The Montgomery advertiser., 1903-03-18
FRESHMEN PAY TRIBUTE
 TOPATRON SAINT PATRICK
ElOouent Sermon at St. Peters Catholic Church by Father Kerrigan and Smoker at
 Hibernian Hall.

Loyal Irishmen of Montgomery cele- brated St. Patricks Day in a fitting man. ner. -
 A solemn high mass was said at St. Pe- ter's Roman Catholic Church m the morn ing and members of the two Montgomery divisions of the Ancient Order Of H1oernl- ans and their friends gathered at HI bernian Hall on Commerce street last night and participated in a smoker.
 A large congregation attended the mass at St. Peters Church at CLOCK yes terday morning. The mass was celebrated by Rev Father w. A. Kerrigan or BIT mingham, who formerly lived in Mont gomery. -.
 After the mass Father Kerrigan preach ed an eloquent sermon. choosing as hls texf E,cclesiastes xxxix-13: "The memory of Him shall not depart away, and Ills name shall be in request from generation to generation" ,,v>,.
 After dwelling upon the lofty prlnclple which inspires human nature to rescue from oblivion the names and actions or benefactors of mankind. Father kerrlgah spoke of the reasons why the Catholic Church placed before the world its Chris tian champion.
 The story of St. Patricks life." said Father Kerrigan, appeals to the lirsh heart especially because 1t invests character that is virtually identihed with the initiation feature of the grandest anu most peculiar history of any people Tn the world. That feature Is the CathoHc faith that Patrick brought into Ireland That faith and it's preservation nave been the motive of the song now sWellng into the grandeur and sublimity Of the councils of the elect, now sinking to the fearful and heartrending threnody oi Jeremiad of Ireland's history
 ."rhe Irish people, convinced, not by force, but by reason of the truth or Fat rick's faith enshrined it forever In never to- -be-ravaged receptacle, Its gen erous Irish heart, that heart mas been assailed by enemies Ind hypociltlcal st- ducers. 1t withstood three hundred years of Danish invasion, four hundred years of Saxon oppression, but came forth from the ordeal with the faith stii n US possession. Though jealous or that 1altn it was still generous as history or the Christian nations of Europe Will certiiy. Jealous Irish monks spread the 1alth through the continent in the persons or Coiumkille in Scotland, Oidan in Eng land, Columbanus and Gall in France ana Switzerland, Fridolin in Germany, kil- lean in France and Dysibod along the Rhine.
 '"rhese considerations should inspire pardonable pride in our hearts that we are Irish children, that we belong 10 that | faith that has such glorious history | ity of our pride by making us or tha' | faith by following its precepts. some, 1 am sorry to say, wrap them. i selves about with the glorious drapery o1 I those WHO nave BOIe DtlOlC Dut NSA VI 'i reality traitors to that history and tc | that faith. They are standing disgrace | and a menace to both. The world form: | a standard of the whole.
 ITO claim kinship with St. Patrick. { | man must he a good, practical Catholic | Therefore we should go down beneatf the surface of the days of observance l and consider the vital principle underly ing it. To honor St Patrick according | to our best ability. according to his bes desire we must sincerely initiate him. | This Is the chief reason why tn church appoints this festival, but if thi be lost sight of the very end of the da. Is defeated. With this end clearly il | view the other feature of the day vii
 appeal to us in a stronger and bette
 light, it will encourage the commendatio
 or our nefghhors of different creeds an will show that not in vain has been tn
 sacrifice of our ancestors to prevent tn | memory of Patrick from departing ava
 and to keep his name from generation t | genera ton
 The smoker and entertainment at th
 hall of the Ancient Order of Hiberniani
 Division No1 g. at s:3O o'clock last nigh
 was particularly a feature of the day celebration.
 With emblems of their loyalty to Ire land the majority of the membership (
 the organization assembled in good chee and smoked and drank toasts to s l Patrick.
 The entertainment was presided owe by State Secretary Hugh Gallagher (