Lakeside Inn.

If you haven’t done so already, please take a moment now to reserve your room at the Mount Dora Lakeside Inn. Telephone; 800-556-5016 or locally 352-383-4101 for the July 22-24, meeting weekend.

O’Keefe’s Irish Pub and Restaurant

Saturday’s meeting, July 23^rd, will be held at O’Keefe’s Irish Pub and Restaurant in Tavares.

President’s Corner

We had a very nice meeting at the home of Vicki and Bob Pearce this past Saturday, and although our attendance was a bit lower than normal, we had a very nice time. This was one of those occasions when everybody was relaxed and comfortable and the meeting lasted much longer than usual. Vicki served her special Shepherd’s Pie, and Bob was very generous with the Guinness. We particularly missed Charlie and Ann who are still recuperating at home. Ann has eye surgery coming up soon, so those of you who know them well may wish to drop them a card.

We now in the final planning stages for our July meeting which will be held on the 23d and 24^th at the Lakeside Inn in Mount Dora. We have two vacancies remaining on our contract due to two unavoidable conflicts that occurred. But there is still a chance for more than two reservations. You can call the Lakeside Inn at 800-556-5016 to make a reservation for Friday and Saturday nights at $89.00. The chapter voted to pay for breakfast at the Inn for those who attend, so this is a big plus. We also have reservations at O’Keefe’s Irish Restaurant in Tavares on Saturday at 12:00 Noon for attendees. Remember, however, you do not have to stay at the Lakeside Inn to attend the regular meeting at O’Keefe’s. For more information about the July meeting, please call me at 407-268-9561.

July 1^st is the deadline for registration to attend the 2005 Belleek Convention to be held on September 8-10 at the Crowne Plaza in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Most people to attend believe these meetings are the best opportunity they have to participate fully in the advantages of BCIS membership. There are exhibits of unusual and rare items of Belleek that you won’t see anyplace else in addition to lectures from experts in the field. Plus, there is the opportunity to meet George and Angela Moore as well as key persons from the pottery. Pat and I will be there, and we hope to have a good turnout from the Sunshine Chapter.

Dot Morin is preparing to submit a group order for the book recently discussed in the BCIS Newsletter by Horace Manning Mann’s son. This book contains hundreds of pictures of items from the famous Mann Collection. If you wish to be included, call Dot at 727-526-0934.

That’s it for this month. Have a pleasant summer, and we hope to see you in Mount Dora in July.

Directions to Lakeside Inn

From South Florida, via Florida Turnpike

Take Florida Turnpike North to exit 267A (Toll Road 429 North, $1 toll)
Proceed north (approx. 9 miles) to Hwy 441 North (left turn at light)
Proceed north on Hwy 441 for 13 miles to Mt. Dora. There will be a major intersection with a stop light, grocery stores, fast food and gas stations. Turn left at the light onto Donnelly Street
Proceed on Donnelly approx. 1-2 miles, pass the RR crossing, and the rear of Lakeside Inn will be on the right hand side

From South Florida, via Interstate 95

I-95 north to State Road 46 West (Exit # 223)
Take SR 46 West through Sanford, to Mt. Dora.
Turn Right on Highland St. at the stop light
Turn Left on 5th Avenue at the next stop light
Turn Left on Alexander at the stop light
Proceed to the Lakeside Inn Entrance (Alexander becomes our driveway)

From the Tampa Area (St. Pete, Sarasota, Tampa)

Travel East on I-4 to the west side of Orlando
Take exit 77 for the Florida Turnpike
Stay to the right for Turnpike North toward Ocala ($.50)
Take exit 267A (Toll road 429 North) ($1toll)
Proceed north (approx. 9 miles) to Hwy 441 North (left turn at light)
Proceed north on Hwy 441 for 13 miles to Mt. Dora. There will be a major intersection with a stop light, grocery stores, fast food and gas stations. Turn left at the light onto Donnelly Street
Proceed on Donnelly approx. 1-2 miles, pass the RR crossing, and the rear of Lakeside Inn will be on the right hand side

From Orlando International Airport

When exiting the airport, take the northbound exit to SR 528 west (Beeline)
Take the Florida Turnpike exit and follow the signs to Turnpike North
Take exit 267A (Toll road 429 North) ($1toll)
Proceed north (approx. 9 miles) to Hwy 441 North (left turn at light)
Proceed north on Hwy 441 for 13 miles to Mt. Dora. There will be a major intersection with a stop light, grocery stores, fast food and gas stations. Turn left at the light onto Donnelly Street
Proceed on Donnelly approx. 1-2 miles, pass the RR crossing, and the rear of Lakeside Inn will be on the right hand side

Treasurer’s Report

At the opening of the January meeting we had $1,363.74. After the meeting including the auction proceeds and the 2005 dues we had $ 2,797.74. We sent $1,500.00 to the RKD Scholarship Fund in February. In March we received $145.00 in dues and donations and spent $14.43 on postage. In April we received $40.00 in dues before the April meeting. As of the start of the April meeting we had $1,468.31 in the treasury.

Vicki Pearce, Secretary / Treasurer

In response to my request for interesting items for the newsletter, Charles Easthope of the UK chapter sent the following article on some research that he had done with reference to Ireland’s Saint Patrick. It is long so I have decided to run it over several issues of the Parian Chatter.

The ‘Real Saint Patrick.’ Charles Easthope March 1996

Part 1 of 2

It hardly seems possible that it is almost a whole year since that exciting day when Fiona and I joined a host of Belleek Conventioneers in marching along Fifth Avenue Seattle, as part of the St. Patrick Day Parade. We all took it in turns to help carry the Belleek banner, as we followed the lead of Members of the Trillium Chapter from Toronto in chanting “B-E-L-L-E-E-K, Belleek,” as we marched. Yet sure enough the year has flown, ‘like the snow from the ditches,’ and here we are again preparing to hold our Meeting on St. Patrick’s Day for only the second time since the Group was formed in 1989.

