Free admission to Waterford museum and walking tour during St. Patrick's weekend
On Saturday, March 16th, the home of Fr Luke Wadding the founder of St. Patrick’s Day as the national feast day will throw the doors of the Waterford Treasures Medieval Museum open for free admission along with offering free places on the EPIC guided walking tour of Ireland’s oldest City.
The free offering is in celebration of the most influential Franciscan of the 17th century who was Waterford’s very own Luke Wadding, and his statue stands outside the ruins of the medieval friary church in Waterford City. When based in Rome in the 1630s it was he who was in charge of creating the official list of saints of the Roman Catholic Church. While he was compiling this list, he added in the Feast of St. Patrick on March 17th as the Franciscans always celebrated that Saint.
Visitors can enjoy a guided Epic walking tour which will focus on how Waterford can lay claim to fixing the emblems of Irish identity including the fixing of the national feast day of St Patrick and first flying the Irish tricolour at 33 the Mall which went on to become Ireland’s national flag.
Waterford was the first place in Ireland to observe St Patrick’s Day as a public holiday when in 1903 Mayor Richard Hearne secured the agreement of the business community to close businesses and pubs. Richard Hearne was the father of John Hearne who was head-hunted by de Valera to write the 1937 constitution at a time when Europe was falling into totalitarianism and the Irish constitution held many safeguards of individual rights.
The Irish tricolour was first flown in Waterford in March 1848 when Thomas Francis Meagher hoisted it aloft on 33 The Mall. It was copied from the tricolour of Revolutionary France.
Visitors will see a wonderful statue of Luke Wadding outside the medieval Franciscan Friary and also a bronze bust of John Hearne at Constitution Square which was renamed in recent years to celebrate the Irish constitution.
With thanks to Waterford City & County Council on March 16th Waterford Treasures can offer free entry to the Medieval Museum and free places on the Epic Walking Tour. For pre-booking and further information see www.waterfordtreasures.com
Ticketed places on the special Epic Walking Tour focusing on the life and times of Luke Wadding are also available on March 17th and 18th. In addition and in celebration of Seachtain na Gaeilge 2024 a guided bilingual tour of the Medieval Museum is also on offer on Wednesday, March 13th at 1.15 pm, tickets are 5.00 pp. See www.waterfordtreasures.com