Photos by Marylynn G. Hewitt, SFO Above, The Maid of Erin and her court and the Court of St. Brigid process into St. Patrick's.

Fourth-Degree Knights of Columbus, an order founded by Fr. Michael J. McGivney, son of Irish immigrants, march in the parade.

Megan Marshall, a member of St. Pius X Parish, Southgate, with her father-in-law, Tom, and son, Xavier, 3. The parade is a 23-year family tradition

There was more than a wee bit of the luck of the Irish when it came to the weather for the annual Parade Mass and 49th annual St. Patrick's Day Parade Sunday.

Bishop John Quinn, who calls himself a "son of Corktown," the traditional Irish neighborhood, was the celebrant for the standing-room only Parade Mass at St. Patrick Church in Detroit. Pastor Fr. Mark Soehner, OFM, and former pastors Fr. Thomas Duffey, who Bishop Quinn called "the cardinal of the Cass Corridor," and Fr. Patrick Casey were concelebrants.

Irish heritage flavored the celebration with the Grand Marshal Curtis Patrick Anderson and the Maid of Erin, Bridget Beluitch, and her court of Megan Elizabeth Henahan and Molly Moyers, as well as the queen of the Court of Brigid, Katie Tate, and her court of Shannon Daly and Chelsie O'Donnell. Julia Rose O'Hara was the offertory step dancer and the Birmingham Celtic Bagpipes and Drum Corp led the recessional.

Hours later, thousands of Irish (as well as those who are Irish for the day) lined Michigan Avenue through Corktown for the parade, which this year honored the theme "From Famine to Fortune, the Celtic Tiger."

On Saturday, St. Patrick's Day, Most Holy Trinity Church, on Porter at Eighth in Corktown, will host the 173rd annual St. Patrick's Day Mass at noon. Doors open at 10:30 a.m. and the church is expected to be full by 11 a.m.

St. Patrick St. Patrick's Day, March 17, honors the patron saint of Ireland. He is said to have used a shamrock to explain the Holy Trinity while converting the Druids of Ireland to Christianity. He was born in the late 300s in Kilpatrick, Scotland. As a teen, he was kidnapped and sent to Ireland as a slave where he tended sheep for years among the Druids and pagans. One night when he was a young man, he had a dream in which God told him to escape to the coast. There, he found a group of sailors who helped him return to his family. Years later, after being made a bishop, he returned to Ireland and is credited with spreading Christianity. He died on March 17 at Saul, Ireland, where he built his first church. The year varies depending on the source, but most say it was in the mid-to-late 400s.

Members of the Birmingham Celtic Bagpipes and Drum Corp play "Amazing Grace" inside St. Patrick's Church in Detroit before leading the recessional.

Bishop John Quinn greets those who flow out of St. Patrick Church after the annual Parade Mass on Sunday.