Whether they know it or not, all those marching up Fifth Avenue today honor Ireland’s most famous immigrant: St. Patrick.
Patrick was born in Britain to a Roman family near the end of the 4th century. At age 16, he was kidnapped and brought to Ireland. In the fields where he tended sheep, he turned his eyes to God. And then he escaped back to Britain.
But it turned out there was no going back. Patrick had developed a love for the Irish. After being ordained first a priest and then a bishop, he returned to Erin as a missionary, enduring much on behalf of his adopted people. Now he is their Âpatron saint.
The millions of Irish-Americans who celebrate this day all have ancestors with similar tales about their arrivals here. Indeed, the first one through then-newly opened Ellis Island in 1892 was 14-year-old Annie Moore from County Cork. Though the Irish may not have come to America as Patrick did to Ireland — as a slave — most were poor and faced considerable hardship.
And yet they succeeded, making tremendous contributions to their new homeland and adding their own chapters to the story of America. That same dynamic is at work today in New York, which benefits from immigrants from every corner of the earth.
You don’t have to be Irish to appreciate what immigrants contribute to our country. And you don’t have to be an immigrant to put on some green and enjoy this city’s St. Paddy’s Day celebrations.
But it helps.