This led me to wonder about “Himself,” and just how little I knew about him. I decided to try and find out more. I began by asking Irish, and Irish connected friends the question “What do you know about St. Patrick?” This was not very helpful. I heard things like “He drove all the snakes out of Ireland.” “He converted Ireland to Christianity.” Also, “He lit the Pascal Fire on Tara Hill.” Yes, alright, I know that every schoolboy knows that legend tells us that he did all of these things, and more, but what I wanted to hear about was the ‘real’ St. Patrick, not the myth. He is after all the Patron Saint of Ireland, and there are millions of people all over the world, Irish or not, who become Irish for a day at least, every year in order to celebrate his Day.

I thought then that I would try the library and see if this would help me to sort out the facts from the legend. This proved to be as confusing as my question had been unhelpful. There must have been nearly as many books written about the Saints Life as there are ‘one-day-Irishmen’ each year. Starting of course with St. Patrick himself in his ‘Confession,’ and continuing throughout the fifteen centuries that have elapsed since he first walked in Ireland, right up to the present day.

In the very short time that I have spent so far on this fascinating subject I have not even begun to scratch the surface of all the works that have been written about the Saint. The little I have managed to read though has taught me that there are as many theories as there are books. Apart from the difficulty of sifting the facts from the legend, there is also the difficulty of deciding which ‘facts’ are the real ones and which are not. Take St. Patrick’s own writing for instance. As well as the ‘Confession’ there is also a Hymn, and a letter written by Patrick to Coroticus, (a British Chieftain who had carried off some Irish Christians as slaves.) These works now form part of the ‘Book of Armagh’ which is housed in Trinity Collage, Dublin. We are assured that all three works “are considered genuine;” then another source tells us that all of them, plus an early life by Muirchu, were “tampered with in order to bring them into conformity with the elaborated life of the Apostles.”

Accepting then that most of what has been written is open to interpretation as well as contradiction, his story seems to be as follows:

In his ‘Confession’ Patrick tells us that he “was a native Roman Britain, the son of Calpurnius, of the village of Bannavem Tabernia.” We know that his Celtic name, or ‘nick-name’ was Succrat, his mother was Gondbaun, who was from present day Hungary. His father was a Deacon whose full name was Quintus Calpurnius Concessinus.

At the age of sixteen he was captured by Irish raiders, “along with thousands of others,” according to his own account. He was carried to Ireland where he was sold as a slave to an Antrim Chief called Milchu. He spent six years as a captive, “tending sheep in the woods and on the mountain.” Patrick tells us that it was during this period that he turned to god and to matters of religion which he had neglected in his youth. That he finally succeeded in making his escape and returned to Britain, where he was welcomed as a long lost son by his relatives, who implored him to remain with them.

Other writers claim that it was to Gaul that Patrick first went after escaping from Ireland. We are told that it was here that he became a Monk, studying first under Martin of Tours before becoming a disciple of St. Germanus of Auxerre. St. Patrick himself does not tell us exactly where it was that he received his ecclesiastical training, but in his old age he could write of his desire to go to Gaul to visit ‘the Saints of the Lord, which may suggest that it was in Gaul that he studied. It is also possible that he spent a short stay on the island of Lerins, off the French Mediterranean coast too. He was ordained a Bishop at the age of 45 and in the year 432, it is thought, went as a missionary to Ireland, Palladius, who had been sent there by Pope Celestine a short time before, having died.

How then does this version of St. Patrick’s return to Ireland fit in with his own account? On his return to Britain after his escape from captivity he may well have conceded to his family’s plea to remain with them if it were not for a vision that he was able to recount in his ‘Confession’ a half a century later with remarkable vividness:

“And there I saw in the night the vision of a man whose name was Victorious, coming as it were from Ireland, with countless letters. And he gave me one of them and I read the opening words of the letter which were ‘The voice of the Irish,’ and as I read the beginning of the letter, I thought that at the same moment I heard their voice – they were those beside the Wood of Foclut which is near the Western Sea – and thus did they cry out with one mouth; ‘We ask thee boy, come and walk among us once more.’”

It is feasible to believe that both versions can be correct. Given that all dates concerning St. Patrick are suspect, from what we have learned so far we know that he would have been aged 22 when he escaped and returned home. We are told that it was after being ordained a Bishop, ‘at the age of 45,’ that he was sent to Ireland. This means that he would have had over twenty years to prepare himself for his mission. In sending St. Patrick to Ireland, Pope Celestine was only assisting the Saint to fulfill the divine instructions that he had received in his vision.

St. Patrick first landed at Wicklow, accompanied by a missionary party, but they met with a hostile reception and proceeded up the east coast to Strangford Lough. We are told that the party disembarked at the mouth of the River Slaney, and then proceeded inland, where they were challenged by a local chief called Ditchu, whom St. Patrick converted to Christianity. Ditchu gave St. Patrick a barn, (in Irish a sabhall, which is pronounced ‘saul.’) This barn became St. Patrick’s first Church in Ireland, and the Hill of Saul has been the site of an Abby or church ever since, right up to the present day.

After spending twenty years as a missionary St. Patrick finally fixed his see in Armagh. It is probable that most of this missionary work took place north of a line running from Galway to Wexford, indeed nearly all of the Churches which later claimed St. Patrick in person as their founder are situated in this half of the country. As well as his conversion of Ditchu, we also learn that he “sailed north to convert his old Master Milchu.” We know too that this missionary work also brought him to Tara, Co. Meath.

Continued in the next issue.