The Sauk Centre herald. (Sauk Centre, Stearns County, Minn.) 1886-current, 1892-04-14
A VERY OLD SAINT.
FOR ELEVEN HUNDRED YEARS IRE
LAND HAS. HoNoRED ONE MAN.

LAND fHo. TOSOnEO ONE MAN.
The Memory Of st. Patrick Has Beer
Cherished by Irisimen and Their De-
scendants with Consistency That Ha,
Been answering Through Many Years
America, so far as we know, has nc
patron saint. Columbus was never can
onized, and George Washington lived
too late for such honors. But she has
compensation for this lack in the mum
Der of saints brought with her settlers
st. Nicholas, st. David, ST. Andrew, ST.
George and we know not how many
more have become dominciled, each
bringing his quota of history, legend,
poetry, song and genial association, but
they are ncidental-thrown in with the
bargain, as it were-and our republic
has no one patron saint.
We would not willingly say depre.
ciatoly word of those distinguished per-
sonages whom we mentioned, but simple,
modest, historic truth compels us to say
that no one of them is more than "cir-
cumstance" on American soil to him
whose anniversary day, crisp, breezy
and bracing, calls out the long process
sion, the harp-decorated green flag and
the indestructible shamrock which re-
appears in fresh verdure every year.
For something like 1,1O0 years the 18th
of March has been observed as st. Pat
rick's'D Day.
And yet it is curious how entirely this
eminent saint has been overlooked in
naming places. You have saints all
through the alphabet, from st. Adams
to st. Vincent, but no ST. Patrick. The
Scotch have got in their st. Andrew, in
the cold north, to be sure, as was fit.
The Anthonys, Augustines, Bernards,
Charleses, Christophers, Glars, Francis
es, Johns, Josephs (run into Joes pro-
fanely), Lawrences, Louises, Marys,
Pauls, Peters and all the rest have their
names linked with towns, parishes or
streams, but there is not notable st.
Patrick's anywhere. This can only be
explained by the modesty of those who
hold him in regard, and it is q wrong
that ought to be redressed.
It is to be lamented that so much of
the poetry, song and drollery of lively,
mirthful, mercurial and imaginative
people have gathered around this name
that the historical character is lost sight
of, and there stands up to the popular
eye a legendary figure, exercising the
snakes and displaying the shamrock.
Nothing can be further from the reality
than this picture. A great amount Of
real scholarship has been expended on
the investigation Of ST. Patrick's his
tory, and while differences of opinion
exist as to details, St. Patrick, unlike
st. George, of England, is recognized by
all as true man with definite record
and a solid claim to the generation of
the good.
According to history, Patrick was a
farmers son, either on the coast of
France or of Scotland, most of the early
church authorities representing him as
being born about 410, in the neighbor-
hood of what is now Boulogne. His
original name was Succath, which the
early writers of the Irish Christian
church stated meant brave i'll heart"
and the Latin name Patricius was later
given to him.
At sixteen he was carried captive into
Ireland and was in slavery for six years.
While serving as a herder in compare
tive loneliness in woods and wilds the
Christian truth Of his early days came
to his mind. He prayed, meditated, be-
Heyed; and when liberated returned to
his home what would now be called a
converted, actively religious man. He re-
membered with pity the heather among
whom he lived, and returned to them as
O Christian teacher. That is supposed
to have been about the year 432. He
preached the Gospel with singular elo-
quence and such extraordinary effect
that he established Christianity so
strongly in Ireland that it could not be
overthrowp. He baptized the kings of
Dublin and Munster and the sons of the
king Of Connaught. He also established
numerous lnonasteries.
St. Bernard testifies that st, Patrick
fixed his metropolitan sea at Armagh.
He devoted much attention to the sup
preston of slavery, one of the conse-
quences of the piratical expeditions of
the age. He died in Down, Ulster, on
March II, Of either the year 4S3 or 400.
Here are his own words rendered into
English from the stiff Latin, tinged with
Celtic, in which his Confessions" are
written:
~ am greatly debtor to God, who
has bestowed his grace so largely
upon me, that multitudes should be
born again to God through me, and that
of these, clergy should be everywhere
ordained for a people lately coming to
the faith, whom the Lord took from tho
extremities of the earth. The Irish,
who never had the knowledge of
God, and hitherto worshiped only idols
and unclean things, have lately become
the people of the Lord, and afs called
the sons of God"
The Confessions" the shortest, the
genuine work, without later interpola-
tions-is in the ''Book of Armagh" one
of the richest literary treasures of the
Irish ibraries.-Daniel D. Bidwell in