The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1902-03-15
Patrick, Apostle of ireland.

A AANRANG over the army OF SAM
II and picking out those whom til
church honors by setting apaI
days for commemorative feasts, hoy
easy it seems to distinguish the grea
captains of the faith in the galaxy o
sanctity. Many there were who yield
ed their lives TO martyrdom; but thei
crown of glory in the other world fill:
the measure of merit. and we are con.
tent to forget them. There were 9th.
ers like Dominic, and Ignatius, and
Francis Xavier, men of learning as well
as piety, founders of religious orders
whose exploits for the faith form a
great part of the worlds civilization.
Yet we do not place them alongside
such stalwarts as Peter Paul. John
and James, of the earliest apostles of
| the church, who undermined the su-
! perstitions of the Caesars and held I'D
! the hands of the first pontiff. Nor do
we compare the saints of the Latin
/ races with such pioneers of Chris
! tianfty as Patrick and Augustine, who
planted the cross in Ireland and Brit
ain, after the legions of Rome had de-
pared from the uppermost part of the
earth" and left its people to the con-
temptation of a picturesque paganism.
Thus does Patrick. the apostle of Ire
land, tower above the tonsured monks
whose merit lay in scourging the world
and its passions in the flesh. and who
could easily overcome temptation be-
cause it was seldom presented In this
day our veneration rather goes out to
the living saints fulfilling their duties
in the world. cheerfully abiding Gods
will and who offer up their daily cross
in union with the Man of Sorrows. We |
meet such every day, whether it be the
''soggarth aroon." the poor woman
scrubbing the floor or the little saint
employed to sell millinery.
ST. Patrick lived through the fifth
century of the Christian era, and died
within few years of its close. 1t
was a time of wonders and of wonder
workers; yet his marvellous Iife-span of
4 hundred and twenty years was even
hen without rival, while his miracles
stood unapproached by the most as
ound.ng even of that age. Roman i'm
)erlal civilization had done its work
Is a channel Of Christianity, and, like
is own mighty aqueducts which had /
'rought for centuries the pure noun !
ain waters to the thirsty multitudes, 7
vas now falling into picturesque de- $
ay. In the west, in GauI and Britain. a
he cross, which had advanced with i
be Roman eagles, fell back with them s
hen they retired. The scattered d
hristians that remained when the le- Y
ion had retreated, We're either lapsing Ii
Ito heresy or were being swallowed UP a
the wave OF triumphant barbarism Il
bling from the north. But the same F
rovidence that let loose that aveng- ~
g flood upon the sullied empire, was a.
ot within a care for his own. As the 9,
rank and the Goth pushed into the r.
rifle lands of Italy, other conquerers m
mighty rose in the lands those had y,
TT. SANITY heroes were given by .,
ID to the stricken people, and by him n
with the power which is III
ade perfect in infirmity 90
From little work edited by Rev. -
thur Ryan and published by the -,
tholic Truth society of San Francis -
we learn that St. Patrick was -,
By his mother, Conces- 80
he was closely related to St Mar ~
= bishop of Tours, whose disciple he -
became. His father. Cal 70
urnius, was, the saint tells us. "
m>n officer of good family. It seems pu
airly established fact that Concessa We
been in her youth, as her son was WI
erwards, carried into slavery; and mi
II II was from this state that Call po
lrnius won by her beauty and virtue. ch
cued her to make her his wife. So os
was by one who had been a slave, siii
the son of a slave, that the Cos mo
was preached to a people who were
many u century to know the sor- W.
IS of servitude, and amid those sor- the
IS to prepare for bette, ,5a,-s tn. rev
e of st. Patricks birth was A. D. sou
The place of his birth, as in the anc
of some of the greatest saints and is
oes that have lived, is question Bot
much uncertainty. buh
miracle is said to have signalized ing
child's baptism. If so, it was a fit tor
opening for a niracuIous Iifa ,rha tivi
d and aged priest failed to find I
er for the sacrament. Illumined as the
he future sanctity of the babe, the its
man signed, with the infants atol
d, cross upon the ground. A the
ne of water at once burst up. in erns
n the babe was baptized. and the the
j eyes were washed and made 10 Pre-;
The wonder would have been if plea
had not shown some such sign at ton
baptism of one who was to he the Pun
lsnal fountainhead of an entire wha
and whose lie was to be one of ness
'st unceasing miracle. The child in t
II seems christened by the name with
uceat' Fatrlclus, or Patrick, the sacri
so dear today to millions was but
lift of the pope, and the saint had chez
led the age of so before he re- relig
d 1t from Pope Celestine. together to II
his commission TO preach the Cos Ole
n ireland. ,i,.o
'iiose accustomed to read the lives pove
'siil's IN the divine office of the wors
bic church, it will be no matter Dr..
ana sui else for doubt, dictir
20 iiO'S ooShood OF Patrick is de- have
- - al VINO write OF it, as rich for Il
lracles. It is the delight of the thous
Or to be with the children of men. titv
e seem to see him, as he has HIM II in
said, ludens in orbe terraum.
lg, as it were, with his own r.
; the father condescending to be v
Id among his children. In the