The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1873-03-23
Saint Patrick.

BtSeu DlItu W oSiiSnS A'S'"AN
him as her own and all the voices of all the
ages acknowledge her claim. That he was
peculiarly Irish, and that his name and
memory are dear to every Irish heart, no
one will gainsay. That in early youth he
was snatched from bis home and Kindred
and sold as n slave in ireland, and that he
tended his masters flocks on Erin's north
ern hills and in Ern's northern valleys
every student of history will admit. For,
tunate for Ireland, fortunate for mankind,
was the day that Erin's King Nal, in his
pundering excursion into North " estern
France" sna' ched from Amorica Patri-
cius the son of Calphurnius and Conchessa.
Aud though for many years the youthful
Patrick endured sufferings and hardships
in the service of his pagan master Milcho,
and though for many years the Mountain
Of Sieve Mis-, in Antrim, was tue only Wit
ness 4efhis desolation and solitude, and
though for many years lie was sur
rounded by naught but disappointments
and despair, yet the teachings of his early
youth were not forgotten. He believed
that G cd was in His Universe, and in His
own good time would extricate him from
his calamities. And he did not believe in
yain The vicissitudes and deprivations
of his youth were but the crucible in which
the Divine alchemist purified him in order
that he light elevate him and unite him
to Himself. Patrick's soul communcs with
Heaven. A desire to convert the Irish
nation to the knowledge of the true God
seizrs it he escapes from his long and
dreary bondage, prepares for the holy min
stry, and returns a missionary to the
people among whom he had lived SO long
a slave.
In his home beyond the Irish sea he
said 4" saw in the vision of the night,
person coming from Ireland with innu-
merable letters, and he gave me ope of
item, and I read in the beginning of the
letter, The voice of the people of Ire
land and thought at that very moment,
that heard the voice of those who were
near the wood of Focluth, which is ad-
joining to the western sea, and they cried
out thus, as it were with one voice, I'VE
entreat thee, holy youth, to come and
walk still among u.s. and l was very much
pAiShSo ~ wv 'S"Aef e"N S"c'A ASAo liz
further and so l awoke." All. this dream
of st. Patrick was no idle vision, it be-
came an active, living, responsible reality.
We read in Irish annals that near the
wood of Focluth in the land of Tyrawley,
in the county Of Mayo, Patrick converted
and baptized the seven sons of Awley,
together with thousands of their follow
ers.
Pope Celestine ordained St. Patrick and
consecrated him Bishop of Ireland, to
which country he repaired A. D. 1872, on
hearing of the death of St. Palladius, the
first Bishop in the Irish Episcopacy, and
in all human probability the first Christian
missionary, that ever set foot on Irish soil.
Palladius' snjourn in Ireland, was BRIEF
and productive of no desired or lasting
results. Indeed his mission to the Pagan
Irish was failure. ST. Patrick arrived in
ireland in 1872, and for sixty years confirmed
his preaching by signs and miracles, and
converted the whole island to the faith OF
Christ, and that, without the sacrifice ofoue
drop of human blood.
No mortal pen can ever adequately tsti-
mate the magnitude and Importance of st.
Patrick's labors. The country for which
he prayed, and which he converted to the
fold of the One Shepherd, has not only re-
NAMED faithful in the best and truest
sense, but it has propagated his eternal
truths throughout the world. In every
cline. in every land, you will find the
Celt, and wherever you find him, there too
you will find st. Patrick's unconquerabe
banner, the Cross.
The Celt of old was the teacher of the
nations. He it was who Christianized, hu-
manized and civilized them, after the
Vaudalic hordes of the North had swept
away every vestigo of their progress, and
had made their splendid capitals nothing
but wildernesses, strewn with broken
arches and ruined columns. The youths
of Europe repaired to Armagh to be eda
Gated. In those days the University Ut
Armagh numbered it's nine thousand stu
dents, and it will number it again. The