Sundays at All Hallows (Sunday, March 16, 2025)
Welcome to Sundays at All Hallows. This coming Monday, March 17, 2025, is the feast of Saint Patrick, who was a fifth century missionary to Ireland and later a bishop in Ireland. He is credited with bringing Christianity to various parts of the Emerald Isle. Patrick was not the first missionary to Ireland, but he was an important one. He is regarded as the patron saint of Ireland and the apostle to the Irish. Patrick tried to establish the diocesan system in Ireland, a system in which churches are organized into dioceses, areas each of which is controlled by a bishop. This system did not survive his death. Ireland was rural and had no towns. Its people were divided into tribes, each with its own chief. What would take the place of the diocesan system in Ireland would be a loose network of monasteries, Christian communities of both men and women, some celibate, others married, led by an abbot and in some cases by an abbess. Unlike later monasteries these Irish monasteries were not clo...
