Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-03-16

/ tainty. Some writers assign it to the
| year ass and others to 493. During his
! career OF evangelizatiou in Ireland be is
| said to have founded 365 churches, or
| one for every day in the year, aud TO
| have personally baptised II 900 con verts.
There has been much controversy con-
| corning the place of his interment. In
| the works OF one of the early fathers OF
| the church are found these lines:
| On the hill Of Down, buried in one tomb
| Were Bridget and Patriciu5,
With Columbia, he piOus-
From the above statement Il has been
concluded that he lies buried at Down
| patrick If the lines be true il is GER
tainly very appropriate that the three
WORTHLESS named should be inferred to-
gether in one common grave, for the
names of st. Bridget and Columbia are
as dear TO the Irish people as that of St.
Patrick. St. Bridget, whose father was
q prince OF Ulster, was the first irish
nun, taking the required vows soon after
her conversion through the 1nstrumen-
tally of St. Patrick. Under a great
oak, which had served the heather
DruidS as a temple, she built her first
cell and called 1t Kil-dara, Around this
primitive nunnery the town OF Kildare
gradually sprang up. COLUMBIA was an
the honor of introducing Christianity into
Scotland.
The miracles, legends, traditions,
superstitiOns aud quaint folk customs
and observances associated with the
name of St. Patrick would fill many
large volumes. One of the most familiar
of these is his expulsion Of the snakes,
toads and other reptiles from Ireland by
beating a drum and driving them before
him into the sea. This exploit and the
general fame of st. Patrick have been
commemorated in countless quaint folk
songs, from one OF the most character
istio of which l make the following eX-
tract:
st. Patrick was gentleman, he came of decent
people.
He built church in Dublin town and put on it
5tseple;
Success attend St. Patrick's fist, for he's the
decent saint, o!
He gave the snakes and toads q twist, he's
beauty without paint, o!
In his efforts TO convert the Irish pa
gans, st. Patrick met with much OPP
position from their heathen priests, the
Druids, who employed every possible
trick and deception TO retain their hold
upon the people. II was to oppose these
impostors that many of ST. Patrick 5
most remarkable miracles are said to
kettles which the Druids employed in
the performance OF their mysteries, so
that nothing could be boiled IN them.
He transformed the fertile lands into
fOgs and banlshed the fish from the
water, TO show the miraculous power he
derived from God. But the Druids still
remaining obstinate, he caused the earth
to swallow them up, and so put an end
to Druids in Ireland forever.
Another of st. Patrick miracles is
thus described 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,
Then gently breRthed upon the pyrs,
When every fragment bIazed in ire
There are at least three physical relics
of st. Patrick now In this country. They
are three teeth taken from his jaw bone,
in possession of a Belfast family and
given to three Of its members on their
sailing for America.
Though st. Patrick taught the Irish
TO distill whisky, which they called
poteen in his honor, he became an ad-
yocate of temperance when he saw the
evil effects Of that liquor.
Considering the many virtues and
countless good works of st. Patrick, we
must heartily indorse the old folk song,
which says:
''For saints and for men you may search the
You may go from the east to the west
But all the world over there's none to be found
That can equal st. Patrick, the BEST
GEOFFREY WILLIsToS CHRISTINE.