Thursday, March 28, 2024

Armagh celebrates St Patrick’s Festival 2017

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When:
March 3, 2017 – March 17, 2017 all-day
2017-03-03T00:00:00+00:00
2017-03-18T00:00:00+00:00
Where:
Armagh Parish

The March Bells: Friday 3 March – Sunday 19 March

Listen as the Churches and places of worship in Armagh come together to symbolically celebrate our island’s patron saint by ringing their bells for a short time at 17:17 for the 17 days of the festival. This project is inspired by St Patrick’s own special bell and is a joyful means of uniting religious beliefs and different communities and individuals across the city of St Patrick.

St Patrick & The Book of Armagh – Cardinal O’Fiaich Library: Friday 3 March, 7pm

Tickets £6 Pre Booking essential through The Market Place Theatre

This talk by Roddy Hegarty will explore what the Book of Armagh tells us about St Patrick, by discussing the themes within and focusing on the earliest biographies of St Patrick. What do these tell us about the man, his mission in Ireland and importantly, his association with the city of Armagh. Light refreshments afterwards.

Cantabelles – St Patrick’s RC Cathedral: Friday 10 March, 8pm

Tickets £8 Pre Booking essential through The Market Place Theatre or Armagh Parish Office

A new and exciting vocal ensemble combining rich harmonies and sumptuous vocals to old classic and the more modern hymns. They will present a selection of uplifting liturgical pieces including St Patrick’s Breastplate, Ag Criost an Siol, Hail glorious St Patrick and many more. The evening which will reflect the life and mission of St Patrick will be presented in the beautiful transept of the  Cathedral. During 2016 the group had the pleasure of performing with “The Priests” and they also recorded with BBC Radio Ulster.

Illumination – Toni Watts – St Patrick’s RC Cathedral: Saturday 11 March

Toni Watts is one of the few remaining professional manuscript illuminators working in the UK today. Drop in between 3pm and 6pm to see her demonstration taking place in magnificent spiritual surroundings, to watch her working on a page inspired by the Irish insular tradition using 24 carat gold leaf and traditional pigments. See how pigments were extracted from natural sources and how paint and ink were made.

An Evening with Patrick – The Navan Centre & Fort: Wednesday 15 March, 8pm

Free but booking essential through The Market Place Theatre

Armagh Cathedrals Partnership invite you to An Evening with Patrick at The Navan Centre and Fort, Armagh. In addition to some music, story, poetry and prayer, a guest speaker will invite those present to reflect on “Patrick and Ireland today”. It promises to be a very special evening as we celebrate the St Patrick’s Festival in Armagh. The guest speaker will be Archdeacon Gordon Linney and light refreshments afterwards.

St Patrick’s Lecture – The Market Place Theatre: Wednesday 16 March, 1pm

Free but booking essential through The Market Place Theatre

On the eve of St Patrick’s Day, the Primates of the two principal Churches in Ireland, Archbishop Richard Clarke and Archbishop Eamon Martin will speak about what St Patrick means to them in a modern world. In conversation with Tara Mills, the two will discuss how St Patrick’s words still resonate and have relevance for many of the challenges we face today. This year the lecture will explore the theme of Patrick The Exile.

St Patrick’s Vigil – St Patrick’s Cathedrals: Thursday 16 March

The Vigil will commence at the Church of Ireland Cathedral at 9pm where Archbishop Clarke will lead a prayer. Visitors will then be led by both Archbishops in torchlight to the Roman Catholic Cathedral where Archbishop Martin will conclude with a prayer. This symbolic expression of the unity of the Churches is a reflection of Patrick’s own journey of uniting the Irish people with Christianity. Light refreshments will be served in The Synod Hall after this event.

St Patrick’s Tea Party, The Synod Hall, St Patrick’s R.C Cathedral: Friday 17 March, 3 – 6pm Free admission

A special tea party to celebrate St Patrick in the lovely surroundings of this unique hall. Enjoy a special afternoon tea as well as a feast of Irish traditional music and song. People are encouraged to wear something green and come along and enjoy the afternoon’s festivities as we celebrate the feast of our national apostle and what’s a special day in our yearly calendar.