March 11, 2018

Tuesday is the birthday, in 1733 in Yorkshire, England, of Joseph Priestley.  A scientist and theologian, he is considered one of the founders of the Unitarian church in England and was forced to flee to America when a mob burned down his home.  His scientific achievements include inventing soda water and discovering oxygen.  His religious ideas embraced rationalism and human progress.  Priestly believed in a free and open exchange of ideas and promoted toleration and equal rights for religious minorities.  He rejected the idea that the human soul was separate from a divinely created natural world and its laws.

Saturday in Islam is a day of remembrance for Haji Bektash.  A 13th Century Sufi saint, born in present-day Iran, Bektash promoted a philosophy of love for God and humanity, tolerance, peace and honesty.  His sect was heretically communal, anti-hierarchical, anti-dogmatic and inclusive of women.  It incorporated ideas from other religions and folk traditions.  In the 19th and 20th Centuries, Turkish nationalism usurped his movement and Bektashis became associated with the founding of the modern Turkish state.  His final resting place is a pilgrimage site in central Turkey and his followers are worldwide.

Saturday is St. Patrick’s Day, also known as the Feast of St. Patrick, a fifth Century Roman-British missionary, the patron saint of Ireland and regarded as the founder of Christianity in Ireland, converting a society that practiced a form of Celtic polytheism.  His holy day of obligation is anything but holy for many who revel in all things Irish on March 17th.  The Catholic Church and more traditional Irish, however, will celebrate his memory and Irish heritage in Savannah with the Celtic Cross Mass today at 11:30am at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist, the Celtic Cross ceremony today at 1pm at Emmet Park, the William Jasper ceremony on Friday at 5pm on Madison Square and the St. Patrick’s Day Mass on Saturday at 8am at the Cathedral.  The parade follows at 10:15.