The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-03-18
SONS OF ERIN CELEBRATE
 NATAL DAY OF PATRON SAINT
Palegyric on St Patrick at St. Peters Church by Father Eaton and an Elaborate Dinner
 For the HibernianS.

Tradition and memory have familiar. ized you with them. and words of nins would be powerlcss to trace the pic- ture the name Patrick brings before you Of one incident in the life of this great saint I shall speak. because 1t serves to illustrate in striking manner lesson to be gleaned from the study of the history of his strangely gifted sons.
 Countries as we'll as individuals may he. so to speak, demanded an awful fa- supernatural endowments, but to be | truly great they must be truly Chris- tian, if not in fact and form, at least in fact. Christianity was the light of the world in the refulgence of which . safe trend was given to thought and merciful humanity to action. Thought and, action are the dual pow CTS of composite career, the proper l ties of mans essential being, and when allied with, or rather governed by. an Illuminating supernatural principle they, are possessed of unlimited possi- biiities for good. the progenitor of greatness.
 Christianity is the genius of exalt- cd station, but 1t led to unfellowed al- titudes the Irish, where 1t found the best distinguishing characteristics Of the followers of Jupiter, Zeus and Isis. Reflect again upon the inspiring Au- gust pilgrimage to Croagh Patrick and recall its grand significance. Weave g. web of legend and give to 1t a name; trace its pretty fabric and call 1t what you will, but tell me what Is its ten- derness or its beauty compared with i the tenderness and the beauty of the memories that hover OCT Croagh Pat rick. Our saint had climbed its rug ged sides, had spent so many days in prayer and fasting. and now in simple trusting love he battled with the Lord. From the freshness of a new born in- nocence, the incense of his childrens' prayer arose and mingling with his was waited by loving hands to Heaven. Prayed for His People.
 'st. Patrick prayed for his people; ne, so to speak, demanded an awful fa- vor. It mattered not that the Lord in His mercy, promised him to take to Heaven many of His Irish subjects, more than the sands of the sea shore, than the blades of grass upon the fields. The saint would have more: he would under God be the arbiter of their salvation; he would judge them and their descendants. nor would he desist until his prayer was granted.
 The legend has it that God so loved him and his ardor as to grant him his request. However skeptical we may
 
 which the folk lore of a spiritual peo- pie has invested this event, this much of 1t at least is attested to by history, namely. that Patrick's prayer seems to have won Gods especial Providence as the heritage of his people. His prayer may with all due reverence be com pared with the prayer of Christ for Pe- ter. simon. Simon, behold Satan hath desired to have you that he may sift Ixynp xuhA Int ha thee that thy faith fail not: and thou being once converted confirm thy brethren est. Luke xxii, 31, 32.) And thou being once converted, confirm thy brethren
 Ireland became the home of learn ing and of sanctity, the consolation of the papacy, the beauty and joy of Christendom. A light to the nations, she was known as the Island of Saints and Scholars. The grand and glitter ing phrases Brotherhood of Man. 'Fatherhood of God that mean so much and yet so little in their modern appli- cation, found their realization in Cath olic Ireland. Pupils from many climes thronged her classic halls to drink the wisdom of her fountains, while her men and women, saints of God, without any hope of earthly praise or temporal re- ward, left friends and home to spread the Gospel among the stranger. France and Germany, and more distant hostile shores, and even England, are forced by history to pay tribute to the zeal of Ireland's missionaries. Much, too, might be brought in evidence to favor ably support the contention that one of Irelands saints planted the standard of the Cross on the hospitable shores of this great land centuries before Co., lumbus Is reported to have discovered It. And thou being once converted confirm thy brethren But, behold satan hath desired to have you, that he may sift you as wheat. But have prayed for thee that thy faith fail not That he may sift you.' Notice the force of the words-'ut cribraret vos'- that you may be stirred from your very foundations and pass through the sieve of trial and tribulation.
 There came to Irish Catholics a pe- riod of sorrow. and faith unfaithfuP found them not falsely true,' as would the poet say, but staunchly true. Hunt ed as wolves, they lived precariously in the halls and caves. as did the early Christians in the Catacombs: and like them. too, their scouts stood sponsors for the safety of their beloved 'sog- garths.' Well may his holiness, the present occupant of the throne of Pe- ter canonize with solemn ceremony 42s of the martyrs of that penal stormy age, and well may we exult for the blood of martyrs is the seed of Chris tians.' And he went up into the moun- tains alone to pray. I have prayed for you that your faith fall not Faith of the Irish.
 'The faith of the Irish failed not. Ire- land was tried but not found wanting. and can we therefore doubt that she was strengthened and directed by special Providence? No people could withstand the shocks of persecution, as she did, without the assistance of a special higher law controlling and di- recting, and herein is her claim to true nobility and glory. While the faith of others failed. her faith failed not. We are told that
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 All that beauty. all that wealth e'er