There were only a few saints in evidence (mé féin san áireamh gan amhras). But the atrium of the National Gallery's new millennium wing was coming down with scholars.
Twelve George J. Mitchell Scholars from the US, who have been studying in Irish universities all year, were honoured at a reception in the National Gallery this week. The Taoiseach, BertiFe Ahern, presented each of them with a commemorative ring.
The postgraduates included Michelle Miles, from Bozeman, Montana, who is working on a thesis in Anglo-Irish literature looking at how Seamus Heaney and Michael Longley have used the classics to reflect the violence in Northern Ireland. Her parents, Michael and Joan Miles, both professors at Montana State University, were there with her younger sister, Shaleen Miles.
Trina Vargo, president of the US-Ireland Alliance, which is responsible for the scholarship scheme, met up with friends, including the singer, Mary Black, who is back in Ireland to rest after months of touring and looking forward to spending the summer in her home on the Dingle Peninsula. Philip King is currently making a film about her, she says. Already he's got footage of her singing in the Olympia. She was with her friend Maeve Kearney at the event in the millennium wing.
The scheme awards scholarships to those who show qualities of leadership as well as academic excellence, says Vargo.
Ehrin Johnson, from Lincolnville in Maine, was at the University of Ulster in Coleraine studying for an MSc in biotechnology.
Peter Frosch from Winona, Minnesota in the US, attended DCU. And the highlight of his year - a gig, a concert, a trip to Doolin? No, it was hearing the US economist Jeffrey Sachs speak at the Institute of European Affairs in Dublin this year, he says, flashing a killer smile. He plans to return home to work in the renewable energy industry.