National Republican., 1888-03-18


Pope Celestine.
Returning to Ireland he devoted his life
to the evangelization of her people, and
is said to have founded 1855 churches and
to have personally baptized 10000 con-
verts. The date of his death is assigned
to various widely-sundered years, some
writers. placing it as early as 45S and Others
as late as 493.
The miracles legends, traditions, super
stitions, and quaint customs and observ-
ances associated with the name of st. Pat
rick would fill many large volumes. One
of the best known of his alleged miracles,
to which it is only necessary to allude, as
it has been made universally familiar
through the. medium of picture, song,
all other reptiles from Ireland, which he
is said to have accomplished by beating
drum and driving them before him. into
the sea. This strange procession had not
gone far before Patrick beat his drum
with so much vigor as to break hole in
It, but an angel instantaneously appear
ing and miraculously mending it, the
march proceeded without further inter
ruption.
st. Patrick may be said, however, to
have been the means of introducing into
Ireland snakes of another and more deadly
kind than any that had existed there prior
to his arrival, for tradition assigns to him
the credit (2l of having instructed the Irish
in the art of distiliing whisky, from which
alleged fact it is said to have been called
poteen in his honor. But Father Mathew
and other Irish advocates of temperance
have claimed st. Patrick as strict prohi-
bitionist, and tell how, in A. ID. AS, he
one day commanded his disciples to alb
stain from drink until the bell should ring
for vespers in the evening. One Colman,
though busily engaged in the severe labors
of the harvest field, obeyed this injunction
so literally that he did not even taste
when at length the vesper bell sounded he
fell dead-a martyr to thirst.
Another of st. Patrick's most famous
miracles is thus commemorated in the old
Irish ballad of Polly Roe:'
st. Patrick, as in legends told,
The morning being very cold,
In order to assuage the weather,
Collected bits of ice together;
When a tsy every fragment fragment fBS biazed d. On fire,
Oh! II the Saint had been so kind,
As to have left the gift behind
10 such a love-lorn wretch as me,
Who daily struggles to be free;
I'd be content-content with part;
I'd only ask to thaw the heart,
The frozen heart, Of Polly Roe.
The peasantry of the Galtee or Gaultie
mountains, situated between. the counties
of Cork and Tiperrary, have legend that
when ST. Patrick banished the snakes and
toads from Ireland he chained-a monster
serpent in one of their lakes, known as
Lough Dilveen, telling him he'would not
be liberated till the following Monday.
The serpent has continued chained there
ever since, and every Monday morning
cries out in Irish: Its long Monday,
In the possession of family residing
n1lt lpt hnr 10 ell Oh,
tanning jawbone, which is said to have
been ST. Patrick's Great miraculous pow
ers are attributed to this relic. 1t be-
lieved to cure epileptic fits, to cOunteract
the diabolical machinations of witches
and fairies, and to avert the baleful influ-
ence of the evil eye. 1t is also used as an
extra7judicial test of the guilt or innocence
of suspected persons, who are required to
place their right hand upon II and declare
their innonence. 1t is believed that they
will be instantaneously visited by super
natural and awful punishment If they then
speak falsely or even suppress any portion
of the truth.
A quaint old book of folk lore pub.
lished at Dublin in 100 says that If the
wind blow hard upon ST. Patrick's eve 'it
betokens death among them that are
following summer" point that the
| United States fish commissioners would
| do well to make note on"
The same venerable authority states
| that if an egg laid on St. Patrick's day be
hung to the roof of house ii will preserve
| it and its inmates from all harm during
| the ensuing year, and advises maidens to
| pray ''cross-legged," to st. Patrick on the
morning of his birthday that he will
grant them his aid in securing a good
| husband.
In some of the country districts of Ire
land it is customary for the young girls
| between II and IS years of years TO en-
gage ina ''smook race" on st. Patriok's
| Day-that is. a foot race, in which the
| prize is u smock, or chemise of the finest
| rish linen, ,oramented with ribbons. Among
| portion of the peasantry when 81. Pat.
| rick's Day falls on the Sabbath IL is called
| "Mothering Sunday" because it is Gus.
tomary for all young people employed
| away from home to visit their parents on
that day and make them present OF
money, trinket, or some dainty edible.
4 One strong reason for the esteem and
| yeneration in which the shamrock is held
| by the Irish people is that when preaching
| the doctrine of the trinity Uthe pagan
| lrish St. Patrick used this plant, bearing
three leaves upon one stem, as q symDOI
| or illustration of the great mystery. In
| view of the good saints association with
the shamrock and with snakes, it /;
| worthy of note that the Latin writer Pliny
in his Natural History" says that ser
| pents are never seen upon the three
leayed plant, and that II is an antidote e
the stings of snakes and scorpions.
/ (iEDEUREV WuIIsTpN (lHRIsTINH