Pittsburg dispatch. [volume] (Pittsburg [Pa.]) 1880-1923, 1889-03-17
-OBLE AND PIOUS ST. PATRICK.
twRrrrrN roR TIE p1srArcH.l

lk<sHoDoI53InS1bro5 Patrlck. Yet 1t is
e-------@--=---- also probable that
there is none other of whose personal his
tory we have less knowledge. Many writers
have even denied that such a man as st.
Patrick ever existed. They claim that the
origin of such a character was due to the
proneness to hero worship possessed by the
masses of all lands. and that the virtues
and deeds ascribed to St. Patrick are either
purely imaginary or else those of number
of individuals finally attributed to one and
greatly magnifed by ypopular imagination.
This view is not the correct one. Both
traditionary and written history prove con-
clusively that such man as st. Patrick
lived ana died. There are almost innumerable
traditions concerning his birthplace and
early youth, and he has been variousiy
claimed by the English, Scotch, Welsh and
French as a native of their respective coun-
tries. 1t will perhaps be surprise to many
Irishmen to learn that Ireland has never
claimed the honor of having given birth to
st. Patrick.
OF NOBLE BIRTH.
Though Patrick is generally regarded as
q very plebeisn name, it is in reality most
patrician one. 1t is derived from the Roman
appellative PatricIus, which indicated that
the youth who has since become so famous
as St. Patrick came of a patrician family.
His surname was Succat or Succath. OF
the various places in England, Scotland,
Wales and France to which has been
ascribed the honor of giving birth to St.
Patrick, Boulogne, in France, and Dunn
barton-then Roman province called
Nar,, hrr- ia m har ho
strongest claims, with the preponderance of
traditionary evidence in favor of the latter.
The date of his birth is ascribed to widely
different years by different writers. Some
say that be was born Al 372, while others
state that he did not come into the world
until A. d. 395. As to the day of the
month, there is no reliable evidence to SUBJ
stantiate the claim of March IL, and it is
wholly a matter of conjecture that the great
saint was born upon that day. Perhaps the
following poetical account of the birth of
st. Patrick, from the pen of a witty
Catholic clergyman, is as accurate as anv
other information we possess concerning him:
COMBINATION.
"On the eighth day of March it was, some
That ST. Patrick at midnight he first saw the
daN
While others declared twas the ninth he was
porn,
And twas all mistake between midnight and
For mistakes will occur in a hurry and shock.
And some blamed the baby, while some blamed
the clock,
TIL with all their cross question, sure no one
could know
If the child was too fast or the clock was too
slow.
But both of these factions so positive grew
That each kept birthday and Pat then had
Till Father Mulcahey, who showed them their
Said No one could have two but fine PAIR of
twins
Don't always be fighting, but. sometimes COM
Eight and nine add together-seventeen is the
So let that be his birthday" "Amen," said
the clerk.
During Patrick's childhood, while play
ing upon the seashore with his two sisters
one day, he was seized by Irish pirates,
taken to Ireland and sold to the petty chief
tain of pagan clan in that country. Like
the prodigal son, he was sent into the fields
to feed swine. While thus engaged, the
religious instruction received from his pious
mother came fresh to his mind and touched
his heart. Bowing before God he sought
and obtained pardon for his sins.
st. Patrick has left vivid account of his
being thus converted. 1t is contained in a
Latin manuscript which he calls his Con
fession," and which, with letter-also in
Latin-addressed to Coroticus, a Welch
chieftain, who had seized several of Pat
rick's Irish converts, is the only literary
relic that has been preserved.
ST. PATRICK's CONVERSION.
81 was 16 years old, 4" he saws, land knew
not the true God; but in that strange land, |
the Lord opened my unbelieving eyes, and, |
although late, called my sins to mind, |
and was converted with my whole heart to |
the Lord nv God, who regarded my low |
estate, had pity on nv youth and ignorance, |
and consoled ME as a father consoles his |
children Thus it was that this young |
swineherd was born again by the truth and 1
spirit of GOD, while wandering solitary and |
alone over the green pastures of Ireland.
OF the power and genuineness of his sub
sequent religious experience he writes as
follows: 1.-THE love of God increased more
and more in me, with faith and the fear of
His name. The spirit urged me to such de-
gree that 1 poured forth as many as a hun
dred prayers in one day. And even during
the fight, in the forest and on the mount
and frost, and suferings which 1 endured,
excited me to look after God.
The spirit fermented in my heart"
Securing his freedom soon afterward.
Suceat returned to his fathers house, and
Immediately entered upon the work OF pre-
pairing himself for the priesthood. Pagan
Ireland was constantly before him in all
her moral darkness and degradation. The
love of Christ constrained him to return
thither, that he might publish the Gospel
to the people of that land where the blessed
light of Christianity had first dawned upon
his own heart. Having been admitted to
the priesthood he returned to the Emerald
Isle, where he preached to the Pagan
tribes with great and saving effect.
THE SHAMROCK PARABLE.
The Irish were then a barbarous nation.
Even the wealthiest classes herded in rude
huts and subsisted largely upon the roots,
herbs and grasses of the field. OF the arts
and refnements OF civilization they knew
absolutely nothing. 1t was only through
their emotional nature that they could be
approached. and to that alone st. Patrick
appealed in his efforts to win them from
their heather practices to Christianity. In
trying to explain to them the doctrine of
the Trinity, he employed the shamrock as a
symbol or illustration of that mystery, and
it is said that to this fact is largely due the
esteem and veneration in which that plant
is held by the Irish people to-day.
The date of st. Patrick's death, like that
of his birth, is wrapped in uncertainty.
Some writers assign it to the year 45S, anG
others to 493. During his career of evangel-
ization in Ireland he is said to have founded
865 churches, or one for every day in the
year, and to have personally baptized L, 900
There has been much controversy concern
ing the place of his interment. In the
works of one of the early fathers of the