The New York herald. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1840-1920, 1878-03-18


When Was st. Patrick Borns
There is certain judicial calmness neces-
sary to the discussion of such grave ques-
tions of history as the date and place OF the
birth Of ST. Patrick which we cordially en-
join on all who take part in it. Yesterday
we devoted some space to considering where
the holy man was born to-day we purpose
asking, When did he first see the light?
You may meet an Irish historian and ask
him the date of any other occur
renee relating to the history Of his coun-
try and he will plump the answer at you
tell you not only the date of the landing OF
Milesius, away back in the misty centuries
before they began to write A. D., but will
tell you in volley the particular Spanish
village he was born in, with volumes OF in
formation about the respectable old pagan
heroes before and after him. He knows all
about the Danes, and will intimate slyly
that he knows all about st. Patrick. But
pin him down, metaphorically, of course,
to the one question, When was St.
Patrick born and he will begin to
hedge. He will make violent endeavors
to lead you aside into labyrinth of kings,
and perhaps offer to sing 'Tara's Halls"
hold on to him, however and he will at last
confess that he is, at least, in doubt when
the sainted Frenchman was born. Take up
the american Almanac" which processes to
give the dates of the birth and death of
notable persons" and you will find Martin
Luther, King William and julius Cesar all
properly accounted for. Turn to the letter
p, and this is what you will behold
Patrick, Saint. ...................... 4939
This indicates sad dearth of popular
knowledge. We say popular" because the
compiler Of the Almanac had so many
notable people to look after that he doubt
less did not do more than dip into dozen
works of reference for the saints record.
II he did go into the subject deeply the
fierce conflict Of opinions must have so con-
fused him that he took refuge in the weak
and crooked subterfuge of o note Of
interrogation. What did the historians
write on the subject? Butler, in his
ELVES of the Saints" says it was
toward the decline of the fourth
century, miserable evasion, for which
its pious author should suffer. Montalem-
bert. indeed, hints that the famous DR..
Lanigan, in his Ecclesiastical History"
wrote fables on the subject. Two 'authori-
ties" say the saint was born in 372, and an
other goes into arithmetic to prove it was
1897. The first of these calculations would
make the saint man Of sixty when he went
over with his carpet-bag to interfere with
the business of the Ancient Order Of Druids
the second would make him q vigorous
apostle of forty-fve, just the man
to "give the snakes and toads a twist,
and shake 'em from his garmint. "
But we are not convinced. The
doubt of ages cannot be disposed of in
this slapdash fashion. There will be
parades and celebrations by millions Of
Irishmen all over the world in the saints
honor to-day. but no banqueteer or scarfed
processionist will turn to his neighbor and
say with confidence, est. Patrick was born
fourteen hundred and ninety-nine years
ago." When we think how infinitely the
lives of the notable persons Of other coun-
| tries are known this seems lamentable
to us. But it is not too late. What
| we want is learned commission to settle
the matter. It would be pleasure to us to re-
port its proceedings, which would doubtless
be enlivened by many interesting incidents,
and then we would take pardonable pride
in publishing the result We commend
this to our Irish fellow citizens as they
march and countermarch to-day, and eat,
drink and make merry this evening