NATCHEZ — He’s served as St. Patrick in the annual parade in honor of the Irish saint, and next summer the local pastor will lead a group of Mississippians on a tour of the land of St. Patrick.

The Rev. David O’Connor, pastor of St. Mary Basilica and Assumption Church and a native of Ireland, will lead a guided tour of the Emerald Isle that will include stops at the Guinness brewery, a medieval castle and a monastic community founded in the seventh century.

O’Connor said he hopes to take a group of 30 on the trip, of which approximately half have indicated an interest.

The trip is being coordinated with a travel agency, but O’Connor said many of the decisions about what historical and cultural stops should be made were his.

“I have a good amount of input into the itinerary,” he said. “I can supply a lot of the local history and culture, but it won’t all be dependent on me.”

The tour will start and end in Dublin, where the group will see such historic landmarks as Trinity College — which was established in 1592 — and the Book of Kells, the illuminated Latin Gospel book produced by Celtic monks in the ninth century. They will also see the nearby monastic community founded by St. Kevin in the 500s.

“It is a very picturesque place,” O’Connor said. “It is the scene of much poetry and writing, and I think that is going to be really worthwhile and contrasted with life here.”

In addition to the religious locations, the tour will also see such secular sights in Dublin as the House of Parliament and the GPO, where the rebellion against British occupation began in 1916.

“The city of Dublin is an extensive city and a great cultural center,” O’Connor said. “About 30 years ago the Irish government made a decision to encourage artists and writers and musicians to move to Ireland — there was a tremendous number of people from Europe and many writers from the U.S. who moved to Ireland to benefit from a tax concession for that kind of people.”

In addition to taking three days to visit coastal Ireland, the tour will visit O’Connor’s hometown near Limerick.

“It won’t be an extensive tour, but we will be stopping by the village community where I was baptized,” he said.

For more information, visit stmarybasilica.org, email info@caragrouptravel.com or call 617-639-0273.