The National tribune., 1893-03-16


posing professions with
German bands, by the wearing of the green
and of the Indispensable "stove-pipe" nat
and by sundry deep potations of the national
"poteen y" an indulgence by the way, that
must be construed purely as an act of religious
devotion, for, on his deathbed. did not the good
Saint soemnly enjoin his sorrowing followers
to take "a drop of something" as measure
of consolation? Hence the plain duty OF pos
| terity.
No doubt Saint Patrick really was once upon
a time long ago. Notwithstanding the fact that
many authorities have been inclined to shake
| their heads obviously over the mere suggestion
| of his existence
| 1t is quite true that the Saints name is not
| mentioned by the early writer's for two futi
centuries after the alleged date Of his death,
and then not one, but two or three Patricks 5
were brought to light who had been missionary
priests in Ireland in the 5th century. How
ever, let US assume that one of these worthy
individuals must have been deseryedly famous
in his day, so much so, that some of his fellow
workers became jealous of him, and sought to
share portion of his glory in the minds of
future generations by adopting the same name !;
| ignobe beings long ago buried in oblivion.
AT all events, we implicitly believe the fol-
lowing to be an authentic account of the orig
inal Saint Patrick Of ireland, based though it
is on meager data cleaned from old records. 10
as will be seen.
About the year 372 A. D., one Calphurnius,
of patrician descent and deacon in the
church, living near Dunn barton, on the Clyde,
became the father of a bouncing boy, who was
duly christened Succat The child was most
carefully brought up. but at the age of 16 he
was captured by pirates in some way and sold
to slavery in Ireland where he was employed
as q swineherd On Mt. Sleamish, in County
Auburn, for seven years. The lad managed
to keep up brave heart through it all, and
used to devote many hours daily to religious
meditation and prayer.
One night, so the story is told, the young
Succat's lonely vigil on the bleak hilltop was
rudely disturbed, and by no less a parsonage
than the devil himself. The enemy of man
kind sought to provoke the boy to ungodly
| wrath by jumping upon him in the guise of a
huge stone, but the sturdy. youth was nothing
daunted Extricating himself as speedily as
possible, he shouted Justify, Helias! Helias ]"
Immediately the sun rose glorieusly, though
dawn was still some hours distant This was
naturally too much for the Prince of Darkness
and he fed in dire dismay.
Shortly after this remarkable occurrence
Succat succeeded in escaping from servitude
and returned to his family On the Clyde. He
remained with them for some years, and during
this period was wont to ponder deeply on the
immense field for missionary endeavor across
the channel while pursuing his studies.
Finally he felt constrained to visit the con-
tinent, and so we shortly hear of him in Rome,
where his jealous spirit made such an i'm
preston ON Pope Celestine that this Pontif
gladly consecrated him as Bishop Patricius
and sent him with his blessing on mission
to Ireland. ~
Thus at the age of 40 or 45 did the devout
son of old Calphurnius once an humble swine
herd, but now full fedged prelate of the
oF r.otr
fearlessly to convert the pagan Irish.
Shortly before his death Saint Patrick is
supposed to have written Confession " or au-
photography of his career, a few copies of
which still exist. The Latin of the docu-
ment is occasionly defective, but its sincerity
and zeal are Hnmistakable. Strange to say,
the "Con fession" is humble and modest through
out; makes no extraordinary claims, and
doesn't even mention solitary miracle or
supernatural event.
These last seem to have been supplied by
the vivid imagination of the middle ages
In the 9th century writer named Nennius
came forward and solemnly declared that the
Saint wrought miracles continually; that he
had even raised persons from the dead :
also, that lie had written no less than 365
canonical books founded 365 churches conse-
Grated 365 Bishops, and ordained 5000 presby.
ters; while in Connaught alone he had bap-
tised $4,000 people in one day, including seven
Kings. And then we hear that in emulation
of Moses he tasted for 40 days and nights on
the summit of Cruachangeli, where as in a
q vision one evening he beheld vast flock Of
birds wheeling about him, which he was
inspired to believe represented. the exact
number of rescued souls who on the Judg-
ment Day would ascribe their salvation to
him. 49,
All this however, was but the merest fore
taste Of what was to come. In the meantime
| Al IL 4
this wonderful being her Patron Saint.
Verify his like had never been known before
in Christendom The popular mind came to
| elevate him to the highest pinnacle of glory.
Every marvellous tale that was told was
swallowed with avidity and more demanded,
with the result that after the lapse of few
centuries mountain of tradition was piled
up DER the memory of this fine old simple
minded Saint Many of these old legends are
infinitely picturesque, ingenious and amusing,
and are fondly cherished by the Irish hearts
amongst peasant, Alderman and landowner
as heritage from previous generations.
And as there may be some benighted beings
who only know of st. Patrick as the arch
enemy of snakes, the following tid.bits, care
fully culled from legendary lore of ages should
be read with profound interest.
The old story about the shamrock is no doubt
authentic. When the Saint commenced to
preach the Gospel to the Irish he had great
difficulty in making them understand the doc
trine of the Trinity. One day bright idea
Struck him.. He displayed to the throng
sprig of the trefoil Glover or shamrock), which
grew everywhere. In q minute his auditors
grasped the idea how simple it was for three to
emanate from one Hence the peculiar sig
nificance of the shamrock to this day.
1t is rather curious here to note an observa-
ton by Pliny in his'Natural History; namely,
that serpents are never seen on trefoil
st. Patrick was especially noted for his genial
and kindly nature which stood him in rare
good stead in his labors amongst the untutored
and halfsavage tribes Of Ireland. The only
inhabitants upon whom he could make no i'm
preston were the Druids.H On account of their
obstinate antagonism he was reluctantly obliged
to pronounce upon them somewhat sweeping
and comprehensive curse, which included in
its dire effects not only the Druds themselves,
! but also their lands, rivers, bogs and kettles
until the end of time. This was an extreme
measure but probably warrantable under the
circumstances. though it scarcely be rel
ished by modern holders of Druidical real es.
tate and kitchen utensils
Once while baptizing an Irish chieftain the
Saint unwittingly dropped his crozier on the
great toe of his august but unlucky con vert.
Blood flowed freely, but the dignifed scion of a
noble race uttered no murmur, thinking very
likely, that it was part of the ceremony. The
spot was afterward named Strnthfhuil (stream
OF blood, and is said to have been identical
with the present town of Struil near Dom