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MALCOLM ROGERS heads up to Down to pay his respects to our patron saint.

I decided to throw my lot in with the New Yorkers and duly registered my vote indicating that I believed our patron saint died in America.

Just to be sure I decided to vote again. And I was electronically disbarred! I tell you what it’s not much of an Irish poll when you can’t vote twice.

Of course Down Cathedral in Downpatrick is the probable site of St. Patrick’s grave. The Cathedral Church of the Holy and Undivided Trinity to accord the place its full title is about as far removed from New York and the paddywhackeray of March 17 celebrations as St. Patrick’s mitre is from one of those dreaded gombeen hats that resemble a pint of Guinness.

The St. Patrick’s Day parade in Downpatrick is something of a sober affair with the emphasis on spirituality and, these days, cross-community reaching out. Inter-community relations are to the fore because, you see, St. Patrick is buried in the grounds of the Church of Ireland Cathedral on the Hill of Down overlooking the River Quoile. The Church of Ireland used to be called the Unionist Party At Prayer but this description is now defunct as the main Unionist parties tend to go in for a more muscular form of Protestantism.

So feel no nervousness about heading up English Street in this handsome Georgian town towards the Cathedral. From the hill-top you’ll get exceptionally good views the Cistercian Inch Abbey far below. Now I’ve mentioned the Holy Tape Measure of Antioch on these pages before. Well, it’s invoked once again in Downpatrick. This instrument of ecclesiastical calibration decrees that every Church of Ireland church has to be the tallest church in town. It seems to be remarkably steadfast — you check next time you go home.

The sobriety of Down Cathedral and the very low-key approach to St. Patrick’s grave are refreshing. Before we take a peak at the patron saint’s grave, however, let’s have a wander inside the church. Christianity was only some 400 years old when Cathedral Hill in Down became a focus for the new religion. The year 753 marks the earliest reference to an Abbot of Down and it can be assumed he presided over the Celtic monastery whose ruins can be seen in the grounds of the current building.

The abbey was plundered by our old friends the Vikings and by 1016 a round tower had been built to stash the valuables. However an Act of God, somewhat disconcertingly, destroyed both tower and church when the place was struck by lightning and burnt to the ground.

When the Normans came to Ireland John de Courcy one of the head honchos of Henry II set out for Down to conquer the north and lay claim on the tomb of St. Patrick. In 1177 he ousted the local king Rory Macdunleavy and founded his own Benedictine Monastery on Cathedral Hill. To this day the emblem of the nearby grammar school Down High uses de Courcy’s emblem (a blue and yellow eagle) as its school badge.

When you first enter the cathedral the most striking feature is the pulpitium topped by a magnificent organ one of the finest in Ireland they’ve really pulled all the stops out so to speak. At one time the cathedral would have held statues of St. Patrick, St. Brigid and St. Colmcille (all reputedly buried in the grounds) as well as a statue of St. Benedict. But since the Catholics were given their marching orders only a statue of The Apostle of Ireland remains. Curiously however some lesser individuals are honoured. Pride of place is given to the tombstone of Lord Edward Cromwell (uncle and godfather to Oliver) who died exactly 400 years ago in 1607. His mission in this neck of the woods was to ‘subdue the native Irish in Lecale’.

Another curious adornment in this house of God is the phalanx of regimental colours of the 86th Royal Co. Down Regiment later to become the Royal Irish Rifles. If you haven’t mooched around many Church of Ireland cathedrals the appearance of military paraphernalia may surprise you. But it’s by no means unusual St. Patrick’s Church of Ireland Cathedral in Armagh is festooned with regimental flags. You can see why the jealous rage of the God of the Old Testament is so popular in these parts.

As you process further into the cathedral you’ll see a Bishop’s Throne on the north wall and on the south side a Judge’s Stall so-called because the assizes were held right here in the cathedral.

Outside in the leafy graveyard of Down Cathedral St. Patrick’s grave is marked with a simple granite slab quarried from the nearby Mountains of Mourne clearly visible from the cemetery. His name is all that marks the grave despite the fact that Ireland’s other two patron saints Brigid and Colmcille are reputedly buried here too. Hence the couplet:

“In Down, three saints one grave do fill,Patrick, Brigid and Colmcille.”

Now I have a little bad news here it’s by no means certain that these saintly bones occupy the tomb in the grounds of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Rather incongruously the site was picked out and erected at the beginning of the 20th century by the Belfast Naturalists’ Field Club. Granted they used local knowledge putting the stone on a spot which was traditionally known as the site of the grave. However there is ample evidence that Patrick is buried somewhere in these grounds most likely under the main portal of the cathedral.

Apart from being Patrick’s last resting place Down Cathedral is an essential visit for its own history both the Down County Museum and St. Patrick’s Centre are within a few hundred yards of the cathedral.

This is a place which was pillaged by the Danes, burnt by the Scots, destroyed again by the English before lying in ruins for the best part of 200 years. It has been subject to lightning, earthquake and rioting and nearby 1,798 rebels were hanged alongside common criminals. Thomas Russell met his fate within sight of the St. Patrick’s grave:

“Then he bowed his head to the swinging rope, Whiles I said Please God to his dying hope,And Amen to his dying prayer, That the wrong would cease and the right prevail, For the man that they hanged at Downpatrick gaol, Was the Man from God knows where.”

Today as you look through the beech trees towards the Quoile River and south towards the Mountains of Mourne it’s hard to imagine a more peaceful place. Whether you go next week on St. Patrick’s Day or sometime later in the year it doesn’t matter this is an essential visit for anyone with even the slightest interest in Irish history and its Christian heritage.