Day 2 - June 2nd

On Sunday, we headed to Dundrum Bay to try our hand at rowing with a world champion rowing club based in Dundrum, about 10 minutes from Newcastle. After a friendly rowing competition (for which Sean, another ambassador, and I ended up winning a trophy), we hiked up to Dundrum Castle, a massive fort built by John de Courcy about 800 years ago to defend a small village within its walls from invaders (pictured below).

We then headed to Downpatrick to visit the St. Patrick’s Center, which we were told was the only permanent exhibition center for St. Patrick in the world. We learned about the incredible life of St. Patrick from both Dr. Tim Campbell and the walkthrough exhibition at the center. Almost immediately Dr. Campbell dispelled common misconceptions about who St. Patrick actually was. Interestingly enough, he was never actually canonized by the Catholic Church, despite receiving universal veneration as St. Patrick. He also never wore a hat, nor did he use a shamrock to teach the people of Ireland about the Holy Trinity. His real name wasn’t even Patrick! Scholars and historians are still unsure of exactly where Patrick hailed from, but they all agree that he wasn’t from Ireland and almost certainly from Roman Britain. At 16, Patrick was kidnapped and forced into slavery, serving as a shepherd for several years in County Antrim. Though born into a Catholic family with a history of serving in the Church, Patrick neglected his faith in his youth, even considering himself “the least of all believers” in his Confessio. However, his captivity in Ireland led Patrick to grow closer to God, praying about 100 times a day. Eventually Patrick hears a voice, informing him that a ship had been made ready for him to return home. Patrick eventually found the ship and made his way home, but it wasn’t long before he found himself in Ireland again. After an encounter with an angel in a dream, Patrick returned to Ireland as a missionary, first landing in County Down at Saul. This is about as far as we made it through the story of St. Patrick, though Dr. Campbell promised that we would finish the rest of his life’s story later this week.

After our visit to the St. Patrick Center, we attended an open-air mass for Saul Sunday to celebrate the Feast of Corpus Christi, said by Bishop McGuckian. The mass took place just down the hill from the largest statue of St. Patrick in the world, which we visited after mass. Dr. Campbell told us about the history of the statue, and I found it interesting that it didn’t serve as a site for just Catholic veneration, but all Christian denominations in Ireland. Dr. Campbell told us that the robes of the statue were carved with the Catholic bishop of Armagh, while the face was modeled after a Protestant bishop.