St. Patrick’s Day Pictorial Cancellation Available

 A pictorial cancellation will be available at the St. Patrick, Missouri USA Post Office March 1-30, 2009. The date changes daily. Celtic shamrocks will surround the lettering – “Happy Saint Patrick’s Day Station March ——–, 2009, Saint Patrick, MO 63466.
Stamped, self-addressed envelopes requesting the pictorial cancellation may be mailed to Postmaster, St. Patrick, Missouri 63466 USA. There is no charge for the cancellation. Any day between March 1 and March 30 can be placed on the pictorial cancellation and your envelope will be mailed that day. Please specify your mailing date. Customers who want the postmarked envelope returned under protected cover should include a large, stamped, self-addressed envelope. If you want the shamrock cachet, designed by Father O’Duignan in 1936, on your envelope, please mail to: Shrine of St. Patrick, Box 34, St. Patrick, MO 63466 USA, asking for the cachet. Shrine volunteers will hand stamp the green shamrock cachet on your envelope and mail the envelope on your requested mailing date. The St. Patrick Post Office will be open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on March 17. St. Patrick greetings sent out on his anniversary, from his name city, changes an ordinary envelope into a collector’s item.
The Shrine of St. Patrick will sell a specially designed envelope with a greeting card inside. The commemorative envelope has a sketch of the head of St. Patrick surrounded by Celtic Shamrocks. The greeting card has a photo of St. Patrick and an old Irish poem. The envelope sells for $1.00. The envelope price will include the envelope, first class postage, pictorial cancellation, shamrock cachet, and a St. Patrick’s Day Greeting Card. Shrine volunteers will address the envelope, write the sender’s return address, sign the card for you and mail it on the day in March you specify, if you request it. The envelope can be mailed only on the day listed on the postmark, unless it is mailed under separate cover. Please include a stamped, self-addressed, large envelope if you want them unaddressed and mailed back to you under separate cover. Please tell us your postmark mailing date. All checks and money orders should be made payable to the Shrine of St. Patrick, as all proceeds go to the Shrine. Envelope orders may be mailed to: Shrine of St. Patrick, Box 34, St. Patrick, Missouri, 63466 USA. A different card, envelope and postmark are offered each year.
The six Shrine postcards may be addressed, stamped, postmarked and mailed for you by Shrine volunteers for .50 cents each. An unstamped postcard sells for .25 cents each.
A limited supply of previous March 17 postmarked envelopes are available for $1.00 each. The old envelopes are collector’s items. The 1984, 1985, 1986 and 1988 envelopes are sold out. these old envelopes must be mailed under separate cover so a large, stamped, self-addressed envelope should be included with your order.
The envelopes, postcards, Shrine souvenirs and History if St. Patrick booklets will be sold all day March 17 in the Shrine basement.
The St. Patrick Novena will be March 9-17. Novenas are prayerful nine day preparations for an important Feast Day. All Novena Services will be held in the Shrine of St. Patrick at 8:30 a.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. on Sunday and 4 p.m. on March 17. Names to be included in the Novena will be placed on St. Patrick’s altar during the Novena. The Novena names may be mailed to the Shrine address listed above.
Breakfast and lunch will be served from 9 a.m.
to 1 p.m. in the Shrine basement March 17. Jerry Davis will drop shamrocks from his plane at 10 a.m. on the area south of the Shrine. Some shamrocks may be redeemed for gifts.
Colleen McNally-Harris, of Youngstown, Ohio will present a concert and CD signing at 11 a.m. in the Shrine of St. Patrick. She began her singing career in the St. Dominic School Choir in the first grade. Church music became an inspiration for her music. A highlight of her career was leading the singing during a Mass for Pilgrims at the Church of Santa Susanna, the American Catholic Church in Rome, during a pilgrimage in the Jubilee Year of 2000. McNally-Harris has been a cantor in the Cathedral of Saint Columbia for over 12 years, has performed as a soprano soloist and is a member of the Renaissance Quartet that sings in the church. As a member of the Youngstown Symphony Chorus, she ahs sung with the chorus at Carnegie Hall in New York City on tow different occasions. “Singing is not just a part of my life, but also a part of who I am,” McNally-Harris states.
The Leprechaun Give Away will be at the Shrine of St. Patrick at 1 p.m. Two hundred free bags will be distributed, one bag per person. Each bag contains a gift. If the gift is too big or too valuable for the bag, a number will be enclosed for you to exchange for a gift. Gifts will include Waterford Crystal, Belleek China and Galway Crystal from Ireland.
Free tours of the Shrine of St. Patrick and museum will be conducted all day by tour guides. You may arrange a scheduled tour time before March 17.
There will be Irish music at 3:30 p.m. Father Paul Hartley, pastor, will celebrate Mass and conclusion of the Novena at 4 p.m. in the Shrine of St. Patrick.
Dinner will be served in the Shrine basement from 5-7:30 p.m. Adult tickets are $7, children 6-12 are $3, and children under 6 eat free.
All events of the day will be at the Shrine of St. Patrick except for the Shamrock Drop, which will be in the area south of the Shrine, and the postmark and postal mailings at the St. Patrick Post Office.
For additional information contact Ellen Krueger Publicity Chairman, R. 1 Box 55, Canton, MO 63435-9637 USA. Phone 660-754-6028, website http://www.mayo-ireland.ie/patrick.htm or http://www.janeellen.com/seasonal/st.pat.htm.