The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1899-03-14
IRELAND'S PATRON SAINT
FEW UNDIsPUTED HISTORICAL FACTS
ABOUT SAINT PATRICK.
His Capture by Pirates-Contest with
March IL and the Irish.

Katharine T. Reighard. in New York Post.
In the whole calendar of saints there is
none whose life is so full OF marvellous
miracles as good st. Patrick. and none so
well loved and venerated the patron
saint OF ireland. The 18th OF March. called
St. Patrick's day. is holiday among the
Irish in America, and. Notwithstanding that
it comes in the midst OF the solemnity OF
Lent, the day is given over to festivity.
Although it is over fourteen hundred years
since ST. Patrick died. his memory is as
fresh in the minds of the Irish as the sham
rock that is sacred 10 his name, and many
are the tales and legends of the birth, life
and death OF this popular saint
The only authentic literary remains OF st.
Patrick that have been preserved are a con-
fession and one letter written by him in un-
polished Latin. but of great historical IN
terest.
DR.. Whitley Stokes has written THE Tri-
partite Life of st. Patrick" wherein he has
given us every fragment Of the saints his
tory that has come down to us from the
middle ages. He has printed also the docu-
ments from the Book OF Armagh" in
which are the earliest notices of the saint
and the foundation upon which all later
lives have been built
The main facts that can be stated with
certainty about st. Patrick these: He
was born about the year 1913, at Nemptor.
which must have been In the valley of the
Clyde. His father, who belonged to Ro-
man colony, was named Calpurnius; his
mother was Concessa, a sister of st. Martin,
and his tutor or foster father was Patricius,
and his own baptismal name was Sucab.
meaning warlike. It was the name OF
Cymric war god, some of whose exploits
may have helped to form the legend OF our
saint. The name PatriciuS was given him
by the Pope.
In his sixteenth year st. Patrick, while
herding sheep and swine on his fathers
farm, was taken captive by pirates and car
ried to Ireland, where he was sold; and here
for six years he pursued the same occupa-
ton and devoted himself to prayer. Finally
he escaped, and after sailing for three days
he landed, and journeying for twenty-eight
days through a desert he reached his home.
A LOST RECORD.
During the period of thirty-seven years
that followed there is nothing but conjec-
ture as to what he did. Tradition says that
after q second captivity, which lasted but
two months, he betook himself to the best
schools of the west of Europe and FIRST came
to Ireland to preach the gospel IN the six
tieth year of his life. There are objections
to this story, for IL st. Patrick had been
absent studying in these schools he would
in all probability have forgotten his Irish
and would have learned TO write better
Latin than that Of the Confessio and the
letter to Coroticus; and then again he says
how have lived among you from my youth
up. both faithful In truth and sincere In
heart"
However he left horne and parents to
preach the gospel to the Irish tribes He
found Ireland under the domination of the
Druidical priests OF the more ancient faith,
who. as might naturally be supposed, were
exceedingly adverse to any innovation.
These Druids being great magicians. would
have been formidable antagonists to any
one of less miraculous and sanity powers
than st. Patrick. His course through the
islsrd V as SO beset by obstacles and villain
Gus trickery that in spite OF his benevolent
and kindly disposition ne was compelled to
punish the in1pious people and to curse the
fertile lands SO that they became dreary
boys; to curse their rivers so that they pro-
duced no fish; to. curse their very kettles
so that with no amount OF fire and patience
could they ever be made to boil and as a
last resort TO curse the Druids themselves
so that the earth opened and swallowed
them. His imprecations all began with the
lowed the remarkable miracles which imme-
diately annihilated his enemies.
Towards the close of his career he wrote
Sendscheiben concerning, Coroticus. but
when does not appear; there are also va
rious poems ascribed to him.
PAUL HIS MODEL.
He was well versed in the Latin Scrip
lures, both canonical and apocryhal, and
was modest and even contemptuous of his
own learning. In character he was shewd,
generous, enthusiast with a sort of Celtic
tendency to exaggerate failure and success.
h toll vic 10 ar
martyrdom like his model. st. Paul.
Notwithstanding the extraordinary ma
ture of these stories of st. Patrick's life,
they seem prosaic when compared with the
fascinating legends which are so peculiar
among all people, and which are so well
remembered. He is always represented in
art In the costume Of a bishop with a staff,
in the act of driving an army of snakes and
tOadS before him. illustrating what Is con-
sidered the greatest of st. Patricks mira
cleS.
Colgan seriously relates that ST. Patrick
accomplished this feat by beating a drum,
which he struck with such fervor that re
knocked hole in it, thereby endangerng
the mrable. But an angel appearing mended
the drum, and the patched instrument was
long exhibited as holy relic. A more nat
ural story than the extinction of the SER
penis has afforded material for the painter
as well as the poet. When baptizing an Irish
chieftaip. the venerable saint leaned heavily
on his crozier, the steel-spiked point Of
which he had unwittingly. placed on the
Inc
pious chief in his ignorance of Christian
rites, believing this to be essential part
of the ceremony, bore the pain without
fiinching or murmuring though the blood
flowed so freely from the wound that the
irish named the place Struthfhuil (stream of
blood, now pronounced Struill, the name
of well-known place near Downpatrick
where the good saint died.
HIS BURIAL PLACE.
AS the birthplace of St. Patrick has been
disputed, so has that of his burial. But the
general evidence is that he was buried at
Downpatrick, and that the remains of ST.
Columb and St. Bridget were laid beside
him. This accords with the old monkish
Leonine distich. which may be rendered:
ION the hill of Down, buried in one tomb
Were Bridget and Patricius, with Columbo
the pious."
In the memory of people now living the
jawbone of St. Patrick, containing five
teeth, was in the possession of a family in
Belfast As various members departed for
America three teeth at different times were
extracted and were carried as talsmans by
the departing ones. The fourth lies buried
under the altar of the Roman Catholic
Church of Derriaghy. The jaw with the re-
naming tooth is still carefully kept. 1t is
said to have great curative powers.
The shamrock, or small white clover is
out Ireland on St. Patrick's day. The popu-
4 lr.