The evening times. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1895-1902, 1897-03-17
IRELAMD's PATRON SAINT |
st. Patrick's Day Services at the
Church Of That Name.
MARTINELLI SANG THE MASS
Sermon Preached by Very Rev. DR..
Conaty Large Assemblage of Dis
tinguished Clergy-Services We're
Also Held at st. Aloysius' Church.
Father O'ConneII the Celebrant.

Solemn high mass, with Cardinal Mar
tinelli as celebrant, was offered up in ST.
Patrick's Church at 10 O'Clock this morn
ing to commemorate the feast day of
the patron saint of the congregation
The other officers OF the mass were
Father 8tagee, of st. Patrick IS, master OF
ceremonies: Father Caughly, of st. Pat
rick's, deacon; Rev. DR.. Gum, of the
Catholic University, subdeacon; Rev. Dr.
Garrigan, of the Catholic University, as
sis5anJ, and Fathers Rocker and Francis
Gus, deacons of honor.
Attending Cardinal MartineIliin the san2-
tuary were Mgrs. Schroeder, Stephan aid
Sbaretti, Fathers Richards, Mackin, Con-
nor, White, Kent, and Gillespie.
The sermon was delivered by the Very
Rev. Thomas F Conaty, ID. D., rector ofthe
Catholic University. He chose as his text
Exodus, chapters and A;
Now Moses fed the sheep of Getlro,
and the Lord appeared to hiH and said,
Il have seen the affliction of My people
In Egypt, and / have heard their cry
because of the rigor of them that ale
TO Pbaroah, that thou mayest bring forth
Ny people, the children of Israel, out OF
Egypt. | will be with thee. Go, there
fore, and will be in thy mouth ana
will teach thee what thou wilt speak
Aud the people believed"
After comparing this action OF God to-
ward Moses and his mission to Israel in
Egypt to that of Patrick in ireland, he said:
Nd
characters which make epochs of national
greatness and help to make national his
tory. Events and characters may be POI
litical, and they contribute to the mate
rial or social condition of people, or
they may toe religious. and thus make the
spiritual character. Everynation truly great
must have its religious event and chafac-
ter or else be left half developed. Nations,
like individuals, have their destiny, and
the nation exists to help the individual full
fill his duty and realize his destiny.
To-day we are face to face with an event
and & character; but an event and charac-
ter almost wholly religious; the event is
the religious change of Ireland from pagan
ism TO Christianity and the character Is St
Patrick, the preacher Of the Gospc1 OF
Christ, and the instrument 10y which the
change was effected. Sixty years were
spent by him in his apostolate among the
Irish, and at its close he could feel that an
entire ration had abandoned its idols and
embraced rstianity; that the affairs
OF the living God replaced the affairs OF
the Druiiic sacrifices; that monasteries
and schools covered the land, and the
light of faith was enkinded in every hIme.
These are facts which stand out from
the pages of history to attest the work
of st. Patrick and suggest the reasons
for our honorinG him as the Character VINO
has effected such wonders. Like Abra-
ham he left his home and kindred to become
the father OF a nation given TO him by
God. Like Moses he was sent TO lead
people out of the captivity OF error and
idolatry into the promised land of truth
and faith. The conversion OF the entire
race cost not a drop of martyr blood, but
the conserving of the religion he taught
has cost an ocean Of sacrifice and suffer
ing.
'-Allusion was made to the golden age of
Irish learning from the fifth to the ninth
centuries: the inroads OF the Danes and the
greed and hates OF the Norman and EngliS h
The penal laws which form the most In
iquitous page in any history, were but the
effort of religious hate to force the irish
to give up their faith. All the prosecutions
ONLY served to wed the Irish still more
closely to their faith, and 10 send them as
exiles to foreign clines, bearing, as St
Patrick did to them, the message of Christ
and His Gospel. The monks went forth to
teach even at the courts of kings; to estab-
lish universities, and TO evangeliZe other
ri
Cromwellian invasion were scattered over
Europe, entering the Catholic armies or
continental Europe, and laying the founda-
ton of the families whose sons have made
every foreign court famous because OF
their genius and devotion.
'In this century the famine ships, the
forced emigration, sent to every land
the strong hearts of Ireland, seeking a
home with liberty, away from the oppres-
sions and cruelty, which made their own
Erin accursed. They have gone, these
exiled Irish, and they have found homes in
every land. They have brought energy
and love for the upbuilding of every land
that has received them; but they have
brought religion with them, the faith of
st. Patrick, the religion of Christ. This
land welcomed them, and they have given
her their best love They have worked for
her. They have been willing to die for her
when her liberties were in danger.
I'VE honor, then, st. Patrick, because
he is the apostle by whom faith came to
our fathers and to US. We honor him be-
causehe broughtus he knowledge OF Christ,
and planted religion so firmly that BOO
years OF vicissitude and suffering have not
been able to dim its luster. We are CRATE
full to God for all the blessings of faith,
and we are not unmindful that we have
duty to perform to be true to our faith,
true to the God whom our fathers learned
to love. Our life is our best loyalty. 1t
is heart-service, heart-patriotism, that we
need. True to ourselves, true to our God,
we will be true to our fellow-men, to our
country and to liberty"