The Salt Lake herald. [volume] (Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1870-1909, 1890-03-16
PATRICK SUCCATH.
Such Was the Name of Ireland
Patron Saint.
SOMETHING OF HIS CHILDHOOD,
How He Was Conyerted-His War Against
Heather Practices Abolishing the
Snakes and Toads.
For TIE SUNDAY HERALD

For THE SUNDAY HERALD
OF ali saints in the calendar, there is
probably none other whose natal day is so
generally known and observed in this coun-
try as is that of ST. Patrick. Yet it is also
probable that there is none other Of whose
personal history we have less knowledge.
Many writers have even denied that such
q man as ST. Patrick ever existed. They
claim that the origin of such 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 a number of persons finally attrib-
uted to one and greatly magnified by popu-
lar Imagination.
This view is not the correct one. Both
Evolutionary and written history prove con-
Dlusively that such man as
ST. PATRICK LIVED AND DIED.
There are almost innumerable traditions
concerning his birth place and early youth,
and he has been variously claimed by the
English, Scotch, Welsh and French as a
native of their respective countries. 1t
will perhaps be surprise to many Irish
men to learn that Ireland has never claimed
the honor of having given birth to St.
Patrick.
Though Patrick is regarded as a very
plebeian name, it is in reality most patri
clan one. 1t is derived from the Roman
RppelldtiYe Patricius, which indicated that
the youth who has since become so famous
rs 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 as
pribed the honor Of giving birth to St.
Patrick, Boulogne, in France, and Dunbar
ton-then a Roman province called Mem
thur-in Scotland, seemed to have the
strongest claims, with the preponderance
Of Evolutionary evidence in favor of the
latter.
The date of his birth is ascribed to
widely different years by different writers.
Some say that he was born AID. 3T2 while
others state that he did not come into the
world until a. D. 1876. As to the day of the
month, there is no reliable evidence to sub
Btantiate the claim of March IL, and it is
wholly a matter of conjecture that the
great saint was born upon that day. Per
haps the following poetical account of the
birth of ST. Patrick, from the pen of
witty Catholic clergyman, is as accurate as
any other information we have of him:
ION the eighth day of Marchitwas, some people
That St Patrick at midnight he first saw the
day,
While others declared twas the ninth he was
born,
And twas all mistake between midnight and
morn.
mistakes will occur in a hurry and shock,
And some blamedthe baby, while some blamed
the clock
TIL with all their cross questions, were no one
could know
II the child were too fast or the clock were TOO
slow.
i'But both of these factions so positive grew
That each kept birthday, and Pat then had
Till Father Mulcahey. who showed them their
SINS
Said, No one could have two but fine pair of
Don't always be fighting for eight or for nine,
Don't always be fighting but some times com
Eight and nine add together-seventeen is the
mark,
30 let that be his birthday amen said the
clerk"
DURING PATRICK's CHILDHOOD,
while playing upon the seashore with his
two sisters one day, he was seized by Irish
pirates taken to Ireland and sold to the
petty chieftain of a Pagan clan in that
country. Like the prodigal son, he was
sent into the fields to feed swine. While
thus engaged, the religious instructions
received from his pious mother came fresh
to his mind and touched his heart Bow
ing 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 a letter-also in
Latin-addressed to Coroticus, a Welsh
chieftain, who had seized several of Pat
rick's Irish converts, is the only literary
relic of him that has been preserved.
Il was sixteen years DID, 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 my God, who regarded
my low estate, had pity on my youth and
ignorance, and consoled me as father con
soles his Children Thus it was that this
young swine herder was born again BY the
truth and spirit of God, while wandering
solitary and alone over the green pastures
of Ireland.
OF the power and genuineness of his
subsequent 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 tc
such degree that l poured forth as many
as one hundred prayers in one day Anc
even during the night, in the forest and OIL
the mountains, where l fed my flock. the
rain, snow and frost and sufferings which
| endured. excited me to look after God
The spirit fermented in
my heart"
Securing his freedom soon afterward
Succat 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 al
her moral darkness and degradation. Tn,
love of Christ constrained him to return
thither. that he might publish the gospel Il
the people of that land where the blessed
light Of Christianity had first dawned upor
his own heart Having been admitted L
the priesthood he returned to the Emerald
Isle, where he preached to the Pagan tribe.
with great and daring effect
The Irish were then barbarous nation
Even the wealthiest classes herded in rud,
huts and subsisted largely upon the roots
herbs and grasses of the field Of the art,
and retnements of civilization they knew
nothing. IL was only through their emo
tional nature that they could be an
preached, and to that alone St. Patricl
appealed to his efforts to win them fron
their
HEATHER PRACTICES TO CHRISTIANITY.
In trying to explain to them the doctrine O
the Trinity, he employed the shamrock a
Rsymbol or illustration of that mystery
and it is said that TO this fact is largely dn
the esteem and yeneration in which tina
plant is held by the Irish people to day.
The date Of St. Patricks death, like tina
Of his birth, is wrapped in uncertainty
Some writers assign it to the year ass, ant
others to 493. During his career of evan
gelization in ireland he is said to hay
founded 365 churches, or one for every da
In the year. and to have personally banfiz 20