The Abbeville messenger. (Abbeville, S.C.) 1884-1887, 1885-03-18

ateiv began 10 preach the SoSpcl to them
i'll their own language. which he had
learned when slave. Among those
who had gone OUT to drive away the sup
posed pirates were son and two
daughters Of Nilcho, the former master
OF st. Patrick. These embraced the
gospel. st. Patrick went to the resi-
dencc OF his former master for the pur-
pose Of converting him from paganism
Milcho refused to hear the instruction
Of him who had been his slave and be-
ing cnrus"d that his children had be-
come followers Of st. Patrick, set his
own house, which, like all the houses
in Ireland at that time were made Of
wattlcs, or withs, on fire and threw him
self into the flames and pcrishcd.
Perhaps three miles from Slcmish and
directly north of it on the opposite side
of the Braidwatcr, isa small but craggy
mountain called Skerry. On this it is
said st. Patrick erected the first church
builtin Ireland. 1t was built Of stone,
OF which there is supcrabundance on
the mountain. This house was after
wards torn down and another erected,
not on the old foundation but lust by
the side Of it. The foundation of the
first house is still plainly to be seen.
The new house, which is thought to be
more than thousand years old, is in IL
dilapidated state. Whether st. Patrick
was Catholic or not this old church on
the top-absolutely on the top of
Skcrry, fell into their hands. When the
effort was made by the English under
Henry the Eighth and his Immediate
successors, to convert the Catholics to
Professionalism one way that was rcsortcd
! to, was to tear down all the Catholic
| churches. This same mode Of convert
ing Catholics was practiscd in Scotland.
The only ecclesiastical cdificc which cs-
capped these fanatics in the city OF Glas-
Cow was the Cathedral. The church on
top of Skcrry was torn down, rather it
was rendered unfit for worship. The
ruins consist Of the wall of one side
about ten feet high, IL portion Of the
wall Of the other side. and portion of
the wall Of one end. The other end
wall is very little damaged The ma
sonry Of this old ruin is such as we
never see in America. The cement
which holds the stones together is as
hard and as Strong as the stones them
selves.
Attached to this old church on the top
Of Skcrry is a grave yard and vault.
The vault is built above ground it is
perhaps ten feet long and eight wide.
1T is covered over with large flat stones.
The door is>.t1 --,,,d -n.s,I. is secured
against entrance by strong iron bars
These arc Of modern date Rccentl,
the Catholics have constructed strons
stone wall around the grave yard, which
also encloses the old church and vault
BY the Catholics in the surroundin!
country, who appeared to me to be cx
ceedingly poor and degradingly igno
rant, Skcrry is regarded with supcrst
tiOuS vcncration.
From Slemisn to Skcrry is pcrhap.
three miles. The two mountains arc ir
full view Of each other. My guide to
Skerry-or rather the individual wht
unlocked the gate that might enter til.
old gravcyarl-was a girl Of perhaps
ten or twelve years old. She had
sweet face and sparkling eye, but a.
broad brogne as ever heard. He
clothing declared she was the child O
poverty and her actions betrayed tha
timidity which pinching poverty Away.
begets and chcrishcs. After she discov
cred that she would be treated with re
spcct she became very communicative
and among other things gave INC the fol
lowing information. l shall repeat he
words, not in her Irish broguc, bu
translated into English
"When St. Patrick determined tt
build this church the devil undertook to
prevent him. They quarreled on top o
| H,ichiiSH. Hc ucNli hHu ~ lotTlCk raj
n race to see which would get to Skerr,
first. Both flew from the top of Slcm
ish and st. Patrick beat him. The dcvi
lit down yondcr in the hollow and st
Patrick litjust outside Of the walls o
this house on n stone and the print O
his foot, knee and face are still on the
stone" This tradition, I learned, is
universally believed by the humble
class Of Catholics and many Protcstants
all over Ireland. The girl took me t.
the place where it is believed st. Pat
rick lit when he flew from Slcmish
There is in the face Of the large fla
rock depression which strikingly re
scmbles the track Of human being, bu
if it was made by st. Patrick's foot i
was much less than mine, or he had OF
Mt the time SharD tOcl shocs 7 cnulf