Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-03-17
ST. PATRICK'S DAY.
An Illusiri0us Character Whose EatIre
Personal History Is Shroudtd
In Deep Mystery.
Events which are Supposed to Take Place
on the Seventeenth of March-Wby
the Day 10 Celebrated.

WnOP1 we nave any knowledge whose en-
tire personal history is shrouded in deeper
mystery than that Of 81. Patrick. Even
the date of his birth, though now uDiver5-
ally celebrated on the 18th of March, is
wholly matter of conjecture. A witty
Irish poet has written on tie subject SIS
follows:
On the eighth day of March 1t was, some peo-
That St. Patrick at midnight he first s.w the
While others declared twas the ninth he was
born
And twas all a mistake between midnight and
morn.
For mistakes will occur In hurry and shock.
And some blamed the baby while some blamsd
the clock,
Till wlthall their disputing sure no one could
know
If the child was too fast or the clock too slow
But both'of these factions so positive grew
| That each Kept birthday and Pat then had two,
TIL Father Mulcahey who showed them their
Said mo one could have two but a big pair of
twine.
lsDon't always be fighting for eight or for nine
FDon't always be lighting but sometimes com
hEIght and nins add together-seventeen is the
mark, Eee
! 30 let that be his. birthday" Amen" said the
clerk.
This ANCIENT lyric account of how the
nth ofMarch has coma to be celebrated
1 as thebirthdGy of Ireland's Patron Saint
| is quite IS authentic as any other infor-
nation we possess concerning him. But
it is not alone the honor OF being the
natal day OF st. Patrick, which entities
10 ri RI nj
sideration. All the early English cslen-
dars name this day as that on which Noah
entered the ark for the purpose of escap-
| ing the food. 1t would be as difficult to
tell why the 17sh of March was selected
for the date OF that event as il would be
to divine why in all the religious plays or
mysteries Of the middle ages Noah aud
his wife were always the low comedy
characters. Noah was invariably rep
resented as an eccentric old man
and his wife as q most voluble shrew.
In the play of "Noah" in the Towneley
Mysteries, one of the esrliest of the very
rare aud quaint collections, there is an
amusing scene between Noah and his bet
ter half where he tells the latter of the
approaching food, which has just been
announced to him by the Creator. Mrs.
Noah calls her lord credulous fool and
an h6bltusl bearer of i'll news, and bitter
ly complains CT the miserable life he leads
her. Nosh retorts in kind and finally
bide his spouse to hold her tongue. But
she only becomes more abusive, till at
length they fall fighting, after the man.
ner of our modern Punch and Judy, Noah
getting decidedly the worst Of it, and
finally running away to resume his ark
building. When the VESSELS completed
and the waters have begun to rise, Mrs.
Noah persistentlY refuses, with the char
scteristic perverslty of her sex, to enter
It. She ridicules its appearance and
method of construction in most ludi-
crous terms, saying:
i faith, cannot find
Which is before, which is behind,
and goes on to remark, in effect, that the
neighbors will be unable to tell whether
they are going away or Just coming home.
The danger at length becomes so immi-
nent, however, that she jumps into the
ark Of her own free will, but no sooner is
she aboard than she picks another quar-
rel with her husband. Good old Noah,
resolved to teach her 8 lesson, gives her
& severe drubbIng and she complains Of
being beaten "blsck and blue" while
their three sons lament over the family
discords. Many husbands of the present
day will heartily join with Noah in ex-
claiming, as he does after this rencontre,
"Lorde! That women be Grabbed aye!
And none are meek, l dare well saye."
All these events are supposed to take
place on ths17th Of March, and if that
dHte iss1Ehe correct one it should GER
taipIy be celebrated, not only by the
- Dat iokz Nv 81 III
world; for If Father and Mother Noah had
not sought refuge in the ark none OF us
would now be here TO celebrate anything.
England, Scotland, Wales and France
have each claimed the honor OF having
given birth to Irelaud's patron saint, out
the bulk OF the Evolutionary evidence,
which is all we have, seems to be in fave
of Scotland. His native place seems to
have been Nemther, now Dumbarton,
then Roman province; and the date of
his birth is generally thought to nave been
about A. D. 1876. His original name wss
Succath, PAtricius beng the R oman ep-
palliative by which he was known, in
dicsting that he came of patrician
family. Captured by pirates and taken |
to Ireland in his sixteenth year, he was
sold to petty chief whom he served as q |
: Wineherd for Six years, during which |
time he claimed to have been miraculous |
ly converted while tending his tlocks.
Efecting his escape, he went to France,
according to some of his biographers-to |
England according to others--and prepar-
( d for the priesthood. OF the writings of
st. Patrick but two Latin manuscripts
have been preserved-his "Confession"
End letter addressed to Coroticus, a
Welsh chieftsin, who had captured sew
eral of Patrick's Irish converts. In his
confession he tells US that he WAS nirac-
ulously called of God In 8 dream to the
sacred mission OF converting the Irish,
mission in which he was confirmed by
Pope Celesiine.
Returning to Ireland, he DEVOTED his
life to the evangelizstlon of her people,
md is said to have founded 365 churches
Ind to have personally baptized $4,000
The date Of his death is
assigned to various widely-suHdered
'ears, some writer's placing 1t as early as
t58 and others as late IS 499.
The miracles, legends, traditions, SUI
and quaint customs and OBJ
associated with the name of
it. Patrick would fill many volumes. One {
II the nest known of his alleged miraclea