And, they've hit upon a marvelous marketing ploy....give beer aficionados a perpetual cause to rally around :-)
(they can try again every year, and in so doing remind everyone which beer they need to buy :-)
This proposal faces the “minor” problem of the state supporting/recognizing a religious holiday. This is likely distinct from Christmas and New Years, which also have secular roots.
Further, technically, Padraig was not officially canonized — not by a pope in the usually understood meaning. So these beer guys are seeking an official holiday (holy day) for an unofficial saint.
Brilliant!
And, they've hit upon a marvelous marketing ploy....give beer aficionados a perpetual cause to rally around :-)
(they can try again every year, and in so doing remind everyone which beer they need to buy :-)
Just call it Irish-American Day.
Incorrect.
Since Patrick is commemorated as a saint in the liturgy of the Catholic Church he is an "official" saint.
The process of formal juridical canonization was not instituted until the tenth century.
In other words, none of the Apostles and Fathers of the Church were ever juridically canonized, but no one can say that Peter and Paul are not official saints of the Church.
All canonization means is that the Church acknowledges that the sanctity of an individual is so clearly in evidence that it will cause no scandal to publicly acknowledge him in the Mass and other liturgies. Thousands of saints were recognized in the Church's liturgical calendar for centuries before there was a juridical process for incorporating new saints into the liturgy.