Iron County register. [volume] (Ironton, Iron County, Mo.) 1867-1965, 1897-06-24
NO SAINT PATRICK.
According to An Oxford Scholar No
Such Person Ever Existed.

According to An Oxford scholar No
Such Person Ever Existed.
Evidently this is a destructive age.
| The ideals of our fathers are not ours,
and we may thank our stars If any of
| our own ideals are allowed to remain
for any length of time on their lofty
pedestals. The modern investigator is
at work, and no figure, however heroic
or noble, is sacred in his eyes. He has
stripped William Tell of the romance
that has glorified him for centuries; he
has striven hard to transform the ro-
bust William Shakespeare, of Stratford-
| on-Avon, into a shadowy mysterious
eidolon of Lord Bacon; he has white
washed many an apparent scoundrel
| and besmirched many an apparent
| saint, and now he comes forward and,
| with an assurance born of the convic-
| ton that his statement cannot be con-
! tToverted, tells US that one of the most
popular heroes of Christendom never
| existed, and that consequently all the
| homage paid to him through so many
| centuries has been utterly wasted.
The popular hero is St. Patrick, and
the amiable gentleman who processes
to show him to us in his true light is
Rev. Charles Plummer, distinguished
graduate of Oxford university and
wel-known authority on ancient Eng
lish and Irish history.
According to Mr.. Plummer, St. Pat
rick would never have existed if a
careless scribe had not made an error in
translation. The belief in st. Patrick
dates from the publication of Bede's
Ecclesiastical History" in which
these words occur: "Qui ct patricius
fuit''
Now, the translator assumed that
''patricius" was proper name. though
in the original manuscript the initial
letter is small ''p," and he translated it
accordingly. According to him the
Latin words mean; ''Whose name was
Patricius" or Patrick.
Mr.. Plummer, however, shows that
the word ''patricius" is an adjective,
and simply means that the gentleman
referred to was nobly born and held
high rank in the society of that time.
But he goes further; he points out
that the name of the patrician gentle
man was Eatius.
Of the existence of ST. Patrick he finds
not the SllSnteSI trace. anu ne INSISTS
that Erin's favorite hero would never
have existed had not a careless or ig
norant scribe wrongly assumed that
''patricius" with a small ''p," mind
you) meant Patrick or ''Patricius,'
which is the Latin form of the word.
But Mr.. Plummer is not a heartless
iconoclast. He admits that this is
grave matter, but he shows that a sim
liar mistake has been made more than
once.
Some of our saints he says, "are
due to quite as trivial causes as this one.
For example, had not translators
blundered, Saint Amphibalus and Saint
Pontiolus would never have existed, and
there is little doubt that a close exam
nation of the history of Saint George,
England's patron saint, would show
that he, too, is largely mythical"
Mr.. Plummer dwells on this subject
al length in his commentary on Bede's
great work, and, owing to his wide
reputation as scholar and investiga-
tor, his remarks have caused consider
able stir, not only in Great Britain and
Ireland, but also on the continent of Eu-
rope.-N. Y. Herald.