Dana’s ‘Light the Fire’ Honors St. Patrick
Irish singer-songwriter Dana Scallon has just released a timely single.
Looking for a St. Patrick feast-day song?
Irish singer-songwriter Dana Scallon has just released a timely single, Light the Fire (St. Patrick’s Song).
The song — which she will sing live at the St. Patrick’s Mass from Knock on Friday, which will air on EWTN at 11:30am ET — recalls how St. Patrick lit the Paschal fire on the ancient hill of Slane in A.D. 433, defying the king at Tara.
Light the flame in my heart once again ...
And the fire will burn in the darkness ...
As on that ancient hill …
“It was more than just a fire,” Dana said in a press release this week. “St. Patrick was courageous. It could have cost him his life. Those were dark days. They were oppressive. There was human sacrifice. The fire was symbolic of bringing light and bringing an understanding to what was wrong in those days and changing what was wrong from the darkness into light.”
Dana said her brother-in-law, the late Vincentian Father Kevin Scallon, inspired the idea more than 10 years ago. Father Scallon said, according to the press release, “You know, we need a new hymn to St. Patrick for today. Because the message of St. Patrick does not belong to a past generation and it’s not just for Ireland. It’s a message for today and for the whole world.”
Dana shared her devotion to the “Apostle of Ireland” with the Register this week.
“As an Irish Catholic I’ve always had a devotion to St. Patrick, but I have a heightened awareness today of how much we need the message and the mission of St. Patrick to be alive in our own hearts and in our country, indeed throughout the world. He was a victim of human trafficking, sold into slavery, lived in abject poverty — yet he returned to the people who did this to him.”
“And he lit a fire of faith, hope and love in the darkness of a pagan world, a world of human sacrifice and oppression,” she continued. “That fire brought the light of faith to Ireland and to the whole world.”
She added: “I pray for the intercession and for the courage of St. Patrick, so that we can light that fire again — but the flame has to start in our own hearts.”
St. Patrick, pray for us!
LISTEN AND LEARN MORE
Light the Fire is available at DSMusicStore.com or via streaming on Spotify.
Dana has appeared on EWTN and sung for various popes at papal events. EWTNRC.com offers various music and DVDs by Dana.
Tune in to the feast-day Mass at 11:30am ET on EWTN.
Amy Smith Amy Smith is a Register senior editor who edits features for the “Culture of Life” section. Fueled by prayer and coffee, she enjoys writing about everything from Jane Austen to saints for the Register. She is the author of The Plans God Has for You: Hopeful Lessons for Young Women (Emmaus Road Publishing). Her writing has also appeared in various other Catholic publications. She has a master’s degree in journalism and a B.A. in English.
