahy was born in Callan, County Kilkenny, Ireland, and arrived in Milwaukee with his family in 1849. He began working in the meat packing industry at the age of 14.
He became superintendent of the Plankinton and Armour plant in Milwaukee in 1874. Cudahy became partners with Plankinton in 1884 and formed John Plankinton and Company. Upon Plankinton’s death in 1888, Patrick Cudahy and his brother John purchased the company which became the Cudahy Brothers. He founded and promoted Cudahy, Wisconsin, as an industrial city.
Patrick Cudahy served as company president from 1893 to 1915. He was a director of the First Wisconsin National Bank of Milwaukee. His extensive real estate holdings in Milwaukee were incorporated as the Patrick Cudahy Family Company. He was active in and contributed to the Milwaukee Association of Commerce, Ancient Order of Hibernians, and Friends of Irish Freedom. [Source: Dictionary of Wisconsin Biography, SHSW 1960, pg. 91]