17 March - TODAY

Posted by Maggie on Tuesday, March 17, 2009 | Leave a Reply

Tuesday March 17, 2009
This is the 76th day of the year, with 289 days remaining in 2009.
Fact of the Day: St. PatrickSt. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, was not actually Irish. He was born on March 17 around AD 385, somewhere in Roman Britain, possibly near Dumbarton, Scotland. At 16, he was captured by Irish raiders looking for slaves and he was taken there to tend sheep. After six years of slavery, he ran away and ended up wandering through southern Gaul (France) and Italy. There, he had a vision from God which told him to return to Ireland and convert the pagans to Christianity. Returning to Ireland around 432, St. Patrick did missionary work until he died in 464. The country of Ireland went into mourning. The first St. Patrick's Day celebration in the United States was in 1737 in Boston.

Holidays St. Patrick's Day, commemorating his death on this day c 461-492 AD.Feast day of St. Patrick, St. Withburga, St. Gertrude of Nivelles, St. Joseph of Arimathea, St. Paul of Cyprus, and the Martyrs of the Serapaeum.Ireland, Northern Ireland: St. Patrick's Day (National Day).United Nations: World Maritime Day.Boston and Suffolk County, Massachusetts: Evacuation Day (of British during American Revolution).

Events 1328 - Scotland won its independence from England.1762 - Irish soldiers serving in the British army held the first parade honoring St. Patrick, in New York City.1776 - During the American Revolution, British forces were compelled to evacuate Boston; they fled to Nova Scotia.1870 - The Massachusetts legislature authorized the incorporation of Wellesley Female Seminary, which later became Wellesley College.1899 - The first-ever radio distress call was sent, summoning assistance for a merchant ship off the coast of England.1905 - Anna Eleanor Roosevelt, niece of President Theodore Roosevelt, married Franklin D. Roosevelt.1910 - The Camp Fire Girls organization was founded in Lake Sebago, Maine.1941 - The National Gallery of Art opened in Washington, D.C. 1959 - The (14th) Dalai Lama fled Tibet and went to India.1969 - Golda Meir became prime minister of Israel. 2003 - U.S. President George W. Bush gave Iraq's Saddam Hussein 48 hours to leave his country, but the ultimatum was rejected.

Births 1834 - Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler, German engineer and automobile manufacturer.1846 - Kate Greenaway, English painter, book illustrator.1881 - Walter Rudolf Hess, Swiss Nobel Prize-winning physiologist.1902 - Bobby Jones, American, first golfer to win the Grand Slam in professional golf.1917 - Nat "King" Cole (Coles), American jazz pianist, bandleader, songwriter, singer.1938 - Rudolf Nureyev, Russian ballet dancer who defected to United States.

Deaths 1993 - Helen Hayes, American film and theatre actress.