The Montgomery advertiser., 1904-03-18
SPOKE ON ST. PATRICK.
EXCELLENT DIscoUhsE BY REV.
 FATHER o'BRIEN.
Day Was Quietly Celebrated by Montgomery Irishmen--Solemn High Mass at St. eters and
 and Informal Dinner.

.t h10 4uI0Exna1 0IuueFs +t
 St. Patrick's day was quietly celebrated in Montgomery yesterday. No public cele- bration was had with the exception of a solemn high mass at St. Peter's Catho- lie Church, at o'clock yesterday morn ing, Rev. Father Dennis Savage said mass and Rev. Father Hugh A. O'Brien delivered an excellent discourse on the life of St. Patrick, and the lesson there from. sa
 Father o'Brien took his text from the Book of Ecclesiastics xxxix ,ls-I4: ''The memory of him shall not depart away and his name shall he in request from generation to generation. Nations shall declare his wisdom and the church shall ahow forth his praise"
 There Is one grand central figure in history, he said In the beginning, from whose birth we date our centuries and count all the graces we have: and around him are grouped some of the most beauti- full. most endearing characters known to man. And today we are gathered here To celebrate the memory of one of those who lived not so many years after his Lord and Master. .s
 Tt Is no great hero of this world whose life and actions we are here to admire and emulate. It Is no famous general or celebrated statesman whose exploits or diplomatic tactics awaken our admira- tion and win our love and devotion. And vet he was all this and more, top. He Is one of the greatest and most glorious saints of the Church of God whose his tory those words of divine wisdom appear to me to afford perfect and apt delinea- tiOn." M Here Father O'Brien repeated the text. "F1fteen long centuries" he continued, have but served to render more dear and enduring the name of the Apostle of Ireland. His memory lives today as bright and fresh in the hearts of her children as the beautiful green sward on hills and dales. Today that tiny Sham rock finds its way over land and sea from that green isle of Erin to every part of the known world where her exiled sons are working out life's battle. spreading the light of Gods truth which Patrick gave them In al the fullness, and for which so many of her sons laid down thelr lives rather than prove faithless,
 His deeds are recorded, not alone in books. but in the hearts of humanity. therefore 1t Is not necessary to picture 10 you at any great length the life of our hero. The scenes and fields of his glo- rious victories are too familiar to every | true Irishman.
 Born, 1t matters not where. about the | year S12. his early life was perhaps not very unlike that of most boys of his time and environment, though from the very day of his baptism. wonderful, sometimes foolish, and ever ridiculous miracles have been ascribed to him. At the early age of Is, he was taken captive. landed in the | northermost part of Hlbernia and sold to one of the Princes of the province and by him sent to feed and care for his swine.
 Let the youth himself tell us of his | NOnHnHt in of incss. he writes in hIs confessions, was to feed the hogs. I was frequent in prayer The love and fear of God more and more infiamed my heart. so that I said an hundred prayers a day and almost as many by night. arose before day to my prayers in the snow, in the frost, in the rain and yet received no damage, nor was afflicted with slothfulness, for | then the spirit of God was warm within | me- Here he tells us that he acquired the great habit of prayer and that undes the most trying and humiliating circum- stances. Here also during the six years of his captivity he perfected himself in Il the Celtic tongue, and became familiaF with the customs, manners and disposi- tions of the people he was to serve even yet more faithfully.
 Warned in a dream to prepare for hls return home. he, now 23 years of age, l | which lay a boat unmoored and ready to set sail. Not having wherewith to pay l his way he was refused passage. Noth- | ing daunting, he betook himself to his usual comfort and consolation. The sail | ors relented, went in search for him and found him at prayer. After a rough and l stormy voyage by sea and even greater hardshlps in his journey overland, he | reached his home.
 l a friends" Father O'Brien said, land he was again taken captive, but not for long. God had destined him for nobler fields. A slave and the son of a slave for his mother had been a captive her. self-he might be termed the true apostle Of liberty for his mission was to lead a nation from the darkness of organism the worst of slavery to the light of Chris l tan truth which is the basis of all true liberty. And well did he prepare for his glorious mission. Thirty-flve years he spent in prayer and the hardest kind of study-the while God-given love for the people, whose slave he had been, infiamed in his heart with a longing to bring them from their base servitude to the know1- edge of higher things.
 "The name of the father of the Israel ites was changed by God from Abram to Abraham. Jesus Christ changed the name of Simon, the sailor, to that of Peter, the rock. and made him the Head of all the Christian people, and Saint Peters successor-Christ's Vicar-Pope St. Celestine, in the year 4S3. changed the name of a certain old man then known as Magonios or Maun to that of Patrick Father of the people-tne name by which he is known and loved these many centuries.
 And forth he went upon his dlvina mission-to conquer people as yet un- conquered and untamed by proud pagan Rome-to bring by a bloodless. swordless power into subjection to that very city a race over whom the Roman eagle had never spread it's wings. before whom the victorious Roman legions fell back in dis may. We should naturally expect him gifted. as were the early Apostles. with
 the power of wonderworking. which
 while 1t Is the glory and the fondly nurs-
 ed tradition of his children in the faith
 is also the scandal and mockery of his
 enemies and theirs.
 we need not dwell on his labours his
 miracles and marvellous victories in con
 verting from organism that race that has
 taken, in turn so prominent a part in
 spreading and keeping alive-at home and
 abroad-that faith they learned from sf
 Patrick.