The morning star and Catholic messenger. [volume] (New Orleans [La.]) 1868-1881, 1877-03-25
LETTER FROM GALVESTON. Tx


Editor Morning Star.
Itmay not prove uninterestinp to your mar,
readers to learn how day dear to every iris
heart was observed in "The Island CITY of n,
Gulf" Morning dawned with q clear AN,
azure sky which Pretended lovely day. tn.
day was indeed lovely, all that heart eoup
wish for the anniversary of Ireland,s noa
beloved and national Apostle and for the fri
display of that
Favored leaf OF bard and chief
Old Erin's native shamrock.
The enthusiastic Celts of Galveston manila
ed their patriotic devotion to the memory 81 I
to the honor of Ireland's Patron Saint. a.
not only here, but every whore, in every lar
whore the Celt has found home did the 'easE
of Ireland do justice to st. Patrick. Wheths&
amidst the bright and bursting yinoyardsf
France and the Rhine, or climbing the ROD 4
passes Of witzerland, or treading the hsllns
ed dust of Rome the Irishman on the mornh
of March 18th is full Of St. Patrick and cd
temptations of his native land-that 1aaE
ever green from living verdure and loved an
kissed by the foaming waters of ocean. AT
who was this st. Patrick that has left foreve1
his impress on the Irish hearth SCOTIA
writers vindicate him as theirs, and EnglilI
writers tell us he belongs to them. Such
writers have waded through dusty and must.
tones in vain for they can pever rob that ssef
tion of country, in north western France, known
in the olden times as America, of the honor o.
having given birth to Patricius. the son oiS
Calphurnius and Conchessa. Aud though DO
doubt Patrick loved the land OF sunny Francs
as child does its mother, yet he loved ireland
as bridegroom bis bride. Ireland was thsH
land of his love and of his labors-she was thd
land for which he prayed and which he con Z
verted TO the kno Wedge of the true God an
she has not only renamed faithful in the bes :
and truest sense, but she has propagated big
eternal truths throughout the world. The
Cross, the unconquerable banner of st. Pat
rick, the Celt carries with him every wher
and the doctrines preached on Tara's Hill be
fore the princes and sages of the Kingdom ar
as green, as vivid, as faithful in the Iris
heart to-day they were then and are dea
tined to remain 80 forever. Centuries of per
secution and religious intolerance, the mos
dampable that the annals of human histor
record, have been unable to stay even for
moment the workings and teachings of th&
great Apostle of Erin. The belief in th
Trinity is as fresh to-day IS when St. Patricl
stopped to earth and plucked from the soil th
Trefoil raised it aloft, and asked the sages
Tara how these three leaves on only one steI
could exist. The illustration is grand in il
sublime simplicity and speaks to the heat
more than volumes. The Trefoil or Shamrod
sh all continue forever a symbol of patriotisJ
and of fatherland. Pardon this digressio
The procession, composed of the sturdy al
~ n ~
and standards of green and gold huttering
the morning breezs and with beating of droI
formed into line at the Cathedral, and vii
the Rev. Clergy at their head marched to I'll
sweet strains of Irelands music to st Patrick
church, the place of rendezvous. Here the
attended Solemn High Mass and listened d
tentively to a beautiful eulogy on the life an
virtues of the glorious patron Saint of II
"little green isle of the sea" by Rev. Miohs
NJ. Murphy.
Father Murphy is a fluent speaker az
showed unmistakable signs of the patriots
Irish priest and thorough familiarity wia
the best historians who have written on s.
Patrick. He told us that Erin's King NiAl, al
one of his plundering excursions into FraRsf
SD atched tberefrom Patricius, who was sold
q slave to Milcho, and that Patrick for soRi
years tended the hooks of his pagan master q
the mountains and in the vslleys of Antrim
that he escaped from his dreary bondage, pre-
pared for tho holy ministry in the studsni
halls of st. Germaine and under the tutorsbil
of his relative, st. Martin of Tours. He told
how "the voice of the Irish printed on 81
banner in letters of gold, which st. Patrick in
agined he had seen, compelled him to 60 2
Rome, the oertre of Catholic unity where heWU
ordained by Pope Celestine and conseOratsa
Bishop of Ireland, to which country he repairea
A. D. 432, carrying with him the bright fireSdT
faith with which he illumined pagan IRELAND
and transformed her worship of the sun and
moon into the worship of the Eternal God
To be brief, the Rev. Father succinctly, 90
gently, brilliantly treated on st. PatricFs
glorious life and lsbors from the day he cor
fronted the genius of paganism on Tara's HI
and shattered it's idols, until that sad Wedna
day morning of the 18th March, 493, when, fuA
of years and sanctity, he composed his wear