It seems as though Mary McNulty has gotten herself into a bit of a stew (March 17). Not the delicious one for which she gives a very authentic Irish recipe, but the historical one about St Patrick’s influence in all of Ireland. She suggests he might be a Protestant!

Her opinion does not agree with Seumas MacManus’ “”Story of the Irish Race.””

MacManus quotes from the Book of Armagh of 807 that stipulates that religious disputes should be referred to Patrick and, if not resolved by Patrick and his counselors, should be sent to the Pope in Rome.

To emphasize Patrick’s allegiance to the Pope, MacManus reports that two “”very learned Protestant Irish scholars, Usher and Whitley Stokes”” accept the proof of Patrick’s Roman Catholicism in the Book of Armagh.

Furthermore, Greg Tobin in his “”The Wisdom of St. Patrick””, informs us that in this very early stage in Christian history, St. Patrick established the foundation for a church that would “”look to Rome for validation.””

As for thinking that St. Patrick, if he were alive today, would be “”too much of a politician”” to declare himself a Roman Catholic, Tobin tells us that St. Patrick clashed with his own superiors, bucked the established power structures and confronted those in high places with his message of salvation.

It seems to me that if we Irish immigrants will not suffer any alteration to our recipe for Irish stew, we should equally defend the history of Ireland’s patron saint from any modernist revisionism.

Patrick A Lundy, Weld

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