Grant County herald. [volume] (Lancaster, Wis.) 1850-1968, 1905-03-15
ST. PATRICK'S DAY.
Stories Told of the Patron Saint of
the Emerald Isle.


will be worn. Friday is ST. Pat
rick's day, and every true son of
Erin will do all honor to his patron
saint. England may have it's St.
George and Scotland its st. Andrew,
but to Ireland, and through Ire
land the whole world Friday cele-
brates st. Patrick's day. Though
down-tr odden and oppressed peo-
pie on their own soil, the Irishman
has never let his faith in his patron
SAINT waver and today in the mean
est hut on the Emerald Isle the
hardy peasant is celebrating in his
small way.
1t has been said of the Irishman
that he lands in America without a
cent and builds a home for his Lord
before he builds one for himself.
This is true and while the day is,
more strictly speaking church day
of the Roman Catholic church, still
there is many protestant who will
wear the little badge of green all
day to show that he still loves the
home of his forefathers.
st. Patrick's birth and his early
bringing up have been the sub
ject of much dispute and endless
debate on the part of historians and
church writer's. By some it is
claimed that he was born in Scot
land; the famous hymn of ''Fiaac"
expressly says he was born in
'sNemthur,' now Dumbarton, on
the Clyde, and many hair-splitting
dispositions have been advanced
to prove "Tabnerniae" and Nemthur
are the same place. It is clear,
however, that st. Patrick was not
Scotchman. There never was
but one Scotch saint, and even he
was not a Scotchman. 1t seems
that God either would not or could
not, make a saint out of a Scotch
man, while on the other hand, He
made all the Irish all saints. Ire
land is known in church theology
as the Island of Saints"
It's claimed by others that he was
a Roman student who had a call
to go to Ireland and teach the Irish
and that he accepted the call and
came. Others hold that he did not
belong to the Church of Rome at all
but was part Of the Greek church
and try to prove this statement by
asserting that missionaries from
Rome had been driven out of Ire
land previous to St. Patrick's COM
ing and it is not probable that they
would so soon have received an
other from the same source.
Which ever is right it is truth
today that the followers of st. Pat
rick are true to the Church of Rome
and no matter what part of the
globe they go to their first thought
is their church and the next their
home.
IL Ireland St. Patrick's day is the
day Of days religiously and national
ly. Always occurring in Lent, it is
the only day during that period on
which marriages of Catholics can
be economically solemnized. If the
day falls on Friday. meat is always
eaten, not by church dispensation,
but by the custom of one of ST. Pat
rick's own miracles. The good
saint was going to preach in a
distant district on Friday, and en-
tering house on his way, asked
for dinner. There was no fish and
the good woman of the house felt
deeply chagrined. Noticing pieces
of tempting bacon hung around, St.
Patrick requested the cook to bring
a tub of water. and launching
piece of the bacon into the water
with his own hand, behold a fine fish
swan around, which the housewife,
much relieved, prepared for dinner.
1t is said this miracle is still practic-
ed in some parts of Ireland, the
bacon being called ''St. Patrick's
fish" and the faithful always bear
testimony that it tastes just like
fish"
One miracle attributed to st. Pat
rick, however. was inspired less
by supernatural than human design.
A spirit of rivalry existed in those
days between the Celts of Scotland
and Ireland, of which the two patron
saints partook, and many a time
st. Patrick repaired to the northern
coast to do some act Of his sanity
power against Scotland, but the
alert St. Andrew was always on
the watch on the Scottish shore and
frustrated the intention of St. Pat
rick. His opportunity came, how
ever, on one Sunday morning
while St. Andrew was going up