County Westmeath Priest of the Year

Guess it went to my head – I started hitting the altar wine too hard. Going easy on people in confession. Getting backhanders for doing quicker Masses. All I wanted was trophies and prizes. But the one that got me was the Golden Cleric.

If you’re unfamiliar with it, County Westmeath (or Contae na hIarmhí to the Irish speaking amongst you) is almost slap bang in the middle of the Emerald Isle (4.7 out of 5 on Google Reviews at time of writing), slightly up and to the right a bit. Do any Irish people call it the ‘Emerald Isle’?! I do worry about seemingly simple things like this being offensive to people, so hopefully this isn’t that.

Whether it is or it isn’t, Todd Unctious was voted the Priest of the Year at some point. It’s not clear if his triumphant win occured in 1996, but as the episode – a Christmas special, no less – was originally broadcast on the 24th December of that year, it seemed to make sense. It’s a bit on the nose, so I suppose I should really offer the ability to change the year, right? Well, no. This isn’t a democracy*, so fuck off there.

For the design, I was attempting to steer away from anything to overbearingly Irish – shamrocks, Guinness, people with eyebrows on their cheeks** – and the coat of arms of Westmeath came in very handy with that. To a degree. That’s echoed in the blue, red and gold ring on display here, though the motto emblazoned on it (‘Triath ós Triathaibh’ – noble above nobility) *is* written in a very Irish font, so we’ve kind of had to run with that. There’s also a swan, a couple of golden tigers and a Norse helmet. I chose gold swans for no real reason.

The show is a belter, but then most Father Teds were. The highlight for me will always be Mrs Doyle attempting to guess Todd’s name outright – some particular favourites being Father Neil Hannon, Father Tight Egglips and Father Hiroshima Twinkie.

*Realistically, you *can* change the date on this if you really want to. Use the contact form here.
**This definitely *is* offensive, but is an Alan Partridge quote. Get in touch with him by all means, but I expect him to have bigger fish to fry.